[Jazz Monkey Jr]

I have nearly finished my wall mount project now so I am putting so decent quality pics up for you to look at:

This is the room at the start, I have recently moved in so that's why the decor is terrible.

My original threads, which have more detail:
Main thread HERE
PV500 FAQ HERE
Cost of project HERE

[Jazz Monkey Jr]

It's arrived: 10th June 2005

[Jazz Monkey Jr]

On goes the bracket, it is the universal one from RGB direct and allows tilting when on the wall so you can get your wires connected easier.

[Jazz Monkey Jr]

Here is the wall part of the bracket, as you can see it hooks on the slots, this allows to just to hook the top bar on for tilting.

[Jazz Monkey Jr]

The second mount of the new plasma, the first one was even higher! It is still too high but I was having a house warming so wanted to get it up to start running it in.

[Jazz Monkey Jr]

Time to start decorating, I took the wooden beam off and took out the bricks as I want a modern look.

[Jazz Monkey Jr]

The wires are now buried and the plasterer has been, it is starting to look good:

[Jazz Monkey Jr]

A final skim and time to wait for it to dry:

[Jazz Monkey Jr]

After I come back from hols it is time to put a coat of paint on:

[Jazz Monkey Jr]

It is now painted, I have bricked up for the fire and just the finishing touches now.
I have ordered some curtains and a new carpet.

[scrapbook]

That is an excellent contrast from the start of the project to the finish. You must be well chuffed.

The height looks intially too high for me, but in the context of the seating position probably works out well.

Any plans to put down some marble / fake marble or something else to cover up the remaining brick work?

It also goes to show you shouldn't be put off by hideous decor when buying a house.

[corvettez06]

Haha I was scrolling down the page and I found the one labled:

Today, 01:38 AM which shows your TV mounted with the wires hanging around and I was like, that looks nice but the wires dude! the wires! they are in the way! then I realized there was more pictures!...

Congratulations in turning a ladies family room into a man's home cinema! I don't normally like the Bose lifestyle systems but I like what you have done with them and it looks snazzy. Great work!

Ryan

[Jazz Monkey Jr]

I am not sure what to do with the remaining brick work, the solid wood floor goes up to it so I couldn't rip it all out, I may just paint it, not sure yet.

I know most people don't like BOSE but I like the convinience of the speakers and it does sound pretty good to me.

The decor was pretty bad, it is a good size/shape of room for a cinema set up.

[kamaran]

Looks great mal, I have been lurking since the time you were looking for advice on buying the PV500.

I must admit when I first saw that fireplace I wasnt a fan, but you really have done a great job to modernise it and infact the entire room. Well done, you should be really proud.

By the way - where/what is the corner A/V unit from?

[Jazz Monkey Jr]

The stand is Alphason AD5/47, I got it from the classified, but is available for about £145 if you do a search on Google.

I wasn't a fan of the fireplace, the previous owners had a new chimney built to take an open fire but looks much better as it is. Their taste in decor was a bit olde...

[kamaran]

Thanks for the reply. Once again congratulations on your work.

How do you feel your install project went? What did you enjoy/dislike the most - any regrets/lessons learned?

Also what do you/your family think of the final result?

[Jazz Monkey Jr]

I enjoyed the project, I did all the work except for the plastering.

I did quite a bit of reading up before I tackled the project, so I sort of knew what to do, plus lots of good advice from these forums.

My wife also loves the plasma, and so does the 2 year old.

Good things:

I am glad I put it on the wall initially to get an idea of height/cable lengths etc as a wall mount is a bit trickier than most installs.

Using decent quality leads, the components I think are the most important to get quality ones, so I used the Mark Grant ones. The SCART, HDMI, Phonos are all average quality as I don't see the point spending a fortune on these.

I am glad I kept the power lead seperate as advised, again from Mark Grant.

I know the Viera isn't the most beautiful plasma on the wall, I do prefer the styling of the panels but couln't wait for the PHD8, but it is wife friendly and sounds good and produces a fantastic picture.

A decent wall bracket, I didn't plan this but the one I used allow you to tilt the plasma so you can get your cables attached easily, it is from RGB Direct.

Finding this website, lots of helpful and knowledgable people.

