Erwin's House & Homecinema project

[gearhead2003]

Great setup! You should be very proud. ;D

[GreenKiwi]

Apr 2, 2013 21:20:57 GMT -5 Erwin.BE said:

So I like big speakers for LCR.

So you like big speakers...

Hmmm... what about a full Tekton Pendragon HT setup?



tektondesign.wordpress.com/2013/02/22/pendragon-home-theater-package-avalable-now/

I don't know whether shipping would be prohibitively expensive, but people seem to really really like them.

[GreenKiwi]

Oh... and they are big! =D

[edoggrc51]

They really are! A buddy mine down the street has a pair of Pendragon's and they're not small! The matching center is pretty beefy too!

[GreenKiwi]

Yeah, the center looks like its almost identical in size. Maybe a but shorter.

@edog most importantly what do you think about their sound?

[Erwin.BE]

Thanks for the heads up, greenkiwi! I will look into them Pendragons.

On first sight, the inConcert Miles do get the upper hand. Especially for the Air Motion Transformer tweeter (same as Emotiva Pro, but these are double the size of the one in the stealth 8.

There's a third thing I like besides big sized speakers and AMT tweeters: active crossovers. The Miles can be built with both passive or active crossovers. Even the designer, Mr Tangen, commented that active sounds way superior. A Behringer DCX 2496 is suitable to split the signal. I could use the XPR-5 for the woofers and a smaller amp for the tweeters. More reading to do...

www.behringer.com/EN/Products/DCX2496.aspx

I am still thinking to get the stealth 8 for surrounds. The sound signature - both with folded tweeters - ought to be similar, don't you think?

[Erwin.BE]

Attachment Deleted

Above you can download my most recent HT floor plan. It has a bit of a Auro-3D flavour but in essence, I will make sure many different speaker positions and changes to the setup are possible. I will post more drawings later. I am now studying the details to execute it all this winter. I am betting heavily on sound insulation (box-in-box) and acoustics (mostly diffusion).

I have a gen2 processor upgrade card that I want to save for the RMC-1. But since I want to finish the HT around April 2014, I need a pre-pro with XLR connections (to the stealth speakers) to bridge the gap until the RMC-1 becomes available (presuming not before 2015). I thought hard about getting the Sherbourn PT-7030, keep it boxed and use the upgrade card with it to get a XMC-1 (which in time could replace my UMC-1 in this house). But today I found an upgrade card located in France (anyone from here?) for €180 hence an even better deal. XMC-1 will cost me around €1380 euro then.

Exterior almost finished:

[yves]

Have you taken a look at these blueprints that are free to download? I have been considering to build the 5-cell fractal diffuser arrays myself.

arqen.com/sound-diffusers

[Erwin.BE]

I only had a brief look at these, since I will be building these instead:
www.soundscapes.nu/!gallery/ww-albums/modellen/index.html
(copy the whole line to your browser)
He is charging €75 for the designs. But I will be buying the kits which come with the assembling instructions.

As I mentioned before, Soundscapes (Toine Dingemans) is coming at my space for a acoustic measurement (when it's partially finished) and will give advice afterwards I will send him my design before building so he can assess that.

[Erwin.BE]

Attachment Deleted

I need to wire the speakers for the outdoors ASAP. I chose the Definitive Technology AW6500 speakers. These have an additional passive radiator and get very good reviews. One pair would cost around €500 all inclusive.

www.definitivetech.com/products/aw6500

They can be mounted horizontal or vertical. Mounting them under an eave near a wall enhances the bass output. Def Tech recommends multiple pairs if the area is large. They wood, wouldn't they... They say one pair is good for 200-400 square feet. The table area is 275 sqft (completely under the eave), the lounge area (mostly open sky) is 350 sqft. I want to enjoy music in both area's, though the table side is more important to me at least.

Anyway, after some thinking, I narrowed it down to three options. Please take a look at the attached floor plan of the outdoors.

1. One pair vertical against the wall @ ear height
2. One pair horizontal under the eave @ 8 feet height, close to the wall
3. Two pairs horizontal under the eave @ 8 feet height, firing in opposite directions

Please help me decide. Each option has it's merits:
A. Ear height = best height
B. Best bass output level from one pair
C. Two pairs close to each other will also provide very good bass and cover the whole terrace perfect.

