Home Theater REVAMP - PART TWO

[@ealanosborne]

Every inch counts, man! Congrats on all the hard work. It surely paid off! 🎉

[@HomeTheaterGamer]

Yes it does! Every single inch. Wait... what are we talking about here?

[@clintyoung9902]

Ready for the new REW/MiniDSP vids! Especially with details on the new time alignment via impulse for subs and main/surrounds.

[@trishpipkins]

We all know I'm not an expert at all. I do know what I like and this has been a huge improvement. I think I've spent more time in there since you've upgraded it in the last two weeks than I have in the last two months. There have even been a couple episodes of Stargate SG-1 where I've jumped. One time the gate was being dialed off screen to the left. You did such a great job!

[@HomeTheaterGamer]

Thank you for believing in me! It's been awesome watching movies and shows with you in the theater room. That one episode where the Tok'ra base is being attacked and SG-1 is stuck in the caves... the sound was awesome! All the ambient gunfire and explosions from the surface happening all around us. It was awesome!

[@stevenlawrence2232]

Great result Brad. Anyone that says "yeah even though I could force surround backs in there, this is a small room so I won't bother 5.2.4 is enough" clearly hasn't tried them out at least as temporarys. 7.2 has been around for 15 years at this point and receivers have got more advanced in their steering capabilities. They absolutely do add an audible useful difference. In most movies they will be doing something even if just matrixing 5.1. Even if the space is limited it's worth experimenting with them at minimum.

[@HomeTheaterGamer]

Oh for sure! I can't go back now haha. The difference has been pretty dramatic in many instances. Even upmixing older 5.1 content has seen appreciable gains with the back surrounds.

[@stevenlawrence2232]

@@HomeTheaterGamer 100% a few that stick out are infinity war, when Cap and the team turn up to help vision and Wanda and the placement of the train swaps front channels to rear and back again whilst going left right, right left with the camera perspective change. The Chinese propaganda that is great wall, arrows being launched over your shoulder (let's face it exactly as they should be 😉). Yeah i love mine. My surrounds are slightly forward of the listening position as well. When I pulled them forward to that posi I pulled the backs a little wider apart, I found that worked well. So you might try that. Interestingly the distance I landed at practically mirrored what the audio advice online room layout tool calculated. Great minds I guess!

[@JeffreyFrye]

Great looking room! Agreed on how much more full sounding the surround backs add to movies.

[@HomeTheaterGamer]

Absolutely! It's been a difference I didn't think I'd notice!

[@xTremeSequences]

Nice work. I'm awaiting my Gik Audio treatments. My family room sounds great now so excited to see what good treatments do for it. I use Dirac Live with Bass Management and it really works well on my Manarntz AV10.

[@CarlosGomez-THX_1138]

For your subs follow oca audiophile’s tutorial on sub alignment and don’t forget to match your target to your sub’s curve. Thank you for your tutorials and sharing your life with us.

[@HomeTheaterGamer]

I definitely did a while ago. I kind of use a hybrid of a bunch of different methods for sub alignment and EQ which works well. I'll be covering it in detail in my updated miniDSP tutorial.

[@flyers10az]

Looks good. Appreciate you doing chapters. Easier to rewatch sections.

[@Dummatzen]

Great job! I just finished a refurbish of my HT. I was a bit more extensive than yours and took me a year. Rebuilding walls, turning the room 180 degrees and such. But I followed your guide to MiniDSP (again) and now it sounds great. I am about to plunge into Audyssey One too!

[@mikeortiz2139]

That room looks sweet.

[@HomeTheaterGamer]

Thank you!

[@BuffSquadBigBenni]

I use OCAs A1 also, and have the exact same issue as you. My highs are a bit too high. If you turn on cinema EQ, the highs will roll of from 1khz and upward (0 to -4db I believe). Try it out. Not the perfect solution, but it works for now. Patiently waiting for A2.

[@christiandickey]

Looks great brother 👍 I know I tweaked my theater room several times over a few months. However with all the tweaking it finally paid off huge and sounds amazing. Definitely wanna tip my hat to your videos as it made it all possible.

