BrolicBeast's Living Room Theater - Page 43

Happy New Year! man.....Yeah, it was sheer excellence! I was quite pleased!!!

'Twas quite the welcome surprise man...I was grinninng for a good 10 minutes straight last night!

COS(+1*TAN45)

Hey, Happy New Year to you too Frank! I wish you and your family the best in 2013. What's Australia's iconic New Years celebration? Here in the states, we watch a giant ball descend a vertical rail atop the Empire State Building in New York. I'd love to hear an international practice!

Happy Hsu Year to you, Al! I hope this new year brings you and your system much enjoyment!

Greeting JT! Happy New Year man...I feel that 2013 shall be a superb year for us all.

Happy New Year Al! What's France's major New Year celebration? Ah, excellent.....the full 5.1 is coming. Which center model will you be getting?

Nice!! Hey Al, is the tv mount on the back of your rack detachable? Or will you have to get a new rack once you go the projector route?

Sir Mike, Protector of the Sylvanian Vale! Thanks man, I would like to wish you best in 2013 and I hope that thy crowsons continue to rattle thine seats for years to come!

Hey Prepress, thanks a lot for this! Man, talking about drama...Sat night when I went to sell my projector, we tested it and the lamp wouldn't arc. Apparently, the bulb got damaged somehow in the drive to Fairfax and I almost didn't have a sale. Thankfully, the buyer had a damaged RS40 lying and he was able to put his old bulb into my projector and everything tested perfectly. *whew*...If he hadn't had the extra bulb, I would have completely lost the sale + the $300 cost of a new bulb. Close call.


Excellent! I'm not a fan of large events and crowds, so New Year's Day in Western Australia sounds...well...PERFECT!!! (except for the drunken brawling in the city, of course).


That's right darlin' ...lol....we have to snap some photos of your Oppo-based two-channel rig to post here on the wonderful WYSC forum! These great guys are why I am always on my phone/tablet/computer.
Edited by BrolicBeast - 1/2/13 at 10:53am

You are correct indeed. My Crowson transducers will be arriving tomorrow. Two of them! The Behringer iNukeDSP amplifier and all associated wiring (substantial need for a variety of adapters) are already set up and ready, so all I need to do is plug and play. Thanks for the tip on the volume, because I may have actually tried turning the gain up high right out of the gate. You might have just saved me some Crowson overload damage. Since the theater is currently devoid of speakers, except for subwoofers, that kind of makes it easy to dial the Crowsons in sync with the subwoofers. Soon, I will know what has you and craig john this enthused! I’ve never personally experienced a “bass shaker” before, although I did experience D-Box back in 2006 and found it’s price:function ratio to be severely wanting. Thankfully, I’m familiar with the concept of “bass shakers” and I know that the effect is far more seamless! I am quite excited.

My first movie with the Crowsons will be The Dark Knight Rises, once the RS56 and new speakers are up and running. Although I’ve seen it already, it’s absolute reference and must be re-watched with the transducers!!! Honestly, I would love to make this inaugural night (will also be the first movie I watch with the new speakers and the RS56) an AVS movie night, but I’m hesitant because everyone is spread across so many states…well, that, and the fact that in my townhouse development, visitors parking is about 3/4ths of a city-block away from my house

Ah....the eternal cost of HT. Are you running rca or xlr interconnects?

Thanks man...i'm glad to know you'd be willing. I'll definitely let you know If I end up having one! Lol.....I'm also anxiously waiting to see which speaker direction I take. I love the Legacys, and the Cat-12's are still a possibility, but Wabo, OhYeah, and Jslaw's setups have me also considering Martin Logans now as well.

Lol....she has indeed been welcomed, and she shall soon find herself sucked in by the allure of "the next best" piece of gear.

Ahhhh...Tron is a bass wonderland! Man......I will definitely be testing that out as well! My behringer amp is 1000w (500/channel) btw. My Crowsons just arrived and I'm going to try to record the installation steps.

Cool man, I'll definitely let you know! You're building a dedicated room? Or multi-purpose? That's an exciting prospect!

Yezzir! But, when all is said and done, for over $12k, my speakers need to look like furniture too. Lol.

Crowson Tactile Transducer (Shadow 8) Impressions

Ladies and gentlemen,

My Crowson Transducers have arrived and have been installed under my theater seats (along with the isolators--the installation of which was quite difficult with my particular "under-the-seat" architecture. I am highly impressed.

