Home Theatre systems

[Sox]

Originally Posted by rednose

Thanks Shav, unfortunately I'm in Sydney.

Is your contact Davide from DLS?

He told me Midis for Right, Left and Rears and an XL for the Centre would be perfect for my room.

Still have about 6-12 months before I move into the house so will do some more research

Currently have Krix Lyrix and Centrix up front and Krix Apex for rears, 10 years old but still work well

Cheers,

George

I can help you out here if you want, I have a lot of contacts.

Can PM more details with room size, budget, etc.

[rednose]

Originally Posted by blueoval

Hi George, yes it was Davide. He's a very knowledgeable guy and knows his DLS products.

Definitely do your research, you have to be happy with the purchase at the end of the day.

Krix stuff is pretty good and I am not surprised that its still going strong to this day.

As far as I am concerned though, my DLS speakers are probably one of the best wall mounted speaker on the market for what I wanted in terms of all round clarity and value. The mid range is very punchy but not intrusive, and it is backed up by a decent sub to tie it all off. Originally I wanted B&W in wall speakers which were better again in the higher DB levels offering excellent crispness, but at double the price range of the DLS speakers, it meant I had to compromise in other areas of the room due to my budget.

As I mentioned before, my design brief entailed as much clarity, and precision as possible when hearing sounds like gun shots, breaking glass, crashes etc. The speakers also had to look like they belong in the room. Being wall mounted I was concerned about the appearance in if they will suit the room and still perform.

I had a minimalistic approach to the home theatre, I wanted it to look crisp and clean but stated and uncluttered, yet able to punch out some seriously clear sound at any DB level. Heavy bass was not on the agenda, but it had to be there to pick up the areas of sound tracks in movies as well as musical environments. The sub I have has been chosen, professionally fitted into a custom box and carefully tuned to capture the lower DB sounds just enough to not be prominent but definitely know its there when required.

I know I could get even better again, but for what I paid, I am very happy with the performance this system offers.

Thanks Shav,

Will be dealing with Davide when ready, i'll probably go XL LCR and MIDI for the rears.

Cheers

[BLU-220]

this is my equipment it's all in a small lounge room but when i buy my own house then i will build a dedicated home theatre room with jvc DLA projector & 140" screen
i have been a hi fi buff for the last 20 years

LG 60" rear projection tv
infinity sm155 300wrms
infinity sm video 170wrms
infinity sm 125 200wrms
definitive technology powerfield 15" active sub
parasound halo c2 controller
parasound hca-2205a 220w x5 power amp
denon dvd-3910 dvd player
kenwood kt-593 tuner
topfield tf7000hdpvrt hd set top box
audioquest midnight 3 speaker cables [front]
audioquest crystal [centre & rear ]
audioquest ruby 2 [interconnects ]

i've had the infinity sm speakers for over 15 years still going strong, the rest brought in the last 5 years







all jammed in a small lounge room [ 2br unit ]




when i had it in the old house that i was renting it was pretty loud great for rock music which i like the most

cheers Dean

[rednose]

Originally Posted by Sox

I can help you out here if you want, I have a lot of contacts.

Can PM more details with room size, budget, etc.

Thanks mate, where in Sydney are you based?

George.

[Outbackjack]

Originally Posted by ntguy

Lovely Speakers, not sure if I could ever justify the 42k......

http://www.equinoxaudio.com.au/speakers/galaxy.html

You dont have to spend that much. I listened to many high end speakers and to be honest none of them were as good as the Martin Logans...

http://www.tivolihifi.com/product/fl...eries-speakers

They seem to be coming down in price... They take at least 70 hours to "run in" and mine are probably getting close to that... I can hear them improving every hour. They represent very good value for $$

[Noddy]

Originally Posted by Sox

Thanks for the kind words.

As for the acoustic stuff.

The foam on the front wall is scrap foam I had for years, probably just a mattress kind of foam, and most likely not ideal for acoustics, but when it's 200mm thick, then it's more than enough.
On top of that is 32lbs/ft rigid fiberglass paneling at 100mm thick.
So the front wall has 300mm of acoustic treatment, in a nutshell the wall doesn't exist acoustically, close to anechoic.

The ceiling has the same 100mm rigid fiberglass on a grid, with a 100mm air gap, I guess this would be semi anechoic.

The side walls have 50mm Dunlop foam - AA29-400. This is the same stuff most commercial studios use on the walls. And the cheap-ish bass traps found on Ebay etc.
It's perhaps not the very best material for this purpose, but it's very good, and sensibly priced.

