Dragonfly's Wee Scottish Den

[dragonfly47]

A compromise between sound and aesthetics but it seems to work for me (and the wife).

Link

[Fors*]

I'll post here as well and add that your FXi3's are now a foot above ear height guys (per our previous postings in another thread) so no need to suggest anything about their location. The room is a perfect blend of aesthetics and home theater equipment IMO!

[SeanMF]

I love how the room looks. All the wood..equipment...looks very cozy. Class act setup you have there...very good job done indeed.

[Fors*]

Dragonfly, what did you use for the first pic of the diagram of your room? I would love to generate something like that for mine.....

[quest88]

Originally Posted by dragonfly47

A compromise between sound and aesthetics but it seems to work for me (and the wife).

Link

I am digging that TV stand you built. Great job

[Johk]

Looks great! The HSU sub really fits well with your furniture!

[MrFattBill]

Originally Posted by forsberg21

Dragonfly, what did you use for the first pic of the diagram of your room? I would love to generate something like that for mine.....

I would like to know as well.

Bill

[Hammie]

Originally Posted by forsberg21

Dragonfly, what did you use for the first pic of the diagram of your room? I would love to generate something like that for mine.....

You realize, once he discloses the program, everyone will have one. I know I will!

I have one that I created (it's not a pretty though) with Microsoft Visio, but is very outdated and has to be done on my work computer since I don't have Visio on my Home computer.

[Fors*]

Yeah, you are probably right. I like the idea of it, because it gives a better view of the layout in the room. It looks quite nice too.

[dragonfly47]

Originally Posted by forsberg21

Dragonfly, what did you use for the first pic of the diagram of your room? I would love to generate something like that for mine.....

Originally Posted by MrFattBill

I would like to know as well.
Bill

It was done with a free online program called Gliffy. Link

[Fors*]

Originally Posted by dragonfly47

It was done with a free online program called Gliffy. Link

I am playing with it now and it is awesome.....

[dragonfly47]

* Replaced my Onkyo 606 with a new Yamaha RX-V1065.

* Added two Polk R15's for the front height channels.

* Swapped out the old DVR for a new model.

[phansson]

Nice room dragonfly!

Would it be possible to somehow move the L/R mains closer into the tv? I know it wouldn't look as "clean" but I think it would be better for your front sound stage.

Have you tried it at all?

[dragonfly47]

Thanks. I considered moving the fronts closer. Placing the right front on the small chest between the two doors and the left on the left audio cabinet. But that would put the right speaker directly in the ear of anyone sitting on the right end of the sectional.

Granted, the current placement makes for a very wide sound stage, but toeing in the fronts helps to offset that, as does giving a bit of a boost to the center speaker, and no one gets a headache from having a bad seat.

[phansson]

Glad you at least considered it. A wide front soundstage isn't a bad idea and I hadn't considered the speaker being that close to someone seated.

Great job again, the room looks great!

[ldgibson76]

Hello Dragonfly47.

I really love your room. The equipment is so well integrated. It doesn't take over the room, but I'm sure the performance is outstanding. The speaker placement may not be ideal for the best soundstage, but I'm sure the sound quality is still good! Plus the YPAO calibration should make the necessary adjustments to achieve the best sound. When you picked your equipment, which are very fine selections, what made you choose that combination of components?
By the way, the StudioTech lowboys are plain outstanding.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but due to your speaker positioning, I would tend to believe that the overall sound quality when listening to music in multi-channel format must be pretty sweet.
Overall, I just think it's a beautiful room and configuration.

[dragonfly47]

Thanks, ld (after viewing your kit, I'm embarrassed to say my wire management skills at the back suck - I spent all my wiring time making sure they can't be seen from the front!)

You're right - YPAO plus a RatShack SPL meter has got it all sounding pretty good.

I actually started out with a pair of Polk R15's and an old legacy Micron sub, then fell in love with the Polk RTiA1's and moved the R15's to the surrounds. Then I got a deal on the RTiA3's, moved the A1's to the surrounds and the R15's as rears - wasn't happy with how directional the rears were and picked up the bipole FXi3's after hanging out in the Polk thread here - so everything just kinda moved around over time.

