From a soundbar to an all-Seaton Atmos setup

Thank you, Tuhin. The gear is quite nice, yes. Getting the room to the level of the gear is another ball game altogether. Slowly, but hopefully surely, can get somewhat close.
Takes a lot of time, yeah. Ive seen you have invested a lot of time, money and effort in this. I wish i can get a demo of your HT anytime. Maybe some day haha
 
Awesome. Enjoy. May be will make a HT trip to your house

Very glad you were able to make it today evening along with your friend, Srini.

I had a wonderful time talking audio with a couple of very down to earth people who are also extremely passionate about audio (music and movies).
 
Thanks for accommodating both of us in the precious evening..Absolutely we all have accommodating wife to sail in the musical journey or else we will be ended with Sony 5.1 now.

I am more into tube amps than solid state..Having used to tube amps my ears have become soft...Except movies cannot tolerate much highs in music. Your system excels in both..It is only because of room treatment...People should go with room treatment first instead of changing the gears frequently.. For sure room treatment is done, any system will perform to our expectations and no need for immediate upgrade, which is visibly seen in your room.

Integration of subs and from LCR's are perfect in your room which was tuned towards the seating position and had a real knock off effect on the Dark Knight Chase & Truck crash scene plus the wonderful opening scene.

Happy to note that you are not struck in the cable experiment or DAC experiment which most of us loose the precious years on hearing the music and ended up only in testing mode most of the time. More than you are technically strong could sail thru your requirements with confidence.. Lucky that you have not taken advice from Us/forum guys or else you will be one among us chasing the bull still and not taming it..
 
Thanks for accommodating both of us in the precious evening.

The pleasure was all mine. I learnt some things about audio yesterday, from my conversations with you and Naseer. It was interesting to hear different perspectives on what moves us in the music. And consequently, what we chase in its reproduction at home. Loved all the nostalgia about the sounds we all grew up with and how much of an indelible imprint it leaves in our psyche.

.Absolutely we all have accommodating wife to sail in the musical journey or else we will be ended with Sony 5.1 now.

Ha ha. Indeed. Which reminds me that I had a 5.1 LG set that I got along with my first "big" TV in 2008 just after we'd returned to India. My missus has been very supportive about this, no question.

Except movies cannot tolerate much highs in music. Your system excels in both..

Thank you for that. It is nice to hear that it is possible to put something together that sounds good for both movies and music.

It is only because of room treatment...People should go with room treatment first instead of changing the gears frequently.. For sure room treatment is done, any system will perform to our expectations and no need for immediate upgrade, which is visibly seen in your room.

Thank you, thank you, thank you:). TBF, there's no excuse for a dedicated room to not be treated. Living rooms, I can understand. Although that didn't stop me;)

Integration of subs and from LCR's are perfect in your room which was tuned towards the seating position and had a real knock off effect on the Dark Knight Chase & Truck crash scene plus the wonderful opening scene.

Glad you enjoyed the impact of the trucks:). And that was 5 dB below reference level!

I wouldn't say the integration is perfect, but I will say that I have not experienced the level of tactile feeling that I felt yesterday and I think it comes down to the integration of the center with the subs.

I did spend some time on Saturday measuring and adjusting subwoofer distance for better integration with the mains and it showed in the music playback (as Naseer astutely observed) and in movies (like you observed above wrt The Dark Knight scenes).

Happy to note that you are not struck in the cable experiment or DAC experiment which most of us loose the precious years on hearing the music and ended up only in testing mode most of the time.

Fair. I lucked out to a degree in that I learnt from other people's experiences as to the importance of the room and I've managed to keep my focus on maximizing the potential of the audio equipment that's already here.

More than you are technically strong could sail thru your requirements with confidence..

I know just enough to be dangerous to myself and anyone listening to my advice;)

Lucky that you have not taken advice from Us/forum guys or else you will be one among us chasing the bull still and not taming it..

Ha ha ha. As I said above, I lucked out.

Thanks for the company again. We should do a "bass/Atmos" only day sometime!
 
A visit is due to enjoy the new additions to the hardware and the acoustics.

Please do. You're one of 2 people from the forum (IIRC) who has listened to these speakers with only the diffusers on the rear wall in place. It will be interesting to hear about the comparison of that with now. Test of your auditory memory, for sure!
 
arj: Felt it was better to respond in this thread re. my speakers from Seaton Sound.

Mains:
-------
Catalyst 8C's for LCR: https://seatonsound.net/product/catalyst-8c-powered-loudspeaker/

Subwoofers:
--------------
Submersive HP+ and HP-Slave subwoofer: https://seatonsound.net/product/submersivehp/

A pair of JS-12s: https://seatonsound.net/product/js-12-subwoofer/

Prior side surrounds (may be repurposed as rear surrounds):
----------------------
A pair of 300W, bi-amplified active Sparks (now discontinued)

Pics of the above mentioned speakers (except the JS-12s) here.

