The 'no-hijack and finally post my own configuration thread' thread!

[pcweber111]

So instead of hijacking other people's threads I figure it's time to actually start one of my own. So, after multiple revisions, rearrangements, and still yet more changes I've almost completed my current system. As it stands, here's what I have connected to the main tv:

Denon AVR4802 7.1 reciever
Samsung PN50A450 50" plasma
Klipsch RF-25 towers
Klipsch RC-35 center
Monster Power HTPS7000 power center
Playstation 3 w/160GB HDD
Xbox 360 premium w/20GB HDD
ATT Uverse Motorola VIP1216 HDPVR
Velodyne CT-150 15" sub
Monster Power HTS200 wall plug power center
Sanus 'Natural Foundations' NF213 video stand
Sanus 'Natural Foundations' NF206 audio stand
Energizer recharger station for 360 controllers (which rocks btw)

Now, what's missing are the surrounds. As my family room can't really accomodate the RF-15 towers I used to use I have decided to go a different route and go with 4 Klipsch AW-525 for 7.1 surround. I was only going to do 5.1 but decided what the heck, I need my 7.1 lol. I'm only trying to decide now how to go about wiring and am currently looking at flat cover solutions so I can run my speaker cable up the wall and across the ceiling to each speaker. It's going to be interesting but if it turns out like I've seen before it should look and sound really nice. I can't do in-ceiling because the house is 2 story otherwise I probably would have done that. Plus they're white and will somewhat blend in with the ceiling thus making them somewhat less obtrusive. What I do to please my wife...

Anyway here's some quickie pics until I can get some time to snap the cables and other angles:





Sorry about the lighting but it's all I have at the moment; I will get some in tomorrow hopefully so be on the lookout.

Hope you've enjoyed it so far and this is just the beginning of what I want to do so you'll see some changes sometime soon. Keep an eye out.

Phil

[plasmattack]

That's awesome! I love everything about it. I'm digg'n those Sanus stands, those are SWEET. I bet those Klipsch sound nice too.

[WaveyD4vey]

i wish my wires were as organized as yours are...i say this while taking a break reorganizing the tangled mess that is my idea of "wire management"...lol

[pcweber111]

Yeah I'm a real stickler for wire management and the wires underneath my tv stand were annoying me and have been changed to not be seen as much.

[bhpizza]

Nice stands, (and other equipment too of course).

[ldgibson76]

Hello Phil!

I can't believe it! I'm actually reading and posting in your own dedicated thread!
Seriously though, the system looks great. That compliment does not mean that I've gone turncoat on the three rack configuration! I still have love for that type of setup, but I must admit, your set up looks very clean and efficient. I have often thought of eliminating components and going slim and trim. But, I just can't do it. I love my boxes.

I have a question for you. Sound quality, have you gained or lost when it comes to sound stage and imaging? Not that imaging should be a major concern when it comes to multi-channel playback. But when it comes to the soundstage, because of the distance between the fronts, which are closer together than in your previous set up, I would assume there has been some compromise?

Before:


After:


Regards.

[kaiservt]

how do you like your uverse?

[pcweber111]

Uverse is great. I don't like being limited to 2 HD streams but I'm used to it. Other than that the whole house DVR is nice and the audio/video quality is no worse than when I had DirecTV.

ldgibson76,

Hey yeah my own thread lol. I plan on giving you a run for your money when it comes to updates and what-not so be prepared.

As for sound quality there's been a dip for a couple of reasons. First the speakers are closer together than I'd like which is a necessary evil with the room arrangement. Second the room just isn't as acoustically forgiving as the upstairs gameroom and as a result I've had to tweak the calibration a bit to compenstate for it. Other than that it sounds more than acceptable and I'm nowhere near done so it's just a matter of getting everything in place and applying whatever room treatments my wife will let me get away with lol.

