I'm in the process of trying to get my basement finished for a dedicated home theater room.  I bought a house a little over a year ago and decided to post pics of the setup as it stands right now.  Please feel free make suggestions and comments.  Also, please feel free to donate a Ruby for the basement   I'm looking to buy a stand for the center channel so that I can get it off of the coffee table.  For now this is the best I can do until I get the 634-VAC and know what type of stand will work best.

Here are some old theater pics prior to the house purchase

Looking good Lewis!  I like your current center channel stand... makes it look like a man is running the show.

I don't know if this came up in one of your other threads, but I'm curious as to why you have the 534-SS in the rear and not on the sides.  Do you have them in bi or dipole? 

How large is the theater area in your basement going to be when it is all done?  Sounds like a fun project!

-James

Dave:

do you have info on this new Pioneer receiver and/or a link to info?  I would like to check it out myself.  Thanks

Dude, I would try moving either the coffee table back a bit or move the center forward to get it to the front edge of the table.  You're most definitely getting some crazy reflections and phase cancellations with it like that.

Lewis-

are you planning to mount the rear speakers? I'd bet they'd perform better if they were mounted on the side walls.

Other than that, it looks good.

And you definitely want to wait until you see the new 634 VAC before buying a stand for it. I saw it when I stopped by Aperion's HQ (that's right, I now live 5 miles away!) a few weeks ago. Unfortunately it was not hooked up

Hey Nick that 634-VAC is now hooked up so you can witness it if you like.

We have a stand available for the 634. There's two height options. We'll get it up on the site soon, but in the meantime, here's the link to see a pic. It's $75 - 80 model number is CC-12 or CC-18. Oh, duh, you can also see a pic of the 634 on it in the HE show thread...

Hey James,

Thanks for the feedback.  The 534-SS are in the rear because of space restraints.  I think the lack of proper placement (brought on by lack of space) didn't allow me to experience the full effect of the 534s.  I was comfortable with the sound of the 532 and honestly have been to lazy to start the process of trying different placements for the 534-SS as left and right surrounds again.  You've inspired me to try some different setups this weekend and I will report my findings.  The space is a long rectangle with not much room on the sides due to the wide sofa.

I can say that a man is running the show .... lol.  I'm not married and I live by myself so I'm able to do things that wouldn't necessarily be pleasing to a wife.

The basement is a little over 500 sq ft.  It's not a monster, but should provide enough room to drop in a projector in the ceiling and a screen up front.  I plan to put Aperion equipment down there.  Hopefully, bu the time the project is completed Aperion would have created a reference sub (hint ... hint) and some new PT's so I can leave my old ones upstairs (hint ... hint).  The basement is unfinished so I'm about to start the drywall process soon.

Matt,

I did in fact move the center forward on the coffee table and it made a huge difference.  I can't believe I never thought about this escpecially given the fact that the coffee table has a cooper center.  I watched Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (HD-DVD) last night and it did wonders for the dialogue.  Most of the HD-DVD's I've purchased have lower level audio than standard DVD's and require that I jack the volume up on my receiver.  Typically I turn it from around -20 to -10.  I watched last night at around -15 and it sounded great.  Thanks for the advice.

Dave,

I've actually never owned a Denon receiver, but have been thinking about purchasing the 4306.  I really enjoy the sound of a HK more than Denon or Pioneer, but HK's soon to release line is out of my price range and the specs/features of the forthcoming Pioneer Elite receivers trump that of the 3806 and 4306.  The VSX-74 has a HDMI low level frequency bug that has been noted by myself and others on www.avsforum.com .  The LFE channel on the Pioneer is very low when using HDMI PCM audio (around 17db quieter than usual).  The HDMI PCM function is a necessity with the current HD-DVD movies as the sound is sent over by the receiver in that format.  This has caused me to start shopping a new receiver since it's obvious Pioneer won't address this issue properly in this particular model. 

Nick,

I have entertained the idea of wall mounting the side speakers.  However, I suffer from audio/video indecision and can typically change my mind in a minutes notice.  I would hate to get cabling ran into the walls, drill into them and decide I made a mistake.  Also I'm looking to get a dedicated theater room and I think I would be a lot more comfortable taking that path in the basement.  I'm sure I would gain significant performance by using your suggested method though.  I guess I'll be purchaing the stand carried by Aperion for the 634-VAC.  When you here that monster report back ASAP!!!!

Hi Lewis,

I think the 534-SS performs better in near-field situations than a direct radiating speaker.  When you try it out, start off by placing the 534-SS directly to the side of your listening position in dipole mode.  

What I noticed with when experimenting with mine, the dipole setting can cause the sound to be several db quieter.  Be sure to compensate for it at the receiver. 

Since you are accustomed to the 532's on the side, a dipole speaker on the side might sound a little odd at first, but give it a few movies and you'll start to appreciate the the diffuse sound they offer.  At least I do...

-James

Lewis-

Well, I made it down to Aperion on my lunch break today. Unfortunately I had only a few minutes, but I was still able to listen to the 634 VAC. Caleb did an A/B test for me and I can definitely say that the 634 sounds much more open and lifelike than the 533 VAC. Also, the 634 had nicer warm tones with more accurate sound overall. I think you'll be impressed.

And for those interested in the new 533-T, they are nice, musical speaker. I can easily say they outperform several $1000+ speakers I have listened to.