Downsizing Home Theater - 5.1 To 3.1

Thorton

DK, they can cut the center support brace to the height you need. I had mine cut to a 15.5" opening, not only to have enough space for my 12" height center channel speaker but so I could angle the tweeter to fire at ear level. I don't have the two smaller doors though and really didn't want them anyways blocking the display on the pre/pro.

xsmi

DK, do you play saxophone?

DarqueKnight

xsmi wrote: »

DK, do you play saxophone?

Yes.

Thorton wrote: »

DK, they can cut the center support brace to the height you need.

No need for a custom length center brace at this time. The shelf kit comes with a 17.7" high brace, which is the exact height needed to accommodate the smaller 17.5" high doors.

DarqueKnight

Salamander Synergy Quad 30 Conversion
Installation of Wide Center Channel Shelf



Figure 10. Starting point: Quad 30 cabinet with four full height doors.


Figure 11. Center doors removed.


Figure 12. Rolling platform for plasma TV removal.

It turned out that the height of the dolly, plus the height of two hard plastic milk crates, plus the height of a disassembled cabinet side panel, equaled the height of the Quad 30 cabinet. All I had to do was slide the TV onto the platform and roll it away.


Figure 13. Ready to roll.


Figure 14. Top off.


Figure 15. The curved end of a crowbar was used to prop up the front of the cabinet so that four thick books (two in center, two at ends) could be placed under it. This allowed easy removal of the front center pillar's foot.


Figure 16. Similar to a wife with a dollar or two of her own, a crowbar is a handy thing to have around the house.

The two components on the shelves supported by the center pillar were pushed far to the opposite rear corner. This allowed removal of the shelf pegs without having to remove the shelves and the components (digital and analog preamps) on them. That would have been a lot of connections to undo and redo.


Figure 17. Center shelf installed.

I miscalculated the height of the center channel space a little bit. I calculated 9.25" based on the height of the short center pillar (17.25"), the thickness of the shelf (0.75"), and the height of the tall pillars (27.75"). The finished height was 1/8" less (9.125") due to 1/8" thick rubber pads on top of the center pillar and the side rails which supported the shelf.


Figure 18. Sliding the Kuro plasma TV back in place.


Figure 19. Conversion complete.

All set for the delivery of the LSiM 706c center channel speaker, LSiM 705 front speakers, and LSiM 702 F/X surround speakers.

Going from dual center channel speakers (two LSi9s) to a single center meant that only one channel of the Adcom GFA-5500 amp could be used or both channels could be used in a bi-amplification configuration. I tried it both ways with the single LSi9 speaker and the bi-amped configuration had more weight and clarity.


Figure 20. Mark-offs for the location of the LSiM 702 F/X surround speakers.
the bottom of the 702s will be 6.5' from the floor. Polk specifies a height of 6' - 8'
feet from the floor for the 702s.

Surround duty is handled in the interim by a pair of Fanfare Acoustics Prelude bookshelf speakers.

DarqueKnight

***Update***

Finished! We have been enjoying the new LSiM speakers since last week.


Figure 21. LSiM 705 front stage speakers, along with the LSi9 speaker previously used as a center channel.

I wanted to try both the LSiM 707s and and 705s in front, but 707s in mahogany, and on sale, appear to be scarce. The 705s are probably the better match for my room and the distance I want to place the front speakers from wall.


Figure 22. LSiM 705 and LSi15. My LSi15s (and LSi9s) have crossovers modified with higher quality components. Still with all that, the 705 outperformed them in every respect.

The LSiM 705s are the first Polk speaker, since the SDAs, that I enjoy for music listening. My modified LSi15s and LSi9s were suitable for music duty after crossover modification, but in stock form, I considered them strictly for home theater duty. The aesthetics, fit, finish, build quality, and out of the box sound quality of the 705s is outstanding!


Figure 23. Rear surround height trials. Don't be nervous. This was actually quite stable. Even if I gently pushed the 702s with a finger, they would return to a stable center resting position. The 702s can be either stand mounted or wall mounted. I experimented with stand mounting near ear level and various points above ear level.

I had some concern that mounting the rear surrounds high would cause me to hear sounds far above the plane of the LF/C/RF speakers. I don't, unless the sound is specifically mixed to sound that way. Sounds from the left or right rear typically sound as if they are coming from behind me a little bit above ear level.

I knew what the 702s weight and dimensions were before hand, but I was still surprised at their size upon seeing them in person. At 19-15/16" W x 16-1/4" H x 6-3/4" D, they are over 21% larger than my SDA CRS+s (20" W x 12-3/4" H x 10-1/8" D). My previous concerns with wall mounted surrounds had to do with aesthetics and sonic weight. Wall mounted surrounds with adequate sonic weight tended to be large and bulky and visually unappealing. Aesthetically pleasing wall mounted surrounds tended to be smaller and wimpy sounding. The 702s resolved both of those issues.

Conclusion


Figure 24. LSiM front stage: 705 front speakers, LSiM 706c center, along with the Bass Beast (SVS PB 12 Ultra/2 subwoofer) at the right.

The LSi9s did a commendable job as center channel speakers. When the single LSi9 speaker was replaced with the LSiM 706c, the sounds from the front and rear speakers became apparently louder, clearer, and more distinct. There was also more clarity, detail, and weight with vocals and other sounds in the center.

Like the single LSi9 speaker, the LSiM 706c is wired in a quasi-biamped configuration. One channel of an Adcom GFA-5500 power amplifier feeds the low frequency section, the other channel feeds the high frequency section.


Figure 25. Rear surrounds: Wall mounted LSiM 702 F/X surround speakers. The bottoms of the 702s are 6.5' from the floor.

