Kruz's Work in Progress System

[Kruz]

So just a little background on how all of this started. I finish my accounting designation this year after about 3 years of post university school while at work. The original plan was to reward myself by buying myself a watch. Why a watch you ask? Well, it was what all of my friends were doing and it seemed the thing to do.

Late last year my 10+ year old Kef speakers (iq70's) lost all the bass coming from them. One of my first steps was going on this site and asking some questions about what it could possibly be. After realizing they had really kicked the bucket I started reading other threads here and then doing some research. I noticed I was way more excited about research speakers then I was about watches. I also remembered how much I loved to research audio gear back when I was purchasing the Kefs in my early 20's. With that in mind I said screw the watch and I'm finally going to realize my dream of having a great surround system.

I owe a lot of people on this forum a big thank you for steering me in the right direction. I also owe a lot of audio shops here a big F you for trying to steer my budget off a cliff by such pearls of wisdom as "Speaker wire is very important and it should be at least 25% of your budget" and "Well your $5k budget is enough, I guess". These people are doing the ID crowd a huge favour and are the one of the main reasons I decided to go with ID.

Having said that here is the plan:

Front Towers - Salk Song Towers with RAAL upgrade ORDERED
Center - Salk Song Center with RAAL upgrade ORDERED
Sub - SVS SB 2000 ORDERED (through sonic boom audio)
Rec - Denon AVRX4000 I like the fact I can get audyssey xt32 and LFC for under $2k
Wiring etc - 123inkcartridges.ca (they are a Canadian distributor for monoprice, great prices, no duty and free shipping!)

The only thing up in the air is the rear 2 speakers and will depend a lot on the mounting options my wiring contractor and I will go over this week. I would really like to stick with Salk for all around but the song surrounds I's are around 25 pounds! I may also just get smaller monitors by him.

Next I'll post up some before pictures as the system sits now.

 

[Kruz]

Woo hoo!

 

[slipperybidness]

For surrounds....

There is a used pair on Audiogon right now
Salk Surround great configuration | Monitors | Selfridge A N G, Michigan 48045 | AudiogoN - The High-end Audio Community

 

[Kruz]

Thanks for the tip but if I go with Salk surrounds it will have to be a different version that aren't as tall and are hung directly on the wall because of space issues.

 

[Kruz]

OK let it go too long without an update. Yesterday my SVS SB2000 arrived. I'm glad the massive box wasn't a tad bigger or it wouldn't have fit in my back seat:




Here is the sub setup in my rec room. All the baseboards are off because the wiring guys come on Tuesday.

 

[j_garcia]

You know, in the review pictures I wasn't too crazy about the new grille, but seeing your picture it looks pretty good.

 

[Kruz]

I had the exact same feeling until I saw it in person. It has a very solid feel to it. Not flimsy at all (what I thought it would look like). The way it is finished on the side is also nice (bends over and then attaches to the cabinet). Only downside is the feet leave marks on my floor but this will be a non issue after the sub dude arrives.

You know, in the review pictures I wasn't too crazy about the new grille, but seeing your picture it looks pretty good.

 

[hizzaah]

have a pic update for us yet?

 

[Kruz]

You bet. Maybe today or tomorrow. School/work have been crazy.

So far TVs are mounted and wiring has been run. I will post some pictures soon.

have a pic update for us yet?

 

[Kruz]

So here is a much over do update. All of the wiring was completed last week and I'm glad to be through that stage. It took much more time (and money) then I was expecting but the end result it great. Base boards still need to be put back on and an electrical plug still needs to be added behind the tv.



I have some cable pants and PET cable sleeving on order for all the visible cables.

I really like having all of the equipment in my utility room behind the room just pictured. It makes for a very clean look. The smart hub remote works very well now that I have upgraded my router (no dropped signal). The IR cable is extended to behind the TV by splicing it into a cat5 cable. I was able to save a lot of money by using an old audio rack I had lying around (vs. the equipment rack my installer wanted me to purchase).



