Dedicated HT

[LEVESQUE]

The main HT room is 14'6" (W) X 11' (H) X 21' (L) with a recess of 3' in the back of the room, so the room is 24' long in reality.

Acoustically treated and optimized, this room is geared toward films sessions, but is also pretty good for multi-ch music listening (DVD-A and SACD).

Displays:
JVC DLA HD-1 (RS-1...) 1080p 3 chips LCOS projector
Da-Lite Hi-Power Da-Snap Pro-Trim 110'' diagonal screen
Pioneer Elite Kuro Pro-111FD 9G
Sony 40XBR800 (ISF calibrated by Michael TLV) (second room for the kids)
Clarion VMA5894 5.8" LCD TFT screen (in the HT, to avoid using the projector for calibrations and DVD-A listening)

Masking system:
4-way motorized masking system from HTIQ

Pre/pro for the HT:
Anthem Statement D2v (Gennum VXP scaler at 1080p out to JVC HD-1) with ARC-1 room-eq

Sources:
Oppo BDP-83 (Blu-ray player)
Toshiba HD-AX2 (HD-DVD player) (main room)
Sony PlayStation 3 80GB first gen
Sony PlayStation 3 40GB
1X X-Box 360 HD-DVD add-on
Oppo 970HD (for 480i over HDMI to Gennum scaler...)

DVD Recorder:
Pioneer DVR-633H-S

Amps (HT):
Anthem Statement P2 (2X325W)
Anthem Statement P5 (5X325W)

Speakers:
Paradigm Signature S8 (2X)
Paradigm Signature C5
Paradigm Signature S2 (4X)
Paradigm Signature Servo

HD HTPC:

OS: VISTA 64 BIT
Motherboard: Asus P6T Deluxe X58
Chip: Intel Core i7 920
Heatsink: Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme 1366RT
RAM: 6X2GB (=12GB) Corsair Dominator DDR3-1600 8-8-8-24 Triple Channel
Display: LG W3000H-BN S-IPS 30'' LCD 2560X1600! gaming goodness!
Graphic card: HIS Radeon 4870 X2 (replacing a POS NVidia GTX 280) + 4870 1GB = Tri-Crossfire
Sound: SoundBlaster X-Fi Titanium Champion PCI-E
HDD: Intel 80GB SSD X25-M (2nd gen) WD Velociraptor 300GB Seagate 7200.12 3X 1TB
PSU: Corsair HX1000 (1000W)
Case: CoolerMaster Stacker 830 Evo
HD-DVD: XBox 360 add-on drive!
Blu-ray writer: LG GBW-H20L
DVD writer: 2X Lite-On
Logitech G5
Logitech G15 (2nd gen)
Sennheiser PC161

Power conditionning:
Panamax Max Service Entrance Protection (whole house protection)
Panamax AC regenerator 5510
2x Panamax 4400-20A (for my 20A circuits): 1 for each amp
APC Back-UPS XS 1200VA (BR1200) with battery for the projector
Panamax Max2Sub for the sub
Panamax M8DBS-EX: for the LCD tft screen
Monster HTS-3500: 2ch "wife's" system

HD-decoders:
Star Choice DSR-500 (component to Sony 40XBR800)
Star Choice DSR-505 (DVI to Toshiba 34HFX83)
Star Choice DSR-530 HD-PVR

Kid's room with kid's HT, Plasma Elite Kuro:
Pioneer VSX-1018AH-K
Panasonic SA-XR50S (full digital amps)
Paradigm Studio-20v3 with J29 stand
Paradigm CC-290
Paradigm Atom (surround)
Paradigm Ultracube 12
CambridgeAudio Azur 640C CD-player
Nintendo Wii
PS3
X-Box 360

Tactile transducers:
8 Aura bass-shakers
250W Sub plate amp with remote (from PartsExpress...)

Cables and interconnects:
Audio (digital and analog): Acoustic Research Master serie
Audio (balanced-XLR): Blue Jeans Cables XLR-balanced
Video (digital): Ultralink HDMI HD Pro only
Video (analog): Acoustic Research Master Serie
Speakers: PartsExpress Carol in-wall 12 GA

Misc:
HD camcorder (AVCHD): Sony HDR-SR12 (120GB HDD)
CalMAN software + Eye-One Pro spectro
AEMC CA813 Light-Meter
X-BOX 360 (with HD-DVD drive...)
Vibrapods under: Pioneer BDP-HD1, Toshiba HD-XA2, 4XSignature S2, 2XStudio-40, sub Signature Servo, Cambridge 640C, Panasonic SA-XR50

And over 96 sheets of Owans-Corning 2'X4' fiberglass 703 spread all across.

