Hi folks,

Sharing my multipurpose basement home theatre. The idea was to have a liveable space which doesn't look overwhelming, but can also get pitch black and has speakers placed to Dolby's specs. I've hidden all the cables the best I can, and I'm super happy with the results. The back wall was painted a dark green which fits the room, and is essentially black with the lights off.

Also proud to say, with the exception of the TV, heights, and the amp for them, everything here was purchased used. I've found some good deals online, and just slowly upgraded over the years.

Equipment:

TV: LG B4 OLED 77" (rooted and spyware removed)

AVR: Denon x4700h (A1 Evo Acoustix optimized)

Front Speakers: Energy Veritas 1.8

Center: Boston Acoustics VR-12 (angled up)

Surrounds: Mirage FRX-1 (upside down, placed ever so slightly too high)

Surround Back: PSB VS-300 (On wall)

Heights: KEF Ci-160ER (all 25deg from center position)

Subwoofer: SVS PB12 Plus/2 (dual 12" drivers)

Extra amp for heights: AIYIMA A07

TV Stand: Custom made to be low enough, and also fit the large center speaker.

Turntable: Thorens TD-165

Turntable Preamp: Nakamichi CA-5

CD Player Nakamichi CDP-2A

Inputs: Ugoos AM6b+, Switch 1/2, Fiber HDMI from gaming PC upstairs

The movie playing is Five Easy Pieces (4K), bonus Oppenheimer film strip, and cat :) Thanks for looking and remember to enjoy the movies!

Two days ago I posted the first top 20 Dolby Atmos movies after the ranking launched. Now with over 200 ratings, the ranking changed significantly.

Current top 25, scored only on the Atmos mix. Score is the overall, then the three dimensions: Immersion, Spatial creativity, Mix quality. Last column is the Atmos disc on Blu-ray.com.

Most of these still sit on a handful of ratings, so one more vote moves the list.

More info about the community can be found in my profile.

I picked up a pair of Infinity RS 4000 speakers for $90. The cabinets had some water damage, likely from years of being used as makeshift cup holders, but the drivers still sound amazing.
I decided to give them a facelift. I peeled off the failing vinyl wrap, sanded down the swelled spots, and patched everything up with filler and glue. For the new finish, I went with an interestingly patterned vinyl wallpaper. They also came with matching wood stands that I spray painted black.

I am really happy with how they turned out. It was a super fun restoration project!

This feels like a steal for what you get. I just ordered one to replace a SVS SB1000 (non pro). Wanted to share in case others are in the market for a smaller form factor sub that seems to pack a serious punch.

Anyone have first hand experience with this model? I know folks do love other PSA stuff here.

After spending six months building my first home theater, I decided to tear it down after only a few months of enjoying it. 😂

As much as I loved that room, I wanted something more dedicated, with better acoustics, and improved sound isolation.

So I started over from scratch! This time, I focused heavily on room acoustics, speaker placement, sound isolation, and getting the most out of the space. It’s been a long journey, but I’m extremely happy with how everything turned out.

Equipment List:

Projector: Valerion VisionMaster Pro 2

Screen: Seymour AV UF2 Acoustically Transparent 2.39:1

AVR: Onkyo TX-RZ30 with Dirac Live Bass Control

Front L/R: PSA MTM-210 Towers

Center: PSA MTM-210

Surrounds: PSA 110 Surrounds

Atmos: 4× PSA C6 Coaxial

Subwoofers:

* 2× PSA TV2112M (21”)

* 1× PSA TV126 (6x21”)

Amplification: Monolith 7-Channel Amplifier 7x90

Acoustic Treatment: GIK Acoustics hybrid panels and broadband absorption

Media Player: Zidoo Z3000 Pro, Apple TV4K, NAS

Control: SofaBaton X2

Room: Approximately 22’ × 12’4” × 6’10”

Rack is outside of the room.

I have my old theater pictured which is going to be a sports lounge with a projector and 3.1 system.

