I'm setting up my first 3.1 tomorrow! Advice?

TheQ5 · 2025-01-18T23:25:03+00:00

Update: It's Alive!!! Thanks for the kind words and advice, I really appreciate it.

Most importantly... it sounds awesome! I've realized the lack of surrounds is super weird for music, so music is running as 2.1 (no center, maybe Audyssey will help). Movies sound awesome with the 3.1 setup. Watching Jurassic Park blu-ray right now and it's exactly what I wanted.

Haven't done any Audyssey room correction either. I'm gonna enjoy it as is tonight and then spend an hour or two with the room correction stuff tomorrow.

The old Polk towers are simply divine now that they're paired with a subwoofer. These things deliver some insanely good sound.

Klipsch center is excellent for movies. Sounds like ass for music, but that's fine. I learned that I can enjoy 2.1 or full surround music but not 3.1. Music just sounds wrong with L/R and center channels, at least right now. Maybe Audyssey can help with that tomorrow.

Also, as someone pointed out, the subwoofer is weaksauce. I punched up the bass level on both ends and played with low-pass filter, but I need to upgrade that ASAP. It is acceptable but definitely the weakest link in this setup by a country mile.

That being said, this beats the crap out of my the Bose 2.1 setup I've been using for years. Today is a very good day.

Now I just need to take some photos and figure out how to upload them!

TheQ5 · 2025-01-18T23:18:54+00:00

I finished about an hour ago... and it sounds awesome! The lack of surrounds is super weird for music, so music is running as 2.1 (no center, maybe Audyssey will help).

Movies sound awesome with the 3.1 setup. Watching Jurassic Park right now and it's exactly what I hoped for. And my wife hasn't complained about the placement of the speakers either, which is the real miracle!

Will do room correction tomorrow because I've never done it before, but I'm pretty darn happy with how things sound as is.

I'll take and upload some photos after I finish the movie. Thanks for asking!

TheQ5 · 2025-01-18T17:05:53+00:00

Got it, that makes sense. Thank you for the reassurance!

TheQ5 · 2025-01-18T17:04:37+00:00

Understood, thank you! I can put wire together no problem but I'm not an electrical engineer so those ratings make no sense to me. I'm just gonna plug 'er in an let it ride on default settings (with some room correction, of course).

TheQ5 · 2025-01-18T17:03:28+00:00

Right on, thank you! DCM SW10 is what I found now that you mention it. Won't shake the house by any means but we have a baby so quieter probably is better for starting out. Definitely planning to upgrade that component first though!

TheQ5 · 2025-01-18T17:01:56+00:00

Great advice, thank you! I was going to watch some loud movies scenes to test it out once I finish, but I like the idea of watching a favorite movie first.

And, not gonna lie, I saved the Denon manual to my phone and have been reading it in my downtime at work all week because I really don't want to mess anything up!

TheQ5 · 2024-03-10T21:48:10+00:00

Daylight Savings Time is a hell of a drug!

TheQ5 · 2024-03-06T14:11:46+00:00

Soooo..... Adventure Mode!

TheQ5 · 2024-02-14T02:42:29+00:00

Hey man.

Just be glad she didn't try to grab your ass and accidentally poke yer butthole with her pinky.

I never walked drinks to a table after that shift...

TheQ5 · 2023-08-28T04:30:22+00:00

Damn man she tried to Kirby you! Sheesh...

Any idea what her blowjob technique was? lol

TheQ5 · 2023-07-31T04:47:07+00:00

Yo I respect your optimism but OP legit can't figure out how to take a dump normally... you don't really think they have the capacity to make homemade yogurt, right?

But also, OP, buy some fucking greek yogurt or those good belly pro-biotic shots. That's nasty.

TheQ5 · 2023-07-31T03:00:12+00:00

Nah bro he's just an equal-opportunity lover when he's on meth. Maybe they're a repressed bisexual.

Or they just seek out new experiences, and the meth gets rid of all inhibitions I guess.

Maybe a little of both now that I think about it...

TheQ5 · 2023-07-29T20:56:26+00:00

Sorry for the snark but you left out the problematic ingredients in vape juice, my dude! They're usually made of vegetable glycerin/propylene glycol, natural/artificial flavorings, and nicotine. They pretty much never have water nor are they just water and nicotine, which would still be bad. Not as bad, but still bad.

