Living room / Home cinema project

dodfaefife · 27-02-2008, 12:37 PM

Ok. Moved into a new place recently and immediately started to think about setting up a HD Projector to complement my existing 50 inch Pioneer and 5.1 setup. The room is approx 7m x 8m.

As you can see from the pics I've got a temp set up just now but I've knocked up a visual of how I'd like it look once the works done. Now I know you're all gnashing your teeth and wailing at the hard shinny floor and white walls but this has to be a living area first and a projector room second. Hopefully some blinds/blackout curtains and a rug or so will help. I'm planning on hiding the kit away in concealed cupboards you can make out at one end of the visualisation.

I'll be running the speaker cables behind the new wall and under the new floor into wall plates for easy connections. There's Cat5 and a switch to the cupboard for PS3/360/Macmini and whatever else can use it. I think the HDMI/power cables will have to be routed from the new false wall along and round the existing beams as I suspect they are concealing the original steel ones from the buildings prev life.

As for new kit: I think I'll go for the JVC HD1 (unless you lot suggest otherwise) which will be ceiling mounted approx 5m away from screen but I'm not sure about a screen. My budget for the screen is up to £500 so any suggestions welcome giving the room it's in. In addition my Pioneer amp only has one HDMI out (4 in) so I'm either going to have to get a new amp or a splitter/amp box. Again any suggestions welcome.

I'm thinking that between the storage and a removable skirting I'll have access to cables and 'round the back' bits covered but feel free to shout out if you think I've missed anything.

I've got a joiner coming round tonight to give me a price for doing this and blocking off the open archway to the kitchen with a door (hence the visual I knocked up)

Kit list: Pioneer VSXAX4ASI, Pioneer 50inch plasma, SkyHD, B&W 601 x4, B&W CC6, Yamaha YST-SW300 sub, PS3, XBox360, MacMini, Logitech Harmony 1000.

Just a thought: I haven't hooked up the harmony yet and wondered will it control my room lights as they're allready on a IR remote dimmer?

That's all for now will keep you posted as work progresses.

dodfaefife · 11-03-2008, 11:46 AM

So, had hoped the work would be underway by now but getting a joiner to quote on the work is not as quick as I hoped. Still waiting on a couple more. I didn't post a pic of the rest of the room so here's the proposed kitchen entrance and how I want it blocked off...

Note the wall mounted speaker posts on the beam top left. There are four of them in the room and I'm thinking of using two of them to add a couple of speakers to achieve a 7.1 without adding another two speakers on floor stands. Would a couple of M1s or similar do in addition to my 601s?

Cheers.

dodfaefife · 11-03-2008, 12:21 PM

Frustrated at the lack of progress on the living room I'm concentrating on getting everything else sorted AV-wise.

So far: Got cracking on making the small bedroom a home office/den. Bought an LG 32LB75 for about £430 and planning to upgrade the current Sony Sky box in here (visible under left drawer) to Sky HD. Stuck it on an Ikea cupboard which looks OK and is high enough to watch when sitting at the desk as well as from the sofa. Drilled out gaps in the bottom and the shelfs so all cables can be hidden inside and will secure the power bar out of the way somehow. Here's a couple of views of the room almost complete...

Stopped of at Homebase and picked up a new lighting track and a nice dimmer which complements the existing chrome fixtures...

They also sell this cable friendly aluminum skirting which is perfect for the office. Contrasts nicely with the flooring and will allow me hide the cables...

In addition, this room is the first to have a finished network in place. There was cabling for this run throughout the flat, left behind phone points and terminating in a small comms box a bedroom. The cables were unfinished so I've added ends and (in the office) put a double plate to allow phone and a network point (bit fiddly as I've never done any network wiring before) and all seems well. There's a patch from the wall network point to a switch for all the kit in the office and I'll repeat this setup in the living room, with everything working back into a larger switch in the comms box (also linking to the wireless router).

So far, so good.

dodfaefife · 11-03-2008, 12:48 PM

Forgot to show the router's final home on the wall in the hall. The comms box is on the other side and it's position is fine for providing Wi-Fi thorough the rest of the flat for laptops/iPhone etc.

