Home Theater Setup Advice Needed!

scubalab

Hello - still fairly new to the forum. I've been super impressed with some of the technical support I've seen on this forum, and at times, feel like I have NO idea what I'm doing. There's a ton of knowledge on this site, and it often reminds me that I really don't know half of what I thought I knew!!

OK... I've been 'building' a home theater for a few years now. The room is a long narrow room (10' x 20') with two rows of loveseat recliners towards the middle and rear, the second elevated on an 8" platform. The ceiling is kind of low (7'-4") so the projector is right up tight to the ceiling. Projector is a Sharp XR-10X - about 3 years old and on it's second bulb, so we may upgrade in a year or two to a 1080p projector. The screen is super hi-tech! (It's a piece of drywall cut to the 16:9 dimensions - 45" x 80", unfinished, screwed to the wall!) We just upgraded last year from an old Sony Pro-Logic receiver to a Denon AVR-988. That's when I realized that I had NO idea what I was doing. It took me 3 days to get the damn thing set up right...

I currently have the following speakers hooked up:

RT800i - Front left and right
CSi40 - Center
FXi50 - Rear Surrounds (in the BACK of the room - not the sides)
Paradigm (can't remember exact model, think the PSW200?) - Subwoofer.

Although the current setup is 5.1, I just wired the room for 7.1 since the receiver can handle it. Now (finally) for the questions...

If I get the additional two speakers, are the RT35i's or the RTi38's the way to go? If so, should they be located in the back of the room and move the Bipoles to the sides? (That seems to be the way most of what I've read would imply.) Or should I keep the Bipoles in the back and use the RTi38's (or equivalent) on the sides (surrounds)? The wires I ran would put the side surround speakers right next to the front row of seats and the rear speakers directly behind and above the back row of seats. Are these speakers overkill for the room size?

What I'm also struggling with now, is while watching movies, HD cable, or standard TV, the sound hasn't seemed right lately. I don't know if the kids messed something up, or if I did when I ran the new wires... It seems like in the 5 ch mode the sound coming from the rear speakers is WAY too loud. In Dolby Digital mode, MOST of the sound is coming from the center channel, and VERY little from the front L&R and rears. Nothing seems balanced anymore. I did the Auddessy setup when I originally placed everything, and it seemed to do a good job. I may just have to run it again. I feel like an idiot with this receiver! It seems like it just automatically selects the sound mode. I'm looking for any advice, pointers, and friendly tips... I know this is the right place.

Also... anyone looking to sell a nice set of RTi38's or RT35i's?!?

Thanks much!

jinjuku

Your understanding of where to put the Dipoles are correct. The 35's with the 6.5" woofer should be more than adequate for your surround backs.

Sounds like a really nice setup. When I have had kids mess with my AVR I have actually ran the factory reset routine to get the AVR back to out box settings.

scubalab

It never ceases to amaze me at how quick and helpful the folks on this forum are!! Thanks Jinjuku for the advice! Will be sure to let you know how this works... (if I ever find a pair of the RT35i's or RTi38's...!)

jinjuku

Since you have a projector:

You should mix up some Black Widow screen paint. It will make a huge difference:

You will need:

1 Quart Valspar Ultra Premium Flat Enamel paint
8 oz (two 4 ounce bottles) of Auto Air Aluminum car body paint (from Dick Blick art supply online)

Get the Valspar tinted to Bermuda Beige using Pittsburg Paints (PPG) 427-2.

This will give you a darn near neutral gray screen.

Cost you about $25 in paint.

superjunior

welcome to club polk scubalab!

anton.chigurh

Welcome to the Club and nice setup. I liked what I've heard of that center and it's beastly.

wutadumsn23

Congrats on the rig and welcome to Club Polk.

-Jeff

bsoko2

If your reciever can do Audyssey Pro have it done. I did and what a difference it made in my room. It is the ultimate for Audyssey!

Bill

scubalab

Thanks to all for the warm welcomes and all of the advice!

Jinjuku - I'll have to give the paint mix a try - I built a 4:3 screen (8' x 6' out of studs and drywall) in my garage about 3 years ago when we first got the projector for a Penn State away game tailgate and painted it flat white. It did an ok job considering it was outdoors, during the day, and not in HD... It's a shame that I did such a nice job on the screen that sits in the garage, and have yet to 'fix up' the screen in the theater! My intention is to get a 92" fixed frame screen in the near future (yeah, I've been saying that for the past 3 years - that paint option is looking more and more like a reality).

Anton - the CSi40 is a wonderful speaker - crisp, clear, full range - a HUGE improvement over the old, old CS240 I had prior. It rivals the 800 mains.

