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New Theatre Room Build 2020


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Hi all,

 

After persevering with a funny L-shaped theatre room for the last few years, I'm finally moving into a better room for my theatre room. This room has its own quirks but will be much closer to a rectangle and will allow me to have much better speaker placement. It's an existing living room so I'm not looking for anything radical with the design, just some advice on key points to have it work effectively for the future.

 

Key details:

6.9m (length) x 5m (width) x 2.45m (height)

One set of glass french doors on the main viewing wall, one window on the left wall, one door on the right wall, one door in the back wall, two ceiling beams running across the ceiling at the 2.5m and 5m mark with the beams dropping down approx 230mm,  oh and a funny study corner room (which actually works very well for my design which will have a fixed frame screen on castors to slide it out of the way of the french doors).

Will be a light controlled room with black blockout curtains, but will be a light and bright living room when not in theatre use. Will be a combo of movies, tv, music and gaming.

140" 16:9 fixed frame screen with acoustic transparent fabric

One lounge row of seating approx 4 - 4.5m back from the screen, and perhaps some bean bags around the room as extra occassional seating.

Currently 7.1 channel 1080P with a BenQ W1070, but am prepping the room for potentially 7.2.4 down the track with a BenQ W5700 or similar 4K projector. Will probably stay with the 140" 16:9 screen but could transition to a 180" 2.35:1 cinemascope screen down the track if I was feeling really adventurous.

 

Key initial questions:

  • For a 4 - 4.5m viewing distance from screen, should I aim for the projector to be approx. 4.5m back from the screen (within BenQ's min and max specs for a 140" (3544 - 4608mm)?
  • Will I be right with the lense centre point approx 20cm below the ceiling? (Noting beam no.1 drops down approx 230mm and is well in front of the projector). I propose for the top of screen to be approx 350 - 450mm below the ceiling line when in position.
  • If I run 4 x Atmos speakers in the ceiling in future (leaning towards Krix Helix due to their shallow 86mm mounting depth), I assume I will have to run two approx 1.5m in front of my lounge, and then the other two 1.5m behind my lounge to align with Dolby's 90 degree placement? Am I likely to have sound issues with ceiling beam no.2  partially blocking the listening position or due to the speakers not being far from the back wall? 
  • Any thoughts on the use of a solid core sliding door for the right side door? Can you get a drop seal for this kind of door to minimise sound leakage?
  • I'm working out wiring now. Some cables will use cable hide strips along the skirting boards while I think I'll need 1-2 runs of cable to the ceiling (for the projector and Atmos speakers) and right wall (for the rear right and rear surround right speakers). Should I be adding any specific cables now to future-proof the ceiling inputs for a projector e.g. 10-15m long HDMI, cat5e, power, displayport? What will be the common projector standard in say 3 years time?

 

Pictures to aid discussion: (note my horribly rough hand drawn plan is not at all to scale!)

2clRWOk.jpg

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yLPWKCC.jpg

Random idea for the sliding door:

GATdT72.jpg

NgCbuNc.jpg

 

Thanks :) 

Edited by OzJustin
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interesting room.... 1st things id sort out is the screen. and I think you are onto something there. looking at that hallway... what I would do is have a runner that goes along inside of that beam... and so the screen when not in use can sit slid up against the wall in the hall way. when in use ... slides out into the room...out of the hall way.. using the beam as the running channel. you might want to have 

 

the speakers could sit permanently on the floor either side of the screen one near wall on left. other next to  the pillar near the hall way.

 

centre speaker perhaps back along front wall presuming plan to use an acoustic transparent screen.

 

this will let you sit at 2.3rd room depth which is great !  

 

also leave you bit of room behind seating position to setup surrounds... Id stick with all surrounds floor standing... will let you have ceiling mounted surrounds for height speakers for 3D audio

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On 23/08/2020 at 9:57 PM, betty boop said:

interesting room.... 1st things id sort out is the screen. and I think you are onto something there. looking at that hallway... what I would do is have a runner that goes along inside of that beam... and so the screen when not in use can sit slid up against the wall in the hall way. when in use ... slides out into the room...out of the hall way.. using the beam as the running channel. you might want to have 

 

the speakers could sit permanently on the floor either side of the screen one near wall on left. other next to  the pillar near the hall way.