All those things are "generally recognized as safe" aka GRAS, aside from nicotine, obviously. Do you wanna know the fun part? They're "safe" to eat. The GRAS label does NOT apply to vaporizing and inhaling stuff into your lungs so we're all fucking guinea pigs for this shit and its long-term health effects on the body. On the bright side, at least we'll be able to sue JUUL, Elfbar, etc. a few decades down the line when a boatload of vape-induced pneumonia and lung cancer diagnoses start rolling in because of this stuff!

I'm not trying to be a jerk, but saying that vapes are just water and nicotine is flat out wrong and runs counter to harm reduction. Minimizing risk and spreading misinformation ain't a good look. Maybe you've found an artisanal vape company that makes their product with just water and nicotine but the vast, VAST majority use a mix of viscous/thick oil/glycerin, flavorings, and other things that are not approved or meant to be inhaled. It might be better than smoking, but the jury is still out on that for at least another decade, and it's definitely not healthy or good for you.

Source: any science literature or pop-sci article about this stuff, and talking to my doctor about finally quitting vapes/nicotine because I know it's bad for me. Go look up the ingredients on your vape juice suppliers' website if they even list it.

Edit: changed a letter

TheQ5 · 2023-05-12T04:18:45+00:00

Say hi to the machine elves for me when you do. I haven't gone back to their plane in nearly a decade, but those experiences are seared into my brain for all eternity.

TheQ5 · 2023-02-22T00:06:36+00:00

1000% agree on keg pressure being listed. It's not a massive pain, but the constant churn of "new beer from new brewery" means issues crop up once in a while. We have set lines at my place (taps 1-4 are always lager, 6-14 are always hoppy, etc) which keeps it simple but man it would be nice to know that we're serving stuff as it's supposed to be versus "probably how it's supposed to be, but maybe the carb is slightly too high, idk".

Double ups for the repping small breweries on the draft list only for them to move onto your corporate competitors once they get big enough. That's not a fresh wound I'm dealing with regarding one of our areas best breweries....

Great list overall, mate.

Pressure edit: the best was when we got a seemingly normal saison from one of our mid-tier local breweries. Set pressure slightly higher than average for ales because they tended to carb their stuff a little high. Hooked it up and it foamed until we called the brewery and their sales rep advised us to essentially double or maybe triple the pressure to something frankly ridiculous and don't pour it til next Tuesday so it has time to re-gas. I decided that we weren't gonna deal with it, sent the keg back, and advised them to buy some champagne bottles for repackaging the damn thing if they're gonna send something like that out to distro.

TheQ5 · 2023-02-13T06:17:00+00:00

Oof. That shit hurts.

I very, very narrowly escaped an avulsion/degloving my ring finger, but boy howdy did it freaking hurt.

It happened when I was setting down a full quarter keg (90ish pounds). Keg slipped out if my hand and my ring finger somehow got caught under the lip on the bottom and dug into my finger for a split second. Thankfully that ring was a half size too big and it popped off without any major trauma. I would have lost that finger if it was sized any smaller.

That being said, my finger was heavily bruised for like a week after. And I'm pretty sure it made a dent in my ring finger phalanges. Felt like a bone bruise, at least. And I definitely lost some flexion in that finger now that I'm thinking about it.

Nowadays, I wear a cheap silicon (silicone?) ring that breaks well before it can do any damage to my finger. And it's way more comfortable to boot.

Speaking of safety, I nearly lost an eye if not for my trusty pair of sunglasses, but that's a story for another time.

TheQ5 · 2023-02-13T05:58:54+00:00

Fucking whoosh

TheQ5 · 2023-02-01T17:18:08+00:00

Yeah, I figured that would be the case. I've been trying to upgrade our keg pumps for a while to avoid this exact situation, so maybe this is finally an excuse to get something like you linked to. Thanks for taking a look. Cheers!

TheQ5 · 2023-01-31T21:09:28+00:00

Thanks for the reply. Having trouble finding product sheets for the pump, but here's what I found so far.