Drove them with an Onk 606 for about a year til the HDMI board went wonky. I spent several hours in Fry's A/B-ing receivers with A3's and A1's and I just liked the way the 1065 sounded compared to the Onks, Denons, and HKs they had. Came THIS close to buying a Pioneer VSX-23txh (probably the best LOOKING receiver in my price range) but backed off when I read about the power button issues they were having. The 1065 looked to be the most trouble free and I got a heck of a deal on one.

Read a lot about the Hsu's and fell in love with the rosenut finish and boy is it a great sub. Followed the development and beta testing of the Oppo and had had a good experience with their stuff before - so that was a no-brainer (I have a collection of SACDs and DVD-As and the Oppo makes them sound great).

So, as is usually the case, the system just grew. Now the baby R15's are back as presence speakers, so I've come full circle.

Yes, multichannel audio is outstanding, to me (and that's what counts, after all).

[ldgibson76]

Originally Posted by dragonfly47

Thanks, ld (after viewing your kit, I'm embarrassed to say my wire management skills at the back suck - I spent all my wiring time making sure they can't be seen from the front!)

You're right - YPAO plus a RatShack SPL meter has got it all sounding pretty good.

I actually started out with a pair of Polk R15's and an old legacy Micron sub, then fell in love with the Polk RTiA1's and moved the R15's to the surrounds. Then I got a deal on the RTiA3's, moved the A1's to the surrounds and the R15's as rears - wasn't happy with how directional the rears were and picked up the bipole FXi3's after hanging out in the Polk thread here - so everything just kinda moved around over time.

Drove them with an Onk 606 for about a year til the HDMI board went wonky. I spent several hours in Fry's A/B-ing receivers with A3's and A1's and I just liked the way the 1065 sounded compared to the Onks, Denons, and HKs they had. Came THIS close to buying a Pioneer VSX-23txh (probably the best LOOKING receiver in my price range) but backed off when I read about the power button issues they were having. The 1065 looked to be the most trouble free and I got a heck of a deal on one.

Read a lot about the Hsu's and fell in love with the rosenut finish and boy is it a great sub. Followed the development and beta testing of the Oppo and had had a good experience with their stuff before - so that was a no-brainer (I have a collection of SACDs and DVD-As and the Oppo makes them sound great).

So, as is usually the case, the system just grew. Now the baby R15's are back as presence speakers, so I've come full circle.

Yes, multichannel audio is outstanding, to me (and that's what counts, after all).

Dragonfly47, thanks for the reply. Very informative and thorough.

I spent all my wiring time making sure they can't be seen from the front!)

I can truly understand that philosophy. One day I will post photos of my system's evolution along with the cable management transformation. A site to behold, for sure!

IMO, the Polk Audio RTi series speakers are so underrated. The quality is outstanding for the price. And they are neutral sounding speakers, very accurate. I currently have a Polk Audio RTi70 pkg (RTi70's, CS400i, FXi3's and Velodyne CHT12) with a Yamaha RX-V3000 AVR. Old school no doubt, but still very effective and great sounding. The amp section in the RX-V3000 is strong. The thing weighs 50lbs! The Polk RTi70's are a perfect match to the Yamaha's warm sound. There are times when I prefer to listen to this system then my Marantz/Klipsch combo (main system). Inserting a CD in the Marantz DV4500 DVD player and listening in one of the many DSP modes. Especially when listening to jazz and selecting one of the Jazz Club modes (The "Village Gate" or the "Bottom Line"). It really sounds great.

Enough about my stuff! This thread is supposed to be all about your system.
When you listen to SACD's in your OPPO, are you using the DSD via HDMI or multi-channel in?

[dragonfly47]

Originally Posted by ldgibson76

When you listen to SACD's in your OPPO, are you using the DSD via HDMI or multi-channel in?

Most definitely HDMI. Since I'm such a slob with cables, the fewer the better!

[ldgibson76]

Originally Posted by dragonfly47

Most definitely HDMI. Since I'm such a slob with cables, the fewer the better!

I can understand that completely. Unfortunately, my HDMI connectivity is limited to video switching only. Resistance in futile! One day I will assimilate and be fully digital!