The room also features a decoupled ceiling with isolation clips and hat channel, isolated wall framing, a raised subfloor, and a removable false wall.

Still have some calibration and fine-tuning to do, including integrating a miniDSP for the three subwoofers, but the room is finally at a point where I can sit back and
Enjoy.

Appreciate everyone who has followed along with the journey!

I have a 5.2.4 setup powered by an Onkyo NR7100. I have Monitor Audio Bronze 100s as my front L/R, Monitor Audio Silver C250 as my center, and Monitor Audio Bronze 50s as my L/R surrounds, and that’s what’s pictured in the post. Was watching Godzilla Minus One last night and noticed some odd distortion and buzzing at peak moments towards the end of the film, looked over and saw that the driver was damaged

I’ve had the 50s for a little over 2 years now, they were originally my front L/R for a couple of months, and for the last ~1.5 years they’ve been my surrounds.

The room is modestly sized at 12.5’x17’, and my surrounds are about ~8 ft away from the listening position. All of the speakers are level matched and calibrated with Dirac Live using a UMIK-1, and we watch most movies (mostly 4k discs for source) at -10 dB below reference.

With my rough napkin math, it’s hard to tell if I’m just simply driving the speakers too hard, or if my amp is just out of juice to play 10 dB below reference with all 9 channels driven. I’ve never really noticed any distortion at these volumes before the damage, so it’s hard to tell from my seat.

The “pinch” marks that the cracks originate from have been present on the driver for a couple of months, but I haven’t noticed any change in sound until last night. I emailed the North American dealer for monitor audio today to inquire about a replacement driver, but I’m worried I may eventually have the same failure if my speaker and/or amp are not up to the task of reliably handling my listening volume.

Hello guys,

A few months back i bought the Q3 meta’s for €450 new. It took me some time to get used to but now i really love them. I am building towards a 5.1 setup so i also recently the bought Q6 meta. I got a small temporary sub and running everything on a denon x1600h which i will upgrade hopefully before the end of this year.

Altough I already like the setup i still have the urge to get more fuller sound out of my L/R speakers. I found some Q750’s which I can probably buy for 370 euros. They are however slightly damaged (see photos). Would these damages affect the sound?

My questions is would it make sense to swap my new q3 metas with the q750? Will these towers still work well with the Q6 meta center? What can i expect from changing from the q3 meta to the older q750?

I could swap the q3 metas to the surround or try to sell them with some profit and buy used q150’s as surround en put the saved money towards a better subwoofer.

Looking to get some opinions on best way to set up 4 Atmos speakers. MLP is where the TV mount on the floor is right now. Edit: We are standing where the TV would be.

Pic 1 makes hiding wires easier because I have them running along the edge of the walls and ceilings.

Pic 2 would be as suggested by Dolby, but cable management would be more difficult (drilling holes into the ceiling, etc).

Anyone has experience in either/both configurations and can tell the difference?

I run a 5.2 setup with an AV receiver in a medium sized room with two 12" SVS sealed subs. My fronts are about 30 years old, but work perfectly: Energy Connoisseur C-8, rated at 28 Hz – 25,000 Hz (±3dB) and 93 dB efficiency; I recall that I set the crossover at 80dB.

My front speakers are huge and heavy. Long story short, I'm planning to replace them with bookshelf speakers on stands both for sound quality improvement and to reduce the visual clutter. Specifically, I'm considering a version of the SVS Ultra bookelves--either the Evolution Bookshelf or the smaller Evolution Nano.

With quality subwoofers properly set up, is there any sound quality advantge to having full range towers vs bookshelves, assuming both are crossed over at about 100Hz? For example in a blind A-B comparison with subwoofers and speakers cut off at 80 Hz, between Ultra Evolution Nano and the Ultra Evolution Tower, which share identical tweeters, would the towers have any sound quality advantage?

