My basement conversion into 5.1 home cinema/bedroom for gaming/cinema

alexjholland85

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Hey,

We converted a basement/storeroom into my bedroom around five years ago.

After getting a new plasma at Christmas, it was about time to empty, redecorate, stuff the ceiling with soundproofing, mount the plasma/speakers and move everything back in. I couldn't be much happier with results - it looks brilliant!

I've tried to combine elements of modern/funk with more traditional/buddhist - with a little room left for artwork at some point.

I am fortunate that it is breezeblock (with a carpet to minimise echos) and excellent dimensions for a home cinema, with my plasma bang-in-the-middle of the wall and all five speakers being in pretty damn good placement.

You can see the three fronts and the rears are at about 1.6m on the sidewalls, just behind the sofa - in fact you can see them in pictures 2, 3 and 4. They fire just above the sofa, which seems to be decent, although I am open minded to suggestions!

When gaming I grab the beanbag and chuck it in front of the plasma, which is partly why the front left/right speakers are quite near the TV and the centre is underneath - so it still sounds great close-up.

Cinema Equipment List:
Panasonic P42X10
Sony DAV-D150G 5.1 Cinema Kit
Creative DTS-610 5.1 Home Cinema Connect
XBox 360 (HDMI)
Nintendo Wii (Component)
Playstation 2 (RGB Scart)
Nintendo 64 (Composite)
PC (VGA/Optical)
Logitech Harmony 525

(If anyone wants to know about my Music Production setup, just ask!)

Mounted using:
Uni21 tilting mount
B-Tech BT33

Both of which did a brilliant job and are highly recommended (only problem with the TV mount is that it can be hard to screw the tilt mechanism tightly, as the small gap to the wall makes it hard to get a good grip - but is doable and otherwise perfect.)

I also have a 1.5Tb hard drive that I have network shared to my 360 to stream my huge collection of predominantely 5.1/720p movie content - along with a second USB cable straight into the 360 so I can switch and power-down the PC for 'cinema time'.

Right now I'm very satisfied. At some point it is likely I'll get a Popcorn Hour to allow me to watch MKV files as well - and a separates 5.1 or even 7.1 is a nice idea, but some way off.

Any comments, questions or suggestions/ideas are welcome - the answer to many will probably be 'Ikea!'

Apologies for photography, particularly the dark shots - I have little idea how to use my dad's SLR! The plasma looks awesome in the flesh (glass) though.

Thanks for all your help, from choosing my Plasma before Christmas, to getting speaker placement sorted recently - particularly BamBamMickey, without whose help and reassurance I might have had crap speaker placement!

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A fine looking man cave :thumbsup: I like the look of that sofa as well, was that from ikea?
 
Haha, is it that obvious I'm single?!

Yeah the running joke with my friends was that I live in the back of my parents garage because they don't want me - but as it stands, my Gollem cave of rejection's actually not worked out badly!

Sofa was Ikea too. Went for 3-seater - at 5'9" I can lie down without touching either end, so none of that dreaded sofa neck and ankle ache - unless they're over 6 foot, in which case they don't deserve to live anyway.

Oh - and Thanks!
 
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I have to say, I really like your room. Great comfy looking sofa, greta size tv and the general feel of the room. Definitely gave me some ideas for when I get a decent place of my own :smashin:
 
Looking great man, I notice the white KRKs! I've not seen them in a setup before I've only seen the black ones which I also have, do you produce at all - assume you do from that kit/ableton, so more what do you produce?
 
Thanks for the props guys!

Aside from the AV stuff itself (and the sofa), I found getting it to look good was not that expensive. A good white emulsion and a bit of ceiling plastering/fitting halogen lights by a familly friend work wonders for a 'clean modern' look - and getting the ceiling stuffed while it was down was a great idea!

Luckily we had new floorboards going down upstairs at the same time, so I had a brainwave and we rushed out to buy a 20m piece of ethernet cable that goes from the hallway router, under the boards, up the stairs and down through the airing cupboard into my bedroom router - so I have great wired internet speeds.