The back wall just has a mish-mash of scrap foam for the moment.

Bass traps are also currently a mish mash of the Dunlop foam mentioned above.

Ultimately I'm aiming for the 50mm Dunlop foam all the way down the side walls, and probably 100mm on the back wall.

The bass traps will also be quite different, basically a large column in all 4 corners, made from a lightweight timber frame, filled with high density fiberglass or cotton, held in with mesh and covered in a fabric.

3 more hollow columns will exist down the side walls, and tuned as need.

A bulk head mad the same way as the columns, and also tuned as required.


The equipment is only one part of the puzzle, extensive room treatments are what make a system work to it's full potential.

Fair enough. I'm in the midst of a room upgrade at the moment. Updated the receiver to a marantz sr7008 which literally got rid of a third of the cabling at the rear of the rack.lol Also running wides now so it's a 9.3 speaker setup.

I'm a little dissapointed that neo x and dsx has been dumped by Dolby in less than 12 mths for Atmos. I didn't think Atmos would be in home avr's for a yr or two but most avr's brands will have Atmos by Xmas. I think the first generation are probably worth missing anyway due to the way these have been rushed to market.

Hopefully DTS will have their new sound formats in the second gen avrs to

The reason I enquired about your acoustic treatment is I'm also tackling this area of my room while it's in pieces. I've got eight soon to be ten hf panels for first reflections, a couple for the ceiling. They are 75mm thick.

Now the last couple weeks I've been researching bass trapping, I've also done some FR sweeps and rt60 measurements using a mini dsp mic and some software. I have some fairly deep nulls in a couple of my seating positions, one at 50hz is 25db. Some of the commercial traps will have an affect on this frequency not many and they are pretty expensive. So I will either make my own following commercial designs which have proven results or just bite the bullet buy some. Anyway I keep you updated on how I go.

[Sox]

Originally Posted by Noddy

Fair enough. I'm in the midst of a room upgrade at the moment. Updated the receiver to a marantz sr7008 which literally got rid of a third of the cabling at the rear of the rack.lol Also running wides now so it's a 9.3 speaker setup.

I'm a little dissapointed that neo x and dsx has been dumped by Dolby in less than 12 mths for Atmos. I didn't think Atmos would be in home avr's for a yr or two but most avr's brands will have Atmos by Xmas. I think the first generation are probably worth missing anyway due to the way these have been rushed to market.

Hopefully DTS will have their new sound formats in the second gen avrs to

Don't sweat on the formats, it's a nightmare.

Just be happy with what works in your system and don't get too caught up in trying to keep up, the differences are too small.

The reason I enquired about your acoustic treatment is I'm also tackling this area of my room while it's in pieces. I've got eight soon to be ten hf panels for first reflections, a couple for the ceiling. They are 75mm thick.

That's not a bad start.
The key to room treatments is, you can't have enough, the sound just keeps improving as you fill it.

Now the last couple weeks I've been researching bass trapping, I've also done some FR sweeps and rt60 measurements using a mini dsp mic and some software. I have some fairly deep nulls in a couple of my seating positions, one at 50hz is 25db.

That's a pretty big null, but at least not really low.
I have a null of ~20dB at around 40Hz.

Another important thing to remember is, nulls are easier to live with than peaks.

Nulls of 20dB can go unnoticed to some people, but peak of as little as 6dB can be offensive to most people.

Some of the commercial traps will have an affect on this frequency not many and they are pretty expensive. So I will either make my own following commercial designs which have proven results or just bite the bullet buy some. Anyway I keep you updated on how I go.

Commercial products work ok, but as you say, DIY can go further.
Another tip is to not chase perfection, as you have no hope in getting it and you'll rip your hair out trying.
If you improve a 25dB null to say 10dB, and reduce the width, you've done very well.

Also, bass traps need to be large to be effective.

I like this guys work, and I'll be making mine similar.

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/bass-...absorbers.html

[rednose]

Another speaker I am looking at is the Krix Ecliptix.

Has anyone heard anything about these, good or bad?

http://www.krix.com.au/home-entertai.../ecliptix.html

Also what other flushmount speakers do you guys recommend?

.

