diskreet's first true home theater

[diskreet]

Background: Started planning to install a home theater into our new living room (as best I could) when we undertook a major home renovation. I'm coming off cheap sound bars and half-decent headsets prior to this, but I always wanted something better. Since planning started, I've been learning, taking the time to get placement as close to dolby's 5.1.4 spec as possible, and buying components.
We gutted the level of the house, insulating and building up from the crawl space up through the new living room and kitchen. It went from a beat up kitchen and useless living room space to an open, nice space for the family.

After all the planning, I landed on the following
LG CX 77" OLED TV
Denon AVR-X3700H
Monoprice Monolith 3 (for LCR)
Fluance RT84
Revel Concerta2; F36 towers, C25 center, and M16 surrounds
Sanus SF34 stands with adapter plates made out of white PVC sheets
2x Rythmik L12 subs
4x Klipsch R1650-C in ceiling Atmos speakers in foam speaker baffles surrounded by insulation
Auralex SubDudes
LG UBK90
All in-wall wire is 12 gauge stranded OFC
Couch and ottoman are from LaZBoy (Devon sectional, not sure about ottoman but it has storage in it)

For power, I have a separate 20A circuit just for the receiver, amp, and subwoofers. Both circuits have a dedicated Panamax MR4000, while the TV is on a Panamax MIX-SURGE-G1 surge protected outlet. Second sub is on a Panamax MD2 surge protector. I cut out a shelf so I can keep all the power and network gear hidden in the right hand side of the TV stand.

And yes I know the rug pad is sticking out. I'll cut it once the rug settles more.

Some other improvements to the room include the dimmable, color selectable recessed lighting, and better insulating the entire level (R-30 under floor, R-15 walls, and two layers of R-30 in the ceiling).

 

[diskreet]

Some background.
before the reno I cut holes for the speakers and lights. Note there's a wall between the rooms

Demo, wall ready to come down

Wiring ahead of time included a 1.5" pipe for HDMI and ethernet to/from TV

Insulating (previously it was terrible)

Wall plate for all the in-wall cables. Everything worked correctly the first time I hooked it up, so I'm pleased with my level of preparation

I did all the wiring with my electrician father-in-law. And I did insulation in the crawl space and attic. Otherwise the contractor did the rest. But glad I did those, it let me tackle other jobs I've wanted to do, like wiring up wired smart Smoke/CO2 detectors.

 

[diskreet]

Ran Audyssey and REW a couple times to orient myself. I'm amazed that my two sealed subs are getting 100db under 20Hz. The huge impact isn't there like with much larger subs, but the low end doesn't sound empty.

I have the subwoofer levels turned up to max them out here but I dropped them back down a couple db to get a less exaggerated curve after testing. Not sure what typical smoothing you prefer but this is 1/12 in the chart.

That's Audyssey measured from primary listening position plus 2 feet left and right. Reference curve, all speakers set to small, crossovers 80Hz for ground level, 120Hz for ceiling speakers. DynamicEQ on, but Dynamic Volume and LFC off.

Now down the rabbit hole. We're continuing to add decorations and I think I got the speakers placed a bit better, but very happy with where it's at today.

 

[3db]

Ran Audyssey and REW a couple times to orient myself. I'm amazed that my two sealed subs are getting 100db under 20Hz. The huge impact isn't there like with much larger subs, but the low end doesn't sound empty.

I have the subwoofer levels turned up to max them out here but I dropped them back down a couple db to get a less exaggerated curve after testing. Not sure what typical smoothing you prefer but this is 1/12 in the chart.

That's Audyssey measured from primary listening position plus 2 feet left and right. Reference curve, all speakers set to small, crossovers 80Hz for ground level, 120Hz for ceiling speakers. DynamicEQ on, but Dynamic Volume and LFC off.

Now down the rabbit hole. We're continuing to add decorations and I think I got the speakers placed a bit better, but very happy with where it's at today.

Awesome job on the reno and HT system!!! Quick question...where is the wire coming from on your right surround speaker?

 

[diskreet]

Thanks! I have the left and right surrounds both on the same wall plate behind the couch, under the big window. I knew the couch we got, so I knew I could just run the wire under the couch. It's a 17' wire from blue jeans cable, and worked perfectly

 

[Tree57]

Nice setup, looks clean and comfortable.

 

[diskreet]

Was relatively happy with everything except the feeling of the low end, so I decided to add a Rythmik F18 and miniDSP to the system. Hopefully this finishes the upgrades for a while. Placement of subs is TBD, and I didn't do any DSP yet, but I'll get to it soon.

Driver size comparison

You can see we added shelves and some decorations to finish off the room. Really feels nice in there now, and sounds amazing. I love it!

 

[diskreet]

Copied from the multi subwoofer integration thread. Hopefully the last update for a while as I feel like I'm 'done'.

I had the chance to do my first true fine tuning of my three subwoofers using miniDSP 2x4HD - two Rythmik L12s and one Rythmik F18. REW's auto-generated EQ did OK, but I wanted better results, so I started over.

I individually adjusted delay and phase inversion on each sub. This fixed a huge portion of the peaks and valleys. Turns out I don't have a room null at 120Hz at my seat, I had a sub integration issue that this solved.
I then used REW's EQ to DSP the F18 alone since that drives a huge portion of the low bass. I applied a high pass filter on the L12s to limit them below 20 Hz (and to limit distortion). Finally, I applied DSP to the input signal using REW's EQ tool and some fine tuning on my part.

I forgot to save the REW runs after I truly finished (I know! kids were driving me crazy and I slipped) but this was from before the last round of fine tuning to get a bit smoother response.

