[Greg Zepplin]

Update 05/11/10
Vita Audio R2i for the bedroom, page 2

Update 25/10/10
Everything moved around, PJ gone, new 46" panny, Acer Revo running XBMC, pics at the bottom of the page!

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Original post:

New place, new setup, thought I'd share it with y'all as I spend many hours looking at everyone one elses

A couple of months ago I moved in to a new place which is twice the size of the old one so I can now have all my toys out including the latest additions - an Arcam AVR350 and a PS3 slim, woop woop!

First off, a wide shot (actually 17 photos glued together). The art on the wall is made from a photo mural (wallpaper) and some box frames I made myself... material cost only £105! I do love me a bargain!! More pics & info on how I did it here and here.
The curtains hide two sets of French doors that open out on to a balcony over my favouite street in our lil' town

Closeup of the front kit
The bench is an Ikea bookcase on its side with two shelves left out

Ghetto PJ mount!
...Made from the left over shelves from the AV bench & tucked behind a radiator (radiator's turned off!!)

114" PJ image
(yeah I have a crap camera!)

Rear right, remotes, another source of noise & my stress medication, lol

And last but by no means least, some more of my wonderful toys
The unit is another Ikea bookcase, again on its side

Hope y'all like it


AV system:
Optoma HD65
Samsung LE37A656A
Quad L-ites in rosewood
PS3 Slim
Sky+ (never turned on unless someone demands X Factor!)
Arcam AVR350
PC with wireless keyboard & mouse
Denon DVD2200 (not plugged in)

Stereo system:
B&W DM602s3's (not plugged in, just looking pretty!)
Arcam A65+ (not plugged in)
Cambridge Audio D300 (not plugged in)

[teishu]

Looks really good mate! I'd love to have a place like that.. Do you mind me asking how old you are ?

J

[Greg Zepplin]

Cheers teishu

I'm 27 so have been collecting my toys for a good few years!

Forgot to mention I now use iTunes as my sole music source, it's just so convenient - and with the remote app on my iphone I can change tracks from anywhere in the flat, it's bloody brilliant!

[Jamie S23]

Quality set up although I suggest changing your monitor speakers to a higher place on your DJ set up

[Greg Zepplin]

You're right Jamie they would be better higher up, but they're not even plugged in! They've been quiet for a couple of months as I've been trying to sell them. The sound is incredible but just not a good idea in a flat, got my neighbours to think of... and when I do sell 'em it'll go someway towards a bigger TV

[MR. APPLEHEAD]

Quad's in rosewood! Wooo!
I really can't wait till I get whatever quad's I get- rosewood just looks so cool

Oh, and do you have the L-ite sub? I can't see it anywhere on the photos

[Greg Zepplin]

Aye, the speakers are right lookers and match the red/black colour scheme along with the telly! Very grown up sound for the price (£235 from a guy on here) and since my previous surround setups have been a mish mash of speakers the coheshion is cracking in comparison

I don't have the sub I've thought about picking one up but without one I can turn it up without worrying about my neighbour, whenever I'm at home there's always music or movies on. I'm very happy with the sound and although I know what I'm missing I prefer to not worry than have the full experience

Then again you've got me thinking about it now, where's that classifieds forum...

[Alison22uk]

loving the photos/canvasses on the wall, brilliant

[Vicarious_Eyes]

That's a belting setup there bud.

I'm trying to ID your guitars, looks like a Scheckter and (obviously) a Les Paul or copy of..

[Greg Zepplin]

Cheers

You must have eagle eyes to Id the Schecter from that pic! Yeah it's a C1-Elite, cracking piece of kit, I went in to sound control in Brum for an electric drum kit but went home with that instead

The other axe is a Vintage Les Paul, the capital "V" is important as it's the make, loads of people have thought I meant a proper one and I have to explain it's not... I might have to pick up a real one just to stop the look of disappointment after I tell them

Do you play yourself mate?

[Vicarious_Eyes]

Originally Posted by Greg Zepplin

Cheers

You must have eagle eyes to Id the Schecter from that pic! Yeah it's a C1-Elite, cracking piece of kit, I went in to sound control in Brum for an electric drum kit but went home with that instead

The other axe is a Vintage Les Paul, the capital "V" is important as it's the make, loads of people have thought I meant a proper one and I have to explain it's not... I might have to pick up a real one just to stop the look of disappointment after I tell them

Do you play yourself mate?

