DIY'd the brackets for the Height speakers and installed them. Sorry about the butas. Aayusin pa yun pero di naman sya pansin.
I realized that I had made a mistake in the installation of my first Height speakers. They are supposed to be at 45 degrees from a horizontal plane and then another 45 degrees from the vertical plane. I followed these guidelines but I forgot that the calculation of the 45 degrees from the vertical plane should start from ear level. The correct position is much higher and it's not easy to get the exact position because of the bracket. Anyhow, I'm sure that this new position is much more correct than the previous one. It's really HIGH!
Most rooms don't have a 14-foot high ceiling so people just try to make do and get them as high as possible. Nonetheless, I have noticed a clear difference with the new position of the Height speakers. Contrary to common perception, the Height speakers don't just add a vertical dimension (like arrows zooming up, even if there is a fantastic scene in the 1st Lord of the Rings when the orcs are firing arrows down - that scene is pretty incredible to watch with the new speaker setup). Actually, the main function of the Height speakers is to add depth to the soundstage. You can notice this more with epic films such as LOTR and with full-orchestra concerts. In my previous setup, it was hard to note the difference between having Height speakers and disabling them. In the new one, it's much easier to tell. I'd say that a part of the reason is the correct installation of the speakers while the other is that the speakers are now Focal Electras which are better and are perfectly matched with my 5 front speakers (LCR + Wide).
Next upgrade was an Emotiva XPA-5 power amp:
It was on sale and I couldn't resist. Landed cost for me was around P35k for a beautiful 5-channel power amp, capable of 200 watts @ 8 ohms and 300 watts @ 4 ohms with ALL channels driven. After having blown my Aragon amp twice and having just blown my Bryston amp after 16 years of problem-free performance (it's now in the repair shop), I decided to get the Emotiva, which is reputed to be very solidly built. If you frequent AVS Forum, you will notice that everyone there is buying Emotiva amps. There's a reason for that. The quality is so good and the price is so cheap. Unfortunately, out-of-stock ang XPA-5. Binili yata namin ni @gaol ang 2 huling units.
Listening impressions? Hard to say. All I can say right now is that it's an efficient amp and delivers lots of clean power.
Finally, I decided to change the wiring for 5 of my speakers. My previous contractor had installed very thin cables and while I'm not a big believer in the magical qualities of cables, I do understand that if you're doing runs of more than 50 feet (as in my case), you need thicker cables (gauge 12 to 14). I made a special trip to DEECO and I found these special gauge 12 silver cables:
These were the top-of-the line cables at DEECO but they aren't that expensive. The only problem, of course, is that you have to go to DEECO.
Lapit sa Raon. Ang gulo. Mabaho. Jeep ka lang.
I connected them to the speakers with the new banana plugs that I got from Narayan. These are the best banana plugs I've ever tried. They make a really firm connection.
To fabricate and install the speaker brackets and change the 5 speaker wires, I had to use 6 people working more than 12 hours + me as the foreman. Really exhausting work but I'm pretty happy with how things have turned out.
Now, all I need to do is the Audyssey Pro calibration at 10:30 pm up (when the LRT beside us stops running)!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
