AV Nirvana at Cedar Creek

The Story Behind AV Nirvana at Cedar Creek

It all started in 2003 when my wonderful wife, Angie, generously allowed me to take over half of the garage. This gift led to the creation of the first edition of Cedar Creek Cinema in early 2004. However, the space felt too small at just 11.5 feet wide by 19.5 feet deep. Eventually, I tore it out and restored the garage to its original two-car capacity. By 2008, Angie had grown tired of sharing her great room with my expanding audio/video setup. She suggested (more like an insistence!) that I could take over the entire garage but with one condition: I had to add a two-car carport to the house. Done!

With that, the second edition of Cedar Creek Cinema—now known as AV Nirvana at Cedar Creek—was born. The new space, measuring 19.5 feet wide by 23.5 feet deep, became more than just a home theater. The most serene times in my room are when I am immersed in the music, which has become more enjoyable than watching movies, although movies are still fun. It evolved into a dedicated music listening room and a hub for audio equipment and speaker evaluations and reviews. These evaluations and reviews have been documented on Home Theater Shack, AV NIRVANA: AV News—Reviews—Discussion Forum... and various manufacturer websites.

I constructed a hallway buffer between the main house and the dedicated room to minimize sound traveling back into the house. The walls and ceiling feature multiple soundproofing layers, with staggered stud walls being approximately eight inches thick and filled with blown newspaper insulation for added noise isolation. As you leave the house and enter the hallway, the first thing you'll see is a framed Pink Floyd poster (ten bucks) from their 1994 concert that we attended. Then, stepping through double solid-core entrance doors, you enter our fully immersive listening room and home theater with a 9.9.6 Dolby Atmos configuration. I've added a second mini system for listening to vinyl on occasion.

This is the real deal. It is my man cave, my audio and video nirvana on Cedar Creek Road, the culmination of years of passion and dedication in creating the ultimate music and movie experience.

🎬 Watch the full tour in 4K UHD below! 🎶

A slide view of construction images and photos from our last two evaluation events are near the bottom of the page.

Q: Why did the name change from Cedar Creek Cinema to AV NIRVANA at Cedar Creek?
A: When I first started my home theater journey, I was primarily into movies and rarely listened to music at home. I built high-performance systems in our vehicles because, at the time, music sounded better in the car than at home. My interest in critical music listening didn’t take off until 2013 when I discovered the impact of proper speaker placement. Until then, I had never seriously experimented with it—I simply placed my speakers against the front wall and set everything up for home theater. In 2013, we hosted our first speaker evaluation event in my room. Just before the event, I came across the Cardas Room Setup Guide—Speaker Placement and decided to try its recommended placement with a pair of Focal Chorus speakers that had arrived a few days earlier. I was astounded by the difference. During the event, we experimented by placing all the speakers against the wall, pulling them out into the room, and moving them around until we achieved the best soundstage and imaging. Once the event ended, we worked on optimizing my speaker placement and found that sweet spot where the sound was truly immersive. That was the turning point—I started loving music listening like never before. Over time, I realized my room had evolved beyond just a cinema—it had become just as much a dedicated listening room. The name AV NIRVANA at Cedar Creek reflects what it truly is—my audio and video nirvana for music and movies... located on Cedar Creek Road.

Q: What happened to being a huge fan of MartinLogan, and why did you change all your speakers to JTR?
A: I’m still a huge MartinLogan fan and own three models I have set up elsewhere. In fact, the center channel in my dedicated room is still a MartinLogan, although Jeff at JTR Speakers is working on a custom center speaker to fit my space. At our last evaluation event, we tested the JTR Noesis 210RT speakers, and they were less placement-sensitive, allowing us to position them closer to the wall for a slightly improved bass response without any major trade-offs. They delivered a sound closest to the MartinLogan Renaissance ESL 15A but lacked the massive soundstage of the electrostatics. Someone suggested I try the JTR 215RT, which features larger horns, to see if they could match the big, immersive sound of the MLs. I procrastinated—until Jeff released the RTJ 410 horn speakers. Since the 210s had come so close, I figured the 410s—equipped with even larger horns than the 215s—might just get me there. Jeff generously allowed me to demo the RTJ 410s, and I promised him that if I liked them enough to replace my Renaissance ESL 15As, I’d buy an entire speaker and subwoofer system from him. I did—because the 410s are phenomenal. They slightly outperformed the 15As in all but the lowest bass frequencies—which wasn't a concern for me since I’ve been running eight subwoofers for years.