 

centre speaker perhaps back along front wall presuming plan to use an acoustic transparent screen.

 

this will let you sit at 2.3rd room depth which is great !  

 

also leave you bit of room behind seating position to setup surrounds... Id stick with all surrounds floor standing... will let you have ceiling mounted surrounds for height speakers for 3D audio

Thanks Betty Boop. I actually plan to slide the projector screen (will be AT) out of the way into the small rectangular study room off to the right. There is plenty of space for it to slide in there and well out of the way of the room traffic and french doors. All speakers are large floorstanders and I've already sorted placement for them. Any thoughts on my key questions, particularly the projector and Atmos placement? :) 

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10 minutes ago, OzJustin said:

Thanks Betty Boop. I actually plan to slide the projector screen (will be AT) out of the way into the small rectangular study room off to the right. There is plenty of space for it to slide in there and well out of the way of the room traffic and french doors. All speakers are large floorstanders and I've already sorted placement for them. Any thoughts on my key questions, particularly the projector and Atmos placement? :) 

Rule of 3rds... place mains in front 1/3rd, seating at 2/3rd room depth -4.6m from front wall

 

Screen I’d place at thx spec for immersion which places 140 16;9 screen, 4.25m forward from main viewing position 

 

Projector place at just outside of closest throw for  screen for max luminance ... check this with screen in place ... use a ladder to place projector to test

 

atmos speakers on ceiling should be flush with beam and I’d angle tweeters to listening position 

 

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22 hours ago, betty boop said:

Rule of 3rds... place mains in front 1/3rd, seating at 2/3rd room depth -4.6m from front wall

 

Screen I’d place at thx spec for immersion which places 140 16;9 screen, 4.25m forward from main viewing position 

 

Projector place at just outside of closest throw for  screen for max luminance ... check this with screen in place ... use a ladder to place projector to test

 

atmos speakers on ceiling should be flush with beam and I’d angle tweeters to listening position 

 

Thanks for that advice. Sounds like I'm pretty close to that with my design. Seating position will be between 4 - 4.5m from screen.

 

That's a good point on the projector placement. I was intending to push it further back towards 4.5m (the max BenQ spec for a 140" screen and very close to the min for a 180" screen (futureproofing!) but you're probably right that I should aim for the shortest throw for max lumens. I can always reposition the projector mount later if I do upgrade. Looks like I'll be roughly 3.6m back from the screen (pending the ladder test).

 

For the Atmos speakers, what do you mean flush with the beam? Not recessed into the beam plasterboard? The main ceiling sits about 23cm above the lowest point of the beam. 

I was intending to place two Atmos speakers recessed into the main ceiling, approx 1.5m in front of the viewing position, and the other two approx 1.5m behind (so they will end up about 50cm off the back wall). See the blue circles in my diagram. I had been considering the Krix Helix as Atmos speakers but I don't believe they have swivel tweeters. I wonder how four of these would go (they only require a 102mm recess, but they're substantially cheaper than the Krix so not sure about the quality but reviews seem favourable):

https://www.selby.com.au/electronics/speakers/in-ceiling-speakers/pair-of-8in-in-ceiling-surround-speakers-carbon-cone-150w-cs809.html 

I9LD7M7.jpg

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1 minute ago, OzJustin said:

For the Atmos speakers, what do you mean flush with the beam? Not recessed into the beam plasterboard? The main ceiling sits about 23cm above the lowest point of the beam. 

