A Modest Home Theater Tweak

DarqueKnight

I was 80% satisfied with my home theater rig. The front, center, and rear speakers were all SDA’s of the same vintage and I had seamless sound all the way around. However, something was not quite right. Although the sound in the front stage was great, it didn’t seem quite “big” enough. I often thought about replacing the SDA 1C’s up front with a pair of SDA SRS’s or SDA SRS 1.2’s. I was somewhat hesitant to make the move to much larger front speakers because I thought it smacked of degenerate overkill.

Regardless of overkill, when I received word in mid-November, through the SDA Cultist Grapevine, that a pair of SDA-SRS (original version, ca. 1988) speakers were being held captive under very harsh conditions, I just had to come to the rescue. The captor was asking a modest ransom and I immediately began negotiations to free the SRS's. After several days of talks, the captor and I agreed on ransom terms and he further agreed to deliver the speakers on November 30th. The captor was not at all happy about "releasing" his SRS's. However, he was going off to graduate school and he would not have the room to keep them. During the negotiation phase, he provided many photographs, of which this is one:



I assured the captor that I would provide them with a good home and plenty of good, clean power. They were being fed by a little Sony receiver.

I thought they would be much happier in the front stage of my home theater rig, where they would replace my SDA 1C's.


"Before"


"After"-The SRS's now have much more room to breathe. They came with the original boxes, receipt, manual, and SDA interconnect cable. I hear much more detail in the side speakers with the SRS's. Plus, the front speaker drivers are now at the same level as the TV screen and are much closer to the center speakers. The quality of “bigness” that was missing before is now realized. The TV is a Sony KP61V85 61" Rear Projector. Electricity is provided to the system by a dedicated 20 amp circuit.

With the 1C's, I was running dual SVS CS Ultras co-located near a corner of the room. However, with the addition of the SRS's, the bass action was a little too strong for me. Soooooooo.........



.....I rearranged the Ultras so that one is located behind each SDA SRS:


The bass response of the Ultras is exceptionally smooth and tight. The sound is more like an acoustic suspension speaker than a ported design. They provide seamless bass extension for the SRS's.

View looking from the right:



View of the rear stage with SDA 1B's:



View looking toward the front of the room:



Closeup of left equipment rack:


Equipment:
Sony SCD333ES SACD Player
Sony DVPS7700 DVD/CD Player
Sony TA-E900ES Digital Preamp Version 2.01
Sony SLV778HF VCR
Hitachi VTU625A VCR
Adcom GFA-5500 Power Amp (350 wpc into 4 ohms) Left Front, Right Front
Adcom GFA-5500 Power Amp (275 wpc into 4 ohms) Left Center, Right Center
Bell'Oggetti AT-4203 Audio Rack (black powder-coated steel frame with tempered glass shelves)


Closeup of right equipment rack:


Equipment:
Yamaha PF-800 Turntable
Grado 8MR MM Phono Cartridge
Yamaha TX-1000U Digital Tuner
Terk AM/FM Q Model AF-1 Powered Antenna
Yamaha CDX-1110U CD Player (8x oversampling
Adcom GFA-5500 Power Amp (350 wpc into 4 ohms) Left Rear, Right Rear
Adcom GFA-565 Mono Power Amp (450 wpc into 4 ohms) , Left Subwoofer
Adcom GFA-565 Mono Power Amp (450 wpc into 4 ohms) , Right Subwoofer
Bell'Oggetti AT-4203 Audio Rack (black powder-coated steel frame with tempered glass shelves)

Speakers:
Polk Audio SDA CRS+ (1989 vintage) for center channel
Polk Audio SDA SRS (Original, 1988 vintage) for fronts
Polk Audio SDA 1B (1986 vintage) for rears
Dual SVS CS Ultra subwoofers (2001 vintage)

Wire:
Monster Z2 Reference for center speakers, front speakers and subwoofers.
DSR Silverline 8 gauge for rears
Monster Z100i interconnects.

The room is 20' x 32' with 12 foot vaulted ceiling.

My journey into home theater began in November of 2000 with a pair of Polk RT-800i fronts, CS 400i center, RT 55i's for rears, PSW 650 sub, Toshiba CE32E15 32" tube TV, Yamaha HTR-5250 receiver, and a Panasonic A120U DVD player. All except the Toshiba TV and Yamaha receiver have been sold.

I’m satisfied for now....or at least until HDTV's come down in price.

brettw22

And they lived happily ever after......................until the next time......:D

Very nice setup.....muy bueno......

fireshoes

I'm still trying to comprehend the first picture. I just can't imagine it.

danger boy

that first picture is halarious.. but i love the SDA's towering over the small monitor.. funny stuff.

beautiful set up Raife 1 perfect i'd say. I'm sure it sounds incredible in that room. Great job matching components. I'm so jealous.. that's the system i want. How long would it take you to rewire it if you had to? Just curious.
thanks

scottvamp

I'm still trying to comprehend the first picture. I just can't imagine it.

