Theater Remodel Advice Needed (Dynamic 4cc 4tt)

[Landspeeder]

Good day HT crew,

After living in an insufferably small home-theater/office for the last couple years it is time to remodel. Originally I had a large futon, a full desk, and 2 racks, plus the audio equipment leaving zero floor space... along with a wall of DVDs (that have made their way onto a redundant server to be replaced by a sparse collection of art).

So far I have hidden the racks and computers into the now vented closet, an Eames Lounge is on the way, and the wires have been run.

1 - I need help on the setup.
2 - I need advice on the surround speakers.

The placement of the Door and Closet make the single seat's location fixed to the left 1/3 of the room.

Equipment:
Jed's Clearwave loudspeaker Dynamic 4TT, Dynamic 4CC, Zaph Hi-Vi B3S Single speaker surrounds, a custom Dual Seas Subwoofer with plate amp, Emotiva UMC-1/XPA-5, HTPC, Server, Samnsung A750 42" lcd.

The 'Office' function now consists of using the hidden server with wireless mouse/keyboard on a lapdesk on the lovely Eames Lounge.

Posts to Follow:

[Landspeeder]

Advice on the Setup 1: The Platform.

I am not in love with this idea. The current setup has the subwoofer under the center channel speaker. I have this lifted 6" off of the floor in order to clear the forced air duct.

In order for this to work, I need to build a 10" tall platform to bring my eye level up to the center of the screen. This feels awkward to me, but the sound is very good.

The subwoofer had 2 Seas L16 units side by side with a large port in the middle, 1" off of the ground (now 7" off the ground due to the lifting blocks).

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[Landspeeder]

Advice on the Setup 2: The front subwoofer.

With this change, a platform that matches the center channel will be built with a stand complete with front grill. This grill is open on the inside to the heat duct.

The subwoofer is turned onto its side, placed on the left side of the room with the port facing the wall about 2' above the floor.

I would build a matching subwoofer 'shell' on the right side complete with matching grill. The grill would go on knife hinges and act as a storage cabinet.

This leaves a 4" gap from the center channel to side speakers and a 4" gap from the side speakers to the subwoofer/cabinet.

This also places the non centered chair further to the left of the soundstage... yuck. However, this can be solved by replacing the bi-fold closet doors with sliding doors allowing the chair to be nearly centered in the room.

Visually this is my favorite option.

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[Landspeeder]

Advice on the Setup 3: The Rear subwoofer.

Like option 2, a platform that matches the center channel will be built with a stand complete with front grill. This grill is open on the inside to the heat duct.

The subwoofer is turned onto its side, placed on the left side of the room with the port facing the wall about 2' above the floor, but in the rear cubby hole directly behind the lounge chair. This replaces the only table I have in the room.

This leaves 10" between the center channel and side channel speakers. This provides for a much better front soundstage (I believe), but it moves the subwoofer to a very awkward location. It also leaves me with no tables nor additional storage.

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[Landspeeder]

Advice on the surround speakers.

Originally we planned on moving by now: our firstborn along with a still low selling housing market has changed that.

In order to make this setup work, I have needed to move the surround sound speakers just behind ear level, but 7'8" high up on the wall. Currently I have the Zaph Hi-Vi B3S Single speaker for rear fill. Up this high however along with being directly behind my ear level sounds VERY strange. I cannot place these lower without moving a door... which I will not do at this point.

What should I replace these with... or should I even bother :/

[Landspeeder]

Original Office Setup Pics:

AKA, the collapsing cave of mess and mayhem (yuck).

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[Landspeeder]

Thank you all greatly for whatever input you have to give.

The office/theater is already much more inviting... but it needs a little more tweaking.

[AdelaaR]

Is there really no other option to somehow get your room to be symmetrical with you in the middle ... I'd hate to have invested that much in those speakers and than have to listen to them like that with a messed up stereo image.
Why can't you break out some doors or move/destroy/whatever some closets?
Another thing I would consider if that isn't possible is to mount neat little wheels under the chair and move it to the center when used.
Sorry, but I just can't find myself in any of the options you mentioned.

[Landspeeder]

By changing the bi-fold closet doors to sliding doors I can move the seat to near center (see the pics to follow with included dimensions).

I am rather certain that moving the door or removing the closet are out of the question. The layout pic with notes shows why: I'm open to these suggestions, but I just do not see how to make them work.

