Mini's Home Theater (Not 56k friendsly / Please post yours too!)

[kareface]

When you get your new sub, you have to save a little for a BFD. They make all the difference and it's such a cheap upgrade. It's like having a screen tuned, you'll notice the difference. My friend uses them in his 7.2 setup. I'm going to be using one with my new sub once I get everything setup.

Some info: BFD Parametric Equalizer for Home Theater Systems

[Shagoa]

Mini,
Nice setup of your home theater. I've always been told that the center channel should be mounted above the TV because it's a little better with sound dynamics. You seem very into the setup of your system and was wondering if you'd heard this as well or are planning to do that.

I've got some home made speakers that are somewhat similar to yours with the passive filters for the mids/tweats. It really makes a difference so I know your speakers probably sound great.

I read up on that piece for tuning the sub.. and man I think I need to do that.

[kareface]

Mini,
Nice setup of your home theater. I've always been told that the center channel should be mounted above the TV because it's a little better with sound dynamics. You seem very into the setup of your system and was wondering if you'd heard this as well or are planning to do that.

I've got some home made speakers that are somewhat similar to yours with the passive filters for the mids/tweats. It really makes a difference so I know your speakers probably sound great.

I read up on that piece for tuning the sub.. and man I think I need to do that.

I have not heard that from anyone before. Most of the audio geeks I know have their centers on a stand in front of the screen or behind the projector screen and the use acoustically transparent material. The rules I've been told is you want the drivers to be as close to ear level as possible, and mostly worry about tweets and mids as they have a great deal more locality. Because I can't put the speaker at ear level, I have to chose the next best option, which is the least average distance from ear level. In this case because the TV's so huge going below makes more sense. If you have a lot of obstructions between the lower portion of the TV or you have a smaller TV, I could see having it on top. I might test it out to see how it sounds either way tho. At the end of the day it really comes down to preference. I don't plan on moving the speaker above the TV anytime soon, mainly because it weighs so damn much. When I move if I get a place I can easily set it up above the TV I'll give it a try and get back to you with my opinion on the matter.

Post some images of the speakers you built. Did you use an existing design?

[Darus Grey]

The rule is that you want the speakers *pointing* as close to ear level as possible. Small change, huge difference.

This is why you see them above the screen, cause it's easier to angle down than up.

[Isiolia]

Do you think you saved money by building the enclosures yourself? Better quality? Or mostly a personal satisfaction thing?

I've been looking at new audio stuff for the living room for a while now, and your setup got me interested in building my own speakers instead of buying some internet-direct or whatnot like I had figured on. I noticed that Parts Express offers a kit for basically the speakers you built, but using their own cabinets, which as I understand they were originally engineered around anyway for convenience purposes.

It'd certainly be interesting, and perhaps fun to build things from scratch..but at the same time, I don't have most of the tools I'd need, which would more than offset any savings (though I would have them for other stuff then).

[Penthesilea]

After seeing this picture, I realize how small my TV looks in this room. Wish I went bigger than 50".


http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/9308/photoqft.jpg

Mine is kinda meh at the moment.

I'm not really trying to get serious with it until I get my own place.

TV - Pioneer Elite 50"
Some crappy Sony receiver
Shitty bose 901s?? as left/rights
shitty sony center channel
shitty sony rears

[Lost]

I was wondering where you got the AEON skin from. The link on the XBMC site goes to AEON but there is no download link there.

[kareface]

Do you think you saved money by building the enclosures yourself? Better quality? Or mostly a personal satisfaction thing?

I've been looking at new audio stuff for the living room for a while now, and your setup got me interested in building my own speakers instead of buying some internet-direct or whatnot like I had figured on. I noticed that Parts Express offers a kit for basically the speakers you built, but using their own cabinets, which as I understand they were originally engineered around anyway for convenience purposes.

It'd certainly be interesting, and perhaps fun to build things from scratch..but at the same time, I don't have most of the tools I'd need, which would more than offset any savings (though I would have them for other stuff then).

I would recommend building your own speakers, as for the cabinets I'd say it depends. I was able to borrow all the tools I needed to make the cabinets, so it wasn't an additional cost for me. You only need to have a few things, some type of saw (something that can cut straight lines, a hand saw is not ideal), a palm sander, a router & some clamps (at least 4, but 6+ is better). It'll be cheaper to build your own cabinets, but the amount of effort required would outweigh the costs pretty fast and if you have to buy the tools it would cost more. You might still need a router to cut the holes for the boxes they provide tho. If you plan to build the smaller cabinet size, I would recommend just buying the prebuilt ones.

Quality wise, I'm not sure. I've never seen their prebuilt ones. I know that 3/4'th MDF is think enough, I'm not sure what density MDF they use, but the denser the better. Just reading the reviews and details of the ones on the site they seem really nice. Building your own will take a huge amount of time. I've spent a stupid amount of time building my speakers. If I didn't want the floor standing design, I likely would of bought the cabinets as well. If you plan to put together speakers, either way talk with me first. There are a lot of little things I can mention to help make things faster. You don't want to get stuck ordering 3 seprate times from parts express and having to pay shipping on the second and third order (which happened to me).

