My new HT

[lancer360]

Moved to a new house a few years ago and we have been slowly renovating it. Priority was getting the HT room setup. All of our HT equipment came with us from our last house. Previous owner was using the room as a TV room, but it was poorly done. Room is 18' x 21'. Owner had a 5.1 setup with the TV mounted in the corner of the room, speaker wire just poking thru holes in the wall that someone had made with a hammer. Room had no light control with an open passage into the kitchen and several large windows. Here is what we did.

1. Framed open passage for a set of 8' tall mahogany french doors.
2. Replaced closet door to match the french doors.
3. Painted walls and ceiling with matte paint.
4. Disassembled, stripped, and painted 4 air vents and one intake matte black (This was a major PITA)
5. Installed new taller baseboards.
6. Installed wiring for 7.1 running into the closet.
7. Installed Cat6 drops in each room of the house possible and ran those to the closet.
8. Installed equipment rack in closet.
9. Installed 3 layers of window treatments for total blackout.
10. Installed Haiku fan from Big Ass Fans.
11. Installed custom theater sconces
12. Installed Philips Hue light bulbs in the sconces and recessed lighting.
13. Installed front loading movie poster frames.

Ideal wall speaker placement for 3 of the 4 back speakers was problematic due to the location of the windows. I opted to hang the speakers from the ceiling rather than place them on tall stands due to dogs and young children in the house. While the pictures don't show it clearly, the seating is in front of the rear speakers.

Currently shopping for a new projector, probably a Epson 5040 or Optoma UHD65. Then I'll evaluate whether or not a new screen is needed. Currently use the PS4 Pro for blu-rays, but since it won't do 4k blu-rays I see a player in the near future. In the mean time will watch some of the Netflix and Amazon 4k content thru the PS4. Open to suggestions on improvements.

 

[shadyJ]

I like what you have done for light control. The black ceiling is a smart move. The red walls give it a more cinema look. If that affects the color balance of the screen, you may want to compensate for that in picture calibration if you haven't done so already. You might think about putting other 'stuff' in the room, if only to help with acoustic diffusion. Like props, models, bookshelfs, DVD racks, etc.

Also interesting speakers- are they true D'appolito MTMs? Can you tell me about the center speaker, I would imagine that it has a lower crossover point for the bass driver given that it has such a large midwoofer, and that would be a smart move. The sub looks potent as well, a 10" vented TC Sounds, but really, you should have more than a single 10" in a room like that.

If the projector is loud, you might thing about scooting your seats up a bit more, and then raising the projector. Unless the projector is very quiet, I wouldn't want to be seated that close to it.

Anyway, lots of good things going on in there, nice clean setup as well, very nice room.

 

[lancer360]

Thanks for the compliments! I can't wait until I get the new projector in and try out this setup in 4k. I haven't done anything with regards to calibration. I'm a bit of a noob in that department and not sure where to even start. Guess I need to figure that out when the new projector shows up.

Audax hired D'Appolito to design and set of speaker around a new line of drivers they were coming out with around 10 years ago.. Audax then published the plans for free. You can still find the plans here. The fronts are MTM's in a rear ported cabinet. The center is interesting. It is a box inside of a box. The tweeter and 5.25" are in a small sealed box in the center. The two 6.5" are in a dual rear ported housing that wraps around behind the center sealed box. The surrounds are sealed with a tweeter and 6.5". I just installed a new driver and amp in the sub box. Old driver had started tearing itself apart around the edges and for the size of the room it was way too weak. New driver is a TC Sounds LMS-R 12" DVC Subwoofer with a Dayton 1000W plate amp driving it in the front ported box. Not sure what I'll do when the drivers on the other speakers start to fail as these drivers have been out of production for quite some time. I had a couple that got damaged by kids a few years ago, but I managed to find a couple of drivers still new in the box for sale over in the UK. Cost me a fortune for just two 6.5" but it was still way cheaper than a new set of speakers.

All of the speakers and the stands for the fronts where made by me. 1" MDF fronts and the 3/4" mdf sides/backs. Sub box is 1.5 MDF with two reinforcing ribs. All speakers were wrapped in mahogany veneer. The stands are made from granite tops and bottoms that were cut by a local counter top company from a leftover piece. Top piece has a full radius edge and the bottom piece has a half radius. Center column is PVC pipe capped with a chunk of wood cut from a 2x8. I then ran a small piece of PVC pipe up the center for the speaker wire. I poured a bag of sand inside the PVC pipe before i sealed the top and screwed the granite down. They aren't fun to move, but they are also almost impervious to being accidentally knocked over by dogs or kids.

 

[Alvin Cole]

Looks great! Congratulations!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[annunaki]

Moved to a new house a few years ago and we have been slowly renovating it. Priority was getting the HT room setup. All of our HT equipment came with us from our last house. Previous owner was using the room as a TV room, but it was poorly done. Room is 18' x 21'. Owner had a 5.1 setup with the TV mounted in the corner of the room, speaker wire just poking thru holes in the wall that someone had made with a hammer. Room had no light control with an open passage into the kitchen and several large windows. Here is what we did.

1. Framed open passage for a set of 8' tall mahogany french doors.
2. Replaced closet door to match the french doors.
3. Painted walls and ceiling with matte paint.
4. Disassembled, stripped, and painted 4 air vents and one intake matte black (This was a major PITA)
5. Installed new taller baseboards.
6. Installed wiring for 7.1 running into the closet.
7. Installed Cat6 drops in each room of the house possible and ran those to the closet.
8. Installed equipment rack in closet.
9. Installed 3 layers of window treatments for total blackout.
10. Installed Haiku fan from Big Ass Fans.
11. Installed custom theater sconces
12. Installed Philips Hue light bulbs in the sconces and recessed lighting.
13. Installed front loading movie poster frames.

Ideal wall speaker placement for 3 of the 4 back speakers was problematic due to the location of the windows. I opted to hang the speakers from the ceiling rather than place them on tall stands due to dogs and young children in the house. While the pictures don't show it clearly, the seating is in front of the rear speakers.

Currently shopping for a new projector, probably a Epson 5040 or Optoma UHD65. Then I'll evaluate whether or not a new screen is needed. Currently use the PS4 Pro for blu-rays, but since it won't do 4k blu-rays I see a player in the near future. In the mean time will watch some of the Netflix and Amazon 4k content thru the PS4. Open to suggestions on improvements.

Nice touches! Clean installation. Organize that projector wiring a touch Sorry, just one of my "things".

I like your color choices though. If you find the wall colors affecting the light balance try doing the projector wall color in a matte gray that matches your carpet or go black first before you get crazy.

Overall nice work!

 

[speakerman39]

Wow! Very impressive! You have many talents my friend. Honestly, I ma totally blown away. Keep up the good work. My setup is a lot more modest. Feel free to snap more pics as we all love them. Kudos to you sir!


Cheers,

Phil