Project: Home Cinema Theatre...

[bsodmike]

5lab, yes getting a calibration disc is on my short list, however, to address your other comment - I'd rather go with 'less cabling is better' route. The reason for having 5m/3m is because of amp placement, and the shortest possible run of cable between amp to speaker, which is what is important. Not only is it easier to manage, but less chance of 'looping' thus introducing more interference into the system. Also longer runs mean that the probability of increasing the inductance of the cable is higher.

'distancing' can be calibrated via the receiver and I will go for a compromise between the AVR3805's auto-setup and blind testing.

Thanks for the advice Have you tried any other calib discs?

[5lab]

i've got dve and found it very very useful - its full of documentaries about how to set stuff up and why, as well as tutorials on how to use each test screen etc.. i'd highly reccomend it.. i think i got it off play for about a tenner

-> http://www.play.com/play247.asp?pa=s...2&title=121810

maybe its gone up - i think blockbuster may stock it but you might not get the films to look thru, which is good for the calibration part.

i've read (not sure if its true) that if you just bundle the cables down in a corner (not rolled) you shouldnt pick up any extra interfearance.. ii dont know whether it'd actually produce any noticable results though - may just be audiophiles being petty..

[bsodmike]

That is true, if you have them in a 'sine-wave' like form i.e. do not form a full loop there will be minimal interference. The reason is that with full loops, there will be flux travelling through and via magnetic induction it will link the second loop, so on and so forth. Think of a solenoid, again it is many loops.

I'm gonna go off a tangent here but if you follow the biot-savart law you can calculate the magnetic flux density and hence the magnetic field strength. So long story short, these linked fluxes will induce an induced current to flow in the linked coils, and this will appear as interference.

As for the 3m/5m shift, I can use the 'time delay' function to compensate

Thanks for the linky of the DVD - muchachos gracias

--Mike

[Nemeliza]

I just got that ultimate bass test track and gave it a run...LOL My room almost fell over.

I thought my little REL Q150E.was going to pack up and leave. But she handled it, and with some serious pressurisation too!

[Howard]

Originally Posted by Nemeliza

I just got that ultimate bass test track and gave it a run...LOL My room almost fell over.

I thought my little REL Q150E.was going to pack up and leave. But she handled it, and with some serious pressurisation too!

The radiators and various ornaments in our living room below my bedroom can resonate if I play that or similar tracks loud enough

[bsodmike]

Yea, that ultimate bass track is quite scary. I had it running at a fairly moderate level, but it did give me a headache for the short while I was in the room. I've never really pushed this sub, and I tried a bit with this track and when my whole room started shaking, and the glasses on the windows started rattling I decided it was time to turn it down

I ended up speaking with Superfi again and added in the final cabling:

QED Silver Anniversary Bi-wire (1m) + 8 Airlocs (4 to 4)
QED Silver Anniversary Bi-wire (5m+3m) + 12 Airlocs (2 to 4)
Qunex 4S Mono interconnect (L) x2m
Qunex Y-SW

apart from one more cable (for the DBS), this sums up all the 'stuff' to finish the HT. I collected the cabling for wiring of the power to the various amps - the IEC plugs look really cheap n' crappy

I'm thinking of buying the pre-moulded cables and cannibalise them for the connectors, but I'm not too hot on this idea. Does any one know where I can get some decent IEC plugs (x4 Male, x4 Female). I may end up going with the cheapo looking plugs after all hrm...

[bsodmike]

Complications...

Yesterday I noticed a slight oddity in the MDF rack. the middle plank was sligging oh so slightly. I called up the furniture shop and they *now* say that I'm putting too much weight on it, with just the receiver. ...and the sales man was always like "yea weight's not a problem"...

I callled the other shop where I got my display cabinet made, and they are sending their drafts person over to duplicate this current design in pure Mahogany but with a couple alterations. I'm going to go for thicker beams and very thick side planks along with thicker 'solid' planks for the bottom section holding the Plasma.

An added complication - my bags. I called up superfi and as a precaution checked to see if they could keep the RB1080 (which arrived today along with the 1050 @ the store) till end of April. They said that the maximum they can keep stuff for is one month with a deposit, but as I'm willing to pay for the unit in full they have no problem in hanging onto it for me. Both the RB1050/80 are light, approx 10KG packed, but it's the volume of each box I need to check.

