Ray in Toronto, Ontario

A basement renovation led the latest SVS featured home theater owner on an upgrade path that included SVS Prime speakers and dual PC-2000 subwoofers. Ray from Toronto amassed a massive collection of DVDs while working at Blockbuster, and of course, with the upgrade to Blu-ray, the collection now serves as nostalgic background décor for his pro-cinema level Dolby Atmos 7.2.4 system. Fortunately, he’s re-building his collection with Atmos discs and enjoying level of sonic impact and intensity he’s never felt before along the way. Even if it results in occasional texts from his wife upstairs during movie time.

Questions And Answers:

When did you first get into home theater and audio?

I’ve had interest since the early 90’s when I lived with a roommate and got my first system, a Kenwood. They were huge speakers and it was a 5.0 surround sound system, no subwoofer and at that point, I was mostly watching VHS and it just seemed like the best way to enjoy it fully was to have the sound all around you, and since then, I just loved it. Even now, I won’t watch movies or TV on a phone or tablet. That ruins the sound. I realized, to get the most out of it, I always wanted to have speakers all around me when watching movies.

What made you decide on the Prime and Dual PC-2000 set-up?

The husband of one of my wife’s friends had a PC-2000 subwoofer with 5 Prime Bookshelf speakers and we were just listening to music and watching TV and I remember that it just sounded massive and I loved the look and the cylinder shape of the sub. Before I had a Jamo 7.1 system, and we were about to renovate out basement so I decided to get an SVS home theater system as part of the renovation.

When I upgraded, I went with dual PC-2000s because I wanted some serious low-end and because they matched great with Prime Tower speakers visually.

What has been the impact of adding since your previous system?

One of the first things I remember from early on is having my wife text me from upstairs telling me to turn it down because it’s too loud, all while I had a big smile on my face. It was most noticeable in watching movies because everything just became more realistic and filled with clear sound and deep bass. And everything just works together so perfectly, it’s not like hearing sound from different speakers, but more like a system just working together perfectly to make everything more believable.

What are some of your favorite movies for showing off your system?

I remember watching Into the Storm, a movie about a Tornado. It came out a few years ago but I’ve always liked to use it to test because of the thunder and violent tornados. I have a friend who is into high-end audio, and he actually helped me set up the system and was just amazed about how much the room was shaking and filled with sound during some of the scenes.

Another one is Underworld Awakening, the most recent one. There’s a great scene where a huge werewolf is walking down with Kate Beckinsale and I just remember my previous 10-inch subwoofer couldn’t handle it, it almost exploded. But with the dual PC-2000s, every step was just so powerful and clean. No strain. The fighting scene at the end between the Lycans and werewolf is just really intense and you feel so much of what is happening onscreen. It’s pretty amazing.

For Dolby Atmos, I love Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, it really has some nice height effects and bass, and The Expendables 3, which was a lot of fun and a great overall surround sound experience.

It’s a pretty massive assortment of videos and CDs you have, what can you tell us about the collection and overall style of your theater?

It really started about 10-15 years ago, when I used to work at a Blockbuster and was always checking out new movies and music and I just started collecting. Of course, now, I only watch Blu-ray, so the whole collection is just decoration, but I think it makes a pretty cool background.

I added the LED strip lights because they give it a professional cinema feel that I love, which just adds to the experience. The Iron Man and Deadpool statues actually came from Hong Kong and I brought them back to the states and they sort of play into the action movie and superhero theme I have going on. I really love big action movies and they just fit really nicely into the room set-up.

The acoustic treatments on the wall, did you build those yourself?

Yes, that was a project that I did with some help from Youtube. I bought all the materials from local hardware and fabric stores, built the frames myself, filled them with sound proofing material and covered them in fabric that I thought matched well with the overall look of my home theater. It wasn’t that hard and I think it make a big difference. I’ve definitely noticed less echo effects and just a cleaner overall soundstage than I had before. It’s like the room is working for me and not against me now.

Anything else you’d like to share with the SVS community?

I’ve just found SVS to be a great brand to work with and the customer service team is very helpful. For me, I look forward to one day trying the SVS 16-inch subwoofers and seeing how much more bass my room can handle.