Goodbye 805

Well as much as I loved the Onkyo HD-805, it was no longer needed in the rack. I recently purchased a DVDO Edge video processor, and I have been using that for upconverting SD disks from my Oppo. The REON chip in the 805 did an excellent job, but I was running out of space and trying to make an effort to get rid of redundency. I also was not using the 805 as much as I thought I would, with barely 10 hours of use since I got it.

So what is next? I have been keeping my eye on the Panasonic AE-3000, and so far it looks like the projector for me. I will wait until the first user reports come out, and then purchase it around Christmas. It will make a nice gift to myself.

I was also quite impressed with the PS3 that a couple of my friends brought over last weekend. We watched "The Fall" on Blu-Ray, and it was a very enjoyable movie. Afterwards, we tried some of the games. As much as I hate Sony, this does seem to be a very nice system. Is it worth $399? That is the ultimate question, especially with cheaper standalone BD players coming out. Now if they dropped the price like MS did on the XB360, I might be more tempted.

The MFW-15 Arrives

After many months of pacing the floor, the MFW arrived last Friday. I wasted no time in dragging it down the stairs and ripping it out of the shipping box. I plugged it in, connected it to my system, and listened for the dreaded 60Hz hum. It was there, so I started to track down the source. Without the coax cable connected, the sub was nearly silent so I knew the source of the hum was either coming from the wall power or from the input. A cheater plug was added, and that had a small impact on the hum. As soon as I bypassed the BFD 1124, the hum went away. I had found the source. I added an RS 250-054 line filter to the output of the BFD and once again the hum was eliminated. Problem solved. With the ground loop isolator in place, I ran the Yamaha equalization routine and balance the sub with the rest of the speakers. All was good.

Now came the true test, how would it sound? I popped in my demo discs and ran through the clips one by one. With each clip, the smile grew wider. This is what was missing from my setup, the low end was extremely impressive. The clip of Darla tapping on the fish tank from "Nemo" made the whole room rumble! "Flight of the Phoenix" never sounded more realistic. Musical clips were also impressive, the sub was tight and deep at the same time.

I am very pleased with this sub and look forward to the next Theater Night to show off the new toy!

Deadening the Front Wall

I had a very enjoyable phone call with Bryan from GiK last week. After reviewing my theater layout he made some suggestions.

First, he recommended that the side surrounds be at least 38% of the total room length from the rear wall. With my room being about 20 ft long, that would mean that my rear seating should be around 7 ft from the back wall. Currently I am only at 4 ft. This would take some major adjustment to the seating to make this happen, but I will consider it.

Second, he suggested that all speakers should be set to SMALL, except the mains, with a cross-over of 80 Hz. By doing this, I could use the two Pro-Subs in the rear for the redirected bass and LFE. That may help balance the room once the MFW arrives as I was planning on putting that up front.

Third, he suggested that the front wall should be deadened. We discussed the need for some reflective area directly behind the bi-pole towers (7001's). The reasoning is to absorb any of the center sound that may be bouncing off the front row. This reflection can cause a muddy sound, especially during dialog.

After giving it some consideration, I decided to go half-way and add 2 inch cotton baffles behind the screen. This will absorb much of the reflected sound, but still give the towers some area to bounce. I spend last evening mounting the panels and moving the screen out from the wall by 2 inches. Tonight I will recalibrate the room and see if this was helpful or if it deadened the room too much. The front surface of the screen should allow some reflectance, and the insulation behind the screen will absorb most of the mid-high that passes through. This seemed like a fair compromise to me. A diffuser could be added behind the towers, but that is something for another day. The Tri-Traps should ship the end of this week, and arrive the following week. I plan on placing them in the corners of the rear wall.

The Tri-Traps are Coming!

GiK is having a limited time 10% off sale on their Tri-Traps, making them even more affordable. I picked up a pair to try in the rear corners of my room. I may have to build my own for the front corners because of the limited space I have between the wall and screen.

Theater Layout

I finished the theater layout, just in time to change it all around again. I will be moving all the A/V equipment from the built-in shelving at the rear of the room to the area outside the theater. I am waiting on my 40 ft HDMI cable to get here from Monoprice before I move everything. The projector will stay on the back shelf, but all the other gear will be moved out of the room. When I get around to buying a new projector (after CEDIA), I will mount it on the ceiling behind the rear seating. I am very anxious to see what comes out of Panasonic AE3000? or Epson 1080UB+?

