Downunder Theatre MKII - Page 3

LOL, you dont want to know.....I started work straight out of school and was lucky in my career (right timing, just before the biggest boom in financial history......followed by the biggest bust). I'm also one of these suckers that studied part time.....ok when you're doing finance, not so great when I decided to do Chemistry as well

Dont be silly about what you said either, its what I needed to hear on whatever day that was, cheered me up. Look I'll get over it. Its just annoying that I've spent so many years working my butt off for other people/things and the ONE thing I really wanted I now have to wait for. In saying that I felt somewhat selfish about it as I knew deep down regardless of current circumstances that spending so much money on a HT pre-family wasn't the smartest move......and hey hopefully I'll get something decent in the living room....and it will mean we actually finish furnishing a room in the house = a nice thing

LOL - I'll let you try to guess when you invite me round for a movie afternoon actually I'll probably look old by then

We usually run a book at work when new starters start, they never pick it, closest in 11 years has been 5 years......damn I just told you...It used to have fun with the post grad, grads, I'd interview for junior roles, they'd be like "so where did you do your masters?......" and I'd be like "erh, still slogging away at my bachelors" the look on their face, classic.

ROFL - even my wife got that she's been listening to me crap on about double drywall for 3 years now


Good! darn they grow quick, here's one of Zues at 16 weeks (Thursday) he's going to be HUGE:




Bah! Patience never got me anywhere.....well actually thats not true, but in this instance! com'on! (watching Davis Cup atm)

Well actually, patience in this instance will hopefully get me a superb living room system, a re-worked study and a more presentable house. Not a bad outcome considering.....oh and a blank cheque when it comes to Downunder Theatre MkIII time....she doesn't know that yet, but I've agreed it with the Dogs (majority rules)

Happy new year to all!

Well here were are 365 days later and in true AVS tradition its not finished.....what would AVS be without another 10 year build erh?

.....I am however making some piecemeal progress - the rack and wiring is slowly going in. This needed to be done anyway so at least when build time comes that bit will be sorted

I might also get the first of the two doors in this year as well (yes ambitious I know )

Also new speakers for living room on route in the next few months - including a nice big box of sub to go in a useless corner

Well I was going to wait until they're done.

The sub will just be a very nice veneered box (hopefully red heart gum) 160L with an 18" down firing driver and a QSC 2422 amp, mini-dsp

Speakers.....well, Gerben did say they were going to get a room going by Feb so I can have a listen, but in all honesty I think I'll get a custom pair from Aslan, for two reason (1) aesthetics and (2) they'd be active....also I am in love with AMT's, the sound is captivating, smooth......see how we go, these'd be about $4k for a pair (excluding amplifer) (maybe cheaper now as the 6.5" driver comes from France and the AMT from Germany)...need to get a few ducks ina row first, including selling my NAD M25 - you want? its brand new (actually you're going active right?)

DTV or Stereonet or Ebay......I've got the NAD on all 3 and ebay is the one I get most nibbles on.....its expensive though so I expect it to take a little while. Cheaper older stuff moves quicker.

A small update on the new living room setup - the new shiny amps and stuff from QSC arrived today! (well the dsp's are off ebay, A$450 for all 3 - bargain!):



What else have we been doing? well the rack is in (this was/will be used when the theatre is done as well)....started the install back in October, not quite finished yet (need to top off with cornus and some touch up painting):



Whats next? still waiting on custom sub and speakers to be made for the living room. Going with an 18" Mal in a Redheart Gum box....purdy.....and a 2 way monitor (AMT tweeter and 6.5inch mid/woofer) fully active using the QSC stuff

Oh and the rear speakers are in for the living room....basically a something is better than nothing approach. These are a pair of Rogers Compact Monitors, quite old but still pretty darn good as a 2 channel pair. I had them sitting around doing nothing so here they are:

3.3m high ceilings, cant see the little imperfections from the ground

Grill off:



Grill on:

He's 33kg now....hopefully he'll hit 50kg solid once fully grown (7 more months). His sister is about 3 inches shorter and 5kg lighter, nicer coat though.

I am very pleased with the rack and location, that worked well, despite the amount of work involved. Making a new desk at present for the study where the rack is....it'll be nice to have one room 100% finished/"decorated"......its going to have a $7k system in it because I cant offload some of my already purchased speakers....overkill, but it'll be cool I guess

Renovating?......you can have that to yourself! done it twice, never again! ever!

