[ckolchak]

was upgrading my projector .


this new one is just whisper quiet compared to my old one that i can now finally, truly appreciate all the money i spent upgrading my audio comonents last year.

the other huge benefit to this new projector is its superb 3D reform feature.

since i can't use a ceiling mount in my room, the projector has always hogged the sweet spot, forcing all the seating off-axis.

it's been very hard to get satisfying speaker placement with this kind of set-up.

but with this new pj, i can kick it off to the side and still project a geometrically perfect image.

what a sweet difference this makes!


i thought i had really screwed up before when i added the carpeting to the walls, because imaging appeared so much degraded.

i think now that maybe i just limited the listening 'cone' 'cause in the sweet spot i no longer have any problems.

imaging is spot on, soundstage is airy and spacious, and my dvds have never sounded better.


in fact, i think this may have made a bigger difference than if i had went with my original upgrade strategy which was to replace all wire and connections with premium Monsterâ„¢ cables!

i think i ended up spending about the same either way

 

[Frank Zimkas]

Hmmm, nice "tweek". The best I could do was to spend $3.50 for some rubber door stops to slightly angle the center speaker downward. Cheap but highly effective. I think I like your tweek a bit better though.

 

[ckolchak]

Frank,

since my center speaker sits below the screen, and about a foot below the L & R speakers, i made my original center speaker stand with a 10 degree angle up.

i just re-did them, and decided to increase that angle to 15 degrees.

boy, did i get a huge shock.

imaging was awful!

after experimenting i found, by far, the best angle to use was actually NO angle.

w/out the speaker angled, imaging in all directions is now perfect- i was especially happy to see that the transparency i originally bought these speakers for, had returned, and the soundstage has a much more cohesive feel.

i'm also finding that i don't really need to toe these speakers in as much as i was inclinded to do earlier.

maybe 5 degrees in if that.


the projector is only what i would consider a mild upgrade over what i had before image-wise, but the features like its keystoning ability, and its operational noise level, really make sitting down to watch material now sooooo much more enjoyable.

my volume setting on the reviever with the old pj used to fluctuate between -12 and -8 levels.

now i'm setting it anywhere from -20 to -12.

since i do almost all my HT'ing at night, this is also a huge benefit.

 

[Gig103]

What is your new projector, and how did you get it off center w/o affecting your image? I am in the same position (no ceiling mount) and use a Sharp 10000U

 

[ckolchak]

Mike,

if i'd had the budget for it, i would have seriously looked into the Sharp. Darinp seems quite fond of his.

The Marantz looks to be a nice one too.

best i could do was the HT1000.

Quote:

how did you get it off center w/o affecting your image?

it has an excellant 3D reform feature.

i would say my pj is close to 40 degrees off the center and i'm still able to achieve perfect geometry.

i can't see any negative effects on the image either.

i hadn't even given this feature much thought until the day or two before it came in, and then i just tried it out of curiosity. needless to say, i'm going to be redesigning my room layout now around this new placement.

 

[Michael4JBL]

Rubber doorstops! Thats it! The perfect solution to my center channel that is 6 feet in the air on top of my 65" RPTV. Thanks a million Frank.

 

[Gig103]

Can offcenter projection be done on the Sharp10k, like ckolchak did with his HT1000 ???

Quote:

it has an excellant 3D reform feature. i would say my pj is close to 40 degrees off the center and i'm still able to achieve perfect geometry. i can't see any negative effects on the image either. i hadn't even given this feature much thought until the day or two before it came in, and then i just tried it out of curiosity. needless to say, i'm going to be redesigning my room layout now around this new placement.

 

[Iguana Man]

The best tweak I've managed was 1) Toe in on my mains. 2) Raise my center so it is now immediately below my screen and almost perfectly level with the mids/tweeters of my floorstanders and 3) Calibrate with the Rat-Shack SPL meter.


And the best non-speaker tweak I've done is to use those large black leaf bags (for lawn cleanup) over my windows for complete light control. The "lite-tight" blinds I got work well, but not as good as advertised.

