Home Theater Upgrade

[Ice32]

I'm upgrading my home theater from a 5.1 to 7.2.4 and wanted to share my project and experience with everyone. I expect the process to take me until the end of the year. I live in an apartment, so what I can do is limited. My main interest is music and that will remain the focus. I never had an interest in home theater until I stayed with a friend that had a 7.2.4 setup during Covid. The experience blew me away. I'm starting by upgrading my Rythmik L12 to an F18 and adding a second F18. I'll start with a pic of my system as it is now and some pics of the subs for size comparisons. Please excuse the mess, I did this early this morning.

 

[Sonnie Parker]

Congrats on the upgrade. I am very surprised you are able to get away with those subs in an apartment building. Surely your neighbors know when you are watching a movie.

 

[Ice32]

Thanks, and I'm sure they do. Luckily we're all pretty respectful of one another so it's not an issue.

 

[Sonnie Parker]

Easiest way to resolve it is to invite them all over to watch the movie.

 

[VJM]

Awesome, thanks for sharing, looking forward to following along with your progress

 

[Peter Loeser]

Great looking setup to begin with… this will be fun to watch!

I was also shocked to see apartment and Rythmik F18 in the same context

 

[Ice32]

Ok, about the F18...I didn't buy it (soon to be 2) for spl, I bought it based off of Mitchco's review. As my main focus is 2 channel I'm into phase alignment, step response, and creating FIR filters. To summarize, the impulse and step response of the F18's are nearly perfect. But yeah, saying I didn't buy it for spl is a lie, lol. I absolutely did when it comes to movies

 

[Sdk]

maybe it is better to have sound insulation room for home theater in apartment , but it will be really tough to have good sound insulation for 60Hz below

 

[Sonnie Parker]

Yeah... we have a hallway and around a 9" thick insulated 4-layered (3/4" plywood and three layers of 5/8" sheetrock) and staggered stud wall between our AV room and the house, yet my wife can still hear (and feel) the bass at the other end of the house. I don't see any way to fix an apartment building.

 

[Sdk]

maybe you can try: https://kineticsnoise.com/home/noise-control, but need careful construction execution to get vibration decoupling of the "floating room" and the real room boundaries

 

[Todd Anderson]

Yeah... we have a hallway and around a 9" thick insulated 4-layered (3/4" plywood and three layers of 5/8" sheetrock) and staggered stud wall between our AV room and the house, yet my wife can still hear (and feel) the bass at the other end of the house. I don't see any way to fix an apartment building.

The only way to fix it... buy the entire building!

 

[Todd Anderson]

@Ice32 Are you planning on filling out your system with more Polks?

 

[Sonnie Parker]

The only way to fix it... buy the entire building!

That's a great idea, for sure. Then you can have 4 different listening or theater rooms.

 

[Mike Schramm]

I'm upgrading my home theater from a 5.1 to 7.2.4 and wanted to share my project and experience with everyone. I expect the process to take me until the end of the year. I live in an apartment, so what I can do is limited. My main interest is music and that will remain the focus. I never had an interest in home theater until I stayed with a friend that had a 7.2.4 setup during Covid. The experience blew me away. I'm starting by upgrading my Rythmik L12 to an F18 and adding a second F18. I'll start with a pic of my system as it is now and some pics of the subs for size comparisons. Please excuse the mess, I did this early this morning.

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This is gonna be fun to watch, thanks for sharing!

 

[Ice32]

@Ice32 Are you planning on filling out your system with more Polks?

Yes, I'm planning on adding the L900's for front atmos, R900's for rear atmos, upgrading my Boston Acoustics VRC to a L400, and adding L200's for side surrounds. Rear speakers are and will remain Polk Lsi 15's. I'm currently in the process of selling my L12 and upgrading to a second F18.

 

[Ice32]

maybe it is better to have sound insulation room for home theater in apartment , but it will be really tough to have good sound insulation for 60Hz below

I actually got the idea from a youtube channel called Kpaceguy. He skipped the F18's and went straight to a G25HP, then built a second one based off Rythmik's design. He didn't have any insulation and said he didn't have any problems with his neighbors. He was just respectful and considerate when it came to watching movies/music during late night hours. I don't plan on living at my current apartment permanently, and have no plans to spend extra money on insulation. I spoke to Kpaceguy after he purchased a house and moved regarding how difficult it was to move his equipment. He said it was just like moving any other piece of furniture. That's what pushed me over the edge.

 

[Todd Anderson]

Yes, I'm planning on adding the L900's for front atmos, R900's for rear atmos, upgrading my Boston Acoustics VRC to a L400, and adding L200's for side surrounds. Rear speakers are and will remain Polk Lsi 15's. I'm currently in the process of selling my L12 and upgrading to a second F18.

Very cool. Sounds like a solid plan to me!

 

[Ice32]

As I've been going through this process and doing research, I found that the 2 subwoofer outputs on the MRX 540 are mirrored. That means there is no separate control in arc for phase, eq, etc.. everything is done as the subs are one unit. While this is how I eq my subs for music through my minidsp, at this price point I'd like to see arc handle each sub separately. However, Anthem only provides that at the MRX 1140 and above.

 

[Sonnie Parker]

Yeah... it would be nice if Anthem had made those independent. The subs have phase control, don't they? You could time-align them with REW.

 

[Ice32]

They do, and I've done that for music. The best bass response is with inverted phase on the rear sub. I do that with the minidsp, but I can't on the Anthem. I suppose I could adjust the knob on the sub 180 degrees but then I'd have to redo everything for the minidsp. I'd rather not touch anything as music is the main purpose of my system and just wait until I get the AVM 70. It still sounds good, but I know it could be better.

 

[Ice32]

L12 is sold, second F18 will be here Wednesday

 

[Ice32]

Well, it seems Polk may or may not be discontinuing the Legend series. Polk customer service says no, but some models on Crutchfield's site said "this item has been discontinued" when I tried to check the price plus tax and shipping. That has now been replaced with outlet items. When I asked the dealer I bought my L600's from, they said yes the Legend series has been discontinued. Regardless, I'm not taking any chances and am purchasing my speakers asap. It's not the way I wanted to do this, and I was in the process of negotiating a price on the amp. However, due to conflicting information I was forced into purchasing the speakers now rather than later. On a positive note, I just purchased the L400 and plan to purchase the L100's later in the week for side surrounds. I felt the L200's would be overkill. The downside is that I'll be unable to use the 100's until I purchase the amp. I'll post updated pics once I get the L400 set up. I'm not as concerned about the atmos speakers, Polk said the R900's would be timbre matched. I'll go that way if I have to.

 

[Todd Anderson]

I'd believe the dealers on this one, though, even if discontinued, I'd imagine they'll be available for some time.

If I were in your shoes, I'd probably follow your lead and buy them now, just to make sure they get into my home.

 

[Ice32]

I'd believe the dealers on this one, though, even if discontinued, I'd imagine they'll be available for some time.

If I were in your shoes, I'd probably follow your lead and buy them now, just to make sure they get into my home.

And on that note I just purchased the L100's.

 

[Todd Anderson]

That’s gotta feel good!

Always bitter sweet buying new gear. Sweet because new toys are in their way - bitter because

Look forward to reading about their arrival!