Main room (dedicated HT):





4 way masking system at 2.35:1



Kid's HT:



Wife's new living-room:

[Frank J Manrique]

Originally posted by LEVESQUE:

"Displays:
Toshiba MT800 DLP projector (April)"

Saw one at the 2003 WCES in Vegas and liked a lot. With an all digital source via the DVI signal path way, thing do sing! Please consider the purchase of a video scaler to match the 800's 720p native resolution. The new DVDO-HD video processor can do that as well as providing DVI output facilities (doesn't scale HD signals, however), and is modestly priced.

"Sony 40XBR800 (ISF)(second room)"

My secondary system also uses this direct-view CRT monster. Best TV set I've ever owned. But be aware that a 1080i HD signal will lock the set in 16x9 mode. I am using a Samsung SIRT-T165 STB for OTA SD and HD transmissions, to provide some aspect ratio controlling of 4:3 video material from OTA and satellite transmissions (zoom and pillar-boxing), up-convert DVDs and laserdiscs signals, as well as to provide control of the JVC 40K and Mitsubishi 2000U D-VHS decks (connected via Fire-wire interfacing).
The 1080i output (too bad this set doesn't do 720p...rats!) goes to the 40XBR800 set via the DVI output option (the Sammy can also output RGB and component video).
I think you'll greatly enjoy this big toy...

"Sources:
Denon DVD-5900 (main room)"

I would prefer a video processor deinterlace the DVD signal and scale it up to 720p rather than using the 5900's 480p output or the 800's own scaler.
This will avoid the creation of scaling artifacts, therefore obtaining greater performance out of the video ensemble, me thinks.

"And over 96 sheets of Owans-Corning 2'X4' fiberglass 703 spread all across."

Excellent idea, but must cost an small fortune!

Anyhow...these are my .2 cents. Cheers...

-THTS

[LEVESQUE]

Originally posted by Frank J Manrique
My secondary system also uses this direct-view CRT monster. Best TV set I've ever owned. But be aware that a 1080i HD signal will lock the set in 16x9 mode.

Just for you info, disabling the JUMP setting in the user menu let you stretch the picture to fill the complete 40" even on a 1080i signal. It's not worst then using a stretch mode with a 4:3 signal to be stretch to fill a 16:9 screen. Works pretty well for me!

2 major changes in my set-up:

I went with the JVC HX-1U instead for my projector.

Anthem AVM20 has been changed for the new Anthem Statement D1

[LEVESQUE]

The 3rd room is now done, and I did update my first post with a picture.

So our garage is now totally converted in a dedicated HT and this living-room. It's finally all done. It was a long 6 months...

[schalliol]

Beautiful systems!!

[HeaTransfer]

Levesque:

Veryveryveryvery nice.

Which channel are you running the Bryston to (Front mains? Rear surrounds?)?

Do you find a difference in timbre between them and the P5?

[LEVESQUE]

Thank you.

Bryston 4BSST: Sig S8 (mains).
Anthem P5: Sig C5 (center) and the 2 pairs of Sig S2 (surrounds).

I don't find any difference in timbre between those 2 amps. Works pretty well for me.

[LEVESQUE]

Update.

2ch system in wife's room:

Panasonic SA-XR50S (full digital amps)
Paradigm Studio-40v3
Yamaha CDX-393MkII

Main room (HT):

Just received the DVDO IScan HD+
Pioneer Elite 59avi (for 480i over HDMI to IScan HD+)

Sold my Denon 5900-SDI modded.

[LEVESQUE]

Just added 4 things... the last step in the construction of the HT, but really important... surge protection...

Panamax AC regenerator 5510
2x Panamax 4400-20A (for my 20A circuits): 1 for each amp
Panamax Max Service Entrance Protection (whole house protection)
Panamax Max2Sub for the sub

For those wondering... The Panamax 5510 doesn't do anything on the sound (I don't hear anything different...), but it's cleaning the video signals a little bit, particularly the noise in the background with the satellite decoder and the DVD player...

[Dan Forsyth]

Nice love the look.

[kenabb]

Levesque,
Thanks for taking the time and effort to post your shots and detailed descriptions of your construction. Your attention to details is remarkable and appreciated. I noticed you came out of a sub panel for your feeds instead of directly out of a main panel. Is that so you could further isolate the ground for a dedicated circuit. I came directly out of my 200 amp main panel with my 5 20 amp circuits because it was only 8' away from my outlets.

[LEVESQUE]

kenabb.

thank you for your kind comments.

The sub panel was recommended by my electrician. It was also alot easier to work directly beside the rack and all the equipment, particularly when trying different combination of outlet and cables, and testing for ground-noise and electrical contamination.

We did try both configurations, with and w/o an isolated ground. The multi-ch amp (P5) is humming a little bit locally (not at the speakers level) w/o the isolated ground. The isolated ground get rid of this little "amp humming" totally.

