Our Home Theatre (1 Viewer)

[Dennis Palla]

This room is dedicated to movie and music entertainment. It is approximately 12x17 originally designed and constructed for sound reproduction. The walls are 2x6s covered with 3/8in plywood, 5/8in drywall and floated with plaster. The corners are all concave radiused including where the walls meet the ceiling. The wall behind the seating area is also curved with about a three inch relief. The ceiling is rising to the middle with a six inch relief. The purpose was to eliminate parallel surfaces thereby reducing standing waves. The floor is concrete slab. The goal was to create a room capable of supporting low frequency production without over dampening the wall/ceiling surface, but yet maintaining good reflection control. The black cynlinders are Sonotubes covered in a nylon material which further aid in standing wave control. All electrical is on dedicated 20amp circuts. There are no windows and the doors (2) are solid wood. The dark blue color (chosen by my wife, thank you) makes for a space nearly void of ambient light. With all the equipment off, it is difficult to see a hand in front of you. The equipment is kept in a closet to the right. My system: Panasonic TC-P65V10, Pioneer Elite SC-27, Oppo BDP 83, DishNetwork VIP 612, Vanderteen 2C full range fronts, VCC-1 center, VSM-1 rears, V2W 300w powered sub, Audioquest speaker cable, HDMI interconnect. The television (all 147lbs) sits on top of a platform made from smooth fibre board stacked with cinder blocks and caps and painted high gloss black. It all makes for a pleasant movie viewing experience.

 

[adamgtp1]

Wow , looks fantastic!

Does the cat add any special sound effects. lol

 

[chuckg]

Sweet! I like the Maxell poster. I remember seeing that as a TV commercial way back when. I've often thought that the commercial would make a good intro "trailer" for my home theater. I wonder if it still exists....hhhmmm....

 

[Leo Kerr]

I never saw the Maxell ads -- at least, not as Maxell ads. We didn't "do" television (still don't, actually,) so I ran into it in an old comic strip -- Bloom County, for those who might remember...

http://www.gocomics.com/bloomcounty/2009/07/27/

Leo

 

[Parker Clack]

Dennis:

Nice setup! Got to love the Vadersteen's. I have the Pioneer SC-05 and love it. I am sure the SC-27 rocks the room. The 65 in. Panasonic plasma is one killer set. I saw it at CEDIA last year and thought it had one of the best pictures from a plasma from anyone.

I got an original Maxell "blown away" poster from Maxell years before they were ever put out for the public. I saw an ad for the tapes in a High-Fi mag and called Maxell and told them how much I loved the ad and asked them if they had a poster. A few months later I got one in the mail. Then years later I noticed them showing up in records stores like Peaches, etc. For my friends coming over to my apartment it was like fine art. I had a big print of Monet's Waterlies and Georges-Pierre Seurat Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte on the opposite wall and all they noticed was the Maxell poster.

That was 35 years ago. How time flies.

 

[Dennis Palla]

Thanks for all the kind comments. The cat doesn't seem to alter the sound reproduction, but does sometimes interrupt a peaceful movie viewing experience. He can be an absolute pest. But normally he just sits on my wife and watches the movie for awhile unless it's too loud for him. (Which is quite often!) The poster was a find from several years ago in a "we can't sell this" bin. It was of the thick stiff cardboard backing variety and we were ecstatic to find it, as I too first saw it in the '70s. The room has been an interesting labor of love as it did start out as a hi-end stereo only room. I had all hand made Hovland Company prototype electronics and his LS1 speakers (only eight pairs were made) that were waaay ahead of their time. I started back playing drums for a couple of bands and was listening less and less in the room. My wife suggested in 2003 we make it into a home theatre and I agreed and haven't regretted since. I had the Vandersteen 2Cs (used with the Hovland gear before he made the LS1s) in a suedo surround set up in the living room. I still think they are THE best bang for the buck in hi-end audio (and HT also) so I added the rest of the Vandersteen line for surround sound. I'm a big advocate of matching the speaker system with the same speaker family as it makes for a seemless sound from bottom to top and all around, further enhancing the "you are there" experience. I've owned the Model 2 Vandersteen almost since it's inception. If you haven't heard them you really should. They have an incredible sound stage presentation (imaging and depth) and are very smooth. (So Richard send the check to Dennis Palla at.....). I bought a Denon 3803 receiver and 5900 dvd player and a Sharp 61in rp crt and was in the home theatre world. I had the Sharp ISF calibrated and loved it. I'm really digging the new set up. The Pioneer SC-27 sounds really good through the Vans. I've noticed that the new BD codecs are a little smoother and detailed, the music sounds more like music on BD movies, and there's more depth and imaging between the speakers now. The Panny's been calibrated now and WOW! I really was hoping it would improve but I had my doubts because out of the box it was so good. It's simply stunning now. The night time city scapes on The Dark Night are unbelievably good. I have to admit, all I want to do is watch movies every night (and of course expand the BD collection!).

 

[chuckg]

Love the cartoon. One poster wrote "sigh..waste of a cocktail" As I remember, in the TV ads, the glass slid back and the listener casually reached down and caught it just as it went over the edge. No waste! Was the music "Ride of the Valkyrie" ?? We used to blast that at top volume in the dorms.....ahh, the eighties. and the seventies.

 

[Parker Clack]

Yes. The original sound used in the Maxcell commercial was Ride of the Valkyrie. During that time the "blown away" ad by Maxcell and the "Is it live. Or is it Memorex?" ad were the top two on the airwaves and in print media.

I heard the a Vandersteen setup at a friends that was using a Heathkit poweramp and Dynaco pre-amp and Dual 1249 turntable that kicked major ass. I can only imagine how clean they sound with the new codecs through the 27. It really says a lot when you don't want to leave your room to watch movies any other way. Now that is what a HT is all about.