$325 Worth of What?

This! About 3 years ago, I was randomly looking on eBay and came across a Rotel RB-956AX being sold "As Is" with one channel out. If you aren't familiar with Rotel, here's a little bit of the "back story". They are a British audio design company that is now owned by Bowers and Wilkins (the speaker people), that have for some time had it's components manufactured overseas (Japan, Taiwan, China). This allows them to nibble at the edges of high-end sound at a mid-fi price..... the high end of mid-fi mind you, but close enough so that normal people with high-end asperations can dabble. A "bang-for-the-buck" company. Very similar to NAD, or Proton (back in the day). It's a bit expensive, but you get a lot. What does this have to do with me?

 

So, there was this 956 which was 30watts per channel RMS by 6 channels that nobody was bidding on because it had a duff channel. Here's the thing on this amp (and several other Rotel amps); each pair could be "bridged" into a mono amp for a great deal more power. In this case 90w. So a 5 channel amp pretty much makes it a 30w x 5, or 2 and a half low powered pair of speakers, or 1 pair of fairly high powered and one random speaker. All this made this an awkward amp that's neither nor. So I got it..... cheap. If I remember right, it was a little over $100 with shipping. It sat for most of a year. I finally took it to my friend Pat to look at and he fixed the bum channel. Then, several months later he brought it back when they were visiting about 8-10 months ago and it's been sitting ever since.... waiting for this......

No, it's not identical. It's an RB-976, which is 50watts per channel by 6 channels, but can also be bridged by the pair into a number of combinations, but 150w x 3 is what I want out of it. It was on eBay for $225 and $56 shipping. I offered $160, and he took it. That makes the total a little over $200 and if you add the other one for about $100, they end up being somewhere north of $300.

Roughly, creating this: an amp stack of 6 channels that's 150w across the front Left, Center, Right and 90w across the rear and back center channels. If you're wondering why I would do this since my Integra DTR6.3 does a pretty solid 6 channels of 100 watts, here's the deal. When I had my KEF iQ5 mains and Q6c center, the 100w out of a good A/V receiver was fine. However, if you've ever heard truly dynamic speakers being driven by a stand-alone power amplifier with substantial power reserves, you'll know that there's a difference. If you'll look at the insides of those two amps in the first set of pictures, there shouldn't be many questions on why they'll have a lot of power on reserve. No; I'm not going to be listening to my music at different levels. I'm going to be taking my listen to a different level. In short, when I push the system, these amps will drive the new B&W DM603s/LCR 600 with a type of effortless power and control that I didn't have with the receiver. 

I've already spent quite a bit of time this weekend listening to the 603s this last weekend after substituting them and I'm impressed. So far, I'm not so much hearing things that I didn't before, it's a qualitative difference. For each thing, there's just more depth. An expanded sense of spaciousness that wasn't there before. It was also a sense of nostalgia and took me back to when and why I fell in love with them in the first place. But there's more there. I can almost hear it and feel it. I need those amps to unlock that for me. 

Will I take the next step after that and get out the Rotel RSP-1098 that's also been sitting in the garage? I don't know yet. In case you're wondering; this belonged to my friend Pat and has a bad decoder board which had already been replaced once. So he decided that he didn't want to mess with that any more and ask me if I wanted it. Do squirrels store nuts for the winter? I might give it a try one day this summer when I'm bored, but for right now, the DTR6.3 is going to get a chance to show what it can do with more power.

I do have one more thing I'm definitely going to do this summer. You guys might remember that our house came with 2 A/V systems when we bought it. And that I sold the 2 Denon AVR-3802 receivers and 2 B&W ASW600 subwoofers. There were also 2 sets of B&W LM1 speakers. One in the upstairs gameroom and the other in the downstairs den. They're fine in the den, but upstairs is where my main system lives and most of the LM1s are just hanging on the walls doing nothing. I think, I'm going to take them down, and replacing the rears. They're a little too directional for what I like in the back. 

.....and since the wiring is already in place...... it'll be quick work to put in a pair of in-ceiling and if I get really energetic.....

a rear center as well since I have that channel in the receiver and the new amps as well.

Home Audio 2.1 Real-World Whole House Audio and Tweaking

I can't help it..... I'm a tweaker. I can't leave things alone. In the last Blog-Post on Home Audio, I talked about finally getting out my other Griffin TuneDock from the closet and putting it to use in the downstairs system that's hooked up to the 5 pairs of in-ceiling speakers. Don't get me wrong, it was great! I've used it a lot and other people have been suitably impressed by the set-up. Then, my over-active thought processes got started and I decided that in the main system upstairs, I didn't like having to turn on the monitor just to use the iPod. I wanted something simpler that just connected the iPod directly to the system AND that it would be even better if that dock worked directly with my Onkyo/Integra equipment. ...... which then started a drawn out search for just the right one. Apparently, Onkyo made a number of them and the majority weren't simple. They were elaborate affairs that were often designed to work through Onkyo's own multi-zone systems. 