I'm turning a spare room into a movie room. Right now we watch everything on the living room TV, which we'll keep for everyday use. I'd like a bigger screen for movies and somewhere we can watch with the lights off without taking over the living room.

Planning on a 120" fixed-frame white screen with the couch about 11 ft away. Going to paint the walls and ceiling dark, and there's one window that needs a blackout shade. The projector will be ceiling mounted, but I haven't bought the mount or run the HDMI cable yet. Already have a 5.1 system I can move in.

Mostly watching movies, but I'll also connect a PS5 (definitely playing GTA6 when it comes out). I'd like 4K120 for games that support it, which is how I came across the JMGO IRIS Ultra. I'm also considering the Ultra Max, but I'm not sure how much better movies would actually look on it. Both have the gaming features I want. The Max advertises higher brightness and contrast, though with the room darkened I'm wondering whether I need that much light output. The manual iris appeals to me too, since I could adjust it for the dark room. I've never used a projector with one, though. How much difference does a dynamic iris make during an actual movie compared with setting a manual iris and leaving it alone?

What would you recommend for this setup? Open to other projector suggestions too. Thanks

Just got this put up, with temporary power feed just to make sure it works as expected before putting an outlet in the ceiling. (TV under screen is 85" for comparison )

The details :

XY Screen, Tab-tensioned Motorized Projection Screen with 4K Woven Acoustically Transparent Fabric,With black backing Model: EC2-Soundmax 4k size: 150 inches (16:9) . Fabric: 4K Woven Acoustically Transparent Fabric

Projector: XGIMI Titan Noir Pro (Kickstarter)

Speakers : Klipsch RF7 (series 1, L/R/Center and Surround) Center rotated / moved in front of TV when using screen. RF7 L/R on stands.

Sub: Klipsch RSW-15 (converted to passive , using RSA-500 to power )

Amp: Pioneer VSX-90 ( Old, but still works... upconverts to 4k, has Atmos )

Source(s) : PS3 blue-ray / Roku-Pro

TV (when screen not being used) : Sony 85" Bravia 9

I worked with Angela Chen via WhatsApp / Gmail / PayPal . She was quite responsive and convinced me to not go bigger than 150" due to the increased shipping cost.

From payment (PayPal) to delivery took about a month and a half ( China to Texas ). I was able to track the ship as it crossed the Pacific. There was a small issue with the shipping crate once if finally arrived, that caused the ceiling brackets to go missing... this was resolved quickly by Angela. The screen itself was well packed, I could see no damage issues.

Installation can be tricky, as its a big long heavy screen... so if you are not comfortable on a ladder lifting over your head... get some buddies or hire a professional.

The screen itself looks great, The material is consistent , wrinkle free. I could not see speckle issues with the triple laser projector, TitanNiorMax.

My only changes/update will probably be:

- add a bit of weight to the lower bar, as it does not seem to be heavy enough to get the tension at 100%... there is a small section in the lower right that needs just a bit of help.

- With wide aspect movies, trying to figure out how to mask the upper portion... just being finicky below is with lights on, so would be nice to have black on top portion.

I'm using the AT screen as dual purpose, to help eliminate speckle and have LCR produce sound from behind the image.

I was concerned with bleed through bouncing off back wall and returning back... but this is negligible ( at least from what I can tell ). There is a large TV, and Off-white wall behind screen.

The one thing I did not factor is with such a large screen.... the Air Conditioning. A vent, when operational will cause the screen to move a bit.... its a easy tweak , but something to consider.

My previous screen was a home-made spandex screen... so this is quite an upgrade.

I'll update here once I get things fine-tuned, or if there are any issues.