I was intending to place two Atmos speakers recessed into the main ceiling, approx 1.5m in front of the viewing position, and the other two approx 1.5m behind (so they will end up about 50cm off the back wall). See the blue circles in my diagram. I had been considering the Krix Helix as Atmos speakers but I don't believe they have swivel tweeters. I wonder how four of these would go (they only require a 102mm recess, but they're substantially cheaper than the Krix so not sure about the quality but reviews seem favourable):

so they are not hiding behind the beam ! if mounting to the ceiling. you mount to the ceiling. so by the sounds you have 23cm to work with to accomodate the speakers and I would put them in boxes... id go the krix...as long as not stuck in the ceiling and a beam in the way... and following atmos guidelines you will be fine

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Ok I've done some further mocking up of the room and seating position and took a quick look at the Dolby Atmos 7.1.4 overhead speaker setup guide.

https://www.dolby.com/about/support/guide/speaker-setup-guides/7.1.4-overhead-speaker-setup-guide/

 

In my diagram below I had been intending to place four Atmos ceiling speakers in the blue dot locations, however, based on the Atmos guide it looks like I should be moving them out wider to the red dot locations. Assuming I have my forward/backward of seating position placement correct (at approx 1.5m in front and behind the seating position to maintain a 45 degree angle), how wide should I be placing the Atmos speakers? Obviously note my rear and surround speakers are right on the edges so I don't think it would make sense to mount the Atmos speakers right against the back wall. Thoughts?

The photo below with the electrical tape on the ceiling is just a mock up of the Atmos speakers in the blue dot location. The middle piece of tape represents the projector location.

 

YqeYiBF.jpg

CrqHkOe.jpg

GnTGlRu.jpg

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Guest niterida

Definitely RED - Dolby specify in line with L&R speakers.

Also blue location means the outside seats are in line/almost outside the blue speakers and this will reduce the L-R panning effects for them.

 

To adhere strictly to Dolby guidelines the line between the L&R height speakers should be same distance behind MLP as ears at MLP are to the ceiling. So the blue and red dots should both be the same distance in front and behind the MLP, regardless of how far apart they are. But the Dolby guidelines are exactly that - just guides and you don't have to follow them exactly - just get as close as you can given room constraints etc.

Edited by niterida
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3 hours ago, betty boop said:

id be erring on blue rather than red. red seems to be going upto boundaries a bit too much. we dont really know where all your other speakers are planed to be so a bit hard to say really...

Apologies if my diagram wasn’t clear. My main 7 channel floorstanding speakers are represented by the cross-hatch rectangles in the corners of the room.

1 hour ago, niterida said:

Definitely RED - Dolby specify in line with L&R speakers.

Also blue location means the outside seats are in line/almost outside the blue speakers and this will reduce the L-R panning effects for them.

 

To adhere strictly to Dolby guidelines the line between the L&R height speakers should be same distance behind MLP as ears at MLP are to the ceiling. So the blue and red dots should both be the same distance in front and behind the MLP, regardless of how far apart they are. But the Dolby guidelines are exactly that - just guides and you don't have to follow them exactly - just get as close as you can given room constraints etc.

Thanks for that. That’s my dilemma. My front left and right main speakers will be wider spaced than where my Atmos speakers would be (even the red dot locations). So wider Atmos spacing is more desirable to accentuate the panning effect? I’m a little concerned that the red dot locations will place my Atmos speakers too close to the rear and side walls. The sound could bounce of the walls too much?
If I’m to keep the same distance front to rear from my main listening position for the front and rear Atmos channels then I don’t think I could go 150cm  (which I understand is optimal for a 2.4m high ceiling giving a 45 degree angle to the main listening position). I may be closer to 120cm apart. I gather not a huge impact on sound assuming I go some quality Atmos speakers with good sound dispersion/spread?

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10 minutes ago, OzJustin said:

Apologies if my diagram wasn’t clear. My main 7 channel floorstanding speakers are represented by the cross-hatch rectangles in the corners of the room.

I dont understand... I though were running an acoustic transparent screen ? so why aren't L&R speaker behind the screen ?

 

I also wouldn't place the atmos height speakers outside of the mains...keep them either in line or inside.

 

at end dont get too hung up on things... as long as thereabouts... I wouldn't sweat on it... this isnt mm precision stuff... but also make sure not way off ! 

 

12 minutes ago, OzJustin said:

I’m a little concerned that the red dot locations will place my Atmos speakers too close to the rear and side walls.

yes dont want them stuck too close near the walls. better as i mentioned in line with mains and or inside of line of them

 

but most importantly get your mains in behind the screen. with an AT screen no reason to have them stuck in corners. will be doing them no favours stuck there...

