Audiophile Home Theater room

[hjames]

Oh - just reread the thread and realized there is one thing I haven't commented on yet. With the new TV, we would get light reflected off the shiny wood top of the VCC-1 center speaker. It was really annoying with some films - so, I made a black cloth cap to slip over the top of the center speaker and masked that reflective wood! I did have to put a few dabs of silicon RTV to stick the fabric flat on the wood cap, but it rubs off pretty easy if I ever want to remove it ... I know folks who have painted their whole room matt black for the best movie experience, but this config works for us and is less stark when we are entertaining and not watching a movie.

 

[hjames]

The discs have been moved - overall, its not half as bad as I thought ...




Night picture with all other room lights off - showing indirect ceiling light from light rope in lightbox ...



The "hidden" JBL 4641 (18 inch) sub is JUST right - Its run 10db down with a HK Citation 22 bridged mono for 600 watts.

 

[hjames]

I jut swapped a pair of Vandersteen 3As into front Mains position -
They sound great, but could use some time to fine tune placement and such ...
The 2CEs will go to side surround duty, the 2CIs are now for sale ...

Pictures tomorrow - it was a 6 hour round trip to PA!

 

[TimF]

Wow Heather, this has been a fun thread to watch and read! Congrats on the 3A's, very nice indeed! Tim

 

[hjames]

Okay - got back from a day trip to Harrisonburg VA today (Emma speaks at the UU there every other month)
Now that I'm home I pulled the 2CIs from the sides and put the 2CEs in place there ...
I ran the Integra whitenoise tone and set the individual channel levels ... then tried some real source material.


First, I played some lossless music streamed (airtunes) from my MacPro (2ch stereo) - very very nice.
Then I played some discs locally via the Oppo BDP-93 ...
Diana Krall - Live in Rio bluray - couple tracks - very nice!
Master and Commander bluray - Ambush in the fog, and musical Duet scenes
Skyfall bluray - train crash, and the final destruction of Skyfall with propane and helicopter
Mary Poppins (DVD) - Feed the Birds - very nice - (I had to play this after watching Saving Mr Banks last weekend ...)

Finally, to unwind a bit from all that driving, we played a couple episodes of The Big Bang Theory that had collected in the TIVO Roamio DVR.
I know, blasphemy, right?

Using Vandersteen 3As as part of a Home Theater system to watch TV on !!!
But its there, so why not?

More fun later when I have time ...

 

[hjames]

Forgot the darned picture (must have been tired from all that driving)

 

[hjames]

Update - The Vandy 3As have 2 pair of screw terminals for the rear connections to allow biamping or biwire. The Vandersteen 2CE (and 2CI) I used there previously had 2 pair of Banana jacks.

Last summer I got a pair of high-falutin' MIT Terminator II biwire cables for a great price - they had screw on banana plugs.
I emailed them to see if I could buy screw on spade lugs to replace them, but they never bothered to reply. No sale, hey.

So - I remembered that there is an eBay seller with these brass adapters for MacIntosh amps that allow you to use Banana connectors -
under $15 shipped for 8, so I bought 8 (4 pairs) last Saturday - they shipped from Hong Kong Monday and they arrived yesterday.

Last night I pulled the biwires off that Nelson gave me, installed 4 brass adapters on each speaker, and plugged them in with the banana MIT Terminator II biwires ...

Wow - what a life changing moment.
(Just kidding - I couldn't really hear a change, but as long as I have such wires, might as well use them, right?)

The little hex part can be screwed into the spade lug part at a 90 degree angle, or in line. I set 4 up in the 90 degree style for the lower screws for clearance, I used inline on the upper screws for the mechanical strength (due to the weight of the Terminator box).

 

[hjames]

DAC Bingo!

I use my phone (or Emma's iPad) as a remote control for iTunes on my macPro upstairs (mostly Apple lossless files).
It's music gets streamed through the house via WiFi, hits the Airport Express, is fed via Optical to the DAC,
the Analog/RCA out gets fed to the TAPE input on the Integra pre/processor. (Tape is a spare line-level-in stereo pair).

So, to play music in stereo downstairs, put the system on TAPE,
and pick songs/artist/playlist via the remote and stream away.

"... And its one for my baby ..."

More to follow!

 

[hjames]

And - I settled on a used Emotiva XDA-2 DAC ... its in the top-left side of the Salamander Cabinet ...
works great - I'd say local streaming is now very close to playing CDs directly!
(The curve is from the camera lens on semi-wide angle mode, the cabinet is not bowed)
The left and right doors are usually closed - only the center is open in normal use.
(the DVR, receiver and BluRay remotes work better without the screen).

 

[Wolverine]

And - I settled on a used Emotiva XDA-2 DAC ... its in the top-left side of the Salamander Cabinet ...
works great - I'd say local streaming is now very close to playing CDs directly!
(The curve is from the camera lens on semi-wide angle mode, the cabinet is not bowed)
The left and right doors are usually closed - only the center is open in normal use.
(the DVR, receiver and BluRay remotes work better without the screen).

