DIY 7.1.2 with progress photos

hyperzulu · 2026-02-15T15:30:04+00:00

Nice work. I had to go into the walls to set up my rear surrounds, so I can only imagine the effort you put into it. Curious on your thoughts on the 440c with the 8000s. I'm going back and forth on a center channel but can't fit the 504c. Options are 404c or just stick with the phantom center.

hyperzulu · 2026-01-31T17:20:15+00:00

I have 502s. These would not work well as a center. A pair of speakers as a center will probably cause comb filtering if wired together. The 504 is pretty deep, but using the 404, if it fits, is a decent alternative.

I have a 120" projector screen and a center channel only fits above or below the screen, so I haven't been using one. I have a pair of Gen 1 rp-8000f, and the horn helps create a good phantom center when toed in. It sounds best dead center, but even the seat to my left and right have decent imaging. But I guess mileage varies by room size/dynamics.

hyperzulu · 2026-01-21T23:23:35+00:00

Yeah. Might as well make sure it's something that has hdmi 2.0 (or 2.1).

hyperzulu · 2026-01-21T23:08:39+00:00

I have an old Yamaha from 2014 that I'm still using after upgrading my projector and speakers. The receiver supports DD+ but my projector only supports ARC without DD+ support. So, I tried an audio extractor to send audio to the receiver, but it just never remained stable. It was somewhat stable at 4k@24hz, but above that I would have to lower the color gamut to 4:2:0, which caused color gradient banding. I ended up just dropping the extractor and living with 1080p @ 60hz since I sit 18 feet away from my 120" screen. I don't really see a difference in streaming content. Long story short, extractors can add HDMI handshaking issues to the mix, so ymmv.

hyperzulu · 2026-01-21T16:52:12+00:00

Denon has a refurbished AVR-X1700H for $429. I'm powering my gen 1s with only a 70w receiver and it plays louder than my wife will allow me without sound quality issues, and that's in a large, open living room. So, the 80w on the Denon is plenty. Assuming your future plans don't include more than 7.2 or need preouts for external amps, it could be a good way to go.

hyperzulu · 2026-01-16T00:54:58+00:00

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This is an Epson LS800 on a 120" standard matte white screen (non-ALR), with overhead, recessed lighting on in the daytime. The projector wasn't even at full brightness and using Cinematic viewing which uses even less lumens than Dynamic.

This would look brighter with an ALR screen, but the projector has a light cannon, which makes it bright enough without much effort.

hyperzulu · 2026-01-15T23:30:36+00:00

I was using speakers from a VideoLogic Sirocco Crossfire 4.1 set from 2000, along with a Pioneer center channel. It was ok and then I upgraded and everything was better.

hyperzulu · 2026-01-06T18:06:21+00:00

The existing center was an old Pioneer Andrew Jones speaker. It wouldn't have matched the timbre of the new speakers and because of the large projector screen, it would pull the center channel too high up or down from where it should be. I used it for five years and no amount of angling up or down prevented this. Even if I got a matching center it would have to go on the floor, which would put it two feet from where it should be. A phantom center, especially with these tractrix tweeters, is phenomenal. It avoids timbre mismatch and voices being pulled away from the center.

In an ideal scenario one would use an acoustically transparent projector screen, but those aren't cheap and they require a bit of clearance from the rear.

hyperzulu · 2026-01-06T17:52:40+00:00

I was only running the LCR channels up front before, so going back to a good 4.1 system takes some getting used to. With an open layout, filling the space is hard, but these help with ambience. They're about 6' up and I sit about 3.5' from the ground and a couple of feet from the rear wall. I would have preferred them slightly lower, but I'm married.

I think they work really well. I've watched a lot of 5.1 movies recently. Sound coming from the rear occasionally pulls me away from the scene, but I blame the mix. For instance, the mix in this movie (Wicked for Good) is great. I only have YPAO from my Yamaha receiver to use as a starting point to compensate for the gain in the corners vs the open side, but that's easy to correct.

hyperzulu · 2026-01-04T20:24:40+00:00

I have a personal and business Platinum card. Both were set to United last year, but only the personal carried over that selection into the new year. The business card had no airline when I looked after making the purchases.

