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The Journey Continues ....


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I think the boxing of the ceiling would make a big difference compared to the flat.

Coming along very nicely.

I'd be seriously considering some heavy curtains that can be pulled back to let the sun in on those windows if it's still sounding a bit hall like.

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Yes but it doesn't work ... it needs to be serviced. Just there for looks at the moment.

Never mind a service shouldn't take too much.

I have to ask, how did you get that CD cabinet in to the right of your lounge? Did you get a brick wall removed?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks for all of the comments guys. This has been alot of fun doing this and i still have a bit to do. I have a dogged determination to see this thing through!!

Great use of the space Jeff. Just picked up on this thread.

I noticed the ribbed ceiling. I guess you've used your system in other rooms most likely with a conventional flat ceiling. Do you think the ribbed ceiling influences the acoustics of the room, and if so does it improve the dampening or brake up of the reflected sound?

Cheers,

Alan R.

Hi Alan. I probably can't get too technical with this one because i never did hear music in this room before i renovated it. I removed the old ceiling because it was flat and i knew i could raise it somewhat. The only reason it was flat was to hide all of the beams .. so what you are actually looking at are "boxed in beams" giving this "ribbed effect". I am sure it does have an advantage as it is no where near as reflective as i thought it would be.

Before i decided on the polished floor i rang our good friends from Ultrafonics and asked them about the pro's and con's of a polished floor v's a carpeted one. They told me that a carpeted floor will only absorb the higher frequencies and will have no effect on bass frequencies. They said to go for it should my preference be for polished concrete and to use a heavy rug for absorption purposes which is what i have done.

I think the boxing of the ceiling would make a big difference compared to the flat.

Coming along very nicely.

I'd be seriously considering some heavy curtains that can be pulled back to let the sun in on those windows if it's still sounding a bit hall like.

Yes that is next on my things to do ... as well as a big screen as well as a centre speaker as well as ..... but definitely big heavy block out curtains for absorption duties and to completely block out light for ht use.

Never mind a service shouldn't take too much.

I have to ask, how did you get that CD cabinet in to the right of your lounge? Did you get a brick wall removed?

Telecine .. there use to be a bar fridge in this space - a small bar fridge. The space "behind" the brick wall is the garage. So when i removed the bar fridge there was a hole in the wall. So i just knocked out more bricks here to increase the size and got the cabinet maker to build me this cabinet. I can access the rear of the cabinet by going through that dungeon looking door that takes me into the garage and i can access the back of the cabinet accessing all of the cables etc from here.

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..... but one thing bothers me ; YOU took the bar fridge OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!???

LOL ... yes but i am going to place one bar fridge and one wine fridge under the stairs :-) ... and in the wooden cabinet that you can see along one of the walls is my stash of single malt whiskies ... :-)

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LOL ... yes but i am going to place one bar fridge and one wine fridge under the stairs :-) ... and in the wooden cabinet that you can see along one of the walls is my stash of single malt whiskies ... :-)

A stash of single malt whiskies, all is not lost.

Great work with the room and the system, it is really coming together.

Very clever use of the space with the cabinets and storage.

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  • 1 month later...

Update .... I have just received what will eventually become my rear speakers for an evolving HT system.

These speakers are a pair of Adam Epsilon (2 way) stand mount.

I am just listening to them as my main 2ch system at the moment and integrated them with my subs. They sound very nice indeed. Something minimal about a simple two way speaker system. Well perhaps not so minimal given that these are the active version.

Below is an extract from the Adam website;

With the Epsilon, ADAM presents the smallest member of the TENSOR family, a 2-way-speaker with the new X-ART tweeter, which is ADAM‘s proprietary transducer technology. It achieves an improvement in air loading by a factor of 4 over conventional transducers, and thereby an unparalleled resolution and airiness. The tweeter is driven by ADAMs brand new A/B amplifier.

A 7“

HexaCone woofer is in charge for the bass and midrange. The core is a honeycomb structure made of Nomex® that has been coated with Kevlar® on both sides. The result is an outstanding rigidity and thus leads to a more accurate sound production

The woofer is driven by a 300W (peak) PWM built-in amplifier. Whilst the tweeter is driven by a 100W (peak) bulit-in amplifier.

Next acquisition is an Adam C9 centre ... then hopefully a nice HT receiver unit ... the journey continues ...

:D ... glad i can share it with you.

post-104824-0-51728400-1332817391_thumb. post-104824-0-55661100-1332817447_thumb. post-104824-0-85803600-1332817482_thumb.

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Very Noice.

...Do they image any better / worse than the floorstanders ?

Do they, for example better portray things like female vocals, in line with most standmounts, or does the whole active, tailored crossover etc

change all those preconceptions associated with passive speakers ?