You are probably talking about the tv that is worth about what one of the speakers crossover goes for. Ya, happens all the time - take a good look at the system showcase. I can not comprehend it either.
raife1, freaking nice setup. That room layout with all the broken walls have to be killing your bass. That is why you have such an insane arsonail. That setup in a "closed" room would have enough BASS to hurt someone. To bad u can not have a more ideal "surround" setup. (huge speakers directly to the side, on the floor and pointing forward) But still killer system!!!!
Is that a CS1000? How are you running the three subs?

scottvamp

Sorry Vemon, fresh out today. Maybe Santa!!!!;)

RuSsMaN

Scott, his center is a pair of SDA CRS (+ if I'm not mistaken).

Cheers,
Russ

scottvamp

Thanks Russ, ya - A harder look and I see the split between the two now.

DarqueKnight

Originally posted by scottvamp That room layout with all the broken walls have to be killing your bass.

Nope, not at all. I had to move the Ultras farther away from each other to tone down the bass a bit.

To bad u can not have a more ideal "surround" setup. (huge speakers directly to the side, on the floor and pointing forward)

Yeah, the rears go against conventional rear speaker placement, but I just don't like the sound of wall-mounted speakers. The room was actually pre-wired during construction for wall-mounted surround speakers. The rears are actually toed in just a little bit. I have more of a sense of being "surrounded" by sound with larger speakers close by than with smaller speakers far away on the walls.

DarqueKnight

I replaced the CRS+'s I was using for centers for two reasons:

1. They looked too bulky above my television.

2. It is a shame to waste a great pair of SDA "true stereo" speakers by having them reproduce only mono signals for the rest of their lives.

Before:


After:





The CRS+'s were replaced with two LSiC's. The right LSiC was rewired to be a mirror image of the left LSiC. In the LSiC, the left driver carries the bass signals and the right driver carries the midrange signals. All I had to do to make the right LSiC mirror the left one was to switch the wiring coming from the crossover. After the rewiring, the midrange drivers of both LSiC's were oriented next to the centerline of the front stage with the bass drivers at the outer edges of both speakers.

The only problem I encountered was that the I needed to splice (solder) in some additional 12 gauge cable to make the connections originally intended for the right driver extend over to the left driver.

The LSiC's are an excellent timbre match for the SDA SRS's I am using for front speakers.

I still have a few residual pangs of guilt about putting my SDA 1B's (modified) in the rear stage. Maybe I'll replace them with a pair of sleek LSi15's.

wangotango68

take some of your money and put some pics on the walls or something. just my .02.

scott:cool:

DarqueKnight

Scott, lilldog, audionutt, wangotango, et. al.:

Thank you for your .02 concerning reallocating some of my audio/entertainment/discretionary funds. I assume you are suggesting I put pictures "or something" on the wall behind the television. As can be seen in previously posted pictures of my home theater room, the other three walls do have pictures and other decorations on them. Three walls contain paintings I purchased in Cairo, Egypt, and other nick-nacks from my travels.

I left the wall behind the television blank for the following reasons:

1. As shown in previous posts, there are two SVS CS Ultra subwoofers along that wall. Unless secured with something akin to a boat anchor, any pictures or other objects placed on that wall will rattle objectionably when the Ultras start doing their thing.

2. Even without the Ultras in the aesthetic equation, there is a lot already going on in front of that wall with a 60 inch television, 64 inch tall main speakers, and two 61 inch tall audio racks.

3. I don't want anything that is visually interesting on the wall behing the television that might compete with what's on-screen for the viewer's attention.

Since I am in a generous mood today, I will use your suggestion and "take some of my money" and give you your $0.02 back. Additionally, I will add another $99.98 to it. You now have $100.00. I am thinking that you can now take some of your money and settle any outstanding financial obligations to Forum members.

wangotango68

looks boring to me. no atmosphere at all. does not look homey at all.


scott:cool: im just telling ya

abmarsh

Looks like the SDA motherlode!

dylan

Originally posted by wangotango68
looks boring to me. no atmosphere at all. does not look homey at all.

Let's take a look:

1. 2 pairs of SDA's
2. 2 LSI C's
3. 2 SVS Sub's (!!)
4. Adcom GFA-5500 Power Amp (350 wpc into 4 ohms), Adcom GFA-5500 Power Amp (275 wpc into 4 ohms) Left Center, Right Center

Sorry man, that's enough 'atmosphere' I would give good money to listen to. Raife1, wow!! I promise I'll buy beer if I'm ever in the neighborhood.