How can I reduce low-frequency bass transmission through a concrete apartment floor?
I live in an apartment and want to minimize the amount of bass transmitted to my downstairs neighbor.
My floor structure consists of a concrete slab, followed by sand, cement, ceramic tiles, foam underlay, and HDF flooring.
I use a home audio system with a downward-firing subwoofer rated at 300W. I’m concerned that low-frequency bass could travel through the concrete slab, even with the multiple flooring layers.
My questions:
How likely is it that the bass will be audible in the apartment below?
Would placing the subwoofer on a purpose-built isolation platform meaningfully reduce the transmission of low-frequency bass?
What practical measures would you recommend to minimize structure-borne vibration without modifying the floor itself?
I’d appreciate advice based on acoustics and real-world experience with apartments.

We have a 75 inch TV centered on a wall where the L/R speakers are 13 feet apart. MLP is 13 feet from LCR, so its a solid triangle, but are my speakers too far apart? Mostly it sounds awesome but sometimes it does feel like the car door slammed at the cross-the-street neighbor's house. Kidding, but hopefully that makes sense.

Kinda proud of myself. Way back when, I ran standard audio cable around the attic and walls for my 5.1.1 with in wall speakers, then added rear speakers to go 7.2.0. As a former engineer, I still can't understand why the heck I didn't use compliant sheathed cable.

Whatever the case, I knew I needed to fix this situation so this week, I replaced all the audio cable and decided now is the time to upgrade my cabling to 7.2.4. I don't have an 11 channel AVR yet, so I am currently still on my AVR-S750H. I added a set of overheads 6 feet forward of MLP and 8 feet apart. Later, I will add a 2nd set of heights 6 feet behind MLP.

I am 68 now, and this stuff isn't getting any easier. I knew it was now or never, cuz I am getting way too old to crawl around in attics. Excruciating. Any way, with my wife working the downstairs end, we did it! Man, it feels really good and I am proud I was able to pull this off at my age.

WARNING to anyone pulling cable through a hot Florida attic: Know when to get out of there. I was all the way on the wrong side of the attic when the heat exhaustion kicked in. I knew what was up so I scrambled to get back to the garage hatch and TBH I barely made it. My legs had turned to rubber and I was fading. 2 cold water bottles on the carotid arteries with a lot of cold wet towels and water and I was fine but I cut it way too close. Seriously, I was definitely within 5 minutes from disaster and possible heatstroke (death?).

Finished the job today. Moral; I was stupid. Don't be me. No more attics. But guess what, I am cabled up for 7.2.4 and it sure feels good.

Bring on Black Friday! Does anyone know if there are usually AVR deals then? Prolly going with Denon AVR-X3900H but I'd rather wait and hope somebody makes an 11 channel AVR that has Class D amps. I can't easily fit a 6+ inch high AVR in our Ent Center and don't want to get another one. A slim 11 or a 9+2 with an external stereo Fosi amp could also work.

Any suggestions welcomed.

Because we had this earlier here already, many people stating it has to be physical damage to the speaker membranes:
Mine are literally out of the box in pristine condition and never ever touched again. Bought in 2023 for 1800€. This is what they are looking like today.
These metal membranes of MA Bronze 500 speakers are just faulty manufactured, I guess it’s too stiff and too thin Aluminium.
In my case the left front, center and right surround speakers are damaged.

Hi, I'm designing a 7.x.4 setup for my future apartment. Do you have any suggestions?

The rear wall is quite far away, but I've tried to maximize the separation between the rear speakers. I've also tried to keep the side speakers at the recommended angles, even though this means the distances to the listening position won't be equal.

I'd like to mount all the surround speakers slightly above ear level, at an elevation angle of about 10°.

So my room is pretty small but I wanted to upgrade my current setup from 2.1 stereo to 5.1 surround sound. I was originally going to put them behind my chair that I sit in when I watch stuff on the TV but there's not much room to have the speakers in the right spot. Would I be able to mount the speakers in the back corners and just have them pointed down towards the chair or would that be too far since they would equally be 8-9 feet away from the chair compared 6 feet distance from my front speakers?

