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Deadwood II Theater Lives

56K views 230 replies 45 participants last post by  Redd Foxx 
#1 · (Edited)
As of this writing in 2017, it has been two years since we sold the original Deadwood theater (and the house it lived in). And now, Deadwood II lives: a smaller house with a larger theater -- priorities seem about right!

The theater is operational, using all the same kit from the previous, minus the PJ, in-wall surrounds, and the AV7702 Atmos processor which I sold at the time. The 4 Tannoy's are indeed here, on the ceiling, awaiting an Atmos processor yet to be decided. [ETA: Anthem processor installed for Atmos and DTS:X 7.1.4 processing. Link] This ceiling is 2' higher than before, making it easier to hide speakers. Key improvements in the new theater:
1) More space. Room is wider, longer, and taller.
2) Wider screen.
3) A separate “projection booth” gives easy access to the equipment rack and PJ, and removes their noise and heat.
4) Improved isolation from the rest of the house. (Separate wing.)
5) Improved door seals and latch.
6) Improved window plugs.
7) Triple layered walls: original 1/2" sheetrock, 1/2" OSB, 5/8" sheetrock, Green Glue.

The room is quieter from outside noise and virtually inaudible in the house -- can play any time of day or night. Happy wife!









The equipment room. Easy access to all the business ends of the gear and wiring. That's another window plug at the back.









Physical
Room Dims

19.4' L, 17' W, 10' H (3300 cuft)

1’ riser, full width, 7’ deep
Screen mounted 2’ from front wall, 28" above floor

Eyes to screen front row: 115” (9.6’) (53° view angle)
rear row: 176” (14.8’) (36° view angle)
Front row eyes viewing angle to top of screen, 19°

Seating
Pottery Barn
Turner Series, Legacy Dark Caramel
4 armchairs, 1 loveseat, 2 ottomans

Carpet/Pad
Evans Black Collection (division of Shaw) from Carpet One
Pattern: Bended Bough
Color: Chalice (dark gray, gray highlights)
3/8” felt pad

Wall Paint
Limousine Leather, Flat/Matte (black), Home Depot

Lighting/Dimmers
Globe Electric 4” cans.
19 “MR16” LED lamps, 3000°k
Lutron RadioRA2 dimmers, 5 zones

AV System
Projector: JVC DLA RS520

Screen: Stewart 115x49” 2.35 Cima Neve 1.1 gain

Speakers / Positions (az/elev)

L/R Adam Audio S3V, ±32º, 0º (see details)
C Adam Audio S3H, 0º, -7º
Sub Hsu ULS-15 Quad Pack

4 surrounds Legacy Silhouette on-walls
Lss/Rss, ±80º, 11º
Lb/Rb, ±130º, 10º

4 heights Tannoy Di6 DC
Front heights ±47º, 42º
Rear heights ±138º, 39º

7.1 AV Processor: Classé SSP-800
7.1.4 AV Processor: Anthem AVM 60
[Base 7.1 XLR audio outputs from each processor are switched by a Coleman 7.1SW into the amps. See details.]
2-ch subwoofer processor: MiniDisc OpenDRC-AN
5-ch amp: Anthem MCA 50
6-ch amp; Classé CAV 150


Sources

Oppo BDP 93
Oppo UDP 203
DirecTV Genie
Chromecast Ultra
Roku Ultra
Windows 10 PC with Roon for playing stereo and 5.1 rips from CD, SACD, DVD-A, DTS-CD, and LP transcriptions. More in this post.
 

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17
#2 · (Edited)
Door seals and more

My first theater has a nice 300 lb door with Zero Int'l seals. But there were two main problems. 1) Sound leaked. 2) Had to slam it to latch it against the seals. Thud!

This time the theater door is a standard 100 lb solid core slab. Same Zero International 170AA adjustable seals are used for the sides and top. But rather than the ubiquitous “automatic bottom,” am instead using the simple 485A seal attached to the bottom of the door. The seal contacts the threshold and overlaps the side seals, thus preventing gaps that occur with the automatic unit. It's a better seal. [Note to self: Next time use the Zero 870AA instead of the 485A as it allows for adjustment in place in case the door warps. If that happens, my remedy is to adjust to location of the top layer of the wood threshold, which is less convenient.]



