Well, be honest...

[edbert]

Please tell me what you think of my setup. Please see the link in my sig for the pictures of everything. Any suggestions are appreciated. WAF is about at it's limit for now, but I think most of that is due to 1)We have a new child and her toys and other things occupy a fairly large portion of the house, 2)My father-in-law and father both have the smaller satellite systems and that was what she was thinking when I told her I was getting a home theater setup for Christmas. Somebody is bound to say it, so yes I will clean up the dishes in the kitchen sink.

(Can I just say I hate to have to drill through the top wall studs in order to run speaker wire?)

I haven't really had a chance to demo it fully yet since I just got the rear speakers hung and they will be wired up this weekend. Again, any suggestions on my setup to make it better are appreciated.

Eric

[hearingimpared]

Please tell me what you think of my setup. Please see the link in my sig for the pictures of everything. Any suggestions are appreciated. WAF is about at it's limit for now, but I think most of that is due to 1)We have a new child and her toys and other things occupy a fairly large portion of the house, 2)My father-in-law and father both have the smaller satellite systems and that was what she was thinking when I told her I was getting a home theater setup for Christmas. Somebody is bound to say it, so yes I will clean up the dishes in the kitchen sink.

(Can I just say I hate to have to drill through the top wall studs in order to run speaker wire?)

I haven't really had a chance to demo it fully yet since I just got the rear speakers hung and they will be wired up this weekend. Again, any suggestions on my setup to make it better are appreciated.

Eric

I say enjoy what you have. My HT is in construction and I would be happy to have what you have right now.

[Deadof_knight]

Hey your doing great integrating with the home....... the stud drilling is a pain anyone thats done after building installtion knows.........Plant the seed show her how good her songs sound and sell her her on what your want to put in there. built in or what ever ....... sometimes women need to warm up to things.....

[edbert]

Oh I am definitely enjoying. I just want feedback from people who actually know. I have always loved for anything audio to sound the best that I can afford, but this is a new level for me. I can honestly say that I don't know what half the stuff in your sig is, but I just consider that something to look forward to learning about over the years.

Funny story really quick, I temporarily hooked up the surround speakers and set them on chairs about even with the couch(aka best seat in the house) and my 4 month old was in her Exerciser Jumparoo thing next to me. I put in Pirates and watched part of one of the ship battle scenes. My daugther was watching intently as the scene progressed before the battle began. The first time that a shot came in from the back she whipped her head around and stared straight at the speaker. Gotta teach'em young. Oh yeah, and she loves to watch sports, but none of the Baby Einstein DVD's that we got.

[edbert]

Thanks Knight. I was just glad to hear her say one day, if this is supposed to be surround sound, aren't you supposed to have the speakers surrounding you? I was glad when that light bulb went on. (A little side note, her father has a Polk satellite home theater setup that he got a few years ago and it wasn't until this past Christmas that we were finally about to show him the difference between setting it on one of the surround settings on his AVR and not just the "5 CHANNEL STEREO" that he had it set on for all these years.)

[hearingimpared]

I can honestly say that I don't know what half the stuff in your sig is, but I just consider that something to look forward to learning about over the years.

Trust me everything in my sig is atleast 20 years old, even the speaker wires. The only really new item is the Oppo and that was only $149. Oh yeah and Monster Power center I bought used.

Funny story really quick, I temporarily hooked up the surround speakers and set them on chairs about even with the couch(aka best seat in the house) and my 4 month old was in her Exerciser Jumparoo thing next to me. I put in Pirates and watched part of one of the ship battle scenes. My daugther was watching intently as the scene progressed before the battle began. The first time that a shot came in from the back she whipped her head around and stared straight at the speaker. Gotta teach'em young. Oh yeah, and she loves to watch sports, but none of the Baby Einstein DVD's that we got.

That is cute. . . I mess with my dog with stuff like that. I think it would be more fun with a 4 month old who thinks inhaling is cool!!! Have fun you will reach your temporary audio/video nirvana one day.

[cmy330go]

Looks like you have a nice start. Someday if you start feeling bold, try pulling your two front speakers out of the cabinet and put them farther apart on stands, then sit the wife down in front of them to prove how much better it sounds. You never know she just might go for it.

