The Great Kiwi Build

[kopkiwi]

Baffle wall finally complete. Had a stack of left over plywood so put a face over the rough cut so it was easier to paint. I'll tidy up a few areas a little bit enough, but other than that, it's done. At last.

[kopkiwi]

Speaker columns finally complete. Didn't have the tools on hand to make them myself so ended up getting a cabinet maker to put them together for me

[kopkiwi]

Am over the moon with how these came out



Next step is taking the acoustic panels off, removing the glue and getting the plasterer to tidy up and painter in

[kopkiwi]

Room finally re-plastered and painted. Columns painted and carpet in.

[kopkiwi]

Columns put together, just waiting on the acoustic fabric to arrive. After that it's skirting, in two minds as two whether or not I put some cornice around the top?

[kopkiwi]

Painting and columns are done, need to have a play around with the fabric or give it a steam it drops. Other than that, the room itself is finished and it's just about ordering the new gear.

[Fors*]

Looking good! Getting new gear is the fun part!

[kopkiwi]

Originally Posted by Fors*

Looking good! Getting new gear is the fun part!

You'd think that, but it's the part that's stressing me out the most lol. I'm a remorseful buyer; do I get the Marantz Cinema 50 and be content, or pay the extra $1500 and get the 40. Do I get the SVS SB2000 x 2 and save for the SB3000 x 2 later, or do I go with the SB4000 and delay adding another two until much further down the line? What screen do I get? There's a million and one acoustic options, but only like 3 in NZ, so if I want something semi decent I need to find somewhere ex America that'll ship at a decent rate (so far I am leaning towards Silver Ticket screens with this one, they seem best bang to their buck).

[witheygull]

Originally Posted by kopkiwi

You'd think that, but it's the part that's stressing me out the most lol. I'm a remorseful buyer; do I get the Marantz Cinema 50 and be content, or pay the extra $1500 and get the 40. Do I get the SVS SB2000 x 2 and save for the SB3000 x 2 later, or do I go with the SB4000 and delay adding another two until much further down the line? What screen do I get? There's a million and one acoustic options, but only like 3 in NZ, so if I want something semi decent I need to find somewhere ex America that'll ship at a decent rate (so far I am leaning towards Silver Ticket screens with this one, they seem best bang to their buck).

I can't personally weigh in on any of the audio components you're considering, but for an acoustically transparent screen I've been happy with this one from Silver Ticket. How to affordably get it in NZ I don't have any tips on though.

[kopkiwi]

Originally Posted by witheygull

I can't personally weigh in on any of the audio components you're considering, but for an acoustically transparent screen I've been happy with this one from Silver Ticket. How to affordably get it in NZ I don't have any tips on though.

Funnily enough, that is the exact screen I am looking at. I believe Silver Ticket ship directly :-)

[witheygull]

Originally Posted by kopkiwi

Funnily enough, that is the exact screen I am looking at. I believe Silver Ticket ship directly :-)

Some reviews I saw before I purchased it mentioned viewers being disappointed with seeing the weave texture on the screen once they started watching stuff on it. I sit 8 feet away (a little shy of 2.5m for those not in the U.S., Liberia, or Myanmar) from a 120 inch screen and I don't see the weave at that distance; if your viewing distance is closer or screen size larger, then further research may be in order before settling on this particular screen.

[kopkiwi]

Originally Posted by witheygull

Some reviews I saw before I purchased it mentioned viewers being disappointed with seeing the weave texture on the screen once they started watching stuff on it. I sit 8 feet away (a little shy of 2.5m for those not in the U.S., Liberia, or Myanmar) from a 120 inch screen and I don't see the weave at that distance; if your viewing distance is closer or screen size larger, then further research may be in order before settling on this particular screen.

Looking at 150" size, will be sitting around 3m from it, which I understand to be far enough back to not see the weave.

[Fors*]

Originally Posted by kopkiwi

You'd think that, but it's the part that's stressing me out the most lol. I'm a remorseful buyer; do I get the Marantz Cinema 50 and be content, or pay the extra $1500 and get the 40. Do I get the SVS SB2000 x 2 and save for the SB3000 x 2 later, or do I go with the SB4000 and delay adding another two until much further down the line? What screen do I get? There's a million and one acoustic options, but only like 3 in NZ, so if I want something semi decent I need to find somewhere ex America that'll ship at a decent rate (so far I am leaning towards Silver Ticket screens with this one, they seem best bang to their buck).

I always pay more up front for what I want (even if it is more $$)....as I find myself regretting not getting the higher end piece from the get go. By buying the "lower" end piece of equipment initially, I have found that it ends up costing me more money in the long run when I end up selling the lower end piece I first bought just to get the one I wanted in the first place.

[roar]

Theatre is looking great! Love the columns.

I've been using the same kit now for years. Thankfully, I'm happy with where I'm at. AVR wise, my last purchase I went with less than I had previously. I found I didn't use a lot of the extra functionality the better model offered... multi-room wasn't needed, I only use 3 HDMI inputs (PS5, AppleTV, 4K Blu Ray Player) so more of those offered no value, the watts per channel didn't make a difference to me as my front sound stage is run off separates and the surrounds would not have received any noticeable benefit from more power... what's the better Marantz really giving you?

Sub wise, you've got a big enough room an argument for 2 seems reasonable, if there is no cost benefit from shipping 2 at once though I'd start with one and see how it sounds. As long as your primary seating sounds great with one I think the benefits of multiple subs I find to be more of an ego play than an acoustic one personally. Unless you're a total base head and you just want it to dominate your sound stage... personal opinion of course. I've done some very limited testing in a friends theater where he had 2 subs and I couldn't hear or feel the difference when the second one was on within reasonable volume levels... I get it if you are trying to make sure all seats have the same experience and you're balancing out nulls in the room, but I'm selfish and really only care about my seat

Edit: Based on this comparison I pick the cheaper one all day long and put that money elsewhere. As mentioned, the power difference in imo is negligible in a real world setting, the extra room for multi-room gives me nothing and I don't need the extra HDMI... and the extra 2 sub outputs again don't move the needle for me based on my above sub notes .