Right now I've packed the centre speaker away, and got the receiver sitting on top of the box (with 2 planks of wood under it to distribute the weight). I believe that once I confirm the alterations it will only take 2months or so for them to complete the rack and stain it etc, so it should be installed in my room by the time I get back with the rest of the stuff.

Progress... - 06/01/07

Rather than bloating this thread I'll post updates in this fashion - until I exceed the limits of a single post. Today the 'other' furniture shop sent 4 guys over to remove the MDF rack and Mahogany Masterpieces came over with the display cabinet. Considering that we had them rush it they've done a pretty decent job. The finish is great! Couple things on the todo list for them is to replace both right hand doors, the right hand mirror has a scratch and fit a lid on top of the current lid, which has the wiring for the bulbs exposed.

A slight modification I want made is to change the number of glass shelves from 2 to 3, which will allow more DVDs to be placed inside. The draft will be emailed to me sometime next week and I'm going to take my time with the construction of it as the room needs a bit of preparation in terms of lighting etc. I will sort all this out in Easter, till then I doubt this thread will be updated.

Update - 09/01/06

Today I visited the Superfi store in Leeds and settled the bill. Wow, that was a lot of moolah. Interestingly I was given a RB1070 - at first I was thinking 'uh oh', but it does 130w per channel and can be bridged for 360wpc (mono) output. Instead I will be bi-amping it for 230W (130w into HF & 130w into LF). Of course this currently exceeds the 150W rating of my current LCR600 centre, but I like having some headroom for future changes. This is a good thing. This means that the amplifier will start to start to saturate much later on and after all we are not talking about continuous power applied to the speaker but 'peak'. People tend to blow their drivers by clipping the signal and sending a square wave to the speakers, which then go boom

Picked up a ton of cabling and I've decided to leave the rb1080 and collect it after Easter. Denon has been on high demand this holiday season and therefore will take some more time in delivering the 3910 to the store...

Update - 23/01/06

I've now collected all the cabling needed from Superfi and am currently waiting for Denon to deliver the 3910 to the store. Superfi is pretty sure that it'll be delivered sometime this week, but I will call tomorrow and check on this. I recently sold my Sony VAIO (as I no longer need it) to help fund the final stage of this project. Yes, the floorstanding B&W DM604 S3s. I can get them for £700 from Superfi, but it is going to cost an arm and leg to ship them home (£1000 via DHL, £1700 via FedEx :-o). I've instead contacted Singapore and found that it will cost £870 for the speakers + £600 to ship them home, and chances are I'll pick them up in July when we visit Singapore.

I am also checking up on furniture companies back home to make what I've come to call E-Unit II (Entertainment Unit II) which is the design for the TV rack in full mahogony.

More updates later on.

Update - 05/02/06

This isn't much of an update really. Ended up collecting the RB1080 and Denon DVD-3910. Superfi kindly offered to post a set of Denon discs to me in case Denon have forgotten to flash the unit to multiregion + the 3rd link upgrade.

[bsodmike]

A lot has changed...

Well yea... I've given up on the whole reproducing the MDF thing in Mahogany as working with muppets can be quite stressfull and instead I've now decided to mount the plasma on the wall with the help of this:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI....e=STRK:MEWN:IT

Of course this resulted in picking up a teak console table (more on this below) to house all the hifi stuff but I'm considering picking this:

http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/p...roduct_ID/2175

...to mount the DM-602 S3s on. I guess its all down to the weight of them and if they fit in my russack

It is great to see it start to fall into place and really can't wait ... I hope to complete this project by the end of July...

...and zapping over to April 2006...
(from my blog...)

This morning I woke up to find Colombo completely being washed away by the pouring rain. I was prodded awake by around 8:30am and we headed off to the Canadian Embassy to grab VISAs as we plan to visit Torronto sometime in June/July.

After we sorted this out and a couple other errands (HSBC Premire Centre etc) we ended up at Meubel House which is another well known furniture shop dealing in teak/mahogany items with that elegant antiquish look (recreations even).

We were now on the prowl for a coffee table and sofa and to my surprise we found both! Sadly, the sofa was of a very dark (stained) colour so I’m currently waiting for a new piece to be made with matching natural looks as the coffee table (pictured from the rear, it has two drawers on the other side).



By around roughly 5pm the console table was delivered by Raux Brothers and I prompty placed my HT stuff on top. The wiring process was pretty straight forward, and I think I’ve dreamt about this time and again - after all I’ve been planning this since September 2005!!

