System #45 (Monolith IIIx, SL3XC, Sequel II)

[RUR]

And just because they are cool looking, some shots of the rear acoustic treatments....

Nice! Whose skylines are you using, Jonathan?

 

[JonFo]

Nice! Whose skylines are you using, Jonathan?

Hi Ken, those are from RPG. Got them way back in 2001.
The vertical slat units behind the Sequels are Real Traps Abfussors.

 

[khenegar]

Screen

Hi Ken, those are from RPG. Got them way back in 2001.
The vertical slat units behind the Sequels are Real Traps Abfussors.

jonfo can u tell why ur still using an 4:3 aspect ratio screen why not 16:9? thanks

 

[JonFo]

jonfo can u tell why ur still using an 4:3 aspect ratio screen why not 16:9? thanks

I get that a lot

Mainly because there is a 4' tall center channel behind that screen, so an 80" wide 16:9 screen would not fully cover it.

To get a 16:9 screen that is tall enough, all three fronts would be behind it, but now the screen would be too big for the projector. When I upgrade to a laser illuminated PJ, will go there. For now, the old (bought in 2000) 4:3 screen does the job. With the lights out, all you see is whatever size the PJ is actually displaying.

This is what's behind the screen, my custom built SL3XC (back before the front wall acoustic treatments were up):



And a current side-view where you can see the entire front wall is covered in MiniTrap HFs:

 

[RUR]

Hi Ken, those are from RPG. Got them way back in 2001.
The vertical slat units behind the Sequels are Real Traps Abfussors.

It's funny.... When I ran ML's I had an all-absorption front and diffusive rear. Now, with the EP's, I've gone full Linkwitz with absorption in the rear and a wall full of diffusors up front - four large tube traps with the diffusive radius pointing into the room, two QRD's and a fairly large poly (home-built) in the center. This last really solidifies the phantom center.

Then again, Linkwitz' conclusions/recommendations are strictly for 2ch, not for home theater - and that's me.

 

[JonFo]

Thanks for sharing that Ken, and yes, for those speakers and 2Ch only, if it floats your boat and measures (which I know you do) well then that's great.

It does show that there is no one-size fits all solution to acoustics management.

 

[Brad225]

Jonathan, time to have the maid dust your SL3XC. ;-)

 

[JonFo]

Jonathan, time to have the maid dust your SL3XC. ;-)

Yeah, flash photography can be 'revealing'

Only I am allowed to clean in the HT, so of course, years go by before the 'behind the scenes' things get dusted. Which reminds me, time to vacuum the panels, so I'll do some dusting while I'm back there as well

 

[Brad225]

I am in the same boat. Only I clean my listening room and I doubt I cold pass the white glove test either at the moment.

 

[khenegar]

Jonfo: have u every listen to ur speakers in 2ch only without any room correction and with no processing at all?. Ur system looks very complex and well thought out! is ur system strictly for video?

 

[JonFo]

^^ I occasionally listen to music in 2Ch mode, it really depends on the recording. For instance, solo piano that has a 'live' mix of the recording venue generally sounds better in pure 2ch than some upmix to multi. But a very 'dry' close-miked recording can benefit (in my highly damped room) from an upmix to multi.

Uhm, "...no processing at all?" Not possible in this system, it depends on active crossovers, bass management, etc. I can turn off the room correction, but then I know how poorly it measures that way, and listening confirms it, so room correction is on 100% of the time.

Music vs Video is about 40% music (includes music concerts on BluRay), 60% video as this is where we watch the big movies. But the rig is optimized for multichannel audio first and foremost, as I have a large MCH audio collection and my favorite artist (Steven Wilson) is the master of multichannel mixing.

"Ur system looks very complex ..." Got that right, but that's part of the fun for me.

 

[amey01]

I am in the same boat. Only I clean my listening room and I doubt I cold pass the white glove test either at the moment.

HAHA - Likewise my listening room.