[@HomeTheaterGamer]

Thank you so much for the kind words! I feel like I can tweak endlessly haha. But I'm finally at a point where everything is kind of how I want it to be (for now). I'm excited about being able to swap out speakers easily though, because I've hard to turn down reviews in the past due to not being about to swap out the center channel.

[@garryhammond3117]

I must say - Things are looking really good! I think it seems to all be coming together - you have made the very best of an exceptionally small space. - Cheers!

[@HomeTheaterGamer]

Thank you! It's been both a frustrating but rewarding journey so far. Things always take way longer than I think they will these days. Must be me getting older haha.

[@kez2252]

Adding rear surrounds had much higher impact to immersion than later adding atmos speakers did in my experience

[@easyhttech]

Looks really great 🙌🏿

[@HomeTheaterGamer]

Thank you Ike!

[@JtagPabb1e]

Thanks for the stand idea brad, i need to do the same as you and take the center out from under the cabinet. I will need to buy a different unit for the stand to fit under. My tv is also in front of a similar window to yours.

[@HomeTheaterGamer]

I'm honestly frustrated that I didn't think of it until about 4 or 5 months ago. Would have been nice to do from the get-go but hey... you live and you learn!

[@stephenreynolds3711]

You have to watch the 4 k versions of Midway and Hacksaw Ridge 🔥

[@HomeTheaterGamer]

I actually own both! I really enjoyed Hacksaw Ridge and would watch it again. Midway… not so much. Barely made it through that one but the audio mix saved it.

[@stephenreynolds3711]

I agree 👍🏾

[@steadychaosproductions3376]

Nice job. Looks good.

[@HomeTheaterGamer]

Thank you!

[@christisdale9977]

Great job Brad,you definitely have morw patience that me.Off topic do you know anyone that does remotely calibrating?I'd appreciate if you could let me know.

[@HomeTheaterGamer]

Thank you! The only one I know of that does remote calibrations is Brandon Hill, but I don't know him personally and he may only do miniDSP calibrations. I'm not entirely sure. I have done remote calibrations in the past but I'm currently not doing them right now due to some other issues unrelated.

[@pedroortiz9744]

Nice!

[@HomeTheaterGamer]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@TerminatorJuice]

Now that you have back surrounds, watch the movie Valerian city of a thousand planets, because every time their ship AI talks, her voice comes from the rear surrounds and it's pretty cool.

[@HomeTheaterGamer]

I actually own that movie on 4K Blu-ray but have never even opened it haha. Now is the time!

[@TerminatorJuice]

@@HomeTheaterGamer if you like the fifth Element, then you should appreciate it! I'm not an advocate of watching movies just for demo scenes, so I won't tell you when and where the best audio and video is, but throughout the entire film it is a pretty great showcase for both A and V. : )

[@hdmoviesource]

Hey Brad, nice setup. What's your room treatment on the walls? Those foam pads, where did you get them from? I just recently did my cables too, it's so much cleaner now.

[@HomeTheaterGamer]

Hey Carl! Thanks for stopping by and commenting. Love your videos on MultEQ-X (they've helped me out a TON). The room treatment is some DIY acoustic panels I made when I converted the room (just Rockwool in a simple frame, wrapped with weed blocker fabric and some black linen from a fabric store). The foam pads under the center channel are Sound Addicted pads I got off of Amazon. Here's a non-affiliate link: a.co/d/2ekeZZX

[@hdmoviesource]

@@HomeTheaterGamer Nice, they look really good. I'd like to do something similar with my setup. Or get some linen with a movie poster on them, that could be cool. I appreciate the link, thanks Brad, keep up the good work.

[@forzence]

Hey Brad really amazing revamp. One question. To clean up more the back of the cabinet why not use just 3M self-adhesive velcro for the minidsp? That thing holds a ton of weight.

[@HomeTheaterGamer]

Great question. A couple of years ago now (beginning of 2021 I believe), I did a video where I moved stuff around in the living room of our old house. I used the 3M velcro adhesive strips to secure the miniDSP to the back of the entertainment stand but it just didn't hold up over time. I noticed that the miniDSP kept ending up down on the floor every few days, likely due to the extra tension from the subwoofer cables kind of pulling on the miniDSP. That's when I came up with a makeshift solution using large paper clamps and zip ties. Haha.

