Home theater setup - TLAH, Curved SLA, SLA, THT

[caddylackn]

Your THT speaker needs to be fully supported along the entire width and length during your build. The weight alone will sag the end panels enough that you will have a hard time fitting later panels and getting the panels to fit together square.

Build a platform with 2" by 4" s on edge on 12" centers connected together with blocking every 16" or so, at least as wide as your speaker to support it while you build. Place the 2" by 4" platform on top of the saw horses to build on top of. MDF is heavy and it doesn't span well and will warp under weight if not fully supported.

That speaker is going to be very heavy when finished.

[Yarz]

It was a trade-off between support and clamping room at the time. And since I needed room for the clamps and it wasn't too heavy yet, I put it on those 2x4's. I just got some more clamps, with smaller heads, so it's now on a shipping pallet for full support. That saves me from having to assemble a table from 2x4's.

As for the final weight, I'm not concerned. Since it's for home theater, I only have to move it once If it was a pro sub, and I was moving it all around, I would definitely be concerned. I don't have a scale, but I may have to try to borrow one just to see what the final weight is.

I got panel 8 and 2/8 braces installed today, as well as 9, 11, 13, 10, and 8/9 braces cut. Not too many steps left before I can try this beast!

[Yarz]

Got all of the panels in:


Put the second side on, flush trimmed and then rounded the edges, fit the access cover, and tonight got to put the speaker in, test for leaks, and then test it a bit. With the few tests I did, I'm pretty impressed with the output. I was running up to 15 volts, and loved how much I could feel the sound.





I need to get time to put what is hopefully the final coat of paint on the 5 speakers, so I can start to install and wire the drivers.

[67baja]

Oh, no! You broke a cardinal rule by putting an unfinished sub in the house. Now it will never get finished because you won't want to take it out.

[Yarz]

Hahaha, I did...

I thought about holding off until it was finished, but decided I couldn't wait. Plus, there is no WAF needed here.

Maybe one day I'll finish it to match the others... one day...

[Yarz]

I got the final coat of paint done yesterday. It was cold and rainy, so I couldn't paint outside. I set up the garage to spray in one of the bays.


It still has a few defects in the paint, probably because my garage isn't clean, despite me vacuuming what I could the night before, and trying my best to not stir up dirt as I moved around. This shows a particularly bad spot.


You can see the reflection of the tools hanging on the wall, to give an idea of the amount of gloss they have. Overall they look pretty good from a couple feet away, so I'm going to try to give them a few days to cure before mounting/wiring the speakers.

[Yarz]

I've been working on the wiring a little at a time almost everyday this week. I just finished up tonight, and got the cabinets in the desired locations. I'm going to run Pioneer's MCACC on the receiver (VSX-1019AH if anyone's interested) to get it all set up, and then do some listening. FINALLY!!













The setup that is being replaced is:
Fronts: KLH-9912 - Got these free with an old receiver, years ago
Rears: Bose 601 Series III - with at least one blown woofer - got them free from my grandpa years ago
Center: Sony SS-CN290 - with some automotive tweeter inside - Borrowed from my brother
Sub: Sony SA-W3800

[67baja]

Please post up your listening impressions and review after you've spent some quality time listening to those bad boys.

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

You don't want the L/R speakers so close together. Six feet apart is the minimum, eight feet even better. Placed tight to the screen you lose left/right imaging. Also, the surrounds should be well above ear level, as the imaging from surrounds should be vague.

[Yarz]

Please post up your listening impressions and review after you've spent some quality time listening to those bad boys.

I will attempt to do that, probably in a few days. I say attempt, because I'm not very good at descriptions, particularly with my limited audio experiences.

I can say right now that when I first connected them, I thought there was way too much in the high frequency range, but that's probably because I was used to a very small number of tweeters producing that range. I had the same reaction after adding tweeters in my Jeep. And I assume the mid drivers need to break in, similar to the way the sub driver did. Whatever the cause, they already sound better to me, after just a few hours of listening.

You don't want the L/R speakers so close together. Six feet apart is the minimum, eight feet even better. Placed tight to the screen you lose left/right imaging. Also, the surrounds should be well above ear level, as the imaging from surrounds should be vague.

Unfortunately, I'm kind of limited on width right now. This is on the narrow side of the room (11ft 3in x 16ft, open to the dining room in the back of the current setup), so if I move them wider, they get blocked by the couch on the left and the THT on the right. I'll have to play with room arrangement to see if I can get them wider than the ~4.5 feet that they are now.

And thanks for the information on the surround height. They are just on the old speakers for now, and I planned to build stands at some point. But now that I know it should be higher, perhaps I'll start thinking about some sort of shelf.

[DJPhatman]

I would also "cut" those surrounds in half. Using 4 woofers and 6 tweeters will be making them too locate-able. just MHO.

[Yarz]

I would also "cut" those surrounds in half. Using 4 woofers and 6 tweeters will be making them too locate-able. just MHO.

Maybe next time..

Please post up your listening impressions and review after you've spent some quality time listening to those bad boys.

I am extremely happy with them so far, even with them being in less than ideal positions, as noted above. I have used them mostly for music so far, and they are crystal clear, even with the volume turned way up.

[milehighassassin]

Nice work. Any updates?

I'm debating what to do with my home theater. I love movies but I also do quite a bit of music listening. Honestly thinking of doing the David's for music and something like this for HT.

[Yarz]

Thank you for the compliment. There are no real updates to speak of. I have been using the setup for movies and music (usually with the receiver set to stereo), and love every time I do.

Pretty much all I've done is space the TLAH's out to the corners of the room. But in order for them not to fire straight into things, I had to lift them. So I will have to build/buy some stands for them, since right now they're sitting on whatever I could find.

I'm still debating how I want to get the surrounds raised up, as well. I was thinking I'd put up a shelf. And since that will be a permanent install, I want it to look nice. I just have to figure out how I want to do it.

I too am interested in the Davids, possibly for my second zone or in the garage. I have only seen a couple build threads on them, so if you do one, I'll be following it.