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Wednesday, March 27, 2013

My Current System



** This page is a work in progress. I'll try to keep this up to date and linked on the homepage.**

Last Updated 3.28.13


My entertainment area occupies half the basement in my 1978 built home. The room is approx 12' wide by 45' deep with 7' ceilings. I wish it was wider and had more height, but its what I have to work with! I do plan on making changes to the walls and ceiling, so expect some updates. Front row seating is a 3-seat sofa with reclining ends. The front row is about 14' from the screen. Behind the sofa is a 6' wide DIY bar where there are 2 more seats. A DIY in-wall 19" equipment rack is to the left of the bar. Some DIY acoustic panels help with first reflection points. Most of my viewing is high definition Bluray concerts. I'm a music lover first and foremost. If I do watch a movie, it has to be a blockbuster. For this reason I hesitate to use the term "home theater". You'll notice that most of my upgrades from here on out will be geared as such. As you can see my decision to NOT go with a popular 2.35:1 Cinemascope screen, take my viewing habits into consideration.  




View from behind the bar (2nd row seating)

Behind the screen
10' x 5'  2.05:1 ratio CIA borderless AT screen
DIY 19" In-wall rack






Onkyo PR-SC885 Preamp & Processor. Handles all inputs from various sources, processes the audio streams and applies equalization based on the Audyssey XT room correction algorithms & measurements.




JVC RS40 Projector. A reference class 1080p 3D projector using D-ILA, or JVC's version of LCoS technology to produce an image with a high contrast ratio. I'm using a Chief mount, which after my previous DIY mounts, I HIGHLY recommend spending a little extra for a nice mount such as this.






Oppo 93 Bluray/SACD/Network Streamer with v1219 firmware. This is primarily my Bluray disc player. It is also an excellent network streamer for FLAC, MKVs, MP3s, ect. The firmware version I have installed still allowes playback of Bluray .ISO images, but only from a locally connected hard drive.



Popcorn Hour A-300 A low powered network media jukebox (NMJ) with the capability to play many media types, including Bluray .ISO images over a network drive, with full HDMI outputs bitstreaming HD audio codecs.




Seymor A/V Centerstage XD - Acoustically transparent screen material was used to construct a large screen of 10' wide by 5' tall. These screen dimensions give me the most bang for the buck on the 12'x7' wall. The ratio is considered a CIA, or constant image area screen and the ratio is 2.05:1. The concept was conveyed to me by  Anthony Grimani of PMI Ltd. while he lectured the Home Theater Cruise in 2009. I get maximum height while watching 16:9 ratio concerts, and maximum width while watching 2.35:1 cinemascope movies and can accomodate any ratio in between. The downside is the need for masking every ratio, which in reality is minimized by using a high contrast ratio projector. Not convinced? Click HERE. I made the screen frame from poplar wood and it is borderless. It floats from the joists above in front of the speakers. The fabric was stapled and placed on a bias to minimize moire patterns.


  





Marchand Bassis. A dual analog Linkwitz Transform circuit. Shapes the subwoofer output signal to counter the natural rolloff which occurs when using a non-ported (sealed) subwoofer design. It can be tailored specifically to match any sealed subwoofer design parameters to a given room's gain structure. I bought this as a kit, assembled and tested myself.





Crown CE4000 rack mounted amplifiers. Found at bargain prices on the used market, this model amp was the test bed for the future flagship I-Tech line of amps using an advanced derivative Class D architecture (which Crown calls Class I). Coupled with a power factor correcting switching power supply produces an extremely efficient amplifier. Powered with 240vac it draws very little current yet produces up to 3600 watts RMS bridged into a 4 ohm load. I use a pair of these on 240vac mains to drive a pair of sealed subwoofers. I also have replaced the internal cooling fans with Scythe S-Flex SFF-21D low noise fans for near non-existent noise levels.













Mackie HR series studio monitors. Models 824 (LEFT and RIGHT), 626 (CENTER) and 624 (SURROUNDS) Active studio monitors using a servo controlled midrange augmented by a passive radiator and a 1" dome tweeter on a mild waveguide. 








Acoupower Subwoofer System.  A DIY subwoofer system I created using a pair of Acoupower 18" drivers in sealed, down firing plywood cylinders. More information soon.



Acoupower Sealed Subwoofer Cabinets
Acoupower 18" Studio Driver




Furman PF-Pro R Surge protection and conditioning for all rack electronics (except subwoofer amplifiers)





Synology DS211 NAS  Raid file server 2x2TB soon to be upgraded with a larger Synology.





MISC EQUIPMENT :


  • Assorted APC Battery backups
  • Behringer Feedback Destroyer Pro - NOT IN USE
  • Behringer Ultra Bass Subharmonic Synthesizer - NOT IN USE
  • Quadcore PC