Still waiting anxiously on the MFW-15 sub, and it should be 'coming soon'! At least I have a serial number for it now, just need a shipping invoice and I will be all set!

Scored a pair of BPX's !!

Myer-Emco is having another warehouse sale, so I thought I would at least give them a call to see if they had the BPX surrounds. They don't normally carry them, but when they have their warehouse sale, sometimes the have items that were ordered but never picked up. It was my lucky day, and they had a brand new pair for $249 ea. Now I can finally finish my 7.1 surround system!

The Onkyo DV-805 Arrives!

Well after my experience with the Toshiba XA2 and the fan noise, I decided to give the Onkyo clone a try. I really couldn't pass up the price of $106 shipped for a REON-VX upconverter. I really liked the picture of the XA2, and I am expecting the 805 to be just as good. The guts of these players are the same, but the Onkyo has a different case design and remote. This dvd player should last me a while longer until the Blu-ray players and discs are finalized and become more reasonably priced. I do like HiDef discs, but I refuse to pay $35 for them, nor will I pay $500 for a half finished 1.1 profile player.

Until then, I will be happily upconverting SD discs that I can get at the corner grocery for 99 cents!

Swapping out the HK 635

I picked up a second hand Yamaha RX-V2600 and swapped out my HK 635. I couldn't pass up the sale price. My Hk635 doesn't have HDMI inputs, so in order to use the new sound formats (True HD, DTS-HD, etc. ) I was using the 5.1 analog outputs. The Yammy does have HDMI 1.1, so I can now send the multichannel PCM straight to the receiver when using the HD DVD player. This should hold me over for a few more months until I replace it with a receiver that has HDMI 1.3.

One advantage to the Yammy is that it is THX 2 certified and has the surround options for THX cinema. I have only had a chance to play a couple of movies, and so far I can not tell that much of a difference in the two receivers.

Another difference is that the Yammy has the ability to be configured as a bi-amp for the front speakers. My Def Tech towers could be wired for bi-amping if I decided to go that route. It is something to consider when I am bored one afternoon.

The New Toys for Calibration

I ordered an MFW-15 Sub from AV123 on May 7. Not sure when it will be delivered, as they are backorder because of their popularity right now. This will allow me to have a dedicated LFE channel instead of using the SuperCubes built into the DefTech 7001's. The DT's will then be free to handle the main fronts on their own.

In preparation for the arrival of the MFW-15 sub, I started reading and learning more about tools for sub calibration. After doing some research at a couple of the forums, I downloaded Room Equalization Wizard software and purchased an external CreativeLabs Live24 USB soundcard for my old laptop. I tinkered around with the software long enough to know I really liked it and decided to take the next step and purchase a Behringer SSP 1124P Equalizer (BFD) and M-Audio USB to Midi dongle last night.


I got everything set up last night and started taking measurements and downloading filters to the BFD through the Midi device. Amazing what you learn from looking at the graphs and playing with the filter combinations.

I think I have it figured out well enough that when the MFW-15 arrives I will be able to tune it in. Right now I am just playing around with the front tower subs to get a feel for how everything works. This is going to be a very valuable tool in positioning the sub and knocking down some of the room modes.

From what I have gathered so far, there are 3 room frequencies that will be problematic. The first occurs down around 28 Hz. This is a huge bump in the graph of almost 15 dB. The next two occurs further up and are more on the magnitude of 6-7 dB. Definitely need to get the corner bass traps in place to tame things down and smooth out the response.

Visiting other Theaters

I had the fortune of visiting my second home theater in the area. I was able to gather some good information on how I would like to continue to improve my theater. From the two visits, there are 3 things that I would like to work on this year, in no particular order

1) Build a stage in front of my screen
2) Enclose the speakers and build a shadow box for the screen
3) Add decorative panels or chair railing to the side wall

The first item shouldn't be too difficult, it will just take time and a few trips to Home Depot.
The second item is going to be more difficult as I need to figure out how much of an area I want to close off with the framing and black fabric. Because I use bipolar speakers, they need more room to 'breath'. Ideally I would like to somehow incorporate the speaker enclosures into a screen shadow box. It is going to take a lot of fabric, some very straight framing, and some trial and error to make it work. The third item will probably take the longest, as I haven't really finalized the look. If I can get two of the three done this year, I would be satisfied.

