Well, I underestimated the time to completion and there is still some finishing work to do, but the basement project started from the raw basement shown below in January is close to being done.


Here are some pics of the "almost done" project. After moving into the house 6/05, I am really happy to have the HT rig out of boxes and operating

The room is 20'x28', less the area in the one corner where the steps are. I still have an area a bit larger on the other side of the room for storage and workbench.

We opted for a room that can be used for more than just HT (playing cards, parties, SuperBowl parties) and still give us a nice option for HT and movie night with some friends.

The color of the walls doesn't show up as well in the pictures. It is a deeper brick color and looks very elegant.

From a vantage point similar to the pre-work pic above:


This area will get a counter top, a black microwave and wall cabinets:


Other vantage points:








A good solution for mounting the huge center (Rocket RS200). It's a mount for small TVs. The arm attached to the wall swivels 180 degrees and the platform the speaker sits on tilts. I added an extra stud when framing to install the mount. From the sitting position, the mount is invisible and the speaker appears to be floating.


I was thrilled to find these sconces. They are ceramic and paintable. The surface is kind of a sandy/pebbled texture. The main body matches the molding and doors and, with a good use of masking tape, the stripe is the same color as the walls. Extremely pleased with how they turned out.


While the furniture we chose in the pictures is of excellent quality and really complements the room nicely , we are expecting delivery of some furniture we ordered in February. Becuase I was forced to deal with 2 posts in the middle of the room (they will be boxed in shortly), we had to find something that was less than 117" wide to fit between them. We found this Lane sectional:


For several reasons, we eliminated the wedge section and got the left & right loveseats (the ends are recliners). They attach to each other and the resulting sofa is 110" wide. The trim paint was mixed to match the color of the leather. We also have 2 small recliners and a storage ottoman coming, all in a fabric that complements the other colors in the room.

Along with the finishing touches, there is also a popcorn machine in our very near future:


As you might guess, I am thrilled to finally get to this point. Let me know what you think.

Ray

Wow, very nice, Ray. That Bigfoot center is monstrous!

That popcorn machine will be a nice touch.

I can empathize with your elation of having this behind you. I’m almost there myself and the feeling gets better every coat of paint……

I’d like to see pics of the sectional when you get it. I’m looking for something just like that. Looks very comfortable. The Rockets look pretty sharp with the paint color as well.

Lovely Ray.
I didn't see a beer fridge anywhere though.

Wow, that's quite a room. Very nice!

Very, very nice Ray! Congrats on the new HT, man it came out extremely nice. The colors look very good in your environment.

I just noticed the 'twin' post ... gonna have 'em in use at the same time Ray? Sweet!!

Although you were gracious enough to help me carry a couple of things down the stairs to my basement, I'm NOT gonna help you carry that sectional down to yours. It makes my back hurt to think of it. Of course, my back feels much better when I think of sitting on it.

Beautifull room and very nice setup, great work.

Super room Ray, very nice job.

Lovely room, Ray! The color of the walls is beautiful...like you said, very elegant. Did you do all the work yourself? I'm glad that you are finally able to enjoy your HT equipment again, especially in such a nice room!

Absolutely beautiful. I can only dream.

Fantastic and spectacular room. Congratulations.

Mine main fear of having an HT room in the basement is flood. I already had one, due to the faulty switch on the sump pump. What a mess! Now I have installed a double switch, just in case. But still, paranoia remains Any thoughts on the subject?

In reply to:

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Any thoughts on the subject?

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Homeowners insurance

But of course. Unfortunately it's only the money they compensate. The time and aggravation are not insured:) It took my one month to get my life back to normal.

But here is an advice. I got a few WaterAlarm devices. http://www.smarthome.com/searchweb.asp?q=water+alarm&action.x=7&action.y=10

I put all of them around at critical locations and they scream at the first sign of moisture. At least they can wake you up if the flood starts in the middle of the night.

Wow, I'm overwhelmed. Thank you all for the nice comments!

Chess - you didn't look very closely In the 3rd picture I posted showing the microwave & cabinet area, the black thing sitting between the cabinets is a 4.4 cu. ft. fridge. It is already stocked with adult beverages to lubricate the enjoyment of the HT experience.

Mary, I did not do it all myself by any means. Last year a friend (also named Ray) was acting as his own general contractor and building his retirement home on Seneca Lake (one of the Finger Lakes) about an hour south of here. I offered and he accepted my help for 4 long days of painting. When I mentioned to him in October that I was going to look for contractors to do the basement for me, he magnanimously said - "Aw, you and I can do it". My jaw dropped.

He has excellent skills and ALL of the tools. All told, we spent only seven 9-11hour days together in the basement since the first weekend in January with him directing/planning and me doing what he said. I spent countless more hours doing other things that didn't require his skills. We probably have a couple of evenings left together and I'll have a couple of other days, then it will be done. He is an absolute treasure.

