Classic Cinema 20 years on....

[Classic2000]

@Harkon321
Glad you enjoyed the read and congratulations on starting your cinema room. I hope it continues according to plan. Keep us posted on your progress. It will be great when it’s built!

 

[barnitto]

Someone else who’s a ProAc fan, I would love 7 DT8’s

 

[Classic2000]

@barnitto
I’m glad you love your proacs.

I first got into speakers designed by Stewart Tyler in 1979 when he owned celef and produced the RT1 an innovative design featuring an ATC 10 inch bass driver a Decca London ribbon tweeter and a KEF 8inch polypropylene mid range driver at the top of the cabinet which was open at the back. To me they sounded fantastic and I kept them for quite a while.

After he started designing speakers under his ProAc company I replaced the RT1s with his ProAc studios which had ATC bass and mid range drivers and a soft dome tweeter. I kept those until I bought the studio 250s for home cinema use.

When he revisited the RT1 design philosophy with the future series I bought a pair of future 0.5s for my stereo system in my lounge which I still have and which will see me out!

 

[barnitto]

I bought my first pair of Studios back in 2007, sort of by accident. A friend had a pair on demo and said why don’t you give them a go. I borrowed them and then bought a set, much to the dealers surprise as he hadn’t actually lent them to me! I upgraded to DT8’s last year after demoing several other ‘better’ models from ProAc, but the DT8 were just more enjoyable.

I then went and bought some tablettes as surrounds and a centre voice, the later was not a major upgrade over the original studio centre.

if you do ever consider Atmos, then I would recommend Dali speakers, with dome tweeters, as they have similar characteristics to the ProAc.

congratulations on finding a wife who not only let’s you indulge your passion but shares it as well, I reckon she’s a keeper

 

[Gordon @ Convergent AV]

Just thought i'd chuck my two pence worth in here. Obviously i get to see a lot of serious cinema rooms on my travels around the world and Tony's batcave is one of the very best. Despite its age it's still awesome....physics hasn't really changed in the last 20 years.... I'm looking forward to going back over in a few weeks to do some more tweaks to audio and video now the decor change has happpened

 

[alebonau]

thank you @Classic2000 really enjoyed reading your thread and posts... love your passion and great to read its continuing ! all power to you

 

[Classic2000]

@alebonau
I am glad you enjoyed reading my thread and posts and thank you for your kind comments.

I have always loved watching movies and in the 20 years since I built my cinema room it has been very well used and even more so since I retired 8 years ago.
I have seen and been able to keep up with a lot of the advances in AV over the last 20 years. Unfortunately the most significant advances in AV, namely object based audio such as Dolby Atmos, true 4K laser projectors and sophisticated room correction systems such as Dirac and Trinnov, have occurred since I retired. The downside to this is that my wife and I only have half the disposable income we had when we were both working.

I have quite an emotional attachment to the decor in my cinema room which I designed and is based around a fixed hush box in the middle of the ceiling which originally housed a CRT projector. This precludes the implementation of a Dolby Atmos type system without ripping it out and relocating the projector over the door.

In spite of that, as I wrote in my post re the Arcam AV40, I am more than happy with the sound of my system and the picture from the Epson LS10000 has significantly improved thanks to the new Lumagen 5348 so I can now enjoy the movie and concert experience without feeling the need for further upgrades.

Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your point of view, I have not seen or heard anyone else’s AV system. If I ever get to see a true 4K laser projector and hear a fully blown Trinnov system, I may well change my mind, rip out the hush box and install both, knowing that if I do my wife will be booking me an early appointment with our local undertaker!!

 

[Topmetom 2]

I came here after reading your av40 post, what a great building...i wish i could get something like that! I had a epson ls but as its a living room it was just too big...best picture ive ever had, and thats without a lumagen...fantastic!

 

[Classic2000]

@Topmetom 2
I’m glad you enjoyed reading about my cinema room and thanks for your kind words. They are very much appreciated!
Even now I dont regret building it although being classed as an outbuilding it’s a non existent investment in the value of the house. A bit like buying a very expensive car and keeping it. It gives you a lot of pleasure but has minimal resale value.
I hope that in spite of the fact that your home cinema is in your living room you are able to enjoy watching movies because that is the great thing about this hobby and in MHO the only reason for being in it!
With very best wishes.

 

[Topmetom 2]

@Topmetom 2
I’m glad you enjoyed reading about my cinema room and thanks for your kind words. They are very much appreciated!
Even now I dont regret building it although being classed as an outbuilding it’s a non existent investment in the value of the house. A bit like buying a very expensive car and keeping it. It gives you a lot of pleasure but has minimal resale value.
I hope that in spite of the fact that your home cinema is in your living room you are able to enjoy watching movies because that is the great thing about this hobby and in MHO the only reason for being in it!
With very best wishes.

