Where were you 10 years ago?

Mike Schramm · May 2, 2024

While trying to fall asleep the other night I began to think about home theater (it's my normal routine). I was thinking about where my theater will be in 10 years when my kids are out of college and my disposable income will greatly increase. Then, I went in the opposite direction and thought "where was I 10 years ago?" I had a low level Sony AVR (STR-DN1000) with a 46" Sony LCD TV (KDL-46V3000) and Sony blu-ray player (BDP-S550). My speakers were an Energy Take Classic 5.0 setup paired with an Energy S8.3 sub.

So here is my question: how has your system grown in the past 10 years?

Todd Anderson · May 2, 2024

Oh wow, that's a great question.

At some point... we're talking 15+ years ago, I had an Energy Take subwoofer. It had a blue light on the front that I disabled. I eventually sold it to a friend and it died. LOL. Was a little embarrassing at the time.

Going back 10 years ago:
For my video, I had a Carada 1.0 Cinewhite screen and an RS45 JVC projector. The player was an Oppo BDP-93. Obviously, both were 1080p.

The receiver was a Pioneer Elite (model number escapes me at the moment... I think it was a VSX-21 THX).

I had dual Power Sound Audio XS30 subs managed by a Bheringer Feedback Destroyer. These were very early sub models from PSA. They were just coming on the scene.

Speakers were Polk RTiA around the room... I believe the front three were RTiA5s... side and rear were RTiA3s.

And we had this big modular LoveSac couch.

We had tons of great times in that room. I really enjoyed it...

Travis Ballstadt · May 2, 2024

I had to go back and look, and 10 years ago TO THE DAY I had found a set of B&W bookshelves and a center channel that I was grabbing on craigslist to put behind the Seymour screen and replace my decades old NHT front speakers. I had just finished a few months earlier spinning the room 180º and doing a pretty significant remodel (which would not be the last).

I had also just upgraded to the Emotiva UMC-200 to try and fix a problem I had been having with the UMC-1. (For reference, that problem continued through my ownership of the XMC-1 and was finally fixed several years later when I upgraded to an AVM-60 - from Anthem).

Looks like I was toying with renaming it the CraigsCinema, since a large percentage of the equipment was purchased on Craigslist.

So this was an Optoma HD20, Seymour XD screen (DIY frame), Emotiva UMC-200 & UPA-700, B&W bookshelves behind the screen, Mission 77DS for surrounds, SVS PB2000.

Mike Schramm · May 2, 2024

I love the look of your old room Travis! I dig the wood and the screen that takes up the entire wall.

Travis Ballstadt · May 2, 2024

Mike Schramm said:
I love the look of your old room Travis! I dig the wood and the screen that takes up the entire wall.

When I bought the house, that "room" was all cedar, walls and ceiling. It wasn't technically a room at all, it was originally the space under the back deck. The previous owner turned the back deck into an enclosed sunroom, and walled in below as a workshop. It had no HVAC, big windows, etc. I used it as is for awhile, but eventually tore out all the cedar, put in drywall sheets, and used the cedar to create the look. I also came up with the look to avoid sanding after the mud & tape stage, as the cedar trim hides the seams.

I'm glad I did it, too, because once I tore everything out I realized how terribly all the electrical had been done. It made no sense whatsoever, so I cleaned all of that up and ran all my AV cabling before closing it back up.

Never did put in HVAC, other than a space heater. The new owners of the house wanted to keep it as a theater, so I found a JVC RS1 for $100 to leave them, left the screen and put in some other speakers I had and helped them find an AVR to power it all.

Had a lot of great times in that room. The central Iowa home theater community is pretty great. I still keep in touch with a lot of those guys even though I'm in Seattle now.

Travis Ballstadt · May 2, 2024

How it started. White vinyl with black 2x4s from the previous owner.

I had forgotten how, when I spun the room, I was able to use two windows and the hole from a non-functioning wall heater to hold the LCR speakers, otherwise it wouldn't have been possible because the two doors were only a couple inches off that wall.

2017

The last photo I had before dismantling this room for the move.

Mike Schramm · May 2, 2024

That's quite the transformation! It's cool to see the before and after of it. Like you said, I'm sure you have a ton of fond memories from that room. About how far from the screen did you sit?

Travis Ballstadt · May 2, 2024

Mike Schramm said:
That's quite the transformation! It's cool to see the before and after of it. Like you said, I'm sure you have a ton of fond memories from that room. About how far from the screen did you sit?

That was right about 9 feet. The screen was a 50" wide 16x9 to start, but by the last photo you can kind of tell that the bottom frame is thicker, because I converted it to a 2:1 screen that was 100" x 50". As luck would have it, I had an extra plank leftover from creating the frame, and leftover velvet, and the math worked perfectly to wedge it in place and it was exactly 2:1. It was easily removable, but I ended up never taking it out.

