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The Epic Home Theater Photo Critique Thread

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57K views 344 replies 29 participants last post by  Gdaddy 
#1 ·
After years of running the Facebook feed, I've gathered hundreds of home theater photos...I've kept a lot of them. I thought it would be fun to start posting them here – one at a time – to start a running critique thread.

I wish I had gear notes on them... I don't... so hopefully some of you will recognize the gear and chime in... but also chime in with comments/critiques about the design and execution! Some are going to be wicked awesome...some are going to be...uh... questionable. :R

The pictures are numbered (starting with picture #3)...so if you'd like to add a picture of your own, please do! Just make sure you check the numbers and mark it appropriately! ;-)


So Critique Away!

Let's kick it off with this one:



http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=125233&thumb=1
 

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#2 ·
Re: The Epic Theater Critique Thread

I am not one to critique since the picture looks good to me but on top of the front left speaker, is that a globe? I can't tell from the picture if it is on the wall or if it is on top of the speaker. :)
 
#5 ·
Re: The Epic Theater Critique Thread

Yeah, it must be a multipurpose room. I like the side walls, I bet they are good for diffusion. And they just look cool. It would have been a great Star Trek room if it was painted in those colors (Enterprise).

If you hold your control key down & start pressing the + key, it will zoom in with every stroke. The globe in on the speaker! When your done, press the control key & hit the number 0 & it goes back to regular size.

If I got the chairs, I would pull them out into the floor to watch the movie. That would make them the best seats in the house I bet, aside from comfort.
 
#7 ·
Re: The Epic Theater Critique Thread

Yeah, it must be a multipurpose room. I like the side walls, I bet they are good for diffusion. And they just look cool. It would have been a great Star Trek room if it was painted in those colors (Enterprise).

If you hold your control key down & start pressing the + key, it will zoom in with every stroke. The globe in on the speaker! When your done, press the control key & hit the number 0 & it goes back to regular size.

If I got the chairs, I would pull them out into the floor to watch the movie. That would make them the best seats in the house I bet, aside from comfort.
Ha! Globe on the speaker... and it looks like Bongo drums on the left wall?

I like your idea of transforming the space into a space theme...the slanted walls definitely have that kind of space cabin feeling... good call!
 
#11 ·
Re: The Epic Theater Critique Thread

I like the coffered ceiling, but it needs a bigger screen IMO.
 
#12 ·
Re: The Epic Theater Critique Thread

I agree bigger screen also the folks sitting in the front row, isn't that chair too low? Their eye level will be near the bottom of the screen? The room does look nice thou. Nice colors. :)
 
#13 ·
Re: The Epic Theater Critique Thread

Let's be honest... the front sound stage is a total mess... checkout the left main. It's firing at the feet of the rear row. And that center channel is not that far away from the front row!

The room looks really shallow for that kind of design implementation.... Might work if it was way deeper?
 
#15 ·
Re: The Epic Theater Critique Thread

+1, that sound stage has to be non-existent! But with the limited space and oriented that way, he did the best he could (minus angling those mains in, which would help). Had he rotated the screen to the adjacent wall, he would have been better off. Maybe could of got some distance behind that second row. It is beautiful to look at though.
 
#16 ·
Soundstage might not be that bad. If you're in the left cup holder of the front right chair....
I feel like this is a test. Like, what's wrong with this room lol. Too bad it probably cost 50 grand. +Ron. The ceiling is great. And I like the sconces too.


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#17 ·
I feel like this is a test. Like, what's wrong with this room lol.
LOL... pass or fail. ;-)

That's what fun about these photos... some will look amazing at first glance. Then you'll start to see little things that look slightly off (or completely wrong)... or, possibly, the more you look the better the room becomes! I think I might start labeling the photos with numbers so we can keep track of what we're talking about.

I've helped quite a few friends over the years (probably like a lot of you have) and I always find that my idea of a perfect room (which tries to put optimal conditions first, visual appeal/desires second... within the constraints of the room, of course) never fits with what they are looking for. Being an HT owner (like all of you), I know that it is really hard to create an optimal room... so many constraints (budget, room size, you name it...) steer us in non-optimal directions all of the time. But, if I had to guess, I'd say that fewer than 2% of gear owners are willing to completely design for optimal. Could be wrong about that...just a gut guess.

You are right about one thing... the room in photo #2 probably cost several bags of gold and it's far from optimal. I'd love a chance to sit in there and hear/see what's really going on.
 
#18 ·
Room#1 I'm thinking "maybe" the singers voice might appear to come out of her feet. I'm guess a difference of 6' from her head to the floor. The room looks cool. Kind of makes me think of a "pod" that will launch from a space ship. Lol. Like the bongos!

Todd, you mentioned sitting and listening to system 2. I think it would be fun to be blindfolded and walked into a room, listen blindfolded and make as many mental notes as possible and then see if the experience matches the room. That may work better with music, but I'll sometimes listen to a movie track with my display off just to see how good my system tracks sound.(no I can't just shut my eyes. I cheat and look lol).
You're right too about the 2% who would forego some beauty for performance, but these 2rooms have to be a large investment. IMO it seems they got very close, but blew it up at the finish line.


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#20 · (Edited)
For the third picture, it looks very nice. I see two subs and both are in the front next to the center speaker.. Isn't that just wrong placement? Should be at different locations, I believe. Maybe in the back instead of in the front? Also the left and right speakers are way to close to the other speakers.. Nice speakers, though. :)
 
#21 ·
Pic 3

Fantastic choice of color for a projector based room (walls and carpet)....seating looks killer...treatments look nice too!

Camera angle makes it hard to tell if the mains are too squished together... TrippleJ makes a good point about the subs, but that could be okay for that room. But, what do I know! ;-)

Would love to spend a few hours in three to find out!
 
#23 ·
I see lots of potential here. I agree that speaker placement has probably not been optimized. Seems like they were placed for visual effect more than audio presentation. A run through with REW would be a must. Love the black and silver. The tan wall color has to go.(maybe a different tone of tan. No pun lol) Is that a surround speaker on the right, in front of the seats?(horizontal plane)


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#25 ·
I will say, I ran REW for my dual sub setup...and the best sound across the seating space came from two subs in the front...



I know every room is different and that certainly breaks the norm...but, it is possible!


I think it's totally possible for this configuration to yield great results, and many times it surely does. I just feel like the photo appears to reveal a system which was set up conveniently to look great more than sound great. Who knows, it could have been measured and setup accordingly or maybe even by ear sound awesome. We'll never know for sure. I do like it though!
Fun thread too btw.


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#28 ·
I think we all agree that the room looks great. I would move that most forward wall treatment to the front wall behind the mains. Don't see any useful purpose where it is. Then I would move the surrounds back to beside the seats. I'm thinking it is the only row of seating due to the photographers angle. I could be wrong. I suspect it doesn't have very good SS&I for 2 channel.
 
#30 ·
It is a very nice theater. The screen looks great. Picture 3 and Picture 4 are very similar in that all the speakers (including subs) are all in the front.
 
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