[LEVESQUE]

The wife's living-room is now done. I just add a new photo of "her" room in the 1st post of this thread. The Toshiba 34HF83 look so small in there!

[LEVESQUE]

Just sold my Bryston 4BSST and bought an Anthem Statement P2 to replace it and have 7 identical channels of amplification.

[KoukiFC3S]

wow this is really impressive!

[LEVESQUE]

I just took some new photos of the back of the room and the main rack. They are now in the first post of this thread.

[AVOne1]

Wow, awsome setups!

Can I come live at your house?

[trizt]

Personally I can't decide if I like dedicated rooms better than nicely integrated ones. It will be a while before I can afford a system like this, but I think nice integration is the thing for me. For example, depending on what you watch it is nice to be able to sit around a table. Don't get me wrong I would love to install your system at home :-P~~ I mean you have both a dedicated system and some "normal" ones . All and all, great

[LEVESQUE]

Originally Posted by trizt

For example, depending on what you watch it is nice to be able to sit around a table.

That's why I have 3 different systems with displays, and a 2ch stereo system (I didn't took photos of that one). So the HT room is for serious films viewing only, but for casual music listening or watching TV with friends, then there is plenty of other choices in the house.

[trizt]

Sure, the best is to have it all My current plans are to have a TV-room and a movie room (I also get a bonus room since I use rear projection in the movie room. A 90" screen in the bed room ), but in the movie room there will also be a fire place and a "feeding" area That makes it harder to plan since you have different focus points, but I think it will be great :-P

[okedou]

Wow!!!

Ta salle est fantastique !
Your hometheater is truly impressive!

[i_want_that]

LEVESQUE, beautiful detail on the woodwork/columns/etc! I have to say i'm almost as jealous of the view as I am of the equipment.

[LEVESQUE]

Thank you guys!

Update: my new Sony "Ruby" VPL-VW100 is now up and running!

I will post some new pictures soon.

[LEVESQUE]

My new toy! Santa just left this by the door!

There was a photo of my Sony Ruby here, but since I don't have it anymore, the photo was removed...

[tonygpie]

Great Dedicated room!!!!! I don't think I missed it, but if I did sorry for asking again, how far from the screen is your front row? I have a similar size room and while I just ordered seating for 2 rows, I am a little concerned about the first row being too close. I was also wondering about the side tables you have. Are those freestanding tables or are they attached to the flooring and builtin? Did you purchase them or have them built? Final question is about your screenshots. Any suggestions on taking better screenshots? I have taken several experimenting with different ways of taking them and mine never seem to come out as good as the picture actually looks.

Again I love your room.
Thanks
Tony

[LEVESQUE]

Originally Posted by tonygpie

how far from the screen is your front row? I have a similar size room and while I just ordered seating for 2 rows, I am a little concerned about the first row being too close

First row is at 10' from the screen. So 1.25X screen width.

Originally Posted by tonygpie

I was also wondering about the side tables you have. Are those freestanding tables or are they attached to the flooring and builtin? Did you purchase them or have them built?

My father-in-law made them, custom built. They are totally filled with dry sand and the wood is all screwed and glued against vibration. There is a 1/2 thick glass on top of them. Really sturdy. They pass the "knock with fingers" test.

Originally Posted by tonygpie

Final question is about your screenshots. Any suggestions on taking better screenshots? I have taken several experimenting with different ways of taking them and mine never seem to come out as good as the picture actually looks.

Always use a tripod. That's the most important thing. I'm not a "good" photograph myself. So I just do alot of shots at alot of different settings and usually there is a good one in the bunch... Sorry, nothing more scientifical here...

[miltimj]

Very nice room, and incredible screen shots with the Ruby.

How do you like the HTIQ masking system? I'm thinking about going that route with a 2-way on a CH 2.35:1 system.

[LEVESQUE]

Originally Posted by miltimj

Very nice room, and incredible screen shots with the Ruby.

Thank you. In reality, the picture I get with the Ruby is better then those screenshots. Incredible projector.

Originally Posted by miltimj

How do you like the HTIQ masking system? I'm thinking about going that route with a 2-way on a CH 2.35:1 system.

For the price it can't be beat. BUT! You have to be an advanced DIY type of guy to install it. Not really user friendly. You have to find solutions of your own to alot of small "problems" during installation...

[miltimj]

I think I may upgrade to the Ruby in a couple of years..

Not a problem with most things DIY for me. I know there was talk of a DIY version of it, and a more consumer-grade version -- which did you get, or is it all basically DIY? Seems a bit on the expensive side ($1K last I looked) for so much DIY, but if it works...

[alexsquared]

wow the picture from the ruby looks very crisp!