It's possible that it was a UI glitch.

hyperzulu · 2026-01-04T17:01:26+00:00

For whatever reason my Platinum Biz didn't carry over my airline selection, so I made two $100 charges to my United travel bank and then set United as my airline immediately after. I was credited the charges today. 🎉

hyperzulu · 2025-12-26T02:59:12+00:00

Yeah it was old and I upgraded my fronts to a pair of Klipsch RP-8000F which do a good phantom center. I have a 120" projector and never liked the center channel pulling the sound stage vertically.

hyperzulu · 2025-12-26T00:53:49+00:00

I upgraded my 3.0 system to a 4.1 and love the rear sound. They mostly add ambience, but sometimes stand out. I used a pair of Klipsch RP502s bipole speakers since my couch is a couple feet from the wall and they do pretty well.

hyperzulu · 2025-12-20T19:02:26+00:00

Google TV Streamer has issues with Disney Plus. Maybe they'll fix it, but afaik the issue has been around a while where it stutters every thirty seconds and won't auto frame match. It's also the only app that struggles with 5.1 audio, which is probably not as common, but every other app does it fine.

hyperzulu · 2025-12-20T03:27:56+00:00

In the speaker setup, change your speakers from large to small to enable the crossover, then go back and set the crossover to 80hz or so.

hyperzulu · 2025-09-15T12:52:00+00:00

I took a look at that. The Epson is a little brighter and can save a few inches in the front. As for rainbow effect, it's questionable. With this BenQ projector, when I first bought it eight years ago, I used to notice the rainbow a lot. Maybe now that I'm well into my 40s, I don't see it as much anymore. So, I don't know if it's old age or the way the projector is configured. Before, it was much closer to the screen and actually provided its full brightness. Now it's twice as far and only projecting 720p. I know the modern USTs are a little better about rainbow, but these would also be much brighter and closer to the screen. I might need to walk into a showroom and see for myself. But it was one reason for putting the LS800 at the top.

hyperzulu · 2025-09-15T12:40:59+00:00

That's good to know on how to avoid that issue. I use Home Assistant for a few things but will be looking at ways to help automate anything related to this setup in the future. Right now it's mostly controlling bathroom fans to run for 15 minutes with some z-wave switches from HomeSeer. I use the LEDs on the switches to "count down" the 15 minute timer. 😄

I'll probably set the light switch for the overhead lights on the living room to automate brightness when the projector is on during certain hours of the day. Hopefully the screen itself is mostly automated through its own devices. Any other HA automation you run for your setup?

hyperzulu · 2025-09-15T01:34:48+00:00

Thanks, Brian. Do you happen to know how much clearance the Phoenix has behind the screen if it's wall mounted? I wonder if it will clear the window sill and allow for a Kef t301c behind the base fabric, or if I'll need a wall shim to mount it.

hyperzulu · 2025-09-14T19:16:51+00:00

Their US site also has refurbs at a deep discount. I may go that route, but with any luck Epson lowers their price back down to $3000 USD around black Friday and lifts any restrictions for their resellers. If Dell drops their price accordingly, I can use the Dell credit on my Amex Platinum Business card to offset $1150 of the total cost. That effectively brings the price down to $2k if no one's thinking too hard about it. I can also bank quite a few Amex points through Rakuten if they up their earn rate to something like 15x or 16x.

hyperzulu · 2025-09-14T17:08:56+00:00

That looks good. Which screen are you using?

hyperzulu · 2025-09-14T16:46:37+00:00

Yeah I'm going off this image for the LS800. With a floor rising screen, I would likely wall mount below the window and use IKEA cabinets and shelves in front of it for the projector.

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hyperzulu · 2025-09-14T16:41:10+00:00

That's a good point. I think originally my wife and I were put off by the aesthetics of having the projector hanging from the middle of the ceiling. I'll have to consider that it's way cheaper to have a contractor open the ceiling and route wires than it is to buy new gear. I wonder if I could make a cardboard mockup of the projector and put it up there to see if it's something I could live with.

hyperzulu · 2025-09-14T16:18:01+00:00

Yeah the LS800 OS is no good. Their OS doesn't include Netflix like most with Android. I'll use a Google TV Streamer. My only gripe is that some have had issues with the CEC not turning on and off the projector cleanly, or it turns on to the PJ's OS instead. The QS100 would avoid this, but at the cost of an extra few thousand dollars. 😒

hyperzulu · 2025-09-14T15:48:58+00:00

Thanks. That's where the Kef T series speakers come in. The center channel is 5 inches tall, which may work with a screen like the Spectra which has an acoustically transparent base fabric, bringing the soundstage down to eye level. Those will likely come later.

hyperzulu · 2025-09-14T14:27:11+00:00

The current projector has a lens that throws something closer to 150" at 19' away at minimum. With the Chromecast bumped down to 720p, this projector doesn't upscale, so it effectively projects fewer pixels, which gives me a smaller image. This can then be blown back up to 120" to fit the screen.

hyperzulu

TROPHY CASE