The home theater...

Reminds me a little of the premise of the anime series Re:Zero. Kid gets sucked into weird situations and ends up getting killed, then wakes up a few hours (or days) before and has to re-live those days with the foreknowledge of what happened the last time... until he gets it right.
 
theterminator93 said:
Reminds me a little of the premise of the anime series Re:Zero. Kid gets sucked into weird situations and ends up getting killed, then wakes up a few hours (or days) before and has to re-live those days with the foreknowledge of what happened the last time... until he gets it right.
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Nah, that was Groundhog Day. 😆
 
It’s Christmas time :biggrin:

New Klipsch:

RP-8000F II (Left & Right main)
RC-64 III (Center Channel) Just haven’t put it under the TV yet.
RP-1400 (Subs x 2)

… and more to come!

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Nice. I was saving up for a projector but mid range pricing is almost nonexisitant, especially considering I do not want smart connectivity. As far as I know that leaves me with the epson EF11, which I swear wasnt as high as 700 dollars when I checked last
 
Vicinity said:
Nice. I was saving up for a projector but mid range pricing is almost nonexisitant, especially considering I do not want smart connectivity. As far as I know that leaves me with the epson EF11, which I swear wasnt as high as 700 dollars when I checked last
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Thanks. Yeah, I was looking at projectors too but my wife and son said I need to be happy with the 83” OLED I bought 2 years ago.

I can fit a 110” screen in my dormer… some day.
 
TVs are the better way to go at this point. Odd to say that projectors are in their infancy, considering history and all of that. Im just willing to 'sacrifice' fidelity and get a 1080 res just to keep wire management out of foot traffic. Interesting how 1080 is quantified when the projectors throw is variable
 
I'm pretty sure my next projector will cost between $8 and $10k... :eek:

The difference between FHD and a 4MP image is noticeable in my room, so I'm fairly confident I'll notice the difference between 4MP and 8MP (4k).

Next on the list is the 13 channel receiver though. Maybe in another year or so. Paying off the mortgage opens many doors to fun. :smile:
 
theterminator93 said:
I'm pretty sure my next projector will cost between $8 and $10k... :eek:

The difference between FHD and a 4MP image is noticeable in my room, so I'm fairly confident I'll notice the difference between 4MP and 8MP (4k).

Next on the list is the 13 channel receiver though. Maybe in another year or so. Paying off the mortgage opens many doors to fun. :smile:
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Noticeable is one thing.. Guess my seek is not a home theater - just something that's usually on. Ideally a duplicate display of the primary pc monitor. So far my philosophy is that I still tolerate watching dvds at 720 and that the 1080p is hopefully good enough to compensate for walking into this without a reference.

About how far was that projector throwing? I want to estimate 12 ft for what Im thinking for
 
My projector to the screen? Probably 14-15 feet or so. The room is 19' long and the projector is about 3 feet from the back wall, and the screen is about a foot away from the front wall.

The back row viewpoints are about 17' view distance from the screen and the front seats (which are the seats everything was optimized around) are 9 or 10' away from it. The projector is mounted between the front and back rows, but it's closer to the back than the front row.

FWIW my "beta theater" build (and interest in creating my own theater) started off when the in-laws added on to their house in 2012. They had a "media center" built into their great room with a large cavity between shelves for a TV to be mounted inside. I got the idea when I salvaged an old SVGA 1000 lumen projector from a scrap pile at one of my clients and hung a sheet over the TV. That morphed into them buying a pull-down vinyl projector screen (which blended in/was concealed nicely by the molding at the ceiling) and eventually a 1080p projector. IIRC it was an Epson Home Cinema 8350. Respectable and not bank breaking.

You WILL notice a difference on a large screen between SD and FHD. Past FHD, it's more subtle... but still profound IMO.

I bought my 5040UB in spring of 2019, nearly a year before I finished the basement and theater project. I got it on sale for about $1200 (normally $3k) as Epson was selling of their RMA'd and refurbished stock just before they announced the 5050UB.

I'll post what pics I can find; I think have a comparison of the 8350 against the 5040UB I have currently, along with some memory lane photos that document the humble origins of my journey thus far.

.......

I sure do. These two comparisons are taken with the same exposure of the UHD/4k version of the film. The first image was with my 5040UB, the second was with the 8350 I had the in-laws buy for their room. The most obvious difference is the brightness; if you zoom in you can see a little more detail on the 5040, but not quite 4k detail.


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If I go back further, I have the "discount screen" and free SVGA projector combo I hung at the in-laws which was the v1.0 concept for what I ended building for myself.

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It sure made the TV look downright puny!
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And at last, the genesis of the idea... a drop cloth and painter's tape. Let's call it v0.1. :LOL:

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I don't know why, I just suddenly felt like revisiting all the iterations of projectors and screens I've futzed with.
 
I bought the RC-64 III as B-Stock from a company out of Wisconsin. B-Stock is new stock that has a flaw or defect. Think scratch and dent stock.