Bad things:

Nothing - It is my first plasma and there are a few horror stories around, but I am 100% happy with my plasma and the final install.

Lesson learned:

Do your research, take your time and plan it.
Ask plenty of questions.
Go and see a home install if you can because you can't get a decent demo anywhere else.

[kamaran]

Thanks for the response, hope you don't mind all the questions?

Originally Posted by mal600908

I am glad I kept the power lead seperate as advised, again from Mark Grant.

Why is that? Assuming it reduces inteference, did you try the leads seperated/togethor? What was the difference in quality like?

[Alexg]

Hi Mal,

The room looks great! Well done. As an electrician I have to comment on this: - the cables you have run down on the left hand side at an angle is VERY bad practice, cables should be run straight horizontally or vertically from a point, this are known as "permissible zones" if any cables are run out of these zones they have to be in earthed metal conduit or capping. You may know where they run, but what about the next people that move in and put a nail straight through that? I just sincerely hope neither of those cables is 240v! Apart from that the room is stunning :-)

Regards, Alex.

[Jazz Monkey Jr]

I know about the cables, one is VGA, the other, ethernet. They were only just long enough to reach so I had no choice.
(I did do an NVQ level 3 in electrical and mechanical.)

We are not planning to move for a long time - so no problems there.
I always kept the power cable seperate - I didn't want to risk any inerference, it may have been OK but you never know.

[Alexg]

Hey Mal,

After I posted that I did look at the pictures more closely and noticed that the black one was VGA but couldn't tell what the red/orange one was from the picture.
I'll let you off seeing as they are only data cables - still capping it with steel capping wouldn't of hurt.

If I had a quid for every time I've been called to a site where someone has put a nail through a cable which has been run at an angle or outside the zones I'd be rich!

Regards, Alex.

[Kenny Glasgow]

Mal

Nice job

[Jazz Monkey Jr]

Originally Posted by Alexg

Hey Mal,

After I posted that I did look at the pictures more closely and noticed that the black one was VGA but couldn't tell what the red/orange one was from the picture.
I'll let you off seeing as they are only data cables - still capping it with steel capping wouldn't of hurt.

If I had a quid for every time I've been called to a site where someone has put a nail through a cable which has been run at an angle or outside the zones I'd be rich!

Regards, Alex.

MY hands have been slapped

[simg]

Nice work Mal, I think I bought my pv500 just after u, after lurking here for a while and probably taking advice from you on a couple of occasions for leads etc. so im glad to see your project finished it looks great. Will post mine soon just finished decorating my dining room so living rooms next and ive already buried the cables but now having a rethink about burying the plasma further into the chimney breast, didnt you do that at first? Do u think its worth it for a better finish?

[Jazz Monkey Jr]

I only sank mine down to brick level which is only about 10mm from the plasterboard, the bricks immediately behind the plasma are a box section so I couln't have sank it in any lower. It would be nice to have it lower or even flush but that is a lot of work when you have a brick chimney, it is best to build a false wall then you can make sure you have plenty of ventilation.

I am happy with it, the main thing it looks pretty good and the picture is fantastic, I am just waiting for my xbox 360 to come so I can have hi-def gaming, I think these plasma will really shine when hi-def DVD's/games come out.

[p203557]

Hi there,

Firstly congratulations on what looks like a great job. I'm currently in the planning stages and have a bose lifestly system. How do you get on with having the centre speaker so high up? Is it still ok for speech on dvd's etc? I'm considering buying one of their flat specific centre speakers (can't remember the model number). I like the cubes for the surrounds and don;t want to overfill the room with speakers.

Richard

[ash]

What colou paint? In my sitting room I choose Natural hessian, looks great.

[Jazz Monkey Jr]

The paint is Calico on the walls, Hessian on the fireplace and a darker one inside the fireplace.

The speaker sounds OK above it, it is pointed down a bit, I wanted to get the plasma as low as I could.

[dickst3]

nice mal.

i'm curious, how have you exited the wall with the cables? did you use faceplates?

i have to tackle this job soon

[Jazz Monkey Jr]

No I didn't use anything, just some strong tape wrapped arount the cables, I tried to put a plastic thing what you get on desks but it wouldn't sit properly.