Wilson Audio Theater Room complete

Enatai252

Well-Known Member
Mar 2, 2013
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150
Pacific NW
I have been remodeling a home over the last year and one of the projects was to create a Theater Room the family could enjoy while also serving as a room for me to listen to 2CH music. We built a 12" second row platform to accommodate 10 theater chairs, we used a Seymour screen which has the Wilson Mezzo CST behind it. Wilson Alexia's serve L/R duty and Watch Surround 2s bring up the rear. I use two JL F212s for subs on Theater source only. The three front speakers are powered by Ayre MX-Rs (upgrading to Twenty status this month). Datasat RS20i is the theater processor and KX-R Twenty is the main preamp (is used in pass through for theater and 2 channel sources (dCS Vivaldi, Linn LP12/Ref2SE, Naim CD555) are plugged directly into KX-R for two channel listening. I use a Savant control system and love it. The projector is Runco. Would have loved to have at least one extra foot of ceiling height but this is the best I could do. Here are some pics

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Enatai252

Well-Known Member
Mar 2, 2013
163
23
150
Pacific NW
Some more pics
 

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Enatai252

Well-Known Member
Mar 2, 2013
163
23
150
Pacific NW
last ones
 

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MadFloyd

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Beautiful!
 

LL21

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Dec 26, 2010
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Fantastic! Enjoy! Whats the first movie you will watch in the new room?
 

PeterA

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Dec 6, 2011
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Congratulations. Looks wonderful. I've only seen a little video in a friend's theater which looks a lot like yours and it was incredible. So much better than what I watch at home. You must be very excited. Enjoy.

I noticed the Transparent cabling. You should add that to your equipment list.
 

amirm

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Apr 2, 2010
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Wow, that is fantastic, down to the lights in the risers! I am sure it makes for a ton of enjoyment, with and without family and friends :).

Was your screen width limited due to the low ceiling?
 

treitz3

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Dec 25, 2011
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Wow, I do believe I have found photos of my all time favorite home theater room! Absolutely gorgeous.....with excellent taste in equipment to boot. Well done Enatai252, well done!!! ;)

I take it that the center channel is behind the screen?

Tom
 

Mike Lavigne

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 25, 2010
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bravo Enatai 252!

very nice classy room and set-up. first cabin all the way with great electronics, speakers, and seating. i'll bet it sounds as great as it looks.

I also use the Cinema Tech Valentino chairs in my home theatre and they are 1st class all the way.
 

Sharp 1080

Member
Apr 20, 2010
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Beautiful system, and fantastic job with the remodel.
 

Enatai252

Well-Known Member
Mar 2, 2013
163
23
150
Pacific NW
Fantastic! Enjoy! Whats the first movie you will watch in the new room?

The first movie was the first Hobbit release. we have also worked through most of the X-Men, Ironman and Avenger Blu Rays. I rented Lone Survivor and that was pretty intense....I have Saving Private Ryan on Blu Ray but have not played it yet. I use a Ayre DX5 as my movie source for Blu Ray and now also have the Amazon Fire TV as my main source for streaming movies
 
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Enatai252

Well-Known Member
Mar 2, 2013
163
23
150
Pacific NW
Congratulations. Looks wonderful. I've only seen a little video in a friend's theater which looks a lot like yours and it was incredible. So much better than what I watch at home. You must be very excited. Enjoy.

I noticed the Transparent cabling. You should add that to your equipment list.

Thanks and you are correct. I use Transparent Ultra for speaker and analog interconnects. Transparent Reference for all HDMI runs except to projector which is too long for the Reference. I use Nordost Vahalla for all of the digital connections including the clock connections on the dCS stack. I believe cables make a difference and are very system dependent...to date, this level of investment in cables is the max I have been willing to bear.

I enjoy the video performance when watching as a family.....but when I have free time and its only me....I will typically listen to music only

Other items I did not call out were the Woo WES and Stax SR009 headphones I will sometimes use if I can't play the system at normal listening levels. I have a Naim HDX SSD which I use to rip all of my CDs to a NAS and I use the HDX server to stream to the dCS upsampler.

Also, I just got notified that I am next in line for the MX-R Twenty upgrade. So I will be shipping the three MX-Rs down to CO for the upgrade....and I have a VX-5 Twenty on order....the current VX-5 is going to move into a different room with a CP-800
 
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Enatai252

Well-Known Member
Mar 2, 2013
163
23
150
Pacific NW
Wow, that is fantastic, down to the lights in the risers! I am sure it makes for a ton of enjoyment, with and without family and friends :).

Was your screen width limited due to the low ceiling?

