Steve vs Home Audio

[Chevy350TPI 12]

I've got an old school record player, Sony 100 disc changer, an old AKAI amp (from what, the '70's?), and a pair of JBL 3-ways.

It sucks.

So ... as some of you know, I do fine wood working in my spare time (coffee tables, china cabinets, cigar boxes, gun cabinets, pens, bowls, anything out of wood).

I don't need another table in my home. What I do need, are some towers and subwoofer enclosure so I can eventually throw in some speakers and my uberwoofer.

I'd love to make some enclosures out of a nice mahogany, eastern maple, oak, ash, anything really.

I don't know chit all about HT. So I have to break it down real simple so I can understand it. I was thinking about two tall side towers, and center enclosure (center channel?), and then the subwoofer enclosure. Suggest anything else?

I don't know how many speakers and what size to put in each tower ... I've seen between 2-6 mids in each tower ... 6 won't work, since I really don't want to spend a lot of money later on plugging speakers in them. So I was thinking perhaps a mid or two (5.25", 6.5", 8"?) in each tall tower, along with a single tweeter in each. Perhaps go with a 6.5, 5.25 or 4, and a tweet in each? I don't know, I'm looking for suggestions here.

Airspace of the towers needs to be decided. I'd rather make them big because I can always add material to the inside of them later on depending on the speakers I choose.

As you can tell, I'm only in the beginning stages here. I'd just like to build some nice towers and sub enclosure to get a head start on this.

Sorry for the lengthy post, hard for me to organize my thoughts. All suggestions welcome - just keep it simple please.

- Steve

[Nikuk 1]

The only real help I have for this arena:

The X-over for each tower can easily become a pita. Study up on that. That is what stalled me in planning surround sound at home.

-and-

If you wanna run surround & a center channel et al, you might need a newer receiver.

-Nick

[02BlackOnBlackSS 1]

First off, I would get a new reciever. Get one with a 5.1 setup because more than that just gets rediculous.

You will essentially need a pair of towers, a center channel, and a subwoofer. You should strongly consider a pair of surround speakers also. The subwoofer will need a plate amp. When you pick out your towers, it is important to get them to blend with the center channel nicely. This usually means using the same drivers. I would look for a setup with 2 6.5"s and a horn for each driver. The surrounds don't matter as much, so I would go with a 4" full range or a 4" and a tweeter.

I used to have a webpage with a bunch of DIY plans for all of these with a parts list from parts express and crossover assembly instructions. I will look for this for you.

I can't help out very much more than these basics, and like Nick said, I wouldn't do a pure DIY setup due to crossover designs, I would go with somebody elses design that has been proven to work. If you do want to customize everything for your room, do a lot of studying on crossovers because they are essential for a nice sounding home system.

Try www.hometheaterforum.com . Lots of great information to be found there.

[bigger_george 2]

or you can hire someone to get the crossovers done but it can become very costly. Do the 5.1 if you are doing surround dvd's or dvd-a's.

And as stated before a new receiver or preamp/amp will help a bunch.

[Jmac 24]

I think Steve knows my feeling on this ...

fudge 5.1 ... invest your money into a pair of towers ... I wouldn't even bother with the center channel ...

With 5.1 encoded movies, most of the sound is from the center channel, so if you go 5.1, invest most of your money there, but you can't skimp on the towers ... You can skimp a little on the surrounds, especially if you mostly watch chick flicks, comedies, etc. ... If you're an action, suspense, horror, etc. buff and you shouldn't skimp on surround ...

If you just go w/ stereo (which I recommend, coming from a guy who has 5.1 surround w/ Wharfedale towers and Paradigm's top-of-the-line center channel), 100% of the sound will come through your towers Even though I got the center channel for cheap, I kinda wish I hadn't spent money on it considering I usually listen to movies in stereo anyways because it sounds better ...

[Chevy350TPI 12]

Wonder if it's possible to use the crossovers out of the JBL three ways I have ... probably not though, unless you used the exact same speakers.

