Setting Up Home Theater / Listening Room

[marpow]

Getting a little closer, got most of the pieces in and going back and forth with cabling. It's the only part of a music system that makes me think, wow, wireless would be so nice and clean, but this is part of my journey. It took me two hours of moving things around just to get my Ethernet switch and cables to what I felt was good.
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Thank you J-Pup. It is certainly a lot of fun, doing it very slow is key. It will go a lot closer to the wall with maybe 6-8 inches . These 3 racks, I removed the spikes off the bottom and put 1/4” felt self adhesive pads so each rack slides easily even the big amp at 150lbs is easy to move. I hope to get the cabling finished tomorrow. I have an assortment of lesser quality HDMI’s that I will use for now, we have two months of break in anyway, and the HDMI that I want won’t be here till end of October.

 

[marpow]

Made fairly good progress today, nice when I don't have to work.
My internet/network/switches/Ethernet all fired up perfect.
Really reminds me of working on car, on knees, back, standing. Hit one little glitch, I was bare wire on the 3 channel amp and between the speakon wire from the rear channel sub and the tight posts I had to add bananas plugs to 3 speaker cables, fixed .
I am missing four .75m XLR cables and 1 sub coax for .LFE. I am sure I could hit the ignition now but Id rather wait. Cabling looks a little messy in pictures but it flows real nice and unit will go against wall very nice.

 

[Sal1950]

Cabling looks a little messy in pictures but it flows real nice and unit will go against wall very nice.

Looks to be coming along very nicely, going to be an awesome listening/viewing room.
Don't ya just hate the cabling involved in a large multichannel rig? Unless you can have a separate equipment closet there's just no way to make the connection complexity of a 11 or more channeled rig look really neat. Good thing I'm single.

 

[marpow]

Looks to be coming along very nicely, going to be an awesome listening/viewing room.
Don't ya just hate the cabling involved in a large multichannel rig? Unless you can have a separate equipment closet there's just no way to make the connection complexity of a 11 or more channeled rig look really neat. Good thing I'm single.

Thanks for the compliment.
You got that right. About the only thing I could do custom was the speaker cables, everything else is at the mercy of what comes in the box, power cables interconnects, etc. even when thoroughly planning the interconnects at .75 or 1,2,3 meters its a crap shoot. Plus having to have them a little longer to pull away from wall.
The dream which I have seen on You Tube would be a fake wall that you could walk behind.

 

[Sal1950]

The dream which I have seen on You Tube would be a fake wall that you could walk behind.

My dream is the gear closet. One side wall is a narrow closet with the components mounted on shevles faceing out and a door to enter the closet from behind with super easy access to all the cabling, etc; on the rear.. Go into it to make any changes then come out and close the door with all the ugly closed up inside.

 

[marpow]

Hit the ignition today and fired up like a champ, with some bugs of course, self inflicted.
I couldn't get the DirecTV box to work, and after a couple hours noticed the main coax was not connected at wall.
I was unhappy with the remote of the Sony SACD/DVD player it would work with the TV remote but couldn't get to layers, good news it reads automatically in surround. I noticed I had the battery's reversed in remote, fixed.
TV, Amazon Cube, DirecTV, Netflix, etc. good.
Panasonic Blu Ray, good.
Power Conditioner, good.
Pre Pro/AVR, good, little tweaking, I had the triggers reversed for amps, they worked but the VU meters wouldn't light, fixed.
PC>JRiver>ExaSound DAC> Stereo and MCH thru 7.1 (I have 5.1) inputs in AVR, all good.
All 5 speakers L/R, C and 2 rears, working, not even close to being good, just pointed roughly at my seat.
Three subs, didn't even try to get that far.
First impression, the floor standing speakers are awesome, and that is with zero set up.

Besides the above I just had to put in a couple discs. Hybrid SACD Santana, I know this album like the back of my hand and after a short listen, It is fantastic, can't wait to put in my review.
Hybrid SACD Johnny Cash MONO, beautiful.
Blu Ray, 5 mins, Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets, awesome.

Tomorrow, watch some 49ers on the 77", get myself more familiar with remotes, theres a lot of them, Universal Remote will be done by tech support.
Get subs started.
This has been really fun, I have a lot more dialing in to do, burn in time, etc.. I started June 26th and got audio/video today Sept 26th.

