Hey Guys -

As promised (cause I know how much we all love pics)...

Here's a couple of quick snaps I took of the Basement Home Theater last night. I'm not real happy with how they turnout, but so be it.

I have a pair of M60s, a VP100 (each in Boston Cherry) and a pair of QS8's (in the maple to better blend with the walls). I also have an HSU sub in the corner. Running the set-up is an older Yammy RX-750 and a "me built" HTPC, which is running Vista Home Basic, which is great for music and pics. I still rely on my Panny DVD Recorder for movie watching, but that might soon change if I decide to upgrade to a Blue Ray driv for the HTPC... We shall see. The projector is a Mitsubishi HC-1500, which looks really great on HD, but shows the limitations of DVD. The Screen is an Elite fixed frame 100" number with a 1.1 gain. The basement can be darkened completely (although the PJ casts a great deal of ambient light into the room, just by its nature). I've just installed a remote dimmable light switch system that I control with my Harmony 890 Pro, which has RF to control the components, which all reside in the semi-finished laundry room behind a door - out of sight...

The Basement is not a purely dedicated to HT, as I share it with the little one (Elle is her name and she just turned 1!). Still, it's a really comfortable room where the whole family can lounge in relative comfort.

The first set of pics are in the paundry room, showing the rather pedstrian AV equipment set up. I haven't worried toomuch about how this looks since it is behind a door and nobody sees it (I think having the components in the next room helps with the "magic" of the experience)...

(Sorry, I couldn't figure out how to get the pictures in the post itself - just links. If somebody wants to be so kind as to put them in the posts for me, that would be great!)

Laundry Room Components

From top left clockwise to bottom left: Panny DVD-R; Comcrap Scientific Atlanta 8300; Yammy RX-V750, Home Built HTPC. On top is the networked home printer. (Sorry for the clutter - but it's a work in progress and behind a door...)

Components, view 2

Components "umbilicals"

This is where the cables all run from the speakers and PJ to the system.

Wires distributed into ceiling and up to front of theater

In the above pic, the gap in the joists is where the PJ cables (HDMI, SVGA and Component, all from monoprice) are run.

The next set of pics is a smattering of photos, from a number of perspectives in the room. The QSs hang to the side of the main listening area (a couch) about 4 inches from the ceiling. I had to settle for wire track concealers to hide the wires. I got lazy running cables through the joists, which turned out to be harder than expected. The track runs up the corner of the room (the white stripe running up the front wall of the room). It does a fairly good job of impersonating wall molding and I kind of like the accent.

Left Surround

Left View 1

Straight on View

I just ordered the Axiom FMS CC center channel stand to get the center off the floor. It sounds muddy and muffled on the floor right now. The stand should improve clarity quite a bit.

Sub and M60

Right View

(Baby monitor on chair, so we can watch downstairs while baby girl sleeps upstairs)

Right View of Surround

As I mentioned before, I run the system with Vista. The next couple of shots are of the screen in a blacked out room with the flash off. Unsteady hands resulted in a slightly blurry image. In person, the image is vivid and sharp. Very cool to surf the web or play video games in large than life size.

Screen Shot View 1

Screen Shot View 2


Maybe later, I'll try to grab some shots of movies in DVD and HD to share.

Hope y'all enjoy the work, which is still definitely still is progress.

The QS-8 do blend nicely with your walls.
Looks like a nice space that you will be able to slowly touch up as you go.

Very nice!

Nice looking room.

Thanks, Rick. You da man.

I was very happy to find a house with a room like this for me to play in. The baby likes it, too.

Right now, it's very minimal, and we plan to keep it that way.

The impact of the 100" screen is pretty incredible. It really brings back the "theater" to the home theater experience.

Very nice.

However, I do have to admit, all those pipes near electronics would make me VERY nervous...

They didn't go without notice from me, either.

Fortunately, none of the pipes are hot, so that's a bonus.

That certainly doesn't alleviate my fears of pipes bursting, etc., but I consider that a fairly minimal risk. Bottom line is that if I want to store components in the laundry room (wet wall side of the house), pipes are pretty much unavoidable.

VERY nice! Congratulations. Thanks!

Thanks for the pic's. Your room is coming together nicely.
I am regretting not putting my components in a rack out of sight like you did Nice Work!

Nice set-up, enjoy!

great job nice setup

Very nice room indeed Adrien, great work!


Here's an inexpensive way to cure that problem Adrien, I use our small tripod for the camera and also to hold the RatShack SPL meter whenever I'm calibrating the system.

Hi,

Nice setup, but Capn, what is that VP100 doing on the floor? Normally, I'd advise against that because you might get a bassy coloration.

How does it sound down there? I admit I've never tried a center on the floor.

Regards,

From the original post...


Long day today Alan?

'

Very good, Adrien. Long time no see; welcome back; hope that your practice is going well.

Indeed, as Rick referred, I just ordered up the FMS CC.

With regard to Alan's point, the VP100 sounds pretty bad on the floor. Muddy is a good word to describe the sound. Voices are muffled and there is a noticeable loss in (perceived) volume - probably due to the lack of clarity. Prior to taking the pics, I had set the Center up on a little box that elevated it off the floor. Sound was much, much clearer and brighter. I just figured that, for the pictures, it would look better without the box.

Regarding the FMS CC, I ordered it "custom" on Tuesday. By custom, I mean you can choose the specific height that you want/need, which is great, considering most other center channel stands don't give you that kind of felxibility. In fact, I was able to find alternative, otherwise perfectly suitable substitutes for half the price of the FMS CC, but the customizable height was a deal maker for me. I was delighted to get my e-mail from Noreen yesterday, saying that my stand was on its way. Got an update this morning - it'll be here by Friday! Can't wait.

Once I get that in, I'll take some more proper pictures of the HT, including some of the PJ itself (Which I neglected to include last time). I'll get some more screen shots too for you picture junkies.