3067302


To address the door slamming issue, I searched for a compression latch. The door handle’s latch has a roller bearing that contacts a tapered strike plate, compressing the seals as the latch rotates into the lock position. No slamming needed to get a tight seal. The latch and strike plate are made by Miwa Lock Products, Japan. RSH-001 handle and SKB strike were about $175.







This same door happens to be right where I wanted to put a surround speaker. To solve that I mounted the speaker unit on hinges, and the door has an arm attached that pulls the speaker into position when closed.

Rectangle Wood Flooring Floor Brick


Another kind of door seal, on a much smaller scale, is the PJ port. I took Mr. Erskine's advice and made both sides of the glass accessible from the theater, for cleaning. Here is the frame before paint/installation, seen from the theater side. It holds a piece 8" x 10" optical quality glass (Edmund Optics). Result: no port noise complaint. :rolleyes:

 

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#3 · (Edited)
Acoustic treatments

Ceiling
The ceiling acoustic treatment is divided into 2 halves, front and rear. The rear half has a 2x4 frame that nicely holds 5.5” Roxul batting with a 6” air gap to the ceiling. Beneath the Roxul is a layer of cedar lattice plus landscape fabric. The lattice is screwed to the 2x4 frame.



The front half of the ceiling is covered mostly with 2” absorber panels (there's a 10” gap to the ceiling) except for the fabric panels covering the front height speakers, and a pair of diffusors. The diffusers are modeled after Alphacoustic Difuso type A, which not only looked interesting, but also seemed like a good DIY candidate. I cut up a sheet of 2” rigid foam (Foamular Insulpink), then glued the pieces to a couple sheets of 2’x6’ OSB. The 4x8’ foam panel cost just $29 at HD, so it was worth the experiment. Cuts like butter on a table saw.



Side Walls
Starting from the screen, each side wall starts with a pair of GIK 4A Alpha Diffusors to handle the first reflections of the nearest speaker and center speaker. They have been wrapped in speaker cloth to hide the bare slat edges. Next is a GIK 244 absorber to attenuate the opposite side speaker first reflection.

Completing the side wall are diffusors made from wine barrel staves. A lucky result of living in Oregon wine country. These were discards. :)



The you see the side surround speaker, mounted in an angled baffle. The speakers were located at 80° azimuth rather than the more traditional 90° so as to improve the sense of envelopment.Below is a picture of the Right Rear speaker with the grill removed. That's the KEF 8" coax in there.



The bare wall between the side and rear surrounds will soon be occupied by another DIY diffusor made of wine barrel staves. I am living in Oregon’s Willamette Valley wine country, and am the happy beneficiary of a generous winery who was disposing of said staves.

Above all are three GIK PolyFusors. Just there to kill slap echoes -- but they look cool, too.

Rear Wall
The center of the rear wall has a pair of 2” absorber panels, flanked by another pair of Alpha Diffusors. Aside from the entry door, I made a door for the equipment rack (same dual layer plywood & Green Glue sandwich as the window plugs). It has bronze spring seals all around, which holds the door snug and prevents equipment room noises from intruding. I no longer hear the Apple TV HDD, the Oppo or Sony BD optical drives, the PJ fan, or the PJ's lens wobulator for eShift. Just blissful silence. Now that's acoustic treatment!

Couch Wood Outdoor furniture Flooring Living room


Front wall
The screen sits on a false wall frame 2’ from the wall behind. The space is currently unoccupied except for a pair of subwoofers. I wanted to leave room for more/larger subs if deemed necessary in future.

Other than the 3 window plugs, the only treatment is 2” of Linacoustic covering the entire wall, including the plugs. The screen is surrounded by black velvet panels.
 

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#16 ·
Ceiling
The ceiling acoustic treatment is divided into 2 halves, front and rear. The rear half has a 2x4 frame that nicely holds 5.5” Roxul batting with a 6” air gap to the ceiling. Beneath the Roxul is a layer of cedar lattice plus landscape fabric. The lattice is screwed to the 2x4 frame.