Congrats Heather!

I have done this as much as you have, but adding my MSB DAC to the Bluetooth receiver that is connected to my NAD set up. The SQ is as you say quite good and adds a very flexible option to your music setup.

 

[jcameron5171]

here is my HT room

yamaha rx-a1020 reciever , vandersteen 1c x 4 , boston acoustic center and rears , klipsch sub, panasonic 50' plasma. sometimes I swap the boston rears with signet SL 260 or side speakers the sansui sp-2000 and move the 2nd pair of vandersteen 1c to the rears.

 

[hjames]

Updates - got on a kick with some UREI speakers earlier this year - found a couple pairs of UREI 809 12 inch coaxial monitors
and they are making a stellar contribution to the Home theater room! Sound great even with the grills on!

(I moved the Vandersteens upstairs and have them for sale listed in Bartertown)

The pair in the front-mains are sitting on some cool cabinets I got at one of the AK MidAtlantic fall parties 2 years ago -
I put a pair of JBL 2214 woofers in those lower cabs with a choke to filter off the highs -
I call them "helper woofers" (before I got them, I heard they originally held Steven trusonics coaxials).
Thats probably overkill with that JBL 18 inch 4641 pro sub hiding under cloth in the front right corner, but too much can be just right if everything is set correctly.

 

[hjames]

Still enjoying the heck out of this system, even if AK software dropped many pictures out of the thread. 'bout the only diff now is there is a DCM Timepiece in Front center position.

David came by briefly tonight to hear the magnepans and I dragged him down here
and played some of the Beatles: Love DVD in surround mode ----
I think he enjoyed it!

 

[Djcoolray]

Looks good.....

Probably sounds good too. But if you don't want any problems with you remotes put the bottom up with the key pads down. That way the contacts under the pads aren't coated with air borne contaminates that prevent proper function.

 

[Poultrygeist]

5.1 den and 2.1 bedroom systems:

 

[ehoove]

Interesting evolution of your rigs. I have been following this and other threads of your audio Journey, and have enjoyed the threads immensely. I hope to see you and Emma on the 21st, though I know Sundays are problematic
Regards,
Jim.

 

[hjames]

Ohighway wants the Karlson Cabinets - and after installing them as Helper Woofer, I did some testing and found out my Integra Preamp/processor stripped low bass out of the mains to feed the subwoofer - so they weren't actually doing anything anyway! So I grabbed another pair of cushionless teak Danish chair-frames out of the shed, slipped them in the from, flipped the UREI horns in those so they'd be horizontal, and put them on the chairs. Its a hazy humid morning in NoVA - I'll have to take more. better pix when I get back from church later today, if the sun is with me!
(you can just see the edges of the Karlson Kabs on the far left - but you can't quite make out the JBL 4641 sub on the right front corner, under the DVD shelves.)

 

[SPEC2man]

Crazy transformation ... I just walked through the entire thread. Talk about a learning experience; You have that room pretty much dialed in at this point ... wonder what's next; mini monitors? active studio monitors? 901's? electrostats? K-horns? I guess I'll need to keep reading to find out. It's not like I can't relate; I converted my garage about 6-7 years ago and it's seen a ton of gear pass through. I also got stuck on 18 inch pro JBL subs. I had your identical sub for a while and stepped up to a pair of pro JRX218S. I patched in an Ashly XR1001 active crossover and a ton of pro power (twin Carver ZR-1600s). The bass doesn't sound like most HT subs - I feel like it's not over emphasized and I can always dial it back when needed. I had the room to stick a 15 inch Velodyne HT sub in there as well, so I have done a fair amount of comparison/contrast. I want to step up to a more substantial JBL product like a SUB18 but at $3500 retail I may have to wait. I could go back to one giant box as opposed to two. The things are just so damn big!

Do you ever wish you could push the walls out 8 feet or so? I sure do ... 20' X 21' just isnt enough space.

I really like the way the room turned out after you pulled everything out for the carpet - it gives you a chance to make significant changes when the equipment goes back in. It seems like your room took a big step up when you did that. It's a really inviting space ... I could easily pop down in that chair and watch movies for a hours. Thanks for sharing; it gives me a real insight to where your coming from in terms of sound and I admire you willingness to try new things. It really teaches you what works and what doesn't. You can read all day about what others have done but until you work with your own space - you never really know.

Ya know?

 

[hjames]

Emma, my wife loves the "architectural look" of the Karlson cabinets, even if they don't do anything.
She prefers them to the Teak chair frames, so, I apologized to Rick, and put them back in place
under the front UREIs, which are still in horizontal mode. Emma loves the sound of the room!(sonically matched fronts and side surrounds - pretty cool!)

Anyway, gotta scoot to church, can't make the AK Fest today, have fun!

 

[Wolverine]

Missed you all at the AK get together yesterday. Rick was inconsolable about not getting your cabinets in between the tears I managed to hear him say something like "they were the last piece of gear I needed" ......

Seriously this thread is always a great read and eloquently portrays the audio journey so many of us are on. Thanks for sharing!