Right. Enough I.T. Back to A.V.

When (if) I get my wall sorted I'm going to update my amp. Probably to an Onkyo 905 on account of it being (by what I've read) a sweet bit of kit and having two hdmi out making it plasma and PJ friendly. So there's a pioneer VSX-AX2AV coming up for sale if anyone's interested.

To allow for the Sky HD multiroom setup I'm abandoning the block feed and installing my own on the balcony (oh the shame). So ordered a bunch of supplies from SatCure including pole, and 125m of WF100 shotgun cable (might have some left over lol). As for the dish, I'm using a quad LNB 'squarial' type as I've been using these for a while and pulls in a great signal (if the amount of whistling and head scratching the last Sky guy displayed is anything to go by when testing one on my last house).

The flooring has also arrived for the living room. Will either look fantastic when down or we've just made an expensive mistake. If the wall ever gets built I'll let you know. Probably wont post anymore until the building actually gets underway or unless my legion of fans demand it...it...it...it (lonely echo)

Cheers.

cjmilner · 11-03-2008, 10:34 PM

Well you can count me in as a fan, though I dont quite count as a legion! You did a great job at doing the visualisations, can really see what you're aiming to achieve and looking forward to seeing how it progresses

dodfaefife · 12-03-2008, 9:20 AM

Cheers CJ. I've seen your post before – now THAT's a build. Hope it's going well.

cjmilner · 12-03-2008, 1:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dodfaefife

Cheers CJ. I've seen your post before – now THAT's a build. Hope it's going well.

Its on its way! At the painting stage right now, going to take a fair while!

Syphonic · 12-03-2008, 7:27 PM

Loving that dimmer switch.

The PS3 and the LG go very well together.

dodfaefife · 12-03-2008, 8:06 PM

Thanks. The dimmer is also available as an IR remote version but thought that would be overkill for the small office (or at least I think that was the expression on my girlfriends face when I first picked it up).

dodfaefife · 26-03-2008, 10:26 PM

Right, ****** off now. Three weeks in, four joiners spoken to, only one lot bothered to get back to me with a quote and it was for £1750! Sod that!.

Mabey I made the visuals look too slick, its only a couple of partition walls albeit one with a door/glass brick. I was supplying the door and glass bricks all that was left was wood/panels/screws,tape? No painting required as part of quote. Didn't look like more than three days work for two guys, surely. Too much easy work sloshing around Edinburgh obviously.

I'm I being unreasonable?

I'm thinking about doing it myself. How hard can it be? – famous last words.

On a positive note, I got the sat dish installed on the balcony with four feeds of lovelyness coming into the flat ready for an HD upgrade to the office.

dodfaefife · 08-06-2008, 1:19 PM

Decided to bite the bullet and make a start myself. Modified the original plan from a floor to ceiling design to a (brace yourself) FLOATING WALL!.

With a nod to Groove and all you other guys who blazed the trail – here's my attempt.

Day one: Marked out the proposed area with a couple of plumb lines and taped out a likely projector screen size, Lived with this for a couple of days to see if I liked it. Bought enough wood to build the Ark from B&Q. Started by building what I hoped would be my A.V. cabinet in the corner but I'm not sure about this now – looks bloody huge.

Day two: In order to have the wall float I had to start by removing some of the floor (which is being replaced anyway), however, the underfloor heating elements are a bit fragile and so I decided to remove only enough to let me work on the wall for now. When I lay the floor I'll lay as I lift kind of thing so I shouldn't damage (another) element. Note the £24 quid, B&Q mitre saw on my Ikea 'workbench'. Making easy work of the wood chopping.

Annoyingly, the studs in the wall are not spaced at regular distances. Why would the builders have done that?. So more measuring and batton adding needed.

I've got one of the early Black & Decker workmates. It was my girlfriend's grandad's and you could build a battleship on this thing. But it's being stored at her parents place which is a 60 mile round trip, so, when I was picking up the mitre saw I thought I'd grab a cheapy B&Q one for this project. Big mistake! Firstly: there are jumbo jets which require less assembly prior to use. Secondly: The components are so badly made that I broke it while putting it together. The metal is so thin you would knacker it if you tried to use it as a workbench. It's only use now is as a drinks holder.

