My HT@Hyderabad

[samcruise]

Hello guys, i was looking to build my HT and have been doing some research on the same by going through this forum and sites similar to this. I have gone to different places and had a demo of different setups in Hyderabad and also few places in Coimbatore (checked few places when i went there). I have had a chance to demo at places where acoustics was well done to places where it was minimal. I also had a chance to visit few individual houses where the respective person who had done the HT installation there took us.

So after visiting several places and going through a lot of information and immense help from few of our forum members, I have started the work on my HT in the first week of June. I have been taking pictures at different stages of work and i shall update the same. Now the work is about 60% done and i might get the HT up and running in a couple of weeks

I will try to share my experiences right from the beginning and hope my experience helps someone who is looking to do the HT setup themselves I am attaching the first pictures of what the room looked like. We constructed the house a couple of years back and we wanted this room to be a dedicated Home Theater and i wanted to pursue it only after getting some knowledge on the same. The room is about 26*19*11ft and has two doors.

 

[samcruise]

SPEAKERS:
The first thing i wanted to decide on was which brand of speakers to go with. I have auditioned B&W 683's, B&W CT 7.3LCR's, Polk Rti A7, A9, TSX 440t, Kef (some Q series), Bose (don't remember model), Revel, Tannoy DC12i, Golden ear Triton, paradigm studio 100 (heard couple of years back), Klipsch RP 280F and few others.

Out of all the speakers that i heard, i liked the sound of Polk Rti A7, Tannoy DC12i, B&W 683's and B&W CT 7.3LCR's. All this while i was also confused whether to go inwall or floor standing speakers. I wanted to have an aesthetic appeal by making all the speakers invisible but was also worried as to how to go about it. I read a lot about inwall vs floor standing and when i spoke to our forum members Sanjay and Manoj, i was completely convinced that i should go with inwall setup. They also suggested me to go with 3 identical speakers as LCR for better sound output.

So Polk A7 and B&W 683's were out of equation as they were floor standing and the only options left were Tannoy DC12i and B&W CT7.3's. When i was about to choose from one of them and posted a question in avs forum asking for suggestions as to which one is better (I know sound is a personal preference but i still wanted to know their experience from using them long term). One of the forum member suggested me to check out a US brand called PSA(power sound audio). Prior to that i had no idea and have not even heard of that brand. But sometimes you just go with the gut feeling, you just feel something right about it, even though i haven't heard those speakers i wanted to go with my gut feeling and enquired about them. They have only one distributor in Chennai and the price was almost double there. So i checked if someone was coming from US and one of my cousins was coming and so got it through her. I am attaching the pics of my PSA MT110s

 

[tuff]

Found a review on YT. Seems pretty loud.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejZo_Cvw4KM

 

[samcruise]

Found a review on YT. Seems pretty loud.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejZo_Cvw4KM

Hello, yeah i checked that review before deciding to go for them. These speakers have a sensitivity of 95db and can basically run with a not so fancy amplifier. My room size is 26*19, so i wanted something good which can run without increasing the level too much & without causing any distortion. Once they arrived, i have heard them and they sound fantastic

 

[samcruise]

Execution:

Now that the speakers were selected, i needed a person who could understand my ideas and execute them to the point. I came across one such guy through a friend of mine. I met him, explained him what i was looking at and asked him to provide me the quotes. He first gave me the quote for a turn key basis but since i already researched a little about which material to be procured from where (depending on best prices), I asked him if he could provide me just the carpenter and the fabric installation person. I mentioned that i would be purchasing all the materials needed and he needs to get the work done as per my ideas. He agreed for that and he brought along a carpenter to give me the material list needed to start the work.

The first thing to be finalized was positioning the riser and it's dimensions. We decided on the length and width of the riser and the carpenters started their work with that. I wanted to go with a 8inch riser which could accommodate 4 seats on it. As you can see in the pictures, the riser was made with 18mm ply and the same thickness sheets were laid on top of it.

 

[nipunkx]

Looks cool man.

 

[samcruise]

CEILING:

Now the next part is the ceiling. The room height is about 12ft but since we already installed a cassette AC, i had to bring the whole false ceiling to that level. So the final height of the room is 10.5ft. I did not want to go with gypsum ceiling as i read few posts about those ceilings getting cracked or vibrate at few frequencies. Another option was to go with anutone or similar acoustic ceiling tiles. I was pretty sure not to go with white color ceiling since that would be a distraction in a pitch black room. But another issue with the ceiling tiles was the look, it might look a little commercial and i wanted to go with something elegant. Also the price that i was quoted for ceiling tiles was about 180-200 per sft. At about the same cost i could go with ply frames with fabric finish.