This is the rear of the RB-1070. It is fed the (mono) centre signal that is fed via the Y-splitter to both inputs (what it considers left/right) and the HF and LF are connected for true bi-amping.



A shot of the rear of the LCR-600,



A shot of the rear of one of the DM-602 S3s,



This is the rear of the AVR-3805 receiver,



Here’s a shot of the rear of the Plasma that is currently waiting for the mounting bracket to arrive from down under



At the bottom of the console table you will find the Rotel RB-1070 (the RB-1080 will be added later on)



This is the DVD-3910, now flashed multi-region with Denon Third Link support



The image below pretty much gives you an idea of the room in its current state. On the left is the display cabinet, that primarily houses my DVD collection. On the right is my Dual 2.7GHz G5 with the 23-inch display I was *finally* able to bring home from Uni and I think the spots really add to the ambiance…

[Stoo]

I don't reckon much to the viewing position for the plasma in that last pic

Any idea where that subwoofer test track can be found?

[bsodmike]

I'm uploading 1 file now. Seems the whole folder is around 48MB, but this particular track is my fav for stressing/breaking in the sub...

Sound Effects - Bass Test - Ultimate Sub Woofer Test.mp3

As for the plasma, hehe I got it in that position to prevent anyone from hitting the front by mistake and gave me easy access to make the connections. Basically I plan to attach the plasma part of the mounting bracket to it, drill and mount the wall part. Then it is a matter of lifting it up from that position and hanging it on the wall (after loosening it from the base) - should make it quite easy!

[Stoo]

ahh cheers chap

I've only got a dinky little AE p5 set, so it should make things "interesting"

I did think long and hard about the 3910, but decided that £250 on the 1920 was more than enough splashing out at the time

[bsodmike]

Should be uploaded in about 5 mins - will update the link once done. (sorry, the net connection here in Colombo is simply terrible)

3910: I really went for this as I saw my self buying more n' more SACDs and what really made me go for it was the denon 3rd link - directly couples to my 3805 Also (I'm not sure of this is the case with the 1920) the all gold plated connectors are yummy. 'Tis a shame that my 3805 doesn't sport all gold connectors but the next receiver to sport 'em costs £2-3k alone. Even if the cost wasn't an issue, it is a HUGE receiver and weighs so much I wouldn't be able to bring it home easily.

Any thoughts on the 1920? Have you flashed it multiregion?

Btw, the file has uploaded

[Stoo]

Yep, it was a preflashed by Denon jobbie from my local electricals shop.

I had actually gone in there to buy something much cheaper, and mentioned in passing that I'd drooled over the 1920, but no bugger had any in stock.. He said "Well, I just happen to have one of these come in this morning.."

"Sold" I said

I have to say, it's quite a jump up from the older Sony I had (which was one of the best on the market at the time), there's much more detail in the images, especially when upscaling to my LCD over HDMI

The added bonus is that it'll also play DivX & XviD files too

[Stoo]

Bass test mp3.. (fankoo!)

First played it through the hifi my pc is connected to usually.. Didn't do a bad job, but it's obvious how tired the unit is starting to get (a little JVC UX 1000, around about 10 years old now).

Then switched the output over to my AE setup.. wow, it handled it really well, *much* clearer than the hi-fi unit, lots of bass there, but not to the point where it overpowers everything, and it's nice and tight and warm.. (oo-er!)

Much coolness

[Nemeliza]

My room almost fell over :/

That track should come with a government health and safety warning.

[bsodmike]

Heh, yea that track is pretty sweet. Having that looping for 12 hrs will really season your system in but you don't want to have the vol up too much or you'll give your self a nice headache, and the neighbours as well

Divx/Xvid, that's pretty sweet...can the 3910 do it as well?

For the past hour or so I've been researching 'freeview' recorders. I wish we had something like Sky+ here in Sri Lanka but sadly the only cable/sat tv we get is called CBNSat (which I have) but that comes with a shoddy recorder. However, what my Mom likes to record is her favourite soap "The Bold and Beautiful" (it's been going on for well over 20 years!, a CBS show) that is broadcast via freeview... of course right now my Mom uses a VCR (eh what's that you ask? really old tech that records to VHS tape and has all the issues of using 'tape').

Rather than sticking with old tech I was thinking that it would be nice to add a PVR + VCR to the system and have found a decent PVR @ Superfi going for around £200...

I'm also pondering the purchase of the Sound Org. Z1 speaker stands to further expand the soundstage, but this will all boil down to their weight and bulk...