Joined
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93 Posts
I've always been a tinkerer, and joining the DIY crowd was only a matter of time.
Mostly because, in the little corner of the world I reside at the moment, there is a very steep price increase on anything "luxury". So a pair of speakers sold in the US for about $1,000 will be over $2,000 here. Exception for the local brand Usher, which is much cheaper here.
Anyway, it didn't take long before I got the bug and this is where I am at.
In the spirit of giving back to the site that started it all, I'd like to share my setup if anyone needs some different ways of doing things, with the constraints I had, namely room and WAF.
Here's my setup:
L/R are DIY line arrays. 16 full range 3" drivers for each column. Soundstage is amazing for HT. I highly recommend line arrays for and expansive soundstage and the feeling of being in a huge movie theater. They may look big but they actually occupy a very small footprint (about an A4 paper) and look really nice, so WAF was reached!
Center is a big Usher center speaker. Will need to be upgraded one day, but for now, it's doing fine.
Surrounds are some company's bipolar speakers...
Subs. One is a Yamaha 315 I believe, but is only there to provide a little extra support, the main sub is a DIY folded horn designed for the TB W8-740Q using Hornresp. It goes down to 35Hz and it is very dynamic. The folded horn made it a bit more reasonable in size and again, WAF was reach with only a very small comment passed when she saw it for the first time!
I use my MacBookPro to play music or movies, with VLC or Audirvana. I tried a PC with JRiver, but my setup is even more customized than what JRiver can provide.
The MBP is hooked to a Presonus AudioBox 1818vsl. It is a concert live mixer that offers DSP control and routing over 8 channels in and 8 channels out. I already had the 1818 to play with, otherwise I was interested in the nanoAVR.
I am able to EQ the mains, the center, the surrounds and subs separately. I use a highpass on the line arrays to cut everything under 150Hz. I also use a lowpass to cut everything over 200Hz on the subs.
One of the main things I found using the 1818 was that I was able to send extra levels of the center to the mains, greatly improving the dynamics and range of that center, while adding a bit of EQ to the higher frequencies to make the dialogues cut through the ambient music or sound FX.
With that setup, I was able to hear tiny details in every movies I re-watched lately, bringing a huge grin on my face!
The addition of the 1818 was a game changer in the enjoyment of my setup. It helps design a sound response according to the various bits and pieces of hardware we have and the acoustics of the room used.
Mostly because, in the little corner of the world I reside at the moment, there is a very steep price increase on anything "luxury". So a pair of speakers sold in the US for about $1,000 will be over $2,000 here. Exception for the local brand Usher, which is much cheaper here.
Anyway, it didn't take long before I got the bug and this is where I am at.
In the spirit of giving back to the site that started it all, I'd like to share my setup if anyone needs some different ways of doing things, with the constraints I had, namely room and WAF.
Here's my setup:
L/R are DIY line arrays. 16 full range 3" drivers for each column. Soundstage is amazing for HT. I highly recommend line arrays for and expansive soundstage and the feeling of being in a huge movie theater. They may look big but they actually occupy a very small footprint (about an A4 paper) and look really nice, so WAF was reached!
Center is a big Usher center speaker. Will need to be upgraded one day, but for now, it's doing fine.
Surrounds are some company's bipolar speakers...
Subs. One is a Yamaha 315 I believe, but is only there to provide a little extra support, the main sub is a DIY folded horn designed for the TB W8-740Q using Hornresp. It goes down to 35Hz and it is very dynamic. The folded horn made it a bit more reasonable in size and again, WAF was reach with only a very small comment passed when she saw it for the first time!
I use my MacBookPro to play music or movies, with VLC or Audirvana. I tried a PC with JRiver, but my setup is even more customized than what JRiver can provide.
The MBP is hooked to a Presonus AudioBox 1818vsl. It is a concert live mixer that offers DSP control and routing over 8 channels in and 8 channels out. I already had the 1818 to play with, otherwise I was interested in the nanoAVR.
I am able to EQ the mains, the center, the surrounds and subs separately. I use a highpass on the line arrays to cut everything under 150Hz. I also use a lowpass to cut everything over 200Hz on the subs.
One of the main things I found using the 1818 was that I was able to send extra levels of the center to the mains, greatly improving the dynamics and range of that center, while adding a bit of EQ to the higher frequencies to make the dialogues cut through the ambient music or sound FX.
With that setup, I was able to hear tiny details in every movies I re-watched lately, bringing a huge grin on my face!
The addition of the 1818 was a game changer in the enjoyment of my setup. It helps design a sound response according to the various bits and pieces of hardware we have and the acoustics of the room used.
