Tour Paul's Home Theater
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.พ. 2025
- Paul brings us into his home to view his modest 12.1 channel Dolby Atmos theater build with an acoustically transparent screen, Emotiva amps, 4K projector, all ribbon loudspeakers and powered by 2 P10 Power Plants. An intimate view of the family's theater. Have a question you want to ask Paul? www.psaudio.com...
I am getting close to publishing my memoir! It's called 99% True and it is chock full of adventures, debauchery, struggles, heartwarming stories, triumphs and failures, great belly laughs, and a peek inside the high-end audio industry you've never known before.
I plan a few surprises for early adopters, so go to www.paulmcgowa... and add your name to the list of interested readers. There's an entire gallery of never before seen photos too.
I think I'm as impressed with the photography as much as the home theatre.
more so, actually.
Yes - 8x10 chromes are awesome; I’ve even seen 8x10 Kodachromes. I used to do 4x5 Ektachrome, and that was special.
paul lovely home cinema but some of your speaker cables look like cables used in uk homes to run power into lights and plug sockets. have to say only thing in my cinema set up that looks 100 times better is my qed genesis silver spiral bi wire lol and DENON 3313UD over any oppo prefer movies in 3D to 4k as denon picture quality and 3D imaging is pretty flawless in 2k
Gawd, the cost of framing those treasures shows that Mr. P.G. is well-heeled..!
For being a two channel guy, I still think you've got a very nice home theater. Thank you very much for sharing.
Oh but Paul! Do a Part II and give us a tour of what's behind the screen! 😀
Omar Alvarado I second that!
"Voice Of The Theater"'s, perhaps? :)
Paul said they were Bohlender Gaebener drivers (at least for the mids and highs).
@@ronshaw80 Yeah, true, but, I wanna see what's back there. 😀
Omar Alvarado, I want to see it too. The comment was actually aimed at David Perkins.
Very nice Paul! That’s what I call a realistic approach to home theater and that’s what it all about. Simple, quality, and comfort. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for sharing Paul. Love the photography as well!
What a nice warm FAMILY'S theatre you've got Paul!
I guess you rarely go there alone!
Big thanksfor sharing your amazing system with us.
This is my type. Simplicity, clean, but elegant. One of my favorite in youtube. Some have too much decoration.
As an amateur photographer I must say your photos are top notch! I shoot mostly in black and white but I love the landscapes you have captured! Very very nice. Your home theatre is just what I would do. Very strait forward and functional, thank you for the tour!
Thanks for sharing! I'm looking forward to hopefully meeting you at Axpona.
Paul is down to earth , Glad he is who he pretends to be . Me I think this is a very well thought out ,comfortable ,relaxing room . That family can really lay back and and enjoy . Nope we don't always need the giant ,multi million dollar rooms to entertain us . We can go to the theater for that if we want . Nice Paul , thanks for sharing .
Totally agree on the speaker placement (behind the screen) it makes more sense to have it this way.
What a great home theater. I love the hidden speakers and the equipment room. Really professional set up resulting in a really comfy but high performance theater.
Thank You for showing us this.. Namaste
Thank for sharing Paul. Thank you!
Thanks for sharing, Paul!
Very very pretty, I love your home, the pictures were very cool too, and the home cinema is very... as you may say...feet flat on the earth? I mean, it is at reach of a lot of middle class people, not outrageously expensive. The details of the installation are peerless, the tidyness in the back of the electronics, the soundproof casing of the projector, the acoustically transparent screen, you have class, money isn't everything. I like it all!!!
Not outrageously expensive??? I'm not sure most would agree with that assessment. The electronics he has in this room is probably worth more than most people's car. I mean, most people wouldn't spend $1,000 on speakers, let alone (I'm going to guess about) $20k+ on a home theater.
I remember having the "THX" button on my surround receiver. Apparently it softened the treble of the center speaker because movie soundtracks would turn up the highs to account for the loss that would occur when using transparent screens in cinemas. I think that was back in 1996... I completely geeked out back then.
Very nice sir. Thanks for letting us have a look.
Fantastic and beautifully done!!! Thanks for sharing.
Finally we get to see it ! Looks nice !
Nice clean setup, Paul.
We briefly entertained the home theater concept for the new basement media room.
Jim Smith's book (Get better sound ) helped us realize that in the long run they end up unused. Besides we tend to turn down the volume in action scenes. ..... (!)
So a second two channel music setup with room treatments it became.
This week my wife looked around the room while listening to " HMS Pinafore" (Linn) and concluded we didn't need a tv in the room at all.
Music wins!