Day three: Ran a network cable from the comms switch next door to a new wall port as well as a phone lead. These will run into A.V. cabinet.

Frame up and ropelights from TLC (of course) in place. As previously suggested by others I painted the edge of the frame white and it really helped throw out the glow from the rope lights.

MDF in place and marked up for the bracket. It's a £18, Allcam bracket from Amazon. Seems fine and comes with a huge range of bolts and screws. Was a bit nervous about building this but now it's up I recon you could hang an angry Wookie from this bad boy with no movement – so far.

Bracket is very thin and doesn't add much bulk to the back of the 50" Pioneer, so I decided not to recess it into the MDF.

Plasma in place and showing lighting. Lots of filling, sanding and painting to come. Some have recommended P38 for this stage. Any advice welcome.

Right I'm off to lay some floor. Want to break the back of it today.

Cheers

jolly · 08-06-2008, 4:18 PM

looking good, can not wait to see the finish article

velveteer · 08-06-2008, 5:14 PM

Looks great dod, keep us updated!

shahedz · 08-06-2008, 5:26 PM

looking great, you have my favourite chair the Charles Eame one with the foot stool, is it as comfortable as it looks?

dodfaefife · 08-06-2008, 7:37 PM

Cheers for the comments guys. Been a long weekend. Living in a flat means lots of humping waste wood as I lift the old floor. During which i managed to cut my leg – clumsy ****. Might be able to save the leg

I got bored with the floor, so put the 32" LG up in the bedroom. It's been relegated in favor of a Sony 40D3550 in the office. Seems like a nice set so far.

Still have to conceal the cables and I'm planning to run a spare component/audio from the lounge to mirror that feed in the bedroom.

Shahedz. The Eames is every bit as comfy. Slouching or sitting up it's the perfect viewing chair.

Thanks guys. Will get back to the floor tomorrow.

Kenny Glasgow · 19-06-2008, 6:38 AM

Very nice indeed

blackpants · 06-08-2008, 6:59 PM

Any pics of the developments so far. Its been quiet for a few months???

gaz100uk · 07-08-2008, 7:07 AM

Also wondering did you end up using P38 to fill or some other way

dodfaefife · 07-08-2008, 4:08 PM

Sorry all, been very lazy with this (and distracted). It's getting there, just need to get the projector and screen sourced. Put up a couple of B&W LM1s last night in addition to my existing 601s for some 7.1 action and hope to test that out tonight. Getting everything cabled up into the cabinet was a bit tricky, especially after my new 875 packed in and I had to unhook everything and hump it back to Richer Sounds for replacing. Some skirting to add and some cables to hide and I think that's stage 1 finished (stage 2 being the PJ/screen and stage 3 being partition off the kitchen)

Will post a pic fest, hopefully, this evening.

Gaz, I did use the p38 and it worked a treat as far as the joints and screw heads –*however, I had some trouble with the painting and after several prime/sand/coats/sand/coats I wasn't happy with it and papered it instead. Final thing looks great though and actually I like the matt texture of the paper a lot.

Quicky for now...

Cheers for stopping by

dodfaefife · 10-08-2008, 12:13 AM

The end is in sight.

The floor is down in the lounge and looks pretty cool (I wasn't sure how it would look). With the floor finished and the floating wall completed I could get back to the A.V part.

I'd given up on making my own cabinet and instead bought an Ikea Pax wardrobe unit. I cannibalised the hinges off my old Ikea bench and converted the lower drawer on the Pax to give me two doors instead.

Next I had some MDF cut to make shelves and drilled them for ventilation.

Placed the shelfs and ran some rubber widow tape round the doors to make a tight seal, controlling air flow and keeping noise from leaking out round the doors (theory).

By now the various cables and kit I'd ordered online had arrived...