Q: Your listening position goes against the traditional recommendations of having the speakers and listening position set up in an equilateral triangle. Why?
A: This ties into what got me hooked on critical music listening (as explained in the first question). When we first started speaker evaluations, we followed the Cardas Speaker Placement Guide, which recommended placing my MartinLogan electrostatics about five feet from the front wall and five feet from the side walls. We initially positioned the listening seat at the tip of the triangle, but it didn’t sound right. We continued tweaking placement, pulling the speakers six feet into the room and improving the sound, but it was still not quite there. That’s when Wayne (AudiocRaver) started leaning forward in his chair, rocking back and forth as he listened. After a while, he said, “The best sound is about two feet forward.” We moved my chair two feet forward, and that was it—the best soundstage, imaging, and depth acuity we had ever heard in my room. We kept fine-tuning the speaker positions inch by inch, adjusting toe-in, and refining the setup. Looking at the floor in front of my RTJ 410 speakers, you can still see the black marks from where my MartinLogans used to sit. This unconventional inside-the-triangle positioning has remained the best-sounding set up in my room across multiple MartinLogan models and now my JTR system. Wayne, who sadly passed away recently, always emphasized that precise speaker placement and listening position are the foundation of music nirvana. Even with world-class speakers and electronics, you won’t get the magic unless these factors are dialed in.

Q: Why would you replace a JVC NX9 with a 98" display?
A: It was more of a curiosity thing to begin with. I was considering swapping out the NX9 for an NZ9 but was curious if a 100" TV could compete. After digging around, I couldn't find anyone unhappy with these newer sets. What few enthusiasts who had moved from a projector to a TV were very happy. While I had a 128" screen, my projector viewing was mostly 98" unless I zoomed out on the 2.35:1 movies, but I rarely did. I just left it smaller than the screen. All the TV shows I watch are 98" at 16:9 (or there about - Netflix can be a little different). The 128" was too big to grasp the entire screen. My right eye has optic nerve damage that can't be repaired, so it's fuzzy, which makes it even more difficult to capture anything larger than right around that 100" mark. I started the search, and Robert Zohn at Value Electronics made me a great deal on the Sony 98X90L 98" BRAVIA XR Full Array LED TV. I was about one-third what the NZ9 would have cost me. After getting it in my room... wow! I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I've had a couple of TV calibration guys in my room over the years, and they all thought my projectors looked fabulous, as did I. However, something about this TV display made it look so much better in my room, even with the lights on. The lights had to be off with the room completely dark for the projector to have its best image. I fell in love with the Sony. The benefits are substantial with a better picture, no fan noise, immediate power on, and the lights can be on or off. I highly doubt I'll ever go back to a projector.

Q: Isn't your room too small for eight eighteen-inch subwoofers?
A: No... not at all. There are actually ten eighteen-inch subs in the room, with the JTR Captivator 4000ULF-TL subs having dual eighteens in each unit. Multiple subwoofer setup is the way to go, in my opinion. It makes smoothing out the bass in the room much easier, especially now that we have Dirac Live Bass Control, and even more so with Dirac Live Active Room Treatment. I recommend getting as many as you can reasonably fit in your room. With my room being dedicated, it makes it easier for me to accommodate multiple subs.

Q: When you first built your room, you had three recliners in the front and four in the back. You only have one in front and three in back: what happened to the others?
A: They got sold. I found that removing the two recliners next to the front recliner improved the overall sound. I am also usually the only one in the room. Rarely does my wife spend any time in the room. Occasionally, family or friends may come over, and I let one of them have the gravy seat. Either way, most of them don't care where they sit, and they think it sounds great. I removed one recliner from the back row up on the riser to have more room to move around in that area.

Q: There are over 31,000 watts of amplifier power in your room. Are you tripping breakers?
A: I have never even seen the lights blink. I installed a dedicated 100 amp electrical sub-panel in the attic next to the room. It also has a central HVAC system connected to it. I've never had any issues whatsoever. The JTR speakers are also highly efficient and don't require anywhere near my capable power. You might say I have extraordinary headroom.

Slide view of construction images and photos from our last two evaluation events.
Use the arrows on the sides of the images to scroll through them.