Germ-inator 2

Christian, a good friend of mine from Germany, sent me a very special gift today -- T2 in HD . He had watched 300 in HD with me the last time he was in the USA. As it is only available for import, I was very happy to get it. This is one of my all time favorite action flicks, and I can't wait to check it out tonight in the theater. This version is the Ultimate HD-Edition from Kinowelt. The SPoT will be rocking and rumbling tonight!

Limbo

I am sort of in limbo land these days trying to decide on whether to upgrade my projector or receiver. My AE700 has been a good projector, but so many advances have been made in the newer models that I would rather upgrade than buy a new lamp for it. It seems that the projectors that fall into my price range all have 'issues'.

The Panny 2000 seems to be suffering from dust blobs. The Epson 1080UB is having QC problems with convergence. I am concerned that the Sony VW40 will not be bright enough or have the throw distance that I need for shelf mounting at the rear of the room. So I wait....

I would also like to replace my HK635 with a receiver that handles HDMI inputs. This is something that can wait a while longer until I buy a BD player. It all seems to be an endless spiral of upgrades.

At least I still love my Def Tech speaker system! Of course I would like to replace the BPX surrounds with a new pair of BPVX speakers....

Star Trek TOS on HD

I have some free evenings this week, and a backlog of Netflix movies, so I finally got around to watching some of them. Last night I watched one of the Star Trek discs. As a big fan of this series as a kid I was very pleased with what CBS has produced for HD DVD. Not only have they cleaned up the video and CGI, but the PiP was awesome! I turned on the Starfleet control option which automatically put additional information on the screen at appropriate spots. The commentary was very educational and fun. I really hope to pick up this box set if there is a fire sale on HD DVD discs.

The Death of HD DVD

A very sad day indeed. Warner Bros decided they would no longer back HD DVD as of May -08, essentially killing the format. Since this is my favorite studio, it means that HD DVD is no longer of use to me. I will be returning my XA2 and use the A1 for playback of my HD DVD discs and my Oppo 971 for SD. I guess on the bright side of things I will save money by renting HD DVD and buying SD media.

In my opinion this is a setback to HDM, as the Blu ray spec's are not completed, and the MSRP on the media and players are well above what I am willing to pay. Perhaps in the coming year the the Blu crew will get their act together, put out a 2.0 player, drop the price of their media, and start putting bonus material on the discs. I will not be putting a gaming machine (PS3) in my rack!

Now let's bow our heads for a moment of silence......

New Fan Arrives

I received the new Adda fan and replaced the original Delta fan that was inside the XA2. The replacement was not as easy, nor was the reduction in noise as dramatic as I had hoped. I was unable to locate a 2-pin connector that was the right size, and the mounting holes were larger in diameter than the original fan. To resolve the connector issue, I cut the connector and a short length of wire from an old ATI video card and spliced it onto the fan leads. Fairly simple and straightforward with the right tools. I used #6 nuts and bolts to fasten the new fan to the chassis and placed a grommet between the back of the fan and the player chassis. I then powered up the player and noticed that the whine of the old fan was gone, but there was still too much air movement noise. I am going to try a few other methods of mounting the fan to see if I can further reduce the noise.

My initial thoughts are that the punched grid in the rear of the chassis is too small and that is leading to backpressure on the fan. Adding the grommet may also have increased the back pressure, so I am going to try flush mounting it. A better solution would be to replace the 50mm fan with a 60 mm fan, cut a larger exhaust port in the rear of the chassis and add a wire grid. I do not plan on doing this until the warranty has expired.

A couple pictures of the new fan and exhaust port:

Resolving the Fan Noise

I removed the cover of the XA2 to find out what parts were making all the noise. I assumed it was the fan, but I also wanted to check the power supply to make sure it was not humming. When I removed the fan, the XA2 became almost completely quiet. The drive only makes a whisper, so if I can find a better fan, that should resolve the noise issue. I added some pictures of the insides of the XA2 with the fan removed.

