For My Acoustic Research Homies (and you other guys) - Some Pics (1 Viewer)

Proceed below, where the esteemed and gracious Brett DiMichele a.k.a "Poppa AR" has once again saved my backend
from the flames of shame. Thanks Brett, you rule.

EQUIPMENT

TV : 20" Sony * Trinitron KV-20S10 * (This has been with me since college, naturally I aspire to one day own a very large DLP, LCOS or Plasma 16:9 HD set with built in HD tuner.)

VCR : Sony * SLV 740 HF (Another one thats been with me since college, no plans for an upgrade.)

DVD PLAYER : Sony * DVP-S330 * (I purchased this unit shortly after I was done with school, a true workhorse. I will upgrade if I ever get my dream set in the future, considering that I won't be able to afford said set anytime soon; chances are high that my next unit will be an HD player/recorder.)

RECEIVER : Onkyo * TX-DS777 * (Another one I purchased after I was done with school, if I'm not mistaken this was the very first THX certified reciever on the market. Onkyo's flagship at the time, and rightfully so, this is a wonderful piece of machinery, and built like a tank. I have no plans to upgrade anytime soon, it does all I need and want, my system is in a room 18x18 and thus even if the receiver were capable of EX or ES decoding I would not want to add an additional one or two surround speakers in this size room. 5.1 is quite satisfactory at the moment and I'll some how try to find a way to sleep at night without Dolby Prologic II. If I had the money I would upgrade to Onkyo's TX-DS989, not only would it provide me with power and additional surround channels if I needed it in a larger room one day, but it also has the ability to have it's processor upgraded to whatever the latest and greatest audio decoding software may be, via it's RS232 port. No wonder they call it a "time machine".

SPEAKERS

CENTER : Acoustic Research * Hi-Res Series AR2C * (I can't predict the future, but I'am fairly sure of the present, and thus can most assuredly say that I have NO intentions of upgrading any of my AR Hi-Res speakers. I love them THAT much!.)

Dimensions (HxWxD): 8 5/8"" x 19" x 12"
Driver complement: Plasma Transferred Diamond Hardened 1" Titanium Dome Tweeter
Dual 5 1/4" MagAlloy Monocoque Mid-Range
6 1/4" High Excursion Woofer
All transducers are Magnetically Shielded
Frequency response: 45Hz-23KHz ±2dB
Crossover frequency: 120Hz and 3.2KHz
Sensitivity: 94dB @ 2.83 Volts/Meter
System impedance: 8 Ohms Nominal
Recommended amp. power: 20 Watts~250 Watts
Finish: Black



MAINS : Acoustic Research * Hi-Res Series AR1 * (Each tower houses a 15" sealed enclosed Bob Carver Sunfire subwoofer with
a 500 watt RMS (continuous) Bob Carver Sunfire amplifier.

Dimensions (HxWxD): 43 11/16" x 10 9/16" x 20 1/8"
Driver complement: Plasma Transferred Diamond Hardened 1" Titanium Dome Tweeter
Dual 5 1/4" MagAlloy Monocoque Mid-Range
High Power Handling, 15" Side-firing Woofer (110 oz magnet)
All transducers are Magnetically Shielded
Frequency response: 18Hz-23KHz ±2dB
Crossover frequency: 36dB/Oct. Fixed 100Hz and 3.2KHz
Sensitivity: 95dB @ 2.83 Volts/Meter
System impedance: 8 Ohms Nominal
Subwoofer amp. power: 500 Watts RMS
Recommended amp. power: 7 Watts (Vaccum Tube)~300 Watts
Finish: Black ash


REARS : Acoustic Research * Hi-Res Series AR15 *

Dimensions (HxWxD): 14 5/16" x 8 11/16" x 8 1/8"
Driver complement: Plasma Transferred Diamond Hardened 1" Titanium Dome Tweeter
6 1/2" MagAlloy Monocoque Woofer
All transducers are Magnetically Shielded
Frequency response: 38Hz-23KHz ±2dB
Crossover frequency: 3.2KHz
Sensitivity: 90dB @ 2.83 Volts/Meter
System impedance: 8 Ohms Nominal
Recommended amp. power: 20 Watts~175 Watts
Finish: Black ash


REMOTE : Madrigal * Iriq * (This was co-developed by Harman Kardon and Microsoft, the software for the Iriq is one of the few things in life Microsoft got right, intuitive, empowering, and efficient. I love this thing.)

Dimensions (WxHxD): 3.4" x 7.5" x 2.1"
LCD Screen (WxH): 2.1" x 2.6", 3.4" diagonal
LCD Resolition: 160x200, 3 colors
Backlight: Green EL (LCD)
IR Learning Range: Up to 120KHz
Weight (Without Batteries): 10oz
Weight (With Batteries): 13oz
IR Operating Distance: Approx. 23 feet
Batteries: 4 x AA
PC Interface: RS-232 Serial 3.5mm Mini-Stereo
System Requirements: 486/25MHz with 8mb RAM, CD-ROM drive free serial port and 2mb free hard disk space running Windows 95, 98 or NT 4.0.

