Audiophile Home Theater room

[hjames]

Thanks to @AudioKeith for offering a Pony Express run from Florida to NoVA last week -
I had a sudden brainstorm that a poor lonely B460 down in FL might find a place of love here in VA!
Thanks to Don in Ft. Meyer for selling his sub, and working with me on Remote Pickup!
Thanks to Keith for loading that Big heavy box in his truck Thursday morning and bringing up to Virginia for me!!

This morning I ran down 95 past Quantico and met Keith in Fredericksburg -
we joked about the miserable traffic up here, in the RAIN, and we loaded that big pretty sub in my poor little Honda Fit.
I got home about 1PM - and found power was knocked out.
Good friend and superb drummer Steve helped me unload the heavy sub and haul it down to the TV room.
Hooked it & up set it in place in the darkened room - no way to demo it! I set it back in the corner where the black Pro 4641 lived -
but Emma said its a nice looking speaker - so I moved it out where we can see it (!!)
Power "just now" came back at 5PM, so I've powered up the system, set the sub at 3db down from the mains and side surrounds -
and loaded 2012 to have a listen!~ So far, no hammering bass - either I have polarity reversed, or its not loud parts of the movie -
I don't see much activity on the level display bar on the HK Citation 22 - I'll fuss with it a bit or try another film ...

I have yet to wipe it down with Feed'n'Wax or Orange oil -
just kind of getting used to that big monster in the room!
Really dwarfs those UREI 809As with teeny tiny 12 inch drivers!

Honestly - thanks to ALL involved for helping me land this beast! Much appreciated!

 

[Wolverine]

Thanks to AudioKeith for Offering a Pony Express run from Florida to NoVA last week -
I had a sudden brainstorm that a poor lonely B460 down in FL might find a place of love here in VA!
Thanks to Don in Ft. Meyer for selling his sub, and working with me on Remote Pickup!
Thanks to Keith for loading that Big heavy box in his truck Thursday morning and bringing up to Virginia for me!!

This morning I ran down 95 past Quantico and met Keith in Fredericksburg -
we joked about the miserable traffic up here, in the RAIN, and we loaded that big pretty sub in my poor little Honda Fit.
I got home about 1PM - and found power was knocked out.
Good friend and superb drummer Steve helped me unload the heavy sub and haul it down to the TV room.
Hooked it & up set it in place in the darkened room - no way to demo it! I set it back in the corner where the black Pro 4641 lived -
but Emma said its a nice looking speaker - so I moved it out where we can see it (!!)
Power "just now" came back at 5PM, so I've powered up the system, set the sub at 3db down from the mains and side surrounds -
and loaded 2012 to have a listen!~ So far, no hammering bass - either I have polarity reversed, or its not loud parts of the movie -
I don't see much activity on the level display bar on the HK Citation 22 - I'll fuss with it a bit or try another film ...

I have yet to wipe it down with Feed'n'Wax or Orange oil -
just kind of getting used to that big monster in the room!
Really dwarfs those UREI 809As with teeny tiny 12 inch drivers!

Honestly - thanks to ALL involved for helping me land this beast! Much appreciated!

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AK members working together is a great thing! That thing looks a beast!! I suspect your neighbors might soon realize you got a new speaker....

 

[donprice]

Keep in mind B460 enclosure is undersized and the BX63 crossover adds about 6db boost at ~26Hz. It may not sound very impressive at the lowest frequencies until you add in the intended EQ. However, it should be thunderous without EQ above 40Hz.

Donald Fagen's Kamakiriad and Morph the Cat are two of my favorites to verify the sub is working properly.

Good luck and enjoy!

 

[hjames]

Well, I do have a BX63A - have not used since I have a subwoofer port on my Integra HT preamp/processor- not sure how to connect it to a single input - have to read up when I get home from lunch.

 

[hjames]

How's it sound now that you have the BX-63a connected Heather?

Have not connected it yet - been at work all day and have to pull the Salamander off the wall to get to the connectors on the back.
Still kicking possible connections around - do I use the Sub out port of the Integra, or,
do I turn the sub output OFF set the front mains as wide rangers, and loop the mains preamp outs through the B460 like a stereo config ...

I'll probably wait for Saturday to play with alternate connections ...

 

[hjames]

Couple posts moved from the Dollars and Sense discussion to this one ...

Well if your Integra AVP has room correction, and it likely does, I'd use the sub output and utilize the room correction to flatten the response of the sub digitally. That's what I do with my DHC-80.6.

Ok, had a few moments after Martin [KrautNotRice] left today, so I hooked the BX-63A onto the Integra's sub channel output - that feeds a mono input on the HK Citation 22.
Cranked the Lowpass as high as it goes (the lowpass is actually set in the Integra - I may change that setting) and set the gain full-on. Its in place more for the low-end Bump.
I tried the Avalon SACD (5.1 recording) as there is some nice bass on that mix - sounded good!
Gotta scoot, but maybe I can try a movie tomorrow or over the weekend.

