Stereodude
Not really a
How deep is your budget and how particular are you? Are you looking for nice audio, or the ultimate in home theater reproduction?
Your home Stereo/sound system/s? What did you buy, how much, and why did you buy it?
- Thread starter Santilli
- Start date
ddrueding
Fixture
Nice audio. The room is not a HT, just a living room with many sub-optimal features. These speakers would probably spend more time playing background music to someone 20' away off-axis who doesn't care than playing movies, but I want the ability to be there. $3k would be the top-end of what I could do now for those front 3 speakers, but I'd rather wait a bit and see if I could manage ~$5k in about 6 months.
Stereodude
Not really a
ddrueding
Fixture
Polk looks tempting. If I am building them into the cabinet instead of a wall cavity, what can I optimize? Rigidity of the enclosure? Cavity volume/shape? Front ports?
Stereodude
Not really a
You definitely don't want ports. Those Polk look like they are intended to fire into the open wall. That's not really feasible if you're putting them in a cabinet. I guess you would want to make a sealed box that's the volume of a typical 2x4 x 8' stud cavity. Something with a sealed back like the Def Tech UIW RLS II or recommendations for an enclosure volume is probably better. Is your cabinet going to be wall to wall floor to ceiling?
ddrueding
Fixture
It is floor to ceiling and 2' deep but only 17' long (room is 33' long). I could easily reproduce the shape and volume of a standard wall cavity if that is what the speaker has been optimized for.
Stereodude
Not really a
Shape doesn't matter. Interior volume does.
ddrueding
Fixture
Good to know. While I could have replicated the shape, not having to makes it way less awkward.
Shape really doesn't matter? Even funny angles and stuff? I've read speaker design summaries talking about 45-degree this and that...
Stereodude
Not really a
Not for the interior of a sealed box.
ddrueding
Fixture
How about the space for the Sub? I've allocated a cube 24" wide, 24" deep, and nearly 30" high with almost the entire front open (covered in speaker fabric). At the moment I only have the entry-level Polk sub (PSW10) to toss in there. Should I worry about reinforcing the sides? Sealing it?
Thanks for all the help on this stuff!
Thanks for all the help on this stuff!
Stereodude
Not really a
That depends on what you're trying to do. Are you simply making an spot to place a commercial subwoofer, or are you planning to build a DIY subwoofer into that spot where the enclosure of the speaker is also the structure of the cabinetry?
ddrueding
Fixture
At the moment I was planning on the former, but eventually will want something bigger, and was considering the latter.
Stereodude
Not really a
Well the requirements are different between the two methods. Building a sub into a fixed cabinet is not a good idea since placement can make a big difference in output and frequency response at the seats, and it's not moveable when it's built in.
ddrueding
Fixture
Gotcha. Well, the location is certainly fixed. With that in mind, I'm not sure what would be done with even a store-bought unit to "fit" that location.
Stereodude
Not really a
Well, there are two approaches. Leave it open to the whole inside of the cabinet structure or wall it off. I'd probably favor the latter.
ddrueding
Fixture
Awesome. And leave it sitting on the floor? Or put a bottom on that part of the cabinet as well?
Stereodude
Not really a
I'd leave it on the floor.
ddrueding
Fixture
My brother-in-law is planning a long attic room with a projector on one end and the screen in the middle. He'd like the screen to work for both front and rear modes. Any recommendations for a material that will look good from both sides?
Stereodude
Not really a
He wants a rear projection screen that also can be viewed from the same side as the projector?
ddrueding
Fixture
Yup. Long room, projector on one end, screen in the middle. Same side as the projector is a bed, opposite side is a rockband setup. Basically he wants the image to look decent from both sides.
Stereodude
Not really a
So from which side is he going to watch the image reversed?
I'm not aware of any sort of screen material that will do what he wants.
I'm not aware of any sort of screen material that will do what he wants.
ddrueding
Fixture
Just use the remote to switch projection modes depending on what is going on. The best we've found so far was the Dazian Translite white.
Stereodude
Not really a
That isn't very well suited for rear projection per the description. I think you'd be better off with a rear projection screen and a motorized roll up front projection screen that comes down in front of it.
ddrueding
Fixture
If you needed to run speaker wire over 100' from the amp to the speaker, what speaker wire would you use? Shielded? Larger Gauge?
What if they wanted a volume control on the wall much closer to the speakers than the amp? Is there something that can control an amplified signal?
Ordinarily I'd send the signal via fiber (either TOSLink or HDMI) to something close to the destination and put an amp in there, but that isn't possible in this case.
What if they wanted a volume control on the wall much closer to the speakers than the amp? Is there something that can control an amplified signal?
Ordinarily I'd send the signal via fiber (either TOSLink or HDMI) to something close to the destination and put an amp in there, but that isn't possible in this case.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
Science says you'd need a couple football field lengths of speaker wire before there's distortion significant enough to measure due to attenuation. Just run long cables and be happy.
Stereodude
Not really a
How many watts are you going to running down the cable? Unless it's hundreds of watts (nearer the 1kW range) 12ga wire is fine.
On the volume control I'm not sure. You're probably better off finding a way to remotely control the volume of the amp with IR extenders or similar rather than trying to find some sort of remote attenuation box.
Howell
Storage? I am Storage!
Anything wrong with regular single gang volume controls?
http://www.homecontrols.com/Leviton-Decora-Strauss-Transformer-Free-Volume-Control-LVSGVSTW
http://www.homecontrols.com/Leviton-Decora-Strauss-Transformer-Free-Volume-Control-LVSGVSTW
Stereodude
Not really a
I don't know how that can possibly dissipate 100W of heat.
ddrueding
Fixture
Yeah, maybe 100W. I ordered Monoprice 12ga in-wall. Probably going to go with Logitech Harmony for remote control.
Thanks!
Thanks!