Apartment set up

[brianedm]

Hey guys,

This is my current set up. I know I need to add a sub sometime soon, leaning towards SVS for that. I know polks aren't the most popular around here but I'm really happy with them Pics taken with iphone, sorry

Speakers
Towers- Polk Rti a7
Center- Polk Csi a6 (I've got it flipped upside down so the speakers are actually facing slightly upward)
Rears- Polk Rti a1

Electronics
Sharp LC-60e78un
Denon avr-3312 ci
Sony BDP-S360
Logitech Harmony one
APC j35b
Sirius satellite radio dock
Optik tv pvr
xbox 360 with kinect

 

[tattoo_Dan]

nice setup ! I like the PC in the same room,that opens up possibilities ,I like the rack on the right side.




and the cat looks very comfy ! LOL

 

[brianedm]

Just ordered a great gramma. Will be ordering an SVS PB12-NSD on thursday when I get paid. I imagine it'll be placed between the tv and the front left speaker. I may end up putting it on the left hand side of the room closer to the couch (and further from any shared walls) to avoid pissing off the neighbours, but I don't really think that'll make a huge difference. I have concrete walls so I think the sound proofing should be half decent at least. As long as I'm not cranking it after 10 pm I'm not too worried.

 

[timoteo]

Sweet!! A new setup to look at You've got a nice start & yes the PB-12NSD will make a very large improvement in your system!!! Your going to enjoy that!!

Little advice...I noticed that your left speaker is a little further away from the TV than the front right speaker. I would bring the left speaker in towards the TV a bit so that the Left/Right are equal distant apart. That would help with any side reflection your getting off the wall with the left being so close. This would also free some room up to place the new sub in the front left corner, outside of the left speaker. With the corner placement you will benefit from more boundary gain. It will most likely have more impact for you if it's in that corner. You won't have to turn it up as loud for it to sound good & this will probably actually bother the other tenants less. The GRAMMA will help too!!

Make sure that after you run Auddessey go in & change ALL speakers to Small & with a crossover of about 60hz-100hz. 80hz should be good but see which sounds best to you!!! Before you run Auddessey, have the volume knob on the SVS between 35%-50%.

This should get you setup pretty nicely!

Thanks for posting the pics, lookin good!!

 

[brianedm]

Thanks timoteo! I took some measurements and there was about a half inch difference. They have carpet spikes so it's pretty hard to adjust exactly. Ended up getting the left speaker moved in about an inch and the right speaker moved in about half an inch. Could be a little bit off, but it's definitely closer than it was before with a little more room for the sub back there

 

[timoteo]

Owe wow it must have been the angle of the photo or maybe because the equip rack fills in the space to the right of the tv. Either way, it seemed like the left speaker was much further out. Well it's good to have them equal distance apart & 1/2" won't make much of a difference if any.

Once you do get the sub though, make sure you do the "sub crawl" to locate the best spot. From the looks of your room, that front left will probably be one of the best spots but you won't know for sure until you check.

 

[brianedm]

Wow, I really can't say enough about SVS canadas customer service. I haven't even placed an order yet and I asked them a question about calibrating the sub using a spl meter and if they had any reccomendations. After that was taken care of I thought I'd send a throw away email asking if they could do free shipping or free subwoofer cable. I was fully expecting a line about how they unfortunately couldn't accommodate the request but they're gonna include a 10 meter subwoofer cable free of charge. Excellent customer service, I'm already impressed.

 

[timoteo]

That's great!! Never hurts to ask!!....all the ID subwoofer companies have to stay competitive. Dr. Hsu of HSU Research is always hands on with personal help for customers & it results in a great reputation & very happy customers. So it's good to hear the SVS is also very accommodating to their customers as well. I know that my experiences with both HSU & Emotiva have been nothing but exceptional as well!!!

You are going to really enjoy the NSD sub when it gets in. Keep us updated with thoughts & pics!!

 

[brianedm]

I woke up this morning like a kid in a candy store so excited to order my new subwoofer. Went to SVS canadas page and was heart broken to see that the pb12-nsd was out of stock. Sent an email off to see when they'd have more stock and got a reply half an hour or so later (which was excellent considering I woke up at 6 am local time) saying it was an error and the site had been updated to show them as in stock again. $850 later my new sub has been ordered and now for the hardest part, the waiting!

 

[Cygnus]

Nice setup and cute cat!

Just curious how you plan to use the sub without bugging your neighbours, or is it not a typical apartment setup? With mine, I'm on the eigth floor of my building, so I have people above, below, and to the left and right of me as well, so I can't use my sub.

Edit: I actually think you answered my question in a post above. I must learn to...y'know...read....

 

[brianedm]

Nice setup and cute cat!

Just curious how you plan to use the sub without bugging your neighbours, or is it not a typical apartment setup? With mine, I'm on the eigth floor of my building, so I have people above, below, and to the left and right of me as well, so I can't use my sub.

Edit: I actually think you answered my question in a post above. I must learn to...y'know...read....

Ya, I'm really hoping that between turning the receiver down 10 db at night, the great gramma, and concrete walls that it's not too bad. I've watched movies at -25 db at night and my towers already put out a good amount of bass so I think I'll be fine if I change that to -35 db now. Hopefully at least *fingers crossed*

 

[timoteo]

Brian, your 3312 should have a dynamic range control setting. If that's the case then set it to Midnight when you watch something late. This will keep the dialogue the same but will keep the loud peaks from being so loud & bassy. I'm almost positive you have a setting similar to that. My previous Denon 2309 had it. I could choose Day, Evening or Midnight. It got more aggressive as you chose the later setting.

 

[brianedm]

There is! Thanks a lot, that's a huge help!

 

[timoteo]

Nice...Im glad you found it!!!

 

[brianedm]

Well, I've got the great gramma in and waiting now, and I decided to attempt some nicer pictures to give you guys a better sence of the space. Hope you like them

Blu Ray/DVD/video game collection


View from the tv


better picture of the couch


(slightly) better picture of the tv stand


(slightly) better picture of the component stand


and the Great Gramma in one of it's possible locations (pending bass crawl)

 

[brianedm]

Got the sub in last night. Just watched my first movie on it (Sherlock Holmes 2). Wasn't getting as much bass as I wanted so I upped the gain a bit. Also turned off all dynamic volume adjustments and we were a lot closer to where I wanted to be for my daytime movie watching.

Placing the sub for the bass crawl


Final placement of sub


tripod (the benefits of knowing a photographer in the building) for calibration

 

[timoteo]

Hey CONGRADULATIONS buddy I'm glad to see you got yourself a nice sub. New subs never sound their best new. They take a solid 30-50hrs to break in so give it some time then recalibrate!!!! It'll get deeper & louder trust me!!!

 

[brianedm]

Near term future upgrades:
1) Panasonic DMP-BDT220 with skype camera
2) tv stand with mount attached to get my center off the ground with acoustical foam underneath

That will probably be the end of immediate upgrades until I buy my own place, after which I'll start looking at
1) Emotiva XPA-5
2) 2nd pb12-nsd with great gramma
3) salk song towers, song center, song surrounds (the ultimate dream)
4) higher quality display, probably panasonic plasma or projector system

Any thoughts? Alot of the later ones are dare to dream scenarios for now, but it's good to have goals.

 

[brianedm]

I just won a 40 inch Samsung LED at work. I don't really have a need for a tv in my bedroom but it's hard to argue with the price.

 

[Bryceo]

Great set up mate any future projects?