Mike's Review Home Theater

[xtreme]

how much did u spend on ur theater system? how long did it take u to do all that?

[Mike Osadciw]

Hi guys

My apologies if my writing is a bit out of order, I'm typing as I eat my dinner so my thoughts may be a mess... There are several advantages of the Dunlavy. I've been following Dunlavy stuff since the late 90's...read his stuff religiously....you can still find things online...but there's a large cult following that remains... The company was sold in 2001 but the company that bought it (a lighting company) drove it into the ground and sold everything off. John Dunlavy was so upset with what happened to his company...anyways...he passed a few years ago...a man who inspected each speaker before it went out...relied on measurements, and was the only speaker company to have a proper chamber to measure sound. Anyways...Dunlavy speakers have been known to be the most accurate...flat response in a flat room (in a real room it's different), first order crossovers, and they are sealed enclosures. From the smallest SC-Ia/v to the largest SC-VI, the sound is IDENTICAL except for the extended bass response. The tweeter and the mids stay about the same from the SC-I - to the SC-IV/A or Sigma, and change on the SC-V and SC-VI...but are sonically identical. Dunlavy was strict on this...

...let me not babble...not that I want to direct anyone to another forum, but maybe with Suave's permission, I can post this link to an AVS Dunlavy thread we've been keeping going since 2008. I start at post 24...but there is tonnes of info from guys who worked with John, knew him well, or sold many of his products and became intimately familiar with John and his theories/results. Many stories are shared, and one of the guys started posting brochures/manuals beginning on post 178. Great "historical" stuff for the archives, or anyone interested in reading about Dunlavy's philosophy of design. And um...a great used market!

The question was how long did it take me to put all of this together?

I started building a surround system in 1998...underwent many evolutions...but after buying and selling new and used items over the years trying to find the sound I liked (but I knew what I REALLY wanted), with the current stuff I purchased it between 2006-2008. I moved aside the FA's and bought my Dunlavy SC-IV speakers first, then the Theta amps, then the SC-IV/a (the IV and IV/a have some small differences, you can read about them in the reviews online) then the HRCC-I center speaker, then the Ayre, then the TSW-VI pair, then the Integra...actually, 2008 is when I went "all out"...it was one of those things that I had started something in motion...had a few pieces put together...but felt it wasn't being optomized...then all of items that had been on my "wish list" just started popping online on the used market...one after the other after the other in a coherent sequence...and I basically said "I'm just gonna get it over with". I know how much I spent but I really don't want to think about it... So that's how I got to the point of today.

[Suave]

Thanks for sharing all the details with us Mike - it was an interesting post (and I learned something!).

And no, I don't see a problem with posting a link to an interesting thread on another forum as long as it's in context to what we're talking about.

[audit13]

I'm terribly jealous of your set up. When I had my home renovated, I thought I was "forward-thinking" by running 2 sets of rg-6 and a set of gigabit cables to all of the rooms from a central point in the basement. I guess I should have thought more seriously about a home theatre arrangement.

The way my room is arranged in the basement, there is no way to neatly suspend my surround speakers above my listening position; therefore, I've had to resort to putting them on tall stands.

[Chris]

My goodness, those are some massive speakers. Nice.

Chris

[Mike Osadciw]

the first post has been updated to reflect the current HT setup. Even though much of the discussion on this thread has been on the Dunlavy's, I am not currently using a pair of my SC-IV and the HRCC-I centre. The first post has been edited with the current system.

[Suave]

I'm sure I've said this to you before Mike, but that is one heck of a system!!

Could you share some pics with us of the current system? Also, do you have any near future upgrade plans? I know that recently you were talking about the Theta Digital Casablanca III-HD home theatre audio processor.

[Mike Osadciw]

Hi Suave

I'd love to add the Theta Casablanca III-HD. While in no rush because I know they are upgrading current units in the field and I'd rather them get that all out of the way and sort out bugs in the system, that is something I'd like to add sometime in the future. The first priority is to get a consistent video display because as you know, there isn't one. Ha! Oh...and the room as it is isn't very flattering!! I've posted a pic of the two channel system in the 2-ch area. In July the very small HT room will be painted dark. When we painted the house that room wasn't the intended video room so it was painted Tony Toupe. The other room was painted dark (where the 2-ch is). The HT room will get the same dark brown all around and a black ceiling.