The Results, My Home Theater

Continuing from my last posting about my HT room project. I have allocated a room measuring 17ft x 13ft x 11ft(W x L x H). My projection screen mounted on the 17ft wall which leaves me the 13ft total projection length. The final outcome is that 11ft projection length(measured from tip of lens) was used as projection length for the Optoma UHD 50 projector to project 120 inch screen size(measured diagionaly as in TVs)  

The 120 inch XY screen dominates the 17ft wide wall. Also noted is a pair of SVS PB-2000 sub woofers, flanked by a pair of Bose 901 MK VI series main speakers partnered with a single Bose 201 MK III as center channel.

Form the next picture below, you can see that my sofa is backed up against the back wall still measuring 17ft wide, but with space taken up entry door on the left, and equipment rack & disc library on the right. Overall, this is a SIM 4K picture quality & Dolby Atmos 5.2.4 sound specification based system. And if you look carefully, you won't see much cabling, as most are either imbedded in wall or in ceiling. All the cabling was laid when I planned my HT room project during my home renovation in 2018.

 

You can also see that the Optoma UHD 50 projector is mounted right above the sweet spot of the sofa! Flanking the projector is a pair of Bose 101 surround speakers. If you look carefully on the right, next to my equipment rack, is the Bose Acoustimas 5 passive sub woofer, which is set to high pass at 80Hz as part of the rear surround system. 

My equipment rack from top: Denon AVR X-4400 H receiver for Dolby Atmos & DTS-X processiong & powering center channel & 2 pairs Dolby Atmos ceiling speakers which are Bose Model 25, Oppo UDP-203 4K disc player with the Oppo BDP-95 Full HD player with Cinivia free. Further below is the Cambridge Audio A120 4 channel power amp, powering front main speakers & surround sound duties. Further below is the Weiduke AC 8.8 power conditioner which powers the whole stack of equipment as seen and my dual HDD toaster for my 4K movie collections. 

On the right side corner of the back wall, is a compartmentalized area, mainly for library of disc collection. I also installed a dedicated MCB box in my HT room. If the book shelves looked familiar, is because they are from Ikea!

I also did some acoustic diffuser works on the ceiling to break up sound waves, coupled to heavy drape curtains on both sides of the side wall upon the first reflection points of the Bose 901 MK VI main speakers. The ceiling acoustic diffuser also works as the mood light & 2 pairs Dolby Atmos ceiling speaker mounts, if you look carefully.  

Overall for the money I spent, at about MYR25,000 on all equipment count, I feel satisfied with the intangible return on entertainment values, especially these days of MCO where the cinemas are closed. The 120 inch screen give big picture cinema feel when just sitting about 13ft away. When viewing Full HD movies, the picture is bright, vivid tonal pallet and very punchy, if some what veering slightly bluish(like most Sony or Samsung TVs factory calibration). Upon having sifu Michael Wong(contacted via FB) coming over to help calibrate my projector, the picture quality improved in terms of field of depth layering of majestic scenes from movies. Since the Optoma UHD 50 is a SIM 4K(i.e. non native or up sampling to 4K), the picture quality in 4K post calibration took a turn for darker and being a budget projector, the blackness(or greyish black) weakness is laid bare and exposed for all to see too clearly. Movies like Batman's The Dark Night should be avoided in 4K mode, due to the projector limitations. Bottom line is if you're expecting JVC level of 4K reproduction here, you'll be sorely disappointed. However if you are like me, where my majority of movies are on Full HD, with only the occasional 4K viewing diet, then this projector will get the job done very well.

The sound is an area I am more than happy with. I run the Denon Audyssey Auto  Calibration with the supplied OEM mike and already gor very decent results. I then further fine tune the channel levels, the high pass frequencies for speaker and low pass for LFE, and timing compensation with EQ off. It was just some tuning from disc to disc over time and until a point, I never need to fine tune the Dolby Atmos settings again, until I changed something that is.

The sound is with effective in surround panning, & the Atmos ceiling speakers are especially effective when watching raining or thunderstorm or aircraft scenes, especially is movies like Top Gun & Mid Way, just to recall the 2 movies that impressed me. The dual SVS sub configuration gives thundering bass and full on explosion impacts, to the point that is room and plaster ceiling shaking! I love using Bose speakers all round for HT because they are really good value at used prices and they can really go loud without popping their drivers! They are also very warm sounding for music concerts, and especially enjoyable when playing those Vienna Philharmonic New Years Concerts! 

I have made some improvements along the way since system installation over a year ago, and I'll get to those later. What do you think? Kindly feedback on comments section with thanks if any opinion or questions............