Joined: Jun 2012 Gender: Male Posts: 67 Location: Coquitlam BC
New home theater room 7.1 « Thread Started on Jul 12, 2012, 5:58am »
Hello out there in Emotiva Land, first time posting. Been reading everyday everything that gets posted in the lounge. Lots of info and enjoyment. Thanks everyone!
I purchased enough gear in May from Vincent for a 5.1 setup and have it setup as a 2.1 system in my living room temporarily.
Have a CD player = optical = UMC1 = RCA = XPA5 = XRT6.2s, and XREF12 = XLR from UMC1. Amazing Sound so far, and happy with the price point, although the wife is still wondering why we couldn't of bought a HTIB for 200 bucks.
As it stands, I have: UMC-1, XDA-1, XPA-5 XRT-6.2 fronts, XRC-6.2 Center, XRM-6.1 as Rears, XREF-12 Sub
Could not keep it all boxed up any longer.
Currently renovating my basement, and have the theater room gutted and in process of wiring up everything. I will definitely wire for 7.1 but not sure if I should buy the 2 additional speakers now (while on sale) or wait to actually hear the current gear.
Debating between XRS 4.1, UAW 8.1, or another set of XRM 6.2s as side speakers. I will also have to purchase another amp, either the XPA-2 or 2 XPA-1s to power the towers.
Any advice\experience would be much appreciated.
Also need to learn about sound proofing, acoustic treatments, etc. and anything I can do while in the recontruction phase.
Joined: Mar 2011 Gender: Male Posts: 653 Location: Rochester, NY
Re: New home theater room 5.1 or 7.1 « Reply #1 on Jul 12, 2012, 6:26am »
Congrats on the new gear, and the upcoming theater room.
While I haven't heard the XRS for sides, I do use the ERD's as sides, and they work out very nicely. I'd imagine the XRS will be great too. I don't think you can go wrong picking them up now while they're on the cheap.
Since you have the basement gutted, there are tons of things you can do now while you're in the process of refinishing. Things like double layered drywall with green glue in between, fresh insulation etc. If you're the diy type, you can make your own wall treatment panels far far cheaper than than buying them pre-made. I think I made 10 panels for what it would have cost to buy 1 or 2 of the pre-mades. There are several different examples on ways to do them if you do a bit of googling...could save you lots of money in the long run.
Joined: Dec 2008 Gender: Male Posts: 22,047 Location: Tampa, FL
Re: New home theater room 5.1 or 7.1 « Reply #3 on Jul 12, 2012, 7:40am »
Hey whrlwndz, welcome to the lounge.
Congrats on your new toys. It is exciting to create your HT and there are lots of things you can do at this stage. In addition to those already mentioned, I would wire for 9.2 and even 11.2. Wiring now before the drywall is up is easy. If you plan on a projector, in addition to the HDMI cable (2), include a CAT-6 wire too. Plan for a dedicated 20A circuit.
Have a look at the various threads here, in particular there are several useful sticky threads and "Show me your theater" type threads with pictures of other people's theaters. These can be inspire lots of ideas.
If you need help with planning the seating, distances, etc., send me a PM with room dimensions, number of rows of seating required, size of screen etc. and I'll be happy to help.
Gook luck and don't forget to post pics of your progress.
Joined: Jun 2012 Gender: Male Posts: 67 Location: Coquitlam BC
Re: New home theater room 5.1 or 7.1 « Reply #5 on Jul 13, 2012, 4:52am »
Thanks for all the replies! Very much appreciated.
I really like the idea of bi-pole speakers for the sides but I'm afraid with the XRS speakers, that someone will walk into them or knock them off the wall. I think I'll get the UAW 8.2 for the sides.
Should I then replace the XRM 6.2s with UAW 8.2s as well for the rears. Its a much cleaner look. I can then use the XRMs in the office and pick up a 'smaller' amp. And make use of my XDA1, which is still boxed up.
Also, does the UAWs handle 200Watts from the XPA5 well? or is it overkill?