The one big regret I have about moving it is that I'm losing my surround towers, which worked perfectly with the space upstairs. The compromise I will have to settle upon will definitely be an adjustment for me but it's OK the baby needs his play space, know what I mean?

Anyway I'm taking the wife and kids on a road trip tomorrow and won't be back until Wednesday so hopefully I can get some ideas going and give a little background on the system.

later!

[kaiservt]

limited to 2 HD streams? What do you mean?

[pcweber111]

Slow night and it's raining here in Memphis so I thought I would check in and respond:

U-verse is limited to 2 SD streams and 2 HD streams for the whole house, so with the 3 boxes I have I can have 2 HD shows on at a time and the 3rd either has to watch a prerecorded HD show or put up with SD. It's better than it was before (1HD,3SD) and I'm not really sure how picture quality would suffer if they try to bump up the number of HD channels at the same time but it'd be nice to be able to watch 3 HD feeds at once. There have been times where it would have been nice to have. Regardless I'm satisfied with the service and have no plans on switching to a competitor.

[kaiservt]

Okay....doesn't really seem like that big of a deal to me. I may be moving to a place where UVerse is available (CT). Thanks for the info!

[pcweber111]

Yeah it's a pretty nice service. There are a few quirks with the way the boxes work. For example: on DirecTV I had the choice of outputting the channel in it's native resolution, i.e. 720p for stations such as FOX, ABC, etc. and 1080i for NBC, Discovery, HDNET, etc.. With ATT it's either 720p or 1080i for everything, no exceptions. I'm sure there's a software fix for it and it's not a real big deal but I'd like to decide which scaler to use, the TV or the U-verse box.

Phil

[ddgtr]

Hi Phil,

I finally got a chance to check out your system. Nicely done, from equipment to stands!

Glad to see a fellow Velodyne CT-150 owner - that thing can rock the house, can't it?

Cheers!

[pcweber111]

Well, it's been awhile since I updated my thread here so since I've begun to change my system yet again it's time to give a status update. I still haven't decided on what to do about my surround speakers (in ceiling or outdoor style) so I'm still running 3.1. It's not that bad though but I really want to get some time to get the surround thing in gear. I've been kinda preoccupied with our baby though and since he comes first it's going to take awhile. Bear with me lol.

Anyway here are some updated pics. Gone is the lone audio tower. I decided it just wasn't safe with our 11 month old walking around and grabbing stuff. I'd rather not get a call from my wife at work saying he's knocked stuff off the tower and hurt himself.

Also changed is the tv, or more accurately where it is. I've decided to hang it partially because my wife likes the look and more to the point because our son seems to think it's fun to swing it on it's base and with the weight of it bearing down on him I'd rather nip that in the bud and get it off the stand. Besides, it allows me to give my two game systems room to breathe. Plus it also gets the U-Verse box out of his reach...for now. Notice a trend here lol?

Here are some updated shots. It's a work in progress as the wire cover isn't painted yet. I have to go find the paint in the garage and get the cover painted. Won't be too hard since it just pops off:

Just a general shot with grills on


With grills off


The wall mount is from Z-Line and it's really nice. It has a definite sexy look going for it


Still have some wire management to do but it's not as bad as it looks in this photo. Everything is loop tied so if I need to get to it I can. I'm experimenting with different wire management styles


Receiver and power center now occupy the lower shelf. Not what I'm used to but it works


Me trying to take a dramatic shot lol


The sub has basically stayed in the same spot, it's just surrounded by a plant stand and the couch now so it's not so visible


Here's another dramatic shot


An almost profile shot, to show how far the speakers stick out


Some NBA action with my Mavs


This is an interesting arrangement as the two game systems are prominantly featured along with the U-Verse box. I'd rather they all go on the second shelf and swap with the center channel but the kiddo likes to press buttons so here they are


Center grill off and front view of the equipment


Righ speaker with grill off


Left speaker with grill off



All in all I'm somewhat satisfied with the way it looks right now. I still need to decide on rears but at least I've run a calibration on the speakers present. Movies sound pretty nice although the sound stage is a bit compressed because of how close everything is. I can accept that though since the alternative option isn't available to me anymore now that the upstairs room has been turned into a game room for the kiddos.