[@flyers10az]

Which OCA version are you using now? Also, do you prefer the offset MLP seat vs a centered MLP?

[@TylerStout]

I need to redo my calibration, plan on using Audyssey One but want to redo my subwoofer calibration on my mini-dsp first. I'm curious if it will make as much of a difference since I only have XT instead of XT32. Imaging will be a lot better since my AVR (X1400H) doesn't have the corrected distance calculations like the newer ones or using MultiEQ-X. Planning on doing some cable management improvements and stuff just like you after I get my new center channel. Enjoying seeing you making videos again :)

[@HomeTheaterGamer]

Thanks Tyler. Feels great to be back making videos again. Looking forward to covering more in tutorials soon now that space isn't an issue (only time and my procrastination haha). I will say that Audyssey One did a great job. The "talking head" portions of this video were actually shot about two weeks ago. I've since done the Supreme Audyssey Calibration (brownie points if you caught me saying Supreme Audio Calibration in the video) and the improvement there over Audyssey One was awesome, though it took considerably more time. Something like 4ish hours. Audyssey did recently provide me with a license to MultEQ-X and one of their ACM1-X calibrated microphones to make videos with. I've since ran MultEQ-X and relied solely on it to do the heavy lifting, only verifying things afterwards with REW and a UMIK-1. Videos to come soon on that but the results matched my manual calibrations I've done with A1 and SAC.

[@eldogo1]

Great video. Why don’t you put your PC at the back of the room and run an optical HDMI cable to the TV?

[@HomeTheaterGamer]

That's a great idea, however I use the rear of the room for products that's I'm reviewing and couldn't really fit it back there without the products spilling over into the room (first world problems as a product reviewer on KZbin). I'm probably going to get a SilverStone HTPC case and put that into the entertainment stand at some point. I just didn't want to do that right away.

[@eldogo1]

I see you have a professional speaker angle measurement device there. Do you mind sharing details on it? 7:52

[@mnadeem500]

After Audyssey one, dynamic Eq is on or off ? And Loudness management should be on or off ?

[@viralologymr844]

What foam piece did you user under your center channel to angle it upwards.

[@89JAEH]

Time for some Amps!!

[@HomeTheaterGamer]

That's the plan! haha. But seriously I'm working on sourcing at least a 7 channel amp (just running the heights off of the X6300H). Hopefully I can make it happen soon!

[@89JAEH]

@@HomeTheaterGamer Yeah, thats all you're missing haha you'll get more out of your speakers. but you know this. get the BasX A7

[@tom6363]

Looks much better. Great job. A couple of questions. What was your final rear ss height? Do you think the TV stand could support an 85 inch Sony? Thanks.

[@HomeTheaterGamer]

I think the TV stand should hold an 85 inch Sony without issue, I'd just double check the weight of the TV. The TV stand supports up to 50kg or about 110lbs.

[@iariag1]

Great job you did there 😮😮, can I ask what distance are you sitting now from the center channel? I'm sitting at 2.6m, about 8ft6, might try closer as I have a null at 30hz on my subs

[@HomeTheaterGamer]

Thanks for the comment! I'm currently right at 1.80m from the center.

[@andrew1977au]

Well done bud, how much better is 7 bed layers hey.

[@HomeTheaterGamer]

Believe it or not, it's been a bigger upgrade than I anticipated. We just watched a movie last night in Dolby Atmos and the panning effects from front to back and through the rear of the room were astounding. Made all the work worth it!

[@andrew1977au]

@@HomeTheaterGamer I believe it, I did small upgrades over the years. Wait unit you go seperates, I noticed a big difference.

[@oszkarhathazi2305]

When you have a small room , try onwall speakers for surrounds , you could get up to a foot in speaker distance. Also , you really left the PC there ? 😮

[@HomeTheaterGamer]

I've definitely looked at on walls for the surrounds. Aperion Audio makes some and they would definitely send me some to check out, so I may just do that. While this video was all about the revamp process, I also have to keep in mind that I do speakers reviews here on the channel, so I'll need to swap out speakers more than most. It's why I haven't gone to a more permanent on wall setup for the surrounds. As for the PC... I don't know. I like it there. It can't really go anywhere else in the room that makes much sense, and I don't want to limit airflow. I have looked at SilverStone PC cases that fit into an entertainment stand, but I'm much of a fan of the aesthetic and I'd need to figure out a different cooling solution since I have a 280mm radiator.