I thought it was a C1 and actually had a look at your old pics and worked out that the LP was a Vintage - I need to get out more!! Vintage guitars are brilliant for the money actually, better than Epi. The Peter Green V100 could easily be double the price.

I play a bit, not as much nowadays as I used to and more with the acoustic (bloody 1 bed flat!) but it's good therapy after a hard day!

I used to drool over the Scheckter guitars when Sound Control first stocked them, if only I could justify the need for one!

[alz2605]

Nice pad Zep

I once worked in Leamington Spa many years ago and it was one of the best times I've ever had. Great place but I see a few sky scrapers have been built there since the early 90's judging by the view from your window

[Greg Zepplin]

Originally Posted by Vicarious_Eyes

I play a bit, not as much nowadays as I used to and more with the acoustic (bloody 1 bed flat!) but it's good therapy after a hard day!
I used to drool over the Scheckter guitars when Sound Control first stocked them, if only I could justify the need for one!

Too right is it good therapy mate, I get a bit edgy if I don't play for a couple of days... there's probably something very, very wrong with me! Mine's a 1-bed too but the building is oooold and solidly built, I was at upstairses place the other day and the sub from his Bose system was thumping but I could barely hear it back at mine! So as it's well insulated the Marshall gets plenty of use
It's easy to justify a Schecter - play one, then look at the price tag, - there's only one thing you can possibly do after that and that's get yer card out

Originally Posted by alz2605

Nice pad Zep
I once worked in Leamington Spa many years ago and it was one of the best times I've ever had. Great place but I see a few sky scrapers have been built there since the early 90's judging by the view from your window

Cheers mate, I do love this town, and yeah when I first looked at the pics I'd taken I did think eh up they look like windows... I'll admit that once or twice I've looked at them out of the corner of my eye and pretended I'm in The Big City I would take pics of the view from the actual windows but it'd be a dead giveaway as to where it is (no guesses please!!)



A (very) little update:
In the homewares section of Sainsburys today I spotted some 8x8x1/2" slabs of granite with rubber feet on the bottom, they're bloody heavy so thought they'd make good isolation platforms for my Quads.
Now whether they actually do anything for the sound I don't know, but I swear it sounds much better, £7.58 for quite an awesome placebo effect seems like good value for money to me! Oh and I think they look quite smart too

(ignore the fact the bottom edge looks really chipped in the second photo - that's just due to the flash, you can't tell when looking at them normally!)

[Incksy]

Another DJ setup within a AV setup

Looks great mate.

[Greg Lisowski]

WOW Mr.Zep..it just gets better!.You must have a parent (male).AKA Dad. who is also into toys like yours. OK son when can I come around your place again and play.
All the best Dad.

[nerfherder]

Originally Posted by alz2605

Nice pad Zep

I once worked in Leamington Spa many years ago and it was one of the best times I've ever had. Great place but I see a few sky scrapers have been built there since the early 90's judging by the view from your window

Agreed - great setup. And Leam is a crackin town - i've lived here for over 10 years and its great.

[Greg Zepplin]

Another small update - I've finally got round to sorting the bedroom AV out, using an old pair of missions I had lying around, my Arcam A65+ and an iPod dock:

The sky box & monitor aren't even plugged in, I just think they look the part - although if anyone asks, I just haven't got the space to store them I want to get an airport express for the bedroom so I can walk from room to room with the same music on, but I'm saving for a bigger telly at the mo, so it looks like the airport will have to wait till February.

The lounge has had some tweaks too, the ugly PC is now behind the sofa & I've extended the AV unit across the floor as a platform for the two guitars. I've also tidied all the cables behind the unit, amazing what half an hour with a staple gun & some cable ties can achieve

Originally Posted by Greg Lisowski

WOW Mr.Zep..it just gets better!.You must have a parent (male).AKA Dad. who is also into toys like yours. OK son when can I come around your place again and play.
All the best Dad.

I'm off all this week mate, pop over whenever although the PJ is now in a cupboard - I had to move it so I could turn the radiator on

[Greg Lisowski]

Looking better all the time and looks tidy too !.
All the best Greg. AKA (Dad).

[Slackadder]

Greg,

Looks great. Ihave some granite slabs too - used them on my B&W M1s and now my Sonus Faber Toys.

Just a thought - have you considered relocating your centre speaker? Either modding the sbinet to add an undermount shelf, or locating it on the shelf underneath as is but having it tilted up somewhat. It would really help with the clean lines that are everywhere else!!

Looks great and very envious!

Anthony

[Jamezinho]

Using the black Ikea bookcases as you have is really clever. Looks great.

