Buckeye_Nuts theater Makeover

[Buckeye_Nut]

I finally have some pics of my recent theater makeover, and there will be more changes to come. I have black, lined media drapes on order to cover all the windows along the back wall. Right now the room is in 'stripped' down mode because we just painted and hung the acoustical panels. We plan to hang some movie posters, and other various movie themed decorations in the near future.
For those that dont already know, my system is as follows.
Klipsch RF-82 Fronts
Klipsch RF-52 Surrounds
Klipsch RC-62 Center
SVS PB12-Plus2 Subwoofer
Nameless Back speakers
65" Mitsubishi HDTV
Yamaha RX-V2500 Receiver
Sony DVD player
Direct TV for Sat programming
All panels are GIK 244s
...well, at least thats the most important stuff.

Most of my comments are about the panels because the entire makeover centered on treating the room acoustics. I have 4 GIK 244s positioned in the front. All panels in my theater are 2'x4' by 4 inches thick. As you can see, the components all sit back in a nook thats about 13'Wx5.5'D. I'll start with the front showing how it looks with the grills off.


And on......
The speaker grills are always left on, but it's always fun to take them off for photo opportunities.....LOL
View attachment 3010
This shows a better angle of the left side of the nook. The panel on the little sidewall tightens up the sound for those sitting on the couch.


I have two panels on the 20' sidewall to attack that dreaded first reflection point.
View attachment 3013
I also have two panels in the back corner by the subwoofer. I have one corner mounted, and one on the floor. I have the panel on the floor because the lower portion of the sidewall is poured concrete. The bottom is pulled away from the wall to create an airgap.
View attachment 3014

Apparently, I have reached my 5 attachment limit......
To be continued...............

 

[tomd51]

Very nice, Buck . Have the panels made an impact to this point? I assume so, but how substantial?

I'm currently in the process of building some DIY panels and will be ordering a couple of GIK 244s, but I'm still debating on their placement. I have determined location on the front wall behind my RPTV and LCRs, very similar to yours, but there will be a couple more and they will be vertically hung. Also I'll be using a corner placed one beside my SVS cylinder similar to the placement of yours.

I want to make sure I don't overload the room, but still provide solid treatment while keeping the look of the room decent as well. I'll have to do some listening tests as I build more of them and decide then... -TD

 

[Buckeye_Nut]

part 2..........

This is my view along the back wall. The drapes hang pretty much directly behind the sweet spot. I realize that would be the perfect panel location, but oh well.......
View attachment 3015
I excitedly await the arrival of the new black drapes!!
I have one panel in the space between the sliding glass doors, and the windows which directly opposes the left front speaker.

My room is irregular shaped(rougly 20x25), and the next photo clearly shows how the left side of the room is laid out. The room is 20' wide from the back-left section of wall, and 25' wide from the front-left section of wall. As of right now, I have no plans to place a panel on that section of wall because it's pretty far removed from everything else, but ya never know.
View attachment 3016

Now this is the MOST IMPORTANT view of my HT!!!
View attachment 3017
This is how the room looks when the lights are dimmed on movie night! My current 65" TV will be the last TV I ever buy for the HT. As soon as it begins to show signs of age, it will be replaced with a 1080p Projector, and I'll hang a 8-9' screen on the front wall.

The overall impact of the makeover was worth every penny. For those of you still sitting in untreated rooms, I highly recommend that you treat your room acoustics. Even the most expensive components in an untreated room will sound like a jumbled up mess compared to that of a modest system in a treated room.

Do yourself a favor, and JUST DO IT!! The "ROOM" upgrade is the biggest and most important upgrade you can make. Dont make the same mistake I made, and wait 10 years before you finally treat your room.

 

[s.morris]

Hi Buckeye_Nut,

Great room, Just love the red walls,

Steve

 

[Buckeye_Nut]

Very nice, Buck . Have the panels made an impact to this point? I assume so, but how substantial?

I'm currently in the process of building some DIY panels and will be ordering a couple of GIK 244s, but I'm still debating on their placement. I have determined location on the front wall behind my RPTV and LCRs, very similar to yours, but there will be a couple more and they will be vertically hung. Also I'll be using a corner placed one beside my SVS cylinder similar to the placement of yours.