Almost there.

Can you not post them here? If not, where are they hosted?

Reese buddy ol pal!

Email all of your pictures to me (try to limit it to like
4 pictures per email and send multiple emails) and I will
upload them to my web space and create a folder for you.

The location will be:

http://www.westol.com/~brettd/reese/

Okay?

I live in a two flat and aspire to one day own a home.
An elevated shot. Please try to ignore the vomit colored vinyl tiled floor, and the rooms lack of material sanguinuity - ie. wood wall on one side with dimpled dry wall on the other, and of course the aforementioned pea green colored vinly tiled floor. My "display" is an exiguous 20", unfortunately it will be quite some time
before I get to the land of milk and high def,I hope to own a home before I upgrade to a large 16x9 built-in high def rptv. - Sigh -


Shot from "sweet spot", well, more like sweet -n- sour cause the sofas center seating position is about five inches off axis due to the single seater on the left, which can't be moved any further on account of a wall, and I can't afford to move the mains and entertainment center any more to the right because I need to allow for SOME available space to enter the home office (cloaked behind the ugly white curtain to the right.)




Behind the scenes - an AR1, connected to the receiver with Monster Cable 10 gauge hi-resolution speaker wire, terminated with Monster gold plated banana Quicklocks on both ends, - same for the other tower.




Behind the scenes - the AR2C, also connected to the receiver via Monster 10 gauge hi-resolution speaker wire. Also terminated both ways with Monster gold plated Quicklocks. High and mid frequency switches set to "flat".




Behind the scenes - an organized mess. Radio Shack gold plated video cable used for dvd player, CinemaQuest gold plated coaxial digital audio cable used for dvd player, generic gold plated three prong AV cable used for vcr, Radio Shack gold plated video cable used for "monitor out" on receiver to television. There are two cable lines that run from the wall behind the three seater sofa,
one runs to the cable modem, the other runs to the vcr which first runs into a splitter -> one end to the vcr , the other to the ATI TV
Wonder USB Edition in the home office. I get cable broadband and as a result inadvertently get free basic cable.




The rears in the rear, - each AR15 is laying upon a plant barrel turned upside down, I ran the cables through the pre-drilled holes of the barrels before termination. Both speakers are connected to the receiver via Mega Cable 14 gauge Flat Wire, both are terminated with Monster gold plated banana Quicklocks at the speaker end, and standard silver conjoined banana plugs at the receiver end. Each AR15 is about 20 pounds so I stuck a few pin tacks along the lip of the barrels in order to provide a slight eleveation so they would not rest on the speaker wire, despite it's flat design I feared that over time they would succumb to being pinched.




A closer shot.




I got sick of obsessing over the three seater sliding over the ugly ass vomit colored vinyl tiled floor when someone would sit down, causing me to wonder if one or both sides of the couch was closer to the surrounds than they should be (not to mention the hassle of repositioning the couch.) Anyway, I went to Home Depot not knowing exactly what I was looking for but knowing what I wanted to accomplish. I ended up using two V shaped shelf brackets - one for each of the two front feet of the three seater - I drilled them into the tiled floor and voila!, each of the two front feet rests inside the V's which act as a brace thus preventing the couch from any side or backwards mobility.
Ahh, peace at last.




The key to the kingdom. For those who use high powered remotes that render batteries dead in three or four months, I highly recommend Tadiran. They are military application batteries that use lithium thionyl chloride in a specialized processing configuration this along with each battery being 3.6 volts is suppose to insure an extremely long life span. I bought my Tadiran AA's at Radio Shack, which I believe is the only retailer that carries them. "Each" battery was $10.99, that's right $10.99!
Estimated life span is at the VERY least 5 years, and more likely 10 to 15 years! I've had mine for only three months (about the time when standard cells that I've used have died), but they are as strong now as the day I put them in (April 9th). I figure if they die by years end then I would have learned a $47.00 lesson, but if they at least last their minimum life span of 5 years then it
would have been more than worth the investment, heck even three years would still be less expensive than buying a pack of Duracells (sure I could buy el cheapos if I didn't mind them lasting two weeks) every three months. For indepth and exhaustive info on Tadiran go to their website at : http://www.tadiranbat.com/
They have batteries in all sizes.




The mothership.




The convoy. Lower class starships, but better than nothing.




The stash. A paltry few compared to most, but I try.




Seating area.




Show me love.



Money shot.



Daddy like.



"Say cheese"

SWWWWEEEEEETTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The AR1's are a beast! Once again congrats on completing your Hi-Res system, job well done. Thanks Brett for showing Reese's pictures. I will get mine to you soon.

So Brett, you never gave me your acclaimed opinion, you know us ARites live for your approval.

Reese,

Yeah sure.. Like my opinion means anything!

You want to know what I think? SVS Rules!!!

Your setup looks fantastic (though I would space the 1's
further apart but I know you have size limitations)...

