Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Fun Week Planned

You know, I WISH he had a good URC. He has this old Crestron touch screen remote control, which at the time it was originally purchased was a really cool unit. (8" screen, rechargeable battery, but weighs about 2 lbs).

Also, it is (of course) only programmable by the installer, so anytime my dad wants to change anything, it costs him a few hundred dollars. I told him he should have them reprogram everything into a Harmony and be done with it, but since they didn't support Harmony directly (too simple I imagine), they were resistant to do it.

I decided not to press the issue because the system does work very simply, which is a bonus. The setup is extremely complicated and my dad just wants to be able to sit down and use it, and as of now, the system fits that bill. What is really annoying to me is that even after the installers pitched a fit about adding the Denon to this mix, they barely added any of the Denon functionality into the Crestron controller.

The Crestron is set up to trigger the Denon video switching to the PS3 video input, since it's the only video they ran through the Denon, but the rest go straight to the Runco (despite my request not to do this). Other than that, the Denon functionality available in the Crestron is very limited. I suppose their goal might have been simplicity of operation, in which case I can understand their logic. It also might have been their annoyance at being forced to install a receiver that they feel is far below their standards.

Anyway, with that out of the way, pictures and some listening tests will hopefully come later today.

Jason

Woohoo!

I would like to see if $5000 cables look any different than my cheapo cables

Most are literally as thick as your thumb. I'm sure there's a regular-sized copper wire inside a 1/2" of super special plastic, but from the outside, they do look impressive!

Is the "super special plastic" the "ultra noise reducing and snake oil variety", or the "regular old plastic but called super special anyway variety"

Without further delay... the pictures!

From the theater entrance looking in.
The screen comes down from the ceiling through the slot in the ceiling you can see in front of the track lighting. Front speakers are all horizontal on stands, and there are subwoofers in the front left and right corners. The front left sub is visible in the lower-left corner of the picture.



A similar view, zoomed out slightly


From the theater entrance looking toward the back of the room.
From this angle you can see the Runco projector, one of the side surrounds, as well as 2 of the built-in rear surround speakers. (there are actually three, one of which is disabled. The room used to be turned the other way with those 3 used as fronts and a big-screen CRT in the cabinet to the left of this picture, which is now the equipment closet)



Back of the theater
From here you can see all 3 rear speakers as well as the equipment cabinet.



Zoomed out view facing the rear of the theater



Back left of the theater: Overlooking the bar
From here you can see the other Aerial surround and the bar, under which a third small subwoofer is hidden away.

Definitely the room in which one should see Bambi...

I like what he's using for acoustical treatments.

Jason,

That is quite a nice system. The Theta is an unbelievable amp. I really like all the Stewart screens as well (although here I am very biased as I am friends with the owner's of the company).

All weekends should get to enjoy such great HT experiences. I for one am jealous/envious.

Michael

Thanks for the comments Michael.

I'm looking forward to actually being able to sit in the room and experience it as well.

I did watch about 30 minutes of Iron Man last night and my initial impressions are very positive. Unfortunately, lack of sleep overtook me before I could do any critical listening. I can say that the Aerial subs are strong performers. I was impressed with how they filled this very large room with sound given the relatively modest size of their cabinets.

More later...

Jason

Oh my!