dave87's Home Media & Digital Lifestyle - WIP!

[dave87]

So the rest of the furniture arrived today. This is the unit that is going to be under the TV:



One bit I really liked was the recessed handles:



The two ends have a customisable shelf layout, four shelves on the right, three on the left:





Then the three drawers in the middle:




However the best bit is the back of the unit. Being a custom made unit, I could specify how the back was organised (ie without too much to block airflow/cable routes):





The other part(s) that arrived today - two matching bedside units:



Placed inside the wardrobe so they can be protected during the decoration



The bad news is the glass in the wardrobe door was damaged - so two have gone back to be sorted. The other bad news is the big unit is damaged (not by me I might add) - as a result I need to see what happens tomorrow when I tell the company

[pollaxe]

Erk, sorry about the damage - hopefully that'll all be sorted out swiftly, though.

I'll bet the room smells nicely of the new wood!

[dave87]

Well a bit of an update (will get some photos tomorrow)...

Since the last update:

Wallpaper has been hung
Bed has arrived
Network ports finished and brush faceplates installed where speaker wire/sky hd/HDMI cables come through.
Furniture has been repaired.....ish. Ongoing one I think....
Speakers unpacked, placed in position...ish - still to decide exactly how to arrange them. Rears need the wall brackets putting up, cables already installed into the wall

Sofa arrives tomorrow - went for a two seater leather recliner - was rather comfortable in the shop so hopefully will be as good when mine arrives

So hopefully tomorrow I'll have a good update to share

[dirky]

Waiting

[dave87]

So, apologies for the delay in updating, but this is a worthwhile one!

So the room got to this stage:












All of the decorating had been completed,
the speaker wires installed into the rear walls,
the new bed had been delivered,
new carpet had been installed - lovely feeling underfoot, though did mean the door had to be adjusted (carpet so thick (see below, poor attempts at catching the difference between the hall carpet(knackered) and the new stuff) the door wouldn't have been able to move!).







Unfortunately the furniture still hadn't been redelivered after the issues (they apparently turned up a number of times, which is a little difficult as we were in on each occasion and they were not here!). Instead I tried to move ahead with the bits I could do!



Moving the door out of the way, left me with this:




So I had to finish the wiring that needed installing (CAT5E, runs for the HDMI leads to the TV and SkyHD from the loft), which are all now complete. I used brush faceplates to cover the runs which needed cables exiting - I thought this an easier and safer option than a number of fixed HDMI ports etc - I can still run more cables if I need them!

I neglected to take photos of those, but suffice it to say it looks soo much neater as a result, and satisfies my OCD even if they aren't going to be seen on a day to day basis!

With that done I turned my attention to mounting the rear speakers up on the wall. I got the decorator we used (great chap, real eye for detail!) to leave the wires hanging so I could get them mounted up relatively easily.

So, with the wires hanging down, I carefully marked the position of the holes and secured a patent pending (though not my patent, I'm sure) solution to catch the dust:





After some more careful measurement and a few screws, the first part of the bracket was up:





And repeat with the other side:





Add to that the other part of the bracket:



...and you have something that roughly looks like a speaker stand!




The pair done, onwards to mounting the speakers. Et Voila:

[Biscuit]

are they tannoys?

[dave87]

Suffice to say when I started wiring things up, I got a bit carried away and forgot to take photos of the actual process. That said, I now have photos of the end result, and hopefully these are the photos you've been waiting for.

The front end - as it will be when in use (after I justify the Harmony Remote I'm lusting after)



The Acoustic Energy Speakers in all their glory:











The front floor standers are on spikes and are bi-amped through the Denon 2809 that I've got running at the centre of the setup. The centre can also be biamped, though I'm unsure if the 2809 supports this feature.







The rears in all their glory These again can be biamped, though I fail to see the point of doing so without major investment in the fronts and separate, dedicated amps.

As to the contents of the previously closed cupboards (trust a flash to show up every fingerprint!)




