Folks,

Better late than never. Here's a link to some pics that I've finally taken of my HT.

http://ca.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jmackwood@rogers.com/my_photos

For a description of the gear, see the old thread below.

http://ubb.outlawaudio.com/ubb/Forum4/HTML/000323.html

The only change from that list is that one of my Velodyne subs is in the shop - and is likely not repairable (at least not for a reasonable amount) and I've added another EQ - a Numark model 2310. I'll likely replace the sub before the end of the year.

That's it for changes - for a little while anyhow.

Jeff Mackwood

What's the wattage going through all that? I'll bet the neighborhood dims when you turn it all on.

I think MY neighborhood dims when you turn that on. Geez!

Sorry for not noticing the two March posts before now. I've been a bit of s stranger to the Outlaw Forum of late.

It is a testament to whoever wired my house that it handles the load imposed on it by my gear. The biggest concern is when all of the amps are switched on initially. I use a single industrial-grade heavy-duty power strip to switch them all on at once. Other than a momemtary sag in line voltage (ie. barely noticeable dimming of lights) as th amps' caps charge up, there's nothing else to note. (The previous less-than-industrial-grade strip arc-welded itself to death during its final start-up!)

Even at the loudest tolerable levels that the system is capable of delivering (and I value my hearing too much to try it very often or for very long) the continuous output / draw of all amps combined is not a problem. I've never measured it however.

In fact the room can stay nice and toasty warm on a cold winter night when a good action flick is on!

Jeff Mackwood

ps. A few recent gear updates: sat gear replaced with cable HD PVR; faulty Velodyne sub was replaced - back up to four subs; old DVD player (and older CD player) replaced with 5 disc Sony DVD/SACD; Dazzle 150 added to capture analogue A/V output on computer network via USB 2.0 connection.

Jeff, love the photo's my favorite though is the back shot of all the gear . Great wire collection man . How far away are you from the television ? Can't be more than ten feet tops . I suggest a disclaimer at that range . In all seriousness though looks like a great job .

Thanks, for the rear photo of the M200 MeanGene . I am considering buing a family of them myself to power my entire system . Guess I'll have too upgrade the rears if I am going to do that though . Oh well, one excuse is as good as another right . Again thanks for the pic's .

- MeanGene\'s picture looks oddly familiar ! (MeanGene's photo gallery includes a copy of the third picture in my M200 review - and just to be clear about it, it's fine that he included the pic.)

Thanks for the reminder about the wiring. I really should post new picks since the cheap power strips and isolating transformer shown on the floor have been replaced by TrippLite Isobar 10's.

Maybe in the next week or two - once I get all my Spring chores done!

Jeff Mackwood

I don't remember where I got the picture. I don't think it was the review though. I would rather link to the Outlaw site, but they don't have any good pictures of what they are trying to sell, strange. Maybe we should send them some of our pictures.

Folks,

It's been a while since I've been in this neck of the woods.

I've updated my home theatre pics recently. Quite a few gear changes. Tons of pics.

New pics are at http://ca.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jmackwood@rogers.com/my_photos

Here's a list of gear. (I think there's at least one photo of each piece mentionned.) Big changes from before is the move from sat to cable system (with an HD PVR) and a new DVD 5-disc player and a DVD recorder.

Pre/Pro/Tuner:
- Outlaw Model 950

Speakers:
- F L/R: Koss CM-1030, 2 pairs, stacked.
- FC: two Koss CM-1020 (66" horizontal array above the HDTV)
- S L/R and CR L/R: two pairs of Bose 301 Series III
- Two Velodyne S-1200 powered subs
- B&W ASW 1000 powered sub
- Unpowered sub using four Polk 6 1/2" drivers and a Polk 12" passive radiator

Power Amplifiers:
- two Carver A-400X (for F L/R)
- Hitachi HMA-8300 (for FC)
- two bridged NAD 2150s (for S L/R)
- two bridged NAD 2155s (for CR L/R)
- bridged NAD 2200 (for unpowered sub)

Signal Sources:

Audio:
- Yamaha P-850 turntable, with Stanton 681EEE cartridge, connected to the phono input of a NAD 1130 pre-amp, then to a Pioneer RG-1 dynamic range expander, and then to an SAE 5000 Impulse Noise Reduction System
- Nakamichi RX-202 cassette deck

A/V:
- Toshiba M-663C hi-fi VCR
- JVC HR-S4800U S-VHS VCR
- Sony EV-S2000 Hi8 VCR
- Toshiba XR-W75C laserdisc player
- Pioneer CLD-D504 laserdisc player (AC-3 RF to a Kenwood DEM-9991D RF demodulator)
- Sony DVP-NC875V 5 Disc DVD/SACD player
- Sony RDR-HX900 DVD Recorder
- Scientific Atlanta Digital Terminal 8300 HD PVR

Audio Processing:
- Numark EQ-2700 equalizer / analyzer
- Numark EQ-2500 equalizer
- Two Numark EQ-2400 equalizers
- Numark EQ-2310 equalizer
- dbx Model 100 sub-harmonic synthesizer
- Outlaw Audio ICBM-1 (for SACD)

Video Switching/Processing:
- Electrohome Marquee Signal Switcher (not currently used)
- DVDO iscan Plus V2 line doubler
- SIMA Color Corrector (for dubbing DVDs to tape)
- Optex Video Stabilizer (for dubbing tape-to-tape)

Display:
- Toshiba TW40X81 HDTV monitor
- Sharp 13” TV

Miscellaneous:
- AKG K-240 Headphones
- Two TrippLite HT10DBS
- TrippLite ISOBAR4ULTRA

Last Friday I picked up another pair of Koss CM-1030 speakers. It will take me a week or two to get them ready to go into the system but when they do they'll take the place of the Koss CM-1020 centre array. The two 1020s will then eventually make their way to the surround L/R positions - after I do some maintenance on them and when I go to a projection system (see below). I have not decided yet, but I might then pair the displaced Bose 301s up with the other pair along the back wall to add to the centre rear position.