Bill - I'm not sure if the Denon has Audyssey "pro"... I'll have to double check when I get back home later this week. I know it has the Audyssey setup (I just plugged the mic in on a tripod from several listening positions and it did the sound calibration). It seemed to work nicely when I originally set it up - I'll have to try running it again. But if there is a different 'pro' version, I'm not sure that's an option on the Denon. Will post again once I give the calibration a try again.

Thanks again! Still looking for those elusive RTi38's or RT35i's.......

scubalab

Finally picked up a pair of RT35i's last week and got them set up to complete the 7.1. The 35's are set behind the listening position on the wall as rears. I have the FXi50's on the side walls for surrounds, the RT800i's for fronts, and the CSi40 center.

A couple questions...

Should the FXi50's be set in Dipole mode? (I'm pretty sure that's the way to go - I think the manual says use the Dipole setting if they are directly to the side of the listening position and Bipole if they are behind the listening position.)

Also, I re-ran the Auddessy setup and it set the cutoff frequency to 40 Hz for all the speakers. It sensed the 800's, the CSi40, and the FXi50's as "Large" speakers, and the RT35i's as "Small" speakers. Does this sound correct? I think the manual for the CS and the FX says set them to "Small" speakers.

Lastly, I have a Paradigm sub (PSW-1000) with a volume control, cutoff frequency (50 Hz -150 Hz), and phase alignment control (0 to 180 degrees). Any recommendations on where to set these?

I appreciate any help and advice. The Auddessy seemed to do a pretty good job fixing the problems I mentioned earlier. However, if anyone has any advice on how to fine-tune it even further, I would certainly appreciate it!

Thanks again in advance...

Mike LoManaco

anton.chigurh wrote: »

Welcome to the Club and nice setup. I liked what I've heard of that center and it's beastly.

Just wanted to say that I LOVE your screen name...

Awesome film, and awesome performance by Bardem...;)

scubalab

scubalab wrote: »

Finally picked up a pair of RT35i's last week and got them set up to complete the 7.1. The 35's are set behind the listening position on the wall as rears. I have the FXi50's on the side walls for surrounds, the RT800i's for fronts, and the CSi40 center.

A couple questions...

Should the FXi50's be set in Dipole mode? (I'm pretty sure that's the way to go - I think the manual says use the Dipole setting if they are directly to the side of the listening position and Bipole if they are behind the listening position.)

Also, I re-ran the Auddessy setup and it set the cutoff frequency to 40 Hz for all the speakers. It sensed the 800's, the CSi40, and the FXi50's as "Large" speakers, and the RT35i's as "Small" speakers. Does this sound correct? I think the manual for the CS and the FX says set them to "Small" speakers.

Lastly, I have a Paradigm sub (PSW-1000) with a volume control, cutoff frequency (50 Hz -150 Hz), and phase alignment control (0 to 180 degrees). Any recommendations on where to set these?

I appreciate any help and advice. The Auddessy seemed to do a pretty good job fixing the problems I mentioned earlier. However, if anyone has any advice on how to fine-tune it even further, I would certainly appreciate it!

Thanks again in advance...

BUMP... any tips or advice on my questions above?

jleonard711

scubalab wrote: »

Should the FXi50's be set in Dipole mode? (I'm pretty sure that's the way to go - I think the manual says use the Dipole setting if they are directly to the side of the listening position and Bipole if they are behind the listening position.)

Yes, that sounds right.

Also, I re-ran the Auddessy setup and it set the cutoff frequency to 40 Hz for all the speakers. It sensed the 800's, the CSi40, and the FXi50's as "Large" speakers, and the RT35i's as "Small" speakers. Does this sound correct? I think the manual for the CS and the FX says set them to "Small" speakers.

Again, sounds good.

Lastly, I have a Paradigm sub (PSW-1000) with a volume control, cutoff frequency (50 Hz -150 Hz), and phase alignment control (0 to 180 degrees). Any recommendations on where to set these?

I would leave the cutoff set at 150, because as part of the Audyssey setup the receiver should have already set the LFE cutoff (probably around 80-100). As for the volume, you don't want to mess with that after you run the Audyssey because it adjust your LFE output based on what you have the sub set at when you run the test. I usually set my sub at 50-60% and then run the Audyssey, but you definitely don't want to go past about 75% or you'll start getting distortion. As for the phase alignment, that all depends on your room and sub placement. Sub placement and configuration can be one of the trickiest things to get dialed in properly in a home theater setup. Most of it is just trial & error becuase every room has different acoustical properties. I have 2 subs in my room, and they both needed different volume and phase settings to make everything sound perfect from the primary listening area.

scubalab

Thanks much! Appreciate the pointers.