Home Theater

 

 

Home Theater- 20 Years in the Making.

I have been dabbling in Home Theater for quite some time now. I started out knowing that I was going to do some kind of sound system in the home that I purchased 20 years ago. Little did I know how much dabbling I would actually perform. At the time, there was very few options as far as installed wiring and lighting and decor. I saw that as a non issue. I just made everything myself. Since the house was a total rebuild, I took the time to wire it with the best speaker wire I could possibly find and made all of the connectors and covers from spare parts. The results were very good. As a matter of fact, the entire system is still installed and still functioning although some upgrades have been made. In 2001, I found out my wife and I were going to have a child. That day, I started to design and ultimately build an 1800 square foot addition on my little house that I bought in 1994. 600 square feet of that addition was going to be used for a Home Theater. Little did I know that the theater and the AV system throughout the house  would end up being the focal point of my design. I am extremely pleased with how things turned out and at the moment I feel I am about 85% complete. The 15% is things that will never be noticed, but it will be the “piece de resistance.”

“The Experience” is currently configured as a 5.1 system. The current wiring is in place to bring it up all the way up to 9.2, but I feel that since most dvd’s in my collection are in 5.1, the upgrade will result in little noticeable improvement. Currently, the system is serviced by a 125 amp panel with 8-20 amp 120 volt outlets and 4-30 amp 220 volt outlets.

The processor is an Integra DHC-9.9 pre/pro THX Ultra2.  It replaced the Sony TAE 9000ES 5.1 processor that experienced an issue with the power supply. I really like the Sony’s performance and I am going to be replacing the capacitors soon. The bad caps were a manufacturer issue, but not covered by warranty.

The DVD player is a Sony TAE999ES. It performs well and I like the solid build. It does not hav HDMI connections but I use the optical connection for audio and the component output for video.

The crossovers are dbx driveracks. Each channel is biamped and 3 driveracks are being used to drive the current 5.1 setup, but a 4th driverack is in the mix for the 7.1 setup when connected. 

The amplifiers for all the surrround channels are model  QSC RMX 2450. Currently, all channels are bi-amped and running electrovoice for the highs and JBL 2241h 18″ drivers for the mid/ low bass.

The LFE channel consists of a DIY passive radiator setup that I affectionately call “POTENTIA MAXIMUS.” It is powered by 2 Crown Itech 8000 amplifiers, and the crossover is a Berhinger MIC2200. The LFE channel has the ability to push 16000 watts through the LMS 5400 drivers. At full tilt, the system just breezes along. I cannot explain just how happy I am with the outcome of the LFE channel.

 

More to come…..

Robert the DividendDreamer

Please feel free to ask questions or leave comments.