Crossovers = teh ghey.

Honestly ... just thinking about the crossovers pisses me off.

I think I'd be happy with just two main towers and my subwoofer, to be honest. Surround, eh ... yeah it's cool ... and I may as well do it right the first time.

I got to thinking, "Why do I want to do a HT setup?" ... my answer ... I just really want to construct a few nice pieces of fine woodworking without making another goddamn desk or table. I really don't care about filling them with speakers now, that'll come in the summer or later on.

My thought process is all over the map.

- Steve

[Tirefryr 1,742]

Talk to Josh about the x-overs, or Nick Lemmons. Nick's got some awesome Home stuff. Only porblem I'm having with 5.1 or any of the other multispeaker digitally encoded discs is that of the movies I watch there's maybe 10% that are actually recorded in 5.1 or above. I don't know how many times I've watched a movie to realize that no, my receiver is not screwed up, the movie was not recorded in 5, 6, or 7.1.2.3, whatever.

[Chevy350TPI 12]

I won't watch movies through it ... well, maybe the odd one or two. It'll just mainly be for music purposes. And video games

- Steve

[Nikuk 1]

I won't watch movies through it ... well, maybe the odd one or two.  It'll just mainly be for music purposes.  And video games

- Steve

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

surround sound for video games?

[Chevy350TPI 12]

Duh ... gotta share the chit out of the person beside you.

I think I'm guilty of wanting to build something cool ... and something I don't have is a HT setup. Unless you have some other briliant idea for something I could make out of wood that I don't already have

- Steve

[Nikuk 1]

Duh ... gotta share the chit out of the person beside you.

I think I'm guilty of wanting to build something cool ... and something I don't have is a HT setup.  Unless you have some other briliant idea for something I could make out of wood that I don't already have

- Steve

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I have a very idle feeling myself... but I've too many other things going on currently/recently/upcoming. Wait... that doesnt make sense.

Hmmm, I could use a bench/rack for my Mud Room...?

[02BlackOnBlackSS 1]

If you won't be watching movies with the setup, I would go with a stereo/sub setup. Look for some plans for towers that fit your room size and I would look at the new ascendant audio subs for your subwoofer needs. They look really nice and have xbl^2.

[Chevy350TPI 12]

Low end wall shaking duties would be taken care of by the Uberwoofer

- Steve

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

on a related note, I would love to get a pair of huge Large Box Cerwin Vegas for daily stereo usage,

I have some acient Pioneers, (both sets older than I) but I loved teh purity of the Cerwin Vegas, But I would love to learn how to build a nice HT box where size is not a big deal

[mrray13 30]

if all goes as planned...my hpo's are going to end up in a "coffee table" horn...hehe..kep the chocolate milk shaken, not stirred...

but that's only because, like steve, i have an urge to build something other then a typical sub enclosure..

plus , i wanna know if a horn sounds as good as they say it does...

btw steve...i think good towers (i'd use 8's as the mids because of the uber playing so low) with a really nice xover would seal the deal....5.1...bah...i don't have anything other then a rack system currently and i shake the hell outa my house...sounds just like a theater...well, almost

wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[Tirefryr 1,742]

on a related note, I would love to get a pair of huge Large Box Cerwin Vegas for daily stereo usage,

I have some acient Pioneers, (both sets older than I) but I loved teh purity of the Cerwin Vegas, But I would love to learn how to build a nice HT box where size is not a big deal

Ebay is just full of the old CVs.

[02BlackOnBlackSS 1]

http://www.speakerbuilder.net/web_files/default.htm

There's the site I was talking about.

[Nikuk 1]

Ummm, not sure if it helps. But I can still get ahold of (2) CV Vega 12"s... I'd sold them to a friend to resell them...

-Nick

[Chevy350TPI 12]

http://www.speakerbuilder.net/web_files/default.htm

There's the site I was talking about.

Thanks for the link.

- Steve