Wow...kinda happened all at once, but pretty much my entire HT setup is getting an overhaul (sans my beloved EP500 and QS8's).

Since we moved into our new house, I never really got around to tweaking things. A year and a half has gone by, and I realized our new place just doesn't really work very well with the gear I've got. The rear projection TV and the big tower speakers really dominate the room. One thing I REALLY wanted in the new house was a dedicated home theatre. Alas, that wasn't to be. So I've got to make do with the small area I've got. Soooo...

M60's replaced by W22 in/on walls.
VP150 replaced by W150 in/on wall.
Denon AVR-5800 replaced by Onkyo TX-SR876.
Sony KDS-60A2000 replaced by Panasonic TC-P65V10
Studio Tech U-22 cabinet replaced by BDI Cirrus 8157

So far, I've got the receiver and TV, and holy WOW! I was expecting a nice bump in PQ, but are you kidding me?? That Panasonic is STUNNING! I'll be getting the new cabinet Friday, and the speakers (fingers crossed) will be here by next week? So the final stage will be finding someone to mount the plasma to the wall and install the Axioms. CAN'T WAIT!

Anyone have suggestions for an installer in the LA area?

I'll be sure to post some AFTER pictures, but here's a BEFORE for ya.

Have I mentioned we have a shelter for homeless speakers here in Avondale? I can make sure your M60s find their way there.

I’m interested in hearing your impressions of the on-wall M22s. They’re in the running for my new rear speakers right now.

I noticed his were the in/on wall, not the on wall. There is somewhat of a sonic difference in the 2, especially in the lower end. Small, but noticeable.

So far so good, Craig. Congrats on all the new gear!

Are you moving the TV over against the wall once you get the cabinet in?

Sure.... Me! LOL. I have been in LA for the last couple of days, but alas, I am heading off to LAX around 1pm today in route to my next destination... Denver.

Yes indeed! No more corner loaded gear!

Craig, you and Roger have a lovely home.

I'm happy and excited for you!

Even if you are a traitor to the M60 Posse

I do not want to hear any more about how much better your new TV is. La la la - I can't hear you.

A 65" V10 Panny, very, very nice TV, I love my 58" S1 Panny.

I can see why you want to get the speakers off the floor with that opening off to the side other wise I would say keep the M60s the room looks to be big enough once the TV is wall mounted.

If you haven't picked up a wall mount yet, get one from Monoprice.com. I am using the cheapest tilting one they had, $18.99 and it works great.

Very nice, Craig. I love the light that room gets. Are you going to invest in electrochromic windows to help with that when you want to watch a movie during the day?

Very nice. I know that when I moved from a corner mount to a wall-centered mount, the room was SO much bigger.

Sounds like a good purchase on the Panny V10. I'm curious if you know if that model has the shifting black issue that came up a few months ago. Apparently, some Pannys increase the black level up to 50% after 1000 hours. That would suck if you spent $$ for ISF, only to have it change because of Panny firmware. I'm in the market so I'm trying figure out if Panny is still the way to go w/ plasma and which series. I have an older 480p but long for a real 1080p.

Thanks! It KILLS me to let my M60's go! If we ever end up some place larger in the future, I can assure you, I'll be buying more towers from Axiom again. (oh...and the picture on that panny is AMAZING! hehehehehe)

RARELY watch a movie during the day.

The G10/V10s are supposed to be the best Pannys but I couldn't justify the cost differential from my S1 for the very slight video differential I could see.

During my search I finally came to the conclusion it doesn't matter what you buy they all have issues of some sort.

Simple solution to the shifting black levels would be to wait till 1500hrs for calibration I haven't calibrated my S1, simply did the slide burn in and really haven't noticed much of a difference between first time I watched before the burn in and now a couple months later after, still looks fantastic to me.

Unfortunately, the shifting black levels can't be calibrated away.

But can it be re-calibrated to make it look like it did before?

[Sorry, for the derail...]

Nope. It's a programmatic change which raises the drive voltage levels. You can still calibrate an input level of black to output the darkest value the screen will display. Only after 1500 hours that lowest level is higher than before. Basically, the minimum brightness level rises, and there's no control turn it below that point.

New cabinet arrives Monday, and the Axioms are due to arrive on Wednesday! With any luck everything will be installed next weekend!

So there should be photos by Monday morning at the latest, is what you're saying?

Putting together new cabinet tomorrow, and tv and speakers being mounted/installed on Saturday!

Exiting! Saturday is getting close too.

Yeah, Murph's gotta Exit now if he wants to be there in time...

Feel free to put that one on the pet peeve page.

No no - I like it! Just giving you crap love.

It's all installed! Pics tomorrow!

But it is tomorrow. For me.

That's Future Man.

No. This is Future Man:

That's a dark future.

That's a future with awesome rhythm.

It looks like the future is happy to see us.

I'll bet he can play that thing better than anyone else in the whole world!

Heh. That picture is, of course, a litmus test.

I'd better get these photos posted before this thread goes places none of us want to go.

Wow... nice, clean look!

'Cept now it seems, you need a VP180!

I would have liked the W22's a little further from the tv, but the left speaker is at the absolute furthest point it could go to the left. (that floor heater has metal venting in the wall). If I moved it all further to the right, it would have been too far off center from the couch.

Very nice. I bet it sounds great.

That looks really nice, Craig! Very clean and sleek. I like your lamp, too!

Great job, Craig! that set up looks, uh...Spiffy!!

Do you have any surrounds in the mix?

Cool, always nice to see hard work end up nicely.

Had I been in the area, I'd have gladly helped out in exchange for some Frank Miller Daredevil comics.

Don't let him fool you, Craig.

He would have done ALL the work for some three-day-old Olive Garden leftovers.

I just had a frightening thought. You know how some restaurants put a sheet of white paper over their tablecloths? What if a high-end restaurant used original comics art pages for that purpose? Spaghetti stains on Spiderman, the horror.

Love it!

That's exactly the look that I want. Just have to make my old TV break first...

Great job. Looks wonderful!