1quick does home theater

1quick

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So I bought an older home back in June and I don’t even have a tv plugged in yet, I kept my pioneer elite receiver and a single Martin Logan 10” powered sub from my old surround sound the rest of the speakers were in the ceiling so I had to leave them, mounting the tv on the mantle here and picked up some kef towers for the front and some kef bookshelf speakers for the rear, this is just going to mostly be documenting the agony of pulling wires to make it look clean, I started taking some stuff apart already, the receiver is going under a table on the opposite side of the room as the tv and speakers will be in all 4 corners not positive on woofer placement yet
 

1quick

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Ment to post pictures, I’m going to steal power from the light for an outlet I’m going to cut in on top of the mantle, and yeah I have to run an hdmi cable from the opposite side of the room up into the mantle

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SpeedSpeak2me

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I'm interested in knowing how those KEF's sound. Might be replacing my Klipsch SF-1's that I got like 15+ years ago. Nothing wrong with them, in great shape, and sound great. Just a bit "cooler" than I've liked. Should have spent the extra $20/speaker and gotten the Mirage equivalent at the time, but was basically broke as it was.
 
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1quick

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I'm interested in knowing how those KEF's sound. Might be replacing my Klipsch SF-1's that I got like 15+ years ago. Nothing wrong with them, in great shape, and sound great. Just a bit "cooler" than I've liked. Should have spent the extra $20/speaker and gotten the Mirage equivalent at the time, but was basically broke as it was.
I listened to them in the store and they were fucking amazing, I didnt listen to the small ones im using for the rear, but those 2 towers sound like your at a concert, I was looking at the klipsch towers 8000 somethings they were a bit cheaper but they were real crisp to much for this room, I initially intended on running 4 towers but these were a little more than I wanted to spend so I went with cheaper rears to just fill in the sound, I will eventually replace the rears with the same towers as the fronts probably
 

1quick

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I had to work the last couple nights so didn’t get much done till today, my wife decides she wants the tv higher up off the mantle so the hole I cut through it was a waste, I’m now going to cut a hole behind the tv and use a blank outlet cover probably wood or brick if I can find that to cover it, but the tv is hung

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1quick

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All the cables are pulled all the speaker wire ran, I didn’t take pictures of running it because well it sucked my house is on a crawl and it’s full of spiderwebs and pitch black so I was using a headlamp and spotlight to do everything, here’s a couple speaker pictures I bought some cheap speaker stands for the rears off Amazon 49 bucks I will have to add something to the bottom to keep them from scratching the shit out of my wood floors, and here’s a few pictures of the room and the receiver placement it’s a mess of Christmas shit all over so excuse that

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1quick

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I really want to do this one day. A buddy of mine went to a docs house out here a while back and was raving about his 100k sound system/room. Given I would never be able to spend that much, but I love good sound.

Are you tuning this yourself or is a pro with equipment coming in?
I threw a half ass tune in it last night by ear, but this receiver has a speaker with an auto tuning set up I just need to find the speaker
 

1quick

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Every once in a great while I'll do that with my Cerwins. Problem is they like to be driven hard and need to be a room that is the size of my house to be truly appreciated.
These would probably sound better if the room was carpeted but the living room is 500ish sq feet, with the high ceilings it really sounds good in there
 
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blue-sun

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Have you looked into any accoustic panels?

I still need to figure out what I need to order for my basement theater, which is still in progress.

I looked into their bass traps and panels:

 

1quick

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Have you looked into any accoustic panels?

I still need to figure out what I need to order for my basement theater, which is still in progress.

I looked into their bass traps and panels:

No I haven’t looked into that I’ll hve to check it out
 
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Milhouse

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I’ll have to do some digging to find the company’s name but we used some panels once in a theater that were wood paneling.
The company micro perfed the panels and applied acoustic mat behind the wood.

The result was amazing. Fabric or micro suede panels would have only been a few DB more in reduction witch nobody is going to hear.