This room is used every day for a couple of hours :-)
+Carlito Melon You are a man after my own heart, but some people really do like to watch movies, a lot, especially kids, I think. I prefer listening to good music myself.
Thank you for showing us a personal space in your home.
wow it was a fantastic wonderful room. thanks for showing us.
Beautifully put together, wouldn't have expected less. Loved the photos too!, really good eye.
That’s a nice looking home theatre there man loving the Emotiva amps I’ve just bought an XPA GEN3 5 channel variant and it’s definitely made a difference to my setup
Thank you for sharing your personal home theater. Looks awesome!
NICE HOME THANKS FOR SHOWING, GOD BLESS
Thanks for the illuminating tour.
Thank you, Paul. This is great inspiration for me as I'm currently designing my own...and in a similar sized room.
“Some crap speakers, I don’t remember which”, followed by “I’m an audio guy”. 😂😂 Love ya Paul. You also convinced me to trust Emotiva amps.
That was great to watch, thanks for the share Paul and I look forward to watching your content every single day 🙂
Wow Paul, this should be in my bucket list! Love it!
Outstanding set-up...Thanks for posting.
Yes Paul it is a JVC lol, I can tell by the lense...Very cool setup, we have been waiting a long time. Thanks 🙏
Very cool, Paul! Thanks for sharing!!
Brilliant! A giant bean bag chair or two is exactly what I need to add to my home theater! Thank you! Right now I just have one really nice powered recliner/zero gravity chair and I really didn't want to buy another one.
Great room. Thanks for the tour.
Nice to see The Life Aquatic in your collection!
Wow this is a setup to dream about. I hope I have one like this one day.
Very Nice..... Thanks for shairing
Wow, thanks so much for doing this! Someday if I am ever able to do a home theater I will look into the acoustically transparent screen. Thanks again I really do enjoy the videos and have learned much, much much!
Love the pictures. The sculpture is exceptional indeed! I’m glad to see that you and your family are enjoying the fruits of your labor.
Personally I was lucky enough to make it to Heinz Hall this evening and see the Pittsburgh Symphony perform. Exhilarating performance btw.
I went the same way on the seating. Originally I had 4 theater seats and quickly realized that it was way more comfy for parties, football and movies to have a few couches. Nothing like having a party and everyone looking at those 4 seats and waiting for someone to get up lol.
Great tour! Thank you for sharing.
I love the screen and the fact that the entire front is black velvet!
I totally agree about the sound needs to come from the screen. Your solution works but there are other ways too. I use a Yamaha processor and it has a system that splits the voice between the centre and present speakers. The voice can be adjusted in hight to match the projector screen. It enables you to lock the voice to the picture left right and center. I don't know of any other processors do the same.
S Gals. In your system OK. In mine l often watch poor quality sound. 2 channel or 5.1. I don't even have Atmos. But the sound is locked to the center, and slightly left and right of the screen when needed. The only way to do this corectly without the present speakers is 3 speaker's behind the screen or 2 center speakers above and below the screen. Once you hear it there is no going back
Wow! What a great home theater you have Paul. 👍👌
Thanks. It's fun and cozy.
Very nice, hadn't heard of acoustically transparent screens, makes sense to have the speakers behind
J DeKong All commercial theaters has LCR and subs behind the screen.
The P10 Power Plant has certainly brought a more natural timbre and faster transients to the kernels popping in our machine. Hulls are now wedging much deeper into gums and with greater authority. Even the AVR remote buttons feel buttery smooth after 100 hours
That's thanks to the added harmonics of the P10 and the amplification of other harmonics from your mains. Woot woot!!
I particularly love the sculpture, it's like a modern buddha :)
Very nice Paul, thanks for sharing.
Very well done Sir...!
That's nice, beautiful and simple!
Hi Paul, just from your talking you can hear the DN60 timing of the room. Nice timing, nice life.
Love everything but the projector housing unit. The sound panels are very sharp looking. Great work!
Hello Paul, Congratulations on the "sound transparent screen"!
Those 3 (or 5 if done for 70mm features) channels are the most important part of the theatre experience.
Your theatre is most inviting and comfortable. The popcorn machine adds the finishing touch to the smell in the room.
KEN
very cool! great post, Paul! hopefully I can get a room like this myself someday :)
Gorgeous set up!
Awesome video, thanks for sharing.
Very nice home theater Paul!
Cool. It looks nice. Simple and clean.
Great theater I want that projector hush box!! I think the only thing missing to take this theater to the next level would be some sort of aspect ratio masking?
Thanks for sharing your setup.
amazing, just shows you can have windows in a theater room! thanks for showing!
Very nice!!
thanks for the tour! if i had this i might never leave the house!