The front half of the ceiling is covered mostly with 2” absorber panels (there's a 10” gap to the ceiling) except for the fabric panels covering the front height speakers, and a pair of diffusors. The diffusers are modeled after Alphacoustic Difuso type A, which not only looked interesting, but also seemed like a good DIY candidate. I cut up a sheet of 2” rigid foam (Foamular Insulpink), then glued the pieces to a couple sheets of 2’x6’ OSB. The 4x8’ foam panel cost just $29 at HD, so it was worth the experiment. Cuts like butter on a table saw.



Side Walls
Starting from the screen, each side wall starts with a pair of GIK 4A Alpha Diffusors to handle the first reflections of the nearest speaker and center speaker. They have been wrapped in speaker cloth to hide the bare slat edges. Next is a GIK 244 absorber to attenuate the opposite side speaker first reflection.

The you see the side surround speaker, mounted in an angled baffle. The speakers were located at 80° azimuth rather than the more traditional 90° so as to improve the sense of envelopment.Below is a picture of the Right Rear speaker with the grill removed. That's the KEF 8" coax in there.



The bare wall between the side and rear surrounds will soon be occupied by another DIY diffusor made of wine barrel staves. I am living in Oregon’s Willamette Valley wine country, and am the happy beneficiary of a generous winery who was disposing of said staves.

Above all are three GIK PolyFusors. Just there to kill slap echoes -- but they look cool, too.

Rear Wall
The center of the rear wall has a pair of 2” absorber panels, flanked by another pair of Alpha Diffusors. Aside from the entry door, I made a door for the equipment rack (same dual layer plywood & Green Glue sandwich as the window plugs). It has bronze spring seals all around, which holds the door snug and prevents equipment room noises from intruding. I no longer hear the Apple TV HDD, the Oppo or Sony BD optical drives, the PJ fan, or the PJ's lens wobulator for eShift. Just blissful silence. Now that's acoustic treatment!




Front wall
The screen sits on a false wall frame 2’ from the wall behind. The space is currently unoccupied except for a pair of subwoofers. I wanted to leave room for more/larger subs if deemed necessary in future.

Other than the 3 window plugs, the only treatment is 2” of Linacoustic covering the entire wall, including the plugs. The screen is surrounded by black velvet panels.


Great looking theater! I was wondering what you used for the wood beams on your ceiling. Are they real or "faux"? I have a steel I-beam running the width of the theater I am going to trim out with wood to give the appearance of a wood beam. I plan on adding a few more across the ceiling for aesthetics. Also, is the cedar lattice for holding the roxul up or is that for appearance/acoustics?

I also really like your color scheme and seats, but won't show my wife as I have her talked into traditional theater seats. :)

Very nice work!

Dave


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#4 · (Edited)
Window plugs

The weakest aspect of the wall system in terms of noise isolation is the windows behind the screen (builder required). I learned that blocking light is easy. Sound, not so much. The 2” fiberglass panels I used before proved that to me.

This time I made plugs with two layers of ¾” plywood and Green Glue. To seal them into the window frames, I attached strips of 3/8” felt underlayment along all the edges (blue in the diagram). When the plug is inserted into the window, the felt folds over the edge, and is squeezed tight. It makes a good seal, and holds the panel in place securely. Can be removed if desired -- no screw holes.





Wood Rectangle Road surface Asphalt Flooring


 

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#199 ·
This time I made plugs with two layers of ¾” plywood and Green Glue. To seal them into the window frames, I attached strips of 3/8” felt underlayment along all the edges (blue in the diagram). When the plug is inserted into the window, the felt folds over the edge, and is squeezed tight. It makes a good seal, and holds the panel in place securely. Can be removed if desired -- no screw holes.








Thank you for the Arc tool mention, glad it is working out for you.



That HT is amazing beyond words !! You have done a fantastic job there, wish I had the space and the time resources for this. And thank you for meticulously sharing the details for most of your work.