Here is a quick view of one of the rear speaker cables. This was the hardest to fish. The salk surrounds I have being made will have a channel for the wire to run down the back to the wire connections. They will be mounted an inch from the ceiling so it will be hard to see the hole in the ceiling unless you are on the other end of the room and looking for it.



Lastly here is my little man cave. I mounted the tv myself and the B-Tech speaker brackets. Not sure which speakers I will go with. Just know they will be front ported.



The goal is to take the tv from the living room and put it in the man cave once we upgrade (maybe next year). The only thing I do not like about the wiring work is the holes made near the speaker brackets. Basically just rough holes int he drywall were made near the bracket. I will need to figure out a way to make this look cleaner.

Finally here is an update on the speaker build with Salk:




This is the finish I am going for (a bit darker then this actually):

 

[afterlife2]

^^Those look awesome! Enjoy them. You seem to have the same distance as me 10 feet away?!

 

[Kruz]

Thanks afterlife. My current speakers are about 10 feet apart and 8 feet form the listening space. The room is quite narrow (10 feet) and it only makes sense to set up the living room facing the long wall.

 

[TheWarrior]

What an upgrade! Can't wait to see them installed, oh and I guess you'd like to hear them too...

 

[Kruz]

You and me both! I figure about another month to month and a half before they arrive. In the mean time I can work on dressing up the cables and figuring out a way to make the holes near the speaker mounts in the man cave look more clean.

What an upgrade! Can't wait to see them installed, oh and I guess you'd like to hear them too...

 

[afterlife2]

Thanks afterlife. My current speakers are about 10 feet apart and 8 feet form the listening space. The room is quite narrow (10 feet) and it only makes sense to set up the living room facing the long wall.

That's how I have the Pioneer 52's(waiting for the mod) set up 10 feet apart. I almost didn't make it(live in a tiny studio apt.) I shuffled some stuff out of the way and made it happen. I sit right in the middle and blissful sounds with some cheapo wine on the weekend, especially with the almost new Dayton 1200, which sounds nice for a budget sub. Can't wait to see your setup in 2 months, HURRY!

 

[Bryceo]

^^ also likes to make his wine do a vortex type most ion and it gets on all the walls


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[Kruz]

Just received my cable pants, cable sleeving and heat shrink tubing. I'll post some pics up of the dressed up cables once I get a chance.

 

[Kruz]

Ok found some time to take some pictures after doing a lot of listening and working with the setup.

To start the finish is a lighter gray on curly maple:

I wanted the finish to be a little lighter due to my lighter gray floors. Jim did a great job on the color and the grain looks amazing for a standard finish. FYI I wouldn't go this light if your speakers are in direct sunlight as they will look a bit green. Since mine are in the basement with no direct light this is not an issue. I'm guessing this is the true color of the maple showing through the lighter gray dye. Not sure.

This is the overall front look. After some listening I realized I like these speakers with no toe in. It make the sound stage much wider for me and some songs sound more airy (for a lack of a better term). I still need to relocate the tv's power cable to finish everything off:

Here is the front speaker with no grill. I went with the hardwood trim and really glad I did:

This is the center with no grill. Mounting the center (and the rears) with a french cleat makes for such a clean look. I would highly recommend it:

Since I like projects I dressed up my subwoofer and front cables with some cable sleeve and pants. I do wish I had gone with a more powerful sub but only for HT use. The SB is a great sub for music:

Since people were interested in the rear speakers I took a bunch of pictures. These were difficult to mount but only because I did them myself. For both the center and the rears I replaced the drywall anchors with EZ Anchors rated for 70 lbs along side the one screw into a stud. Its probably overkill but I feel like I could sit on my center without any worries

. The rears are downward ported.

I have issues with echos with all of the hard surfaces. My next step is to get a large area rug between me and the front speakers and look into some panels. Hoping to get some help in that areas in the other areas of the forum.

 

[Whitey80]

Broken image links

 

[fuzz092888]

Broken image links

I tried to pull and Adam and went into the source code to see if I could help but the URL in there didn't appear to lead anywhere either.