Let me know when you're more settled and we can catch up....the dogs are good at demolition work if you need a hand....planks of cedar torn clean off the kennel.....

Finally got the new gear into the rack (and working).



Just waiting on new L and R and sub....another month away I think.

Also need to add another receiver in here for my study.

Need to mount the new rears in the living room too:



I need to get some GOM first (they're going in a wall cavity)....A$350 for the pair..bargain!

What's going on with the theatre? I think it'll be AVS' longest ever build.

Putting the first door in soon.....probably stagger the build over the next 5 years. The plan is, if I really like the new speakers that they will form the basis for the new room....proof will be in the measurements I guess....they'd be fully active and half the cost of the alternative (Procella)

Its a 20amp circuit, I think it'll be right. Brand new house with with the all new circuit breaker stuff. Only need a UPS for when we get a projector. But in saying all that, out of interest, if I did want to upgrade that circuit it that easy to do? is that just an upgrade in the circuit box?

When the theater amps go in the drain will be significant.....bigger sub amps (4 or 5 probably), 4 amps for the mains......3 dsps, bigger processor......

AVR is fixed.....picked it up on the weekend.....only took 6 months.....but under warranty so that's cool.

The first door in will be raised a bit, so there wont be any blocking. You'll walk in at riser height. Step will be outside the room

We don't live in Piction, the pups came from there......but we live in a much worse fire area on the upper north shore (zone 3 rated). Wouldn't matter if the entire house was made of reinforced concrete, it'd get flattened by a fire. Cross fingers it'll never happen. We have mains water in the street so hopefully the firies would save us.

Good idea about the projector.....could have sound proofing ramifications. I'll have a think about that. Cheers.

Oh that - it'll be bricked up once finished....cant do it until the new ceiling beams are in

Ebay.....if I was doing a room on a budget I'd try to find 7 of them, add a sub and decent receiver and be happy......and an AT screen.......

The amps I purchased new, the DSP's I got off ebay - 3 of them for about A$500....great buying, I was very lucky.

The speakers were 2nd hand off ebay as well, but as new condition. Even their new price is pretty reasonable - they have a pretty good response plot, can generate quite high SPL - good enough, especially so for rears, but I had a good listen to them as mains for music and was pretty pleased, for the dollars

You can get racks cheap, off ebay or second hand places....even new they're not too expensive. Yes the door is closed during operation, its well vented and I have 2 x 100mm conduits going into the ceiling (1) for speaker cables and (2) for ventilation - I've not got a fan for it yet, but once its all in and running I'll get one, if needed. Once the theater goes in and there is 6-8 more amps in there it'll definately be needed.

P.S. I'm going for the longest AVS build ever award

Got them from Edgedigital in Miranda - they were about $1500 each from memory. Cheap IMO. Put it this way I sold my NAD M25 and got these two for the same money.

That gave me the sub amp and the 4 channels I needed for my active mains. Rears I'll just run off AVR - dont care about them really, given its a living room.

Depending on how good my new mains are, I'd use them for all 7 channels in the theater, thats about a $40k spend on audio which is about 1/2 the retail cost of the off the shelf alternative......either way I dont have that sort of cash so its a LONG way off. This will take years and years to finish

Big, big day (well evening....ok night) for the Downunder Living Room MKII. NEW SPEAKERS ARE HERE!

Alrighty, so here is the sub (its an 18" down firing Mal-X)



Here is one of the new, not quite finished mains:



Here is the whole lot.....plus the two reasons we aint doing a dedicated room at present:



I've got to fill in around the speaker baffle with insulation. Also need to paint them and add grills. Out of the box they're incredible, just what I was expecting. They are fully active using QSC DSP and DCA amp. The sub is also run by a larger DCA and a DSP4....

......now I need to learn how to use REW and get these things tweaked

Oh yes, before I forget....should have said this up front. All these was built as the very last job for Aslan Acoustics before Andrew retires. He's done a fabulous job. His pairing of that AMT tweeter with that mid is just awesome! Andrew, if you're reading, thankyou so much, these are going to be brilliant and provide many hours of enjoyment