Of course you'll want good solid stands with young ones around.

Anyway.....Congrats on your new system! Enjoy!

[McLoki]

I was thinking of trying to get the fronts out of the cabinet as well, but until the young one is beyond the toddler stage - I wouldn't even try. In the cabinet is probably the best place for them.

Your rear surrounds seem really high. Can you drop them down so the bottoms are about even with the top of your cabinets? I was initially thinking that your wiring wasn't gonna be that bad - but your left rear surround (I think it was left - by the kitchen sink) is gonna suck. Are you on a basement or crawlspace? maybe you can go down instead of up for the wiring?

Other than that - looks very nice. No need to chuckle - it is much nicer than many of us have or at least started with.

Michael

[Dennis Gardner]

I woudn't mess with wiring through the top plate. In fact, if that is an outside wall, you may find it almost impossible due to insulation to fish the wires too far. I might wire them as I did by poking a hanger up through the sheetrock above the speaker on the ceiling, hunt it down, and finish it off with a nice plate. This is super easy, and very easy to cover up if you move with a little compound/spackle. The holes for this are only 1/2 inch for each terminal and very tiny screw holes. I didn't cut out a box since it doesn't contain high voltage wiring.

I do agree that your surround may be a little high since you are going with a monopole instead of the more diffuse dipole/bipole surround FX lineup. Still easy to remedy by moving it down a little from the ceiling in either position.

The other option would be to mount all your fronts and surrounds in the corners of the rooms facing your seating even if puttin one above your kitchen cabinets is required. Just ideas..........

[edbert]

Ya'll are all right about the rear speakers. They are at the top of the ceiling, but I really can't drop them down. The wall that the left speaker is on has a stud behind it so there is no way to move it down and hide the speaker wire coming out of the wall and running it down the wall that far from the ceiling is out of the question(that's my preference because I like it to look clean :) ). The other wall is an outside wall with insulation and a narrow space to try and fish line down a wall. Thanks for all the good words.

[steveinaz]

If you like it, that's all that matters...really. Looks like a nice setup--I don't know squat about surround sound--I'm a 2-channel guy.

[Sami]

Good to see another DFW member join the club, welcome!

Someone mentioned the fronts already and I understand you can't do much about those right now. I will have to figure out what to do with my setups once our baby is born. Anyways, I would play around with the surrounds. Lower them a little if possible, and you might also tilt them sligthly downwards. Reflection from the ceiling might be a problem with your current arrangement.

[edbert]

I can probably angle the speakers down by putting a longer screw in the wall anchor and just leave it out a little farther. I'll mess with that this weekend. Yeah, having a baby definitely changes things, but it's all worth it.

[Monster Jam]

Congrats Edbert!

[Holydoc]

Welcome to HT, Edbert. As far as criticism, your surround speakers are not going to give you the best effect being so high and so far behind the listening position, especially not aiming them into your listening field. You should look seriously into replacing them with FX speakers and angling them in somehow. Dennis had a good picture on how you could ceiling hang them.

The rest looks clean except for your power cords. Once your little one starts crawling around, those cords are going to be fair game. You might want to cut a hole in the back of the entertainment center to run your power supply in.

Finally the PSW10 is a side firing sub and is right next to and pointed at the baby bed. To give you more room while you are changing diapers and maybe alleviate some vibration on the baby's ears, you might want to move it to the other side of the entertainment center and pointing out towards the room.

Again welcome to HT. Keep us informed on how it goes.

[edbert]

Thanks for the tips HD. I actually have at least angled the speakers down quite a bit. I think the picture is a little deceiving also because the surround speakers are only about 2 feet at the most behind my usual seated position in the room. So far in demoing a few things here and there it sounds good and there doesn't seem to be too much reflection(or I don't know that it is there just yet)

Luckily on the power cords, there will be enough stuff blocking her path to get to them. The one side that doesn't have anything beside it I can barely reach the cords. I am also planning on moving both my DVR and receiver inside the cabinet to clean thing up even a little more and that will help with a lot of the cord issues as well.