One x 10m HDMI (from 875 to PJ) from Blue Jeans Cables $52

One x 5m DVI-D + 7m DFP cable (longer cables from the plasma to it's system box in the cabinet) $23 / £15 Blue Jeans Cables and Ebay

One x 10.5m 5Wire Component cable (to mirror Sky signal to bedroom LCD)
from My cable mart.com $59

One x Belkin PureAV Surge Protector. Amazon, £40

One x 5m IXOS Sub Woofer cable Can't remember where I ordered this one.

Acoustic soundproofing foam panels (for cabinet). Ebay, £24

One x Onkyo 875. Richer Sounds, £599

Phew. Now to stick it all together...

One Logitech Harmony 1000. Ebuyer, £190

dodfaefife · 10-08-2008, 1:05 AM

Ok, cut holes for ventilation/cable access in cabinet, added the shelfs and sound-proofing foam...

Started to run the cables and plan what was going where

Decided the acoustic foam was taking up too much room from the cable runs down the back of each shelf. So, decided to remove it for now and only use it on the PS3/XBox360 section and maybe the fronts of others (will experiment).

Connected the DVD and PS3 via HDMI, the SkyHD via HDMI/Optical and the 360 via component/Optical. Mac-mini via DVI to the plasma's PC-in (mediabox) and optical to the 875. Mac/PS3 and 360 into Netgear switch and onto home network. Keene IR extender amp/wands takes care of in-cabinet control issue. Hook up all 7.1 speakers and switch on. Run initial setup but later the 875 stops working and keeps switching itself off. Can't trace fault and so take it back for replacement. Repeat lengthy hookup but finally get everything up and running. Check firmware/sub versions and enjoy first playback. Sounds fantastic. Watched the Blu-ray of Sunshine and the soundstage seems immense! Can't wait to get a projector up.

Knowing the Onkyo runs hot as does the Sky HD box and the PS3/XB360 (most of which could easily be on at the same time) I decided to rig some fans. one extracting out the back, right, above the 875, one pulling in from the right side above the 875 and one extracting to the right on the shelf below (above PS3/XB360 but below the 875 section). I hooked them to a 3-fan speed controller and powered it from an adapted hard drive caddy mains supply. With the door closed and the fans on low, they are undetectable from the listening position.

Ordered a PS3IR-PRO SchmartStuff.com to allow control of PS3 (inc ON/Off) with the Harmony 1000. Should arrive next week (£65)

Chuffed with the way everything is working out I decided to crack on with the partition wall/door to the kitchen. Any joiners reading this – look away now!

Never did anything like this before but, so far, so good. Will sort the door liner/lintel/stops and hang door tomorrow (what could possibly go wrong?). Any advice welcome as always.

That's it for now. Spent some time programming the Harmony and it's cool but needs a serious thinking about to set the macros as I want them. also the Lutron controller in the lounge maps fine but the wall panel is very directional making one-touch set-up difficult. Will persevere.

That's all for tonight.

Cheers

kumack · 10-08-2008, 1:28 AM

Great thread so far will be following this one closely as Im doing something similar

enablerbro1 · 10-08-2008, 2:36 AM

Great work so far.

For the money you've saved not getting the professionals in (by the sounds of it you could have got Bodie and Doyle in for that sort of money) you can certainly afford to treat yourself to the occasional mitre saw.

shynsingh · 10-08-2008, 7:23 AM

Great thread, your room looks brill. Keep up the excellent work.

ooocamperooo · 10-08-2008, 7:44 AM

excellent work... i actually did the same thing with my mates av unit... them fans and holes make such a different...

dodfaefife · 10-08-2008, 9:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by enablerbro1

Great work so far.

For the money you've saved not getting the professionals in (by the sounds of it you could have got Bodie and Doyle in for that sort of money) you can certainly afford to treat yourself to the occasional mitre saw.

Thanks. It does seem like a lot of money when you constantly ordering stuff and making endless trips back to B&Q/Homebase for things you forget. But then I think about how much I was originally quoted for this and think "christ! I could use gold plated screws on this and still be cheaper" – then I think "thank god I'm a lazy bugger" if I'd plowed on with this when I first posted I'd have bought the 875 back in May at full price - gulp.