[@JeffreyFrye]

Did you do any additional sub EQ/HC after Audyssey One or kept it as his Toole curve?

[@HomeTheaterGamer]

I didn't do any additional sub HQ after I ran Audyssey One, but I've since moved on to testing out and using MultEQ-X over the past week or so as part of some upcoming tutorials and videos on it (Audyssey provided the license to me along with their calibrated ACM1-X measurement microphone).

[@midbass.maestro]

I really relate to ur videos. I look up to you jonathin from youthman podcast and erin from erins audio corner. You guys inspire me to destroy my room over and over. Do u use tactile tranducers?

[@HomeTheaterGamer]

You've got to test the foundation with bass! haha. I don't currently have tactile transducers but I have a friend who raves about them. I'd like to test some out but some of the tactile transducer systems out there cost a lot of money. Might need to reach out to see if someone would like to send me some to make videos on.

[@midbass.maestro]

I'm considering decoupling my couch from floor to improve tactile. I have a sb1000pro bolted to back of couch but still not where I would like it to be

[@mrykhoek]

Hey Brad, what are you using for a laser level?

[@HomeTheaterGamer]

I'll have to look that up. I'm not at home and can't remember off the top of my head. I got it at Lowes a couple of years ago and I think it was around $70.

[@gbye007]

I'm a bit surprised you don't give MultEQ-X a go. I mean, you've gone to so much trouble with the hardware, I would think you could have one Audyssey preset for the best that the Audyssey guys can do and compare to A1 by OCA. MultEQ-X has so much flexibilty to load target curves and set frequency EQ curtains, etc. I've tried OCA's A1 method, and it's great at bass control, but the 250Hz frequency EQ limit is a bit limiting for taming my surround speakers. Also, I just find MultEQ-X a lot more straightforward, especially since version 1.7 with 'disable auto levelling'; no more dynamic EQ needed. Thanks for your great videos.

[@HomeTheaterGamer]

Thanks for commenting. So spoiler alert: I received my MultEQ-X license and the ACM1-X from Audyssey about a week ago (full disclosure: Audyssey provided both the license and mic to me for free). The "talking head" portion of this video was filmed about two weeks ago, before I had received either of those. I've since ran through a few different EQ methods using MultEQ-X and will be doing a sort of initial thoughts and impressions video this week. What I will say is that it is super powerful but I've ran into some quirks here and there but nothing too major. It's awesome piece of software. Hearing my system now after my last calibration... wow. Quite a big difference.

[@gbye007]

@@HomeTheaterGamer I will enjoy that when you release it. Ta.

[@vanwilliams4028]

Why not cover the white of the computer with black velvet? Heat?

[@HomeTheaterGamer]

Heat is definitely the issue with covering it. I don't want to constrict airflow since the CPU can already run pretty hot even with a liquid cooler. GPU as well. A new black case is around $100, so I'll probably spring for that at some point.

[@karlietimball9668]

Did you get a new receiver? I think you had a 6300 wasn’t it?

[@HomeTheaterGamer]

I still have and use the 6300H (it makes a brief appearance in the video). No new receiver. Best upgrade I've made in a while.

[@fieldsniper88]

pc behind cabinet is what i would do but 🤷‍♂

[@HomeTheaterGamer]

I ended up going another route (if you’re familiar with SilverStone cases, then you know haha). Video to come soon!

[@SirChiefUK]

Are those PB 16 Ultra? Too big for your room? Man… i hope I have 6 grand to burn for those subs… 😊

[@HomeTheaterGamer]

The subs in the front are PB-4000s. I didn't show them but I also have two PB-3000s in the rear of the room. So 4 subs ran through a miniDSP. I'm actually running them all in sealed mode, so technically the SB versions of these subs would work just as well with a smaller cabinet size to boot.

[@BuffSquadBigBenni]

@@HomeTheaterGamer why are you running them sealed? :)