I do like how little wire I need for the system now that all those game systems and the HD DVD player and the CD changer and DVD recorder are now in other rooms or have been sold. It's a pretty simple system now and will stay that way until we move to another house and I get either a true media room or a secondary bedroom I can convert into a listening space.

The beat goes on...

[hometheatergeek]

I like the new setup. Gives the room more class. Long time fan of Klipsch speakers.

However, I'm not liking the postion of the center channel. If you have somthing panning in a movie from right to left or left to right, the sound must take a dip as it travels across the screen. The speakers would work together better if all three tweeters were in a straight alignment. Since you can't move the gaming consoles due to the kids, maybe you could use a center channel mount directly below the TV. Something like this: http://www.btech-usa.com/bt15.html. It would also help hiding the wire channel for the TV. The other alternative would be to pull the center channel towards the front of the second shelf and angle it up to the listening position.

For your rear channel dilemma: I have done this in another person's home for the rear surround channels. You can drill a hole behind the entertainment stand then another hole near the ceiling. Drop heavy twine with a small piece of chain to the bottom hole then pull the wire up to the ceiling. You than run the wire around the ceiling and staple the wire near the top of the wall near the ceiling. You then install crown molding around the room to hide the wire and viola you have your speaker wire to the back of the room.

[pcweber111]

Hey thanks for the suggestions. Yeah I've been thinking about the center and realize there would be an issue with it being so recessed but there's two issues: first is my wife doesn't want the speakers so far forward (which if I had the center up would push the fronts up too and she complains ) and second my son eventually pushes the speaker back wanting to touch it so it ends up back there anyway lol. Besides, with the two fronts delayed a tad compared to the center they're all timed. I'm more worried about sound dispersion because of how deep it is into the stand so I'm just going to arrange them forward together, re-calibrate the receiver, and just deal with him lol. I'm not going to mount the speaker because it would take away from the look of the system. Well, that's what I say. My wife just says no lol.

As for the second suggestion I need to mention that I already know how I'm going to run my speakers (fairly close to what you suggested), it's just picking them out that's the issue. We're trying to decide what would work in that room. Eventually I plan on moving all the gear to a hall closet on the other side of the left wall and running speaker and a/v cables up the wall, hide them with crown molding, and then running them back to the speakers and the tv. I'll post some pics in a bit to show what I plan on doing.

Thanks again for the advice!

[wolfgaze]

Are you planning on painting the wiremold running up to the TV the same color as the wall? Or do you like the white?

I painted mine the same color as my wall so it stands out less and blends in....

[pcweber111]

Yeah I mentioned it was incomplete so don't look too down on me lol. I need to find the paint that we did those walls in to complete it. It's somewhere in the garage.

[youthman]

Your setup looks great. I too appreciate the Klipsch and Velodyne combination.

[xj0hnx]

Pcweber111, how is having your TV so far above the center, and L/R effect the sound during movies? I guess it would depend a lot of how far your listening position is, but does it do anything negatively as far as direction, does it still sound like it's coming from the TV?

[pcweber111]

Yeah the voices are pretty well anchored to the screen. I sit about 8 feet away which seems to be enough to not have that disconnect. As mentioned above the ideal situation would be to place the center channel on the top shelf and move the game systems to the middle shelf but with a close to 1yr old it's not really practical. He grabs everything but doesn't know what to do with the speakers with their grills on but he knows all too well how to press buttons lol.

[ddgtr]

Hi pcweb,

I like the new configuration better than the original one. Have you gotten the surrounds up and running yet?

