Almost Finished.... Some updates and new pics

The basic room layout is complete and I have installed my gear.


Remaining tasks are:

• ceiling absorbers
• window plugs
• projector mount

The false wall I built has turned out amazingly well. The panels fit flush with one-another and I only had one or two places where very slight gaps occured. The screen covers these so I am very pleased overall. With the kick plate and faissure in place the effect is one of the wall being a part of the room. Visitors haven't even realised it is a false wall until noise starts coming out of it.

In the right lighting the AT panels are slightly transluscent and an outline of the speaker behind can be seen. Not a big enough issue to be a concern.

I have removed all speaker grills on the front stage so only one layer of material is passed through. Testing with a panel loose I cannot detect any losss of detail in the sound.

Sub-placement was an issue to start with. The downfiring woofer of the SVS PB-12 Plus created an issue due to the placement of the sub between the AT wall and the rooms front wall. The double layer of 4x2 and 90mm kick plate at the base of the AT wall blocked the space around the sub. In consultation with Ed Mullins from SVS I tipped the sub on its front end. I have some light material draped over the 3 ports to prevent dust or other objects dropping inside by accident.

This pic shows the sub and the other speakers behind the false wall. Below is another showing the front speaker placement with the AT panel removed (this is also my access-way behind the wall).

Initially I was not happy with the level of bass in the room - even after audyssey calibration. I did some measurements and realised I had the sub in a bad position on the front wall. Shifting it about 10" toward the corner corrected the issue. The bass is now quite even around the listening area. I can still hear further bass reinforcement as I move toward the opposite room corner (near the rack) and boundaries which is to be expected.

Watching Batman begins last night I found the bass to have real punch and a nice strong presence without being over-powering. This was at comfortable listening levels and not at reference. So I am very pleased :).

My Rack is almost finished. I have the IR re-transmitter in now and it makes life far easier. The natural convection and flow of air inside is better than I had predicted so I will need less fans than I allocated for as well (none in winter I would say in fact). Some tidying of cables will be required and I have gone to HDMI on more of my sources so less clutter is present.

For SACD listening I made a cable from a 12 core A/V lead. I simply cut off most of the unnecessary leads and used a few layers of heat-shrink on each to allow for adequate cable relief. It works well and is a far neater solution than the 6 individual cables I had previously.

The screen went up easily and once I was settled in and finished with the audio calibration I used DVE to check where my projector was at. According to the test patterns and filters everything was still spot on. Unfortunately my small camera doesn't capture good screen images so I can't get anything worthy of posting :P.

Here are some random pcs of the room in general.... I think the rack appears to stand out a bit (it will be pushed back more once I stop fiddling) and I may use some fabric to cover the side and blend it in a bit more.