Warning: Do not choke on your laughter as some of my system is really old!

System 1:
(In dedicated HT room)
Projection: Optoma HD20, 106" fixed screen
AV Receiver: NAD T748
Front: Arcam A60AP+A60SX Amplifiers, active bi-amped into ARC 060 speakers
Centre Speaker: Castle Keep
Surround Speakers: Epos Epic 1
Surround Back Speakers: Epos ELS 8
Subwoofer: Rythmik Audio F12
Interconnects: DIY Ultra Fine Enameled Copper Wire (AWG 38, I think) braided on Teflon tubing
Speaker Cables:
Front & Centre: Wire-wrapping wire (AWG 30 silver-plated solid-core copper wire, teflon-insulated), single run for High, double runs for Mid/Low
Surrounds: Normal Telephone Wire (solid-core copper wire), to be changed to wire-wrapping wire soon
Bluray Player: Sony S380
CD Player: Arcam Alpha 5 Plus
Turntable: Rega Planar 2
HTPC: Asus M5A88-V Evo, AMD Phenom II, Radeon HD6450
NAS: Raspberry Pi + WD Mybook 3TB, serving all systems

System 2:
(In Living Room)
TV: JVC LCD 32" HD-Ready
AV Receiver: Yamaha RX-V375
Front Speakers: Fine Audio Technologies FAT1
Centre Speaker: Celestion CC1
Surround Speakers: Celestion 1
Interconnect: DIY RG59/U digital cable
Speaker Cables: Normal Telephone Wire, to be changed to Wire-wrapping wire soon
DVD Player: Pioneer
HTPC: Acer Aspire Revo 3700

System 3:
(Desktop Computer)
CPU: Apple Mac Mini
Display: Samsung 21.5" LED
Amplifier: Indeed Tripath TA2020S Class T Mini Amplifier
USB DAC: UD110
Speakers: psb Alpha LR1
Speaker Cable: Wire-wrapping wire

This post has been edited by skeelee: Jan 7 2014, 09:01 PM

This post has been edited by skeelee: Jan 6 2014, 05:55 PM

Already posted last year, only minor alteration since then.
Now only filling in the details.

I have a windowless HT room. I installed an exhaust fan that is turned on for 30 minutes, twice a day, using a timer.
So far, managed to keep the humidity in the room within control. Have to leave the door open when not in use to allow the air flow, though.
To add: When the HT room is in use, I have the exhaust fan opening fully covered; problem is sometime forget to open the cover after use and the exhaust fan is subject to excessive load when turned on later.

This post has been edited by skeelee: May 19 2014, 12:34 PM

Your 16'x27' HT room will be the envy of the town; very few people are able to have that.

Anyway, here're my two cents:

Viewing distance of 15' from a 120" screen has a viewing angle of 32 degree only, it is way too far. THX recommends viewing angle of 36 deg for the furthest seats, and the sweet spot is between 45 and 50 degrees. For 120" screen, the sweet spot is at 9.4' to 10.5' from the screen.

Since your room will be a dedicated HT room, you'll have the liberty of placing your speakers further into the room and not just at or in front of the screen. I find that placing speakers according to the Golden Rule tends to eliminate most of the acoustic problem and hence require less acoustic treatment to the room. Google for Cardas Golden rule speaker placement and explore.

Another benefit of using 16:9 screen with bottom black bar - External srt subtitles can be within the bottom black bar, leaving the picture uncluttered.


This post has been edited by skeelee: Nov 7 2014, 02:53 PM

Sensor Light placed on floor will light up when I enter the dark HT room.



Sunday project:
Removed, rewired and mounted the LED lights on the side wall (yet to be finished and tidied-up).

From lelong, cheap-cheap at RM19 + RM5 shipping only. Search for LED motion sensor light.

I agree with you.
Dipole/bipolar surround speakers were recommended during the early days of surround sounds where the two surround channels are mono and non-discreet, and the sound from these surround speakers should be diffused. For discreet surround channels in Dolby Digital or dts, theoretically they should be point-source.

Big size wire = Good cable?
Not so, if you follow Allen Wright's Supercable Cookbook, in which I find the an explanation or pseudo-theory on what attributes of good audio cables are that I think make sense.

The gist:
Multi-strands are no-no. Solid cores are the best.
The thinner the wire, the better.
Similarly, the thinner the connector, the better.

My AVR is acting up, may need to get a replacement. Present setup is 7.1, thinking of moving up to Atmos.
What are the more affordable Atmos AVR now available?

Thanks and point taken.
I already have a 4-channel power amp that I can use to power the ceiling speakers if the AVR only provides line-out for these channels.
I suppose all new AVRs support firmware update to cater for any changes and improvement that comes along.

Exactly.
ON another thread on Atmos, there's talk about using Onkyo TX-NR747 for Atmos and DTS-X. Onkyo website also states that this model supports both, but I cannot find any output for ceiling speakers besides the 7.2. Am I missing something?

Yes, I just figured it out. I am aiming for 7.1.4.

Thanks.
The Spec for A3050 says it supports Atmos 5.1.4, 7.1.2 and 7.1.4 with external amp, but the picture of its backcover indicates 11 channels for speaker output and 2 subwoofer pre-out. Shouldn't it be good for 7.2.4 without any external amp?
How's your current setup?

Are the Zone2/3/Presence output Either/Or type of connections?

Looks like it's not the right time to upgrade to Dolby Atmos and dts-X just yet, considering the current exchange rate and the uncertainty in dts-X.

In the interim, I swapped in my wife's V375, with the SQ a few notches below that of the T748. The HDMI card of the 4-year old T748 was replaced 2 years ago, so if I get the card replaced again, it should last me another 2 years, and by then should be the right time to upgrade.

Basically the front and centre speakers should sound the same, else when a character in the move is speaking while walking from the left to the right side of the stage, he or she will sound like different person along the way.
That is why it is preferable to have the same drivers in the three speakers. However you can also source for different speakers if they sound quite close to each other. One way is to go for at least speakers from the same country, American speakers sound quite different from British ones.

This post has been edited by skeelee: Oct 16 2015, 11:15 AM

Your problem could be due to different height of the centre from the other 2 fronts. Try to tilt the centre up to point at you (at listening position) directly to see if it makes any difference.

AVR front L-R pre-out to your chosen hi-fi preamp, best of both worlds.