However; my labors eventually bore fruit in the form of the DS-A2X iPod Dock. All it does is to connect to the iPod, take it's signal and send it as a simple line-level source to a receiver..... any receiver. You don't have to connect it to a monitor to see it's menu. It has no menu. You just interact directly with the iPod or use the supplied remote to do the same thing. Given that the main system upstairs rarely, if ever will be used to distribute audio, I didn't need it's functions to be routed through a 48" TV! 

Then, that simplicity hit me. I didn't need my home audio to be more powerful and feature-ladened.... I wanted it to be simple and to only do what it needed to, not everything possible!

Although, most people (men pretty much) dream of having this in their house, experience and fiscal reality have gotten me to the point where I have a better grasp of needs vs. wants. My reality is this: 

• I have 9 zones of audio that are equipped with speakers. 
• Two of those zones are actually set up for discreet home theaters with preexisting speakers. Therefore, those 2 can be eliminated as they are run by the home theater systems in that location.
• Of the 7 other zones, 5 are located in what could be considered "public space", meaning areas of the house where non-family would typically wander when a gathering occurs.
• All of these above 5 zones are downstairs and wired to the same location which is the downstairs living room. 
• The two upstairs zones are: the Master Bedroom and Master Bathroom and they are wired to the upstairs Game Room/Home Theater. 

So, what can I conclude from all this?

An earlier form of me would have come up with some version of this solution.....

 Requiring something akin to this equipment.....

However, the more grown up me came up with something different:

• I really had 2 zones..... not 9.
• An upstair, largely for family movie watching.
• And a downstairs, that can serve as a home theater, but often a space where guest will typically congregate when we have people over. 
• It would be nice if the 2 talked to each other (actually, only the bottom to the top), but it really wasn't necessary.
• The 2 peripheral zones upstairs only come into play really when the family is using it as a home theater (eg. run to the bathroom during a movie), so the functionality of them ever needing to interact with the system downstairs is virtually zero.

So, here is what has come into being as our whole house A/V system:

• Downstairs- A simple surround system based off of an inexpensive Onkyo TX-SR303 receiver that serves that purpose. The "living room" areas that it resides in have the B&W LM-1 speakers mounted on the walls and a B&W ASW-300 sub.  It also serves as a source selector for all the 5 other zones downstairs as well. Each of these zones are run through the Niles RSL-6 speakers selector and QSC GX-3 amp that I discussed in the last post.
• Upstairs- This is the home of our main home theater which is run by an Integra DTR-6.3 receiver powering KEF "Uni-Q" main & center channel speakers and another set of B&W LM-1s in the surround channels, plus a B&W ASW-675 sub. Through the tape-loop (just like downstairs), the receiver sends a line-level signal to an old Sony STR-AV770 which powers the 2 remaining zones. As you can imagine, it probably won't be powered on much and if that receiver hadn't cost $25, I probably wouldn't bother with it at all!

Does this mean that I'm done!?! No more audio in this Blog space? Oh, there'll be a few things I'm sure. Just of the top of my head, I can see myself examining adding another sub in the main system to even out the bass up there. I might even go with a set of separates in it as well since I have a partially working Rotel RSP-1098 Pre-amp processor and a Rotel RB-976 Amp out in the garage. Plus I've always kind of seen the Dual 510 turntable as a temporary solution for my vinyl needs. So, you see, there are potentially some so big changes, but I wouldn't say any of it is eminent. These days, I'm just happily enjoying our fully working whole-house audio system as it is!

Home Audio 2.0

 

Most people would be pretty happy with these two pieces of home audio/theater equipment. I should know: I used to sell them back in a previous life. OK, let's rewind. Twelve-thirteen years ago, before we moved to the Metro-plex (Dallas/Ft. Worth) and started (for my wife), restarted (for me) our teaching careers..... we lived in Lubbock. I worked in IT, and as almost a hobby, I also worked part time in a home audio/theater store there. I loved it! Every other weekend and a couple of nights a week, I got to talk audio with people and they even paid me! A couple of the brands (among others) we sold, were Denon and B&W (Bowers and Wilkins). The Denon AVR-3802 was near the top of their line and an excellent piece. The B&W ASW 600 was a mid-line piece, but a great deal for the money.