Jason Isip You will leave the house, to buy more popcorn and movies lol 😄
Retro Force that’s what my teen kids are for! hahaha
Awesome 🥰
Thank you for sharing
That is how you do the screen right! Finally - someone did it right. NICE
Very nice. Loving the photos. You should check into museum glass for your frames. Less reflective and makes the art pop more.
Thanks for sharing.
I'm not big on theater seats as well. Got 3 couches in my HT and my family likes to lay down on there and just get comfy and not be situated in one position.
That setup is what is almost exactly like my dream setup.
Acoustically transparent screen is a very elegant solution for a correct audiovisual display and it looks very sleek.
It's very pricey though.
Impressive, Paul! Wow...
Finally, someone else that uses laid-back family seating!
Very cool. Goals
Very nice Paul
Very impressive.
Nice! I have all sunfires from my good Friend Bob Carver and there all CRS - 3c's YES I used the center for all 5 channels and love it. I use the Sunfire EQ12 subs as well with the Epson Projector
Very nice functional set up.
Love the Pop Corn Machine !
Hi Paul, great looking theater room! Have you disabled the "Secondary Audio" setting on your Oppo?
It's "On" by default, and turning it off allows for lossless formats like Dolby True HD, DTS Master, Atmos, and DTS:X.
If you haven't done that yet, you might find the difference streaming and Blu Ray audio pretty dramatic. Really woke everything up when I finally got it figured out. Night and day difference.
Agree with seating, never found theater seating all that comfortable either.
You bet! You'll know it's working when you see "Dolby True HD", "DTS Master", "Atmos" or "DTS:X" on your AVR's larger fold down screen, or using the "Info" button on your Marantz using the On Screen Display.
If it still says Dolby Digital + or anything other than the best format of your movie (which is usually FAR too small to read on the Blu Ray box!) then you might also have to make sure that your Oppo is set to either "Bitstream" or "Auto" (NOT "PCM").
An example would be your "Avatar" Blu Ray (chapter 32 is intense), which should be DTS Master. When it's right, it should say either "DTS HD + Neu:X", "DTS-HD MSTR", or "DTS Master", and **NOT** "Multi In +Neu:X" (PCM) or "Dolby D+DDS".
You can also cycle the available format combos using the green "Movie" button on your Marantz remote.
If you can pick up DTS Master, you should be able to pick up the actual Atmos format as well, now that you have the secret handshake.
The difference is not quite as dramatic on the Avatar film itself, but with Atmos and DTS:X movies the difference is usually more apparent, particularly with the sound "in between" the speakers being more defined. Bass is usually more dynamic too. "Roger Waters The Wall" in Atmos is worth owning, but I wouldn't call it kid friendly FYI.
On top of that, you may need to select the better audio format on the individual Blu Ray menu. They don't always make it easy! Top Gun is a very rare Blu Ray that has both Dolby True HD and DTS Master formats that you can select in the movie's menu, and in that particular case, the DTS Master happens to be better, in my opinion.
Subwoofer 101 You're absolutely right. That's what sold me on a new AVR while back. DD HD and DTS HD compared to DD or DTS night and day difference.
To be honest when I was at BB magnolia I was looking at AVR's I didn't think it would make that much of a difference until he demonstrated some AVR's. I was like I didn't hear that when I was watching that same movie at home.
I walked out with a 2K AVR couldn't be happier 😄
that's a nice setup.
i just have a 55" insignia TV and a pioneer VSX 515 receiver, a mixed bag of speakers..... two polk T15 bookshelf speakers hanging on the wall in the front of the room, and 2 klipsch satilite speakers in the rear, a klipsch center speaker, and a klipsch subwoofer. im going to buy one more T15 set and a T30 polks so they at least match.
i bought the reciever about 15 years ago but it still performs well. its a 6 channel.
Ooh. Sunfire. I remember when they released their subwoofers. So much power and low frequency in such a small box.
Love to See this Video Finaly.
Bin im a Little undewhelmed, Not that it’s Not a gorgeous Home Cinema, but i expactet some more high end of a paul McGowan 😅
It always amazes me when I read responses like this. It reminds me of when 'friends' come by my home to see one of my collections, home , cars and although they haven't accumulated ANY wealth in their lives due to poor decisions, they find something to criticize .....unbelievable...
Just because someone can afford a Ferrari doesn't mean they can't just drive an old Ford truck-if that is what they like....
+Tim von R I don't think he charges admission or concession fees.
bery nice set up you have there paul
"Streaming"!
Substandard audio and substandard video. It's a giant step back all in the name of convenience.
These are sad times for us home theater lovers.
Not if you’re streaming lossless remuxes from your Plex server.
BlownMacTruck
What is a "Plex server"?