Cheers

[pcweber111]

Hey thanks. It's changed even more since the newer pics but no I don't have the surrounds installed yet (or even bought). It's been a somewhat hectic time here with my wife looking for work and two kids to raise so funds have been somewhat diverted for the time being. I still plan on getting everything done by Sept. or so but I just have to be a bit more patient. One thing I did go back on was the idea that the center is OK on the second shelf like it was in the pics. I've moved it to the top and just deal with Jake wanting to touch the U-Verse box all the time. The sound is anchored quite a bit more now that the speaker is higher up. I'll try to get the new pics posted sometime today so you can see the difference.

[Jedirun]

I have similar issues with my 20 month old trying to grab everything. I had to order child resistant speakers with steel grills this time to keep her from tearing the cloth grills like she did on my current speakers.

[xboxFreak]

Is that an Assassins Creed Faceplace I see on the 360? Both the most overlooked and underrated and my favorite game of 2007...

Great setup... Isn't it just great fun trying to be functional, stylish AND kid friendly? I know how that goes...

[Franin]

Thats a very nice setup Phil and tidy too. I was going to ask how do the Games sound on the system? Im sure there would be some games that have made you jump.

[topnotch_204]

nice i love your setup as well !!

[pcweber111]

Well it's been awhile since I last updated and honestly with kids and school and job and whatnot I really haven't had time to tinker with the system enough to warrant a full update. Here's a pic I recently took that shows some of the changes I've made:



I've added a PS2 since I've picked up a bug to start playing some older games again and since I don't really do backwards compatibility I decided to add it to the mix. I've also added my older 5 channel HK amp that I used in my previous system just to see if I can still notice any differences between it and the amp in my 4802. So far there are a few but it goes to show just how good the amp is in my receiver. I've also decided that I'm probably going to sell the amp soon so I wanted to get some use in so it didn't just sit, dormant. I've also moved some of the equipment around to facilitate a better wiring scheme. I've also put one of my laptops in it's docking station under the set since I like to surf the web and use Media Center downstairs now. It's a nice addition and I'm surprised I didn't do it earlier. Also, I've added an older Panasonic DMRE-55K DVD recorder to make watching DVDs easier for the kids in addition to being my 2 channel DVD-Audio player. So far so good and I really do miss listening to hi-rez music. Now If I could just get a good Sony SACD changer...

As for how games sound, yeah they sound nice and forceful. I do wish I could space my speakers further apart but I'm stuck with what I'm stuck with so it's not that big a deal. I also changed out my AC faceplate on the 360 for a Transformers G1 Decepticons faceplate. I like it, a lot.

*edit*

Oh yeah, I moved the center to the top shelf. It was enough of a difference in anchoring voices to the screen that it warranted a move. I will admit that the new arrangement looks a little more...cluttered than the older version but it fits more of my needs so it works. I know it's going to be tough to get the wife to agree to it but I might bring back the audio tower downstairs to more easily fit the stuff I want to keep down here. I still plan on moving the equipment to a hall closet and running wire so I can actually use my surround sound since I can't right now but that's not in the cards right now so I can make do with 3.1.

[ldgibson76]

Hello PCWeb!

How are you doing my Klipsch Brotha from another mutha!?
How's the family?
It's been a while since I've posted. I had some issues that required my undivided attention, so a hiatus from the forum was in order. But now, all is well and I can get back to favorite pasttime, posting on AVSForums WYSC Section!

I see that you have been busy tweaking and adding stuff... again! couldn't help yourself could you? I know the feeling.
Due to some dire circumstances, I wasn't able to do a single upgrade to my system. So, what do I do, I re-wire and tweak!

By the way, the additions to the system look good! And yes, the amp section in the Denon AVR4802 is indeed one of high quality. You would be hard press to find anything today in an AVR with an amp section matching the quality of the Denon's, including the higher end Onkyo's! And they have excellent amp sections, but the Denon runs much cooler.

Regards.

[hometheatergeek]

In honor of Waboman

Have a Rockin Good Year PC!!

Still waiting on the rear surrounds. Sometime this year eh buddy?