This is an older wide-angle view of our home theater system from the bridge between the bedroom and the music studio. The exposure has been non-linearly adjusted: I pushed the shadow detail up so you could see a little more (which kind of screwed up the image on the screen); the walls aren't really that bright and the projector's blacks are solid; this is a DLP based projector. We do need to paint those side walls black, but that's on a to-do list along with everything else, I'm afraid. (done now)

The last time I tried this, I didn't have a lens that could take it all in. The fixture at the top hangs from a ceiling fan; we watch from the far right (bedroom) or from down below, from the 8-person couch in front of the electronics, so the fan doesn't interfere in the least.

The system is presently 7.1 surround using a Marantz AV-7005 pre-pro and 9 MA-700 Marantz monoblocks configured as 7x200 watts RMS, plus a pair bridged for 600 watts RMS to the sub, a dual 18" single-cabinet Yamaha unit. It presently features a Mac (as media librarian), 16-channel IR / color 1 TB security DVR, Apple TV, Roku, HD OTA receiver, PS3 / BD / SACD, XBox, XBox360 / HD DVD, Wii, and the projector is an Optoma HD-80. There is also a secondary 17" LCD monitor for working with audio-only modes (so we don't burn the projector bulb unnecessarily.)

The front speakers are Marantz HD-880s, absolutely primo 4-element designs with 12" optional port bass drivers; the center, mid pair and rear pair are box and tower lineaum designs respectively. The subs consists of a pair of dual-coil passive 12" units wired in series-parallel for 8 ohms to satisfy the bridged MA-700 pair. The HD-880s do bass support work (they go just as low as the subs do... they're really outstanding speakers) and are phase aligned (via a sensitive microphone and a spectrum analyzer) for the sweet spot at center seating, so the system has about a kilowatt RMS of time-synchronous bass capability. Explosions are downright thunderous.

I do a lot of listening in stereo; to that end, the classic HD-880's and the Marantz pre-pro (in 2-channel + sub mode) and the monoblocks make a spectacular combination. The space, being a church pulpit after all, was actually designed to do a good job with sound, and the combination is most pleasing.

Deb and I built and finished the audio cabinetry, and I put the electronics together.

All those guitar controllers are from Rock Band and Guitar Hero. Everyone in the family likes those games, including us. The wifi versions are by far the best controllers. Less susceptible to damage by static, too.

#audio #theater

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