Add a nice 42" Panasonic Plasma and man you are pImpin MTV
cribs style! Fantastic bro!

Ahh, thank you Poppa AR, now I'am complete.

Quote:
"You want to know what I think? SVS Rules!!!"

Don't forget the Onix Rockets. Don't make Mark Schifter have to come in here and set you straight.

Seriously though Brett, I really do value your opinion.
Heck, you're the primary reason why I went crazy trying to upgrade my center channel, sure, I would have gotten around
to it one day, but your subtle "suggestions" set a fire of
urgency under my ass.

My subtle suggestion? Subtle hell, I said Bose sucks

LOL

Don't blame me for your upgradeitis!

I'd like to -ahem- :b clarify to everyone -ahem- that I was using a Bose center, NOT a Bose system. To be using Bose in any capacity is a shame to be sure, but I at least
can salvage a modicum of dignity for not having an entire
speaker set of "Blows".

Oh and Brett?, thanks for busting me out in front of everyone, ol buddy......ol pal.

*Busted*


Run Reese, Ruuuuun... Here come the men in white jackets!
Tell them the truth, tell them you saw the light! Tell them
you now use the VCS Center as a flower pot!

Anyway! Your system does look fantastic and I am sure it
will be ever-evolving like the rest of us caught in the
loop!

By the way.. Is that an Onkyo TX-DS787? sure looks just like
mine...

P.S: You know a 42" Plasma would hang nicely on the wall
behind your entertainment center... Get a smaler audio rack
and a wall mounted 16:9 Panasonic Plasma and... Okay I will
stop trying to spend your money!

Hey I'll sell ya my 61" 4:3 cheap

Take your time Reese it will come in time. Just think when you are ready to upgrade the way technology is moving no telling what latest, greatest video displays, and audio will be out. Also they will most likely be more affordable, and nothing beats that feeling from building your system from scratch.

Brett do i see a Plasma coming to Simply BAD HT soon?

Don't forget the Onix Rockets. Don't make Mark Schifter have to come in here and set you straight.

Funny you mention him you got to read his latest post here...http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...hreadid=273609 very interesting.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Nice set up Reese....the only upgrade I see is the TV. How do the AR's sound pointing towards the ceiling like that? I have heard of only a couple people with the rears set up like that.
Enjoy your AR's I still enjoy mine....can't beat them for the price... Right Brett

Brett,
the receiver is a TX-DS777, as for upgrading my tv that will have to wait until after I buy a house, or win the lottery.



Terence,
I read Marks letter the day he posted it, can't say I didn't see it coming though. With all the turmoil that was present something had to give; unfortunately it was Mark. (So the Terence on AVS "is" you, I was wondering about that the other day. Cool.)



ChadLB,
Thank you sir. The upfiring position creates a convincing backstage, ambience (ie -> rain, people in a restaurant, jungles or forests) comes through as per its namesake - not here nor there but seemingly from all around, impact material such as gun shots whizzing have a satisfying resonance, which I prefer to the "here I'am" effect that comes from mono surrounds closely positioned behind or to the side of the audience. My surrounds prior to the AR15's were MUCH smaller and not full range so I had those on stands behind the sofa. Despite the fact that the AR15's and 17's are classifed as surrounds by most people (which they are in reference to the AR Hi-Res loudspeakers) they are mains by design, and as such have the range to produce a full backstage in the position that they are in. This remains true regardless of where one might sit in the room.

The mains look to be too close together for the distance you are sitting from them (I know, I see the door, I had the same problem in my last place) They seem like they are far enough from the back wall though. I also might suggest making the front of the speakers either flush with, or slightly in front of, the entertainment center.

I like what you did to keep the couch in place.

Reese,

When you are ready to chage displays the prices will be
more reasonable than they are now that's for sure. Yeah I
want a plasma but I just don't know if I should wait or go
and buy one.. My problem is that plasma sets are spendy
because of the number of units the factories have to scrap
before they are even finished.. The technology is still in
it's infancy and an LCD screen of 60" would blow the plasma
away.. They can easily make 60" LCD's the glass work is not
an issue and the technology is perfected.. But no they are
pushing this plasma thing to death.

Everyone tells me to get a projector but for watching TV?
Replacing bulbs? No thanks..


In due time bud!

I have my surround backs facing up behind the couch just like that. I can hear them better than my surrounds mounted on the wall pointing down.

John,
Thank you very much for your suggestions, but after experimenting with a number of positions I came to the conclusion that the current configuration was for me the best compromise between space and performance.


Brett,
I feel the exact same way about projectors. Everyone is different when it comes to what they want from their home theater, and what I want is to plop down on the couch and be able to switch between a movie, television or a video game on the fly if I so choose to. Not that you can't do that with a projector, but certainly the dynamic is a bit different. I love projectors, I think they're AWESOME!, but
they are not for me. When the time comes I want my dream set to be either a DLP, LCOS, or Plasma - whichever one of those three that provide the very best picture quality at that time is the one I will want.


Vincent,
Cool.