Thank you for posting your experience with a 13 channel setup. Is your setup 7.1.6? If so, where do you place your .6 speakers? Where can one purchase the demonstration discs you describe? Thanks.I am primarily a two channel guy who likes vinyl BUT when I want to experience home theater I use my Denon 13 channel set up. I was skeptical before I bought an ATMOS receiver but after getting it all setup and calibrated the experience is like nothing else in the world. I have various demo DVDs from Dolby Labs to demonstrate the effect and to everyone I have played the 747 taking off there is nothing short of astonishment in their face. I have even had a few people actually duck as the plane flies over their head. Watching the later Transformers movies having items seem to drop out of the sky over your head and land around you is indescribable, you just have to experience it.
This is not HiFi in the purest sense but rather entertainment that immerses you in a sound field. Yet there is something to be said for simple two channel stereo that can accurately place a sound stage.
I have recently started putting together a 2 channel vintage system and I am really enjoying the experience. AR-2ax speakers that I restored, an older Yamaha receiver and a technics SL-D3 TT. I'll stop highjacking your thread now, TC. sorryI am primarily a two channel guy who likes vinyl
How many height speakers did you use and where did you mount the height speakers? ceiling?, on top of floor standing speakers? How about a picture or two. Thanks....I started out with small ADS L300s for my height channels because I couldn't find any information as to what the bandwidth was and wasn't happy with the volume they put out during movies. The timbre was the same but too small to keep up with the floor speakers...
Unfortunately binaural recordings are few and far between. OTOH you could use a Smyth Realiser for your headphone listening. However, they are not cheap.Just wanted to add if you want great imaging and no reflection issues go with binaural. Best imaging I ever heard.
I am getting pretty old, but to hear ridiculous statements like 2 ears 2 channels makes me laugh. Just shows that you haven't heard a decent setup and are close minded to multichannel. As for 4k and 8k, we all know the bigger the display the higher resolutions do make a difference. And they will hit a limit when we can't see the difference . As long as we enjoy music and movies, there is nothing wrong with moving forward with better formats, equipment, and technology. It is very encouraging to see acoustics being discussed more often. The last hurdle to get over in the home.
http://www.mh-audio.nl/Audio Tips.asp?what=chain
I went with 4. I only placed them on top of mains because my house is in the middle of remodel.How many height speakers did you use and where did you mount the height speakers? ceiling?, on top of floor standing speakers? How about a picture or two. Thanks.
Wow, that sounds like quite a setup. It also sounds like you are a smart shopper, getting some excellent used equipment and saving a lot of money in the process. Thank you for sharing the pictures and your experience.I went with 4. I only placed them on top of mains because my house is in the middle of remodel.
First pic is what I had before my granddaughter moved in.
Second pic is the box for the center speaker.
Third one is the small L300s I painted black to match the mains.
Fourth one is a pair I got off Craigslist in Connecticut. Guy replaced them with Magnepans.
Fifth one is that pair sanded and painted to match front pair that were already black. I also rewired with 12AWG oxygen free copper.
Gathered most gear used for fairly cheap and rebuilt where needed.
Sixth pic is drivers and crossover from Rich for the center channel.
Seventh is putting the gear in a server rack. Not going to bore you with all pics, but got the rack from work, they were tossing it.
I put heavy duty casters on it with locks. Amps all used. Anthem P5 was 5 yrs old and got it for half price of new one. One Nikko Alpha 440 was part of an old stereo and got a second one off Craigslist for 260$. Had both totally refurbished to drive small height speakers. Old one drove ADS L1230s very well back in the day so I knew 240 watts would be good enough for future large speakers.
Hope to have everything complete in the next 18 months. Oh and I had to get the Anthem AVM60 new for 2800$
To get a theater of this level with all new gear it would kill my wallet. Just shopped wisely and a lot of bargains out there on older equipment that is good equipment if you know what to look for and as long as you bring it up to spec and it is not falling apart.
Just got a pair of L1290/2s 4 weeks ago in Falmouth MA. off of Craigslist. The older couple were selling an entire theater including the display for 1100$ They are still trying to sell the L300s mounted on the walls with the brackets and wire. It was like going into the twilight zone. The speakers were completely perfect. Had the original manual and original cartons as well. The gentleman didn't care for music, and never watched movies just sports and hunting programs. He bought all the nice gear, included separate amps, DVD player CD player Yamaha processor and had the dealer hook it up and then it just collected dust for the last 30 yrs. I felt guilty getting the speakers for 700$. I could have put them on Ebay and got at least 1200$ in a minute. He was just glad to get them out of his house.
They are going to be my new mains when the construction is over with. I am going to build slightly shorter cabinets for the 4 black ones I am using now and transfer the drivers and crossovers for ceiling mounting. There is an excess length on the original cabinets that can be removed. Each driver is contained in its own seperate compartment, woofers that is. The midrange and tweeter share the same enclosure. I believe the empty extra space on the bottom of the original cabinet was there to get the tweeter and mid at ear level when in the seated position. Also to get the woofers up higher off the floor to help with floor reflections. I won't need the added length or weight when I go to the ceiling.
Wow, that sounds like quite a setup. It also sounds like you are a smart shopper, getting some excellent used equipment and saving a lot of money in the process. Thank you for sharing the pictures and your experience.
I have said that tongue-in-cheek, which I believe is usually the case when someone does say it.. I have heard some damn good multichannel sound. But all it really shows about me is the relative value I place on music SQ vs HT entertainment. I don't mean to imply that everyone should have my priorities, or that mine are superior; they're just mine. I agree that multichannel is fun for films, and can also sound great with music, but often they don't. Hard to do it really well without being spendy, imo, and it helps if you have a dedicated space, too. I already have enough gear showing just doing 2.1. So use a narrower brush when you paint, please.
I've been giving some thought to the '2 ears - 2 speakers' idea. It really only applies to headphones if you think about it. Otherwise it's '2 ears - 2 speakers' and a room that is nothing like the room it was originally recorded or for multitrack mixed/played back in.
You can certainly argue about how well multichannel and other approached capture that original sound, but it is an oversimplification to say that stereo is the best way to go for all recordings WHETHER OR NOT THAT'S HOW THEY WERE ORIGINALLY RECORDED.
Each format has strengths and weaknesses. But I have a nice concert in 5.1 that has the crowd whistleing and clapping and it sounds more surrounding pardon the pun in multichannel. I've watched football and basketball games in 5.1 and like the ambience.I've been giving some thought to the '2 ears - 2 speakers' idea. It really only applies to headphones if you think about it. Otherwise it's '2 ears - 2 speakers' and a room that is nothing like the room it was originally recorded
or for multitrack mixed/played back in.
You can certainly argue about how well multichannel and other approached
capture that original sound, but it is an
oversimplification to say that stereo is the best way to go for all recordings WHETHER OR NOT THAT'S HOW THEY WERE ORIGINALLY RECORDED.