Any advice would be appreciated, I haven't had a surround sound setup in years so I want to make sure I do it right with what little space I have

Finally finishing up our basement movie room! Did everything ourselves. Still have to hide some cords, hand more posters/pictures and a few rugs. It has been expensive and exhausting but fun. Painting the textured walls was the biggest PIA.

I have an Aventage RX-A8A receiver with Bowers and Wilkins speakers. Overall, I’m very pleased.

One of the biggest complaints with the C6H panels is how they handle near-black scenes. Dark scenes are lifted, crushed, and full of vertical bands. I am not considering a 77" tv, so was wondering if the standard C6 panels have these issues as well? How does your C6 look? Would I be better off finding a C5?

Ive only had it for a couple months. Today the video isnt displaying. Static appears instead. The radio plays sound. Any ideas before i throw it away and never buy yamaha? I dont have the receipt or box

Hello, I currently just have 2 Micca MB42X G2 hooked up to an avr with my tv. I want a sub but I don’t want to spend more than like $150-$175. If it’s something I can get in a store that’s even better I hate dealing with the online shopping. I really care more about music quality for rock and hip-hop than movie but of course both are important. Thank you!

Hey everyone,

​I'm building out a 5.1 home theater system in a 222 sq. ft. living room powered by a Denon AVR-X1800H receiver (running Audyssey MultEQ XT).

​For my main L/R speakers, I have a pair of vintage JBL LX 800 floorstanding towers (4-ohm, featuring 8-inch woofers and titanium dome tweeters).

​I’m looking at the JBL Studio 625C center channel to anchor dialogue for movies and TV shows.

​Specs: 2.5-way design, dual 5.25-inch PolyPlas woofers, and a 2414H-1 compression driver with a High-Definition Imaging (HDI) horn in a sealed enclosure.

​Given my room size (222 sq. ft.), I want to know:

1.​Is the compression horn driver on the Studio 625C overkill or too aggressive for a room this size, or will it just deliver exceptionally clear dialogue at normal listening volumes?

2.​Will the sealed box design help keep dialogue tight and clear without booming into the room?

3.​How well will a compression horn driver blend with my vintage titanium dome tower speakers once Audyssey calibration is run?

Looking for recommendations for a new sound system for the movie room in a recreation center that serves 16 - 24 year old's. From what I can tell these speakers have been here for 10 plus years and are starting to die. I just started this role a couple months ago, so I am trying my best to make improvements where I can.

I am looking for a system that has longevity, durable, and sound quality. The budget range for the new speakers and receiver would be around $2700. I don't know if standing speakers would be a good idea, since the people that will be using it might tip them over. So, maybe only mountable speakers would be best for the area.

We potentially are getting rid of the projector and replacing it with a 72in TV, so that might help with some of the audio cables and what DVD player we can use with that new setup.

I've done some research and the top results would be Yamaha YHT-4970U, Denon + Klipsch Theater Pack, Denon + Klipsch R-610. Wish I had more time to do more research, but I've been really busy in my new role these past couple months.

Any help would be appreciated and thank you to who ever offers any advice.

I have a cerwin Vega clsc12s, that I bought used. It worked poorly until a capacitor was replaced, now it plays fine.

However, this sub only has auto on. There is no option to keep it on always. This has led to 2 issues.

1. The sub is hard to wake up. If I keep it at 0db boost in the reciever, it doesn't wake up. This led me to boosting it in the reciever by 5db, as this boost was more effective than using the volume knob (not sure why). Even with this, I needed there to be a good bass signal for it to turn on.

2. Starting recently, when the sub is on(green light on) , the bass cuts out. The light remains on. If I replug stuff or twist the volume knob it sometimes comes back. Not consistent at all. If using volume knob, I need a REALLY BASS HEAVY track to get it on. But I also don't want to damage my sub since it's boosted in the reciever.

What can I do about this? Could it be as simple as a cable issue? Is it a bad contact? Are there common circuit elements that go bad for this issue to happen? Apologies if it is a very open ended question.