I want to make sure I don't overload the room, but still provide solid treatment while keeping the look of the room decent as well. I'll have to do some listening tests as I build more of them and decide then... -TD

Hey Tom,
Thanks!

It looks like you're on the right track with your panel positioning. For me, the sound difference was immediately noticable. Your system will have a clearer, cleaner, and tighter sound once the room is treated. Besides having noticably cleaner bass, the mids and vocals will also come across much better. During loud movie segments, it was especially noticable. The vocals will sound crystal clear even while stuff is blowing up all around in a loud scene. Even though I never noticed before treating, but the vocals used to get muddied and masked by loud movie segments. It wasnt until I heard the improvement after treating that I was like...... Wow, so that's how it should sound!!

The GIK panels dont have a very high absorption rate at the very high end of the spectrum, so you dont have to worry about making the room sound too dead. Even with the 10 panels, my room still sounds alive.

 

[sploo]

...For those of you still sitting in untreated rooms, I highly recommend that you treat your room acoustics. Even the most expensive components in an untreated room will sound like a jumbled up mess compared to that of a modest system in a treated room.

Do yourself a favor, and JUST DO IT!! The "ROOM" upgrade will make the biggest and most noticable sound improvement of most any upgrade you can make. Dont make the same mistake I made, and wait 10 years before you finally treat your room.

Couldn't agree more, and the results look great too.

The only thing I'd note - is it possible to put the panel above the TV at 45 degrees (along the wall/ceiling edge) instead of the wall only?

It probably won't look as nice, but if I interpret some of Ethan's advice correctly, then bass-trapping usually works better when spanning corners.

Overall; great looking setup, now enjoy it - you've earned it!

 

[~JC~]

Looking very nice indeed!. I like the color, very similar to what I am putting on my walls at the moment. How many coats did it take?? I'm on the third, and I'm not sure that is going to do it!!

 

[Buckeye_Nut]

It only took one coat of paint, but we put a very good coat of dark primer on beforehand. So I guess technically speaking, since we painted the room twice...... I'll call it two coats

PS.... I hate painting, and I hope to never go through that experience again for a very long time.

 

[Buckeye_Nut]

Couldn't agree more, and the results look great too.

The only thing I'd note - is it possible to put the panel above the TV at 45 degrees (along the wall/ceiling edge) instead of the wall only?

It probably won't look as nice, but if I interpret some of Ethan's advice correctly, then bass-trapping usually works better when spanning corners.

Overall; great looking setup, now enjoy it - you've earned it!

That is definitely one possibility, but that wasnt the objective I was attacking with my current positioning. The reason I put the panel in the current location was that I wanted it on the front wall behind the center speaker to clean up the dialog by attacking front wall reflections.

The biggest noticable improvement I've discovered with the current positioning is that even when stuff is blowing up all around a scene, dialog still comes through crystal clear. Even though the sound wasnt noticably 'bad' beforehand, the improvement is rather significant. After hearing the "A verses B" comparison, the effects of front wall reflections became obvious.

 

[westcott]

Congratulations on a great looking system!

I am just guessing but I was curious as to why you are using the RC62 center.

Was the RC64 too big or did you already own the RC62 before you bought the RF-82's?

Just curious, one Klipsch owner to another.

 

[Buckeye_Nut]

wescott,
Thanks!

I bought the rc62 because it was designed with the rf82s in mind, and it's the best possible mate for those speakers.

 

[westcott]

I have been wanting to hear the new reference series but had to wait until some of the initial hickups with the line were worked out.

My dealer finally had them in and I went to auditon them. The system was comprised of RF83's, RF64's, some PSB surrounds, and a Velodyne DD15 subwoofer. The receiver used was a Pioneer Elite.

I was really looking forward to hearing the new line and had all my CDs and DVDs tucked under my arm, ready for this moment.

I was welcomed by Aaron who I had talked with over the phone several times.
He led me into one of several sound rooms. My face must have given away my dissappointment as I looked at the lack of acoustical treatment and a nearly perfect square room of 23' x 21' with ceiling tiles set around 8' high. He proceeded to apologize for the less than ideal setup. I tried to look past the acoustical nightmare and give the line a try. I have to say that it was futile. It sounded terrible with any material that had bass or played at higher volumes. I could even hear the sound of water pipes resonating at certain frequencies and it was so muddy and loose that I could not listen to more than a few minutes.