Those window plugs caught my attention, and is something I definitely want to try in my room, since I have several large windows behind my projector screen facing the street that is not too far off, and noise always bugs me. I have even been contemplating just stuffing blocks of some Roxul in there before, but it would have never passed WAF .. this might though, since it is removable and not as ugly as my original idea :)

If you don't mind me asking, what is that 1/4" filler that shows up in your picture above ? I don't think I noticed it in those other diagrams you have previously shown of the window plugs ?

Also, if I seeing things well, I see the handles are somewhat propped away from the ply, i.e. mounted to small wooden blocks that attach to the ply. Any specific reason for not having the handles screwed directly to the ply ?
 
#5 · (Edited)
Hvac

This theater has its own ducted mini-split. Loved it in the first theater, love it again here. It's absolutely dead silent. The air handler is in the attic, above the entry hall.

[ETA 9/19] Ideally, the unit and ducting would not be in an attic space that has excessive heat buildup from the sun. I'd like to have better ventilation up there. Or better yet, find a friendlier place to install the unit, perhaps in the room with the rest of the equipment. ;)





The return air passes through the equipment room, thus carrying away excess heat. It's typically around 5-10 degrees warmer in there than the theater.
 

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#8 · (Edited)
Thank you, Tomaz. I hired the carpet installation but did the rest myself. I think that pretty much proves that perfection is not required to make me happy. ;)

I found it valuable to review Norm Varney's checklist to keep the key goals in mind during the design/build process. (He's from Kinetics Noise Control) I cannot say I met every point 100%, but where I departed, I did so knowing the tradeoff.

Norm Varney 15-point checklist
1 Matching center speaker
2 Electrical grounding, routing, connecting
3 Don’t EQ average across all seats
4 Dedicated HVAC
5 Provide adequate noise isolation
6 Provide adequate acoustic treatments
7 Maintain loudspeaker distance
8 Avoid sitting near walls
9 MLP centered between L/R
10 Avoid excessive mid/hi freq absorption; have adequate bass absorption
11 Adequate shell construction for containment
12 Avoid poor distribution room modes
13 Proper screen width for soundstage
14 Proper seat back height
15 Proper subwoofer placement

See Widescreen Review, Issue 203, Jan 2016 for more details.
Download of the article available here.
 
#11 ·
I'm giddy knowing I'll have a chance to visit/hear the new Deadwood II theater!

Roger.......these snippets of information indicate great moments in home theater engineering!:eek:

I'm on my phone sitting on a deck looking at a beautiful lake in Minnesota right now......as soon as I'm back to Oregon I'll give you a call!

I'm really, really looking forward to seeing room!

BTW......nice call on those KEF's! Looking forward to hearing them.....
 
#13 ·
How did you address soundproofing the ventilation system for the minisplit? Or did you bother?
Thanks.

Did not do anything. The sound path from the roof vent through the air handler, then through the feed ducts into the room is enough to kill any sound flow. If there is a loud noise source outside -- like my neighbor's Thursday morning visit from the leaf blower fairy, I can tell it is out there through the window plugs, not the air vents.
 
#15 ·
This is my second PJ, the first being the RS10. This one is appreciably brighter, even on the larger screen, low lamp, with manual aperture set down a few clicks. Quality looks great right out of the bottle in THX mode. But I am sure some tweaking might help cull more shadow detail without graying the inky blacks.

I'd be honored for you to visit!
 
#21 ·
Hi Roger,

Room looks great! I have a question about "7) Triple layered walls: original 1/2" sheetrock, 1/2" OSB, 5/8" sheetrock, Green Glue."

So I know all the debates about doing green glue and double layers and such without going all out with clips and channels. So it seems you didn't do that and are happy with the results! Can you elaborate on your experience a bit and confirm did you use green glue between all layers? I am asking because my new theatre will be upstairs so I think all out with clips wont be worth it but think doing a double or triple layer like you will get me happy enough.

Thanks!
 
#23 ·
I have a question about "7) Triple layered walls: original 1/2" sheetrock, 1/2" OSB, 5/8" sheetrock, Green Glue."

So I know all the debates about doing green glue and double layers and such without going all out with clips and channels. So it seems you didn't do that and are happy with the results! Can you elaborate on your experience a bit and confirm did you use green glue between all layers? I am asking because my new theatre will be upstairs so I think all out with clips wont be worth it but think doing a double or triple layer like you will get me happy enough.
I did indeed apply GG to each of the 2 added layers. 6 of the 5-gal buckets in all.

