In ceiling speakers, impressive! Definitely the way forward if you’re redoing the whole room down to boarding from scratch! A bit of a pain in the arse otherwise!
Equipment Recommendations - The Home For New System and Upgrade Advice
- Thread starter Joe Mac
- Start date
In ceiling speakers, impressive! Definitely the way forward if you’re redoing the whole room down to boarding from scratch! A bit of a pain in the arse otherwise!
Oh yeah, there's no ceiling down there so it's now or never. I was gunna put six in the ceiling but it's overkill and the room just isn't that big so I think the 2 will do the trick. The main issue is I can't go in wall on the sides so I can't fit two side surrounds next to the couch without blasting the people sitting on the ends of the couch as the speakers would be less that two feet from their heads. So without those I'm limited in how far I can go with Atmos. I think the two in ceiling heights are about the limit. I wish I could go all in walls but this particular room doesn't allow for any in wall installations unfortunately.
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zombie.modernist
Well-Known Member
Nice plan. I've only heard Atmos w/ aerials theatrically (don't know anyone with a home setup) but I do hear from a lot of folks on AV forums that not a lot of mixes have heavily utilized the aerial channels, so if I were doing a similar install in a room that size I would lean towards 2 only as well. Plus at the moment Atmos is really like HDR / Dolby Vision, in that only a minority of content / platforms are even compatible with it. What are you doing for a screen?
Well I have a 103 inch fixed projection screen in my living room and another similar sized pull down in the back garage. So I think I'm going to just do a pull down, probably same size. I know I could go with an in ceiling remote screen but I think I'm just going to save some cost and do a nice looking pull down. If I can find one.
zombie.modernist
Well-Known Member
Nice, three projector setups? I would probably go projector too in a larger room, especially with the basement situation to control light. Right now I can't even fit traditional surrounds into my setup with an 8' deep room (small urban apartment), but the upside is the massive savings of having a 55" OLED around 5.5' away and getting an equivalent FOV of a 100"+ screen in a normal size room haha. If I move to a bigger place I would probably keep that TV for the bedroom and go projector / pulldown for the living room since the 77" OLEDs are still around the absurd price-tag of $5.5k USD.
Haha yeah I got into projectors about a decade ago but only switched the livingroom setup to projector when I moved into my house four years ago. I've got a 4K projector in the livingroom, the plan is to move my old 1080 downstairs for the new basement room (but it's gunna be hard not to get another 4K down there) then I've got a really old 720P projector out in the garage that has like 3500 lumens so it can deal with all the extra light. Upstairs I'm only about 9.5 feet from the 103 but it nicely fits into my FOV so is just about right where I want it. The basement room is 13 wide by 23 deep. So the depth would probably allow for a bigger screen but the width kills the ability to really stock up on the Atmos speakers... Plus if I move the couch back it's gunna get in the way of the SuperChexx machine, and the other arcade machine...
HayesWeighsIn
Well-Known Member
Sorry to be replying to this a month later, but I haven’t dove back into this thread until now. My RT85 initially had the same static issue at the beginning of sides, and it’s completely gone away. I’ve adjusted the anti-skate since, and I honestly can’t tell you if it’s related or not. Could it just be the cart breaking in? I dunno, but it’s gone. Any development with yours?
zombie.modernist
Well-Known Member
Can't block the arcade machines! That distance sounds ideal for the immersive 4K experience in the living room. I've personally found it good to be a little more forward than you'd want it to be for 1080p, but not so much so that 1080p looks poor, since a majority of content isn't 4K.
Yeah exactly, pretty much anything down cable looks like crap here anyhow so most 1080 stuff is just sports, everything else I try to watch on streaming services as it looks light years better than the super compressed cable feed. My 4K projector has this cool pixel sharpening trick that can do wonders with 1080 but it's always a battle with the cable feed. The sharpening mode is always one notch away from "GAH OH GOD THAT LOOKS TERRIBLE" so you can't go overboard with it.
zombie.modernist
Well-Known Member
Similar experience, so I just recently got rid of cable entirely, and just mooch off my relatives logins for apps. I'm not a big follower of sports, mostly read my news and most can be streamed online anyhow. All my TV programs are watched via Netflix, Prime, Hulu or TV anywhere apps via Apple TV, with the occasional movie on UHD or BR. The compression on TV is dogshit really, which is crazy considering how much display tech has advanced. Even the worst TV anywhere apps like HBO GO or AMC still look way better than an over cable signal so I had my box uplugged for months before getting rid of it lol. The only downside is some TV anywhere apps don't do live broadcast streaming but I can live with that.
tbh i never actually use my powered speakers so i should probably sell them (they are way too bassy anyway.. i think i accidentally destroyed a tweeter). when i get a liquid spark i will basically have all the stuff i used the speakers for (a headphone jack)
as long as there's still room for my bed, I support all the speakers you can get
I thought your bed was in the garage? That's the OTHER OTHER party room.
But if you're a capable SuperChexx bubble hockey player then you can have the fold out in the INDOOR party room.