VJM · May 2, 2024

10 years ago I was rocking in my current dedicated theater. I refreshed most of the equipment in the past 5 years.
If I recall I started with a 1080p projector, Onkyo processor, Emotiva amps (5 channel and 2 channel) still have those, M&K speakers and dual SVS cylinder subs, Sony PS3 for Blu-Ray and Netflix

JStewart · May 2, 2024

10 years ago July was when I joined Home Theater Shack after discovering REW and
shortly after that I would download the Dirac free trial for PC. Ten years of spiraling down the sound improvement, dsp, rabbit hole followed.

The 4 walls of the room are the same as when I started, but everything within has changed, most more than once and in the case of AVR/processor, I’m embarrassed to say, 4 times. I got another pretty much every time something new came along and something new came along a lot over the last decade. Same with projectors. AE1000u to start, then 3000 for more light, 8000 cause after Avatar, 3D was a must and finally JVC DLA-RS400 for fauxK and HDR and JVC black levels. (Hanging on to this for another year or so before going large(ish) flat panel.)

Has it been worth it? Heck, ya! I left the audio/video hobby in the early 80s when other priorities and lack of funds got in the way. I love this stuff. Very glad to be back!

Sonnie Parker · May 2, 2024

I believe it was 10 year ago last month that John Mulcahy and I sold Home Theater Shack.

I think I was working for SVSound about 10 years ago and had a complete SVS Ultra system.

From the Speaker Evolution thread:

MartinLogan Montis / Stage Center / Motion 12 Surrounds (2013)

MartinLogan Motion 12 (2013 - initially purchased for evaluation event - ended up keeping them - currently using them as rear speakers in the AV room)

Arx A5 (2013 - for two-channel swap-out system within my home theater room - finally sold them)

Infinity Primus P163 / PC351 Center (2013 - moved to the cabin by the pond in 2019)

SVS Ultra Towers / Ultra Center / Ultra Bookshelf Surrounds (2014)

MartinLogan ElectroMotion ESL / Stage X Center (2015)

Mike Schramm · May 3, 2024

@Sonnie: You worked for SVS? That's really cool! What did you do there?

Sonnie Parker · May 3, 2024

Mike Schramm said:
@Sonnie: You worked for SVS? That's really cool! What did you do there?

Everything... sales and tech support. I talked to customers all day long selling speakers and subs, and helping customers set up their systems.

Mike Schramm · May 3, 2024

That's so cool! I'm just a lousy PE teacher.

Sonnie Parker · May 3, 2024

It was fun, but it only lasted a little over a year. I still had my own loan company at the time and wanted to get the gun shop opened, which we started working on in January 2015.

At least you stay in shape. Sitting around on the phone all day long is definitely NOT physical exercise... lol.

Mike Schramm · May 4, 2024

In all seriousness, my job is awesome. Playing games with Kindergarten through 4th grade is pretty great. But it would be a lot of fun to work in this industry.

VinceHoffman · May 4, 2024

I'm in the same dedicated room I was 10 years ago. In fact I purpose built my audio room along with the rest of the loft apartment conversion we reside in 25+ years ago. But if we step back in time 10 years, the only gear that remains in common with my current setup would be the 4 Seaton Submersive HP subwoofers, my Oracle Delphi V turntable (since updated to Delphi VI Reference status), and Seymour-Screen Excellence motorized screen. Insofar as the room's infrastructure goes, the acoustic treatment of the front and rear walls and ceiling was less thorough back then and I've since installed a dedicated whisper-quiet HVAC system and improved dedicated electrical supply that lowered the rooms noise floor considerably.

The 5.1 system was based around Meridian's digital theater gear back then. Bed speakers were all active models using Meridian's proprietary 24/96 S/PDIF interconnectivity- a DSP6000 LCR trio along with a pair of DSP5000 speakers as surrounds. These were fronted by a Meridian 800v4 pre-processor paired with their companion HDMI interface box and various stereo and multi-channel sources. The PJ was a JVC DLA RS2.

Technically the murky pics below were all taken in 2012 when I'd just upraded to the motorized AT screen and replaced my DSP5500HC horizontal center with the matching DSP6000 vertical center channel. This explains the bath towels beneath the front LCR trio- used to slide the 100+ lbs/each speakers around as I tweaked their positions before installing the spiked footers.

As technically and visually impressive as the Meridian DSP digital active loudspeakers and pre-processor were, this long time hair-shirt audiophile was never happy with their two channel performance. That shortcoming was ultimately the deal breaker that saw me part ways with "modern day" Meridian gear after a decade long run. My current setup based around compact stand mounted ATC (analog) active loudspeakers and independent source, preamplification, and bass management signal paths for stereo and multi-channel runs rings around the prior setup.

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Todd Anderson · May 5, 2024

Love the look of your room!