Regarding layout, the best wisdom I've found in all my experimentation is 'keep it simple'. Although, I am lucky in that I have no girlfriend or familly to change my layout priorities!

If you can't empty your room, pretend it's empty - and prioritise its components. I decided where, idealistically, I would place my TV, sofa and speakers and worked from there - placing everything else backwards in order of priority.

I had to make a couple of compromises, but by prioritising room objects/layout features and getting the tape measure out late at night I got it down in the end.

Getting all the furniture from Ikea in the same black/brown (need to replace some shelves at the back of the room) also helps matters!

Regarding the audio stuff, those are white KRK RP6s - great speakers! Glad I waited for the Mk. 2 to come out as well. What KRK are you rocking?

Running a Macbook into a TC Electronic Konnekt 8 via firewire, which also accepts a coaxial input from my PC. They also have an input each on my ASUS 22" 1080p monitor - so both computers use the same screen and speakers!

I also have an M-Audio Radium 61 keyboard and an awesome AKAI LPK25 mini-keyboard (blows the disposable Korg Nanokey away) - and some lovely M-Audio Studiophile Q40 headphones. Plus a bunch of pedals/wah.

I've not been producing recently due to nailing fitness for an Army app and getting this room sorted, so looking to get back into 'my flow'. A few samples of some ideas on Myspace though:

Project RIDE on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Videos
 
I really!! wish i had a room like that

Great work :smashin:
 
Regarding the audio stuff, those are white KRK RP6s - great speakers! Glad I waited for the Mk. 2 to come out as well. What KRK are you rocking?

Running a Macbook into a TC Electronic Konnekt 8 via firewire, which also accepts a coaxial input from my PC. They also have an input each on my ASUS 22" 1080p monitor - so both computers use the same screen and speakers!

I also have an M-Audio Radium 61 keyboard and an awesome AKAI LPK25 mini-keyboard (blows the disposable Korg Nanokey away) - and some lovely M-Audio Studiophile Q40 headphones. Plus a bunch of pedals/wah.

I've not been producing recently due to nailing fitness for an Army app and getting this room sorted, so looking to get back into 'my flow'. A few samples of some ideas on Myspace though:

Project RIDE on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Videos

Tasty! I've got the 5's, G2s in black, would have loved the whites but they just wouldn't fit in my setup :thumbsup:
I've always quite liked the Nanokey - handy for travel at least!

Will check out your myspace when I'm home from work, just had a quick look and saw your influences, very rare to see BoC mentioned so I am very much intrigued now, cheers!
 
Lovely Alex.
Neat setup, despite there being every gadget under the sun in your room.:D
Love the guitars.:smashin:
 
Das ist Fantastish
 
Actually I just added a Creative DTS-610 to get 5.1 from my PC as well! Thanks for your comments – I’d definitely recommend garages/storerooms/basements + some plastering/white paint to anyone else looking to get a decent, low-cost AV room.

Iccz, I didn’t realise you had a nanokey – nothing personal! I picked one up for a holiday, slid it into my back the next day and 2 or 3 of the keys ripped off! The store seemed to understand and took it back, giving me a credit until the Akai LPK25 came out – which is damn solid and a similar price.

I’ve got on more easily producing BOC style electronica in the past, but have a heavy funk/breakbeat style in my head that I really want to nail with guitars and beats – which is a real challenge. These are therefore clips and ideas on my MySpace, rather than any finished products yet – would appreciate any thoughts though!
 
I don't actually have one myself but have used them a few times, know people who have 'em, but yeah the build quality is quite terrible!

Tracks are sounding good - I'm feeling Kickback right now, not sure if you ever lurk in Musicians' Corner - AVForums.com quite a few folk produce stuff post in there, I pass by sometimes when I get the chance too.

Anyhow I'll let topic fall back to the rest of your room now, cheers!
 

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