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Posted

Hey all.

Thought it was time to start a thread on my HT built. Technically it's my entire house build, as it's a new house. But we'll focus on the HT here :)

It's a modest HT. It's not full blown in the sense that it is a normal room, with rockwool insulation in the walls, and has no special custom construction for it.

It does, however have a black roof, brown side/rear walls, and a black/brown front wall.

- Screen is an OZTS 130" Diamond 3D 16:9 screen. Just arrived today (see pic below)

- Room is 4.4m wide x 5.4m long and standard 8 foot ceilings.

- Sound is provided via a Yamaha RX-V3800. Will be using the PS3 for Bluray. Might upgrade to the slim model so I can have bitstreaming functionality.

- Speakers are Energy Connoisseur C7 floorstanders, Energy Center and 4 x Athena Bookshelves for the surrounds. The surrounds are slightly bigger than the rears. All 4 rears are to be mounted on the walls using wall mounts.

- Sub boxes are being built. Building 2 Subs using Exodus Audio Shiva X2 12" drivers in 85 litre sealed, custom built boxes with black ash finish. Amp is a Behringer EPX2000 (650watts RMS x 2 @4ohms).

- I'll be having my entertainment unit custom made. You can see the general design in my mockup below.

post-67829-1256088129_thumb.jpg

- I'll also be adding bass traps over time.

- Projector will probably either be an Epson TW5500 (when they arrive) or perhaps a DLP/DILA from JVC. Still undecided, and need to experience both before I make a final decision.

- Sorry for the low quality of the pics from inside the HT room. Taken on my iphone. The walls are not that blue. They are brown/grey/black in tone.

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- Carpet will be dark chocolate. Being installed on Friday this week :)

- Lounges are paid for and waiting to be delivered. Central seat is a 2 seater and there will be 2 recliners, either side of that. All leather.

My main concern with this room is that it's on bearers and joists, and that there may be some level of vibration/shake in the floor. I have only ever had slab-based homes before... so this was never a problem with big bass. I am wondering, if it DOES end up being an issue, what I can do to alleviate it? Perhaps additional bracing under the room or something? Anyway, we shall see.

Screen arrived today, along with my new computer screens for my studio. I'll provide unboxing pics of the screen in a couple of weeks when we install it in the house (currently living with the in-laws).

post-67829-1256088184_thumb.jpg

I'll also show the putting-together of my subs once the enclosures arrive in a few weeks. I expect the drivers and amp to arrive tomorrow.

Feedback/comments/suggestions always welcome :)

Cheers,

Scottie

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Posted

Nice to see another build Scott ... too many build to follow now :)

Looking forward for more pics and the details on the sub build.

Cheers

Dham

Posted
  scottrichardson said:
My main concern with this room is that it's on bearers and joists, and that there may be some level of vibration/shake in the floor. I have only ever had slab-based homes before... so this was never a problem with big bass. I am wondering, if it DOES end up being an issue, what I can do to alleviate it? Perhaps additional bracing under the room or something? Anyway, we shall see.

I wouldn't worry too much about this. You normally pay extra for this!. This is why you buy Buttkickers :D

Looking good Scott. I will follow your progress with interest.

Posted (edited)

Wow. The builds just keep coming! Looking forward to your next update. I'm sure i have seen this build else ware ;)

Edited by Jason IB
Posted
  Woodlake said:
I wouldn't worry too much about this. You normally pay extra for this!. This is why you buy Buttkickers :D

Looking good Scott. I will follow your progress with interest.

Oh that's good to know. I know that a slab floor isn't ideal for sound reflections... I was just weary of the rattle factor. Hopefully it's not too bad.

Posted

OK so some stuff arrived over the last 2 days..

Parts for my subwoofers have arrived

- 2 x ShivaX2 12" drivers

- 1 x Behringer EPX2000 amp.

post-67829-1256286718_thumb.jpg

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I have to say, as an owner of the original Adire Audio Shiva's (mk1 and mk3's), these new Exodus versions are stunning. The build quality appears to be even better. The basket is more detailed and the magnet structure seems massive. The whole driver feels a lot heavier than my old Shivas.

