Erwin's House & Homecinema project

[Erwin.BE]

Maybe like 2.5 years at best. We hope to have the HT with the kitchen inside and two bedrooms with small en-suite bathrooms ready by the new year. This way, we could spend weekends there!

[klinemj]

Wow...that is a long time, but I am sure it will be worth it. Are you doing the work yourself?

Mark

[Erwin.BE]

Aug 3, 2014 19:28:17 GMT -5 klinemj said:

Are you doing the work yourself?

Mark

That was the idea and I did that first, but the job I do now, though financially satisfying, is very demanding. Therefore the bulk of the (wood-) work is done by an employee of another of my businesses... For specialist jobs, I hire contractors, like the concrete floor.

It was good fun though, to spend the 3 days blowing in the cellulose myself, with my son.

[richardrc]

Hey Erwin, the house is looking great! Have you updated you plans for your home cinema room since your update last year?

[Erwin.BE]

You shouldn't even ask. I will post in a week or so because the framing of the inside box is due after Aug 18. So I better be ready then.

[Erwin.BE]

Here's the latest and hopefully definitive floor plan of the homecinema. It's Atmos 9.4.6 although first it will be 7.2.4. I played with the Surround speaker position: First I added a pair of Rears where they would not be sitting in the way. Which is @ 86° from each other. I have no doubt that this is not a problem since we cannot easily locate sound sources from behind. This made it possible to move the Surrounds around the +/- 80° which is in line with ITU standards. Ofcourse, when I ever add Wides, they move a bit to the back again, as indicated in the design.

The speakers are now all DIY: [3] SEOS-24 basis (tri-amped with digital crossover using miniDSP) for LCR and [6] SEOS-15 for low Surround (passive 2-way), [6] coaxial 8" for Ceiling speakers with help from the DIY Soundgroup folks over at AVS.

This means that in final Atmos 9.4.6 configuration, no less than 21 amps will be needed. I already have the XPR-5 and would like to add a XPR-2 one day (IF I can get one). The XPR-2 would power the double 18" woofer pair of the Left and Right at 4Ω. I might downscale the Center to a single woofer vs 2. The XPR-5 would power this single woofer plus the 4 traditional Surrounds. The extra pair of Wides, the mids and tweeters of the LCR and the 3 pair of Ceilings would be powered by a pair of XPA-7 (hopefully it comes to reality sooner rather than later).

Cheaper amps would be chosen for the outdoor speakers and the subs. I already have the Behringer iNuke 6000 for the LLT subs in front. I would add two iNuke 3000 for the Sonotube subs and the outdoor speakers. The neighbors might not appreciate the latter, but hey! We could eat outside on the terrace while listening to the news with the projected image about big enough...

I plan to have a go at integrating the front LLT subs with the Left and Right speaker. The miniDSP 2x8 KIT I ordered yesterday lets you do that. Then set the Left and Right as "Large". This way, the other subs could be connected to the processor separately.


I used JPG here, next post is PDF:

Erwin.BE_20140810.JP2 (398.91 KB)

[Erwin.BE]

PDF here:

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[richardrc]

Your neighbours will be able to watch the movie with bass :-). Love the sauna, I assume no sound in there?

[Erwin.BE]

Only bass? May I point you to the zone 2 speakers on the terrace?
They will be getting full range...

We have a sauna here too, also without sound. Haven't missed it thus far. I don't even know if such heat-resistant speakers exist? That would be zone 3 then

[Erwin.BE]

Attachment Deleted

Plan with some minor adjustments. Played a bit with Ceiling speaker positions (Atmos 9.4.6) and replaced the 2 tall Sonotube subs 3&4 with bespoke lowly shaped LLT. This way, one can still see out of the windows... Both are 425 liters (30 cubic foot) using the Stereo Integrity 18" HT subwoofer, tuned to 13 Hz as the first 2.

BTW, for finishing the furniture etc, I chose double thickness French Oak veneer, double brushed to give that sandblasted look. All finished with black oil. I will not veneer the edges since the MDF will absorb the black oil nicely and this way, one can give a smooth rounding on the edges...

Drywall: painted matt black...

Floor: polyurethane silk black... Very nice to walk on with bare feet.

Curtains: take a guess, it starts with theater grade b and ends with lack velvet...

Questions?

[Erwin.BE]

Oh yeah, I got PM asking which projector? We have seen the Sony VPL-VW 500ES on demo. We shouldn't have, since this turned all other ones into mediocre affairs. It costs 10K... a Benq W1070 (€700) will have to do until we save up for it. Misses agrees.

[richardrc]

I am not sure you will finish the rest of the house!!!! It will be very hard to motivate yourself away from your beautiful cinema. Lol.

Go for the better projector.......

[Erwin.BE]

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Attached are the definitive drawings for the HT on a large 1/10 scale, complete with sectional and longitudinal views. It was half way through the night before I finished them.

Today, a carpenter started preparing work for the suspended ceiling. I decided to have him first add some extra (2.5") rockwool (of the heaviest kind) between the FJI to enhance the bass absorption a little bit, in addition to the 8" thick light fiberglass. The ceiling will be suspended by foam pads because the proper acoustic hangers would be too expensive for such a heavily loaded ceiling.

