audioreview.com

Dual AV123 MFW-15s

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 07:50:03 -0400

by: whatthedileo

Description}: These are the MFW-15s - each has a 15" woofer and 350w RMS amp. I recently got to replace my Advent/Bob Carver 15" sub. The MFWs are 120lb each (the Advent is only 80lb).

2 comments

Outdoor Zone2 Speaker Setup

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 19:37:26 -0400

by: whatthedileo

Description}: A rather dull, drab pic taken in early Spring (grass has not yet recovered from a harsh Michigan Winter), but it shows the 3-way outdoor speakers that I installed to fully exploit the capabilities of my multi-zone receiver. I am very happy with the results - we often crank the tunes while we are working outside, as well as any time we have a get-together. The speakers are wired up using Cat5e cable with a beige jacket, which is pleasantly color-matched to my house paint! Um... I've been told I have a small deck.

2 comments

Equipment Rack Rough-In

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 19:22:04 -0400

by: whatthedileo

Description}: In order to keep equipment out-of-sight, I cut a hole in the crawl-space area under the media room. This offers easy access to the equipment, and keeps the associated wiring completely hidden (and there are LOTS of wires to hide). Ignore the ugly wire coming out of the window - it was only temporary. The large access panel next to the equipment rack allows me to crawl over to the furnace which is installed in the crawl space, or run more wires, if necessary. Obviously, the hand-railing poses a bit of an obstacle, but this was unavoidable due to the load-bearing supports which I could not work around, forcing the window to be in this somewhat compromised position. An awesome bonus, when we are watching more than one movie (such as an LOTR marathon), I can place one DVD case between each of the railing spindles above the rack. It is very convenient!

1 comment

Mission accomplished... alternate view

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 23:51:38 -0400

by: whatthedileo

Description}: Another perspective of the seemingly finished project.

3 comments

Mission accomplished... almost

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 23:49:53 -0400

Playing the back Nine...

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 23:45:45 -0400

by: whatthedileo

Description}: Our old house had a much smaller media room, so we could only afford a 5.1 system in the space. This room, however, really lent itself to 7.1 treatment. Plenty of room behind the listenning sweet spot to properly place the back speakers, as well as flanking the sweet spot with the side surrounds.

2 comments

It's getting there...

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 23:42:28 -0400

by: whatthedileo

Description}: We live in the middle of no-where, so we had to wait a couple weeks before someone would venture over to our neck of the woods to help me mount the plasma on the wall. At least we were able to move the furniture back into the room while we waited.

2 comments

Change can be Painful

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 23:39:49 -0400

Welcome to the 90's. Hope you like Oak!

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 23:39:47 -0400

by: whatthedileo

Description}: We were chagrinned to confirm our fears that the previous owners really really wanted the entertainment center to be an integral part of the room. Sealed and glued to the wall, and screwed to the floor, and carpet was laid AROUND the monstrocity. This was not fun to deal with. BTW: The speakers shown here are Sony powered towers, originally $1600 in 1994. I picked them up for $5 at a garage sale last year... the guy thought an amp was blown, but he was wrong. They work perfectly, and they allow me to get Dolby Pro-Logic from a secondary TV system without needing a separate amplifier or a mess of wires (the 'center' channel drivers are included in the towers, and you can adjust surround mode and tone directly from the speaker's front panel). We don't even need a separate remote, because our TV has variable level line out, so getting big speaker sound is completely transparent to the user - they turn TV volume up, and the tower volume rises. I am very pleased with this secondary system (basically I took everything you see here and put it in another room.

2 comments

This image shows Dolby Reference Audio and THX Visual Reference

Fri, 07 Dec 2007 17:49:47 -0500

Next Project

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 23:32:58 -0500

by: whatthedileo

Description}: Lots of real estate available for this project - going full-out THX-Ultra2 7.2 speakers, perhaps with a 65" plasma if the prices come down enough by 2009. No critical listenning of music here, although we always have something on in the background.

3 comments

SVS Showroom / Demo Room

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 22:26:36 -0400

by: whatthedileo

Description}: Oh, what a feeling! After over an hour of low-frequency shop talk with the staff at SVS, I couldn't contain myself. They said that nobody had ever walked all the way from the office to the road to take a picture with the sign. I guess I am just that kind of guy.