I will either have to try another dealer or wait for someone to invite me over to listen to their system.

I can see how someone could audition a Klipsch or any speaker system and be immediately turned off if they had no idea what room interactions do to the sound quality.

It is sad that there are no minimum requirements set by the mfgs on room acoustics and dimensions. If there are, they are not being enforced.

 

[Buckeye_Nut]

Wescott,

I looked at the photos of your theater room. Wow..... beautiful room!!

Have you considered treating your room acoustics??

http://gikacoustics.com/product_info.html

Something like this would go a long way to improving your sound. Even with just a few discretely placed panels will make a difference. You wouldnt have to hang a million of them like I did to hear the improvement......LOL

 

[westcott]

Buckeye,

Thanks for letting me know how much you like our "His and Her Room", and as the name implies, there is another decision maker in the house, as well. She has agreed to let me add acoustical treatments to the study doors to the right and the black out curtains on the left take care of the left wall, but I was unable to get anything passed (so far ) beyond this.

I am fortunate to have high ceilings and a fairly large room so the sound is much better than one would initially suspect. I also spent a great deal of time,energy, and money floating and isolating the wood floor to combat the afore mentioned shortcomings. The combination of these two things make a big difference.

I am still working on it and I have not given up hope though.

 

[Buckeye_Nut]

Wow....
I am stoked!!

Im entering phase-2 of my HT renovation!! Today I ordered five custom frames & five original movie posters to help re-decorate my HT. Since my HT-redo, the only thing hanging on my walls are acoustic panels (dont kid yourself...GIK acoustic panels RULE!!!!)

I still plan to hang a clock on the blank wall above my left surround next to the GIK panel, but I have yet to find a clock that I like.....so the clock will wait until I find the perfect one. That piece of wall will remain blank for now.

For now......
These are the posters that will grace my HT in their new frames.
This is a large 40"Wx30H" original that will hang on the right wall above my subwoofer. There is a big piece of wall there, and this bigggun poster is a perfect match

I also ordered 4 original releases in the standard 27"x40" format to grace other areas.

This 27x40 original will be placed on the left/front wall for my son. He already has a complete "CARS" wardrobe, and he can name virtually(and owns) virtually every toy car in the cast.(and the movie isnt even in theaters yet!!!) He will LOVE this one!!

I ordered this one for me, because Batman Begins was my favorite movie of 2005!!!!!
BATMAN BEGINS ROCKS!!!!! This poster will hang in the hallway.

In fact, 3 will hang in the hallway....
These are the other two....

Superman!!!
HEH...
This is the other, because the skull & crossbones rule!!

Yea baby!!!

Let the summer movie season begin!!!!!! Movie posters, anyone?? HEH

 

[Matt34]

Great selection of posters! They are on my short list to do to my theater when I get back along with some other cool memorabilia.

 

[westcott]

So where are you getting your posters and frames from?

I am sure many of us are looking for good sources at reasonable prices.

 

[mazersteven]

Good Looking Room Buckeye

 

[Buckeye_Nut]

So where are you getting your posters and frames from?

I am sure many of us are looking for good sources at reasonable prices.

I ordered my posters from here.
http://www.movieposter.com/
They have a good selection at reasonable prices. I also liked how the website search engine worked for finding titles. You can easily search and navigate by specific criteria which I thought was very nice. You can narrow your search by origional or reprint, by size, etc..etc..etc..
The posters have already shipped so I should have them soon

For frames, I went with with an offering made by Wholesale Posterframes on ebay. I bought the 4-pack offering.
http://cgi.ebay.com/4-PK-27-x-40-PREMIUM-MOVIE-POSTER-FRAMES-27x40-FRAME_W0QQitemZ7625331480QQcategoryZ60334QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Then you can click below to link directly to the company website to make custom sized frames like the 40x30 size mentioned above. They have already shipped too......... WOW!! What incredibly fast service!!

 

[Sheep]

Those are sweet!

Now, where do you get THX, DD, and DTS badges?

SheepStar