KAROLIINA SALMINEN Web
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Home theater & audio system setups

Consist currently of:

Several amplifiers such as Yamaha DSP-A1 5.1 home theater amplifier and loudspeakers made by Amphion. The subwoofer is driven by a 1200 W PA amplifier to ensure enough voltage to the tough high impedance load. I use currently a 32 inch Sony FD Trinitron TV at Tampere.

I will post here few pictures once I get the new layout finished. The new arrangement with speakers sounds very good. For more information of the new loudspeaker placement, look at the home page of Wendy Carlos and the home page of Dolby Laboratories. Placing the rear speakers to higher than head level makes a huge difference to the soundstage. I also followed Genelec's instructions with speaker placement close to walls to avoid the steep dip on bass frequencies. Works quite fine so that there is acoustic dampening material between the speaker and the wall and the speaker is placed directly against the acoustic material (very close to the front wall).

Current highlight: Kate's home theater in Espoo

New dedicated home theater room is under construction. Watch this space to see updates (more early photos of the construction site etc.) later.

Construction work progress:

The screen frame is 99% ready. Painted 16.8.2003-17.8.2003. Needs some fitting before attaching the canvas into it.

Boards attached to the ceiling to function as the connection base for acoustic panels

Some advancements to the theater platform 17.8.2003.

Some wires rerouted 17.8.2003.

The screen frame is hanging on its place successfully 24.8.2003.

Some glass wool installed to the front wall 24.8.2003.

Some wooden structures updated 24.8.2003.

20-21.9.2003 Visited Hifi exhibition at Helsinki. And did support platforms for rear speakers.

26-27.9.2003 Acoustic panels were attached to left and right walls and additional structures was attached to the ceiling to support the acoustic panels that will be attached there.

25.10.2003 Purchased new ampliifer for the home theater, Yamaha DSP-AX1

25-26.10.2003 Home theater was made ready for initial testing. Kate's mother Irma helped us with it. First listening tests revealed that the subwoofer placement to upstairs to the chairway was inadequate.

1-2.11.2003 The subwoofer was moved to the home theater. We did need to remove the driver while we was carrying it. After lots of work the home theater was then in full use for the first time. First impressions: some reflective diffusors need to be attached to the back wall, the room is a bit too dead now but otherwise the sound quality in the room is excellent.

29-30.11.2003 Added black canvas to back wall to cover the glass wool. A bit closer to the finished theater look now.

25.12.2003 Some water damage to the floor. Fortunately only the carpet got very wet. It was dryed and the water leak from the leaking water pipe was stopped.

02/2004 Home theater have been in full use for some time. Works fine. Aesthetically not 100% finished yet because the theater platform is quite unfinished and the floor will require painting and new carpets for example, but acoustically everything works. We did some measurements with RMAA. The frequency response was surprisingly straight. We must supply soon new photos since the old construction photos are very very old and don't reflect the current state of the theater at all.

If you have home theater construction related questions, we have a new home theater forum online: Karoliina's home theater discussion forum.

Front wall without acoustic treatment. Screen frame visible, measures 2.9 m x 1.75 m. Fills vision from watching point.

Added 30.08.2003:

Kate's home theater is based around:

2.9 x 1.75 m matte screen and a DLP video projector manufactured by Plus.

Yamaha DSP-AX1 home theater amplifier (8.1 channels) plus several amplifiers, 5 loudspeakers made by Amphion, lots of cables, decoders and things like that.

The subwoofer configuration is identical to Karoliina's home theater.