As for the amp. The box says 'lightweight', however it's still pretty damn heavy. The amp puts out 650watts RMS x 2 into 4ohms. Although that's at 0.1% THD. Not sure what these would be at a lower THD, but still I think plenty of power for 2 12" subs. The boxes, as mentioned in previous post, are being built in Adelaide by forum member Crabra.

This new Behringer amp has RCA level inputs. They guy on the phone at Bavas Music said to me that these amps are more 'better' suited to home use. However I am curious as to wether I will need to buy a cleanBox to boost the output of my Yamaha's LFE output before it goes into the amp. My audio friend seems to think that if Behringer included RCA level inputs, then the input voltage on that input should match consumer level voltages. I'm not 100% convinced yet, and I guess I will only be able to tell once I plug it all in and hear for myself. Worst case, the amp is going to be around 12dB softer than the input being fed into it, meaning I'll need to crank the gain. If that's the case I'll buy a cleanBox, which will boost the level by the necessary amount, AND convert my signal to XLR. Best case, the amp has the correct voltage for 'consumer' input voltages on the RCA line level and I won't need to do a thing.

The second thing I'm unsure about is the fan-noise on the amp. I have read of people modifying their EP2500's. However those amps are not the 'lightweight' new models from Behringer. I expect this to be a quieter amplifier. So again, will wait until I can crank them a bit and hear the fan noise. It may be so minimal I can leave them as they are. But if they are loud, I will need to swap the fans for quieter ones - something I have little knowledge about. I may have to procure advice and tips from fellow forum members!

Carpet went in today. Whole house has the same style carpet, however the HT has a darker tone. HT is dark chocolate brown while the rest of the house is just brown. Couldn't get in to take photos, but hopefully will be able to tomorrow, so long as the builder is around to let me in. Really excited about moving in. The wife is sick of me being more excited about the HT room than the entire house being finished though.. LOL!

More soon,

Scottie

Posted
  scottrichardson said:
The second thing I'm unsure about is the fan-noise on the amp. I have read of people modifying their EP2500's. However those amps are not the 'lightweight' new models from Behringer. I expect this to be a quieter amplifier. So again, will wait until I can crank them a bit and hear the fan noise. It may be so minimal I can leave them as they are. But if they are loud, I will need to swap the fans for quieter ones - something I have little knowledge about. I may have to procure advice and tips from fellow forum members!

Just turn it on, and you will know if you need to do something about the fan or not.

The EP4000 that I have can be heard in the quiet scenes of a movie, and will be getting replaced with 13cm 12v fan at some stage.

Posted

OK, I turned it on.

I think I'll need to replace the fan. It's loud enough to be annoying. Put it this way, I just had it in the kitchen while someone was cooking with the rangehood exhaust-fan on, and I could hear the amp fans whirring!

So, what's my options? What can I do? What type of fan can I replace it with that's going to be more... err... silent? (ok so I'm guessing silent is out of the question, but something a lot quieter would be great)

Could I unplug the fans completely? I wonder how much cooling these amps need in a home environment, which I'm assuming would be a bit cooler than a club/gig environment. I have played in plenty of clubs and they can get quite hot!

Thanks in advance for any advice you guys can provide!

Scottie

Posted
  scottrichardson said:
OK, I turned it on.

I think I'll need to replace the fan. It's loud enough to be annoying. Put it this way, I just had it in the kitchen while someone was cooking with the rangehood exhaust-fan on, and I could hear the amp fans whirring!

So, what's my options? What can I do? What type of fan can I replace it with that's going to be more... err... silent? (ok so I'm guessing silent is out of the question, but something a lot quieter would be great)

Could I unplug the fans completely? I wonder how much cooling these amps need in a home environment, which I'm assuming would be a bit cooler than a club/gig environment. I have played in plenty of clubs and they can get quite hot!

Thanks in advance for any advice you guys can provide!

My plan is to get a 13cm fan to go on the outside, with an appropriate reducer to put flush up to the existing fan inlet. Then replacing the original fan with a gutted one to let the air flow through it. I would then use a 12v plug pack to power it up.

