[Nils Luehrmann]

Jeff,

I like your DIY amp exhaust system. Well done! I assume this keeps the in-board fan on the H/K receiver from kicking in? Mine has never made any noise, but I have heard from other owners of H/K receivers complaining that the fan not only kicks in too often, but is excessively loud. Seems like you have designed an excellent fix to the problem.

[Jeff Meininger]

Yup. The H/K's fan comes on early (after about 30 minutes of being on) and often (every 10-15 minutes or so). And it is indeed quite loud.

I'm not exactly sure what goes the deal is with the H/K's. Some people have them and report that their fan never comes on. My fan will come on consistently even if I turn it on and immediately put it on "mute". Perhaps it's a thermostat tolerance issue or something, and my unit's thermostat is calibrated on the "touchy" side of the spectrum.

The vent hood works, though. Messed around with Avia for about an hour, then watched 3 30-minute TV episodes. The H/K's fan stayed silent the whole time. Woohoo!

[Nils Luehrmann]

Jeff,

Great job on those crossovers they sounded very nice to these old ears! Let me know when you want to borrow those Tori Amos CDs.

[mike_frontier]

I never hear the fans on my H/K come on mine

[Chad Anson]

At the meet over the weekend, I talked with a couple of folks about acoustics and a rigid room vs. a soft room. Check out the following thread and look at page 2 for the discussion between Dennis Erskine and Bill Lucas on the subject. Interesting reading. http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...threadid=50921

I'd be more than happy to provide all the pizza, beer, or other food or beverage of choice to host a DIY room acoustics design party at the Anson Hillside Theater. Nils and Hank, you both mentioned that you might be interested.

[Nils Luehrmann]

Quote:

Nils and Hank, you both mentioned that you might be interested.

Count me in.

[Rich_Ave]

Chad,

I'd be glad to help you. I'm not sure how much I can contribute, but I can at least hold the dumb end of the tape measure for you. You're also welcome to borrow my calibration mic and preamp. I haven't had a chance to play with it yet, but I'll try to talk my wife into borrowing her laptop and see if I can set up a portable RTA. I have True Audio's level 4 RTA software.

Rich

[Nils Luehrmann]

Quote:

I talked with a couple of folks about acoustics and a rigid room vs. a soft room.

I missed that conversation, but if there was a consensus, put a mark next to 'rigid' as my vote for the more ideal of the two designs.

Quote:

Check out the following thread and look at page 2 for the discussion between Dennis Erskine and Bill Lucas on the subject.

I'm glad Dennis was able to shed some much needed light on the subject. I am not familiar with Bill Lucas' HT/acoustical experience/knowledge, but I would be cautious following the advice of someone who makes the following statement:

Quote:

Gee Patrick, without CEDIA there would be no standards for Home Theater design and the industry would not have the cohesiveness and consistency that it has attained. I simply pointed out Russ' credentials in case you weren't aware of them. Much of the information that everyone loves to spout on this and other forums comes from CEDIA guidelines and practices. Would you prefer that everyone just "wing it"?

As a former executive for a company who has been an active member of CEDIA for most of its fourteen years of existence, I can promise you that the 'standards' set forth by CEDIA were/are not directly created for the benefit of the consumer, but rather the benefit of the manufacturers/distributors/designers/installers. While many of these so-called 'standards' do in fact benefit the consumers, many do not.

And to answer Bill's last question... Yes, I would in fact prefer working with a professional who is willing and interested in trying various methods other than what is considered 'standard', because after all, by definition a 'standard' in no way suggests it is the best solution, it only means a large group, sometimes a majority, decided their method/theory should be the standard to follow, but it is usually the small minority of visionaries who are the ones making the evolutionary discoveries that provide the very best possible results. In fact the road of technology is littered by once indisputable standards who have since been shown to be inferior.

My advice, when you feel pressure to follow a standard, even when physical data tells you otherwise, remember that it was 'standard' knowledge for several centuries that the world was flat...

Yikes... better get off this soap box before Bill takes a big ol' swing at me!

[Hank Frankenberg]

As the TCU grad (at least he had a T-shirt and my daughter goes there) said in "Tin Cup", I'M IN!!

[Jonathan DA]

Count my vote for rigid room design as well. I have yet to suggest a "soft" room, i.e. using walls or ceiling as absorbers, to a client due to the difficulty of predicting the results. No need to rehash Denise's excellent explanation, but often times with soft rooms you still have to use the same types of room treatments you would in a rigid room because even though your giant absorber took care of one resonance, it created another at a different frequency.

[spam]
If anyone working on acoustics issues needs FFT/MLS/RTA/RT-60/etc. analysis let me know, I'll cut you a deal. We also do 3D acoustical modelling for very cheap, relatively speaking.
[/spam]

[Hank Frankenberg]

Dr. T, I have a very tough room to apply acoustic solutions to, so I wasn't planning on measuring it, but I may take you up on your offer and use it as a learning experience because I plant to buy a mic and preamp in the future. We'll talk.

[Nils Luehrmann]

Chad, Rich, Doc, Hank, and anyone else,

Let me know when you all are planning to do an acoustical analysis of a room. I would really like to better understand how this is done, the different techniques used, and how best to interpret the resulting data.

Thanks!