I based my decisions on the previous room experience. There I did nothing to any surface other than the floor and one side wall (sheetrock and GG), as those contacted living areas, whereas the rest were external walls/roof. This time I wanted to expand the benefit to the whole envelope.

In the new house, before any theater work started, if I hit the sheetrock on the side wall (a strong fist-pound), I could feel the wave as it rolled to the front of the room and came back. Now, with the layers added, it's much more inert. No lingering motion. That's what I was hoping to achieve, to minimize sympathetic vibration from bass, and prevent having that energy come back into the room.

Of course it also reduces sound transmission, but I cannot tell you how that might compare with clips/channels. My understanding is that there's a point in the LF where the benefit of the decoupled wall goes away. In other words, that is not the end-all to isolation either if we are looking at bass leakage outward.

The floor was the weakest point in my first theater. There was a kitchen/living room right below, often wife occupied, and lots of can lights in the ceiling. I added a couple layers of OSB, GG, which helped but was not as much as I wanted. So this new room is on the ground floor of a single story house. Very little common wall.
 
#24 ·
Thanks for the feedback Roger and sharing your new room build!!
 
#27 ·
Hi Roger - amazing job! And even more kudos for having done all the work yourself. I love the way everything is integrated - the treatments, the rack door, the ceiling etc. I especially love that really neat trick you did with the speaker that is behind the door - very clever. Every time I read one of your posts I learn something - you'll be seeing that Norm Varney checklist in my own (UK) build thread soon ;) Best regards, Keith.
 
#30 · (Edited)
How do you know what acoustic devices to put up? Are you a pre and post measurments acoustics person or is this just based on experience and your ears on what works?
Pre-measurements for anything other than bass modes seems pretty useless to me. Not because they are useless to someone skilled in the art, like Nyal or Keith Yates, but because I would not know what to do with that info.

I did no post-build measurements to check for ETC, just basic responses. I do a lot of listening to tune the core bass and L/R "house curve" EQ as that sets the tone for the whole system, then add the center/surrounds once that is accomplished. I let my ears tell me when I arrived, not the REW curves. But REW is an essential tool in the process. It helps me identify problem areas and define PEQ filters to address them.

I applied what I learned in my previous theater, and that acoustic plan was based on things I learned from Toole's book, Erskine's writings and builds, AVS Forum builds, and other observations and experiences in sound rooms over the years. Then I shoot from the hip. :rolleyes:

I do not know if it is the larger room, the stiffer walls, or the differences in the acoustic materials used this time, but after tuning this room to replicate my previous one as much as possible, using mostly the same gear, this room sounds incrementally better to me. Just glad my hearing survived the construction process!
 
#29 · (Edited)
Roger: I really love your new theater. Great job!!! I'm envious of the 10 foot ceilings. My current theater has 8 foot ceiling and most certainly posses some interesting compromises.

Three items: (1) Your door controlled surround speaker placement is an amazing and ingenious piece of engineering. Very clever; (2) Use of a mini split HVAC system was a great idea. I have been struggling with temperature control in my equipment room since the beginning. Unfortunately, the wall of the equipment room faces due west AND has 3 huge windows in it so even without the equipment on but the door closed, it can get really hot in there. I do have an AC vent but the thermostat is in the theater. It would not be on the top of my list but I may re-consider taking the theater and equipment room off of the house AC system and putting in a mini split. Thanks for the idea; and (3) related to the huge windows in my equipment room, I have them all covered with the same 2" pink stuff that you do. My issue is neither light nor noise but HEAT. They still "leak" hot air as I only have tape around the edges. I really like your idea of setting them into the window frame and would like to replicate what you have done. In looking at your diagram I'm not 100% sure what everything is:



I think I know what some of these are but if you could tell me what the letters represent, maybe I can better understand how to build them. I also need some clarity on how you get the material (F?) to wrap around the insert when you put it into place? And where are you screwing the thing into the window?

Thanks ...... and great job.
 