Here's what someone else did with my idea, although they powering it in a different way.

Fan mod

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

hey all..

Moved into our new house and last night I had a chance to set up a couple of speakers and 2 subs to test the general response of the room..

A bit frustrated honestly.... just as with my old house... this new room has next to no bass response in the seating position. Sit 1m forward and there's some bass above 40Hz. Sit 1m back and there's heaps below 40Hz. Though both positions ruin the surround field of the rear/surrounds and moving forward puts you too close to the screen.

So.. interested to know how adding bass traps will help with the issue of not much low end at the seating position.

Does anyone here have some sort of room response calculator who might be interested in running my room through their software? The room is 4.4m wide, 5.4m long, and 2.4m high. Seating position is 1.2m from rear wall. However atm I have moved the seat back to be about 0.8m from the rear wall to get some bass response... however moving that far back means my left and right surrounds are about 20cm in front of the listening position :/

HELP!

Posted

That's kinda it.. I once had a really handy one that actually worked out your frequency response at the seating position, but for the life of me can't find it anywhere any more.

I'll wait till my 2 new subs arrive, 'crabra' is building them at the moment and they should be heading my way by the end of the week. Once installed in the room I'll evaluate the room acoustics some more. Looks like some thick bass traps will help a fair bit with the bass response...

Oh I have some more photos too.. now we're moved into the new house. Will take some photos of the chairs in place :)

Posted
  scottrichardson said:
OK, I turned it on.

I think I'll need to replace the fan. It's loud enough to be annoying. Put it this way, I just had it in the kitchen while someone was cooking with the rangehood exhaust-fan on, and I could hear the amp fans whirring!

So, what's my options? What can I do? What type of fan can I replace it with that's going to be more... err... silent? (ok so I'm guessing silent is out of the question, but something a lot quieter would be great)

Could I unplug the fans completely? I wonder how much cooling these amps need in a home environment, which I'm assuming would be a bit cooler than a club/gig environment. I have played in plenty of clubs and they can get quite hot!

Thanks in advance for any advice you guys can provide!

Scottie

I run a Behringer EP2500 to my sub and changed the standard fans to 24volt Panaflows..............much quieter now, reversed the flow as well.

Got em from the US.....can't remember where but will let you know as soon as I remember!!

Posted (edited)
  scottrichardson said:
hey all..

Moved into our new house and last night I had a chance to set up a couple of speakers and 2 subs to test the general response of the room..

A bit frustrated honestly.... just as with my old house... this new room has next to no bass response in the seating position. Sit 1m forward and there's some bass above 40Hz. Sit 1m back and there's heaps below 40Hz. Though both positions ruin the surround field of the rear/surrounds and moving forward puts you too close to the screen.

So.. interested to know how adding bass traps will help with the issue of not much low end at the seating position.

Does anyone here have some sort of room response calculator who might be interested in running my room through their software? The room is 4.4m wide, 5.4m long, and 2.4m high. Seating position is 1.2m from rear wall. However atm I have moved the seat back to be about 0.8m from the rear wall to get some bass response... however moving that far back means my left and right surrounds are about 20cm in front of the listening position :/

HELP!

Move the subs around they don't have to be up front.

Edit: add links

Link 1

Link 2

Edited by Highjinx
Posted
  scottrichardson said:
That's kinda it.. I once had a really handy one that actually worked out your frequency response at the seating position, but for the life of me can't find it anywhere any more.

I'll wait till my 2 new subs arrive, 'crabra' is building them at the moment and they should be heading my way by the end of the week. Once installed in the room I'll evaluate the room acoustics some more. Looks like some thick bass traps will help a fair bit with the bass response...

Oh I have some more photos too.. now we're moved into the new house. Will take some photos of the chairs in place :)

Try the downloads here:-

http://www.realtraps.com/info.htm

Posted

I also purchased some new fans.. got 3 new ones here. I'll go up to the electronics store tomorrow and see if they have the plug, so I don't have to cut and solder the cable. If I DO end up cutting the power cable to the fans, how do I re-enclose the wire in plastic? I read somewhere about 'heat wrap' technique or something?