Thank you, how is the av40 now?

 

[Classic2000]

@ Topmetom 2
It gets 8 hours of use every day and continues to perform flawlessly! IMHO unless you are technically minded and know what you are doing I think Dirac needs to be set up by an experienced calibrator in my case Gordon Fraser in order to get the best out of it.

 

[Topmetom 2]

@ Topmetom 2
It gets 8 hours of use every day and continues to perform flawlessly! IMHO unless you are technically minded and know what you are doing I think Dirac needs to be set up by an experienced calibrator in my case Gordon Fraser in order to get the best out of it.

I agree with this when i had the nad i had it professionally done. In the end the nads quirks made me give up with it

 

[Classic2000]

@ Topmetom 2
Unfortunately from reading these forums I think most if not all the current AV processors can be quirky both inately and in certain systems. Fortunately the way the AV40 is connected up in my system and the demands I make of it enable it to perform consistently, reliably and totally bug free producing the best sound ever in my cinema. So I am more than happy!

 

[Topmetom 2]

Quick question? After our last nights endgame fest, did you make the mvel curtains? If so did you do it or have them made?
thank you.

 

[Classic2000]

@Topmetom 2

Unfortunately due to Covid the mvel is still as it was, being held up with drawing pins. I have found someone locally to make the curtains but am waiting for a friend of mine who does interiors to put up some mvel covered pelmets to hide the curtain rails.

As covering the front of the ceiling with mvel isn’t really practical I also intend to get him to spray the front of the ceiling from the screen up to the hush box with blacker than black paint which hopefully will be virtually non reflective compared to the Matt black paint already there. If I’d had my way the whole room would have been black from the start but my wife was adamant that she wouldn’t go in there if I turned it into a dungeon! The things we do for love eh!

I will post some pictures when it’s done.

PS I have all the Marvel films and love them. I watched all the Avengers movies again just recently.

 

[Topmetom 2]

Thank you for the reply, ill look for a curtain maker near me in big hill....thanks again.

 

[Conrad]

Hi @Classic2000. That's a lovely looking room you have there. I wanted to share this with you as it might be relevant: Maximising image contrast - Part 2

As the post says, my room is completely painted in Rosco Supersaturated Velour Black. It makes most commercial/standard matt black paints look like gloss grey. I recently ordered some black 3.0 and I had some MVEL22 as well, so I did a quick comparison.

I'm currently working on an easier way to hang MVEL so that it doesn't look awful but doesn't have the complexities of building frames.

 

[John Woodcock]

What a journey you have had,I think you should be put into the AV forum hall of fame, I really enjoyed reading the whole journey. I to have a parasound HCA2205 for 20 years and only had my caps replaced.I had a seleco SVP500ht with glass lenses and an ISCAN Ultra loved it what a pj but noisy. I have been looking to what i can put on my ceiling to stop reflections, looks like i will have to check the MVEL out.

 

[Classic2000]

@ johnwoodcock
Thank you for your kind words.
I ended up with the Seleco millennium and yes they were noisy and ran hot. Hence the hush box with integral cooling fan as a central feature on the ceiling. If you have a flat unencumbered ceiling MVEL is definitely the best way to go as is using it on the walls. My only regret is not overruling my wife and using it from the start! I hope that works out for you as it does make a significant improvement to both picture quality and immersiveness. I hope that helps.

 

[john01707]

A lovely job well done. Its good to hear people talking about the old crt projectors, i used to have a seleco 400 many years ago.

 

[Classic2000]

@ john01707

Thank you for your kind words they are much appreciated.

I had my seleco millennium until 2010 when it developed an intermittent fault that I couldn’t find anyone to fix. I had become one of Gordon Fraser’s clients in 2008 when I replaced my dead faroudja line doubler with a Lumagen XE so through him I bought a JVC 950 and then at the end of 2016 an Epson 10000 to go with the Lumagen pro I had bought in 2015. I really love that combination which has been further enhanced as has the audio performance of my Arcam AV 40 also supplied and set up by Gordon when I replaced my pro with the new 5348 and keces LPS.

Your current home cinema system looks pretty impressive. I hope it gives you as much joy and pleasure as mine does for me. Cheers.

 

[john01707]

Thank you and your welcome. It was gordon who used to look after my seleco all those years ago, been with him ever since.

 

[worcesternaf]

What a cool story/journey you have been on with your home cinema.

Appreciate you sharing it and hopefully it gives many more inspiration to continue to tweak and upgrade over the years.

Hats off to your sir

 

[john01707]

Thanks for the kind comments, i will get a latest update in soon. still haven't managed to get the new subs dialed in yet.

 

[john01707]

Whoops sorry Classic2000 i posted to quick there, i thought i was answering my thread. deepest apologies.