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On 08/09/2020 at 6:38 PM, betty boop said:

I dont understand... I though were running an acoustic transparent screen ? so why aren't L&R speaker behind the screen ?

 

I also wouldn't place the atmos height speakers outside of the mains...keep them either in line or inside.

 

at end dont get too hung up on things... as long as thereabouts... I wouldn't sweat on it... this isnt mm precision stuff... but also make sure not way off ! 

 

yes dont want them stuck too close near the walls. better as i mentioned in line with mains and or inside of line of them

 

but most importantly get your mains in behind the screen. with an AT screen no reason to have them stuck in corners. will be doing them no favours stuck there...

If you look back at the second photo from my original post you’ll see that my centre speaker will be sitting behing my proposed AT screen at ear level. The left and right fronts will be in the corners of my front stage. I can’t really move them in enough to be located behind the screen as the left channel would be blocking our french door. I still need to keep the room accessible.

 

The only way I could place the speakers behind is by going a wider cinemascope screen. 180” would be perfect and just still slide out of the way (to the right) to grant access to the french doors.

 

Probably a silly question, but could I locate my BenQ W1070 projector far back enough (approx 4.6m back) to produce a 180” scope/2.35:1 image and then use my lense zoom function to manually zoom the image back in to a 140” 16:9 image? The height will be the same in both ratios but I’m not sure: 1) I will have sufficient zoom range to reduce by 40”; and 2) whether I will just end up with a 180” scope image with black bars on the ceiling and floor as the projector natively does 16:9 and then downscales to 2.35:1 aspect?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Can anyone recommend me some good door drop seals and door perimeter seals?

 

I'm looking to install two solid core doors (2040 x 820 x 40mm) and would like to add seals to block out as much sound as possible. I've only been able to find the Raven RP60 drop seal ($35 at Bunnings) and Kilargo seals (but unsure of which model or where to source). A face mount seal would be much easier than having to cut a groove out of the bottom of the door. To add to the complexity, it seems most seals are max 15mm drop whereas my door drop may be closer to 23mm (unless I run a timber strip under the door to fill some of the gap space).

https://www.raven.com.au/domino/raven/RPCEN.nsf/$defaultview/679629D6786CCB82E9256B6D002AC8A2

https://www.kilargo.com.au/resources/SEALS_CATALOGUE.pdf (184 pages!)

 

For door perimeter seals, the 5m rubber Raven or Moroday seals ($5-11 each at Bunnings) seem like a reasonable option. Recommendations from those who have used?

https://www.raven.com.au/domino/raven/RPCEN.nsf/$defaultview/FA1BD56D4F72A2B269256F2C0000357F

https://www.bunnings.com.au/moroday-5m-white-self-adhesive-special-weatherseal_p4113073 

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Guest niterida

I have used the Raven self adhesive rubber around a few doors - they don't stay stuck for long enough. I would try to find a higher quality option.

For the bottoms you really want Raven RP4.

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On 23/09/2020 at 10:22 PM, niterida said:

I have used the Raven self adhesive rubber around a few doors - they don't stay stuck for long enough. I would try to find a higher quality option.

For the bottoms you really want Raven RP4.

I heard back from Kilargo seals today and they actually suggested the Raven RP92Si and RP99Si. These models don’t seem to be advertised but are a higher quality seal option, and are designed for larger gaps like mine (they do 19-55mm gaps).

I wonder what better door perimeter seals are out there. More googling needed!

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  • 2 months later...

Hi all

 

I wanted to provide an update to my build thread as I’ve made some really good progress the last few months. To say I’m happy with the transformation would be an understatement. This has remained very much a budget build and I’ve had to be creative and retrofit the existing room however possible. It remains a multi-purpose living room that is fully accessible but can be transformed for some movie and music fun without too much effort.

 

Here’s a summary of some of the more significant changes to the room.

 

Fixed frame AT screen on castors:

This was always going to be the sticking point/major constraint for the room as I didn’t have a large wall available for a fixed projector screen. I had been wanting to try an acoustically transparent (AT) screen fabric in my old theatre room but this new room really forced me down this path.