Thanks for the links.. checking them out now!

Posted
  scottrichardson said:
I also purchased some new fans.. got 3 new ones here. I'll go up to the electronics store tomorrow and see if they have the plug, so I don't have to cut and solder the cable. If I DO end up cutting the power cable to the fans, how do I re-enclose the wire in plastic? I read somewhere about 'heat wrap' technique or something?

Thanks for the links.. checking them out now!

Try heat shrink spagetti avail from Dick Smith and Jaycar.

I hope you got the correct type fans.

Check these links they will give you some more info. BTW the Panaflo are from DigiKey.

Digikey for the Panaflos'

EP2500 fan change process

Posted

OK some updates and photos.

Firstly, I did the sub positioning test, whereby placing my sub in the seating position, then crawling around the room to find the best bass response - that place being the spot for my sub.....

Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but basically, there wasn't really any place around the edge of the room that produced nice bass. I did get the most bass by crawling to the very back of the room behind the chairs, in the back corners. BUT, when I swapped, and placed the sub in the back corner location and sat in my seat, the bass was even less still. :( In a nut shell, I have tried my sub in every possible position available to me, aside from being placed up high off the floor... No matter what I do, the seating area, and in particular my main middle two seats.... is a massive bass black hole. No bass... the only thing I get is floor vibration, but no actual audible low end. Standing up however, makes a lot of difference, and the bass is much nicer as I walk around the room.. but that's up around the 6 feet mark.. so.. kinda useless.

So, I am at a loss. I have two new sub boxes arriving this week, into which my shiva x2's will go into, powered by the behringer. Part of me is hoping for a miracle of some sort, whereby the new subs have much better phase linearity and the response is more audible at the seating position, but I don't hold my breath.

I guess once the new subs arrive, and I'm still getting no bass, I'll start on the bass traps.

Here's some pics of my lounges and also one of my older subs on the lounge having a listen, to itself :)

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Also, finally put my screen together. Did the frame last week, and tonight I finally put the screen material on. That was an effort, didn't realise how tiring it could be getting the screen tight across the frame. But the end result is perfect! Screen is huge, and lovely. With all my lights off in the room, the room is pitch black, can't even see the screen. So I can't wait for my JVC HD950 to arrive so I can see how the picture looks! In the pics, I have just rested the screen against the wall.

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Well, that's it for now. My sub boxes should arrive late this week, so I'll upload pics of those and the fully assembled subs as soon as I can! My HT entertainment unit is being built right now, and should be ready in a couple of weeks.

Lastly, I need a projector ceiling mount for my HD950. Can anyone recommend something for me? I don't need any bells or whistles. Just a simple, but strong/good quality mount to hold by baby :)

Cheers,

Scottie

Enjoy the pics.

Posted

Well.. my frustrations continue... tried several placement suggestions for my subs, and also moved my seating area forward about 3 feet... to no avail. Any closer to the screen and I'll have more of the room behind me that in front, and the screen will be too big to enjoy the movie.

My next frustration is the vibrating floor. It's REALLY annoying. ie: listening to a dance track (which I do a lot of, being a DJ), I hear (well only the top end coz I have no low end, remember) the kick drum, then a few milliseconds later, I feel the vibrations under the seat.

As I said, really annoying. Our place is on bearers and joists. Under the carpet is a layer of particle board.

Currently my subs sit on the floor, with no spikes or feet. The new subs arrive on Monday and will have spikes. Will this remove some of the transfer of vibration into the floor I wonder?

Posted
  scottrichardson said:
Well.. my frustrations continue... tried several placement suggestions for my subs, and also moved my seating area forward about 3 feet... to no avail. Any closer to the screen and I'll have more of the room behind me that in front, and the screen will be too big to enjoy the movie.

...

Our place is on bearers and joists. Under the carpet is a layer of particle board.

Currently my subs sit on the floor, with no spikes or feet. The new subs arrive on Monday and will have spikes. Will this remove some of the transfer of vibration into the floor I wonder?