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#31 · (Edited)
I think I know what some of these are but if you could tell me what the letters represent, maybe I can better understand how to build them. I also need some clarity on how you get the material (F?) to wrap around the insert when you put it into place? And where are you screwing the thing into the window?
Thanks, Chuck, for the kind words. I've been admiring your work from afar, and the latest excursion into high excursion Seaton subwoofers has me intrigued. The best bass I've heard thus far was in JapanDave's bunker with 8 subs in an IB system. So palpable and gripping, yet controlled and even tasteful with music. Next week I am hoping to visit Rob Hahn's theater, and I fear that will only reinforce what I am missing on the bass end. Could be a costly trip, but that's why I left room in the front corners for a lot more subwoofer firepower.

Here's the decoder for the diagram:
A/B - 3/4" plywood, GG between
C - air
D - Window casing
E - 3/4" x 1" poplar retainer for the felt (I think I used 3/4" x 1.5", but not critical)
F - 3/8" thick felt strips ~2.5" wide (cut from excess carpet pad with a razor blade tool -- not a box cutter)
G/H - mechanism for casement window, handle removed

For purposes of heat, I see no need for the second layer of plywood (A). I did that for sound isolation. All you need is (B).

The larger piece of plywood (B) was cut 1/2" smaller than the window opening, thus squeezing the 3/8" felt down to 1/4". Even though the picture in Post 4 only shows one edge, the felt strips cover the full perimeter of the panel, with overlaps at the corner, to form a complete seal with no gaps when inserted. The flaps of felt that overhang the panel just fold over the edge when inserted into the window frame.

The finished plug takes a bit of effort to push into position, so I have nothing else fastening them. But you can add L brackets or the like if so desired.
 
#36 ·
This riser is not a bass trap. The previous room had three small vents (2 side, one rear) and the rear corners had the surface removed in what would normally be the footprint of a corner bass trap. Standing atop those openings was a bass capture device of Keith Yates design, made by ASC (of Tube Trap fame). It was maybe 3' tall, filling the space between the riser and the corner mounted rear speaker enclosures. It was much smaller than they preferred, but that was all the space that was available. The idea was to channel bass energy into the riser. Had I discovered the concept of Bass-Q and multiple subs earlier, I think I would have not sought the "acoustic" remedy -- which did not do anything particularly noticeable IIRC.
 
#39 ·
Roger...

I've been staring at the pics of your room for days now...

Love it!! I'm so excited to not only see you coming along with your new room but that you dang well finished it. Holy crap. :D

Absolutely love the layout ;) and nice touches all around. Class act. Genius work with the left rear surround too.

I hope you're enjoying the fruits of your labor. :)
 
#40 ·
Thanks very much, Scott. I wanted to wait until the room was mostly done before starting the thread. Too painful seeing the glacial progress, let alone chronicling it. :p

And indeed, we are enjoying it. Just binge-watched the last 2 seasons of House of Cards -- finally caught up. That show is a joy on the large screen for various reasons, not the least of which is the absence of shaky-cam! Production values are tops. Can't believe how well Netflix streaming works over Android ChromeCast. The new Gaffigan comedy special was great, too. Felt like being there. Hilarious.

Took me about 20 minutes to prefer the JVC's Low setting of Clear Motion Drive. Really helps offset the magnified judder of the large screen without getting weird.

Might get an AVM60 in a month, so will hold off on Hacksaw Ridge until then. My only hesitation is I need a few ms delay for the rear subs, but that unit has no way to do it. We'll see what ARC can do!
 
#46 ·
Nice to see more builds with bass traps in the soffit area.

How are those ceiling diffusers working out for you? This HT is very different from your old one where you had diffusion on all walls and now you have thin absorption instead.

Any plans on moving beyond 7.1.4?
 
#47 ·
How are those ceiling diffusers working out for you?
To be frank, I have no idea. I can certainly attest to the room sounding very different than before installing all the treatments. As to what any of them individually contribute to that result, I cannot say.

This HT is very different from your old one where you had diffusion on all walls and now you have thin absorption instead.
Let's compare and contrast. First, the previous Deadwood:





Deadwood II:


The wine barrel diffusors are not yet installed. Coming soon.