 

[J. PUPSTER]

Hit the ignition today and fired up like a champ, with some bugs of course, self inflicted.
I couldn't get the DirecTV box to work, and after a couple hours noticed the main coax was not connected at wall.
I was unhappy with the remote of the Sony SACD/DVD player it would work with the TV remote but couldn't get to layers, good news it reads automatically in surround. I noticed I had the battery's reversed in remote, fixed.
TV, Amazon Cube, DirecTV, Netflix, etc. good.
Panasonic Blu Ray, good.
Power Conditioner, good.
Pre Pro/AVR, good, little tweaking, I had the triggers reversed for amps, they worked but the VU meters wouldn't light, fixed.
PC>JRiver>ExaSound DAC> Stereo and MCH thru 7.1 (I have 5.1) inputs in AVR, all good.
All 5 speakers L/R, C and 2 rears, working, not even close to being good, just pointed roughly at my seat.
Three subs, didn't even try to get that far.
First impression, the floor standing speakers are awesome, and that is with zero set up.

Besides the above I just had to put in a couple discs. Hybrid SACD Santana, I know this album like the back of my hand and after a short listen, It is fantastic, can't wait to put in my review.
Hybrid SACD Johnny Cash MONO, beautiful.
Blu Ray, 5 mins, Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets, awesome.

Tomorrow, watch some 49ers on the 77", get myself more familiar with remotes, theres a lot of them, Universal Remote will be done by tech support.
Get subs started.
This has been really fun, I have a lot more dialing in to do, burn in time, etc.. I started June 26th and got audio/video today Sept 26th.

Don't forget the and frothy Markie

 

[marpow]

Still waiting on my 4 cables for the ATMOS amp. Feeling frustrated but I just try to do a little everyday. My biggest frustration is I have what I think is a ground loop hum, the subs and the speakers pick it up. It does not increase with volume so when listening to anything it sort of disappears but I know it's there. I have isolated everything and I believe the culprit piece of equipment is the AVR. I also when turning on the PC can hear a little noise when it boots on and even when I go up and down on pages, weird. I won't give up and I will fix it.
The shelving for the closet I finally got and installed yesterday and all the remote shades and curtains are up. Baby steps. I still have not properly laid out and tuned any speakers, no Audessy correction, frustrating there. Got to find the hum first.

 

[The56Kid]

Still waiting on my 4 cables for the ATMOS amp. Feeling frustrated but I just try to do a little everyday. My biggest frustration is I have what I think is a ground loop hum, the subs and the speakers pick it up. It does not increase with volume so when listening to anything it sort of disappears but I know it's there. I have isolated everything and I believe the culprit piece of equipment is the AVR. I also when turning on the PC can hear a little noise when it boots on and even when I go up and down on pages, weird. I won't give up and I will fix it.
The shelving for the closet I finally got and installed yesterday and all the remote shades and curtains are up. Baby steps. I still have not properly laid out and tuned any speakers, no Audessy correction, frustrating there. Got to find the hum first.
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Bound to have temporary glitches when undertaking a project of this magnitude, Markie. We know you’re going to get this 100% right!

 

[marpow]

Bound to have temporary glitches when undertaking a project of this magnitude, Markie. We know you’re going to get this 100% right!

Thanks for that, inspired me.
A little win today, my OPPO 105 that I use strictly for ripping SACD, set up and worked perfectly within the network and I ripped my first SACD (In the new room) Johnny Cash MONO. I have two on deck, Herbie Hancock and Santana, 4.0's. So, the network, Ethernet cables, Bridges, all that stuff not one problem, that's a win for sure.

 

[4-earredwonder]

Thanks for that, inspired me.
A little win today, my OPPO 105 that I use strictly for ripping SACD, set up and worked perfectly within the network and I ripped my first SACD (In the new room) Johnny Cash MONO. I have two on deck, Herbie Hancock and Santana, 4.0's. So, the network, Ethernet cables, Bridges, all that stuff not one problem, that's a win for sure.
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Markie, using 'cheater plugs' on your components can sometimes alleviate/eliminate hum problems. Try it on your AVR

 

[marpow]

Markie, using 'cheater plugs' on your components can sometimes alleviate/eliminate hum problems. Try it on your AVR

I am glad you mentioned that Ralphie as that is my experiment this weekend. I think it will work and in advance of that I purchased a HUM X.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002E4YI8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[4-earredwonder]

I am glad you mentioned that Ralphie as that is my experiment this weekend. I think it will work and in advance of that I purchased a HUM X.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002E4YI8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Another thingy you might consider down the road is having a licensed electrician ground all your wiring to a copper post. When I did that, my entire system sounded OH SO MUCH BETTER and the noise floor was non existent.

 

[marpow]

Another thingy you might consider down the road is having a licensed electrician ground all your wiring to a copper post. When I did that, my entire system sounded OH SO MUCH BETTER and the noise floor was non existent.

Good tip from one of my mentors.

