New photos of our house

Hello, everyone! I've added a few posts to my blog in case anyone is interested in checking out the latest photos of our house that is under construction (and nearing completion).

Choosing a Hot Water Heater and Water Softener

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Preparing For Drywall Finishing With Red Paper
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Cutting Holes In Drywall For In-Ceiling Speakers
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Cutting In And Other Painting Fun
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Italianate Cottage: A New Old House In Charlmette, Louisiana
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...that last one is the first entry in our blog for another "new old house" besides ours. If you guys know anyone else who would like to submit photos and a story for their "new old house" let me know. It's kind of fun to learn about other people's "new old houses."

- John

Reply to
Sasquatch
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Softener

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Paper

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Speakers

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Fun

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Louisiana

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I've never done in-ceiling speakers, but did you soundproof above them so they don't transmit sound through to the bedrooms above and keep the kinder up all night?

BTW, why is it hard to make holes smaller? Not much different than patching a hole. In 20 years you won't be worrying about the size of the holes, you'll be selling to Miamicruise who will be trying to figure out why the speakers are there in the first place. Miami is the only one who would buy it because of the documents fire and collapse during construction.

Meanwhile, your headaches will have finally disappeared as the waterseal that you applied to the decking finally outgassed.

Reply to
Pat

The amount of bass that can be transmitted through the floor by ceiling speakers is unbelievable. You have to insulate over and around the speaker or the joist bay will act as a huge resonator designed to amplify bass - a drum. It is also a good idea to use dense rubber mounting blocks under the retaining screw wings and a foam gasket between the ceiling and the mounting flange.

R
Reply to
RicodJour

"Pat"> wrote

I installed the 5.1 in-wall system in my house back in 2002 when it was under construction. They were the good ones, none of that plastic stuff. During the framing there were steel mounting boxes installed between the studs. Then in the trim phase the speakers were installed after the sound baffles were inserted. The baffles caused 90% of the sound to come out of the front.

Incidently, did you know there are basically 2 types of speakers. Infinite Baffle and Bass Reflex. You can tell them apart visually by observing whether the speaker cabinet has a *blow hole* on the front, which lets the bass sounds resonate forward. If it has a blow hole its a Bass Reflex speaker. Infinite Baffle speakers have no blowhole and rely on the sealed cabinet to force the bass to the front. Infinite Baffles seem to have a tighter sound to the low end.

How to test a speaker: Play Boston's "Smokin'" song and listen for the part where the dood rolls the drums downward. Crank the volume as loud as you can stand it and hold a lit zippo lighter 4' in front of the speaker. When the drummer hits the lowest drum the zippo should blow. If not, box that junk up and take it back from whence it came and beat the sales doods ass.

Reply to
Don

The biggest problem, in my opinion, with built-in speakers is the loss of the *sweet spot*.

Reply to
Don

Wow! Thanks for the heads-up, you guys! I'm going to do some research and find out what I need to do to make sure that the chil'n aren't kept awake at night from the audio of my nature videos. I'll probably first see how it works as-is, since it's a 6.1 system and all bass will be coming from the subwoofer. Plus, they're not bass reflex speakers, so all the sound should be pointed down. If I need soundproofing, maybe there's something I can spray inside the joist cavity? I think I'll contact the manufacturer for advice. Thanks again!!!

- J

Reply to
Sasquatch

This isn't for anyone serious about music. It's for people who can't stand the little voice in their heads telling them that they've squandered their lives, and that no amount of consumption is going to fix that.

Reply to
Michael Bulatovich

wrote

As Don mentions in a post, the speakers are make for this so it isn't like installing a car speaker in the wall, but still, all you have is the subfloor and maybe a rug between you and the upstairs. Rico's mentioning the use of rubber washers in a good ideal. At a minimum, make sure that nothing is screwed solid into the wood. You want to use rubber or something to insulate the speakers from the house.

Reply to
Pat

"Michael Bulatovich"> wrote

LOL, I wanna party wif this dood. Guess what? I'm one of those people that can hear the diff between analog and digital. I'd heard about this for years and didn't know what the deal was. Then one night 'bout 5 years ago I was listening to some albums, remember them?, and then changed to mp3's and I instantly heard the difference. The best way I can describe it in a written format is like this:

This is analog: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(its supposed to look *curved*, sine wave.

This is digital:

---- ---- ----- ----- |___| |___| |___|

(a square sine wave)

The bottom and top are cut off, rather sharply. The first time I heard this I had to look at my setting to make sure everything was proper.

BTW: I also have 2 reel to reel tape recorders. A 2 channel Pioneer with 10" reels and a Sansui 4 channel with 7" reels. And 4 turntables, 1 is 4 channel. I collect this stuff, have close to 100 pieces.......

Reply to
Don

The gaskets are fine for isolating the vibrations but there is no way to stop the sound from transferring through that 3/4" plywood flooring, even if it has tile on top of it. Steel cases with baffles like I had will help but its still going to occur. For a ceiling installation, with a sleeping room above, I'd go with surface mount speakers and fill the joist cavity above with sound absorbing material (expensive, see

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). If the room in question has an 8' ceiling this is probably not an option.