Considered IB subs? Perhaps sticking them in the roof will give you decent bass at the sofa. You could try a test listen with the sub up against the roof, straight above the screen or even off to the side.

Double up on the Shivas, throw out those little boxes and feel some IB bass! :D

Posted
  Grrrrr said:
Considered IB subs? Perhaps sticking them in the roof will give you decent bass at the sofa. You could try a test listen with the sub up against the roof, straight above the screen or even off to the side.

Double up on the Shivas, throw out those little boxes and feel some IB bass! :D

+20 on going IB subs :) You could try wall or ceiling mounting options which may help the problem.

Posted
  Jason IB said:
+20 on going IB subs :) You could try wall or ceiling mounting options which may help the problem.

Well... technically I DO have 5 total shiva drivers here in the house... 1 x mk1, 2 x mk3's and 2 x X2's :) I COULD do an IB... BUT, what's stopping that from having exactly the same issues? Wouldn't room nulls and modes and standing waves affect an IB just the same as any other sub? Or am I missing something as to how they sonically interact with the space in the room?

I could easily build a massive box under the house for them to be located in, since we're on bearers and joists...

of course, I need to see how I go after bass trapping the room. I have 2 new lovely sub enclosures arriving on Monday that I don't want to waste just yet! If the new subs + bass traps don't work.. then I'll consider IB... or...

I will also try positioning the sub up high near the roof and along the walls up high..... any suggestions on mounting? Suggestions on reducing vibrations in the walls? Wouldn't a roof mounted IB seriously rattle the roof timberwork?

Posted

New arrivals!!

My JVC HD950 projector just arrived!!!!! So excited to see this baby in action!! Just waiting on my ceiling mount to arrive! EDIT - It just did!! WEEE!

Also my new sub boxes have arrived. I mounted the Shiva's in the boxes last night. Gonna fire up the Behringer today and see how they sound. May need to boost the input signal by 12dB.. but we'll see!

ahh so excited! Finally all coming together.

Also ordered 3 packs of Ultratel. Enough to make four 6" corner traps (8 feet tall) and some reflection point absorbers :)

Pics forthcoming.... later today!

Scottie

Posted (edited)
  scottrichardson said:
Well... technically I DO have 5 total shiva drivers here in the house... 1 x mk1, 2 x mk3's and 2 x X2's :) I COULD do an IB... BUT, what's stopping that from having exactly the same issues? Wouldn't room nulls and modes and standing waves affect an IB just the same as any other sub? Or am I missing something as to how they sonically interact with the space in the room?

I could easily build a massive box under the house for them to be located in, since we're on bearers and joists...

of course, I need to see how I go after bass trapping the room. I have 2 new lovely sub enclosures arriving on Monday that I don't want to waste just yet! If the new subs + bass traps don't work.. then I'll consider IB... or...

I will also try positioning the sub up high near the roof and along the walls up high..... any suggestions on mounting? Suggestions on reducing vibrations in the walls? Wouldn't a roof mounted IB seriously rattle the roof timberwork?

You are spot on Scott, IBs just like any other Subwoofers are affected by room nulls modes and standing waves affect, thus Carefull sub placment is the key to lower there effect, even better multiple (4) subs optimaly placed around the room and good Accoustic treatments is the best way...

Congrats on your new toys Scott...

Cheers...

Edited by cinema mad
Posted
  scottrichardson said:
New arrivals!!

My JVC HD950 projector just arrived!!!!! So excited to see this baby in action!! Just waiting on my ceiling mount to arrive! EDIT - It just did!! WEEE!

Also my new sub boxes have arrived. I mounted the Shiva's in the boxes last night. Gonna fire up the Behringer today and see how they sound. May need to boost the input signal by 12dB.. but we'll see!

ahh so excited! Finally all coming together.

Also ordered 3 packs of Ultratel. Enough to make four 6" corner traps (8 feet tall) and some reflection point absorbers :)

Pics forthcoming.... later today!

Scottie

Way to go Scott, am looking forward to seeing the pictures :D

Cheers,

Simon

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