rmk

rmk

Audioholic Chief
Just putting the finishing touches on this room. This dedicated space was the former top half of my 20' tall family room. The new space is approx 3600 cf and is sealed. I have installed room treatments and it is sounding pretty good.

I'm running Revel speakers, JL subs, Emotiva DMC-1 (Integra 9.8 on order), Sunfire amp, Tosh Xa1, Moto HD DVR, Pioneer Elite DVD player and a Velo SMS-1 . Much tweaking yet to do.

Here are some pics:
Outside looking in


Front with Plasma


Front with PJ screen down


Her backside
 
mike c

mike c

Audioholic Warlord
though I've seen this elsewhere, I just want to log my comments:

"I'm very jealous"

so you left the GR speakers in the living room?
 
rmk

rmk

Audioholic Chief
Mike, you have what three theatre's and you are jealous??? Besides, I only have two subs. :;)

Actually, the GR's have moved on although I have some MA Radius speakers in a small system in the family room. Still a big MA fan but the Revels are the new favorite.


though I've seen this elsewhere, I just want to log my comments:

"I'm very jealous"

so you left the GR speakers in the living room?
 
Ax-man

Ax-man

Audioholic
I agree with croseiv, your room looks very elegant, warm and impressive. I see you are using the GIK Tri-Traps and panels...they look nice in there. Congrats!


One question though, whenever you stated that this was formerly the upper portion of the family room what did you do, enclose an existing loft?
 
rmk

rmk

Audioholic Chief
I agree with croseiv, your room looks very elegant, warm and impressive. I see you are using the GIK Tri-Traps and panels...they look nice in there. Congrats!


One question though, whenever you stated that this was formerly the upper portion of the family room what did you do, enclose an existing loft?
Thanks Ax-man, BTW, you did a great job on your room:cool:. Did you notch your bass traps for the base molding or install it after the traps?

No loft, I simply built a floor/ceiling in the existing room 10' up and created two rooms out of one. The entry to the new room was a 2nd story landing overlooking the old room. The new room has 9' ceilings just like the rest of the 2nd story.
 
mike c

mike c

Audioholic Warlord
how much loss are you aborbing when you dump the old stuff? you change equipment like they were clothes!

at least I keep wearing my old clothes. :)
 
Tomorrow

Tomorrow

Audioholic Ninja
One more vote for elegant and lovely. Very nice job!
 
rmk

rmk

Audioholic Chief
how much loss are you aborbing when you dump the old stuff? you change equipment like they were clothes!

at least I keep wearing my old clothes. :)
I am an Audiogon Platinum Member:p.

As hobbies go, this has been an expensive one but I really do get a lot of enjoyment out of the system. I'm sure that the setup and tweaking will be fun once I know what I'm doing;).
 
Last edited:
Ax-man

Ax-man

Audioholic
Thank you rmk, the baseboards were installed whenever we built the room so I just notched 'em whenever we added the bass traps.

That must have been quite an undertaking by adding the second story in the manner by which you did....very impressive to say the least!
 
W

westcott

Audioholic General
VERY clean, attractive, and speaker positioning is awesome. The use of acoustic panels is also a bonus. The furniture also looks really comfortable. The low profile AV credenza is also well thought out. Very nice home with nice equipment. I love Revel speakers and I am considering an Emotiva amp myself.

I may have considered opposing subwoofer placement in a room of your size but that would be my only small quible. What sounds best is whats important.

Enjoy and keep us posted on any changes.
 
agarwalro

agarwalro

Audioholic Ninja
That is a sweet setup. BTW, I am planning to eventually to the same with a TV behind a motorized screen.
 
rmk

rmk

Audioholic Chief
VERY clean, attractive, and speaker positioning is awesome. The use of acoustic panels is also a bonus. The furniture also looks really comfortable. The low profile AV credenza is also well thought out. Very nice home with nice equipment. I love Revel speakers and I am considering an Emotiva amp myself.

I may have considered opposing subwoofer placement in a room of your size but that would be my only small quible. What sounds best is whats important.

Enjoy and keep us posted on any changes.
Hi Wescott,

Thanks, I like your room too ;). I have tried just about every possible sub position but the front position produced as good if not better bass when aided by the bass traps and the SMS-1 EQ. The SMS graph from the listening position looks like this:


Lots of cuts down low and a big boost @ 60Hz but it sounds good.
 