Gena, the water alarm idea sounds like a winner - thanks! The house was wired to accept a generator (one of the lines is for the sump pump), so I ahave a generator on the planned purchases list.

Actually Ray, i thought you were stowing a large black subwoofer there.
It looked impressive.
Now that i know it is only a beer fridge....

Also love the way it came out, Ray. Jealous as usual.
I like how you placed bigfoot above the tv. No easy task I'm sure. It is a monster center speaker!

Did you get a chance to watch the Master's tournament in hi-def today? Really was quite stunning. Too bad Tiger missed those close eagle putts. It would have been great to see him make a charge...

What color red and trim is the room? I love it, and we're looking to go bold in our hallway.

very nice....i gotta say,that room has f/p written all over it

I DID watch the Masters in High Def today, including the remainder of the 3rd round from 8 - 11:30 (saw a note about it being made available in today's Sports page). If Tiger is even semi-close to his normal putting, thee may have been a different outcome. But that's why they play the tournament I guess.

Pete, the paint is Benjamin Moore Regal. The color is a Martin Secours (sp?) shade called "Palace Arms Red" that was custom mixed. My research indicated that a red paint (pink, burgundy, brick, etc) can be a major pain to work with. Fortunately, the guy at the Benny Moore paint store is also a professional painter. He gave me primer (use 2 coats) that he tinted dark gray for better coverage of the red. Worked great - I only needed 2 coats of the red. Also, get very good rollers and he told not to apply it using the usual "W pattern. Rather, as much as possible, roll it straight up and down and overlap the paint you just put on. Result was great and there are no roller marks to be seen.

Couple of other things. The paint shows marks easily, but is washable. Also, if using this (or any other) red, he explained they used oxides to tint it. He told me to wait three days between coats to give the stuff time to breathe, othewise I might see some pretty impressive paint bubbles form. I followed the directions, but don't know how valid they are.

The trim (also Regal) was custom mixed using their computer and my leather sofa sample. Perfect match. In general, it is kind of a putty color, leaning a tad towards off-white.

As an aside, this was the first time I've actually researched paint. I did it based on a horror story a friend told the week before I was going to buy paint about 8 coats of Behr Burgundy paint in a bedroom and it still doesn't look good. Started researching Behr and picked up on the issues with reds (we had already picked out a color similar to Palace Arms) as I continued.

I found there were 2 types of people out there (ALOT of good input on AVS) - those who are professional painters with alot of experience and those who are not. Of the professional painters, incredibly overwhelming majority preferred, used and recommended Benny Moore paint. More expensive, but it was great to work with and I'm really pleased with the results.

Mike, the placement of the center was actually pretty easy based on the solution I chose. Simply drilled holes for 4 bolts and mounted onto a stud. Since I'm 6' 3" & the mount isn't very high and the speaker only weighs 46 lbs, once I got the mount up, lifting the speaker wasn't bad. Again, I shamelessly stole the idea from a picture I saw of the solution. Love how it looks like it's floating; especially when only the sconces are on and they are dimmed.

Ray - Everything looks GREAT ! The best part, you got the room done just in time for golf season ...

Ray, that is some beautiful Home Theater you have there. I don't have a basement in my place, and none of the rooms in this place really lends itself to a HT set up. But, I've been puttering ...

My Home Theater room is my bedroom. A huge Mitsubishi 65" Diamond projector HD TV, a modified Axiom made Merak MC6H center channel speaker with a modified supertweeter, a pair of Thiel CS 3.6s up front (look like teleport pods from The Fly, a pair of M50 like Michaura M66 in the side surround positions, a pair of M22 like Michaura M55s in back surround duty (QS8s still in a box), an SVS 20-39 sub, 3 Yamaha M80 amps, an Onkyo Integra M504 for the side surround speakers, Toshiba SD9200 DVD Audio and the Integra DTC 9.4.





Sounds great.

My home office HT system, the wonderful Sony TAE9000ES processor (VER 2.50), Anthem PVA5 5 channel amplifier, Sony DVP S7000 DVD/CD, Michaura M665 towers, Merak MC634 with Axiom 6.5" drivers, Reference 3a de capo mm tweeter and cross over, Jensen paper/oil cap, Caddock resistor, supertweeter with Audiocap theta cap, Klipsch LF10 sub, and beneath it, the Dahlquist PDQ1500 subwoofer, Mission DS77 surround speakers (terrific).





Recreation Room has a 2 channel system, waiting for Plasma. T-Amp (modified), Pyramid power supply, Michaura M55 speakers, Velodyne CHT10 subwoofer, Ah! Njoe Tjoeb tube output CDP, Denon TU 800? (don't remember) tuner. Sounds Great.