Did those Meridian DSP6000s have silver (on the top)? Or is that a black gloss finish?

VinceHoffman · May 5, 2024

Todd Anderson said:
Love the look of your room!

Did those Meridian DSP6000s have silver (on the top)? Or is that a black gloss finish?

LOL! I was a really bad photographer back then. The DSP6000 came in any color you wanted... So long as that was black Todd! The tapered mid-tweeter cabinets were piano gloss black. The matte black finish of the bass bins was hidden by a full length thick glass gloss black panel hung on their forward face and black fabric grills on both side panels to hide the two opposed pairs of side firing woofers.

https://www.meridian-audio.info/public/6000%5b3355%5d.pdf

They were impressive looking in a Darth Vader kind of way but I don't miss this set-up at all though. Despite huge efforts on the room acoustics front, I was never able to achieve the sort of SOTA performance which the magazine reviewers waxed poetically about in the Stereophile and various British rag reviews. The high-end mostly tubed stereo system that had occupied this room previously offered much superior sonics- as does my current dual duty setup.

Screen Shot 2024-05-05 at 4.31.30 PM.png

F.Calabrese · 2024-10-31T11:31:40-0500

I was building the second FullHorn (see picture below) with 139 dB peak pressure capability, measured inside at 8 meters distance.

In the picture you don't see the midrange horns as the picture is taken the firsta day at home...

Best regards
F.C.

F.Calabrese · 2024-10-31T11:34:40-0500

By side: this is the fonometric measurement with Another Brick in The Wall by Pink Floyd (B&K SLM)

Chuck Gerlach · 2024-10-31T11:58:52-0500

Same room, same screen, all else has been changed --- multiple times.

Projector: JVS RS??-->Sony ?? (4K)-->JVC RS55 -->JVC RS4500-->JVC RS4100
Video Processor: None-->Lumagen 4242-->MadVR Envy Extreme Mod I
Audio Processor: Marantz (?)-->Marantz 7702-->Datasat RS20i-->Trinnov Altitude
Speakers (LCR): Seaton Catalysts-->Triad Platinums-->Wisdom Audio Sage Line 2
Subs: Seaton SubMersives (4) --> DIY (4) -->Seaton F18's (8)-->Ascendo 18's (4) + Ascendo 32"
Room Treatment: Mostly the same but now all covered in acoustic fabric
Sources: BR Player--> + Ripped Movies on NAS--> +Apple TV-->+Kaleidescape

[Just thinking about this made my wallet scream].

Sonnie Parker · 2024-10-31T12:37:04-0500

F.Calabrese said:
I was building the second FullHorn (see picture below) with 139 dB peak pressure capability, measured inside at 8 meters distance.

In the picture you don't see the midrange horns as the picture is taken the firsta day at home...

Best regards
F.C.
View attachment 75118

Wow... I would love to hear these. Very nice.

Chuck Gerlach said:
Same room, same screen, all else has been changed --- multiple times.

Projector: JVS RS??-->Sony ?? (4K)-->JVC RS55 -->JVC RS4500-->JVC RS4100
Video Processor: None-->Lumagen 4242-->MadVR Envy Extreme Mod I
Audio Processor: Marantz (?)-->Marantz 7702-->Datasat RS20i-->Trinnov Altitude
Speakers (LCR): Seaton Catalysts-->Triad Platinums-->Wisdom Audio Sage Line 2
Subs: Seaton SubMersives (4) --> DIY (4) -->Seaton F18's (8)-->Ascendo 18's (4) + Ascendo 32"
Room Treatment: Mostly the same but now all covered in acoustic fabric
Sources: BR Player--> + Ripped Movies on NAS--> +Apple TV-->+Kaleidescape

[Just thinking about this made my wallet scream].

lol... Me and you both. Those are some serious upgrades, for sure.

I think I'm finally at a settling point... as my wallet and my wife are screaming.

Chuck Gerlach · 2024-10-31T14:04:08-0500

Sonnie Parker said:
Wow... I would love to hear these. Very nice.

lol... Me and you both. Those are some serious upgrades, for sure.

I think I'm finally at a settling point... as my wallet and my wife are screaming.

I think "settling point" is safer than "I'm done", so I will now adopt that as my position.

swindler · 2024-10-31T14:11:33-0500

I have two HTR setups. My Panasonic VT30 plasma setup (yes, plasma) still yields me praises and has NOT changed in about 16 years, other than adding streaming services. It could definitely use an audio refresh for Atmos, etc, but still offers a very pleasant experience.

My second setup has almost everything changed. It's migrated from a 5.1 to a 7.1.2 system, display changed to LG OLED, BD player to the Panasonic DP-UB820, receiver to a Denon x3800h, and of course I've added a bunch of UHD discs to my collection.

Where were you 10 years ago?

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