[Greg Zepplin]

Cheers guys

Slackadder, yeah I've thought about moving the centre, but the space below is 4mm too small... I guess I could shave the sides off the speaker?

In a really old setup I've had problems with a centre in a little alcove like that, I might have imagined it but I'm sure it sounded boxed in. Ideally I'd have them all slightly higher (ear level) but haven't thought of a slick way of doing that yet. Before fiddling with the centre I should probably get the rears in the air!


Did you find the granite slabs under your speakers made a difference?

[Le_BeC]

Greg, Looks great ur HT, very nice place.

[warrenhewitt10]

very neat I like it, although it may not sound good for you, I found painting a black boarder on my wall very beneficial to how the picture looked contrast wise.

.....however having a random black square painted on the wall in your case may look a tad spare lol

[Greg Zepplin]

Thanks guys, glad you like it, although it's about time I updated this thread - there have been quite a few changes since I last uploaded pics. Will take some more tonight if I get home at sensible o'clock.

Warren, I did have a border for a while, made from black electrical tape! Made a surprisingly good difference to the contrast. Did look very random when the PJ wasn't on

[Greg Zepplin]

Ok, time for an update!

A while ago the other half decided decided my lounge needed rearranging. Unfortunately this left no room for the projector but since I liked the new layout so much I decided to flog it and get a 46" Panny S10 instead

Also in an attempt to reduce the amount of stuff I have I picked up an Acer Revo and spent many evenings setting up XBMC. Initially I used Aeon but it was too slow so have switched to Alaska which is just superb!
It's the top notch revo, 4Gb RAM, 500Gb hdd etc. and due to the ion graphics (and a lot of tweaking!) it runs HD material perfectly. Optical out to the AVR350 also means great quality surround
There's a 1TB USB HDD attached to the Revo which is nearly full now.

I also have my music collection on the Revo and use the Remote app on my iphone to control iTunes - I also have an airport express in the hall which feeds the speakers in the bathroom and bedroom, on top of that I also have a couple of missons in the kitchen fed by the zone 2 output on the Arcam - multiroom audio on the cheap

Well, without further ado, here's a few pics - not great quality but should give you a good idea...

Well that's it for now... I'm gagging to upgrade something but I'm happy with the whole system! Apart from iTunes that is... thinking about going Sonos or maybe an iPad even though I hate them! Any suggestions for upgrades welcome

[markiedee]

i love it really looks good and quite roomy, where do you have the subwoofer placed as i can't see it in the pictures?

once again great room and it definately looks like a place to chill out in.

[shahedz]

I really like your pad, 2 sets of french doors is a lovely feature. Room must be great in the summer.

[Getinthehole!]

Nice set up what guitars are they lurking in the corner?

[Greg Zepplin]

Originally Posted by markiedee

i love it really looks good and quite roomy, where do you have the subwoofer placed as i can't see it in the pictures

OK, confession time... I don't have the sub! I used to run B&W 602s3's but I couldn't really turn it up without upstairs hearing the bass, as I don't want to annoy anyone I never got the sub. I've thought about getting it (MANY times!) but at the moment I can turn it up as much as I want without the sound leaving the apartment. There's a surprising amount of bass out of the Lites - it's rarely felt but still good with music or movies. Well, not good, but acceptable.

Maybe one day when I have more self control I'll pick one up!

Originally Posted by Getinthehole!

Nice set up what guitars are they lurking in the corner?

Thanks mate - it's a cheap Les Paul copy and a Schecter C-1 Elite. The Schecter is 24 frets of awesomeness & sounds great through my 30-watt Marshall!

Originally Posted by shahedz

I really like your pad, 2 sets of french doors is a lovely feature. Room must be great in the summer.

Thanks, yeah it's great in the summer, really light and airy. It looks out on to my favourite street in town, I was really lucky to find it The only downside is that it's so very light that on bright days the telly can be washed out a bit, especially while watching dark movies. Still brighter than the PJ though!

[danb123]

Awesome pad mate looks great love the styling!

I'm loving my Revo too and I've been getting on really well with Aeon but had a quick look at the Alaska skin and it does look good so I may have a play around with it!

I notice you don't have a Harmony if you do decide to get one I definitely recommend getting a MCE sensor for your Revo so you can use the remote to control XBMC as opposed to using the iPhone app.

Do you find your center speaker gets in the way of the picture much it looks like it overlaps a bit? Might be worth while raise the TV up slightly?

Really do love it though thanks for sharing!

Cheers,
Dan.