The initial installation had me severely underwhelmed, as--unbeknownst to me at the time--my amplifier simply was not setup correctly. So after the initial disappointment, I connected my laptop to my Behringer iNuke1000DSP amplifier via USB cable [***hint-hint, Lumagen***]. The Behringer amplifier dedicated to the actuators, and once connected, I began tweaking with the settings. I was able to modify delay, crossover, Low Pass Filter, and the type of LPF. The manual says to start the LPF setting at 300Hz and work your way down until you reach a level of comfort. I began at the opposite end of the spectrum and started with a 40Hz LPF, which turned out to be too low for my tastes. I've been raising it little by little (while updating the Oppo's crossover settings as well, since it is the signal source) and am currently at 80Hz. I'm sure this number will change soon. I used the Pod Emergence Scene from War of the Worlds and the Plane Crash scene from Flight of the Phoenix to help set my amplifier output adequately. The gain ended up being about half way across the dial (approximately 15\30 notches. Finalizing these settings really brought out the Crowsons' best performance! The Crowson Transducers are the real deal. Believe it or not, they add an extra dimension to audible enjoyment that I had never experienced. The vibration response is very tight and will respond to bass signals just as quickly as your subwoofer will in, not only signal reproduction, bit also in signal intensity reproduction. One thing that a guest pointed out was that "there are differing levels of vibration." That's right--these transducers vibrate at a 1:1 ratio with the intensity of the bass onscreen. For those with less-than-stellar subwoofers, you can simply modify the delay settings to match your existing subwoofer response. These actuators have no issue translating and delivering cheek-penetrating LFE signals to the buttocks and arms at any levels your amplifier can handle. no matter your height or weight, these actuators deliver.

Also, if anybody is considering a subwoofer upgrade, I would strongly suggest trying a Crowson transducer system before spending the $ on a new sub. For testing purposes, turned off my Submersives and popped in my old Emotiva Ultra Sub12, and the effect was still remarkable. Now, good bass reproduction is still an essential part of any theater, but these Crowsons can make sure you get every single ounce of "perceived" performance out of your current setup.

I'd also like to add that anybody with a basic understanding of crossovers can set up a Crowson Transducer nicely. To truly dial it in,having more than one person and a deeper understanding of some audio fundamentals can go a long way, although they are not necessary to offer a great experience.

Associated Connections:

• Signal Source: Oppo BDP 105 [Analog Subwoofer Output serves as LFE signal source for unaltered bass signal]
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  Feeds:
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• Power Source: Behringer iNuke1000DSP [Running in Bridged Mode, providing approximately 650w to the 8 Ohm Crowsons--capable of 1000 total watts for previous crowson 6 Ohm models)
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  Feeds:
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• Output Device: Crowson Shadow-8 Tactile Transducer (2).

Crowson Tactile Effects System (TES) Unboxing

This Crowson TES will change your life!!

You know, it's funny.....my amp has a total output of 1000w (500wpc) for 2 ohm speakers! For 8 ohm devices, it's total output is at around 650wpc, which gives it about 325wpc, which, of course, is plenty for a bass shaker. I had to switch from dual mono to bridged mode, because in dual mono, the amp was only shooting 168wpc to 8ohms (which my Crowsons are.).

Lol@the amp going to "11.". That is tempting! Btw, your advice on starting low might have saved me quite a bit of money, as I know for sure that I definitely don't need full volume for these monsters and starting at Max would have fried the Crowson, the amp, or both!!, man I like it with a fairly high LPG setting...in TDKR (only demoed so,e scenes on secondary screen since I'm still awaiting projector delivery) when the bat plane swoops down in front of the "tumblers".....wow! Party under my pants!

Thanks guys! I can honestly say that If I had discovered Crowsons back when I had my SVS PB-13 Ultra, I might not have upgraded to the Submersives. that being said, I'm VERY happy that I did upgrade. Al and Frank, you've got to try them! Mike, I think I need to watch the full TDKR blu ray again. I used some demo scenes along with some from WotW scenes to fine-tune, but I won't be watching a full movie until next weekend. yeah the full 500wpc definitely explains the "3" setting on your amp..do your seats share a transducer the way Craig's are setup? I'm already looking at getting another Transducer for my 3rd seat (right now, only my left and middle seats are served.)

Strangely, I find that my "placeholder" Infinity Primus speakers are quite good...not great, but good....and I can definitely live with them until my speaker upgrade is a reality. I'll be demoing the Legacy speakers this weekend, however, my options are still open. Cat-12C's are still an option, and If i can snag some 802D's at a great price....