Eppie's HT and audio setup

[Mark E. Long]

Yes, I think it would take 15 coats of Danish oil if I wanted to bring it up to a gloss finish. I'm glad I decided on satin before I started. I got a sprayer from my dad but it's high pressure so I'm not sure if it would be good for wood finishes. I used it to paint an 8x8 shed and repaint the steel siding on the garage and it works great for large surfaces. No room for a booth but I've seen people hang vapour barrier inside a garage to make a temporary booth. It's mostly about dust control. That and not having the fumes in the house.

I really like a satin finish on most everything I also do high grade gun stock finishing for a good friend of mine that has a gunsmith shop he gets behind and he gets some help from me some of them stocks take 32 coats of hand rubbed oil . I’ve worked on some crazy wood with him and I don’t have to mess with the checkering he dose that last . Although I do refinish stocks for people .
Agreed on the nasty vapors in the house that’s always a big negative from the Mrs. .

 

[panteragstk]

Geeze you're making me feel lazy. I got some work to do.

Nice job.

 

[3db]

Not an audio update but a room update. The home theatre room is in the basement of an addition. The original house has a utility basement so the floor in the addition is deeper. That necessitated an 18"x18" concrete bulkhead / retaining wall below the old footings to support the soil. My plan was to cover it with a wall unit. The quote from a local cabinet maker came in at over $10k (and that was years ago before prices spiked). They do great work but over my budget. Decided to do it myself.

We like natural wood and wanted something light coloured that would not darken the room, so I chose to go with maple which is readily available in veneered plywood and solid boards. For the finish, I have wanted to try Danish Oil and chose the Watco fruitwood for it's nice warm colour. Maple is normally very pale but I wanted something to complement the wall colour.

Clad the concrete in plywood to give me a clean level base and to have something to attach the baseboard to. It was pretty cramped in my small shop making cabinets that tall but I had just enough room. Finished the pantry to the right first and then installed cabinets from the left across. Today was a banner day because I got the last set of cupboard doors installed which makes it look much more complete. Still have 8 sets of drawers to build which will go in the 4 pairs of cavities at the bottom of the 4 book cases. The book cases are cramped right now as we're still deciding what to keep. Will get cleaned up when the drawers go in. My vinyl collection is in the upper cupboard and the CDs and movies will go in the drawers with full extension slides.

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Thats amazing!! You must be proud. If not, you should be!! I also like your theater setup and room. I too have a VCR somewhere in storage.

 

[Eppie]

After 13 years with my first HT setup, I am close to completing my planned major upgrade for this year. First was to remove the Panasonic Plasma, remove the tilt mount, patch the holes and repaint the area.

The back of the plasma as it waited for re-installation. Not too much dust after 13 years.

I installed brush plates behind the TV and cabinet to hide the wiring and mounted the TV in the living room for my wife. I nice upgrade from the little 26" LCD we had been using.

The plasma was a good purchase. Still has a great image after 13 years of use, no image burn in and the picture is bright enough for day time viewing. You can see why I have in-wall speakers. Doorway to one side and opposite wall has a double window; very limited options. The analogue Kenwood AVR will be replaced with the Denon 2310ci that I was using with the plasma. They pair very well together. 3dB will be glad to see the cassette deck.

Masked out the new location for the TV, moving from a 52" to 65" set.

New tilt mount installed.

Back of the new Samsung. Installed the mounting bracket and cabling. The panel on this set is incredibly thin.

New 65" Samsung S95B OLED. Mounted the set a little higher so that you can see over the centre speaker when lying on the couch. This is about as big as I could go with the bulk head on the left. Super bright image and looks good for being connected to a 1080p AVR. New AVR and surround speakers are next.

 

[Eppie]

My old Denon only supported rear surrounds and height speakers, so I had been using some high-end car audio speakers that I had new in the box. Mounted them in the ceiling for ambient sound as I was concerned about having them too close to the seating. They served me well for 13 years but the rubber surrounds were starting to go on the woofers so it was good timing that I replaced them.

The plan is to remove the old surrounds and run the wiring up to new ceiling speakers for in-ceiling Dolby ATMOS (I only need 2 for this relatively small space). I have two small Canton bookshelf speakers that I can try our for side surrounds. I also have two Wharfedale LoudPanel flat-panel speakers (picture frame speakers) that I can try out for rear surrounds. This will give me a full 7.1.2 setup. If I don't like the flat-panel rear surrounds I can always go down to 5.1.2. The speakers were free so the only cost is speaker wire and the time to patch the nail holes.

