# LSK Speakers + 5.1/7.1 Home Theatre Build



## Kaisergrendel (Jul 19, 2011)

Hi all, I'd my 5.1 home theatre is all done after 5 months of hard work, and I'd like to share the build details with you. (Video at the end)










So this is how I started earlier this year, with two bookshelf speakers and a subwoofer from a company called The Loudspeaker Kit. The TV rack is half wedged into a corner, with the fireplace blocking it from sitting flush with the wall. Huge amount of wasted space just to accommodate a TV and a PS3, plus the area below it is too fractioned to use. The AVR sits on top of a cardboard box, wires crisscrossing everywhere and the fireplace boarded up to stop draughts from coming into the house. The tile hearth is a problem - It's bumpy and too narrow to place anything flat on.


























This is how it is now, with an upgrade to 5.1, all with speakers from the same company as before. I built a pine plywood stage over the tile hearth that runs the entire length of the wall, with MDF and oak veneer trim. The idea is to blend it into the surrounding materials, but I left the trim unstained due to a request from my mom. The stage sits on top of a foam underlay to prevent rattling and vibrations from travelling to the floor. In the corner is a rockwool broadband absorber to treat some brightness and boominess, as well as cultivate some symmetry as the right side of the room has a big opening to the dining area. The TV sits on a custom rack designed to fit this particular TV and centre speaker...










...with a lower shelf for DVD/BD cases.










An aluminium rail is embedded into the stage to allow the rack to roll left and right on wheels. Why?










To make way for the fireplace!










Since we have a central heating system I decided to convert the fireplace into an AV rack. I cleaned out the ash (which took an entire day, phew!), re-paved the concrete, coated the interior with masonry sealer and dusted it with a chemically treated silica powder to prevent mold and insects living there. Then I boarded up the walls with plywood and constructed the rack itself with solid pine. Since the fireplace was built to imprecise standards, all the dimensions had to be measured at multiple points to ensure a good fit. The bottom panels had to be foam padded and shimmed as well to get it nice and level. A top panel caps the fireplace off and stops cool/warm air from leaking out. If you look closely you'll see I designed a few gaps for cable management. A hidden nook beside the AVR houses the power board, and remote-controlled cold cathode lamps in a recess for light.

All this including the stage and TV rack are finished in a high wear flooring polyurethane.


















Because the TV rack now impedes line of sight to the AVR, I installed an IR signal "bender" that takes IR signals and repeats them along a cable lined with IR LED's. This enables the AVR to be controlled when the TV rack is in the centre position. The PS3 using bluetooth technology of course doesn't require this.


















The speaker finishes. The 4 speakers on the stage alternate between teak and worn white. Since the kit speakers don't come with any identifying features, I sprayed the logo on them instead. Gold for teak, black for white.


















A little cable management, and the remote control wall socket that acts as a master switch for the whole system.










I worked with my mom to produce these wall cushions for the ottomans, as the wall was a little uncomfortable to lean against. These also help reduce the first reflections just a little.










The lampshade from this light was removed when we moved in 3 years ago because, well, it was ugly. Again I custom built a Japanese style lamp with shellacked solid timber and paper-lined perspex. Notice in the background I mounted the acoustic panels on the picture railing with hooks, which makes for a much neater look.










Just a picture of the speakers in progress 


















In a pinch, the room can be temporarily retrofitted with a projector + screen setup and 7.1 sound. In the future I plan to install a ceiling - mounted dropdown screen so I can switch between the TV and projector.

Equipment:

Panasonic Viera 32" 1080p TV
PS3 Slim
Denon 2807 AVR
LSK TL6 Mains
LSK C6 Centre
LSK S250 Subwoofer
LSK M6 Surrounds
LSK M4 Rear Surrounds

Thanks for reading, and I leave you with the build video for my home theatre 

http://youtu.be/3BG__0qsO9s?hd=1


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## Quijibo (Feb 8, 2011)

what a great transformation.
good work. there are some great little ideas in there.


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## Kaisergrendel (Jul 19, 2011)

Thanks quijibo!


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## Mauritzvw (Sep 19, 2010)

Fantastic mate! Love the video. Thoughts on the LSK's?


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## Kaisergrendel (Jul 19, 2011)

Mauritzvw said:


> Fantastic mate! Love the video. Thoughts on the LSK's?


Thanks! I upgraded from my Sennheiser HD515's (headphones) and logitech Z-2300, so the difference is pretty big. My brother and I could pick up new sounds we hadn't heard before. I watched Tron: Legacy at 3 different venues and the clarity I get from this system is superior and distortion-free during very loud scenes while playing the DTS-HD MA soundtrack. This is while set to around the 85dB reference level. The M6's are very good on their own and it almost feels like a waste to place them on surround duty. The TL6's are even better with smoother mids, mellower highs, lower lows. The depth is amazing, especially with soundtracks with some reverb. The S250 sub does everything I want it to and more, very tight and well controlled, and obnoxiously powerful for my small living room.

I will say I actually miss the large room acoustics you get in a cineplex, where it feels like you're being assaulted by a wall of sound, but that can't be helped  That said the only things keeping me from quitting commercial cinemas is the size of the TV and noise restrictions.


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## gorb (Sep 5, 2010)

I thought I commented on this, but I guess not. Very nice upgrades...everything looks about 100x better. The rails for the rack are super clever, too


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