Current side surrounds and overheads:
-------------------------------------------

Six of the Ember 400s. Passive speakers with 92 dB sensitivity and a 6.5 in coax. Special order only. Pics of the Embers and JS-12s here. Pics of the ceiling mounted Embers in my room here.
 
arj: Felt it was better to respond in this thread re. my speakers from Seaton Sound.

Mains:
-------
Catalyst 8C's for LCR: https://seatonsound.net/product/catalyst-8c-powered-loudspeaker/

Subwoofers:
--------------
Submersive HP+ and HP-Slave subwoofer: https://seatonsound.net/product/submersivehp/

A pair of JS-12s: https://seatonsound.net/product/js-12-subwoofer/

Prior side surrounds (may be repurposed as rear surrounds):
----------------------
A pair of 300W, bi-amplified active Sparks (now discontinued)

Pics of the above mentioned speakers (except the JS-12s) here.

Current side surrounds and overheads:
-------------------------------------------

Six of the Ember 400s. Passive speakers with 92 dB sensitivity and a 6.5 in coax. Special order only. Pics of the Embers and JS-12s here. Pics of the ceiling mounted Embers in my room here.

Thanks a lot for this and not even sure how I missed this thread !

While I can only imagine how this might sound, the thought/detailing/care behind this is so commendable and am sure will give you so many years of joy !
 
While I can only imagine how this might sound, the thought/detailing/care behind this is so commendable and am sure will give you so many years of joy !

Thank you, arj. This has taken a very long time, but a large part is down to me. I initially wanted these mains to keep up with my sub, and then surrounds/overheads to keep up with everything else :). I also wanted timbre matched speakers all around, even if the merits of such continue to be a matter of debate. I also stuck with my acoustician to see this through even though they had large professional projects in the meantime that meant I had to bide my time. And, of course, everyone's favorite, COVID.

After the treatment of the front wall, the additional pair of subs and Atmos (even if temporarily being driven by a borrowed receiver), I'm more prone to moments of "Wow!" than ever before. And those come from finesse as well as seemingly effortless brute power when required. HST, I do believe that there's more to come from this setup.
 
I currently have an Inlight 135 in diagonal 16:9 screen. With the upgrade to the video last year, the two things that needed taking care of were the room and (seemingly) the screen. Added blackout to the back of the curtains I had in my room, but it has since become clear that more is needed if I have to see the benefits of the NX7's native contrast. Current plan is to provide for manually retractable blackout curtains a third of the way for the ceiling and sidewalls.

Which leaves the screen. Hadn't paid much attention to the screen (except for size!) until I began thinking about a PJ upgrade early last year. After the purchase of the JVC, it was suggested to me that a high-quality screen could enhance the PQ by around 20-30% for trained eyes (unlike mine).

However, by then, I'd already had my eyes on a newly released screen material that'd received a gushing review from a well-respected video calibrator in the US. Not only that, the reviewer then actually made the change in his personal HT to go from a unity gain screen to this 1.3 gain material because whatever artifacts there still were was offset by the additional brightness that helps with HDR. I tried to get a full landed cost quote for the screen in question, but what with shipping rates all over the place a couple of months after the onset of COVID last year, I wasn't successful.

A couple of weeks back, the screen upgrade was back on the agenda as I now needed an AT screen to allow for the front wall treatment benefits. A conversation with Mark Seaton confirmed the same (a non-AT screen would be like putting a giant reflective surface in front of the treatment). While Mark opined that it wasn't critical to put my Catalyst center upright behind the center, he did suggest that I'd benefit from having them higher up (still horizontally oriented), so the tweeters for L/C/R were at the same height. Not sure if I can do that, but I can certainly get the center close to the L and R in terms of tweeter height.

So, AT screen it was going to be. That still left the question of fixed vs retractable. With a considerable price difference for the 2 screens in question with respect to that choice. I have a window on the front wall, with a sliding acoustic panel that I move out of the way when not watching something. Tried leaving that window closed and my current screen down permanently to see how I'd feel about having a fixed frame screen in the room. Yeah, doesn't work. I do like the light streaming in through that window.

AT and retractable, then. The choice was down to the actual screen, then. Screen Research with the ClearPix 4K material was suggested because I wanted AT. And the measured results from Jeff Meier's report (https://www.accucalav.com/wp-content/uploads/accucal_front_projection_screen_report.pdf) for similar Screen Research material suggested that it was indeed very good.

However, a combination of factors (pricing, the extra gain and the fact that it was my first choice) meant I finally made the decision to go with a Stewart Luxus 150 in diagonal in 2.4.1.

Screen

Screen material

The Kris Deering review about the ST130 G4 screen material that got me seriously considering owning one. This is a dream screen for me and I expect to keep it for as long as we live in this house and have this theater. It is even more special as it is part of the missus' gift for my upcoming 45th! Fingers crossed that it gets here in time and is installed by then. Very, very excited!
 
A beautiful, well-constructed speaker with class-leading soundstage, imaging and bass that is fast, deep, and precise.
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