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[cbark]

I would move the chair in front of the door to get it centered. If you can configure the closet to allow access to the most used items on the left, you wouldn't have to move the chair to gain access (only once in a while for the right side). I am mearly guessing, but that's what it looks like in the picture provided.

It also doesn't look like you gain any depth by moving the chair to the side. Sub location would be where it sounds best, probably at the front, but you never know until you try.

[Landspeeder]

cbark, I too am strongly leaning towards moving the chair to 'close to' center. Your assumption about the closet access is correct.

Once I have the Herman Miller Eames in hand, I will replace the casters with coasters if feasible as per AdelaaR's suggestion. Please do not hate me for this... it is 'just' a chair after-all.

After talking to Jed, it is unlikely that I'll place the subwoofer in the rear cubby. The 10" tall chair platform idea is really rubbing me the wrong way, so keeping the sub under the center channel speaker is out. Which leaves me with placing the sub to the left stage. Hopefully this works out OK... if not I'll have to try it under the floor or in the ceiling with a new enclosure I suppose... I wonder how these subs would do in an infinite baffle with an XPA-1...

The media center rack, server racks, hardwire power equipment, circuit breaker, and wire access points are all on the limited access side of the closet.
What needs fairly constant access to the limited access side:
1) Remote controls (via an extender/repeater = no problem)
2) Blu-ray (may be relocated to other side with minimal impact... or even placed in the front of the room as a spare HDMI cable has already been run)


It feels amazing to be trading the cluttered cluster for minimal elegance

[onyxbfly]

I've always admired your speakers. Would you mind sharing your finishing process?

[Landspeeder]

Thank you onyxbfly. The next time I sync my camera I'll show the updated pictures which include the grills.

Mains:
-MDF glued with titebond II, endgrain sealed with woof filler. Neodyme magnets stacked in the baffle under the veneer. Multiple coats inside and out with Oil based sanding sealer.
-Heatlock wood backed mahogany veneer.
-Stain prep treatment soak in, wipe off (rub hard in areas and light in others... as randomly as possible), light sanding
-Ammonia fume in a plastic tent for a couple days
-Light sanding
-3 coats of oil sealer, 4 coats of pore filler (waterborn crystallac), and 15 coats of high gloss poly sprayed and dried between coats, light sanding between coats. Final coat of semi-gloss poly.

They change colors as you walk past them: If I get off to the side a little bit all that shows is a deep red/rust. If I get a little more to the side all that shows is a mirror-like reflection.

These are HARD to get a good shot of. I hired a photographer and he laughed at me when I showed him the speakers refusing to take a shot. The problem is either it looks like a mirror or it looks like very deep grain.

Note: in the future, stick with contact cement as it is easier to work on with wood backed veneer.

Subwoofer:
-This looks MUCH MUCH better with the grill. This grill is held on by brass turnstyles.
-MDF glued with titebond II, endgrain sealed with woof filler. Multiple coats inside and out with Oil based sanding sealer. All wood at least 2.25" Thick with lots of internal bracing (it takes 3 people to move... with 2 very strong men it is possible but difficult)
-Multiple coats of shellac based zinser primer sealer stain killer sprayed
-High build automotive primer sprayed
-3+ coats of Antique black (a chalkboard like matte and color)
-Edges rounded with one of the largest router bits I have ever seen.

[Landspeeder]

BTW, I finally broke down and grabbed a Canon Rebel T3i to replace my old pocket camera. It takes MUCH better pictures (but is also much harder to use/learn). Once I've spent some time tweaking the process... that is when I will sync the new pics.

[onyxbfly]

I knew it was a bit of a process and very involved but i believe that i would have to look out of the womb before even thinking of crawling. In one word beautiful. For something so masculine they are a beauty to behold!! Yours is one of my favorite threads on the Clearwave forum!!!!

Do you have a build thread for your subs?

[Landspeeder]

Thank you greatly Onyxbly! That is most kind of you.

Alas the sub box has no build log.
I'm willing to answer any questions you may have however.

[Landspeeder]

Office Setup Progress Pics:

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Fan vent for closet (3x120mm temp controlled exhaust)

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Almost done moving the wall of dvds to my server.
Next the books will go to rear cubby.
Finally only sparse art will be on these shelves.

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