Treatment for the front overheads. Installed a while back. The subjective difference is far greater than I'd have thought based on the improved measurements (mostly in the approximately 250-400 Hz range).
So, my opinion of LfL's diggs has been long pending, and I couldn't find a better place than this to record them...
The overhead impact in scenes like the Matt Damon plane landing in Ford vs Ferrari and the Gorilla breathing down and grunting in the Ready Player One first race scene sounds so much thinner even with the boost applied by ARC to the before measurements (second below) compared to the effect of the passive room treatment (first below).
This could be recency bias and reassuring bias. I will not deny that, cos I was at his place around this time and I *experienced these scenes* in that time. But hear me out.
I mean, I can't claim that I was unhappy with how the impact in those scenes was without the treatment, but once heard with the treatment in place, there is no going back. None whatsoever. So much so that I'm considering having a version of these done for the rear overheads as well, even if we apparently can't hear as well behind us as we can in front.
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So here goes my experience of LfL's space:
I enter, and he refuses my coming home present for personal reasons, but was so nice about it. First of all +10 for having handled that awkward moment so gracefully!
Then we walk in, kid's doing homework in the living room. I was like, where's your system?!
Then LfL slides a slider right on the edge of the living room.
Now, I have seen big Madras homes... I know what this is called - his living room and HT would have been called a living and dining area in a previous avatar.
I digress... The doors slide, and voila!
Am in a darkish space, but there is sunlight.
Amma is sitting in one of the HT recliners. She's chilling.
When introduced, she's like, "oh, this is your friend-a? Nice!"
LfL wants me to sit. I sit. But am really intrigued by this space behind us... oh, that's the kitchen.
Stuff's cooking. I ask him, have you treated the kitchen door too? In jest.
Yes, he responds. In all seriousness.
Am now lost for words.
Amma seems to catch on, she goes into her room, which, btw, opens to the other side from the theatre, and trust me, that door is also treated!
Now, Appa comes out, plugs his ear phones on, and says hit me.
LfL gently tries to ask appa: we gonna go loud, would you wanna go in?
Appa says no, my headphones are good enough. (What are those. LfL? I forgot to ask)
LfL says no, I doubt it.
Appa again says: hit me
So LfL plays the above two tracks on the PJ...
Boy, oh, boy!
Appa remains intact. But it is me who LfL has to pick off from the floor.
Then, we convince Appa to go in, so we can do reference levels... Appa kindly obliges.
Hit me, I now tell LfF.
This time we do another couple of theatre-level bass scenes at reference levels.
(I will tell you what I thought in the end)
Kiddo comes in. Asks LfL: Arre! You never give us centre seat, how come uncle got?!
By now am feeling so ashamed, I ask her if she likes dad's "TV" space.
Here is her answer: "Yeah, kindda... but I like to go to theatres for the popcorn. Even the seats are better at home"
D
Imagine! The only thing LfL's theatre is lacking is the popcorn! And he is fretting about response as low as 40 Hz today.
He is the guy who is truly down the rabbit hole, more than any of us.
And I'll tell you that journey is kindda worth it.
There are four kinds of bass that hit me in all the time I spent in his space:
1. The first is of the kind that any one of us can get in our rooms with some effort: The rumbly low SPL LFE that's clean for the room and doesn't rattle anything.
2. The second was the high SPL rumble that still remains clean. This, i know for a fact is difficult to do with most rooms.
3. Now comes the revelation. People speak of chest thumping bass -- I assume this next thing I experienced is what they mean, although what I experienced was one step better...
This was a high SPL bass that just started from the screen and began rolling on the floor, encompassed the chairs, and roared past us. This was more felt than heard. This was something I had not experienced ever before, even in most demo rooms, or for that matter even in a theatre.
But this was not the end of the story. There was another kind of bass that came next.
4. I think this can never be achieved in a movie theatre. 'cos of space constraints mostly, but also because of how many subwoofers might be needed for a movie-theatre-like space.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is the mother of all bass.
I didn't hear it at all. I only felt it. Like 3, it also starts from the screen while the action kicks in. And it just rolls like a wave of energy and washes you over. It's like standing a bit too deep inside the shore and being washed up by a wave, but only here, there is no water.
I doubt I heard any of it, but I know I had goosebumps.
More than two weeks after listening to it, I don't even know if it was standalone or was part of scene. But if I had to trust my memory, it was part of a scene where 3 also happened, but 4 is something else.
It has never happened to me in a theater of any size in any town.
Make what you may of it, but I know I have heard the ultimate reference non-dedicated room that the best sound can buy
www.hifivision.com
That's way OTT, but I appreciate the sentiment. However, if Mark Seaton were to spend a day calibrating my setup in person, then we'd be talking...