W

westcott

Audioholic General
Lots of cuts down low and a big boost @ 60Hz but it sounds good.
I have read several articles that suggest that it is not a good idea to try to "cut down" peaks using equalization, one should only add boost to dips in frequency response. I forgot what happens when you do this but I guess that will be tonights homework. This information may greatly affect how you approach achieving a flatter frequency response. I know if did for me.
 
avaserfi

avaserfi

Audioholic Ninja
I have read several articles that suggest that it is not a good idea to try to "cut down" peaks using equalization, one should only add boost to dips in frequency response. I forgot what happens when you do this but I guess that will be tonights homework. This information may greatly affect how you approach achieving a flatter frequency response. I know if did for me.
Actually its the other way around. You want to cut as many peaks as possible while trying to boost as little as possible. The reason you want to do this is because, generally, larger, more problematic, dips in frequency response are caused by cancellation due to room modes while peaks are caused by room mode excitement causing addition of to waves to create a larger SPL.

When you cut a frequency response all you are doing is sending less power to the speaker at a given frequency so that it isn't too loud and thus giving yourself a flatter response. When you boost frequencies you are forcing more power on the driver, thus making it work harder, but at the same time the room modes stay excited in the same way so there will still be a dip because the waves will continue to cancel. If you bump up the power too much you might end up overdriving the woofer, especially at lower frequencies.

While sending too little power to a woofer is bad, in general, if you eq properly you won't be sending to little, just less. On the other hand if you over compensate trying to raise a dip you can end up blowing a woofer or damaging it by working it to hard.
 
no. 5

no. 5

Audioholic Field Marshall
When you cut a frequency response all you are doing is sending less power to the speaker at a given frequency so that it isn't too loud and thus giving yourself a flatter response. When you boost frequencies you are forcing more power on the driver, thus making it work harder, but at the same time the room modes stay excited in the same way so there will still be a dip because the waves will continue to cancel. If you bump up the power too much you might end up overdriving the woofer, especially at lower frequencies.
And adding boosting on an EQ very quickly decreases headroom, causing the amp to clip at rather low volume.

But back to rmk, you have an awesome system... a good looking room, very good looking gear... I am quite jealous... :D
 
rmk

rmk

Audioholic Chief
Westcott, avaserfi and no.5 have it right ... better to cut than boost. My Fathom subs have 2500 watt amps so I'm not too concerned about them clipping. I have played with the SMS-1 phase and Q quite a bit and the settings you see above yields the best response for most of the seating positions on the sectional couch with the sweet spot being where I sit;). If I moved the subs to the side walls I could get rid of the 60Hz null but introduce other issues. Now I know why folks pay the big bucks to have sound engineers design a room. OTOH, my room/system is sounding the best it ever has and I will continue to tweak it over time. The next step for me is some measuring software that is a bit more accurate and has a broader frequency range than the SMS-1. In the meantime, I'm getting a lot of enjoyment out of the system and appreciate all of the comments.
 
mike c

mike c

Audioholic Warlord
hey rmk, the MA platinum is available ... not thinking of buying some? :)

they have a black piano gloss finish that will match your fathoms :)
 
W

westcott

Audioholic General
Actually its the other way around.
Thanks avaserfi for correcting me. You can tell it has been a while since I calibrated my system.

RMK, I do not think the average person could afford a calibration system with the sample rate necessary to properly EQ a room if that is what you are thinking about trying. EQ is VERY hard to do properly and that is why it is generally not recommended unless done professionally.

There are some good white papers on the subject on the Harman International site if you wish to investigate further before spending more money on equipment.

Good Luck and enjoy your elegant home theater.
 
rmk

rmk

Audioholic Chief
Thanks avaserfi for correcting me. You can tell it has been a while since I calibrated my system.

RMK, I do not think the average person could afford a calibration system with the sample rate necessary to properly EQ a room if that is what you are thinking about trying. EQ is VERY hard to do properly and that is why it is generally not recommended unless done professionally.

There are some good white papers on the subject on the Harman International site if you wish to investigate further before spending more money on equipment.

Good Luck and enjoy your elegant home theater.
Westcott, actually I was referring to inexpensive measuring tools (REW) rather than additional EQ devices. My intent is to optimize the room with speaker positioning and acoustic treatments before going further down the EQ path. That said, the Velo SMS-1 has been very helpful in actually seeing the LF room response in real time.

Oh and thanks for the reminder re the Harman site. I've read a bit of Floyd Toole before and although a bit dry and scientific for my taste, there is much good info there. I'm more of a Room EQ for Dummies kind of guy:eek:.
 
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