Finally i decided to get the wood work done and cover the whole ceiling with fabric for a uniform look. 18mm ply was used for making the panels. Usually ceiling is the most time taking process since they have to prebuild the panel frames and install them to the ceiling by giving supports wherever needed. I am attaching the pics at various stages of the work.

 

[Thinkdifferent]

WAO looks like you are putting in a lot of heard work, and hard work always pays-off, next time when I'm in Hyderabad, I will catch up with you to have a listen if you are okay with it. as I yet to listen to a DIY HT setups.

Good Luck
TD

 

[samcruise]

WAO looks like you are putting in a lot of heard work, and hard work always pays-off, next time when I'm in Hyderabad, I will catch up with you to have a listen if you are okay with it. as I yet to listen to a DIY HT setups.

Good Luck
TD

Sure, still work in progress though...should take a couple of weeks to finish

 

[koushik]

Great work Sir! Where do you live in Hyderabad
Would love to visit your place ...

 

[Lad1]

Which amp & projector ?....why ?

 

[samcruise]

Great work Sir! Where do you live in Hyderabad
Would love to visit your place ...

Thank you, i stay in Jubilee Hills

 

[samcruise]

Which amp & projector ?....why ?

Marantz 7010 & Sony 40es. Are you asking me why those brands?

 

[Lad1]

Marantz 7010 & Sony 40es. Are you asking me why those brands?

yes.Why did you chose these model ?

 

[rajesh srinivas]

hi samcruise

Fantastic HT diy approach,appreciate your hard work,efforts in gathering information/
and finally implementing them.

I am to sailing in the same boat,will be eagerly following your thread.

Would like to know the length,width,height of the riser,how many rows you have planned.

What about acoustics for the room i.e wall,ceiling,flooring ????/.

what about screen which brand and size...

rajesh.

 

[samcruise]

yes.Why did you chose these model ?

I am going to answer that in my next post

 

[samcruise]

hi samcruise

Fantastic HT diy approach,appreciate your hard work,efforts in gathering information/
and finally implementing them.

I am to sailing in the same boat,will be eagerly following your thread.

Would like to know the length,width,height of the riser,how many rows you have planned.

What about acoustics for the room i.e wall,ceiling,flooring ????/.

what about screen which brand and size...

rajesh.

Thank you so much. The riser is about 12ft(width)*7.5ft(length)*8inch(height). I have planned two rows of seating, my primary listening position is the first row, which i am using as a reference to position the speakers and also the acoustic material. I am doing absorption at particular places by identifying the reflection points through the mirror method. Flooring would be wooden/laminate. Ceiling, i am just making wooden panel frames and cover with a layer of fabric. I got an acoustically transparent screen material from seymour av and the screen size is 155inch diagonal

 

[samcruise]

PROJECTOR & A/V RECEIVER:

Before i decided on anything else, i wanted to finalize the projector that i am going with. I have checked and had a demo of few projectors like Epson 6600 & 8200, Panasonic AE8000, JVC (some model), Infocus. Out of all these i was confused as i wasn't sure which one would suit my needs. I had a confusion whether to go with 2.35:1 or 16:9 aspect ratio screen as well. That was really the key point in making a decision. Initially i was thinking of going with 2.35 aspect ratio and i was pretty much fixed on Panasonic AE8000 and wanted to make the buy, but after doing a little research i came to know that this particular model was almost 4 years old and panasonic was not coming up with any new projectors in that segment. The reason i wanted to go with ae8000 was because it had lens memory and it could shift from 2.35 to 16:9 aspect ratio automatically without the use of anamorphic lens. After talking to a couple of forum members Sanjay and Manoj, i was convinced that it was better to go with 16:9 aspect ratio because of the options that i can choose from. Since we are used to watching TV that way(2.35 content will play with horizontal bars on top/bottom on a 16:9 screen), it wouldn't be an issue. So the next option was Epson 8200. Even though the mentioned brightness of 8200 was about 2400lumens, the brightness in best mode was way too less to bright up a 155inch diagonal. Manoj has a Sony projector which he has been using since a year and his screen size, the projection distance and the seating distance was almost similar to my setup, so i thought i could go with that projector. I checked few reviews as well and finally made a decision to purchase Sony 40ES.