 

[Eppie]

Building a system can be a journey, so I'll post the good and the bad. Moving to full surround from a pseudo surround setup was pretty cool. Watched Interceptor and a bunch of YouTube music videos. YouTube is only 5.1 but the Denon does well with Dolby Surround and Neural-X. It's still a novelty at this point but time will tell if surround music will have lasting appeal. Need to find some proper 7.1.2 music files or streams. Action films are definitely more immersive and TV viewing is more fun.

On the down side, the obvious issue is the aesthetic of the panel speakers. You can mount images without affecting the sound, but the location is not where one would normally hang art work. The wife definitely disproves. . Adding images and moving things around may help a little.

The other issue is sound quality. The panels have little bass. Audyssey crossed them at 250Hz which gives you an idea of how mid heavy they are. They don't get a lot of content so the jury is still out. The side surrounds turned out better than expected. They lack some bass as well but Audyssey did a decent job EQing them. Audyssey was not perfect though. I did 6 measurements and it boosted my centre and tops heavily at 125Hz and both are relatively flat speakers. Had to manual EQ to set things more to my liking.

I'll run it like this for a while, but I suspect that the rears will go. The Paradigm ceiling speakers sound great so the contrast is obvious. I'll probably end up with 5.2.2 but I may try front height speakers to fill the sound envelope.

 

[afterlife2]

Looking great dude, enjoy it to the fullest! It's a lot of fun to set stuff up for your liking. You keep reminding me to install my refurbished Denon 760H(with phono input ) 8K AVR in my bedroom. My Xmas gift to myself last year. Maybe I'll do it next week. Need to heal from a recent backache first.

 

[Eppie]

Looking great dude, enjoy it to the fullest! It's a lot of fun to set stuff up for your liking. You keep reminding me to install my refurbished Denon 760H(with phono input ) 8K AVR in my bedroom. My Xmas gift to myself last year. Maybe I'll do it next week. Need to heal from a recent backache first.

Thanks. I installed the TVs a couple of weeks ago and that only took the good part of an afternoon and evening. We then had a long weekend in Canada (first Monday in August is a civic holiday) and it took two full days to install the new speakers, patch the ceiling, run wiring and exchange the AVRs. Takes a while to go through the AVR setup and run Audyssey, tweak the settings and configure the other inputs.

I did all this with tendonitis in my right elbow. Fight the pain! Then relax. Got my analogue devices working last night. Still have a few VHS tapes of material that I don't have digitally and some family tapes I need to convert. Tapes play fine but the TV looses the picture when I pause or fast forward. This AVR doesn't upscale analogue video like the old one and low res support on modern OLEDs is iffy at best. PS2 still works so the kids have access to retro games. I still have a Pioneer DVD player that does surround audio through the digital coax connection and the picture was actually pretty decent over component video. I could use the PS3 for DVDs so the Pioneer is superfluous. Now that I have a 4k TV and 8k AVR I will be on the lookout for a blu-ray player as the PS3 is only 1080p. Maybe time for a new Playstation as well.

 

[Bobby Bass]

Thanks. I installed the TVs a couple of weeks ago and that only took the good part of an afternoon and evening. We then had a long weekend in Canada (first Monday in August is a civic holiday) and it took two full days to install the new speakers, patch the ceiling, run wiring and exchange the AVRs. Takes a while to go through the AVR setup and run Audyssey, tweak the settings and configure the other inputs.

I did all this with tendonitis in my right elbow. Fight the pain! Then relax. Got my analogue devices working last night. Still have a few VHS tapes of material that I don't have digitally and some family tapes I need to convert. Tapes play fine but the TV looses the picture when I pause or fast forward. This AVR doesn't upscale analogue video like the old one and low res support on modern OLEDs is iffy at best. PS2 still works so the kids have access to retro games. I still have a Pioneer DVD player that does surround audio through the digital coax connection and the picture was actually pretty decent over component video. I could use the PS3 for DVDs so the Pioneer is superfluous. Now that I have a 4k TV and 8k AVR I will be on the lookout for a blu-ray player as the PS3 is only 1080p. Maybe time for a new Playstation as well.

Looks great so far! Keep fighting the pain if you can the payoff will be every time you watch and listen to your upgraded system and you’ll think to yourself - I did that. Like most hobbies it’s a labor of love. Stay safe and enjoy!

 

[BBHT]

...
On the down side, the obvious issue is the aesthetic of the panel speakers. You can mount images without affecting the sound, but the location is not where one would normally hang art work. The wife definitely disproves. . Adding images and moving things around may help a little.

