# Eclipse's dedicated Theater Room



## eclipse911t

I have had this theater for about 4 years, but have recently built some corner bass traps thanks to this wonderful forum and purchased a MiniDSP UMIK-1 for REW. I have never been pleased with Audyssey preferring manual EQ settings, so I thought why not invest in a setup that will at least tell me what Audyssey is doing.

I was in the A/V business for about 6 years and have since moved on. I consider my theater to be the one great benefit from that time in my life.

My current equipment list is as follows:

Integra DTC-9.8
Adcom GFA-5503
Adcom GFA-2535
Marantz BD8002
JVC RS-1 
Dragonfly 120" AT 16:9
Velodyne SC-1250
2ea Velodyne SC-15
3ea Snell IW-D7
4ea Snell AMC560
RTI T1 and RP-6
7ea 2'x4' Auralex 2" Wedge Foam Framed & Cover on the side walls
2ea 16"x24"x28" Super Chunks in the front wall-wall corners
3ea 2'x2' Auralex 2" Wedge Foam on the rear wall
Home-made diffusor on the ceiling roughly 7'x7'

I welcome all comments and suggestions. I've only had REW for a couple days and can already appreciate the difference.


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## ALMFamily

Well done mate- very clean setup! :T

I like the color selections as well!


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## eclipse911t

I forgot to mention that I used two layers of drywall all around with green glue between the layers. I also used a metal insulated entry door with a threshold to ensure a good seal.


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## eclipse911t

I had to use very long exposure time on my camera so the colors may be difficult to see. The back, front and ceiling are flat black along with all the trim. The sides are a dark flat red, slightly darker than the pictures look. Obviously this room is function over form.


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## Prof.

Looks very nice! :T Interesting ceiling treatment!


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## JQueen

Very nice and clean


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## hjones4841

Very nice. I know that you spend many hours in there and enjoy it immensely.


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## eclipse911t

We do, thank you guys very much.


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## cavchameleon

Very nice room!!!

By the way, I'm curious about your ceiling diffuser. You you have some build pictures? Also, a picture from below facing up?

Thanks,
Ray


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## eclipse911t

Here are some pictures. It's made from 1"x3" select boards from Menards. The openings are 4"x4". The wood was not sanded or finished in any way.


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## cavchameleon

Thanks!!! Did you find that this diffuser design helped a lot? Most diffusers have random reflection zones (usually following the quadratic formula or some other like pattern). I'm just interested as I have a lot of absorption, but no diffusion yet and was thinking of making something for my ceiling also.


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## chrapladm

Nice diffusor. Will you be making some for the back walls or side walls?

I am from Indiana and I dont even know where Leo is.


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## jgourlie

Dang those are some comfy looking seats. That is a really nice setup. Thanks so much for sharing with us.


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## eclipse911t

cavchameleon said:


> Thanks!!! Did you find that this diffuser design helped a lot? Most diffusers have random reflection zones (usually following the quadratic formula or some other like pattern). I'm just interested as I have a lot of absorption, but no diffusion yet and was thinking of making something for my ceiling also.


I based the design off of the Auralex Screen6. I did a Screen6 ceiling array for a customer's theater once with fantastic results and wanted something more cost effective at home. I'm very pleased with the results!


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## eclipse911t

chrapladm said:


> Nice diffusor. Will you be making some for the back walls or side walls?
> 
> I am from Indiana and I dont even know where Leo is.


I won't be making any additional diffusors. My room could stand some additional absorption in the rear, but no additional diffusion is needed. 

It's my understanding that absorption the easiest way to tame early reflections. However there often comes a point where a room sounds "dead" and no further absorption is desired. Once a room is at this point diffusors should be used to tame reflections.

I'm also considering wall-ceiling bass traps, but am no where near the room being "dead" to the point of needing to find an alternative to absorption.


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## eclipse911t

chrapladm said:


> I am from Indiana and I dont even know where Leo is.


Leo is a nice little suburb just Northeast of Fort Wayne.


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## cavchameleon

eclipse911t said:


> I based the design off of the Auralex Screen6. I did a Screen6 ceiling array for a customer's theater once with fantastic results and wanted something more cost effective at home. I'm very pleased with the results!


Ah, thanks for that info. I had to look it up. Auralex also makes the pArtScience Space Array which does use quasi-random array (more what I was thinking of). But the Screen6 design looks very easy to build. I'm going to consider doing it your way. :bigsmile:


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## chrapladm

Ah ok. I grew up in Fishers.


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## rubbersoul

Nice....and neat. Beautiful


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## B- one

Nice room love pictures great ideas for future

Currently stuck in living room


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## NBPk402

eclipse911t said:


> Here are some pictures. It's made from 1"x3" select boards from Menards. The openings are 4"x4". The wood was not sanded or finished in any way.


I love the way your room turned out, and you did an excellent job on the diffusers!


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## gorb

Very nice - the seats look super comfortable, and that home made diffuser on the ceiling looks sweet. Nice equipment as well.