After seeing this picture, I realize how small my TV looks in this room. Wish I went bigger than 50".

Mine is kinda meh at the moment.

I'm not really trying to get serious with it until I get my own place.

TV - Pioneer Elite 50"
Some crappy Sony receiver
Shitty bose 901s?? as left/rights
shitty sony center channel
shitty sony rears

Nice TV, love the elites. I wish I could of afforded the 60" elite, the cost difference was too great for me. You seem disappointed, but you have one of the best looking TV's on the market. I'd rather have a 50" Pioneer then a 60" of most of the crap they are passing off as TV's. You can always sit closer to a TV, you can't fix a ugly image or awful colors. I had a 50" for a long time, it's not small by any stretch of the imagination. You just have a huge wall. Your speakers do suck ass tho, lol. I understand not wanting to upgrade till you move tho. The main reason I'm moving soon is all of the recent noise complaints starting on the first night I finished putting together the speakers. I'm not deaf, but the speakers have a ton more bass then my old ones. The people upstairs weren't happy.

[Penthesilea]

worst part about it is that i have some decent klipsch towers in my basement, but my dad thinks they're too big/doesn't like the aesthetics

[kareface]

I was wondering where you got the AEON skin from. The link on the XBMC site goes to AEON but there is no download link there.

Depends on what version you want. The bleeding edge version is the one I have, and it's actually pretty stable. For that you need the SVN build of XBMC. Here's the link you want, make sure you get the latest one (not the one at the top):

Index of /user-accounts/XBMC-updates/ikons

I haven't updated in a few weeks, so there might be some new little bug with that version. If you have issues you can downgrade to an earlier one. As for aeon, you can get it from their GIT, or just download it. They have 2 versions, the 'master' version is the older version of aeon. I'm using the beta of the program (auriga) which is under a different branch. For that you want to go here:

djh's aeon at auriga - GitHub

Just make a folder in the skin directory in XBMC, call it Aeon, and put all the contents of the download in the folder. Remove any unneeded folders (ex: the folders should look like XBMC/skin/Aeon/720p/ect..) You don't need another folder between Aeon and the skin files. You'll also need the fonts for skin, you can download them here:

Aeon_Fonts260409.zip

Just put them in the root of the Aeon folder. (ie. skin/Aeon/fonts/ect.)

Also, during installation there is an option to keep all of XBMC's setting in the root folder for XBMC instead of the local accounts settings. DO THIS. It fixes a few problems I've noticed.

[kareface]

worst part about it is that i have some decent klipsch towers in my basement, but my dad thinks they're too big/doesn't like the aesthetics

Really? Most of the klipsch look really nice. They aren't a top of the line brand, but I'd take them over a lot of 'name' brand ones any day of the week. I have a 2.1 for my computer, and they really sound great for the money.

[Hogie]

Hey Mini, i read a couple places that the Antec case you bought has a very weak LCD and sometimes its hard to make out the characters on the LCD, do you have any problems with this at all?

[kareface]

Hey Mini, i read a couple places that the Antec case you bought has a very weak LCD and sometimes its hard to make out the characters on the LCD, do you have any problems with this at all?

You can adjust the black light to match the room. It is harder to see then traditional home theater equipment, it's not super high quality. Some of the functions won't work outside of using their default media center either. The LCD doesn't really phase me tho because I didn't buy the case to use the LCD. Also, just about every case that has a built in LCD uses the same brand. So shopping around the only way to get a quality LCD on the front is to get one with a mini full color LCD monitor in the front and that costs more then it would be worth to have. The remote for the case works very well tho. You can bind all the keys pretty easily to XBMC and I've never had a problem with mine.

[mootsfox]

kareface, I'm seriously thinking about building my own monitors now because of you

Do you have a parts list, or where you bought it from so I can get a general idea what I need to get, and what the price would be about.

[kareface]

kareface, I'm seriously thinking about building my own monitors now because of you

Do you have a parts list, or where you bought it from so I can get a general idea what I need to get, and what the price would be about.

My parts list would include my right, left & center channel.

http://stomped.com/mini/speaker-parts.jpg

Not included in that bill was:

1 027-430 Dayton DMPC-12 12uF 250V Polypropylene Capacitor 4.57 4.57 (center channel)
2 260-402 Port Tube 1-1/2" ID x 4" L Flared 1.40 2.80 (center channel)
9 260-530 Sonic Barrier 3/4" 3-Layer Damping Material w/PSA 18" x 24" 16.69 150.21
I also had a mid-range that I bought off one of my friends, it's for the center channel as well.If you plan to build the center I can get the part number for that.

Total based on above parts: $ 835.08 + the cost of the mid-range for the center.

The center channel cost more then the right and lefts in parts. I don't think you can buy a pre-made cabinet for it. Which speakers do you plan to build? I can give you an exact parts list per speaker. If you aren't building the full towers you'll be using a different port and a ton less Damping Material (which will save you almost 50$, more if you aren't building a center). You don't need to buy banana plugs or the high grade wire but you can if you want to. Also I wouldn't use that wiring for the internal part. If you have some 18 gauge or something a little cheaper you'd be better off using it. You only need higher grade wire if you're running longer distances, when resistance actually matters. That wire is too thick to work with for the internals. I'm sure you noticed but this doesn't include anything for the cabinet besides the sound foam. You'll have to factor that in.