Cheers,

Lil C

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Hey Jeff, just noticed the Bastanis speakers in the corner of your early pic! How they sound in that room, and compared to the Adams? You ever play them anymore?

Cheers

B

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Beautiful. A few questions:

Did you lay a new slab for polishing? I'm told is has to be 32MP concrete, rather than the standard stuff.

Did you polish it yourself? I'm told the job is easy enough. Macine hire is about $130.00/day.

How long did the polishing take? Three days appears to be the figure bandied about.

I'm doing my basement too.

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Looking awesome Jeff. Similar dimensions to the room we are planning for a new house build next year. We are also looking into polished concrete for the downstairs area - polishing company has specified 32MP concrete. We are getting a finish called hiperfloor (water based hardener). Yours looks fantastic....nice equipment too!

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Hey Jeff, just noticed the Bastanis speakers in the corner of your early pic! How they sound in that room, and compared to the Adams? You ever play them anymore?

Cheers

B

Hi Bevan. Yes good eye. Have got the Bastani's sitting in the corner for a "rainy day". I haven't got all of the equipment needed to test these babies out. I am in need of a good power amp to drive the bass drivers on these which i don't have. But plan to one day. Will let you know once i have and compared to the Adams. Because i am setting up my room for HT all available disposable income is going towards setting up the HT. And the Adam speakers are active ... pity there isn't some way of being able to use these "active amps" to drive the Bastani's

Beautiful. A few questions:

Did you lay a new slab for polishing? I'm told is has to be 32MP concrete, rather than the standard stuff.

Did you polish it yourself? I'm told the job is easy enough. Macine hire is about $130.00/day.

How long did the polishing take? Three days appears to be the figure bandied about.

I'm doing my basement too.

Thanks for all of the comments guys re the polished concrete and yes it just looks fantastic. Came up alot better than i expected to be honest.

Zaphox i didn't actually lay the concrete myself it was already here when i purchased the house. There was carpet originally but i ripped up the carpet and exposed the slab. The concreter who came out to look at the concrete was very excited because he said this is "old" concrete ... which meant it was made up of good stuff (rock from the Brisbane river quarry apparantly and as a result gave me an indication of what i could expect as a final result). The house was originally built late 50's we believe and the slab was laid then. Also the older the concrete the harder the concrete and the harder the concrete the better the finish which he told me. He was very excited actually .. this guy breathed and slept concrete ... he knew his stuff. So i have no idea what 32MP means .. it is not something he told me. Although he did say that "modern" concrete would not come up as good as this ... he was of the view that they don't make stuff like they use too .. believing that the older concrete mixes were made of really good hard stuff. Whereas the stuff today is not so good. Unless of course your original intent is for a hardness that is suitable for polished concrete. But if you don't specify up front and they lay concrete you won't be able to change your mind years later down the track to turn this modern day concrete into a polished one because it is just "too soft" apparantly.

So no i didn't do it myself. I thought about it but thought .. i'd only just stuff it up and it would cost me more to have to get it fixed up. So i got the pro's in straight away. They took 5 days to polish 65m2 of concrete to a hiperfloor finish. It has 20yrs warranty on it from stains or scratches etc. The company who did my floor for those who live in Brisbane and are thinking about this sort of finish is a group called McGinn Concrete. (Hope by mentioning this company i am not breaching any forum guidelines - apologies in advance if i am).

If you are doing it yourself good luck.

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Thanks for all of the comments guys re the polished concrete and yes it just looks fantastic. Came up alot better than i expected to be honest.

It does look pretty darned nice.

Zaphox i didn't actually lay the concrete myself it was already here when i purchased the house. There was carpet originally but i ripped up the carpet and exposed the slab. The concreter who came out to look at the concrete was very excited because he said this is "old" concrete ... which meant it was made up of good stuff (rock from the Brisbane river quarry apparantly and as a result gave me an indication of what i could expect as a final result).

I expect it is largely a result of the aggregate used. Nice aggregate can make a polished concrete floor really 'pop'. I've spent a reasonable amount of time looking for the right stuff for my floor. I will be specifiying to the concretor what aggregate I want in the mix. You were dead lucky.

The house was originally built late 50's we believe and the slab was laid then. Also the older the concrete the harder the concrete and the harder the concrete the better the finish which he told me. He was very excited actually .. this guy breathed and slept concrete ... he knew his stuff.

Concrete is really a fascinating subject. More than I would have ever thought. Since I began my reno, I've started learning about building techniques and the area of concrete is much broader and deeper than I could have imagined. Concrete just gets harder over time. 100 year old concrete is harder than (say) 10 year old concrete. Not by much, but by a bit. Depending on the mix, 90% of maximum strength is reached within a month or so. After 50 years, it's probably at 99%.