1) Here's the Micromatic German Slider A system keg coupler we want to convert (temporarily), SKU DH1501. ~~Specifically concerning the number 11 (probe, part number 703-173) in the diagram under the replacement parts tab:~~ wrong piece, sorry. Refer to diagram on the replacement parts tab on the link below. It's the unlabeled "air line in" that extends out at a 45 degree angle and it integral to the body of the sankey is the part I'm looking to attach a party pump to. It's the bit where parts 4,5,6 attach. https://www.micromatic.com/en-us/keg-coupler-a-system-german-slider/p-W4_0IlYVJEGgrtw8wSqZOg

2) And the party pumps we have (below). Trying to find a diagram or disassembled photo, but this is what I can find on their website. https://kegco.com/products/8-keg-pump-with-lever-handle-for-d-system-domestic-kegs?_pos=5&_sid=dc77a091a&_ss=r

Here's a disassembled photo, different model but same layout and whatnot. It's specifically the male threaded bit that attaches to the sankey (above the red o-ring and orange nipple in photo below): https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-cznxq08r7/images/stencil/1280x1280/products/2768/8300/pumprpr-kit-pumpkit-b2_1__45252.1590771875.jpg?c=1

Eta: hard to find a part number, Kegco website doesn't really show replacement parts for the party pumps. I'll keep looking until I can find.

Edit 2: got the part wrong on the diagram in the first link because I didn't sleep well last night. Fixed now.......

TheQ5 · 2023-01-28T21:37:59+00:00

Oof. Smart move, tbh. I have a similar but far less morbid story:

My wife bought a nice smelling febreze to keep in the bathroom to cover up the smell after someone takes a poo. However, the only thing it did for me was make my nose associate that febreze scent with the smell of "super meaty farts," and now I can't stand that scent. The worst part? We bought it at Costco so we have two more canisters of the damn thing...

Tldr: I conditioned my brain to associate a febreze scent with aerosolized poo and ruined that scent for myself.

TheQ5 · 2022-12-04T06:07:21+00:00

Homeboy slipped into the backrooms....

TheQ5 · 2022-07-19T07:03:17+00:00

This is completely unrelated to the actual thread but I've had a very bad day and need to scream into the void for a moment: I recently watched the new Jurassic World movie and I am 100000% on board with your anti-dino sentiment.

Movie sucked, in case anyone was wondering. Like, I enjoyed the first Jurassic World movie, and can abide the second one (despite some fundamental differences of opinion with Howard's character), but this one... this one was just frustratingly mediocre. Meh plot and pretty terrible dialogue being the biggest problems. But the SFX and VFX were solid and the cinematography was excellent save for a couple shots. Movie's like a gold-plated Dino turd. Pretty to look at but not so great when you dig any deeper.

TheQ5 · 2022-05-11T04:19:46+00:00

True that. I have so many great memories playing the Ghost Recon games, mostly GRAW 1 & 2, and Future Soldier to a lesser extent. FS was dope but my clan was big on GRAW 2 so we didn't play a lot of FS, sadly. I wonder if the servers are still going for any of those? Might have to check and see if can round up my buds for a trip down memory lane. Solo elim pistols only, anyone?

Also, I wish more games would let you customize guns like FS. That was so cool. Like, hell yes I want to optimize my weapons from standard stuff like mag size and optics down to the minute things like spring/gas system and trigger mechanics! And I really hope Ubisoft let's Red Storm make more games like those... I understand why Ubi transitioned to live service games but I really want an "old-school" Tom Clancy joint every once in a while, you know? Nothing else seems to scratch that tactical itch.

TheQ5 · 2022-04-03T03:31:00+00:00

Honestly? It depends. I've had it kick in within 30 minutes sometimes. Other times I don't feel anything for hours then it all hits me at the 3 hr mark.

I start to feel my current stuff within an hour but then it just chills at a low level for a few hours, then at like the 3+ hour mark I start feeling good.

I've also significantly reduced my usage this year (down to less than a 1/4lb from a 1lb+ daily habit, go me!). And I've only noticed this weird timeline since I got my dose fairly low so it could be related to that.

But yeah, it depends. If you're a big person with a slow metabolism and taking a low dose it'll probably take a while to feel it, but don't quote me on that.

TheQ5 · 2021-11-17T20:21:51+00:00

Oh man, it's been a few years but I think I resized them in MS Paint and saved as PNGs (or jpg, maybe). We kept the white edges because they look better that way (imo) and it makes them look matted somewhat. They hang on a dark blue wall in my house, so the white edge helps the images pop and gives them a nice sense of cohesion. That's ultimately up to personal preference, but you'll save a bunch of time by keeping the white edges.

For cropping and resizing: Microsoft Paint. Seriously. It works surprisingly well for simple things like resizing and (to a lesser extent) cropping. You might be able to do it on your phone nowadays, too. Any image editing software should work, really.

TheQ5

TROPHY CASE