Well, this one - I discovered - has one defective woofer. The cabinet is perfect and beautiful! So, Easy fix. I ordered up another 6.5" woofer from The Speaker Exchange out of Florida for less than $100 shipped to my door. I was so relieved to find an OEM replacement part for a decent price.

reconingspeakers.com

About Us - The Speaker Exchange

info@speakerex.com The Speaker Exchange® is a family-owned and operated small business located in Tampa, Florida and was established in 1977. We cater to clients from all over the world seeking speaker repair parts and speaker repair needs of all sizes, uses and manufacturers. As one of the...
reconingspeakers.com reconingspeakers.com

My next upgrade - with the help of my electronics guru brother - is to do this amazing modification to the speaker. I know Grog and Oscar will appreciate! I was really impressed when I saw what Danny does with speakers. This guy's amazing!

 
I had a power prob during Helene that took out 2 receivers, one a Pioneer I'd had since 79. :(
I dug one out of a closet that I was given to me dead in '01, a Sony str-965, and it kicks ass!
120 W/ch; even the surround channels are > 50w!
gonna need speakers next, lol.
I ordered a sub amp for a spare JBL 12" sub; This is the BR system. The LR receiver was a jvc75W, and it exploded. As did the Belkin surge protector.
It got replaced by a Yamaha I bought off eBay for $15. :)
All working today. :)
 
Grog6 said:
I had a power prob during Helene that took out 2 receivers, one a Pioneer I'd had since 79. :(
I dug one out of a closet that I was given to me dead in '01, a Sony str-965, and it kicks ass!
120 W/ch; even the surround channels are > 50w!
gonna need speakers next, lol.
I ordered a sub amp for a spare JBL 12" sub; This is the BR system. The LR receiver was a jvc75W, and it exploded. As did the Belkin surge protector.
It got replaced by a Yamaha I bought off eBay for $15. :)
All working today. :)
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So sorry. 😞

Yeah, the important of surge protectors and just unplugging things during a storm can’t be overstated.

Glad you had a spare to fall back on that still kicks ass. :thumbsup:

Yeah, the quest for great audio is addictive. I was watching ALITA - Battle Angel with the new speakers last night and OMG is it getting close to theater quality surround! The tweeter on my new center channel is a massive 1-3/4” compression driver (the same style used in theaters). It’s a HUGE upgrade over my previous center channel speaker.

The dual 14” subs just rock the house! They each have a 500W RMS / 1000W Peak amp built into them.
 
I learned in my car stereo days, that subs aren’t directional at all, except the bands that do double bass. The wavelength is too long. but it will help effects, in a theater.
The sony cost $20 to fix,:)
 
Several years ago, I believe a storm took out the amp in my sealed 15" Rythmik Audio servo sub after it was barely hanging on for dear life because I suspect it was overheating. After the storm, it didn't do anything with the signal from the receiver at all. It was too little, too late, but I've had a surge protector on that outlet ever since that storm and a whole house surge protector in my breaker panel for a couple of years now.

I finally sent the amp in to get repaired by Rythmik a couple of weeks ago, got it back, and now it's sounding stronger than ever. Over the weekend, I noticed the surge protector I bought for that outlet quit working so I replaced it before connecting the sub again. I'm generally great at putting electronics on surge protectors if not UPS battery backups, but the sub was just a big miss for many years.
 
Sometimes unplugging doesnt work, the transformer that feeds my house was at 250% load...blew up and caught fire....no real way to prepare. Fixed my oven/microwave combo and dryer with $40 worth of parts and saved myself $7k in replacement appliances. My surge protectors saved 4 computers, 2 TVs and my receiver and DVD players.

But I do agree, unplugging during storms can save equipment.
 
With this year's tax return filed and a modest refund expected, I think it's finally time to kick things up to the next level. :znanner:

I went ahead and got the 12 channel receiver I've been lusting for on order; I settled on a factory refurb'd Denon AVR-X6700H to save some significant cheddar. It sounds like there were some flukes with earlier models on a few features, but it didn't look like those would matter to me. The way it looked, this is is about the best price point for me to get all 11 channels amplified in a single unit that also fits the space I have. There were other options out there but they were noticeably deeper and I wasn't terribly keen on them sticking out the front of the equipment shelf.

I also picked up more banana plugs to make 4 more speaker patch cables. This will be a productive and fun weekend. :cool:
 
theterminator93 said:
With this year's tax return filed and a modest refund expected, I think it's finally time to kick things up to the next level. :znanner:

I went ahead and got the 12 channel receiver I've been lusting for on order; I settled on a factory refurb'd Denon AVR-X6700H to save some significant cheddar. It sounds like there were some flukes with earlier models and a few features, but it didn't look like those would matter to me. The way it looked, this is is about the best price point for me to get all 11 channels amplified in a single unit that also fits the space I have. There were other options out there but they were noticeably deeper and I wasn't terribly keen on them sticking out the front of the equipment shelf.

I also picked up more banana plugs to make 4 more speaker patch cables. This will be a productive and fun weekend. :cool:
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That's the Denon Version of the Marantz SR8015 that I have. You'll love it! What a deal too! Great price!

So, the ceiling (Height) speakers were the 4 channels that you were missing with your old receiver?