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tbh i kinda really wish there was a kind of app or site that helped figure out what the exact setup would work best to give you audio nirvana (cartridge, headphones, speakers, etc). because like i know what music i like (though i listen to most genres i do have the test songs playlist) and what i'd prefer to be emphasized (a good amount of vocals, guitar, bass and drums are useful, i tend to like thing somewhat bright)... but its hard to see the exacts when no hifi shops or anything nearby
yeah its me suffering from the paradox of choice again.. i do like my grado cartridge its mostly that im planning on getting new headphones and want to find the best way to not waste money
yeah its me suffering from the paradox of choice again.. i do like my grado cartridge its mostly that im planning on getting new headphones and want to find the best way to not waste money
zombie.modernist
Well-Known Member
Even with shops, it's not of all that much use unless they copy your entire signal chain into headphones — speakers will invariably be colored by the differing rooms they're placed in. The only way you are going to learn is by investing a lot of $$ and time into the hobby. The only objectivity in the hobby is measurements, which most audiophiles reject. Personally I think they're of value if you know how to take them with a grain of salt, but you have to know what you're looking for in regards to sound signatures ie you like treble so avoid carts that have a falling response into 47k.
No offense but I'm still confused with what exactly you want to upgrade? I know the feeling of disliking most of the sound coming out of the setup but try to dial in what you want to change and do research into that. Ask yourself what you don't like the most and start there. Do you not like the sound coming out of the TT? Or any of the sound coming into the headphones? If you don't do serious inquiry and you're just going to have to spend money like crazy. Many folks in the hobby can swing that, but I try to be very smart with upgrades because I'm not in that tax bracket.
besides headphones i dont want anything upgraded and even that is more because i am interested in open back headphones...
it was also because i just wanted to spend money not realizing that money could go to vinyl records...
but yeah i feel like its mostly just wanting better headphones because i wonder if i made a mistake with the M50s and i want a good sound... plus the idea of "is the grass greener on the other side"
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displayname
Well-Known Member
I think you're wanting to approach this too much like science. It's much more like food. There will never be a perfect combo because even your own tastes will change with time. I also think you need to remember that this is a hobby. It's meant to be fun. Don't treat every investment like it's your last and it needs to be the perfect solution for 50 years.
You have your whole life to explore gear. Get some gear, use it, enjoy it. When you are ready for something else, sell it and get something else. Want to limit financial losses, buy used.
These aren't life or death decisions. This whole thing is supposed to be fun. Don't lose sight of that.
AnthonyI
Well-Known Member
This right here
i haven't had much math and science in a while so probably
also because i like the idea of improving (also with the headphones i do kinda want to know what open backs sound like and what would work best for me and used is scary.. i've been thinking the 58x but wanted to make sure i got the best for me)
displayname
Well-Known Member
Again, this is science talk. You are trying to place a matter of personal opinion into a hard line fact.
Yes, many people prefer open back. Many people might rate the 58x above the M50x. But at the end of the day it's a matter of opinion, not fact. You can think of it as two different dishes that have the same price tag from two different restaurants. Maybe one is using fresh noodles made daily while the other is using all organic ingredients from the sauce. One might even be rated higher than the other from all the local blogs and press. But at the end of the day, that doesn't mean YOU are going to like it. And YOU will not know until you taste it.
But again, not life or death. You try it, and if you like both, you can have both as your daily tastes suit you. If you don't like one enough, you can sell it. Sometimes you might really want to try something from a fancy restaurant but you simply can't afford it. So maybe you save up for a special occasion. Maybe a friend goes and lets you enjoy some leftovers (used gear). Maybe you go, and you hate the food and feel it's wildly overrated. That's just part of it. And it's part of audio. Sometime you bite the bullet and it doesn't work out. Sometimes the reviews align perfectly with your taste and you have a new favorite dish. BUT it will never be a science.
The same general rules apply though. Usually, if you spend a lot more, things tend to taste better or be a more refined experience. Not always. Sometimes it feels like a waste and you don't click with it or you don't get the hype. But if you're looking at two dishes of the same price from the different restaurants, it's likely that you will prefer one, but that doesn't make it factually superior to anyone but you.
Also, at the end of the day we're talking about $150. Yes, I understand that is a notable amount of money. But we're also talking about it on a record forum. A "vinyl diet" as (@Lee Newman would say) can get you there fairly quickly. Not to mention the 58x and M50x both regularly sell for $80-100 used. You can always sell one to fund the other. Even if you get the 58x, hate it, and sell it, paying $50ish for an in home demo really isn't a terrible price to essential rent a nice set of headphones for a certain amount of time.
I'm going to toss out one more thing you probably won't like hearing. If you're profile is accurate, you are 20 years old.
This is a hard fact of reality. I did not purchase any audio equipment expect one Bluetooth speaker and throwaway ear buds from the age of 18 - about 26 or 27... because I just couldn't afford it. I was able to buy more audio stuff while in highshcool under my parents roof than I was in my early and mid 20s. Once I got a house (at 31) I finally started really getting back into audio. I wouldn't have dreamed of $150 headphones with dedicated amps when I was in my early 20s. I had more important things to finance, like school and rent. At the end of the day, this hobby is expensive. My BT speaker was considered a major audio purchase for me at that time, and it wasn't even hifi. And I waited until post-college to buy that. It just gave me music on the go. Sometimes that's reality. It's not bad, but it does require focus and patience.
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