OK, so my room is 11 x 19 and I've overdone the wiring. I have a limitless supply of CAT5e, RG6 Coax and 16AWG speaker wire. Every room has 3 points of cable, tel, net. all run to a central location (furnace where I'll relocate my modem and routers.
Unfortunately, I have to buy thicker speaker wire, but Monoprice has better pricing than most places I can find. I've bought 12AWG in wall but run out, so I've ordered more.
I'll run 1 12AWG and 1 16AWG to each speaker location, for future use, or possible bi wiring. I'll probably do the 9.2 wiring set-up but I can't foresee that it will be a popular format, and the XMC1 will just go up to 7.1 anyhow.
My ceiling is too low for a projector, only 7'6" without drywall yet. Otherwise I would wire that up like crazy too.
Power wise, I've run a dedicated 15amp circuit so far. Not sure about the 20amp as i don't think I'll be getting the XPR5. It just sounds like too much power! But convince me otherwire =) Also, not much room left in the breaker box to give up 2 slots for a 20amp.
as far as acoustic treatments, haven't found any local suppliers of Green Glue yet, I will definitely insulate the ceiling. Need more time with this..ugh.
I'll place my order tomorrow with Emo, I have to hold back and not order everything.
Re: New home theater room 5.1 or 7.1 « Reply #6 on Jul 13, 2012, 7:41am »
running conduit for speaker cables is a great idea, particularly for re-sale. in my mind anyway...
i ran cat 6 into every room in the house, plus coax. Living room, media room, master bedroom and office have cat 6 on every wall. everything home run to a closet that has 8 power sockets on two dedicated 20 amp circuit breakers.
I didn't run speakers in the right places, but at least i can network everything together.
i would go with the XPA-2 for the fronts. i am running this amp for music into the 8.3s, and i don't believe that more power would be worth it.
So you need to assess which type of construction and which materials your build is made of and then act accordingly. In principle, you need to make a box in a box and the inner box (the HT) needs to be as detached as possible from the outer box (the building). Look out for air leaks, especially with cables and fittings. Oh, and a box has at least 6 sides, so don't forget the floor!
Acoustics is in fact a different thing all together. I like what Ethan Winer writes about it. Here's the website of his company:
It is all explaned in technical terms, but you don't need to be an engineer to understand it, since even I can cope...
A surround sound room also needs a different approach than a stereo room. From what I have read over the past years, I decided to add substantial absorption below the ceiling by using suspended 8" thick absorbers made from a core of rigid fiberglass with a small amount of less rigid fiberglass added so the high tones don't get reflected. Covered in cheap black cloth with a plenum of close to 8". This is almost as effective as doing 16" straight to the surface (reed the website for explanation)
Flooring can be rather reflective, wood is ideal. Problem is I got floor heating, but it is very low temp (from heat pump) and the wood will only be 8 mm (1/3") so that will work.
Walls: front wall has a acoustic transparent screen. Behind it is a 2' space with the center speaker and two tall subs. All remaining gaps will again be filled with fiberglass... Right wall is a kitchen, nothing I can do about it. Left and rear wall are basically windows (triple glazing) so all I can do is provide heavy black curtains.
Joined: Jun 2012 Gender: Male Posts: 67 Location: Coquitlam BC
Re: New home theater room 5.1 or 7.1 « Reply #8 on Jul 19, 2012, 1:24am »
OK. So got a hold of Vincent and placed an order with him today.
UAW-8.2 XPA-2 XRCS.1 Black Trim
7.1 it is..until I order another XREF-12!
Also picked up a 7 foot vertical freestanding A/V rack, but its too big! My ceilings are 7'6" and my media closet is also too small for the rack. I'll definitely have to take the door off to get to the components.
My new plan was to have the tv and front speakers only on the wall and have the media rack on the other side along with several IR Repeaters from monoprice.
Joined: Jun 2012 Gender: Male Posts: 67 Location: Coquitlam BC
Re: New home theater room 7.1 « Reply #9 on Jul 19, 2012, 11:34pm »
So is bi-wiring with different gauge wiring a big NO-NO? I used 12 gauge and a 16 gauge run to each of the 4 surrounds. The 3 fronts can have 2 sets of 12 gauge, but I don't have enough to run another 4 to the surrounds.