 

[Frank Zimkas]

Performed another tweek today...REAL Expensive too! I stopped by a local Marble and Granite supplier and picked up a 14"x18"x1.5" slab of polished granite. I set my sub on it to isolate it from the floor and it made a tremendous difference!


Cost?














$10!

 

[Iguana Man]

Quote:

Originally posted by Frank Zimkas Performed another tweek today...REAL Expensive too! I stopped by a local Marble and Granite supplier and picked up a 14"x18"x1.5" slab of polished granite. I set my sub on it to isolate it from the floor and it made a tremendous difference! Cost? $10!

Really ? You got me interested in this Frank. What are your thoughts given my situation: heavy carpeting with decent padding under it, Velodyne SPL1200 ? What can I expect ? And more specifically, what exactly was the "tremendous difference" you noticed?

 

[Frank Zimkas]

Well the low end is now cleaner than when the sub was sitting directly on the floor, which is over a crawl space. After placing the sub on the granite slab I went back through my Room Resonance settings on my Anthem AVM-20 and found that I no longer had a spike in the 27-40hz range. The overall responce is now alot flatter without having to filter the low-end as much.


I also have decent padding and carpeting, but having a 50lb sub on the floor really caused a lot vibration. The walls still shake win I crank up the volume, but the room dosen't feel like its going to fall apart anymore.

Give it a shot and let me know how it works out for ya.

 

[Iguana Man]

Quote:

Originally posted by Frank Zimkas Well the low end is now cleaner than when the sub was sitting directly on the floor, which is over a crawl space. After placing the sub on the granite slab I went back through my Room Resonance settings on my Anthem AVM-20 and found that I no longer had a spike in the 27-40hz range. The overall responce is now alot flatter without having to filter the low-end as much.

I've got a crawl space under my room too. I also have some heavy humps around ~40 & ~65Hz. If I have time this weekend, I'm getting stoned! OOPS, I mean....get some stone.

 

[Frank Zimkas]

Iguana Man,

Did you get "Stoned" yet?

 

[Iguana Man]

Quote:

Originally posted by Frank Zimkas Iguana Man, Did you get "Stoned" yet?

I just knew I shouldn't have done that play on words !!


Actually, I've got a lot on my plate right now...my Dad passed away a few months ago, and I've been busting my hump every weekend trying to get his house cleaned out, get a serious mold problem remediated, sell it, etc, etc.....


However, I promise you I will get....uhhh, well, you know, "stoned" soon. Thanks for reminding me , I really DO want to try it out.

 

[Frank Zimkas]

Sorry to hear about your dad. Obviously you've got more important things to take care of.

 

[Iguana Man]

Quote:

Originally posted by Frank Zimkas Sorry to hear about your dad. Obviously you've got more important things to take care of.

Thanks man, but now that you've reminded me of this tweak, I'm curious what the differences would be using varying thicknesses of granite. For instance, would there be a difference in the bass using a slab 1.5" thick vs. 3" thick ???

 

[Frank Zimkas]

Good question, but I really don't have a good answer for ya. The thickest piece that I could easily get my grubby mitts on was 1.5", and its plenty stout! I would guess that thicker would be better but I really don't know if 3" would be twice as good just because it's twice as thick. Make sense?

 

[Iguana Man]

Quote:

Originally posted by Frank Zimkas Good question, but I really don't have a good answer for ya. The thickest piece that I could easily get my grubby mitts on was 1.5", and its plenty stout! I would guess that thicker would be better but I really don't know if 3" would be twice as good just because it's twice as thick. Make sense?

Well then, I guess I'll have to spend twice as much as you and find out.

 

[Frank Zimkas]

Quote:

Originally posted by Iguana Man Well then, I guess I'll have to spend twice as much as you and find out.

Damn! Where did you get that kinda cash?!?

 

[Yosh70]

Sounds like something I'd be very interested in as well....I will try it out.