The other issue is sound quality. The panels have little bass. Audyssey crossed them at 250Hz which gives you an idea of how mid heavy they are. They don't get a lot of content so the jury is still out. The side surrounds turned out better than expected. They lack some bass as well but Audyssey did a decent job EQing them. Audyssey was not perfect though. I did 6 measurements and it boosted my centre and tops heavily at 125Hz and both are relatively flat speakers. Had to manual EQ to set things more to my liking.

I'll run it like this for a while, but I suspect that the rears will go. The Paradigm ceiling speakers sound great so the contrast is obvious. I'll probably end up with 5.2.2 but I may try front height speakers to fill the sound envelope.
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I like this very much, and has given me more food for thought.
Those picture frame speaker panels are such a novel idea. I will have to steal that from you when I inevitably upgrade in the future. (Yes, this place has somehow given me upgrad-itis)

 

[Wardog555]

5.1.2 is appropriate for when sitting too close to walls. There's not enough distance for any more speakers.
If you wish to have full sound envelopment, try sitting away a bit further to achieve the full dome of sound that atmos intends!
I'm sure you'll be quite happy with the results.

The setup looks pretty good.

Looking forward to the future upgrades for bigger speakers! You'll going to love it!

 

[Eppie]

I like this very much, and has given me more food for thought.
Those picture frame speaker panels are such a novel idea. I will have to steal that from you when I inevitably upgrade in the future. (Yes, this place has somehow given me upgrad-itis)

FYI the Wharfedale LoudPanel was originally sold with a powered bass module (not a true subwoofer) as they don't produce much sound below 200Hz. You don't get any bass coupling from the wall as there is no bass. I added some black and white photos so they look better. The manual says you can use a low tack adhesive to add images and it's not supposed to degrade the sound. These can be found on EBay for not to much money.

There are companies that make in-wall flat panel speakers that you can plaster and paint over to create an invisible speaker. I've only known of one forum member who was looking into those but they perform like a bookshelf speaker.

 

[Eppie]

5.1.2 is appropriate for when sitting too close to walls. There's not enough distance for any more speakers.
If you wish to have full sound envelopment, try sitting away a bit further to achieve the full dome of sound that atmos intends!
I'm sure you'll be quite happy with the results.

The setup looks pretty good.

Looking forward to the future upgrades for bigger speakers! You'll going to love it!

I had a pretty good idea going in what the result might be. I'm only 9 ft from the mains so not much room to move the couch away from the wall but the side surrounds are slightly behind which is what they recommend if you don't have rear surrounds. This is more of an experiment. The lack of bass in the panels also tends to make music a bit bright with surround processing. I'm happy with the tops and glad that I spent the extra money for the Paradigm Pro speakers.

What do you think about removing the rears and going with front height? I think that's my last option. Either go down to 5.1.2 or try 5.1.4.

Found out that my old Klipsch sub is small enough to fit in behind the left main speaker stand. Can't afford a second SVS right now but the nice thing with the X4800H is that it has 4 independent sub outs which will help a little with having two different subs. Had some issues with the auto-on feature so I need to get it on the repair bench first.

 

[BBHT]

FYI the Wharfedale LoudPanel was originally sold with a powered bass module (not a true subwoofer) as they don't produce much sound below 200Hz. You don't get any bass coupling from the wall as there is no bass. I added some black and white photos so they look better. The manual says you can use a low tack adhesive to add images and it's not supposed to degrade the sound. These can be found on EBay for not to much money.

There are companies that make in-wall flat panel speakers that you can plaster and paint over to create an invisible speaker. I've only known of one forum member who was looking into those but they perform like a bookshelf speaker.

Oh! Good to know!

I cannot build into my ceiling, so I forgoed doing height channels. But if I can get a pair or two of some flat panel speakers, maybe I can mount them on my ceiling. I saw KEF has a model, the T101.

Sorry for the thread hijack.

For me, I'd say to go with a 5.1.4. In my (very limited, and naïve) view, have 2 pairs of heights would allow panning of left / right, front / back.

 

[Eppie]

Oh! Good to know!

I cannot build into my ceiling, so I forgoed doing height channels. But if I can get a pair or two of some flat panel speakers, maybe I can mount them on my ceiling. I saw KEF has a model, the T101.

Sorry for the thread hijack.

For me, I'd say to go with a 5.1.4. In my (very limited, and naïve) view, have 2 pairs of heights would allow panning of left / right, front / back.

First I've seen of those panels. You still need to be able to run wires to the location. I would probably opt for height speakers in that instance. I may remove my panels and try front height instead like SVS Prime Elevation or Arendal Height