Walmat's Basement Theater

[walmat]

Hello folks,

I've been a member of this site for a couple of years now but I've had the HT bug for about 15 years.
It all started when I moved in to my house and discovered a nice empty room in the basement that I could dedicate to TV watching. My first weak attempt at HT was connecting two full range speakers to my 28" Hitachi CRT...WOW
Once I could afford it I bought my first big screen box. A rear projection 50" Toshiba paired up with a PS2 using a component video connection for 480p video. At the time that was a smoking picture. A few years later I added my first AVR. It was an H/K 110 with a 5.1 Cerwin Vega bookshelf speaker set up. Little by little over time I upgraded and the first was to go for an HD picture. At the time that was only 720p/1080i and the most affordable technology then (plasma's were insanely priced and LED's weren't available) was DLP so out went the big box and in came my 62" Toshiba which I still own.
Fast forward to three years ago when I had the opportunity to renovate my TV space and turn it into the theater room I always wanted (and could afford) and voila here it is. After renos followed another gear upgrade to what I currently have.
It's funny how people ask me often why I spend so much on this hobby and why they can't afford to do so. Well it's been 15 years to get to where I am now with my HT and it's alot to learn along the way. I already have regrets about how I positioned my rears in my room and would have done a better job today knowing what I know now but that's life. I do enjoy this hobby very much and spend many a night down in my "Cave" with my now 14 yr old son enjoying movies and sporting events. That makes it all worthwile.
Note: Next upgrade - 65" Panny plasma (don't tell my wife)

[bz1080p]

Welcome and nice setup!
Enjoyed your wall art, PSB speakers look great!

[qiong]

Very nice theater room. Nice set up too. I wonder if you plan on putting on a FP and a big screen in your theater? You do have enough space for a big screen, maybe a 100" one?

[Fors*]

Very nice room, and I like the furniture alot. PSB makes a very nice sounding speaker, so excellent choice there. I think you have done a great job on what gear you have and with what your budget allowed, but lets hope your budget gets a little bigger to allow you to get that new TV. That appears to be your weakest link in your HT right now, as you are well aware it seems. Either way, good job. I rated your HT, so feel free to rate mine as well.

[BigAl87]

verry nice setup indeed, I love your PSB speakers, Great Work

[Aerodude73]

Very nice room but as Fors* noted, that room is Screaming for a Screen! You def. have the room, no? Any plans for that vice a Plasma, as you could prob. get a screen/Projector for the same ballpark price, give or take.

[Spurrier Sucks]

Great room and it does look like a great spot for a projector!

[walmat]

That's funny. One of my good friends who is also an HT fan has been on me about installing a screen and projector for years. I guess he has a point but i do prefer a screen and maybe one day it'll be that 65" panny plasma
I sit about 10.5' back so a 65" would fit the bill perfectly.

By the way thanks for all your comments guys. It's nice to hear from people who share the same passion which is why I love this site.

I do find that this HT addiction is becoming contagious. Many of my coworkers are getting the bug and I've become the goto guy for advice. Next week I'll be helping another coworker to calibrate his HT audio and beer maybe involved

[walmat]

I'm starting to get that upgrade itch again. I'm thinking about upgrading my two fronts with psb towers. I'd like to find the older model T55 psb's which come with dual 6.5" horns and a 1" tweeter.
Is this overkill for my room???
I don't want to upgrade for the sake of upgrading. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks

[NorCo_1806]

I can't tell, are the rear seats elevated at all?

Hey Fors*, how often do you use your projector vs. your TV

A 65" sounds great to me

[HAMP]

To me, that room is asking for a Projector.

Really nice setup you have.

[walmat]

Originally Posted by NorCo_1806

I can't tell, are the rear seats elevated at all?

Hey Fors*, how often do you use your projector vs. your TV

A 65" sounds great to me

No the rear seats aren't elevated because the front seats when reclined give you a clear view from the back.
Does anyone have any thoughts on my audio upgrade idea?

[HAMP]

Originally Posted by walmat

No the rear seats aren't elevated because the front seats when reclined give you a clear view from the back.
Does anyone have any thoughts on my audio upgrade idea?

I think your audio is good. If you must upgrade, then I would add two more speakers to make it a 7.1 and also add a second subwoofer.

My idea to make it a 7.1, I would add bi-pole speakers on the side. I do have mine in a di-pole mode, because Monitor Audio suggested that mode if I were to use all four of the same.

The way your room is, you can easily integrated some bi-pole on the sides.

Having some bi/di-pole will give an enveloping sound to your audio system, which is really a fantastic sound to have.

[walmat]

Last night I borrowed a friend's speakers and hooked up 7.1 for the first time. I put the two directional speakers at either side of my front row seats and finally I started to get that immersive feel everyone talks of. If you look at my gallery, my rear speakers are too far back behind me to give me that immersive field. I've made my existing rears SBL and SBR and the borrowed speakers SR and SL.
I'm looking for another pair of psb B15's and stands to be my permanent SR and SL. THis would be less expensive than buying towers for my fronts.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[walmat]

Well I bit the bullet. I tracked down a pair of b15'5 and these will now be my permanent surrounds with my mounted back speakers as SBL and SBR.
I can't wait to hook these up and calibrate everything. Yes the wife was upset but this upgrade was alot cheaper than being new towers.
Man I love this hobby.

[Aerodude73]

Originally Posted by walmat

Well I bit the bullet. I tracked down a pair of b15'5 and these will now be my permanent surrounds with my mounted back speakers as SBL and SBR. I can't wait to hook these up and calibrate everything. Yes the wife was upset but this upgrade was a lot cheaper than being new towers. Man I love this hobby.

sounds great - but we need Photos!

[Morrissey]

I like it!

[walmat]

Well I've got everything in place and now comes the inevitable tweaking. At the moment I've got the new surround mounted on higher stands so that they almost clear the back of my front row of chairs. They're up against the side walls and slightly behind me.
I've tried a blu with dolby prologic IIx to get something out all 7 speakers and the room sounds much fuller plus now I hear all the back information but the tweaking continues....

[SeanMF]

Nice setup. Now that you have setup I'd work on getting a projector like others have mentioned. That room is begging for it!

[walmat]

I'm done tweaking at this point, The sides I can hear well enough without pointing them out which is what I hoped for and to keep the back surrounds active I'm using the dolby prologic 2x setting on my amp. One strange thing though is I don't get center channel signal from some sources on this setting. Any ideas why?