The Living Room setup...

[Vracer111]

I've had this site bookmarked for a while and enjoy reading the reviews and information available on this site. It is just a lower-mid level 5.1 system that gets the job done very well; I always go for bang for the buck if you will. Since the living room is not a purpose built HT room there is no sense in going with higher end equipment, especially when the you can hear the house resonating around 30-35 Hz (THX Crossover/Subwoofer frequency response test and Transformer's "Ironhide" bass scene comes to mind.) Living room is approximately 19' x 13' with a vaulted ceiling and main sectional sofa seating is 13' from screen (unfortunately that's as close as I can get it to the screen with the backyard door access being in front of the subwoofer.)

EQUIPMENT

A/V components:
Receiver - Sony STR-DG510
DVD player - Sony DVP-NS77H/B upconverter
Gaming system - XBox 360
Projector - Epson Home Cinema 720
Screen - 92" Elitescreen Silverframe

Speakers:
Front - Polk Audio RTi A5
Center - Polk Audio CSi A4
Subwoofer - Polk DSW PRO 500
Rears - Polk Audio FXi A6

MISC:
IKEA Entertainment Center
Tripod with custom mount/shelf for Projector
Polk Audio Monitor 50 currently used as the Rear speaker stands.
2 APC UPS - one 200W for the projector and one 390W for the other components

FUTURE UPGRADE PLANS:
Receiver - NAD T737
2nd Subwoofer - DSW PRO 500

I noticed quite a few people not recommending Polk Audio subwoofers in the forums; I am highly satisfied with the DSW PRO 500. With the bass level at 25/40 and receiver at 1/2 level, on most action titles you can feel the tight percussion wave for each and every impact. I originally went with the PRO 400, but it was not adequate for movies even though for music it was great. The PRO 500 is great for both music and movies in my application.

Need to get an area rug to help with room slap issue and will be treating the ceiling and back wall as need with acoutical foam in the future. New speaker wiring will also be used and routed along the left side wall for the Rear speakers.

Pictures below (Note - movie shots are soft/motion blurred because of being taken while movie was playing for better representation of image. CGI animation is sharp and clear in reality.)

Image from 'Vexille'

Image from 'Vexille'

 

[Kai]

Nice looking room and system. The room looks very "live"...reflections must be fun. You might want to run the wiring along the moulding for a cleaner look and no one tripping over them.
Why have you not mounted the projector and speakers on the wall? Damage to the wall material? I wouldn't blame you were that the reason. Good idea using the tripod.

 

[Sounds Good]

looks great, i am trying to talk my wife into ditching the "entertainment center" and small satellites for a credenza type and floor standers...

 

[Vracer111]

Kai, yes the room needs some acoustic absorbtion and diffusion, but jazz music does have a nice live feel. As mentioned in the first post the rear speakers will be rewired with the wire running along the left side and rear baseboard - the rear speaker wiring is actually from when the Monitor 50 were used in side surround configuration.

Since the room will be changing up a bit acoustically in the near future, positioning of the speakers needs to be flexible as the room acoustics change; I will be making stands for the rear speakers as well. Main reason Projector is mounting to the tripod is I want it as close to the screen as possible for screen brightness and color. And not having a shelf which intersects a wall should also keep the projector cooler (more airmass/flow potential available for the filtered intake at bottom rear of projector.)

Sounds Good, I don't have a wife but I understand how most women feel about audio/video equipment. If you can find the "right looking" Floorstanders you may be good...depending on price that is. Hope it works out with you being able to upgrade and she being understanding/accepting of the change.

As my system changes I will update this thread.

 

[Matt34]

I've read those new Polk DSW Pro subs are a big improvement over the previous offering of subs.

Nice setup!

 

[fast1]

nice setup, wished i had enough room to do this...

 

[GO-NAD!]

I certainly wouldn't call your system "just a lower-mid level 5.1". You've compiled a very nice system IMHO. A lot of people would be very envious. I tested a pair of RTiA7s and although I didn't keep them, it wasn't because they weren't great speakers. I would surmise that the RTiA5s sound quite similar, except maybe a bit lighter in the bass response. But with your subwoofer, I don't think that matters. I also subscribe to the "bang for buck" philosophy and as far as loudspeakers go, you'd have to chuck out significantly more dollaros to improve on what you have.

 

[xxlmtrider0beck]

hey i have a bunch of speakers like you have and wanted to get a router strong enough for them, i alos have what im pretty sure tp be just a subwoofer and wanted that to really bump, can you help me out? im looking for and amp or reciever(something to plug it all into

 

[Vracer111]

hey i have a bunch of speakers like you have and wanted to get a router strong enough for them, i alos have what im pretty sure tp be just a subwoofer and wanted that to really bump, can you help me out? im looking for and amp or reciever(something to plug it all into

From what I understand you are saying, you are looking for a receiver for driving your speakers and getting good bass. This site has lots of information and reviews on receivers which is what helped me decide on an inexpensive one with HDMI capability. As far as a subwoofer "bump" the lowly receiver I have is enough to resonate the attic and windows and feel good sized pressure waves at half power with sub just above half volume for the Ironhide scene in Transformers (the one where he fires his particle cannon into the pavement and propels himself over the screaming lady). But the receiver is only half the equation for bass, the subwoofer needs to be capable of really clean bass response and good pressure levels to be enjoyable.