I've been eyeballing a 7 channel external amp as my next upgrade. I really need more power to drive the monster center channel speaker that I have.
 
If this works out, I'll have my old 7.1 receiver - let me know if you can think of a potential use for it. It's a TX-RZ720.

Yes, I had it set up for 7.1 but after I put in the 4 overhead speakers I decided to wire it up at 7.1.2 to see how it sounded. At last I'll have the final sound design of 7.1.4 to bask in. :biggrin:
 
theterminator93 said:
If this works out, I'll have my old 7.1 receiver - let me know if you can think of a potential use for it. It's a TX-RZ720.

Yes, I had it set up for 7.1 but after I put in the 4 overhead speakers I decided to wire it up at 7.1.2 to see how it sounded. At last I'll have the final sound design of 7.1.4 to bask in. :biggrin:
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You can use your old receiver as an external amplifier. That's what I'm doing with my old receiver. In two channel mode it's good for 130W of very clean power with no more than 0.005 percent total harmonic distortion (THD). It looks like your TX-RZ720 is good for 110W in two channel mode.

I put Y-splitters on the subwoofer outputs on my Marantz, ran an extra set of RCA cables to my old receiver plugged them into the CD port (or whatever input I want to use) then took my old speakers that have 15" subs in them and run them as an extra set of subwoofers. So, I have 2 - 14" Klipsch Subs and 2 - 15" Infinity Subs of room filling BASS!
 
To fix my depth issue I pulled the back off of my component cabinet to fit things, for ventilation and to run the wire. I screwed a 1” thick strip to the back of the shelf to provide extra support and depth to the shelf so that I could push the receiver back.

This might work for you.

Cable management? What cable management?! I know where everything goes. :biggrin: :hdance:

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I built my shelves right up against the wall. It's double studded and butts up against the furnace. I would have to cut a hole in the wall and re-terminate everything... :leftright:

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Fortunately the X6700H is about the same size as the RZ720. I should be in good shape. ETA is this Thursday. :)
 
theterminator93 said:
I built my shelves right up against the wall. It's double studded and butts up against the furnace. I would have to cut a hole in the wall and re-terminate everything... :leftright:

Fortunately the X6700H is about the same size as the RZ720. I should be in good shape. ETA is this Thursday. :)
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Can you move the shelving out or is it nailed or otherwise secured to the wall?

It would drive me crazy not having good access to the back of my receiver and other components.
 
I promised some pix of my new seats that I got in early December and an update on my own home theater like last month.

Well, I've finally got some free time to do that, so I dug my old Canon 60D out and snapped a few pix last night... iPhones are great but they still lack low light ability. Anyway, here's a look at where I'm currently at in my own home theater journey. I'm still in the process of installing acoustic baffles around the room so there's still some tape on the walls marking the studs, and a few panels laying here and there, also drywall that needs some patch work and some things I need to find a better place to store, etc. Excuse the mess. :LOL:

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Trunk Monkey said:
Can you move the shelving out or is it nailed or otherwise secured to the wall?

It would drive me crazy not having good access to the back of my receiver and other components.
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I would have to remove then rebuild all the shelves and cabinets under the screen then recarpet the area. If I need to get to the back of anything I just pull it forward a foot or so and I can get at everything. It works for my needs. :)

Trunk Monkey said:
I promised some pix of my new seats that I got in early December and an update on my own home theater like last month.
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First thing I did with my seats.... was unplug the blue LED strips at the bottom. ;)

I used a mirror and painter's tape to mark the locations for the acousitcal panels. I sat in the prime listening location and had the wife move the mirror around on the walls until I saw the reflection of each of the speakers, and had that location marked with tape.
 
theterminator93 said:
I would have to remove then rebuild all the shelves and cabinets under the screen then recarpet the area. If I need to get to the back of anything I just pull it forward a foot or so and I can get at everything. It works for my needs. :)



First thing I did with my seats.... was unplug the blue LED strips at the bottom. ;)

I used a mirror and painter's tape to mark the locations for the acousitcal panels. I sat in the prime listening location and had the wife move the mirror around on the walls until I saw the reflection of each of the speakers, and had that location marked with tape.
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I hear ya! Yeah, I just turned the seat lighting on for the photos. It would be ideal to unhook the floor lighting so that the cup-holders were the only thing to light up. I really wish they'd have put a dimmer switch on the floor lighting. That would've been ideal.
I don't know enough about electrical work to do it myself but I bet you or Greg could!
 
On mine it was pretty easy; just put the seat into recline mode so you can get at the guts under the seat from the front, and there was a connector for the LED strip that just unplugs. If you need me to grab a picture I can get one later today.
 
theterminator93 said:
On mine it was pretty easy; just put the seat into recline mode so you can get at the guts under the seat from the front, and there was a connector for the LED strip that just unplugs. If you need me to grab a picture I can get one later today.
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Thanks. I'll take a look at mine. I haven't given it much though or investigated it at all.
 
Post a pic of the connector on the lights, and I'll find you a dimmer to match.
There are two main types of lights. One is pwm, one is programmable. Both have 4 pins
 
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