M

MatthewB.

Audioholic General
Very, very nice, but as someone who loves to decorate, may I offer a suggestion. I love the color scheme and the window treatments, but if I were designing this room, I would move the audio rack away from the front and place it along the long wall (underneath the side surround alongside the table lamp) you may find that the overall fluidity (balance mimd you) would be more pleasing to the eye up front and still aloow you to control everything with the remote by just pointing to the side instead of up front. Since the reciever is using HDMI, you could easily move the gear rack and just buy a longer cable. This is just a suggestion and you have already done a fantastic job overall (I'm nitpicking) When I look at other peoples systems, I also take the room into account as well as the great gear.
 
Cruise Missile

Cruise Missile

Full Audioholic
Now that we've had a chance to listen to a variety of material I thought it was time to share.

Over the last couple of years I've spent a lot of my time and energy researching a sub for my system. Through all of my research I learned it needed to be (at least) two subs. The sub needs to have the displacement to properly pressurize your listening space. Not to mention it needs to have great low frequency extension as well as a flat frequency response. As you start marking off items in the list the capable subs start to emerge. Out of the commercially available subs SVS sure was making a lot of noise (pun intended) in the internet-direct world, so they caught my attention.

I then proceeded to research SVS to death. I found every published review I could ranging from professional to customers. All of this read like a gushing teenager in love. No kidding, I bet it makes other subwoofer manufactures sick. Was this too good to be true? I decided to find out for myself.

As the time to order was drawing near I discovered an unexpected problem with the SVS subs, which finish to choose! I had already decided on ordering a pair of their PB13-Ultra's and the finishes are all beautiful. So back to researching I went this time hell bent on finding every image of an Ultra I could. Special thanks are in order for mike c for pics of his collection (frightning!) and crosiev for pics and YouTube videos (go search with his name, you be glad you did!). I had decided on the textured black based on the fact that I am going to use them with a projector. When I placed the order I went with the piano black against my better judgement. I'm so pleased with the finish it's almost comical now how much I had sweat over this choice. And if your concerned with the size of an Ultra, pick the piano black it almost looks cloaked. Black really is slimming!

With the order placed now the wait began. Wasn't very long seeing how I live in Ohio! However, I did have to pay sales tax because of this.:( During the wait I went to work moving my rack out of the front of the room. This was done in order to make room for the two huge boxes on their way. Moving the rack had been recomended to me to help improve the sound in my room. This recomendation came from Westcott, and boy was he right! I had the chance to do some listening while I waited for the delivery and the imaging was improved ten-fold. Thanks Westcott.





Man where are those subs? I'm getting anxious! Wait do I hear a truck? YES I DO!!!









Phew! Man that was hard! I had just gotten home from work in time for the delivery. You could learn something from me TheFactor! J/K :p The delivery went smoothly, now it was time to grab a bite off pizza (delivery dude was in the red jacket) and get a quick shower. I get dirty at work.

Now for the good stuff! Unloading these monsters ( I know, they'll sue) was pretty easy if you use a towel to drag the sub around on. I learned that trick here on audioholics, thanks again.



As you can see, the Polk PSW1000 was more than a little frightened! In fact moments after the picture was taken the Polk darted out the front door yelping the whole way. We still haven't figured out where it went. But no matter, it saved me from having to move it. Once I had the subs in place it was time for more pictures. Then some calibrations were in order. This went way smoother than the space shuttle panel on the back would lead you to think. We opted to not use the PEQ because we are going to get the AS-EQ1 from SVS as soon as it's available. We also left the ports open and set the tune mode to 20 hz per the instructions. Yep I read them, months ago from their website. Here's the room with the subs now.



So that concludes the delivery and set-up portions. more to come!
I Thought I'd move this here.
 
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Cruise Missile

Cruise Missile

Full Audioholic
The suggestions made me aware that I hadn't updated this one in a while, So here goes.

I had mixed expectations of how these subs would sound in my setup. I can only say that what we have heard and felt has been awesome. Better than that is what we have not heard, distortion and port noise. The dual Ultras seem to have cleaned up a lot of the mud I was hearing in the midrange of my system. I am just guessing here but maybe the polk was creating some weird harmonics or the single sub was doing bad things with the room. Who knows? I just know it's way cleaner now. Movie dialogue also was a source of much frustration in the past. Especially male voices. This problem is totally gone now. *does happy dance*

I know, I know, what about the deep stuff right? Pictures are worth a thousand words so we'll start with this.




Yep, we heard this happen and I thought the window had broken. After opening the curtains to check it I found this crack. I am running the subs level, not hot, with the rest of the system. The crossover is set at 80 hz.. We were watching Rattatouie with the system at reference level during the shotgun scene. Bass you can feel is an understatement.

The Ultras sound effortless even at reference! I am just awestruck with the movie performance of the these two.

Music is a whole other matter. Upright bass is probally one of the hardest things to get right in a system. It usually ends up boomy and bloated. Not the case here, the Ultras' really shine with delicate stuff. To the average joe these may not wow with clasical music or jazz as they don't call any attention to themselves. Which is perfect. Electronica and dance is what you would need to play to show them off with music as the bass here is usually plenty deep allowing the Ultras to shine.



I can't say enough good about these subs. I sound like one of those gushing teenagers in love now, congrats SVS.
 