 

I ended up using an existing LP Morgan 140” 16:9 screen frame I had and had a family member weld together two frames that we could attach to the rear of the screen frame with bolts. Then we installed two castors per side to make the frame mobile and easily able to be rolled into position for movies, and then out of the way of our French doors when not in use. The frame is very sturdy and is quite easy to move into position in a few seconds. I’ve also placed two small pieces of gorilla tape on the floor so I know exactly where to position the screen when moving it. It’s a practical yet elegant solution and I’m really happy with the outcome.

 

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I then paired the screen frame with OzTheatre AcousticVision 4K fabric (thanks Rich! @oztheatre) to allow me to place my centre speaker directly behind the screen at ear level for movies. Being able to place the centre speaker at ear level was a big step up from my old theatre room which had the speaker sitting on the floor below the screen and pointed up at my knees. I instantly noticed the sound difference when I played my first test movie. After some fiddling to get the fabric tight in the screen frame and it was all in place and starting to look like a home theatre.

 

Projector screen fabric available here:
https://www.projectorscreens.com.au/diy-screen-fabric/

 

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Hiding the mess of cables:

Next up was determining the neatest way to install a bunch of cables in the existing room. Running through the walls was never going to be easy or economical so I opted for some cable management conduit strips that run along your skirting boards. If you take your time to cut the lengths to size and plan your bends, you can actually get them looking pretty neat. In my case, the whole front stage was going to be hidden by curtains anyway, so you really don’t see them there. It’s a little more difficult running them along the ceiling line for projector cables, rear channel speakers etc but they still aren’t that noticeable (and can be painted to match your room if desired).

 

They are available from Bunnings here:
https://www.bunnings.com.au/d-line-30-x-15mm-2m-white-adhesive-cable-management-cover_p4430324
https://www.bunnings.com.au/d-line-10-piece-cable-management-cover-accessory-kit-suitable-for-30-x-15mm-trunking_p4430325

 

In my case, I was installing a 7.1 channel system initially, so I really had to squish the speaker wire tightly into the conduit strips to fit all the runs. It’s going round corners that proved to be the tricky part. Some of my cable runs ran the entire perimeter of the room (more than 15m) so I opted for some high quality 12AWG speaker wire from CableChick here:
https://www.cablechick.com.au/cables/avencore-100m-roll-super-high-end-999-oxygen-free-12-awg-2-core-speaker-cable.html

 

It's amazing how a 100m roll can disappear so quickly!

 

I’m hoping to add four SVS Prime Elevation speakers up high on the walls down the track so time will tell if I can manage to fit these extra speaker cable runs in the existing cable hide strips.

 

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Blockout curtains:

After the projector screen was sorted, it was time to control the natural light in the room. Fortunately, I already had two pairs of black blockout curtains from my old theatre room but I needed to order a few more sets to adequately block the whole front and partial side stages. The hardest part here was finding suitable fixing points for the curtain rod brackets as 5m wide blockout curtains are quite heavy. I went with thicker 25mm curtain rods and adjustable brackets so I could place the curtains as flush to the wall as possible to minimise light bleed during the day.

 

Here’s what I went with:

https://www.quickfitblindsandcurtains.com.au/sorrento-blockout-eyelet-curtain-black.html
https://www.bunnings.com.au/pillar-products-25-x-25mm-x-3m-curtain-rod-black_p1284014
https://www.bunnings.com.au/windoware-75-95mm-black-metal-adjustable-bracket-2-pack_p1285499

 

The black curtains were probably the most transformative element of the whole room. Once they were up it really felt like the front of the room was a proper stage, particularly with the downlights dimmed. The whole atmosphere of the room changed. It made a decent difference to the performance of the screen too. Initially I only had half of the front stage covered with curtains (see below photos) and there was noticeable light bleed and ghosting through the AT screen onto my white wall. It was quite distracting.

 

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You can see in the below photo how I’m able to make use of the study area off to the side to store the projector screen so that it doesn’t block the French doors on the left. A very practical outcome. There would be no 140” screen without this!

 

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Solid core doors and acoustic seals:

With the room progressing well, I began to seek some basic room treatment to suppress the sound to the rest of the house. I was pretty keen to get the sub pumping so a few tweaks were a must!