(I have an Integra DTC-9.8 Pre/Processor from 2008 - I never did like the way it auto-configures Audyssey in our space, so I always turned that off.)

 

[hjames]

Playing a bit of The Winter Soldier from a saved copy on my server - the part where the bad cops take down Nick Fury on the street -
Yep, nice sub sounds with the sound cranked!

I have the Integra set so the mains and sides feed signals below 80Hz to the sub channel - that seems to be the THX mode.
Also have the sub channel set for 80Hz ... going to play with the config menu and see what options I have -
I think I have more options to control the Freq cutoff for the high pass of sides and mains than I do to set the sub channel itself -
More when I know more!

 

[hjames]

Played a bit of Batman Begins - the sequence with the Tumbler running around Gotham and ends in the roof jumping sequence.
Emma wanted her test scene - from Master and Commander - A Shape in the Fog - when the other ship attacks, the hulls is being shredded,
cannonballs are flying all around, and the concussion sounds of the cannons firing ...I think its all quite fine - but frankly,
with the JBL 4641 pro sub here before, we've had a high bar of great performance before ...
This speaker sounds to be at least the equal of what we had before - and considering it ALSO looks superb - well, thats good enough for me!

 

[hjames]

Emma really likes the wood grain on the front of the new sub, and had an idea tonight that maybe
it'd be better if I put the B460 against the front wall and put the Front Main UREI on top. So,
I powered everything down, moved the left Karlson cabinet sideways and to the far left,
shifted the Salamander center cabinet to the left about 6 inches, pulled the right Karlson out of its place -
Then put the B460 on the right side with about 6 inches on the right for the 3 ports to breathe -

Looks really nice - so - I need a 25 inch cube to put on the left so that UREI be lowered to the same height,
and that frees the Karlsons up for Ohighway ... (he did want them a year back) ...
It actually sounds pretty good like this!

 

[hjames]

Okay - DES-1 posted this info to the Lansing Forum for the Allen screws and washers he used building a pair of JBL-style 4345 monitors ... I really like the look of the allens with the Woofer clamps!

I've copied his info here:

Heather, hope this helps. The black oxide washers I used were maybe just a bit undersized but worked. Next time I'd probably try for a slight larger diameter. I had 2 size socket heads, 1 for the woofer's 1/4-20 T-nuts, and 1 for the horn & 2123 10-24 T-nuts. Another neat option is the shorter socket heads, but I kinda liked the way the regular size looks in my application. Enjoy!

Link to McMaster Carr goodies:

https://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-socket-head-screws/=1dxr1rm

My order:

 

[hjames]

Another realignment ...this may be the one!
Got the UREIs lowered (tho still 6 inches higher than the side surrounds)
and found a "Music Mode" in the Integra THX settings that got the sub playing well!
Now Playing: Dire Straits - Alchemy: Romeo and Juliet (DVD)

That left end table isn't quite what I'd want, but the height is good and its not a tabletop in front of the speaker (so no near field reflections)

 

[hjames]

We went out for Dim Sum this morning and afterwards Emma likes to hit Barnes & Noble
for the latest MoJo magazine or whatever else amuses her. I usually listen to the radio - but today
the Furniture store that is perpetually "Going out of Business" called to me ... so we went in
looking for an end table to better match the Salamander console to support the left Front Main
UREI 809A - and sure enough - I actually found something - "list price" was $315!
Emma offered them $50 and we got it for $75 ... he he he - she really is a great haggler!
There was a second panel on top - turns out it was a shelf that was not in place -
I had shelf clips at home and after I put it in place - and set the shelf in place too!
A nice match for what is already there, and gets all the Front Mains at the same height!

(Doctor Who - Curse of Fenric - 1989 - The 7th Doctor)

 

[hjames]

Ok, updated list of the electronics in use
Integra DTC 9.8 Preamp/Processor (ancient!)
2x Adcom ACE-515 slaved off Integra to control switched power for amps
TIVO Roamio CATV tuner/DVR - also streams AmazonPrime/Hulu/Netflix and local streammed video
Oppo BDP 103D
B&K ST202plus amp for front mains
B&K AV5000 series 2 5ch amp for center, sides and rears
HK Citation (ancient) bridged to mono for JBL B460 sub

 

[Swann36]

As others have said, this thread has been a great and inspirational read ...you and Emma have a fantastic set up, I'm strictly a 2 channel guy these days , but back in the early 2000s i was a 5.1 then 7.1 experimenter like yourselves and you have certainly brought many fond memories back of swapping out subs and surrounds ...finding furniture to get things to the right height and looking good with it .... i have really enjoyed following the thread , thanks so much for posting ...