There are simple ways though. Area rugs. Wicker baskets with blankets in them.
Soft stuff.

I’d apply panels to your ceiling. Between the beams.

Those 150’s are really good for a bookshelf speaker. The included foam to tune the port/bass response is a nice feature. I’ve installed quite a few pairs of those.
 

blue-sun

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I did the free acoustic advice from gik https://www.gikacoustics.com/acoustic-advice/

you have to give some basic info on the room and equipment, upload pics, etc. They have an online CAD tool to make your room, I found it hard to use.

The results were pretty basic, I don't think they took a few things into account from my basement theater, but in general they gave decent advice and a few links to sound checks that I still need to do.

From the initial form response:

We have a lot of helpful tools to assist along the way.

  • Did you know you can create a 3D model of your room, place doors/windows/furniture exactly how you have it, and then add GIK Acoustics’ products in the room. While the 3D drawing is not necessary for us to take a look at your room information, it’s still a great way to see how our products will look before you buy. Plus it’s fun! Give it a try: ROOM ACOUSTICS VISUALIZER.
  • If you’d like to peruse some photos for inspiration, we have a gallery of images available on both our Instagram account and on our Facebook page.
  • If you’re more interested in learning about the science of sound and want to understand what’s happening within the room, we have a bevy of helpful educational articles and videos created by our team. Our solutions are based on science, so get your nerd on!

Then after they reviewed my case, here's what they sent:

First off, I want to talk about the concern with the bass traveling throughout the house. What you’re looking for in that regard is sound isolation or sound “proofing”. Unfortunately, that’s not what our products are designed to do. For true sound isolation, you’ll need to add mass in the walls, which is a construction concern. Additional layers of drywall, more insulation, etc.. Our products will help in reducing bass build up in key points and lowering reverb, but that’s the only problem you’re trying to solve, sound treatment isn’t what you’re looking for. But, if you’re trying to make the space sound better/cleaner, this is how I’d approach that project!



Reflection points are essential to treat to clean up the stereo imaging and enhance the depth & detail of the soundstage for listening, and the clarity & focus of the recordings for tracking. Reflections reaching your ears very shortly after the direct sound can generally create an inaccurate listening environment. These reflection points are located along your side walls and ceiling and are easiest to locate using the mirror trick. Treat these reflection points with the thickest FlexRange (full range) absorbers you can. 244s are a common choice and give a great balance between performance and thickness (and affordability). Monsters are thicker and therefore better, and 242s are thinner for places where desired (such as to preserve maximum ceiling height).



Bass builds up at any boundary such as a wall, a floor, or a ceiling. Corners are efficient because they are the ends of 2 or 3 boundaries. This listening test can help you identify the bass hotspots in your room, which are often corners. Placing bass traps in as many hotspots as possible will improve low end decay times, frequency response, and Imaging. To understand how bass traps work, I recommend checking out our video on bass traps. The more coverage area you have with all the bass traps in the room working together, the better your results will be.



This said, here’s how I’d approach this space. First off, I’d get those front corners dealt with, as that will yield the biggest improvement in low end clarity and response consistency. I would look to stack Corner Tri-Traps floor to ceiling there. For the sidewall first reflection points, go with the thickest panels you can tolerate there, two per side. I’d push for the 244 Bass traps for a wide range of coverage, but if you need to go thinner like the 242s, I would understand. Finally, in the ceiling, we make dedicated ceiling panels designed to replace the tiles in a drop grid ceiling, and would fit perfectly here. Find those reflection points (mid point between you and the speakers, and replace those panels with these! Overall, this layout will yield a cleaner soundstage, sharper imaging, and a more consistent response. It’s also easily built on, if, in the future, the budget opens up and we want to explore getting even more out of this room. Price wise:



{4} Tri-Trap Corner Bass Trap© Full Range @ $135.00

{4} 244 Bass Trap w/FRT (Rectangle) Full Range @ $74.99

{4} Acoustic Ceiling Panels 4” Rectangle @ $68.99
 
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