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## eclipse911t

Update:

I finally completed my acoustic treatment. This includes:
1. 3 4x4' panels on the rear wall. These are double stacked 2 1/4" panels totaling 4 1/2" of material. I covered them in black muslin.
2. 3.5" thick denim insulation behind the AT screen on the front wall. This is held with 4" drywall screws and fender washers with their heads sprayed black. The screen is held out from the wall with horizontal 2x4's perpendicular to the wall.
3. I pulled out the 3 little 2" 2x2' studio foam panels that were above the ceiling diffusor and used most of my left over denim and black muslin and created pillow like absorbers and slid them in above the diffusor. Being black on black, they are very difficult to see.

The graph below shows RT60 for the following:
1. bass traps and diffusor (they were permanently installed when I got REW)
2. Added side panels and absorption above the diffusor
3. Added the rear panels
4. Added the front absorption and upgraded the ceiling material.

I now consider my theater entirely complete. The upgrade bug has left the building. As always, comment are welcome.


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## eclipse911t

Last weekend I added a Berhinger DCX2496 to my subwoofer output. 
Having listened to "How Low Can You Go" on Home Theater Geeks yet again I decided I could improve my bass performance. Previously when searching for subwoofer placement I looked for the best response. With a powerful EQ, this is no longer a best practice. I now searched for a subwoofer location that provided the most consistent frequency response among my three primary seating positions. The response was by no means flat, but it was equally wrong in all spots. This is something to work with!

After configuring it manually using a UMIK-1 and REW I was relatively happy with the results, but wasn't done tweaking. 

This weekend I said to with it, bypassed the Behringer and tried Audyssey yet again. I've tried Audyssey in the past a couple times, but always opted to not use it at the end of the day due to a lack of bass. 
Once Audyssey was complete, the bass was as usual totally gone. I ran through REW again and flattened out a few dips and peaks using the DCX2496 that Audyssey hadn't quite stamped out. Yet again the bass still felt completely lifeless especially when making A/B comparisons between Off/Manual/Audyssey. I increased the gain on my subwoofer slightly, quite a bit actually, and read how others have experienced the same phenomenon. I then noticed Kal Rubinson stating on multiple occasions that Audyssey is accurate and there is a possibility of a preference for familiarity rather than accuracy. At his suggestion I am leaving it alone for a couple weeks and will A/B again after my familiarity wears off. It has been just a few days and only a couple movies outside of the usual demo material and I am thrilled. This system is flatter and cleaner than it has ever been.


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## javiersc

I agree, nice job !!


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## NBPk402

Looks like an Autopatch switcher in your rack... What are you using it for? Are you controllingh it from the front panel or do you use software?


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## eclipse911t

Yes, it's an 8x8 Component Video and Analog audio switcher.
It's controlled the correct way, via RS232. The remotes are four RTI T1's and the processor is an RTI RP-6 with multiple RM-433 antennas throughout the house.

I have 5 A/V zones and 2 additional rooms that are audio only.
5 A/V sources and 2 additional that are audio only.


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## NBPk402

eclipse911t said:


> Yes, it's an 8x8 Component Video and Analog audio switcher.
> It's controlled the correct way, via RS232. The remotes are four RTI T1's and the processor is an RTI RP-6 with multiple RM-433 antennas throughout the house.
> 
> I have 5 A/V zones and 2 additional rooms that are audio only.
> 5 A/V sources and 2 additional that are audio only.


I have had the Autopatch Modula, and Precis units in the past... I used them for switching component video, and digital audio. I controlled them via serial and i loved them. :T


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## NBPk402

eclipse911t said:


> Last weekend I added a Berhinger DCX2496 to my subwoofer output.
> Having listened to "How Low Can You Go" on Home Theater Geeks yet again I decided I could improve my bass performance. Previously when searching for subwoofer placement I looked for the best response. With a powerful EQ, this is no longer a best practice. I now searched for a subwoofer location that provided the most consistent frequency response among my three primary seating positions. The response was by no means flat, but it was equally wrong in all spots. This is something to work with!
> 
> After configuring it manually using a UMIK-1 and REW I was relatively happy with the results, but wasn't done tweaking.
> 
> This weekend I said to with it, bypassed the Behringer and tried Audyssey yet again. I've tried Audyssey in the past a couple times, but always opted to not use it at the end of the day due to a lack of bass.
> Once Audyssey was complete, the bass was as usual totally gone. I ran through REW again and flattened out a few dips and peaks using the DCX2496 that Audyssey hadn't quite stamped out. Yet again the bass still felt completely lifeless especially when making A/B comparisons between Off/Manual/Audyssey. I increased the gain on my subwoofer slightly, quite a bit actually, and read how others have experienced the same phenomenon. I then noticed Kal Rubinson stating on multiple occasions that Audyssey is accurate and there is a possibility of a preference for familiarity rather than accuracy. At his suggestion I am leaving it alone for a couple weeks and will A/B again after my familiarity wears off. It has been just a few days and only a couple movies outside of the usual demo material and I am thrilled. This system is flatter and cleaner than it has ever been.


Well.. How do you like it now?


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## eclipse911t

I absolutely love it. 

The only change I've made really is that I've raised the crossover frequency a tad from 80 to 100Hz. I've watched a handful of movies now and have pushed the volume a tad up/down as needed, but will get things settled in sure with time.


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## Greenster

I think it looks great. Thanks for sharing it with us. Love the diffuser design.


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