Fast forward a decade + and you might remember; last summer, this happened! We moved to another house. Well, along with it came 2 sets, not pieces of equipment...... 2 Denon AVR-3802s, 2 ASW 600s, 2 sets (5 per) B&W LM1 Satellite speakers mounted in 2 living spaces........ and 7 sets of in-ceiling speakers! The subs and receivers were just piled in a closet. My suspicion was that they and/or the ceiling speakers had not been used for some time. The models were current when I was selling it more than 10 years before, so it was probably bought when the house was built in 2003 by the original owner. We'll just say that the 2nd owner from whom we bought the house didn't didn't strike me as the type of people who would have cared about whole home audio.

I, like most people should have been pretty darned pleased, right? Yes and No. Yes, these were excellent pieces of equipment, but I didn't need them! I already had 2 home theater receivers that I was already happy with and not planning on replacing. They have pretty much the same capabilities and built to the same standard. ..... But what about driving those 7 pairs of ceiling speakers? Well, that's not really a job for a receiver, .... any receiver. I'm not going to get into impedance and load here, but lets just go with the simple explanation that driving more than 2 pairs of speakers is not a really good idea. Driving four or more pairs from the same amp will kill an amp in short order. It may not be today, or even next month, but it's coming! To do this, what's needed is a beefy "stand-alone" amp and an impedance matching speaker selector with protection circuitry. So, over the course of the last month, I sold both receivers and both subs. Why would I sell 2 perfectly good B&W subs!?!

To buy something smaller of course! Back when I was selling them, I loved B&W subs and sold lots of them.... but I tended to not sell as many of the ASW600s. ??? Something the matter with that model? B&W as a brand is a fraud? Ah..... No. Let me diverge and go on a little sub theory according to the Frugal Propellerhead. Unlike many (probably most) people, I don't like more bass, I like bass just fine, but I want it to be fast!!! 

Most of you are aware that sound is made up of waves. The lower the tone, the bigger the wave. So bass waves are the largest, some are huge, as in many feet between the peaks. Therefore, it takes a lot to move the air to create (or recreate) them. So, the bigger the cone, the better chance it has to make that wave. Doesn't that mean, we should all buy 15"/18" coned subs? Good luck with your wife on that one! Remember; it's not just the speaker itself, you'll also need a heck of an enclosure to acoustically match that driver! So, we're all screwed, right? Again, Yes and No. There is another way (actually there are others as well) to move the air, and that's with a smaller cone, but it needs to piston (this is called excursion) in and out more. That's not easy though: in order to do this well, the driver has to be extremely stiff and the amp has to be VERY powerful to control all the movement. Here's the issue. The ASW600 is the smallest and least powerful of all B&W 10" subs from it's generation (150w). My ASW675 which is used in my main HT system, is from the same line, but has a Kevlar/aluminum composite cone AND a 500w amp..... along with a sealed-box "acoustical suspension design. The next model down was the ASW300 with a smaller 8" driver, but an amp almost as powerful at 100w. You might be thinking here that 150 is 50% more powerful than 100. The calculation of audio power isn't linear. To create a descernable difference to human ear, you have to up volume by 3db..... which require double the power from the amp! An 8" driver is significantly smaller and easier to drive for an amp than a 10". The other half is in the listening. To my ear, the ASW300 was much more musical than the ASW600, it's notes reproduced faster and just hit much cleaner. My preference is less, but faster and more musical. So, I sold the 2 ASW600s at $150 apiece and bought an ASW300 at $100 (after shipping). Plus, I sold the 2 Denon receivers at $75 each so, I cleared $350 profit from equipment I didn't need, plus ended up with a sub, I liked better.

But what about the "whole house" audio part with 7 pairs of in-ceiling speakers? I screwed up...

I bought a pair of these things.... Niles HDL-6 speakers selectors. As the model number might indicate, they will handle 6 pairs of speakers each. Problem solved, right? I even got a great deal for them ($50 for the pair)..... ??? See those white things on top of the selector? Yeah, those are the speaker wire connectors and mine didn't come with them. No problem, right..... $6-8 each  on eBay...... I need 14!!! That's more than the price of the box itself! On top of that, when I did finally figure out the original manufacturer of them (Weco), ordered 14 at $1.50 ea, the "pin" size was wrong. It appears that Niles used a special size which is half a millimeter smaller than standard!

Then, lightning struck.... twice..... in a good way! I found a Niles RSL-6, remote controllable 6-pair speaker selector on Craigs List for $30 which I talked the seller down to $25 and has spring bindings for the speaker wire. That's almost $20 less than the cost of buying the connectors alone! 