I've once saw a pair of speakers advertised as from the usual "smoke free, child free, pet free" room, with the addition of "wife free (meaning the speakers have never been carelessly bashed by a vacuum cleaner or knocked over with a duster)".

 

[JonFo]

The QSC GX5 Pro-amp driving the new MBMs (MidBass Modules) has a very loud fan, but it's a simple swap to replace it with an 80mm computer fan.

I just did that today using a temperature-controlled fan, and I placed the Thermistor in the heat sinks of the amp, and expect that if temps rise too much, the fan will spin faster. But in my application, I really never expect the amp to even get warm, it's way overkill for my MBMs. I tend to set up my rig that way

 

[JonFo]

More DIY to deal with this incredibly complex system, so we add more complexity in the form of a custom relay-controlled Power Distribution Unit so we can sequence the power amps as they go on and off.

I posted a full build thread over on the AVS forums: https://www.avsforum.com/forum/28-t...it-relay-controlled-outlets-build-thread.html



The Interior



Full exterior, showing the relay control snake, each plug goes into an outlet on the SurgeX power sequencer.

 

[JonFo]

Updated UHD player

On the video front, I've been holding out until JVC (or someone) releases a high-performance 4K Laser-Illuminated PJ at under $10K. Essentially a JVC 4500, but much cheaper and hopefully in a smaller size.

In the meantime, I've been buying UHD discs, as often that's the only way to also get the Atmos soundtrack, and/or its a good movie I know I'll play multiple times, especially once a new PJ shows up.

But I've been missing out on some of the benefits of having HDR content, as prior players would ignore the HDR and downsample the 4K content and send my current JVC 4810 the 1080p signal it can accept (even though it might also be re-upsampling to faux-K).
I had been running a Sony X800 UHD player, but then read about the wonders that the Panasonic BP-UB820 brought to the world of older 1080p projectors with some amazing UHD HDR to SDR / 709 tone mapping. So I sold the X800 and bought a UB820 (still have the Oppo 103 for BluRay, CD, SACD, and DVD-Audio)

Now that I have one in the theater and played multiple UHD discs through it, I can attest that it is a big step up in visual enjoyment, that tone mapping thing is amazing. If you have an older 1080p PJ or plasma screen, look into this player. Even modern 4K OLED owners love it as well.

But be warned, there are a ton of settings that must be set right in the Player and the PJ. Luckily, my PJ makes it easy to switch memories so that I can go from one for the 820-sourced UHD to one for everything else.

 

[JonFo]

Not too much new gear-wise, as everything is functioning very nicely. But the room lighting got a boost recently with the addition of six more Hue lights to the overhead tracks.
two of which are in cans with barn-doors to frame the Monoliths nicely.

Here is what the main seating and back of the room look like from the edge of the right Monolith.



And this is the view from just above and behind the main seating position.

 

[Brad225]

As always Jonathan, it is impressive.

In the last pic, with all remotes on the left arm it has the looks of Captain Kirk's seat controlling the ship.

 

[JonFo]

As always Jonathan, it is impressive.

In the last pic, with all remotes on the left arm it has the looks of Captain Kirk's seat controlling the ship.

Thanks Brad, but the funny thing is that I recently added a Harmony Elite Hub universal remote, which can pretty much manage everything directly. But I still keep all the individual remotes close-by as sometimes the real McCoy is easier to use.

I do use the Activities feature of the Harmony to initiate major transitions, as it is also integrated with the home automation system (HomeSeer). For instance, the shutdown activity triggers a significant sequence in the automation server to power down amps, sources, projector and then delay the turn off of lights (so one can leave the HT and not worry about the lights).

 

[twich54]

Davey likes, well done Jonathan !! ....... :rocker:

 

[JonFo]

Davey likes, well done Jonathan !! ....... :rocker:

Thanks Dave.

I recently replaced the stand for the in-room players and my stash of High-rez discs (SACD and DVD-A), ran out of room for the discs, so about 50 are in the equipment room shelves as well.

Most of the discs are ripped and playable via the HTPC system, so not really necessary to have the physical media there, but I still enjoy seeing them.