Reply to
Don

My house is plaster and lathe, so I wouldn't worry too much about surface mounted speakers -- you could set off a small bomb in one room and not hear it in the next. But sheetrock is a different story, but I agree, I would surface mount them -- but it's too late for that. He said it's too hard to make a hole smaller so patching it would be out of the question ;-)

I would surface mount them and use something like the rubberized mouse- pad material in isolate the speaker from the wall.

But if he's stuck with what he's got and he's not willing to burn it down and do it right this time (again), then maybe he should either stuff it full of fiberglass or spray it with foam insulation.

He might also want to put a brick or something up through the hole to put a load on the sheetrock so it doesn't act like a large sound- board. I don't know. I guess this is why you get pro installation.

Hey, better yet, maybe he should check and see what the architect spec'd.

Reply to
Pat

Sorry. I knew that was a bit harsh when I hit "post". I do these built-in systems when people ask for it, but none of them are audiophiles, or seriously into music. They are tourists. Most of them could benefit from some quiet contemplation IMHO.

You're not alone. Digital is like a very fine diamond ceramic saw blade, and analogue is like warm chocolate fondue.

I've recently been ripping my vinyl collection for distribution through a 'network receiver', mainly to free up space in the living room. The turntable and amp is under my desk. I made a good run at it but have slowed recently....I'm running out of steam. I want to fix every pop, and there are so many albums.

I've been lurking in some audio groups since hatching the plan to digitize everything...it's amazing how much equipment purchased when I had (long) hair is still out there working, and how many people are out there looking for parts to keep them running.

Reply to
Michael Bulatovich

"Pat"> wrote

Any speaker with a decent magnet is gonna have that drywall bowing down, bad! Hell, under the right sonic load it could tear loose and swing down by the wire and knock somebody out. LOL

Ha! The last time I spec'd ceiling speakers was back in the 80's for some Nutone intercoms. Speakers meant for music & movies are directional and its not normal to hear

*stuff* coming from the ceiling. **Unless gawd is speaking.......or Carl Palmers levitationg drum cage........
Reply to
Don

"Michael Bulatovich"> wrote

Nod. When I came back from Germany in 78 I had several thousand dollars worth of stuff which I gave up through a bad decision. Never thought I'd see stuff like that again. Then in 1998 I discovered ebay and the rest is history. I blew $15k + in one year on 70's vintage Pioneer and Sansui stuff. I don't listen to music much anymore but when I do I prefer very high quality delivery. I have a couple friends in FL that have spent insane amounts of money of this stuff. Like, $1500 for a turntable cartridge. Please.......

Reply to
Don

Hell, under the right sonic load it could tear loose and swing down by the wire and knock somebody out. LOL

Hey, call Mythbusters. We need to see if that's true. And if so, lets get some video of it. That's be cool to see.

Maybe the building inspector will know. Let's suggest that he call and ask!

Reply to
Pat

Hey, some people LIKE Muzak. Overhead speakers are great for that.

I think you probably slowed down because you kept hitting your head on the desk.

Don keeps his under the desk to so his wife can change records, but that's a different story.

I made a good run at it but have slowed

Old parts for old farts?

Reply to
Pat

Heh... the new cottage we bought will host a lot of our old stuff that is stored up on our loft bed in our apartment in the city. Some of that includes the 400+ vinyl's I can't wait to listen to again since I only played about 90% of them once to record on tape in the 70's and 80's. To listen to those great old tunes I can't wait to dust off my Pioneer SX-3700 amp, my Technics direct drive quartz turn table, my Akai tape deck, my two Allison Acoustic 6 cubes and two Dynaco speakers. All middle to upper quality stuff but that doesn't take away the thrill I'm gonna have playing it all.

Reply to
Pierre Levesque

"Pierre Levesque"> wrote

Heh, the 3700 was in the 3rd series of the amazing silver faced run, manuf in the late 70's, approx. *50 (real) watts per channel*, walnut side panels. A nice little machine. Remind me, does this one have the blue lighted dial face? Akai tape deck, reel or cassette? My first reel was an Akai, 7" reels, with auto-reverse. Wish I still had it.

When I say real watts thats what I mean. Not the ridiculous, and false, claims the manuf's today spout off about in their black and silver plastic 3 pound pieces of junk. Your Pioneer will blow most speakers on the market today, stretched woofer cones, crystalized voice coils and bleached magnets.

I bought a $400 Pioneer receiver back in 1994 and about 2 years ago it failed. Rather than throwing it to the curb I opened the 3 pound plastic case to see what was inside. It was mainly a hollow box, with a small circuit board in the corner and a few wires. I was shocked that that was all that was in there. If you open the cabinet on my gargantuan Pioneer SX-1250 there is barely room for dust to accumulate. Caps as big as Coke cans, transformers big enough to run NYC for 2 weeks. LOL

Reply to
Don

See above.

You might have a point there. If I had a surface waist high that I could spare I'd put it there until it's done...

Reply to
Michael Bulatovich

That's the one... like this one:

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this one is listed on ebay for almost 600bux... dunno what it would actually sell for, others are listed and have bids at around 100bux without the box and papers. I'm glad I kept the box and original manuals...

Nah, it's a double casette deck from the same era... I splurged on the amp and Allison six speakers like these:

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unlike these on ebay, mine are mint and with the boxes and literature...

Geez... looking at these prices on ebay it makes me think... nah, I'd rather use them...

Reply to
Pierre Levesque

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