So i have no idea what 32MP means .. it is not something he told me.

It's a measure of strength. Pressure, actually. 1 Pascal is equivalent to 1 Newton per square Metre. 32MP = 32,000,000 Pascal. Or 4,641 psi (pounds per square inch). Regular concrete runs to around 22 ~ 25MP. A brick runs from around 10 ~ 20MP.

Although he did say that "modern" concrete would not come up as good as this ... he was of the view that they don't make stuff like they use too .. believing that the older concrete mixes were made of really good hard stuff. Whereas the stuff today is not so good.

Dunno. Sounds like he knows his stuff, but I supect some would argue that point. If he reckons it was good stuff, then I'm certain he is right, particularly with the finish you have. It really looks great.

Unless of course your original intent is for a hardness that is suitable for polished concrete. But if you don't specify up front and they lay concrete you won't be able to change your mind years later down the track to turn this modern day concrete into a polished one because it is just "too soft" apparantly.

Yeah, that's what I learned. 32MP concrete is not that much more expensive, so I'm laying it down anyway.

So no i didn't do it myself. I thought about it but thought .. i'd only just stuff it up and it would cost me more to have to get it fixed up. So i got the pro's in straight away. They took 5 days to polish 65m2 of concrete to a hiperfloor finish. It has 20yrs warranty on it from stains or scratches etc. The company who did my floor for those who live in Brisbane and are thinking about this sort of finish is a group called McGinn Concrete. (Hope by mentioning this company i am not breaching any forum guidelines - apologies in advance if i am).

If you are doing it yourself good luck.

Thanks. When my room is done, I'll post some pics too. Some of the SNA members have already seen the construction in progress. It has been long and painful (literally), but, hopefully, worth it. Unlike you, I had to move around 40 cu Metres of rock and soil out. By hand. Then I had to install adequate steel for bracing and underpin the existing foundations. I have developed a whole new respect for builders.

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  • 3 months later...

Just a quick update gents.

Adding to the HT side of things i have now acquired my Adam C9 centre, an Anthem Statement D2v processor, also a pair of Adam Artist 5 that will act as my side speakers.

Next i am moving the media cabinet closer to the door to the right into the garage. As i intend to put a "false wall" running along the rear wall. The false wall will have all of the acoustic absorber behind it from floor to ceiling and will also act as a mount for the 3m screen i intend to put there. Also currently eyeing off a JVC DLA-X90 4K Projector to complete "The Journey" ... well into HT at least. Still have the issue of which turntable to purchase ... but that has become secondary to completing my HT system.

Pictures to follow shortly.

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  • 1 year later...

Wow - nearly two years since i have updated this thread. Proof i haven't done much to my music room!!! I must remind my better half of this fact - as she tends to think otherwise  :D

 

Pics of my new Real Traps Mega Traps in the corners and in the centre. Note the centre ones will not be staying there. I just wanted to listen for myself whether i should look at getting absorbers for the centre position or just stay with diffusers. I intend to do some audio testing with software etc over the weekend to "quantify" the results.

 

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It's looking awesome mate... this is a system I would absolutely love to hear. 

 

Thank you Alistair - if ever you are in Brisbane you are more than welcome to come over for a listen. I am only about 15minutes from the Brisbane Airport.

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Your room gets better with each iteration. Are the room treatments a noticeable improvement?

 

Thanks Telecine - that is the aim of the journey right? This hobby if you are really into it for the long haul is exactly that - a journey. One can't expect to have "everything" from the get go. Changing a bit here .. learning a bit there .. making other iterative changes which hopefully are all for the better.

 

Yes the treatments are a noticeable improvement. I just listened to a couple of my favourite jazz albums - The Luke Howard Trio (The Meadowlands) & Tod Gustavson Trio (The Ground) and man the how focused and "clearer" everything has become. Unwanted reflected energy taken out of the equation provides a sharper musical palette which is clearly noticeable with these treatments in place.

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You may have noticed in the pic above that the absorbers now obscure my access to my "media cabinet" from within the music room. The other side of this cabinet juts out into the garage area. So i have had to turn everything around so i can access the equipment from the garage rather than the music room. Those that have remotes i have utilised IR-Extenders into the music room. So the remotes still work even though the devices are not accessible from the main music room.

 

Some pics below showing the media cabinet from the other side in the garage.

 

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post-104824-0-76675600-1401505998_thumb.

 

EDIT: Arrrghhh - not too sure why these pics are "sideways". I will try to orientate them correctly.

Edited by jrisles
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