Thrang's Home Theater (for now...) - Page 5

Little R2D2-ish I suppose....Perfect for a theater!

Yes, the Mcintosh MC8207 - I've been fiddling with testing out an Integra 80.3 at the same time, so haven't done thorough listening, but so far, I'm finding the Mac very black, articulate, and smooth. Midrange seems to have great presence

The W4S amps are no slouches, however, and I'm not claiming night and day differences...no way to do a/b comparisons as the mono blocks are sold, but I do feel the Mac is a better match to my B&W's.

I did an audyssey pro calibration about two months back, and continue to be impressed both by the 80.3 and the 8207. While audyssey can be finicky to nail just right, when you do, it creates a very solid soundstage - broad, wide, and high, while remaining very articulate. I find the thx neo cinema and music modes to some of the best on a fairly consistent basis, and for most material, I tend to leave the audyssey eq on the music setting rather than movie, unless there is an usually bright soundtrack.

The 8207 is very clean and powerful, and is having no issues driving my diamonds. I had been toying with they idea of an mc303 for the fronts, but at my loudest listening, I'm not clipping the 8207, so no need for more than 200 watts per channel at this point.
Edited by thrang - 8/1/12 at 7:36pm

I was using Auralex Gramma's, but need to update the photos of my front soundstage. I've since built two 2 foot high mdf cubes to raise the fathoms in the Y axis as some placement guides have suggested trying, and it's been a visceral improvement....

Well. if you like an "austere" look. they're perfect.

3/4 inch MDF, glued/brad-ed, sanded, and painted flat black for now.....back is open so I can stuff with some rigid insulation when I get around to it....

Updated the first post with the latest photos showing the new speaker configuration:

- JL Audio 113 on custom high risers
- Eliminated Rear 805DI's
- Added Wide 805DI's

24 x 20 x 9

Hi Frank

While I have had conversations with Barry, I think I stumbled across that idea from some other white papers (maybe Toole's?, or some other) - Barry's a interesting guy, but also said some things I couldn't rationalize, like set all speaker distance controls at 7 feet regardless of their actual distance to the MLP, then start with your subs at 21 feet, playing with the distance until you get the highest SPL at the crossover...I mean, maybe there's gold there, but haven't tried it yet...

Nonetheless, raising the subs has made all the difference in the world - while I have a large room, there is complete freedom to put the subs wherever I want, so the vertical axis was unchartered territory.

After JL and Audyssey Pro cal, and a slight ELF trim, I noticed the benefit in several areas:

Essentially, before I was considering a third sub to improve the bottom end; now, I am not looking...

Your setup is looking great as always - I wish I had the ability to do more dedicated sound treatments, but the room style and physical configuration, prevent that from happening in any serious way.

I think they are about 24" inches high....

This hobby has taught us it can't hurt to experiment (well, financially it can be painful, but what's a few tens of thousands of dollars in the pursuit of science?...)

Noted a few posts above - 24x20x9

Thanks

At this point I much prefer the wide of the rears - in my set up, perhaps because I was only 5-7 feet away from them, the rears were too obvious at times. The wides are 12-14 feet away, and create a much more enveloping stage, with smoother transition from front to back. Remember, I relocated my "sides" to more of a 120 degree position slightly behind the listening area from their original straight on 90 degree orientation, and this works much better for me. I suppose the wides being where they allow me to push the sides back a bit further, and it really works quite well

I found that angle was more important than full range when it came to wides, though not to say that full range at the right position wouldn't be better. I had the 803's as wides some months ago, but because of the wall unit on the right, they were positioned too far forward to the front - I really didn't like it. Putting the 805's (one on a stand in the bookshelf and one on an existing table on the left side) at the proper angle made a large difference. Since I'm crossing at 80 for film listening, I'm not sure how much more benefit I would experience with full range (though I'd try if I had the room config)

Music is full range

802's might be at 70, have to check again...

Hi Frank

Doing well, hope you are too.

No major changes recently - first post has the updated equipment list; the custom risers for the subs, the McIntosh 7 channel amp, and rearranging my speaker configs were the most recent modifications.

How about you?