I've read that bi-wiring is still a toss up, but thought I should ask here. what about bi-amping?
Also, is center channel is better above or below the tv? I can wire to both locations as well.
Joined: Jun 2012 Gender: Male Posts: 67 Location: Coquitlam BC
Re: New home theater room 7.1 « Reply #10 on Jul 21, 2012, 10:09am »
Is my xda-1 redundant as I have the UMC-1? I'm trying to figure out a use for it but no luck yet. Am I better off pairing it with a USP or XSP, which I have no current plans of setting up a stereo spot.
Is my xda-1 redundant as I have the UMC-1? I'm trying to figure out a use for it but no luck yet. Am I better off pairing it with a USP or XSP, which I have no current plans of setting up a stereo spot.
Hi whrlwndz,
The UMC-1 offers decent DAC performance, but the XDA-1 is (arguably) a step above in the conversion process and output stages.
Actually, I have a UMC-1 and XDA-1 as well. My XDA-1 is connected to the processor via the analog input (Aux) and the UMC-1 is set to Direct mode. If you're not using the Ext. 7.1 analog inputs, that could be another option for the XDA-1.
This is how I listen to the majority of my 2-channel digital sources. I have not done any critical listening yet between the two devices, but the difference between the XDA-1 and UMC-1 is quite small. Here's an example: sometimes I want to fire up a FLAC album after watching a movie. Since the UMC-1 is already set to HDMI input from the movie, I just use that for 2-channel music playback. It sounds very good and it doesn't make me reach for the XDA-1.
My suggestion: if you're looking for streamlined simplicity and don't require absolute fidelity, then use the UMC-1. Otherwise, configure the XDA-1 as I mentioned above. I don't think it's necessary to purchase a USP/XSP if you don't really want another 2-channel system. In fact, it was mentioned a while back that the XDA-1 sounds better going directly to the amp, rather than into the USP-1 (although the XSP-1 might change that).
EDIT: If you ever want to pull out the XDA-1, you might consider pairing it with something like a mini-X a-100 amp. I use this combo at times and it sounds very good.
« Last Edit: Jul 21, 2012, 2:04pm by Dark Ranger »
Joined: Mar 2008 Gender: Male Posts: 2,890 Location: Palm Beach Gardens, FL USA
Re: New home theater room 7.1 « Reply #12 on Jul 21, 2012, 2:32pm »
Man, that 7'6" ceiling is a real buzz-kill. You are gonna have a devil of a time eliminating standing waves, early reflections, and such. You should probably consider selling that UMC-1 and getting an XMC-1 with your 40%-off card. I'm thinking that the Tact RCS will go a long ways towards taming that room.
Don't worry about bi-wiring, it offers no real benefit to you and merely costs you twice as much. Waste of money.
I would go with a straight-forward 7.1 system using the best speakers I could afford. Throwing more, lower-quality speakers at the problem is for fools. You are not a fool...
Joined: Oct 2011 Gender: Male Posts: 673 Location: Seattle
Re: New home theater room 7.1 « Reply #17 on Oct 27, 2012, 6:47am »
One caution, I built a rack just like that and found that I had to add extra cooling fans behind the components when they are stacked like that (w/o 1U+ between them) or they would get quite hot after a while. A couple of components wasn't bad, but 3-4 was too much without active cooling.
Re: New home theater room 7.1 « Reply #18 on Oct 27, 2012, 9:02am »
Wow, your progress looks great! All the advice so far has been really good and i see you are on the right path. For the size room that you have, the amplifiers and speaker selection is more than enough since you don't have that much space to pressurize, you would blow your self out of the room if you cranked that system to anywhere near referance levels!
I personally wouldnt worry about bi-amping necessarily, you do not need the extra power to the speakers considering you have efficient speakers and a powerful XPA-5 that will get loud very fast in that space. I would be more concerned with getting the sound perfect for the accoustics of that space, making sure the sub and speakers are not too over powering.
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