While there are indeed differences between the two rooms, I think I maintained a similar philosophy in the allocation of diffusors and absorbers. In terms of perception of the acoustics (deadness, etc), the rooms seem similar, as best one can recall over time and distance.

Any plans on moving beyond 7.1.4?
Not at the moment. The room already sounds excellent in 7.1 mode. I have yet to get an Atmos processor in the rack, so that comes first. Based on Chuck's suggestion of the MiniDSP to solve the subwoofer tuning, I will probably get the AVM 60. I cannot justify spending any more than that until a 9.1.4 processor comes along with PLIIx. Thus far, that's approximately zero IIRC. ;)
 

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#48 · (Edited)
I noticed in your last post the use of GIK acoustic solutions. All of the acoustics stuff in my room is his as well except for my DIY soffits and DIY front corner traps. - which used to be his and would still be but when I built the space to hide my subs, I made it about 1 inch too small :mad:.

I have been doing business with him (Glenn Kuras) for about 10 years. He is a great guy (based in Atlanta); continues to develop new solutions (most of what you used did not even exist when I built this theater almost 4 years ago); and provides great value .... and his business is growing like crazy. His space has almost tripled since I first visited him (he now has at least two gigantic CNC machines) and he is already grown out of his current space. And, much more importantly, his stuff really works.

I noticed your use of his Polyfusors. 4 theaters ago, and before GIK existed, it was recommend to me to use those on my front side walls, so I had to have them custom built. While these looked very nice, they were stupid expensive ...and I had to leave them in the house when I sold the house. Yet one more example of how technology moves so quickly.

BTW, I love your DIY wine barrel stave diffusors. Very clever!! The whole theater is very well done.

When do you think you will select a processor?
 
#49 ·
I noticed in your last post the use of GIK acoustic solutions.
Yes. They were cost effective, and I liked how the Spot Panels have rigid wood frames, so they are perfect for hanging horizontally on the ceiling intermixed with my diffusors and speaker grills -- no sags.

There is not a stitch of GOM in my room. Not that it matters, just a fun fact. :)

BTW, I love your DIY wine barrel stave diffusors. Very clever!! The whole theater is very well done.
Thanks. I just call them diffusors because of their varying curved surfaces. Even without anything on that wall, I'm not hearing any particular reflection problems in the rear row, though I do not spend a lot of time back there. They should break up the reflections from the surrounds on the opposite wall.

When do you think you will select a processor?
By the end of July.
 
#57 ·
While room II is twice the cubic volume of room I, they sound more similar than they look. The sound is as tightly focussed as before, but the greater scale of the larger room is somehow perceivable. Feels a bit more relaxed and open, if that makes any sense.
 
#61 · (Edited)
Hi Joakim,

I did some experiments with rear surrounds in the previous Deadwood, I played just stereo content for this test. I felt that the 150º locations bunched up the stereo effect more than I liked. It was difficult to feel the stereo spread -- more like big mono. So I went with 140º which sounded good -- easier to distinguish the directional cues from each rear speaker.

In the current room I could not quite maintain the 140º angle, and I really wanted to avoid putting speakers right behind people in the rear seats. So now they are at 130º. I have tried the Dolby helicopter test and some other circular pans, and there's no problem getting the desired sense of rear effects vs the side.

Back wall to rear ears is 34" (86 cm).
 
#62 ·
I have my rear surrounds at 142.5º angle and it works great. I couldn't do the 140º angle due to a window.
 
#65 · (Edited)
I hope this helps. It's my CAD diagram. The 8"x10" glass is angled in its separate hinged frame to prevent reflection back into the lens. The flared design accommodates the PJ being mounted slightly above the top edge of the screen. It could have been a normal rectangular frame rather than the angled bottom, but then it could not be hinged as it is.

For scale, the frame is made of 3/4" thick material, and the glass is 8" tall.



Rectangle Font Slope Parallel Basketball hoop


ETA: Note there is an error in the animation. The top/bottom pieces (yellow) are actually part of the moving window frame, so they would normally rotate along with the side pieces. But you get the idea. ;)
 

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