3 comments

SVS Showroom / Demo Room

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 22:23:31 -0400

by: whatthedileo

Description}: Rather unassuming for some of the most proficient affordable bass since Realistic DVC's (joke). This is the SVS er, um, uh, Mansion.

1 comment

SVS Showroom / Demo Room

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 22:20:42 -0400

by: whatthedileo

Description}: The staff at SVS are first-rate. I talked with Steve for over an hour, while my family sat there, bored as heck staring at the ceiling. I don't care - this is important. This is BASS.

3 comments

SVS Showroom / Demo Room

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 22:17:50 -0400

by: whatthedileo

Description}: This is the basement area of the SVS HQ. By the staff's own admission, this room sucks. The floor is concrete, the walls are cinderblock and wall board, and the ceiling is un-acoustic acoustic tiles.

2 comments

What, No Comments?!?

Tue, 08 Mar 2005 23:01:30 -0500

by: whatthedileo

Description}: This shows the kind of natural light I have to deal with - a projector would not cut it in this room! Make fun of the old green chair if you like - it is no longer with us (the 'night-time' pic shows the final furniture arrangement).See my Member Gallery for pics of design, execution, and equipment (installed downstairs, controlled by RF remote).

10 comments

Profile

Tue, 08 Mar 2005 22:57:18 -0500

by: whatthedileo

Description}: Please - anyone who gets a Pany plasma MUST remove the handles after they wall-mount it. The handles are ugly, and detract from the slim chassis.

3 comments

Port-Side

Tue, 08 Mar 2005 22:55:10 -0500

by: whatthedileo

Description}: Left side of the room - entrance to kitchen. You can watch TV while doing the dishes - bonus!.

2 comments

Infrared Dot Com

Tue, 08 Mar 2005 22:51:54 -0500

by: whatthedileo

Description}: The remote control commands squeeze thru these tiny 1/16" holes.

1 comment

Oh Baby... Powder

Tue, 08 Mar 2005 22:48:32 -0500

by: whatthedileo

Description}: I used 220 grit sand paper, but it didn't get the frame as satin-like as the speakers. Then I sprinkled baby powder on it, and rubbed it in with the sand paper. Perfect match to the speakers!

2 comments

Plasma before frame

Tue, 08 Mar 2005 22:45:42 -0500

by: whatthedileo

Description}: This is the Plasma before adding the frame. It is plain grey, but worse, there are exposed buttons, lights and the Panasonic logo - not very elegent.

Screw Loose

Tue, 08 Mar 2005 22:42:28 -0500

by: whatthedileo

Description}: Tweeter before the Rundown.

2 comments

Perfect Match

Tue, 08 Mar 2005 22:40:38 -0500

by: whatthedileo

Description}: Another shot of the Pinnacle Center against the Acoustic Research Phantoms. They look like they were designed by the same person!

2 comments

Peel its Cap back

Tue, 08 Mar 2005 22:38:27 -0500

by: whatthedileo

Description}: I bought the Pinnacle Center channel, but it didn't have identical end caps - one end had 'feet' for standing on end (i.e. it wasn't a center channel... it was a main channel with a bracket to lay it on its side). I called the company, and their Engineering department sent me a top-style end cap. Now my center channel looks perfect!

2 comments

Tweeter Angling Wedges

Tue, 08 Mar 2005 22:25:49 -0500

by: whatthedileo

Description}: These are the wedges I made to redirect the tweeters toward the 'Sweet Spot'.

1 comment

Matt_-_HT_Head-on

Tue, 08 Mar 2005 22:24:07 -0500

by: whatthedileo

2 comments

Living_Room_-_no_walls

Tue, 08 Mar 2005 22:22:36 -0500

by: whatthedileo

2 comments

Feng Shue

Tue, 08 Mar 2005 22:18:13 -0500

by: whatthedileo

Description}: OK I don't know how to spell it, but I tested different furniture layouts before buying any of it.

1 comment

Dentist Chair

Tue, 08 Mar 2005 22:15:59 -0500

by: whatthedileo

Description}: Testing marble texture.