[Ford_The_Win]

As much as I would love a nice surround sound setup (and there are some phenomenal setups in this thread!) this is my 'home theatre system' Sharp boom box from 1983, still sounds good and plays music from my phone through two rca plugs at the back. Quite a hefty thing even without the optional 4 x 'D' cell batteries required to make it portable... it can even run off a car cigarette lighter for those without the luxury of radio cassette in their vehicle...how technology has changed!

[Sox]

Originally Posted by rednose

Another speaker I am looking at is the Krix Ecliptix.

Has anyone heard anything about these, good or bad?

http://www.krix.com.au/home-entertai.../ecliptix.html

Also what other flushmount speakers do you guys recommend?

.

Krix make nice gear, I'm sure they'd be very good.

[duaned]

Originally Posted by AU2GHIA

image

cheers Dean

Looks like you have your centre speaker upside down!

For what it's worth here is a pic of my centre! (grill off)

[blueoval]

Krix are an excellent brand. I was going to look into those prior to going my DLS speakers.

[jimt3te50]

Just had the gear for my theatre upgrade come in, so spending the next few weeks getting it all installed.

I've always been an enthusiast but sold all my good gear a few years back to make way for my wife's home studio for photography. Cut to 18 months ago and we bought a new house which came with a fully furnished and equipped home theatre.

If featured an Onkyo receiver, an Epson full HD projector, screen technics 100" 16:9 screen, full 7.1 Accusound speaker setup, tiered floor and 8 home theatre recliners. Being WA, all houses here are double brick so no real acoustic treatments, but had full block out blinds, theatre lighting and a pretty good bar. The room is 5.5m wide by 6.5m deep plus the bar of 2m x 3m off to the right of the screen.

Anyway, I changed out the Onkyo for my Denon 4311 as soon as we moved in, which I thought was a big step up.

But, my big thing for the last few years has been moving to an anamorphic setup.

So now I have a 160" 2.40:1 curved acoustically transparent screen with a JVC X700 dla 4k projector, a Panamorph anamorphic lens on a custom made automated sled, still the Denon 4311 but 3 x Vincent SPT800 mono block amps powering two Krix Neuphonix mains and a Krix Epicentrix centre, all behind the screen with the balance of the four Krix Dynamix surrounds powered by the Denon. Running one Krix Volcanix sub.

I'll be keeping it 7.1 but upgrading the receiver in a few months to run an Atmos 7.1.4 system toward the end of the year.

The walls are all copping acoustic tiles and I'll float a suspended acoustic ceiling as well.

I'm a cabinet maker by trade so the next few weeks will be custom building all of the cabinetry to house it all.

This is probably the most excited I've been about this for a while. Can't wait to get you guys some photos, there's some inspiring systems in here.

Also got a Bose V35 on our everyday 65" Panasonic VT plasma in our main living area, but I don't think that will impress anyone who actually cares about their systems, BUT it fits the bill for wife friendly aesthetics and operation and does make watching general TV and movies on foxtel just that bit more bearable!

I'm big on Sonos too, I have this everywhere and I love it. I've got 7 zones all up now and three of their subs, with one in our alfresco which our neighbours love everything in the house (Sonos wise) is B&W and sounds great. But Sonos just rocks, I've had it for six years now and it's the ants pants hey... Anyone else running Sonos?

[graphicgoose]

Sounds like the new system will be killer Jim. And how good is Sonos! I used to with at West Coast HiFi and was a big fan of the Sonos using B&W CM series speakers at the time. When I buy/build my own place I'll be filling it with Sonos gear for sure.

[blueoval]

That setup sounds epic Jim. Cant wait to see the finished product.

[rednose]

Should be an awesome setup Jim, looks like your not mucking about.

Pics asap please...lol

[jimt3te50]

Thanks fellas- been a bit of a long process compiling the gear, as I said going to a no-compromise anamorphic setup has been the big goal. True home cinema.

Anyway, grabbed a few candid pics of the current setup. I've got the big screen in there on a couple of chairs to get an idea of the throw etc. behind that screen is the 100" we currently use. To put it into perspective, the new screen you can see is 3.85m long. It's a big bugger. Shame all those new speakers won't be seen behind it but pretty good too!

Anyway, out with the old (and we'll wait for the new)

[blueoval]

That's a killer setup mate. Can only imagine what the new setup will be like. Spiderman approves I hope.

[graphicgoose]

That's a rad setup Jim! Love the random Spiderman inclusion haha!