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Cruise Missile

Cruise Missile

Full Audioholic
Sorry I neglegted this for so long.

Man, updating this thread has made me SOOOOO want those Paradigm Signature S8's!! Maybe this fall, so stay tuned!!!!!!
 
TheFactor

TheFactor

Audioholic Field Marshall
IF YOU GET THE S 8's I WILL SO HATE YOU !!! j/k :)
 
Cruise Missile

Cruise Missile

Full Audioholic
I have the green light from KoreanRose, there's just so much to do still that I don't know where to start! (Not to mention the whole funds thing!) She really wants a PJ in here, so I'm going to try and make both happen, we'll see. The thing that makes it tough is I do all of my purchases cash only style, so there's a lot of waiting/saving/dreaming/sobing involved.
 
B

Bluesmoke

Audioholic Chief
Thanks for the pics. Once I have a real HT in a big room, the Ultra or whatever they will be called then will be mine. Likely 2 of them. One at each end of the room.
 
H

Highbar

Senior Audioholic
I watch Rattatouie every now and then knowing it has this great bass in it and I'm so sad that I can't hear/feel it. :( Can't wait for the day I can get a good sub, but hey I've got new fronts and center on the way:D

That's a nice crack in the wall:eek: I'm sure you're glad it wasn't the window. That would be more expensive to fix.
 
Warpdrv

Warpdrv

Audioholic Ninja
From the looks of it, seems that the crack was already there and patched up, I love it when some good bass opens up the old wounds... I still have to fix my bathroom TP holder - bass knocked a picture off the wall across the house and landed on the TP holder which ripped out of the drywall.... :D Ruined the picture too...

My woman just laughed at me....

I'm right in line with you on upgrading to the Sig S8's, maybe this year but not sure, gotta pay off the D2v and the 65" plasma first :)

 
Cruise Missile

Cruise Missile

Full Audioholic
Return of the zombie thread!

This thread has been slowly sinking to the bottom of the list. :(

This can only be remedied with a good old fashioned BUMP! ;)

A bump with..........

pics of new gear!!!!

Stuff out:
Mitsu DLP-retired to the upstairs office.
Denon AVR-4806-awaiting new assignment.
Harmony 880 remote-Volume key died.

Stuff in:
Denon AVR-4311ci
Epson 8700ub projector! :eek:
Carada Criterion BW 106"
Harmony 900.

PIcs as promised.....

I know, I Forgot to get a pic with the door open.:eek:


Epson 8700ub on a Sanus mount.



Full frontal view.:D


View from the main seat...

This has been the biggest upgrade yet. Moving the Mitsu out removed some nasty resonance the plastic housing was causing. Also getting the center speaker out of the TV stand improved dialog.
Jury is still out on the 4311..... Love what it has done for the bass in our room. FLAT. (Going to take some getting used to) Haven't heard any strain from the amp section yet, but if the limit's there i'll find it! :D
 
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Cruise Missile

Cruise Missile

Full Audioholic
Just for fun.

This is from 4-5 years ago when we lived outside of Boston. It's a look down memory lane for my system.
 
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BoredSysAdmin

BoredSysAdmin

Audioholic Slumlord
Very nice setup..
I'm also victim of 880 die on me. I'm surprised you put you confidence again in harmony remote.... I switched, but honestly thou build quality way above logitech and RF is welcome addition, it's unfortunately not nearly user friendly :(
 
its phillip

its phillip

Audioholic Ninja
Very nice theater, and some nice new upgrades. Where's the cat? :3
 
W

westcott

Audioholic General
Congratulations!! ALL great upgrades, especially the projector and screen.

Thanks for taking time to post some photos.

Glad you are enjoying your new toys.
 
Cruise Missile

Cruise Missile

Full Audioholic
I'd post pics of the projector in action if I could get a good pic. I lack that skill set and the required camera. So I'll describe it.

The picture is STUNNING. I lucked out and got a projector with nearly perfect convergence. There is a slight screen door effect with bright fields of color, think full shot of a clear sky. It's not something that I notice unless I'm looking for it.

Speaking of the color, I used the Avia II and DVE disk to set the picture up and the color was nearly spot on right out of the box! Never personally seen any display device get this close. The brightness and contrast required a bit more adjustment due to the screen I'm using. This was expected.

The lens shift mechanism is cheap and requires some patience to get it right. It also tends to wander a bit requiring a quick re-adjustment. This would be a major gripe if it was installed into a hush box. The projectors fan noise is unnoticeable even on "normal" power. The auto iris however can be distracting during quiet passages with "high speed" being quite a bit louder than "normal". That being said, the fans in my rack are louder than the projector.

Overall we're very pleased with the projector. It finally feels like a theater. The cheap lens shift mechanism is a by product of Epson trying to keep cost down so I won't fault them for it. LOVE it!:D:cool::D
 
J

jostenmeat

Audioholic Spartan
I am currently suffering Middle Atlantic envy. :eek:

I'll never forget the first time I fired up my own PJ (still using the same). Heart skipped a beat or two. :)
 
TheFactor

TheFactor

Audioholic Field Marshall
Love your AV Rack to Cruise !! Hey what do you think of the New R1's ? Im trying to decide between that and the GSXR 1000 . Next month i'll probably be pulling the trigger .
 
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