The original fan is a Delta DSBO512LD.

The Toshiba part number description from the service manual is : FAN1 P000477470 FAN DC, DSB0512LD-6T10. The fan that I ordered as a replacement was an ADDA AD5012LX-D70. The spec's are very similar, so now it is a matter of waiting for the replacement to arrive, terminate it with a 2-pin connector, and check the noise levels. I measured the current fan at 55 dB using a RS digital sound meter positioned 1 inch above the center of the player with the microphone pointing towards the rear wall of the rack.

The spec's on the replacement fan:

Noise: 23.6 dB
Airflow: 10.8 CFM
Housing Material: Glass Reinforced TP
Power Rating: 0.96 W
Speed: 3600 RPM
Supply Voltage: 12 VDC
Termination Style: Wire
Product Category: DC Fans
Bearing Type: Hypro
Current Type: DC
Frame Dimensions (mm): 50 mm x 15 mm

The XA2 Arrives!

After much anticipation, I have finally replaced the RCA HD-DVD player with the Toshiba XA2. The last few movie nights using the RCA player have been tarnished with disc lockups and skipping. This is unacceptable, so out it goes!

The XA2 is a well build player, but I am a bit annoyed by the louder than expected fan noise.

Transformer Party

Friday night's presentation of "Transformer" was a full house. The setup finally came together within the last hour. I had to make a quick dash to pick up my sub from Myer-Emco and get the room calibrated. I finally got around to adding a Buttkicker to the front row as well so there wouldn't be a fight over the rear row seating. I wasn't sure I would get it installed in time. I had a mounting plate drilled at work during the day, and got it installed right after work. From the sounds coming from the front row audience, it seemed to be working properly even though I didn't have a chance to test it before the show. It is not the proper way to install the kickers, because the couch is not on a platform. Luckily I have a table in front of the couch that people can put their feet on to isolate them from the floor when sitting upright. It works, but not as well as having a full platform. Of course if you lay on the couch it is not an issue, but does restrict the seating capacity to one or two.

The bass was tight and the dialog clear, the bass traps in back helped keep things from getting muddy or boomy even during the loudest of scenes.

Countdown to the Transformer Party

Almost everything is completed. Now I am waiting on my LFE sub to get here from the repair center at Meyer-Emco. It has taken 3 months for this repair, but it should be here on Friday. That will be cutting it close as I am having a group of friends over for a Transformer party. The sub will go under the stairs to the left of the 7001's. I will only have an hour to calibrate everything again, and that won't leave much time to check everything out. I will just have to wing it and hope for the best.

I was lucky enough to find a Circuit City store that was running the BOGO special, so I picked up "Transformers" and "Flags of Our Fathers". I couldn't resist previewing, and I must say that the soundtrack on "Transformers" had my teeth rattling at several points in the movie. This will replace "War of the Worlds" as my demo disc for the buttkickers.

New Paint

Over the last few weeks I have been busy repainting the Theatre. I decided to go with a darker burgundy to better match the leather seating. This also lowered the light level as the paint is much darker than before. I selected an 'egg shell' finish this time rather than "flat". While flat did look less shiny, it was also too easy to scuff. Just touching it ruined the finish.

As part of the repainting, I took down the black velvet material on the ceiling near the screen and painted it black. The rest of the ceiling was painted 18% gray. I also removed the side curtains to open up the space under the stairs.

The last few things left to do are to repaint the trim, close in the back of the stair to prevent light leakage, and add some crown molding over the top of the screen. I am also added fiberglass panels to the back wall and covered it with black velvet material. I doubled up the panels so they were 4 inches thick and left a 6 inch gap behind them. I also draped burgundy material over the DVD collection to make it a little neater.

I also moved the HD DVD player inside the cabinets. I didn't like the fan noise it produced when playing CD's. It is not so noticeable when watching a movie, as the projector fan drowns it out. It is dead quiet now when listening to music. It has me considering building a hush box for the projector and moving all the equipment inside the cabinets. My only concern is how to remove the heat that would be generated by the receiver. I will save this idea for the dead of winter when I have more time.