Don't worry about that baby bed. It is only there for when my wife takes care of our friends child every other day(free daycare rocks), and even then I don't think that she uses it much. Our daughter has her own room and bed that she sleeps in and we have a better bassinet thing in our room that our friends child sleeps in during the day. Fortunately, our daughter sleeps like a log at night, so after she goes to bed is when we turn it up.

Her room

Yes, I painted it, except the flowers, words and dragonflies

Here's what she thinks of anyone who makes fun of her dad.

Thanks again for the tips and I will definitely keep everyone posted on how it sounds the more that I listen.

[Holydoc]

Thanks for sharing the pictures of your new addition. Now I know not to make fun of her dad or else!

:)

[snow]

no laughing here its all you need for now i think. btw thats an awful cute kid too.:) REGARDS SNOW

[liordra]

I think you do not deflower a virgin with a basketball player.

I am also new at this HT business, and I went with your (speaker) setup (almost, got the Mon 60, instead of the Mon 40 as mains).

BTW.
if your 4 month old approves of your stuff, then you know you did well.

[PSOVLSK]

My living room area is very similar to yours and I bought some speaker brackets. I got the B-Tech BT-77 from Crutchfield for $70. These worked well for me for a few reasons: 1) I was able to angle the speakers slightly towards the listening area 2) They didn't require drilling holes in the speaker 3) They will hold heavier speakers (supposedly up to 55lbs when anchored to a wall stud).

Your system looks really nice...enjoy it!

[bsoko2]

I'm using JBL E90's for the mains, and E50's for side and rear surrounds with two Dayton 15" subs (came in kit form). The surrounds are big speakers and I used wall hanging TV monitor wall brakets to hold them. You can angle them and they go for around $23 each on Amazon.com. My living room space is 16x28x14 (around 5000 cubic feet or so).

[Sherardp]

My living room area is very similar to yours and I bought some speaker brackets. I got the B-Tech BT-77 from Crutchfield for $70. These worked well for me for a few reasons: 1) I was able to angle the speakers slightly towards the listening area 2) They didn't require drilling holes in the speaker 3) They will hold heavier speakers (supposedly up to 55lbs when anchored to a wall stud).

Can confirm, the brackets work great, I using two pair with Rti4s mounted, Very nice bracket and very easy to install

[McLoki]

I bought some speaker brackets. I got the B-Tech BT-77 from Crutchfield for $70.

Same brackets I am using for my LSi7's. They work very well.

Michael

[polka boy]

At least you can use yours. I'm on my third house (transfers) and have started basement HT on each. My daughter (Now 11) wants to know if I will fininsh this one. I really should be working on it now.

I agree with others that if you can separate the left and right that would help and try to open up the space that the center is in

[RuSsMaN]

How are you biamping your 40's?

Looks like a decent HT, downright SWELL if I do say so.

Cheers,
Russ

Oh, bro, wash some dishes before the next photo shoot. Chili Mac?

[schwarcw]

Welcome! You have a nice budget setup and with some sime timbre matching. I say kick back and enjoy what you have. You will remember the times listening to this system as the best of times compared to expensive upgrades you will invest in if you stay in this hobby. I remember my first system from 35 years ago. I longed for those days (youth is a fleeting thing) so I bought the same system I had in 1969 (minus the blacklights and Jimmy Hendrix poster. LOL!

Carl

[TroyD]

Yup, I'd say that's a pretty swell setup.

I'm curious about the biamping thing as well....

BDT

[mrbigbluelight]

I think you've found the key, Edbert: be happy with what you got, make it work, and it's ALL good ! :)


I'd post a picture of my grandson, but I don't know how she feels about older men..... he's 13 months old.


Nice job, all around ! :)

[edbert]

For all curious about bi-amping, while it isn't "true" bi-amping in the respect of having separate amps for the highs and lows, the Pioneer AVR will allow me to use the surround back channels as front channels through their settings. So instead of a 7.1 channel system I have a 5.1 with the fronts bi-amped. I actually tried it both ways and it obviously sounds better with the speakers bi-amped versus not. I really am enjoying the system now that it is finally finished. While it may not be to the degree that others have, I am also realizing it is really nice for a "starter" HT setup. I still have some adjusting to do with the surrounds, but overall it is great!