 

First up was replacing an existing colonial timber and glass interior door with a solid core door. Then I had a friend frame up the hallway area so I could install another solid core door to seal off the theatre room from the rest of the house. This was the most significant change to the room and a little messy. You can see my attempt to contain the gyprock dust from the rest of the theatre room when I was sanding in preparation for paint. I’m glad to say the dust was kept to a minimum.

 

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With the new doors on and painted, I started investigating door perimeter seals and drop seals. I ended up going with Kilargo perimeter seals and Raven drop seals. The perimeter seals were a pretty straightforward install but I will say it is pretty crucial to stick to the recommended door gap tolerances – 2-3mm in my case. Any less than that and the door will stick and be difficult to open, and the adhesive may pull off the door jamb when the door is opened. My seals tend to peel off a little when I open the door but I haven’t worked out if it’s because my door is 1-2mm too tight or because I should have let the door frame paint cure for longer (I gave it 7 days per the instructions though). I’m yet to install the Raven bottom seals but hopefully they won’t be too difficult to install. I went with a fixed face model which provides a 3-19mm drop. This should be sufficient for my flooring.

 

Here are the models I ordered (thanks to John Barnes Locksmiths):

https://www.kilargo.com.au/ourproducts/is1212/
https://www.raven.com.au/domino/raven/ravenweb.nsf/prod2-v/022 

 

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Projector mounting:

It was now time to sort my projector positioning and mounting location. I’ve been using my trusty budget BenQ W1070 projector for the last few years with a Brateck ceiling mount. This projector is a baby and very light so was never going to be an issue installing. I did want to future-proof the room for a higher end heavier projector down the track though, so decided to fix a solid piece of wood to the ceiling as a proper mounting point for a Strong or Peerless projector mount. I’m yet to decide whether to paint the wood board as I actually don’t mind the texture and it matches the centre speaker stand which I made out of the leftover wood.

 

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Subwoofer crawl and room correction:

With most of the room now complete, it was time to determine the best location for my subwoofer – cue the subwoofer crawl! I ended up finding three reasonable positions in the room for my sub but up to this point I’ve gone with the most convenient of the three (with nearby power and a neat location in between my movie shelves). This location will also let me split the bass signal in future should I decide to add a couple of tactile transducers/bass shakers under the lounge down the track.

 

You can see in my photos the three locations that I found to be optimal for bass. Please ignore the timeline for these photos as I know the solid core doors are not installed in these photos. I actually ran the test again at a later date.

 

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Next up was running Anthem ARC to see how the room performed. I’ve included screenshots to show the room correction applied to each channel. I am a complete beginner when it comes to room treatment so would appreciate any views on whether/how I could improve the room acoustics further.

 

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Equipment rack:

Finally, I thought I would show you my equipment/gear rack. I bought this storage shelving on castors from Howard’s Storage World a few years back and it has performed admirably to contain all my home theatre equipment. It is a good size to hold most equipment like receivers, power amplifiers, game consoles, network switches etc, allows good ventilation between components and has a very high weight capacity so I could load it up with half a dozen power amps if I wanted to and it wouldn’t buckle. This rack is neatly tucked away in the study area behind the curtains when I have movies playing. The only aspect I haven’t quite figured out yet is how to get an IR signal to the rack as the curtains block the signal unless I leave one edge open and point the remote(s) directly at the rack. I know you can get IR extenders but I’d welcome any thoughts on the best way to send a signal to the rack (primarily for my UHD player).

 

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That’s all for now - Time to watch some movies! The JB-HiFi Cyber sales came at a very good time. :D

 

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Edited by OzJustin
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4 hours ago, SandS said:

Very nice and lots of clever ideas., When crawling around for sub placement are you just using your ears, or a spl meter ,or  mic and rew

Purely by ears. I’ve never done the sub crawl method before so it was interesting being able to hear how much difference in bass there was between locations. Some areas had minimal bass while others had lots but it was very muddy. I know where I’ve placed the sub is not one of the traditional corner locations but it seems to work quite well,  at least to my ears. Dual PB2000’s in better locations  are probably a better option down the track, although my wife and neighbours may disagree. ? The bass shakers are my compromise position.