The next major move is to do away with the 40" Toshiba HDTV and to go to a front projection unit and screen. I think I can then fit in a screen somewhere in the 96"-108" (diagonal, 16:9) range. I will need to move the two front speaker stacks wider apart, move the two front subs over a bit, and then drop the centre stack from ceiling to floor, in between the subs.

Regards.

Jeff Mackwood

Folks,

It's about time that I updated this thread - given all of the changes that I've been making to my main theatre. It's gotten to the point where there's only a couple of very minor things to do - so I thought I'd describe the redone version - and post a bunch of pics - which can be seen in the "Theatre Redone" and "Theatre Misc" folders through this link.

http://ca.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jmackwood@rogers.com/my_photos

I started by stripping the whole room bare. Then I did your basic crack and hole patching, sanding, and then applied a high quality Benjamin Moore paint to the walls and ceiling. Benjamin Moore were very helpful in specifying a paint formulation to give me a Munsell Neutral Value Scale Number of 6.5 (basically a medium to light grey - designed to reflect no colour onto the screen, nor to distract the eye with any colour either.)

The layout was shifted 90 degrees from before; the right side now became the front. The ceiling, side walls, and part of the front wall are treated with 16 audiotecUSA 24" X 48" X 2" black acoustic panels. The back "wall" is my equipment racks, behind which are two layers of curtains - and then the rest of the basement. I think this makes for a pretty good bass trap in itself.

Across the front are three stacks of completely professionally refurbished Koss CM1030 speakers. Also on the front are two Velodyne Servo 1200 subs. The surround speakers are Koss CM1020 speakers (also just refurbished) on custom-made steel / sand-filled stands. I've replaced the Bose 301 speakers that I was previously using for centre rear surrounds with a pair of Paradigm Titans. (The Bose took their place in the family room theatre.) In the back left corner is a B&W ASW 1000 sub and on top of that is a homebuilt sub . (It receives a signal through an external NAD amp from a dbx 100 subharmonic synthesizer, which I use "to taste" to beef up the low end on certain recordings.) As mentionned in another thread the two Velos and the B&W combine together to produce perfectly flat bass response from 15-100 Hz.

I've also gone from a rear projection Toshiba HD TV, to a front projection set-up that uses a Draper 92" (16:9) Salara screen system, with AT 1200 acoustically-transparent screen material (gain = 1.0), and an Optoma H78-DC3 720p single-chip DLP projector. The screen is a "weave" rather than a "perf" type of screen - and it mates perfectly with the projector. The projector is, for intents and purposes, identical to Optoma's top-of-the-line model H79.

Other gear changes include the removal of all five of my Numark stereo equalizers, and the addition of a Velodyne SMS-1 Subwoofer Management System. (As previosuly mentionned it's a great unit, but as it turns out, because the bass response is already perfect, it's not really needed. I'm keeping it anyhow - just in case I ever do need it.)

I got rid of the old LazBoy chairs and added three IKEA Poang leather chairs and ottomen. I've never been a big IKEA fan in the past, but I'd recommend these chairs to anyone who's looking for high quality, very comfortable, and inexpensive seating that seems, at least to me, to be ideally suited to home theatre use.

So how does the whole thing sound? In a word: incredible! It's more than I was hoping for - or expected. With the amps peaking at 2-5 Watts, the room is filled with sound. With somewhere around 2 kW of available power in the system, things could get way out of hand very quickly! I've come to love my small SACD collection even more than before - and my CDs have found new life. Stereo music, or multichannel movies, makes no difference; I'm completely blown away by how it now sounds. I gotta credit the acoustic tiles and the new layout first and foremost.

I've not done anything yet as far as calibrating the new projector. That will come after I put some more hours on the bulb. I can say that I'm very happy with it overall - and how it matches up with the Draper screen. True HD signals are giving images that are outstanding. Upconverted (1080i) signals are giving very good quality images. DVD (480p) looks very good as well. But 480i signals are not impressing me much. I guess that's to be expected - and this thing is put together for a HD future, not a 480i past!

Hope you enjoy the pics. I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Jeff Mackwood

Thanks for the update, Jeff. You've done a lot of acoustical treatment since the old setup!

Wow! Jeff those are really impressive photos. I haven't seen a private whiskey selection like that in a long time. You, family and friends must really enjoy the room but, doesn't that dim light and loud noises distract you from the enjoyment at hand.
Thanks for the update the HT looks great. It must be a huge change in viewing and listening enjoyment. Keep us posted on any new additions.
Brad

Jeff, man, would you marry my wife? I might need to come visit her about once a week... Don't worry, I'll bring a movie.