[mootsfox]

My parts list would include my right, left & center channel.

Spoiler: show

http://stomped.com/mini/speaker-parts.jpg

Not included in that bill was:

1 027-430 Dayton DMPC-12 12uF 250V Polypropylene Capacitor 4.57 4.57 (center channel)
2 260-402 Port Tube 1-1/2" ID x 4" L Flared 1.40 2.80 (center channel)
9 260-530 Sonic Barrier 3/4" 3-Layer Damping Material w/PSA 18" x 24" 16.69 150.21
I also had a mid-range that I bought off one of my friends, it's for the center channel as well.If you plan to build the center I can get the part number for that.

Total based on above parts: $ 835.08 + the cost of the mid-range for the center.

The center channel cost more then the right and lefts in parts. I don't think you can buy a pre-made cabinet for it. Which speakers do you plan to build? I can give you an exact parts list per speaker. If you aren't building the full towers you'll be using a different port and a ton less Damping Material (which will save you almost 50$, more if you aren't building a center). You don't need to buy banana plugs or the high grade wire but you can if you want to. Also I wouldn't use that wiring for the internal part. If you have some 18 gauge or something a little cheaper you'd be better off using it. You only need higher grade wire if you're running longer distances, when resistance actually matters. That wire is too thick to work with for the internals. I'm sure you noticed but this doesn't include anything for the cabinet besides the sound foam. You'll have to factor that in.

Wow, thanks for the info

I'm looking to keep it at 2.1 for now, so a pair of monitors and some sort of sub package. Right now I have a single 10" sub, two 5.25" mids and two 1" tweeters.

Kind of unsure what to go with, but something like a 1" tweeter and 6" mid in each monitor and like a single 12" or dual 10"s in the sub cabinet. Budget somewhere around $250-400 for the speakers, wiring, etc, not including the cabinets.

Also, maybe I missed this, what store did you order from?

[Blabj]

Sorry to derail the thread a little bit, but it is home theatre related...

My mum has tasked me with finding her a decent media streamer/player for the living room, which has the ability to stream movies, playback HD and all the usual mod cons (decent UI, simple enough for her to set up, perhaps ability to connect an external drive or two for saving content to, remote, yadda yadda)

I know there are a few devices now that cover these points, and I've been looking at the Apple TV and new Popcorn hour in particular. (I know that the apple tv requires considerable hacking before it becomes useful, but I don't mind that...) I'm basically looking for opinions and suggestions that would fill these criteria. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say her budget is somewhere between £200-350 GBP ($325-570 USD) Any ideas greatly appreciated!

[mootsfox]

Sorry to derail the thread a little bit, but it is home theatre related...

My mum has tasked me with finding her a decent media streamer/player for the living room, which has the ability to stream movies, playback HD and all the usual mod cons (decent UI, simple enough for her to set up, perhaps ability to connect an external drive or two for saving content to, remote, yadda yadda)

I know there are a few devices now that cover these points, and I've been looking at the Apple TV and new Popcorn hour in particular. (I know that the apple tv requires considerable hacking before it becomes useful, but I don't mind that...) I'm basically looking for opinions and suggestions that would fill these criteria. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say her budget is somewhere between £200-350 GBP ($325-570 USD) Any ideas greatly appreciated!

I've seen this little guy which can do some of that for about $100.
WD TV HD Media Player ( WDAVN00 )

[kareface]

Wow, thanks for the info

I'm looking to keep it at 2.1 for now, so a pair of monitors and some sort of sub package. Right now I have a single 10" sub, two 5.25" mids and two 1" tweeters.

Kind of unsure what to go with, but something like a 1" tweeter and 6" mid in each monitor and like a single 12" or dual 10"s in the sub cabinet. Budget somewhere around $250-400 for the speakers, wiring, etc, not including the cabinets.

Also, maybe I missed this, what store did you order from?

Parts Express or madisound are the places you should look at for parts.

Are you talking about building a speaker using your existing drivers? If that's the case, it'll be a lot harder then what I described above. You'll have to calculate the volume of the box needed by the drivers and work out the cross over. Both of which are enormous tasks alone. If you're asking for advice on a pre-designed DIY speaker, I can offer a few suggestions. Would the following cabinet size be to your liking?

External Dimensions: 17" H x 10" W x 12.5" D
Internal Dimensions: 15.5" H x 8.5" W x 10.75" D
Internal Volume*: .82 cu. ft.

Or is that too large? The one I'm thinking of costs around $110-120 each speaker and isn't too large.

I've seen this little guy which can do some of that for about $100.
WD TV HD Media Player ( WDAVN00 )

If you plan on streaming any of the content via a network then this won't work for you. If you simply plan on keeping all the content on an external HD then you can't really beat it. Would she prefer to stream content as well?

[Blabj]

Yeah she has a lot of DVD rips on her hard drive which she could stream.