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2 hours ago, niterida said:

If you want Tactile Response read this : https://www.avsforum.com/threads/the-tactile-response-thread-for-bass.3081780/

 

I have this setup and it is awesome and if you can source good 2nd hand car subs it is cheap too :)

Thanks. Wow that AVS thread has a mountain of info in it. Will take me a while to work through that. I was looking to keep it simple and just add a couple of Aura bass shakers with a Dayton Audio amp under the lounge.

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9 minutes ago, OzJustin said:

Thanks. Wow that AVS thread has a mountain of info in it. Will take me a while to work through that. I was looking to keep it simple and just add a couple of Aura bass shakers with a Dayton Audio amp under the lounge.

The latest version is a riser platform ith the subs mounted in it facing up, bike tubes arund the subs and a platform floating on the tubes with your seats on the platform - gives the ultimate response but adds a bit of height.

The simpler version is a sheet of ply with the subs mounted facing down, tubes between the platform and the floor and then the seats on top of the platform - much lower and more discreet and for normal people probably good enough.

My own setup is sort of a combination of both but I am going to try the latest version as soon as possible.

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On 10/12/2020 at 5:14 PM, niterida said:

The latest version is a riser platform ith the subs mounted in it facing up, bike tubes arund the subs and a platform floating on the tubes with your seats on the platform - gives the ultimate response but adds a bit of height.

The simpler version is a sheet of ply with the subs mounted facing down, tubes between the platform and the floor and then the seats on top of the platform - much lower and more discreet and for normal people probably good enough.

My own setup is sort of a combination of both but I am going to try the latest version as soon as possible.

That sounds pretty involved but I'm sure will produce some amazing bass. Keep us posted how your setup evolves. I think I'll stick with the simpler bass shaker idea for now - feel it in the chair rather than the rest of the house. My wife doesn't like our single SVS sub cranked up too loud as it is, so I doubt multiple subs in a riser would go down too well. :P 

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25 minutes ago, OzJustin said:

That sounds pretty involved but I'm sure will produce some amazing bass. Keep us posted how your setup evolves. I think I'll stick with the simpler bass shaker idea for now - feel it in the chair rather than the rest of the house. My wife doesn't like our single SVS sub cranked up too loud as it is, so I doubt multiple subs in a riser would go down too well. :P 

With subs in a riser you ONLY feel it in the seating as it produces very little SPL because you build it as an open baffle and a lot of the sound is cancelled out by the front and back waves meeting out of phase.

And if the sound level is still too high, when you turn it down your seating will still move.

And the beauty of using subs is that the movement is DIRECTLY tied to the action AND the sound.

It really is simple to build, especially if you go for the basic version which is just a sheet of ply with drivers mounted upside down and tubes between the ply and the floor (or even just tennis balls at the corners) and the seating on top. See this thread for the basic version : https://www.avsforum.com/threads/the-hideaway-theater.2991522/

 

might just be the perfect solution for you.

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On 13/12/2020 at 1:26 PM, niterida said:

With subs in a riser you ONLY feel it in the seating as it produces very little SPL because you build it as an open baffle and a lot of the sound is cancelled out by the front and back waves meeting out of phase.

And if the sound level is still too high, when you turn it down your seating will still move.

And the beauty of using subs is that the movement is DIRECTLY tied to the action AND the sound.

It really is simple to build, especially if you go for the basic version which is just a sheet of ply with drivers mounted upside down and tubes between the ply and the floor (or even just tennis balls at the corners) and the seating on top. See this thread for the basic version : https://www.avsforum.com/threads/the-hideaway-theater.2991522/

 

might just be the perfect solution for you.

 

Have you got a build thread on your setup Ken? I'm curious what model subs you sourced locally as I can't see a cheap local supplier of the JBL model that is recommended?

 

So these riser setups really don't transmit the bass through the floor, walls etc into the rest of the house the way a normal sub does?

My SVS sub has the sound isolation feet but you can still very much feel the bass from our ground floor theatre in the upstairs rooms of the house.

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