There are 3 items in the local FedEx affair from various places in the world. There's the UPA-700 from the US-of-A to replace my XPR-5 here (which is destined for the HT ofcourse). There's the miniDSP from Hong Kong for the quad active Left and Right speaker (sub + dual woofer + coaxial mid/tweeter). And there's the BMS 4594ND coaxial itself, from Germany via Holland... I love globalization!

So together with the triple active "small" Center speaker the complete front stage will be fully active, needing no less than eleven [11] amps, the two LLT subs included!

For the Surrounds and Ceiling speakers (Atmos 7.4.4 later expandable to 9.4.6), I decided to go for the JBLpro SCS 8 coaxial cinema Surrounds. MSRP is $475 (€559 here...) which to me seems reasonable enough not to have a go at DIY in this case. If they are good enough for the pro's, then they are good enough for this hobbyist. They have an unsurpassed 120° conical dispersion. Their industrial look is very appealing to me, much more than the usual slanted affairs on walls.

www.jblpro.com/www/products/cinema-market/scs-spatially-cued-surround-loudspeakers/scs-8#.U_JUqyg9X2k


Did I mention the drawings are LARGE?

[Erwin.BE]

Mistake post.

BTW, I need those XPA-7 [2]!!!

[Erwin.BE]

I do not longer need the XPA-7 for my HT. I want the XMR-1 16-channel processor, whenever it becomes available. As you see, the room is big enough for 9.1.6. That's 3 LCR plus 12 Satellite speakers. Those tri-amped LCR need 3 amps each, hence I need 21 amps. As I posted in another thread, it struck me that getting 2 used Marantz MM8003 8-channel amps would solve my amp worries nicely. Add 5 channels from the XPR-5 I have and I have the wanted 21 amps! I just bought the first MM8003 on eBay.

Here are some pictures from the room in it's current status. Next to do are the soundproofed door and the floor surface. It's getting some blackness! It's going nowhere near as fast enough as I wished, but such is life...

[Erwin.BE]

One more thing: In the end, I decided against the JBL for Satellite duties (to easy), but instead chose the DIY Volt V10 from DIY Soundgroup, but with an Eminence CD tweeter. I already have 8 Beta 10CX coaxial woofers. I sourced the CD and crossover parts for the first pair from Parts Express. These are on their way from the US of A.

[cwmcobra]

Looking good Erwin! Keep the updates coming.....

[Erwin.BE]

As we Flemish say after the first beer: "You cannot stand on one leg" (but we say it in Dutch). So, I bought the second Marantz MM8003. Both on eBay, both in Germany. The first one has been delivered. It looks new to me. Second one has crossed the border, might be here tomorrow. First one came with 6 XLR cables, but is reported to have one faulty XLR input (the RCA is fine). Should be fixable.

Both cost less than €100 per channel. XPA-7 (or a used Sherbourn PA7-350) would cost close to €300 per channel. The Marantz has less power, but still plenty for the satellites and mid+tweeters of the LCR I am building.

The parts for the first pair of coaxial satellites has also arrived. Time to go to work.

[cwmcobra]

Mar 19, 2015 14:05:33 GMT -5 Erwin.BE said:

The parts for the first pair of coaxial satellites has also arrived. Time to go to work.

Enjoy the builds. There is a special sense of satisfaction when a good DIY project comes together. Especially when you can listen to it's sweet sounds!

[Erwin.BE]

We are preparing for the floor finish. My mind was always set on a liquid polyurethane, but the quote I received is very discouraging: around €120/m2 without VAT. This would amount to over $9K for the whole space! I decided to get black linoleum instead, which cost about 35-40% of the PU. I am putting the money where it counts, which are the speakers and the room treatments. I will post pics when it's done in 2 weeks or so.

Another thing I changed is the position of the primary control post, where the computer is. It was at the side, close to the processor. It will now be behind MLP, at the table. I spend a lot of time fiddling with my digital music collection and hanging out here and on other forums. I might as well be in a sweet listening spot while I am at it. Downside is that the better half might object having a Mac where we also would eat "casually". Never mind, it's my room after all. Every other function besides AV of that room is secondary to it.

This does mean I have to get some digital interconnects between iMac and XMC-1 (XMR-1 later) in the floor as an afterthought ASAP, before the floor is finished. These need to be around 30 ft long.
- A HDMI (2.0 specced) is already in place, although iMacs don't have it, but Mac mini's and Sony laptops do use them.
- I will also put in a optical Toslink (every Mac has it).
- Coaxial digital seems of no use to me. Only DAC's etc use them.
- USB is certainly needed IMO as it's likely the best audio connection to the processor. There are 2 problems here: first is long runs over 15 ft are not advised and second it needs to be USB 3.0. The only one I found has a big "device" (like a snake that's eaten a pig) bang in the middle. Which means it's in forever, it's far too thick to pull it out. Any suggestions? It seems unwise to skip it.

Another take might be to simply rely on the network to control the XMC-1. This would mean to put a (headless) Mac mini besides the XMC-1 and control it from the iMac via the network (those cables are already below the floating floor). even an Apple TV might do all I need.