FrakU2 Uh... a server running Plex.
ThinkLearnSolve
CD's? Absolutely! MP3 is good enough for me. No interest in HRA.
Vinyl? No. Couldn't care less.
BlownMacTruck
Funny...!
Very nice!
nice and we share your distaste for seating in the theater, we like the places that have recliners when were out ( Regal Cinema around here )
Nice. Thanks for sharing.
Wow, I'm impressed with the photography 👍 and we share a similar home AV theatre 😎
I know you're more of an audio guy, but there are some changes you could make to improve the picture quality. I'd recommend covering everything in black velvet fabric to minimize light reflecting back onto your screen. These reflections substantially reduce contrast and hurt picture quality. If you don't want to go all out with black velvet, then flat black paint does an okay job as well.
I thought the idea of covering my theater in black velvet was silly until I did it. The improvement was massive.
I am the owner of Custom Quality Theaters in Boulder, CO. I designed and built Paul's home theater from start to finish.
I'm not sure why Paul chose to not acknowledge me and my company in this video. Very disappointing.
Anyway, I will try to clarify some details and questions.
The correct nomenclature for Paul's theater is a 7.1.4. Front LCR behind the screen, left and right side surrounds, & left and right rear surrounds (7). One subwoofer (1), and four in-ceiling Atmos (4). Side surrounds are Sunfire Cinema Ribbon CRM-2BIP dipoles.
Two rear speakers are not "crap", they are Golden Ear Invisa 650's. Ceiling Atmos speakers (4) are Golden Ear Invisa HTR 7000's, each one in a custom enclosure.
Other points/ questions answered:
Projector is a JVC DLA-700 4K capable projector. It is not a "true 4K' but uses JVC's eShift technology to double the frame rate. JVC has consistently tied or ranked ahead of "true 4K" projectors because of superior contrast ratios and black levels.
Room was originally designed for maximum audio and video, including darker walls that are now too light for best video/ contrast balance. Front side walls and ceiling are black velvet to minimize image reflection/ washout.
Zoltar808: Yes there is a seal on the doors to maximize air pressure, but unfortunately the doors are often left open, which also destroys the right surround channel quality. Rear small door was also designed to seal tight but is also often not closed.
Projector box is hermetically sealed, has intake in the adjacent hallway, outtake above front of projector, with 6" dia. pipe going to nearby mechanical room, and 1650 cfm exhaust fan activated at 90 degrees F.
I'm not a fan of popcorn makers in theaters, especially when they block off one side of a side surround channel and also introduce a large area of highly reflective glass. I know of other theater designer/ builders or installers who get frustrated about designing a theater for maximum performance and then have changes made later that negatively affect the performance. Of course, once it's done the owners can do whatever they like with the finished theater.
You can see a more complete review and pictures of the theater at my Houzz site:
www.houzz.com/projects/1197701/boulder-atmos-theater
Sorry, Robert, didn't mean a snub. Folks just wanted to see what our theater looked like. You did a great job designing and building our theater.
Nice work. Enjoyed the additional photos via your link.
no doubt you've got one of the finest home theater. Two questions though: no lp? also none of ps audio products on display? thanks for the sharing anyway...
Thats a cozy family room good job and a nice amp setup too!
Its just that when you begin with sound transparent screen I thought the man knows his stuff.
But then you hook up trashy surround speakers with decent electronics, you call the projector 4k and its not,
you put glass in front of your JVC, not a word about speakers or sub configuration.
Streaming 4k? Cmon that jvc even though it’s not 4k and shooting through a glass it
deserves no compression at all.
Maybe at some point we end up doing what we want, not what we should :-D
While I agree with you, this is his setup, and all that matters is whether he's happy with it, and I suspect he probably is, at least for the most part.
Very nice 👍 👍
Amazing and very nice rooms - i like it :) Similar to my parents^^.
Great theater, Paul. The right, center and front speakers are behind the screen, the 'crap' speakers are mounted in the wall for the rear channels. What channels do the Carver speakers deliver?
I would guess rear surrounds, I mean the height they're mounted at along with the dipole design(at least they appear as such to me) suggests as such. He probably has a 7 or 9.x system, Dolby Atmos and DTS True HD Master Audio support such specs I believe.
I like how he said, "All of the subwoofers." So, I run two dedicated subs, just how many are you packing there Paul? I'm curious as to what speaker size and how many watts per speaker are you using? For my two 12" subs, I run 3000 watts RMS, and at 1 ohm for the speaker load. If I was at 2 ohms, It would only be around 2000 watts RMS.
Looks very nice Paul, very cool set up!
why not PS Audio amps? Iim itching my head here!