Amir

Thanks for the feedback and thanks for your latest CES report....I enjoyed it. You are right about the screen width. I chose to stick with 16:9(1.78) ratio rather than 2.37 as my kids still watch a lot of sports and TV programs on the projector. With an 8 foot ceiling and the need to have the bottom of the screen up high enough to work with two rows of seating....I was maxed out with the 110" wide screen or 126" diagonal. Its a Seymour Reference screen using the woven Enlightor 4K fabric. I realized as I set this up that putting the center channel behind the screen would be a compromise (but I really wanted the Mezzo and it was too large to put in the middle of the room with Kids/friends)....I had some experience with perforated vinyl and was not ok with those results. This screen provided the ability to place the speaker behind it with minimal impact on sound or the picture quality. i would imagine some hard core videophiles would disagree. On the lighting, I can't believe how easy it is to customize.....we put the cans, sconces and riser lights on separate Lutron Ri switches and the Savant software allows all kinds of flexibility. When I press play all lights go dark....press pause and the riser LEDs come on and the sconces go to dim.....press stop and the lighting slowly comes back to full on. While the Savant may not be a Creston system....its a long way from me self programming my Philips Pronto
 
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Enatai252

Well-Known Member
Mar 2, 2013
163
23
150
Pacific NW
I love it

Not to detract from the video end but I'm interested in your turntable

Also what dimensions are the room

Steve

Not sure which turntable....the Victrola is from around 1917 and uses steel needles that are good for one use of a record. Volume is controlled by opening or closing the upper doors It was my great grandmother's so it has sentimental value but is probably one of the least rare models made so no value other than that.

The other vinyl spinner is a fully spec'd LP12 SE. Its about two years old and has the Kandid cartridge, Keel and Radikal PS. I really love how this table engages me in the music. Prior to the move, I also had a SME 20/3 with V arm and Titan i cartridge. That table was dead quiet and offered all kinds of resolution. I decided to just pick one as I was not going to have a second room for a table in the new house.....went with the Linn. I listen to Vinyl about 25% of the time and I still buy new LP's off Amazon on a regular basis. I could live with either table but the Linn was the one that most engaged me. I could definitely see the argument for someone else picking the SME.

The room is a little over 18' wide and 25.6' long with 8' ceilings. Outside side wall has an inset of 10" halfway down the room that brings the back of the room to slightly over 17' in the back. The speakers were set up to have the center seat in second row as primary listening position. Its about 17' from front wall.

And Steve I really like your write up on your new room.....I would never have been able to pull off taking 9' off my wife's living room.....although the finished product came out really really nice
 
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Enatai252

Well-Known Member
Mar 2, 2013
163
23
150
Pacific NW
Wow, I do believe I have found photos of my all time favorite home theater room! Absolutely gorgeous.....with excellent taste in equipment to boot. Well done Enatai252, well done!!! ;)

I take it that the center channel is behind the screen?

Tom

Thanks Tom. yes the center is behind the screen. Its a Mezzo CST and matches the Alexia's very well. I upgraded from a Center 3 and the impact was pretty impressive
 

Enatai252

Well-Known Member
Mar 2, 2013
163
23
150
Pacific NW
bravo Enatai 252!

very nice classy room and set-up. first cabin all the way with great electronics, speakers, and seating. i'll bet it sounds as great as it looks.

I also use the Cinema Tech Valentino chairs in my home theatre and they are 1st class all the way.

Thanks Mike....I aspire to have a dedicated 2 CH room some day....with yours being one of the high bars....but each time I have moved I have been successful in improving the room and I am happy with where i am for now.

I really like the chairs....It makes a big difference and the guys at Cinema Tech were great in helping design the riser and seating configuration for the room. highly recommended
 

Enatai252

Well-Known Member
Mar 2, 2013
163
23
150
Pacific NW
Very nice! Please describe your impressions of the Datasat and its performance, as well as its implementation of Dirac.

Lee

I have been very happy with the Datasat. My previous processor was the Classe SSP-800 which I still have (in fact I also have two of them in other rooms) The Datasat can be part of a much more complex set up than mine. I use a 5.2 configuration with two separately controlled subwoofers. My dealer had the Datasat expert come to town and train him while setting up my system. The before and after calibration was mind boggling. The entire system when playing movies sounds extremely integrated and seamless in how the listener is enveloped by the sound....and that applies to all of the seating positions. I do not listen to multichannel music so my experience is basically on movies but while I still think the Classe is a great processor....the Datasat is just a step function improvement over it
 

DSkip

Industry Expert
Aug 26, 2013
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Arlington, TX
www.audiothesis.com
I love your seating and wish I could do the same in my room. Mine is only 12' across and I could never decide whether to use a couch for movies with the wife, or get chairs for 2 channel by myself. I finally opted for a pair of Lovesac Pillowsacs (converts to couch or chair), but they don't even compare to the solution your seats offer. Best of both worlds for sure.

Did you DIY that platform? I'd be interested in a little behind the scenes of the build if you did.
 

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