 

On the same day, I was asking my friend Pat (who still works in the home audio business) what I amp I should target to drive those speakers. His answer was, "I've got something here. I'll send it to you".... that was it. I figured that he was probably busy with an install so I let it go with a "?" as reply. The next day, I found out that he had been given a QSC GX-3 amp for some work he'd done for someone, and that it was on it's way via FEDEX to my house! Apparently, it was sitting around his garage and he didn't want to hassle with selling it, so decided ship it to me. I texted him at the right time! What is it? It's an industrial amp that people use to set up professional sound equipment for performances. If you go into any decent sized pawn shop, you'll find several in the DJ equipment area. This one is rated at 300w X 2 channels.... perfect for driving the 5 pair of in-ceiling speakers downstairs through the selector. Upstairs?

Quite some time ago, I picked up an old Sony "AV" receiver. It's old enough so that the surround sound doesn't even have a center-channel. Yeah; pre Pro-Logic! But it's not considered vintage, so the new age posers who are into retro aren't interested. I was the only bidder on eBay at $25. What about shipping? He was local, so I picked it up from him at the cost of about 2 bucks in gas. It's going to run the 2 speaker zones upstairs through it's own terminals. 

There is one last thing to add to this already too long post. I was finally able to break out my other Griffin TuneCenter iPod dock as well. I've had one in my main system upstairs for several years.

They not only allow the user to run their iPod through your main AV system, but they set up to interact through a graphic interface on a monitor. I picked them up years ago for about $15 each, when Griffin was getting rid of the old iPod 30-pin interface devices when people moved to iPhones with the Lightning connector. Now, I have the ability to run all our music through these devices through the 2 main systems, and by this afternoon..... all over the house, plus porch! 

It's A New Audio/Video Age.... In The New Home

We have arrived!!! ....After all those years of reading Audio-Video Interiors, planning, building, and accumulating, I've finally built the home theater that's as good as it's going to get ......for me. Much of what we wanted in this particular house (other than the adjacent greenbelt), has to do with the space it affords us. While the previous house was all about the practicality aspect of home buying and having everything we needed with nothing that we didn't: this house was about not compromising. Well, at least in our solidly school teacher-middle income world anyway. At the core of this house, is a game/family/media room which is so big, that we had to cut it into a two-thirds/one-third split with a large cabinet/bookcase system that we're building in to the back section! As much of a audio-video nut (within reason) as I've been, I've never had a home-theater that wasn't a double-duty living room! However, that didn't stop me from accumulating all the equipment necessary to run a full-scale home theater. Let's just say that it was a little over-spec'd for the spaces it was operating in......

• The dual-tower cabinet that I designed and help build was over-sized.
• The B&W ASW675 was too much sub for every room it ever lived in.
• The KEF iQ5 tower speakers were too much speaker for a seated position less than 15' away from it.
• The fully self-powered 2nd-Zone system never came into play in the old house at all.
• Having 2 other secondary monitors was more conceptual than useful. 
• Even the 48" Vizio main monitor was too big for the space between the cabinet towers.

Then we moved this summer. If I hadn't said so in previous posts, this house is kind of a "fixer-upper". Not in the truest sense of the term, but in reality of constantly having something to work on, YES..... yes it is! In fact, I'm avoiding going to paint our previously orange-leaning Peach bathroom a more soothing light-blue, by writing this piece! But, as they say; "the bones are there". Actually, there's a little meat on them as well.

 Denon AVR-3802 A/V Receiver

B&W ASW600 Powered Subwoofer

B&W LM-1 5-Speaker Sets

Two sets of each of the above...... were left at the house......

Along with 7 sets of 6.5" in-ceiling speakers. I don't know that they are the B&W CM65s, but I wouldn't bet against it since all the other speakers were made by them and are of that vintage. Believe me, I know. Ironically, in the last couple of years before we moved out here to the Dallas area, I sold this exact equipment at the audio store I worked at in Lubbock! Those in-ceiling speakers are mounted in locations all over the house run through level controls in those spaces. One group terminates behind where my main system now resides upstairs and the other downstairs in what my wife calls the "living room" that adjoins the kitchen. It's really more "family room", but she's the boss!

Speaking of the wife.... things in the house were progressing..... slowly, but progressing till she couldn't handle the smell of the pet-stained carpet any more. First went the downstairs carpet about two months ago, the game/media room about a month ago, then we decided to speed up the process about two weeks ago and ordered new carpet. So the rest of the upstairs rooms got their carpet ripped out and we lived on sub-floor for a week. Saturday, the installers came and installed the carpet. At the same time, my father-in-law was working on the built-in in the back of the room.

 

It's been awhile since I've had my A/V equipment set up properly in a carpeted room with decent acoustics. Wow! It sounds great! 

Oh yeah: can't forget the new 55" Sony 4K TV as well. This is just a start. Yes, there's still stuff to do, and the room will actually sound better when we load the built-in with books and decorative items, so that end of the room will deaden down some more. For now; it's a pretty good start.