I don't have any plans to replace the 1080p Kuro plasma in the near future. None of the current OLED, LCD, or 4K sets have provided sufficient inducement to switch.

Equipment List

Pioneer Elite Kuro PRO-151FD Plasma Television
Tivo HD XL Digital Video Recorder
Sony TA-P9000ES 5.1 Channel Preamp
Sony TA-E9000ES Digital Preamp Version 2.01
Pioneer Elite BDP-09FD Blu-ray Player
Bryston BDP-1 Digital Player
PS Audio PerfectWave P10 AC Regenerator
PS Audio PerfectWave P5 AC Regenerator
Adcom GFA-5500 Power Amp (200 wpc) - Rear Speakers
Adcom GFA-5500 Power Amp (200 wpc) - Center Speaker
Adcom GFA-5500 Power Amp (200 wpc) - Front Speakers
SVS PB12 Ultra/2 Subwoofer
Salamander Quad 30 Audio/Video Cabinet
Two Dedicated 20 Amp AC Circuits
Signal Cable MagicPower and PS Audio AC-5 Power Cords
Monster Cable Z2 Reference Speaker Cables (Front/Center)
Monster UL/CL3 In-Wall/DSR Silverline Speaker Cables (Rear)

cfrizz

Very, very nice, enjoy.

tonyb

How did you run those wires Ray ? Seems like you have a lot of obstacles in wall.

EndersShadow

tonyb wrote: »

How did you run those wires Ray ? Seems like you have a lot of obstacles in wall.

I think I see whit cable conduit around the frame of that window and then it goes behind the picture and up, but I could be wrong

vmaxer

Very nice.

mdaudioguy

EndersShadow wrote: »

I think I see whit cable conduit around the frame of that window and then it goes behind the picture and up, but I could be wrong

Eagle eye! Looks like he did a neat job.

EndersShadow

mdaudioguy wrote: »

EndersShadow wrote: »

I think I see whit cable conduit around the frame of that window and then it goes behind the picture and up, but I could be wrong

Eagle eye! Looks like he did a neat job.

I use conduit myself, and then this weekend got sick of it going up the wall and decided to try much luck at running it in the wall..... got it to working but its not as pretty as I'd like.

Thankfully I have some conduit pieces coming to hide the holes in the baseboards.

DarqueKnight

EndersShadow wrote: »

tonyb wrote: »

How did you run those wires Ray ? Seems like you have a lot of obstacles in wall.

I think I see whit cable conduit around the frame of that window and then it goes behind the picture and up, but I could be wrong

That's it. Looking at figure 25, the right speaker cable enters a conduit (painted to match the wall) at the base board, goes up along the edge of the window frame, makes a 90 degree turn right at the middle of the painting, then makes a 90 degree turn up to the speaker. Same for the left speaker cable.

For the subwoofer and rear speakers, I do have in-wall and over the ceiling cable from the jack panel behind the equipment cabinet to a jack panel behind the subwoofer and to a jack panel on the other side of the room.

Unknown

This content has been removed.

DarqueKnight

DonnerUndBlitzen wrote: »

I was curious about how 3.1 sounds as compared to 2.1 stereo home theater.

I don't like it. There is no substitute for a real center speaker. However, if image weight and anchoring dialog to the center of the tv is not important to you, a 2.1 arrangement with a phantom center might suffice.

DonnerUndBlitzen wrote: »

Yamaha has some DSP effects that will create surround sound effects from only a 3.1 front speaker set-up. Did you use something like that for 3.1 surround, or is their a Dolby Digital just for 3.1 surround?

No, I didn't use DSP effects to create fake rear channels. The rear L and R channels were turned off. My ancient (2001) Sony TA-E9000ES preamp/processor has DSP sound field algorithms that can create the following surround effects:

1. Two virtual rear speakers derived from the two front speakers.
2. Ten pairs of virtual speakers surrounding the listener derived from the two front speakers.
3. Three pairs of virtual speakers surrounding the listener derived from the two front speakers.
4. Five pairs of virtual speakers surrounding the listener derived from the two front and two rear speakers.

DonnerUndBlitzen wrote: »

Are the LSIM speakers equally adept at home theater and music or, are they better for one of the other?

I found the LSiM 705s to be equally adept at both movies and music. I touched on that here:

DarqueKnight wrote: »

The LSiM 705s are the first Polk speaker, since the SDAs, that I enjoy for music listening. My modified LSi15s and LSi9s were suitable for music duty after crossover modification, but in stock form, I considered them strictly for home theater duty. The aesthetics, fit, finish, build quality, and out of the box sound quality of the 705s is outstanding!

Mr. Sharpe

tonyb wrote: »

Smaller speakers ? Blasphemy I tell ya. lol

This has one word written all over it Ray.....somehow someway.....there's a "woman" involved in these decisions.

People might say I'm nuts, I'm going monitor 10's to sda 1, it's a big upgrade, I can only for these monsters next:-D no sense in going smaller for me!

Mr. Sharpe

Although my HT speakers are klipsch rb-61 and an rc-10, which sounds amazing I might add, and rb 41's for surrounds, Man of Steel sounds wonderful.

[Deleted User]

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mrloren

Very nice and clean setup.

I want to show these to my wife. Tell here to see what a clutter free room looks like.

scubalab

Beautiful room Ray. And beautiful sound to match. I have an LSiM-704c, and am really impressed at the build quality of even the entry level center! Nice work and great write-up.

gce

Very nice setup Ray! A lot higher mounting on your 702s then I ended up doing but I see you're ok with the sound.