Overall, super impressed with how powerful the miniDSP 2x4HD is. Highly recommend it for integrating and tuning subs.

 

[afterlife2]

What ya gonna test it, darn it!

 

[diskreet]

We've been watching the bond films through to see the whole series. Last two nights were On Her Majesty's Secret Service (I liked George as Bond, shame it didn't work out) and then Diamonds are forever last night.

As for things to test the new subwoofer, I've played some games on it and Call of Duty Black Ops has some decent LFE at times. And Bassotronics even on youtube quality let it really stretch its legs.

It's awesome when there's content in the 10-30 Hz range. You can feel it for sure, especially with the volume up, but surprisingly there aren't too many rattles. I am very happy with it all!

 

[Cos]

Looking at where you have the Xbox Series X and your Amp, that space has to get extremely hot. Do you have cooling down in that area?

 

[NINaudio]

Looking at where you have the Xbox Series X and your Amp, that space has to get extremely hot. Do you have cooling down in that area?

Looks like the Xbox is oriented with it's fan venting outside of the cabinet, so that should help (atleast when it's on).

 

[diskreet]

Looks like the Xbox is oriented with it's fan venting outside of the cabinet, so that should help (atleast when it's on).

That's exactly how I set it up.

The monolith amp has never gotten past mildly warm. It can produce way more power than I need, and there's plenty of space for it to breathe. I positioned the xbox so it intakes from the back of the cabinet, probably sucking it a tiny bit of air off the amp, and exhausting straight out.

@Cos I had a cooler on top of the amp but it just caused it to get hotter, faster, then kick on the loud fans. With a couple inches of room above, and the back panel is cut out behind, there's plenty of cool air for it.

The Xbox pushes a ton of hot air (silently) but it seems to be well directed straight forward.

 

[}Fear_Inoculum{]

Some background.
before the reno I cut holes for the speakers and lights. Note there's a wall between the rooms

Demo, wall ready to come down

Wiring ahead of time included a 1.5" pipe for HDMI and ethernet to/from TV

Insulating (previously it was terrible)

Wall plate for all the in-wall cables. Everything worked correctly the first time I hooked it up, so I'm pleased with my level of preparation

I did all the wiring with my electrician father-in-law. And I did insulation in the crawl space and attic. Otherwise the contractor did the rest. But glad I did those, it let me tackle other jobs I've wanted to do, like wiring up wired smart Smoke/CO2 detectors.

That's great. Looks very nice and clean. Right down to the studs, I like it. Awesome job.

 

[diskreet]

Hi @jessie4332 it's hard to put a price on the renovation. We gutted the whole level of the house, removed a wall, did work on our crawl space, replaced the landing at the front door, installed a whole new kitchen, refinished both sets of stairs, and a couple other projects. I honestly couldn't pull out just the renovation costs for that room if I tried.

For the actual equipment the prices fluctuate quite a bit. For example I paid MSRP for the F36s, but Crutchfield has them on sale for cheaper right now. I'll send you a detailed breakdown of my costs.

 

[Eppie]

Wow, that really looks awesome. I wish I can renovate my lounge like this. Can you tell me that how much it cost you? including renovation and the sound system
I reacenly bought JBL Pro 3677 and fix them in my wall like this.

I hired the carpenter in melbourne and paid him for this renovation. He was really professional and he had done the cutting perfectly. I also want a amplifier for these speakers, So kindly suggest me the best amplifier and how much your setup cost you?View attachment 50926

If you want some amplifier recommendations, I would start a new topic in the Amp or Setup section. You should provide the room dimensions, your sitting distance and if you plan to listen at theatre reference levels. Give as much info on your gear as you can. Going with an AVR, Pre/Pro, AVR + amps? How many speakers and what type of surround layout. That all factors in.

 

[TLS Guy]

Hi @jessie4332 it's hard to put a price on the renovation. We gutted the whole level of the house, removed a wall, did work on our crawl space, replaced the landing at the front door, installed a whole new kitchen, refinished both sets of stairs, and a couple other projects. I honestly couldn't pull out just the renovation costs for that room if I tried.

For the actual equipment the prices fluctuate quite a bit. For example I paid MSRP for the F36s, but Crutchfield has them on sale for cheaper right now. I'll send you a detailed breakdown of my costs.

Very nice job.

You are absolutely right, that it all starts with careful detailed planning and making very accurate drawings of the whole room, and where everything will go.

You really do have to get a room back to the studs to make a good home theater. You are absolutely correct to deaden behind all the walls.. That is the only room treatment that is any good, and it is concealed.

That reminds me of how much work is involved in creating an HT space. I went through it twice, 2005/2006 and 2019. I tell you what you can't put a price on, and that is sweat equity!

 

[diskreet]

Its like you build a new home.

It's an older house that we knew needed work when we bought it. We're slowly renovating it to be what we want, but this was always the one big job. That said, we fixed everything we had issues with and we're much better off now. In winter you couldn't comfortably be in the living room due to the poor insulation. Now its the best place in the house!

 

[Alex2507]

Great ... now I want white speakers.

You can see we added shelves and some decorations to finish off the room.

I thought the first pic's looked like they came out of a magazine. I'm about ready to paint my red wall white and roll out my Salk's with the same paint; those pic's look so good.

Nicely done.

 

[Ultrageuss]

With so many speakers in a small space, it might be a bit over the top. BTW, when I was renovating, I found some great stuff at mdfskirtingworld.co.uk. They have a lot of options that helped me finish off the space nicely, and hide some cables that can ruin any look. It's worth checking out for any final touches you might need.