 

[J. PUPSTER]

Another thingy you might consider down the road is having a licensed electrician ground all your wiring to a copper post. When I did that, my entire system sounded OH SO MUCH BETTER and the noise floor was non existent.

I also really like that idea, and while he's at it, he can check all your wiring through that area to make sure there are no issues.

 

[4-earredwonder]

Good tip from one of my mentors.

As they say in France, Markie, it was the piéce de résistance!

 

[marpow]

I also really like that idea, and while he's at it, he can check all your wiring through that area to make sure there are no issues.

Your right, that was the first thing I did yesterday, texted him. He's a good guy. He'll get back to me.

 

[4-earredwonder]

Your right, that was the first thing I did yesterday, texted him. He's a good guy. He'll get back to me.

BEST of luck, Markie. I'm sure your new ATMOS system will be a HUGE SUCCESS! You've come a LONG WAAAYYYY, Baby!

 

[MidiMagic]

I have had my troubles with ground loops. But using those cheat plugs violates the National Electrical Code and is not the proper way to deal with ground loops.

Ground loops occur when the ground can find more than one path between two components. Ground loops can occur through any combination of the following:

- Power cord grounds
- Signal cables between two components
- Signal cables making a ring among three or more components

Here are the proper ways to eliminate ground loops:

- Open the ground at one end of a cable
- Insert a 10-ohm resistor in the ground of a line-level cable
- Insert an isolation transformer or direct box in the signal cable
- For multiple cables between two components, use a multi-cable snake
- For multiple cables between two components, tie them into a bundle
- Use an isolation transformer on the power cord

Other hum removal techniques:

- Cross signal and power cables at right angles if they have to be near each other
- Keep power transformers and wall warts away from isolation transformers, magnetic cartridges, microphones, video monitors, and speakers
- Ground a turntable with a separate ground wire, not through the pickup wiring
- Use a 25 volt line or 70 volt line to send speaker signals long distances (with the proper transformers at each end)
- Keep computers and audio equipment far apart

 

[marpow]

I have had my troubles with ground loops. But using those cheat plugs violates the National Electrical Code and is not the proper way to deal with ground loops.

Ground loops occur when the ground can find more than one path between two components. Ground loops can occur through any combination of the following:

- Power cord grounds
- Signal cables between two components
- Signal cables making a ring among three or more components

Here are the proper ways to eliminate ground loops:

- Open the ground at one end of a cable
- Insert a 10-ohm resistor in the ground of a line-level cable
- Insert an isolation transformer or direct box in the signal cable
- For multiple cables between two components, use a multi-cable snake
- For multiple cables between two components, tie them into a bundle
- Use an isolation transformer on the power cord

Other hum removal techniques:

- Cross signal and power cables at right angles if they have to be near each other
- Keep power transformers and wall warts away from isolation transformers, magnetic cartridges, microphones, video monitors, and speakers
- Ground a turntable with a separate ground wire, not through the pickup wiring
- Use a 25 volt line or 70 volt line to send speaker signals long distances (with the proper transformers at each end)
- Keep computers and audio equipment far apart

Thank you for that.
I made a little headway today. I narrowed it down to 3 sources of hum. I have done every conceivable plug in plug out imagineable, ie; wall outlet only, power conditioner 1n/out. All sources off/on, one at a time, you name it.
I suspect getting the electrician out here will ultimately be the best.
Must be noted that my room is dead quiet, more so than any room I have ever a music system in.

1. Niagara 5000 Power Conditioner: In there spec sheet they say that there is a 2 week at most burn in time, if at all, as it is pretty quiet out of box. That said even when fully ready there will always be a slight hum from the unit. This is very small, I can hear it but if it was just that, it wouldn't bother me.
2. AVR and power amps: are the main culprit and have not made any headway on the main hum so I expect/hope the electrician can be of help. Again, the hum does not increase with volume and whether watching TV or music only the hum fades into the background.
McIntosh, who is extremely responsive and helpful says:
Every system and every component will have a signal to noise ratio. The component's S/N ratio is fixed unless there are issues with the AC supply to the unit.
An exception to this would be a HT preamp as it is connected to sources that may have a different ground potential like a cable box, Ethernet feed, etc. compared to the connected amplifiers.
How the system is connected will also play a part.
Subwoofer for the L/R front speakers: This hum was instantly corrected when I used the two prong cheater plug. I am of course not going to rely on that, but it does tell me there is a ground loop problem.
I believe this is all good news and as long as I keep digging like a rat in a hole I'll figure it out.
Serious aside, when I sit in the room in the quiet, I still have my ringing ears to deal with, so it will never be DEAD QUIET. That will come in the grave.