My Humble HT/Living Room - Page 9

Thanks for all the comments guys! I really appreciate the kind words and the thoughts!

I do prefer 2 channel music on regular CDs so far. When I had my JTRs, I was never in a rush to change out the back Sapphire dipoles as I think they worked well enough and was an enjoyable experience for movies. I personally feel it’s critical to have the same 3 or 3 very similar speakers in the front but I’m not as critical when it comes to the rears matching the fronts. I thought these dipoles did well (for movies) with the original front Sapphire speakers and did well with the JTRs and are doing very well with the Triad Gold LCRs. There are somethings about these dipoles that I really like. They have a nice diffused sound that really adds to background ambience in movies and sometimes trick me into thinking I have back (6th) speaker right above and behind my head which adds to the left to right surround pans. I’ve been and am very happy with them for movies. It’s only my love for these front Triads that I would consider upgrading the rears when I can find a decent set of used direct radiating Triads but I’m in no rush.

Thanks to Craig, I was able to get my first taste of quadraphonic hi-rez music – Pink Floyd DSOTM. I’ll admit that I like 2 channel music when it comes to regular CDs but this disc, OH BOY!, this freggin disc left my jaw on the floor (dipoles and all). I remember telling him, it was so good; it was almost creepy and kinda like a religious experience.

I played this same disc for my wife a few days ago and had her sit in my chair (sweet spot). I had it on “MultiCh” so it was only the 4 speakers and the Sub- no center channel. She listened to it for a few mins and I asked her if she could point out where she hears the sound effects, instruments, singer and etc. With confidence, she pointed to the center speaker and stated that the signers voice is coming from there (haha)! Then she started pointing to different speakers as she heard some effects. There was one point where she as waving her hand like she was lassoing something as she was following the sound in the room After that, I told her to sit back, listen and enjoy while I finish grilling our dinner. Later when we sat down for dinner I asked her “So what did you think?”. She responded with “It was cool and I knew most of those songs already and really loved a few of them a lot”. I explained to her that the center channel was not on and she looked at me like she was somewhat puzzled (lol!). She had some other comments too but the one that really stood out to me was when she said this “There was one point where the music made me dizzy!” I then said “Dizzy? What do you mean dizzy?” She explained with “ I don’t remember which song it was but there was some wobbly type tone moving across the room that gave me a dizzy-vertigo type feeling!” My wife is even less than an audiophile than me but she told me that she did hear most of these songs before on an LP on a very good system in her younger days but she said the surrounds adds a lot to it. She’s already asked for a second listening session of it!
Edited by Bunga99 - 7/7/12 at 4:19pm

Thanks for comments Mike and don’t ever think you are "mucking up" my thread. I always appreciate your thoughts and feedback! You may claim that you are not that technical but I find your feedback very valuable and, at the least, fun to read.

Hey Al,

Thanks for the kinds words but the pleasure was all mine! It was awesome to finally meet you and have to listen, provide some helpful feedback/tips on how to improve my setup and just talk about HT and family stuff in general. It was great to meet someone that was down to earth, yet as knowledgeable and cool as you are! If I ever do swap the room around I should have the room to push the speakers further apart - right now, in its currently location, the door and the light switches are kinda in the way (unless I get those light switches moved).