As long as your speakers are of good quality, a good low end Receiver will get the job done. Just make sure you go with digital audio connections for your components, it really helps with clarity and punch - in all frequency bands.

 

[Sounds Good]

Sounds Good, I don't have a wife but I understand how most women feel about audio/video equipment. If you can find the "right looking" Floorstanders you may be good...depending on price that is. Hope it works out with you being able to upgrade and she being understanding/accepting of the change.

thanks... i would imagine if i showed her some piano black towers she would be happy... at least i know i would... or even a set of maple or beech (axioms) with black grills... mmmm

 

[KlipschHead281]

Nice set up! Looks very nice.

 

[Porschetech]

wow......great setup

 

[Shock]

That's a giant screen, I likey I likey.

Do you ever get motion sick from watching it for extended periods? I was watching the lastest UFC at a friends on his 108" screen and I had to look away a few times from getting motion sickness.

 

[Vracer111]

That's a giant screen, I likey I likey.

Do you ever get motion sick from watching it for extended periods? I was watching the lastest UFC at a friends on his 108" screen and I had to look away a few times from getting motion sickness.

It's a 92" screen so it's not that big from 13' away. The sweet spot is sitting on the living room floor about 9 feet away though. No problems with motion sickness even sitting on the floor up close with aerial dogfight scenes and the like.

 

[jamie2112]

Looks good nice job.

 

[Vracer111]

Well, I scored a receiver on Ebay last night; a brand new NAD Electronics T 747 for not much more than the T 737 retails for.

Definately need to beef up the entertainment center for supporting the extra weight (it is almost double that of the Sony receiver.) Might be a good time to actually get rid of that particular entertainment center and create a smaller custom one made from real wood that can hold some weight and allow placement of subwoofer below the middle of the screen.

 

[Vracer111]

The NAD T747 finally came in today! I like it for the most part so far, a lot more detail in the sound - the speakers are definately being driven harder than they were with the Sony. There is a constant low level hum from the speakers which is more noticeable than the Sony had...that's about the only thing I don't like about this Receiver. That and the on screen menu, it would be nice to have a full function menu on the LED screen instead of having to set it up the receiver through an onscreen menu.

Shifted a few things around to change out the receiver, wouldn't work too well on a glass pane. see picture:

Need more time to get familiar with it and set it up, but from just tonight I can tell it's a definate overall improvement.

 

[ldgibson76]

Hello VRacer.

The NAD T747 is a very nice AVR. You should really hear a difference in the music playback, especially 2 channel performance. NAD is one of those rare audio companies that has stuck to the "music first" philosophy.
NAD amp's have a very refined sound and should do your Polks some justice!

Congrats.

Regards.

 

[agarwalro]

Very Very nice setup!

Are you using the floorstanders as stands for the side surrounds!?

 

[Vracer111]

Updates to the system...

ldgibson76: music playback is very nice with the NAD T747 much fuller range and detail in sound; I like it very much!

agarwalro: Yes, I'm using the Monitor 50's as speaker stands until I build some.

Now onto some new things...

Frys Electronics strikes again! Came home with a BluRay player Thursday (Sony BDP-S360) on sale for $240. I wasn't sure how much of a difference it would make for my 720P Projector setup, but I was curious to find out. So along with the BD player I picked up BluRay versions of IronMan and Appleseed:ExMachina to compare against the DVD versions.

Before I get too far along, I would like to mention some changes made. I've moved the Subwoofer upfront and center on the new rug - there is a little less volume but also much smoother bass response and a lot less hot spots. All the speaker wiring has been cleaned up and routed along the walls. I've also added curtains, the 8ft bay window has a double layer of curtains to allow excellent viewing at any time of the day. And since addition of the BluRay player brought the remote count to 5, I went ahead and picked up a Harmony 510 remote yesterday after work, along with Pirates of the Carribean trilogy on BR. Pictures of some of the changes below:

Now back to how much of a difference this BluRay makes in a 720P projector versus an upconverted DVD. After getting the BluRay player setup and audio finally like it should be (forgot to get a second Digital co-axial audio cable when buying the BluRay Player) I went ahead and watched Ironman. My what a very noticable difference! Finally Ironman was not fuzzy in the regular scenes and a little sharper in the CG ones. Color detail and contrast very noticeably improved as well. Another benefit is fluid movement as well, the action was so much more fluid and smooth compared to watching an upconverted DVD. I was very impressed. Next, was to see what kind of difference it made in a CG Anime title - which really is what I was curious about. The difference in Appleseed:ExMachina was much less than in Iron Man, but there was a noticeable difference. Sharpness of the upconverted DVD was not too much worse than the BluRay, color and contrast had a little more noticeable difference, but nowhere near the difference of Iron Man. The main difference was in fluidity of motion, just like in IronMan - motion just looks plain better and more realistic with less judder compared to an upconverted DVD. The most difference is when the movie is paused, that is where you see the most difference in image detail between the two sources. Below are picture comparisons of BluRay and upconverted DVD for IronMan and Appleseed:ExMachina:

IronMan DVD (paused):

IronMan BluRay (paused):

Appleseed:ExMachina DVD (paused):

Appleseed:ExMachina BluRay (paused):

Appleseed:ExMachina DVD (playing):

Appleseed:ExMachina BluRay (playing):