There were only 2 choices in my mind for receivers actually, Denon & Marantz. I did not want to go with Yamaha, Onkyo or Pioneer for no specific reason . I just heard few demos with these two and found them good. Since they are both from the same parent company, not much of a difference in their features in making a decision apart from the price. I was looking for a 7.2.4 setup and i needed something to support that (I am going to install 4 ceiling speakers but would connect only 2 for now). Denon 6200 and Marantz 7010 were of same level in terms of features but Marantz was cheaper when compared to Denon, So i took a decision and went with Marantz 7010

 

[captainrizal]

PROJECTOR & A/V RECEIVER:

Before i decided on anything else, i wanted to finalize the projector that i am going with. I have checked and had a demo of few projectors like Epson 6600 & 8200, Panasonic AE8000, JVC (some model), Infocus. Out of all these i was confused as i wasn't sure which one would suit my needs. I had a confusion whether to go with 2.35:1 or 16:9 aspect ratio screen as well. That was really the key point in making a decision. Initially i was thinking of going with 2.35 aspect ratio and i was pretty much fixed on Panasonic AE8000 and wanted to make the buy, but after doing a little research i came to know that this particular model was almost 4 years old and panasonic was not coming up with any new projectors in that segment. The reason i wanted to go with ae8000 was because it had lens memory and it could shift from 2.35 to 16:9 aspect ratio automatically without the use of anamorphic lens. After talking to a couple of forum members Sanjay and Manoj, i was convinced that it was better to go with 16:9 aspect ratio because of the options that i can choose from. Since we are used to watching TV that way(2.35 content will play with horizontal bars on top/bottom on a 16:9 screen), it wouldn't be an issue. So the next option was Epson 8200. Even though the mentioned brightness of 8200 was about 2400lumens, the brightness in best mode was way too less to bright up a 155inch diagonal. Manoj has a Sony projector which he has been using since a year and his screen size, the projection distance and the seating distance was almost similar to my setup, so i thought i could go with that projector. I checked few reviews as well and finally made a decision to purchase Sony 40ES.

There were only 2 choices in my mind for receivers actually, Denon & Marantz. I did not want to go with Yamaha, Onkyo or Pioneer for no specific reason . I just heard few demos with these two and found them good. Since they are both from the same parent company, not much of a difference in their features in making a decision apart from the price. I was looking for a 7.2.4 setup and i needed something to support that (I am going to install 4 ceiling speakers but would connect only 2 for now). Denon 6200 and Marantz 7010 were of same level in terms of features but Marantz was cheaper when compared to Denon, So i took a decision and went with Marantz 7010

Looks like a great dedicated HT room coming up...keep us updated. What you doing about room acoustic treatment? I have done mine with acoustic foams from Bajaao.com. These guys are good and help you in choosing right acoustic material for your home theater.

 

[samcruise]

ACOUSTICS:

I have gone through quite a few threads on this and other forums and spoke to few people regarding acoustics. From the knowledge that i gathered, the first thing that is most important and the most easily done task in acoustics is placement of the speakers and seating position. Once that is done right, remaining part can be done as per our convenience and practicality. I wanted to get the HT acoustically and aesthetically pleasing and so i wanted to get the best of both the things. Sanjay helped me a lot in determining the speaker placement & seating positions.

Now, coming to the absorption part of it. Lot of vendors whom i spoke with were trying to convince me to go with ply panels->50mm synth wool->anutone boards (that's the order in which they need to be installed on the wall) which would eventually make the whole room dead and that would only put the load on the receiver as we have to up the volume and that's not something suggestible beyond a point. I would try to explain what i did for my HT. Dealing with reflections from the LCR is something which i wanted to concentrate. I used the mirror method to mark the reflection points on the walls of the LCR speakers. Only those points on the walls are being treated with 150mm absorption. The back wall again is 150mm absorption. So i used 3 layers of synth and a wood wool board on top of it to achieve that. The remaining walls, instead of closing with ply, i preferred wood wool boards by leaving a gap of 1inch from the wall. I would use absorption on the ceiling at the first reflection point. I am planning to go with wooden flooring (carpet is too much maintenance) and will place a rug at the first reflection point. For now i am not going with any bass traps or diffusors. Hopefully it would turn out good enough

For synth and wood wool boards i have purchased them from Vinardax, Bangalore.

I am unable to upload more pics directly here in the forum, so please check the pics that i uploaded here https://flic.kr/s/aHskFiLoRJ