noobie to home theater

[mike08]

I purchased the following: samsung lnt 5271fx lcd 1080p ,paradigms monitor 9s,adp190 (rears),ps1200(Sub) and cc590(center).Also denon avr 2307 reciever,ps3 for blueray and hd cable reciever. 16 guage wires for all speakers except the sub and monster cables/hdmi. Sounds great for movies and music.Any thoughts about getting the full potential out of the system(callibrating the sp,placement and extra sp for 7.1?)

 

[jamie2112]

Welcome

I would get 10 or 12 gauge wire for speakers. Sounds like you got some great new toys to play with. Have fun thats the most important part.....

 

[Exit]

Speaker placement for 7.1 is just like 5.1 with two extra speakers on the rear wall (direct radiators preferred). For 5.1 you have front left, center and right, then a speaker on each sidewall slightly behind the listening position about 6 feet high. If your receiver has auto-calibration covering the bass region (about 20 Hz to 80 Hz then you can run it and it will probably sound fine. If your auto-calibration doesn’t cover the lower bass region, you can get a sound pressure level (SPL) meter at Radio Shack, and a test tone disc and plot the frequency response for the bass region. If you have a peak or null you can sometimes get rid of it with a parametric equalizer built into some subs. The one on my subwoofer is a single band. You can also by a multiband parametric equalizer for just the bass region which usually has about 12 bands (i.e. BFD). I wouldn’t worry about the equalizers too much if the bass sounds good to you and not boomy or one note sounding.

 

[mike08]

im new to this site and thanks

I found this site very informative and got some new ideas about making my new system sound even better. I am going to add on 2 back rears(7.1) because i am using the adp190s as surrounds left/right on my reciever right now.Also would like to add another sub to mix and get the sound meter /calibration disc.Please tell me if thats going alittle overboard on ht just for the living room.Well maybe stick with 1 sub because its pretty loud.

 

[Exit]

mike08

My HT is 5.1 so I can’t say how much better 7.1 sounds, but I have seen 7.1 on a few DVDs. For the sidewall speakers you can use diffuse speakers such as bipoles, dipoles, etc. and have it so the sound is coming off a large area of the wall simulating multiple speakers in a cinema. For the back wall speakers you want conventional direct radiators. I would look for the smallest speaker that still produces bass down to your subwoofer crossover (probably 80 Hz so the bottom of the vocal range stays out of the subwoofer).

You can get a test tone generator over the internet, or use one of the commercial sound test disks. For frequency response measurement most people have pretty much standardized on the analog Radio Shack Sound Pressure Level (SPL) meter. It is about $45 I think. You may have to have them order the analog meter because all they carry (at my local store) is a digital meter. Excel spreadsheets with analog RS SPL accuracy correction factors built in are available which will plot your baseline frequency versus your corrected frequency response. I found a good excel spreadsheet searching under Behringer Feedback Destroyer (BFD) through the internet and forums. My BFD is a Feedback Destroyer Pro DSP1124P for $99 and there is a guide and forums which help in setting up this fairly hard-to-understand device (you trade off ease-of use-for low price).

My HT is in the great room and I went to the trouble to measure bass frequency response but you may not find it necessary, particularly if you don’t want to get into the nuts and bolts of the hobby. I read up on the BFD and parametric equalization and decided it was something I wanted to do for about $150 (BFD and SPL meter) because my subwoofer goes down to 16 Hz and I figured I probably had some room effects to correct. (I bought the parametric equalizer first because I thought it might be replaced by a more expensive model by the time I got my subwoofer.) It is something you don’t have to do if your subwoofer doesn’t have low end bass below probably 60 Hz (just guessing) and you are happy with your bass response. By this I mean you get good audible response without any booming or one-note sounding bass. It is the base region that sets up standing waves in a room where waves of certain frequencies reinforce each other (a frequency response peak) while other waves cancel each other (a frequency response void). The peaks and voids occur at various places in the room. What you try to do is get the seating position to sound its best. The room is a large part of problem and its size determines where the peak frequency is located on the sound spectrum. There are also room acoustic treatments which can be used instead of or in conjunction with the bass parametric equalizer. Some believe room effects correction should be done entirely with acoustic treatments. There is a separate section of the forums for room acoustics should you wish to become knowledgeable on this part of the hobby.

 

[Alex2507]

Please tell me if thats going a little overboard on ht just for the living room.Well maybe stick with 1 sub because its pretty loud.

Overboard? This site is called Audioholics for a reason. Nah, you're not overboard. Here, have another sub or two but go slow cause your gonna have to listen later.

Congratulations on the new toys! Calibration makes a world of difference. The only time 7.1 is a bad idea is when your couch is up against a wall. You need to have it a couple of feet away before it does any good as far as I know. I lust after a second sub and 7.1 but I simply don't have the room. Sometimes I think about two small subs.

-Alex

 

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If your subwoofer in your room acoustics goes loud enough for you and doesn't bottom out (i.e. make mechanical noise) on the very dynamic and very deep bass notes, then you are probably set. You can measure the subwoofer frequency response and find the bottom frequency range of your sub. (The music frequency range is 20-20,000 KHz. Bass response below 20 Hz is basically for movie sound effects.). The lower you want to go, the biger and more expensive is the sub. You can look as SVS, HSU and AV123 (MFW15) to see what it costs for subwoofers that go deeper than yours. For a real life demonstration you can also look at the reference below which lists some bass special effects iin particular movies, although the list is getting a little dated. If your subwoofer picks up these special effects then you probably don't need a new subwoofer. Also if you subwoofer doesn't pick up the special effects, you can decide whether you would want to spend the money it takes to get them or if they are not that to important to you.

http://www.svsound.com/questions-faqs.cfm

There are of course other subwoofer parameters besides frequency low extension that go into the quality of the subwoofer. The subs from the three companies mentioned make quality subwoofers.

 

[mike08]

u must work at a ht store.

I like the article about subs. I have alot to learn about ht and fine tuning.I also returned my adp 190s paradigm monitor series and upgraded to the 390s and u can notice the difference.Its still 5.1 but more sound in the living room.The wife cant tell the difference as long as it looks good and matches the living room decor. Ha ha