[jimt3te50]

He's not random man, he's part of the family. My sister bought him for me about 12 years ago. He's always had the best seat in the house. No joke, he's developed a personality- my missus hates him because there's not too many places you can put him that aren't in the way but the kids just love him, they drag him down and beat him up, jump on him and have a fat time!

He's pretty awesome.

I'm picking up the rest of my gear today and tomorrow so pretty excited!

[graphicgoose]

Hahaha that's awesome Jim!

[rednose]

Wow !!!

[jimt3te50]

And in with the new credit card's still smoking...

[Gambit]

You don't mess around with your sound setups dude wether it's at home or in the car! Nice work. Good to see spidey looks comfy

[Noddy]

Hey Jim, glad to see your HT take shape. Nice buy with the krix gear, my inlaws have a pair of neuphonix mains. Heavy sob's! They are so capable, two channel or HT they just shine. The room looks killer!

I've been busy with a little project. I was chatting to Sox about bass trapping and did some research on gearslutz.com. Decided to build my own and have had simply stunning results. So Jim definitely look into this, it has easily been the best & cheapest upgrade I have ever done. Room acoustics are very important if you want to truly hear your speakers and not your room.

These are some pics of the traps assembled but yet to be covered with material.
The frames are from ikea which I painted black, put them on castors and filled the with autex 48kg 100mm polyester acoustic batts. I built six of them.

[Noddy]

Hey Jim, glad to see your HT take shape. Nice buy with the krix gear, my inlaws have a pair of neuphonix mains. Heavy sob's! They are so capable, two channel or HT they just shine. The room looks killer!

I've been busy with a little project. I was chatting to Sox about bass trapping and did some research on gearslutz.com. Decided to build my own and have had simply stunning results. So Jim definitely look into this, it has easily been the best & cheapest upgrade I have ever done. Room acoustics are very important if you want to truly hear your speakers and not your room.

These are some pics of the traps assembled but yet to be covered with material.
The frames are from ikea which I painted black, put them on castors and filled the with autex 48kg 100mm polyester acoustic batts. I built six of them.
They measure 2200cmx300cmx420cm and fill the corner nicely with one panel of poly fitting perfectly into the frames.

[graphicgoose]

Working with what i got in my current rental, but here's my theatre system as it currently stands. Had my new sofa rock up today, almost a 3 and a half seater leather jobbie with electric recliners (the middle seat included). Will upgrade the tv to a 55+ inch LED at some point in the not too distant future, but this 37" has been serving me well in the meanwhile.

[strobe]

I'm after some advice, I've picked up a cheap soniq tv for the shed, and also scored a set of monitor audio bronze 2 speakers. Would it be worth picking up a cheap receiver to hook these speakers up? If so what should I be looking for? Or would a cheap soundbar type set up be a better option?
I'm not overly interested in spending more than a couple of hundred bucks, as it's not something that's going to be used that frequently.

[Sox]

Originally Posted by strobe

I'm after some advice, I've picked up a cheap soniq tv for the shed, and also scored a set of monitor audio bronze 2 speakers. Would it be worth picking up a cheap receiver to hook these speakers up? If so what should I be looking for? Or would a cheap soundbar type set up be a better option?
I'm not overly interested in spending more than a couple of hundred bucks, as it's not something that's going to be used that frequently.

Considering you already have speakers, a cheap AVR makes sense.

I have a couple on Gumtree, send me a PM if you're interested.

[jimt3te50]

Originally Posted by graphicgoose

Working with what i got in my current rental, but here's my theatre system as it currently stands. Had my new sofa rock up today, almost a 3 and a half seater leather jobbie with electric recliners (the middle seat included). Will upgrade the tv to a 55+ inch LED at some point in the not too distant future, but this 37" has been serving me well in the meanwhile.

image

image

I had the exact same Focal's back when I sold all my gear a few years back, they were absolutely awesome Dan. I really miss them to be honest. They turned out to be a good investment though, I sold them as soon as I listed them and got near on my money back.

It's like with photography- you spend the best part of your budget on great lenses as they make the biggest difference and they are always worth something. Home theatre and audio are the same, spend your money on good speakers foremost.

the technology changes on the amplification, formats etc are minute, and a lot will even be firmware over the next year or so, so speakers are where it's at. Probably second to that is pure amplification (not an AVR but proper stereo or mono amplifiers) I think.

I loved my Chours 700's mate, you have a solid base with those.

If you're sticking with a flat screen, I'd be scouring the earth for the last of the Panasonic plasma's before going to a horrible LCD though.... IMO