Starting at the top:

JVC CD Player (been in the family years, works fine, may upgrade but is really there for a quick listen to CDs)
Denon 2809 - beast of an AVR, and the centre of the system.
Custom HTPC built into an Antec Fusion - AMD Phenom 9850BE Quad Core, 4Gb Ram, 160Gb Hard Drive, ATi 4830 Graphics card, BluRay drive.





Starting at the top:

Sky HD+ Box, Thompson original - probably coming to the end of its expected life as they were never brilliant.
360 & HD-DVD Drive. One of the first Jasper consoles, so HDMI and a quieter user experience. Been reliable in the time I've had it
PS3 40gb Console. Mainly my BluRay player, got a few games for it too.



....and a half decent selection of games



Oh, and the most important bit - the two seater leather recliner I ordered:




Sooo comfortable



So hardware wise, the room is 90% there, a few bits to sort:

Order some form of Logitech Harmony that is RF capable so I can shut the doors
Sort out the HTPC software & keyboard/mouse. Perhaps a Logitech DiNovo Mini?
Find a subwoofer that fits in with the speakers I've got, and doesn't come out toooo large.
Sort out the IR dimmers I forgot to order when I had the sparky here.

These are all bits that can be done over time as I tweak and improve things - I dare say it'll never be finished

[dave87]

are they tannoys?

Similar design (was the Tannoys I originally looked at) but they are Acoustic Energy Evo 1s, 3s, and centre. Yet to give them a good workout, but they sound pretty good so far

[Biscuit]

I have the Tannoy F1 + FC customs and i love them, need to replace the fronts with floor standers though :/

Interested in how these sound in the room, the environment has as much to do with the sound as the speakers themselves!

[pollaxe]

That's pretty damned awesome! Great work!

I'll now go off and be jealous!

[Smudger]

With your fronts being 3-ways, and fairly large, in a fairly small space, do you need a sub-woofer? Sounds like you'll have enough bass there with the system as it is...

[dave87]

It is good - the sound is crystal clear and the speakers fill the room sufficiently. What I think is missing is the rumble you get in certain scenes on many films - the feeling of the sub-bass rather than lacking bass.

As to how they sound in the room - there is quite a lot of furnishings in the room which limit the amount of reflected sound, that said the side walls are harsh surfaces - glass and plasterboard, so that may prove an issue in time. At the moment it sounds even better than I thought it would be - I'm certainly in no rush to get the sub, yet I think it is something which will get added eventually.

[r_j_k_p]

looks incredible mate! bet you're chuffed with the end result.
silly question but how do the speaker wires get from the amp to the rear speakers? i know you have wires in the walls, but do they go via the ceiling/loft or under the carpet?

[1stRaven]

Looks great.

I have the Logitech one Advanced remote which works great for pc control (using eventghost), amp control and lighting systems. Well worth the money!

One thing to note, I have the bandq IR dimmers (flatplate design by Get I believe) and the logitech remote controls the on/off function rather than the dimmer. Doesn't really bother me but worth noting if you are looking at those.

[dave87]

looks incredible mate! bet you're chuffed with the end result.
silly question but how do the speaker wires get from the amp to the rear speakers? i know you have wires in the walls, but do they go via the ceiling/loft or under the carpet?

Yea, absolutely loving it - I think I've got the room exactly how I want it - there will probably be a few minor changes, but nothing major I would imagine


The speaker cables go up through the gap between the original wall and the new false wall which is what supports the TV, then across through the loft, and down the rear wall to the speakers. Was actually fairly easy to do, and once filled and papered, leaves no trace that there are any wires there at all

[dave87]

Looks great.

I have the Logitech one Advanced remote which works great for pc control (using eventghost), amp control and lighting systems. Well worth the money!

One thing to note, I have the bandq IR dimmers (flatplate design by Get I believe) and the logitech remote controls the on/off function rather than the dimmer. Doesn't really bother me but worth noting if you are looking at those.

I keep looking at the Harmony 1100 with the RF bridge, lots of money but perhaps all the remote anyone could ever need! At the moment though, I feel it is an unnecessary expense as I can open the doors

The IR dimmers I quite liked were the Lutron Rania IR, they seem to get good reviews but are big money. Well, not unless you compare them to something like the Grafik Eye, and then they are small fry!