And on the 8th day.... GAWD's HT Gallery

[GAWD]

Well here is how it all started. A 10x18 room that was painted a weird beige color when we bought the house.


Reading some Joe Kane articles it was recommended to have a black wall and ceiling if possible with some dark colors on the walls. The wife gave me permission for the black wall and ceiling. Really didn't know what to expect but it turned out really nice. I was planning to have some dark chocolate brown walls but the room got really really dark so I went lighter on the walls with some Suede Paint (use can see the effect in the pics).

Now the original setup was as follows:

Sony 50" SXRD RP
Pioneer VSX 1015
Athena F2.2 L/R
Athena Center channel
Athena RS1 for the sides
Athena B1 and later F2 for the rear
Sony WM40 sub
Room treatment : Auralex








My sub was a Sony WM40. I honestly thought this setup was the $h!t !!! But then...I stumbled across the blu-ray.com boards. Oh how life has changed lol

My first upgrade was the sub. I went out and bought a Velodyne DSP-12. (Dont have a pic with that setup) Wasn't planning on keeping it but just wanted to hear what the difference would be....well it never left the house :-)

I honestly think that sub upgrade was my downfall. Everything and I mean everything but my TV has changed since then numerous times.

Next to go was my receiver. I wanted something with HDMI. I ended up with a Pioneer Elite VSX-01. I love it. Always loved Pioneer receivers. Now at that point I knew nothing about Emotiva and pre/pro...well logging on here everyday and listening to everyone talk about how they changed this and heard that I ventured out and got a power amp. The first was a Kenwood 6 ch 100 watt THX certified. Plugged it in...nothing..no real difference. I was kind of disappointed with it. It hummed in a speaker or two so I got rid of it only to buy a beat up Bryston 3b from a friend of mine for nothing. Now that's where the power amp changes started .

The Bryston made a huge difference but the amp was shot. It would pop and do all sorts of weird noises so I got rid of that and picked up a NAD 2400THX. Did it's job but wanted to try some monoblocks so picked up 3 Marantz MA-500s 125w THX certified amps.
They sounded so sweet. But the room looked funny having those three little guys spread out all over.

My center channel as it was always lacking....another downfall...once I heard what a Paradigm center channel could do it turned my world upside down. I got the CC-390 at a very stupid price and the difference in quality was insane!! From then on I was hooked on Paradigm. Switched out my Athena up front for Monitor 9s v5 and my rears for Paradigm Mini Monitors v5.













I thought I was happy but the sound field was not seamless and it was bothering me. Next thing to change were my side speakers. Upgraded to Axiom Qs8. What a difference. My whole side wall filled up with sound but I still found something missing.





I found a great deal on used Paradigm Studio v2s...40s up front 20s out back and jumped on it. The sound improved again. The Studio 40s blew the Monitor 9s out of the water.





During my speaker upgrade I found my sub to be lacking. Kept reading either go multiple or go big! Well I searched for months but couldn't find another DPS12 (can't find one when you're looking found 2 4 days after I stopped lol) Since I couldn't find one I decided to go big. Picked up a Velodyne DSLR 15".






Now the reviews seemed good and the comparison to other subs seemed like it was a good choice but when I brought it home I lost interest after a couple of days. It sounded hollow. Figured it was the room placement since I had my 12 in the front and the huge 15" had to go to the back of the room. Invested in a Behringer Feedback Destroyer. Made a huge difference.

The next upgrade was the center channel. I was really happy with the CC-390 , but wanted to try a Studio center after the huge difference I heard between the Monitor and Studio line. Found a CC-590 v4 at half price...jumped on it and never looked back. It is simply incredible.



I guess I should have never clicked on the Emotiva thread because I sold my Marantz monoblocks and bought an Emotiva LPA-1. I don't even think it was for the sound difference just wanted a 70lbs power amp. I can honestly say I didn't hear a difference. The only true difference I heard between power amps and receivers was with the Bryston 3b. That was just in another league.

Everything settled for a while. Didn't plan on upgrading anything. Bought a new BD player the Panasonic BD60. It's a piece of crap btw. Sorry for anyone reading this who owns one lol. It was slow...really slow. Everything you did required wait times and load times and uuuugggghhh. It's gone now. PQ was awesome though.

Thanks to Big Daddy and some others on here I was curious about what a sub riser would do. Went ahead and built one. It sounded great. Improved my sound again but the Velodyne still sounded hollow. No impact. It's play music nice but nothing else. The search started for a new sub. Enter SVS....

I was looking to get a HSU as SVS from the states was out of budget. I nearly pulled the trigger on the HSU VTF until I spoke to the rep at Sonic Boom here in Canada. He told me you want the best get a SVS you want #2..go buy a HSU lol. He was arrogant about it too. Said you know what buy the PB12..(enter discounted price) ...he was 100% positive I would not return it...sad to say he was right :-)

The sub was just AMAZING!!!! It blew the doors off anything I've ever heard before.

After that the bass shakers were added. My wife told me she loved the room and loved those rides where the chairs would shake. Surprised her with them. She liked them for about 10 mins then found the rumbling to be somewhat annoying lol. But I have to admit the biggest eye popping experience for anyone who comes to watch a movie is when they feel the shakers for the first time. the always turn to me with the smile....the chairs are shaking !! lol

Christmas of 09 came around and I again was looking for something to get myself. Saved up and bought a 2nd SVS PB12 shortly after. I can't say it made it huge difference only because I can't crank them up. But...the smoothness of it all really helped. To give you an idea on how low I have my subs set...they are at maybe 1 notch above 0 on the sub amp and -6 on the receiver. They are barely working.






Built my second riser and was in heaven.

Everything sounded great but looked kinda off. Mixed matched speakers and colors and brands. Birthday of '10 came around and again my beautiful wife allowed me to get my hands on a pair of Studio 20 v5 and that same week I found 2 new pairs of Monitor Audio BRFXs...4 of them for a very low price... jumped on them. Got rid of my Studio 40s and Axiom QS8s. Looking back...the Axioms weren't that good...my opion again. The BRfXs just sound incredible for surround speakers.





I am done. Everything sounds so good it's not even funny.














Only things on the horizon are a projector and Oppo 93 and they will be added soon enough....oh and some cable management lol it's a mess back there. Doesn't help that I bought yellow cables.

So since joining in 2009 I've gone through:

Speakers:
Athena F2
Anthea F2.2
Athena RS1
Athena B1
Athena C1
Axiom Qs8
Monitor Audio BRfx
Paradigm Monitor 9
Paradigm Mini Monitor
Paradigm CC 360
Paradigm Studio 40 v2
Paradigm Studio 20 v2
Paradigm Studio 20 v5
Paradigm Studio CC-590 v4


Subs
Sony WM40
Velodyne DPS 12
Velodyne DLSR 15
SVS PB12-NSD x2

Amps:
Bryston 3B
Marantz MA-500
Kenwood 6ch THX
Pioneer VSX 1015
NAD 2400 THX

BD players:
Sony PS3 80 gig Fat version
Sony PS3 120 gig Slim
Panasonic BD60