2 channel system in living room. Antique Sound Labs MG S1 15DT, Sony CX90ES CD changer, Axiom M2e's, Vance Dickerson Titanic subwoofer, getting set up.



Garage System
Wonderful Kenwood KA9100 amp, Kenwood KT8005 tuner, Sony CA9ES carousel, Kenwood SW300 sub with Vance Dickerson 10" driver.



Got music.

Thanks Craig! The golf thing is what was driving me towards the end; I want to be done with the room so golf doesn't suffer. Just for a little icing on the cake, I worked a deal for a used golf cart from the folks who supply them to my club and will take delivery in the next week or so. Now I can play golf and come home to the music/movies.

2X6 - nice setups! You appear to have the same issue I did - nowhere to set up a HT rig and do a little entertaining.

The golf thing is what was driving me towards the end; I want to be done with the room so golf doesn't suffer.
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Ray, if the room hadn't come this far already, I have a feeling it would be the one to suffer...not the golf!

Congratulations Ray !!! You have done a great job on the design and color chocies, I only wished I was as close to being completed as you are, must be nice to have the Rockets out of storage after this long, enjoy. {smile]

You have a lovely home, Ray. Thank you for sharing your pictures and wisdom.

Our family room is approximately that same shade of red. Love it.

Best wishes for many happy hours with your loved ones in that fantastic room.

What is the deal with all these former Axiom folks getting Rockets.

good question Randy !!!!!!! I was begining to wonder myself

Actually, Jack and I both posted back when to explain the switch to the Rockets. We both loved the Axioms (and still do) - they are a great value and deliver wonderful audio.

In short, Jack received a set of Rockets as a gift. I was visiting the weekend he got them and met the owner of av123. They are substantially more expensive than the Axioms and deliver a bit more audio. I love the furniture/wood finish of the Rockets and I was offered a price for the set of that I really couldn't pass up and , so I got them (getting an offer for my Axioms pushed me over the edge ). Plus, the 850s really face off against the M80s rather than the M60s, so it was also a quasi-upgrade.

Neither of us have ever spent time verbalizing a comparison because that would be an injustice to both sets. Each have their merits and they both deliver well beyond their price.

Think I mentioned the main reason for changing was I did not expect Axiom to produce a wood series, of course about a week after ordering new speakers I was informed that Axiom was going to produce the wood series. But I still ended up keeping the Axioms, so I do not need to make a choice of which brand to sell.

Well,...ok guys.

I've studied all the pics and decided just what I'm gonna do.

I'm having the Wife gin up a complete set of very black and very opaque curtains for our listening room. Plus put all our lights up for sale on E-bay.

Thank you all; so very, very, much.







Rich.

Gentlepersons, I hope we will not have to dredge up the Axiom v. Brand XYZ unpleasantries that surface periodically. There is plenty of room in the world (and on these forums) for people who listen to lots of different speakers.

While it may be true that our discovery of and appreciation for Axiom products is what brought us here in the first place, that factor is CLEARLY not either what keeps us coming back or what makes this a special place.

I have great respect for many of the board regulars who have gone on to purchase other speaker brands, often retaining their Axioms in the process. I am priveleged to call many of them "friends". It would be a shame for these forums to lose the benefit of their humor, wisdom, and experience over intolerance.

Thank you for your consideration, and especially for your ongoing collegiality. I like this place because we can (generally) learn from each other in good harmony. We celebrate our common joys, rather than dwelling upon our usually inconsequential differences.

Now, Ray, enough about the interior decorating. I want to see pictures of the installation of the lift, the fully accessible bathroom and the braille-operated remote control. And did you lay in a supply of those Ray's Theatre bibs we were discussing?

Tom,

I scored big time on the bibs. I managed to find some with the super absorbent nap and and extra "drool overrun" attachment that connects to a 55 gallon drum. Came packaged with a bundle of "All Week" Depends. Great deal and I also don't need to move away from the TV for at least a week. I'm sure my bride will hose me down periodically.

Ray

Clever photography - hiding the floor drain.

Well, I was formulating a response, but by the time I finished reading Tom's articulate, and accurate plea, I didn't feel I could do any better. Bravo, Tom.

Yes, well said, Tom.

I don't ever see a need to explain as to why one bought a different brand of speakers. In my house there is Axiom, Hsu, Onix, Cerwin Vega, American Acoustics and this weekend a set of B&Ws

Although it was the Axiom speakers that brought me to this forum it's the people of the forum as the reason for staying.

Amen, Rick!

Some of us are a a little more scientific and want to know the inner workings of everything -- including all your brains.



BRAIIIIIIIINNNNNNSSSSSSS!!!!





In case you couldn't figuer it out, I'm kidding. What you choose is up to you.

Abby somethingorother.

Abby whom?

Abby.... Normal. Yes, I'm pretty sure that was it.