2 comments

Kidney Bean Coffee Table

Tue, 08 Mar 2005 22:14:46 -0500

by: whatthedileo

2 comments

Enter The Matrix

Tue, 08 Mar 2005 22:12:31 -0500

by: whatthedileo

Description}: I made a texture map of my wife and me, and applied it to the screen of the plasma.

2 comments

Fruit-Striped Gum

Tue, 08 Mar 2005 22:10:53 -0500

by: whatthedileo

Description}: I was experimenting with different colors.

1 comment

Living_Room5

Tue, 08 Mar 2005 22:08:24 -0500

by: whatthedileo

Description}: My first edition - I planned on building shelves to set some standard bookshelf speakers on. So much for that idea.

2 comments

Phantom_Close_Render2

Tue, 08 Mar 2005 22:06:02 -0500

by: whatthedileo

Description}: Very early in development - I hadn't bought the Phantoms, and I show a BIC standard center channel nailed to the wall, or something.

2 comments

Kitchen_Bird_s_Eye_Viewb

Tue, 08 Mar 2005 22:03:46 -0500

by: whatthedileo

2 comments

Get up against the wall!

Sat, 05 Mar 2005 15:12:21 -0500

by: whatthedileo

Description}: With all the bleek electronics hidden in the basement, all you see is visual and aural stimulation - I have not seen a 5.1 setup that is so formidable yet out-of-the-way, allowing the room to be a gathering place for family and friends. A computer with 470GB of disk space feeds an unlimited number of photos and music files between movies. I made the aluminum plasma frame myself, to match the speakers. The center channel is actually hung from the plasma mount, preventing one more set of holes in the wall! Lots of twekas herel See my other pics in my profile!

6 comments

Ugly Rack

Sat, 05 Mar 2005 14:51:18 -0500

by: whatthedileo

Description}: There are so many advantages to a remotely located system - no ugly audio 'furniture', ugly black boxes, no issues of overheating because of poor air flow, and no noise from fanz whirring, etc.

2 comments

What's your angle? Complete

Sat, 05 Mar 2005 14:44:44 -0500

by: whatthedileo

Description}: I used rubber gaskets to ensure that the speaker s remained well-sealed with the plastic wedge. No real bass comes out of these speakers anyway - I mean, nothing significant in the bass realm at all. I'd be upset if I didn't have a potent subwoofer.

2 comments

What's your angle?

Sat, 05 Mar 2005 14:41:00 -0500

by: whatthedileo

Description}: The main speakers are pretty far apart - great for separation, but bad for directional high tones when you can't toe-in your speakers. I bought a piece of plastic pipe from Lowe's and cut it at an angle to direct the tweeters of the speakers toward the sweet spot - my sofa. Much better!

2 comments

Are we related?

Sat, 05 Mar 2005 14:34:15 -0500

by: whatthedileo

Description}: New Pinnacle speakers have the exact same plasma-hardened dome tweeter as my AR Phantoms, and both have carbon-fiber drivers. And aluminum extrusions make these perfect visual matches for each other.

2 comments

Room on Fire

Sat, 05 Mar 2005 14:23:54 -0500

by: whatthedileo

Description}: It's tough to get decent pictures in this room because it is so dark - but it is perfect for watching movies even during daylight hours. The Sconce lights are controlled by my remote.

1 comment

Defined by Design

Sat, 05 Mar 2005 14:21:01 -0500

by: whatthedileo

Description}: This pic shows the 3D computer-designed layout that I created a year before I finally bought all the components. Note the aluminum frame on the plasma - I made that from $15 worth of alum angle at Lowe's. The computer is hooked up through the basement.

1 comment

Look Ma, No Wires

Sat, 05 Mar 2005 14:15:05 -0500

by: whatthedileo

Description}: An exceptional compromise between dedicated HT and a functional family room? The ultimate Hide-a-Rack: All the components are mounted on a rack in the basement, except for the DVD player, which is hidden under furniture (you don't want to run downstairs everytime you watch a movie/listen to a disc). On-screen: Me in front of my previous 'system' (pic was taken in the same area of the room - Super-Wife Wendy did the new paint job)! This is Evolution.

7 comments