Thanks!

BTW, Def Tech recommends amp power up to 200W @ 6 ohm. In case of one pair, I'd go for the XPA-200 which does 240 W @ 4 ohm. In case of two pairs, I'd take two mini-X daisy-chained to one stereo output.

[Erwin.BE]

Attachment Deleted

Here is the latest version of the floor plan of the home cinema space. This is technically way more detailed than earlier designs since build inside will start next moth. Finally!

I am working on the drawings of the walls and furniture. It will be totally functional, no ornaments allowed here... This will be the culmination of all the knowledge I gathered here and elsewhere regarding audio and acoustics.

[GreenKiwi]

Looks like a cool space. Am I reading it right that you have a big living space, that looks into your kitchen, and you can pull a screen down to watch movies? And you've got a nice lounge space to hang out in, with bar stools behind it?

[Erwin.BE]

That's about it. The screen is fixed though. It's attached to two tall structures containing the tall subs. I already have the screen since, by luck, Seymour AV happened to have our size (11' wide in 2,35/1 ratio) on sale last year... Front LCR speakers are supposed to be the stealth 88. I hope they surface in the near future.

If I 'd build again, I would start to design the HT first and add walls around it. As it is now, the door to the terrace forces me more or less to a 6.1 set-up since with 7.1, one of the rear speakers would stand in the doorway!

Will post more later.

[GreenKiwi]

Does it fold up, even though it's fixed? Or is it high enough that you can see under it into the kitchen? Or is the living room only open into the kitchen on either side?

Are the big grey boxes behind the screen large built in subs?

Could you put one of the rear speakers "above" the door? Might not be ideal... don't know if it's better to be 6.1 in the center or 7.1 above the door.

Are the grey circles at the back bass traps?

One non-audio note. Are you really tied to having a double basin sink (like it's already purchased and/or installed)? If not, I'd think seriously about a larger single basin sink.

[Erwin.BE]

Attachment Deleted

Okay, you win. Here's the views of the front and back wall plus the rear view to the subs and the view to the kitchen. They're not 100% done and I still have to do the left and right "long" walls.

The grey boxes are indeed the subs. There are pics of them earlier in this thread. 550 liters each with 18" woofers.
The door is a high as the soffits: 8 feet...
The grey circles are yet still undecided subs 3 + 4, sonotubes. Sure you know of them? They are discussed over at HTShack.com. I will decide to build these or not after hearing and measuring the sound with the first two subs.

There's a gap below and above the screen, but you wont see much of the kitchen. The kitchen is mostly a showroom model, it has a real nice stainless steel top with the sink welded to it. But don't worry, this is only the small kitchen. There will be another one on the first floor. But that is not planned before 2015.

[Erwin.BE]

This sonotube would be suitable with the Sonic Integrity 18" woofer.

www.hometheatershack.com/forums/diy-subwoofers-general-discussion/69190-help-si-18-ht-sonotube-build-2.html#post637605

[GreenKiwi]

That is gong to be kicking!

[Erwin.BE]

About time I post some progress pics. The installation of the floating floor in the HT:

Principle of mass-spring-mass. The springs are foam pads, especially engineered to cary the floor mass while preventing bass to connect to the rest of the house. Cost no object professional builds use actual springs.


The gaps between the profiles are filled with loose polystyrene. An OSB underfloor is attached to the profiles.


2 x 60 mm of thermal insulation for the passive house standard (which means very little heating is needed). Note the surrounding edge insulation. The concrete must not touch the structural walls.


Installation of the floor heating pipes here. Very low temperature needed, heat is drawn from the underground surrounding the house. Only the pumps use electricity. It's reversed in the summer... black foil to prevent the moist from the concrete sipping through.


An impression of the concrete floor. That's a foot thickness in total!

[Erwin.BE]

480 sacs of paper flocs for the thermal insulation of the walls and the flat roof.



The machine, which my son kept filling with the cellulose.


Me on the other end:

[klinemj]

I love the design. Great to see progress pix! When do you estimate the house will be done?

Mark