Your valuable and much appreciated feedback has made me experiment more with sub placement. After you left, I moved the SubM from the right front of the room to the left front. The weird thing is even without EQ, the left front had a more smoother response (did not excide room modes) but no matter what I did, I could still localize the sub there. I tried playing with the distance settings, level settings and crossovers but no luck. I decided to move the SubM back to the original right front location and re-run Anti-mode and then Audyssey. This time Audyssey had slightly smoother response than it did previously in this same location. I was able to experiment a little with running the SubM a few dbs hotter without any ill effects. When you were here, I believe the SubM was about either flat or 1db hotter than the mains according to the Audio Tool kit that's included with the SubMersive. As of yesterday, (it's still in PGM1- 19hz) but about 2-3dbs hotter than what you heard and so far I cant localize it but I only tested it out on 2 full length movies and then 2 more demos so more testing is probably needed but initial results feels better. No matter what location (Midwall, Left Front or Right front) or distance settings, I always seem to have a dip around 64hz to 72hz (down about 4-6db) compared to the rest of the response so I am sure I am losing some chest thumping bass in that region. I think this may be related to the room dimensions but overall I was happy with the way it sounded before and even more happy now. So thanks for your help - if you were not such a bass head and did not comment on me needing some more umpf, I would have left things alone so trust me when I say I value your input!! One thing I completely forgot to mention to you when you were here is - I seen/read some folks will run Audyssey and blindly trust it. Can you believe what you heard at my house was with me increasing the bass by 6db compared to what Audyssey had it set too? I had to increase it 6db after running Audyssey to get it measure flat with the mains when using the Audio Tool Kit and even with that 6db increase, but measuring flat, you said it could use more umpf.

If I ever plan to be in the Atlanta area for any reason, you will definitely be the first to know and I truly appreciate the offer.

I blame the Selects "Agua" 55 on the wife. When she was at the store I asked her to pick us up some Bud Light or Bud Selects and she came back with Budweiser equivalent of Poland Springs!

Claude
Edited by Bunga99 - 9/24/12 at 11:44am

Thanks Mike!

It’s always great to have someone with more experience help and critique your system. Al aka Hometheatergeek has a lot of experience helping others with their systems and has a killer set up himself. I thought my system sounded good before but with a fresh run of Anti-Mode and Audyssey and a few more dbs of bass (still in PGM1), some bass movies woke up nicely. I still think I prefer running flat for music though. Al was a little surprised to see how small my room actually was. The first words out of his mouth was “It actually looks bigger on the pictures you posted” The room is 12.5’ by 11.5’.

MikeDuke, CraigJohn & BrolicBeast...This is directed at you 3:


I thought I was done with upgrades for a while but based on all your positive feedback on the Crowson Tactile Motion Actuators, I decided to try them out. I ordered 2: one for my recliner and one for my wife’s recliner.
I should have them in a few weeks and will post my feedback once I have them dialed in and spend some quality time with them. I plan to hook them up exactly how Craig has his hooked up (via the Oppo) for an un-eqed LFE signal. Thanks again for all the great feedback/advice!!

LOL! Yes, I am very interested to see how the Crowsons will perform.

Hey Derek,

I do still have the Aura bass shaker you sent me a while back but never bought an amp to test it out. When I flipped my recliner upside down to see how I would install the Aura, it seemed I would have to modify the chair quite bit to attach the Aura to the chair so I never bothered getting am amp and trying it out. The Crowson is easier to install and requires less modifications to the chair. I've also read some good things about the Aura and Buttkickers but read that the Crowson is on another level in terms of realism/performance. Who know's, maybe once I get the Crowson's dialed in, I may try to install the Aura on the 3rd recliner in our room and see how it compares to the Crowson. One of great things about the Crowson is that is has a 30day risk free trial offer so if I find it unnatural or dont like it for any reason, I can return it.

Here's something I found from the FAQ on the Crowson that I found interesting:


Thx,
Claude

hahah! Yes you did Mike, yes you did! It might be a little bit till I get them because when I talked with Randy Crowson he said he was a little behind so it might be a week or so before he can send mine out.

Thanks Craig! I was about to PM you last night about adding the FAQ to the main Crowson thread here on AVS
I'm already very excited about it that I went to my local Guitar Center this morning and ordered a new Buttkicker amp and was able to get it at a discount too and should have that in a week or so.
I know the Inuke 1000 DSP amp has more features but I read that the fan can get loud with the Inuke. I would have the amp in the same room as my other other gear so I think I would hear the fan noise. The fan noise used to bug me a bit with my old PS3. I figured if the Buttkicker amp is good enough for you and Mike, its more than good enough for me.