My home cinema

Phil260

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By way of introduction, I thought I might post a few photos and a brief description of my cinema room, both for comment and ideas.
We bought the house 5 years ago with an extension on the side, which had a front and back door. We couldn't see any use for these and had them bricked up. All at once I had that rare thing: An end wall with no window in it. Perfect for a fixed screen.
Here it is: A Stewart Filmscreen Firehawk.

1open.JPG


Normally covered by a roll up blackout blind, the same as the ones which cover the windows:

closed.JPG


Underneath is the business end. A Denon A1 dvd plaver and 7 channel AVCA1-SR amp, linked by a Denonlink v2 cable. Also present are my Naim CD3.5 cd player, PS3, REL Q150E subwoofer and Sky box.
The main speakers are B&W Nautilus 805s and the centre is a Linn.
They seem to match up very well and, although I once used Linn Keilidhs as the mains, I have not noticed a variation in voicing across the three.

allopen.JPG


The amp is now linked to my new Sony VPL-VW100HT projector, mounted on a home made adjustable bracket bolted to the ceiling joists, via a component RGB cable. The A1 amp converts S-video etc to component. The VW100 has an HDMI input ready for a blu-ray player next year. (My Sony VPL-VW10HT projector is now in the for sale section). My next project is to run all the rear speaker cables, a new component cable and an HDMI through the ceiling. The projector cables are already, but I can't get at them any more, since the redecoration!

vplfront.JPG


The side speakers are KEF di-poles:

sidespkr.JPG


The rear speakers are Linn:

rearspkrs.JPG


As the room is more or less the size of a good sized single garage, the seating area is restricted to one large sofa, which suits us perfectly. We have, on occasion, brought in another sofa for extra guests, which works OK so long as it is a temporary arrangement.

seating.JPG


I haven't gone overboard on cables. I use QED Silver Anniversary bi-wire for the mains and centre, and a fairly decent £1 per metre cable for the sides and rears.
The one thing I am pondering is whether it would be worth having the projector calibrated.
I am astonished at the picture quality of the VW100. My son and I are currently watching LOTR again before the eagerly anticipated "There Will be Blood" and "The Orphanage" arrive on the doorstep.

Please feel free to comment, ask questions etc. Although I am very pleased with the results so far, I am always open to suggestions. I have had no professional help and may have missed the mark on occasion.

Thanks for reading,

Phil
 
looks great. good choices on equipment as well. especially like the 13" tv. :D
 
Some nice kit there, One quick question.

Have you tried the centre on top of the 'shelf' as it would be closer to the screen and more in line with the LR speakers?
 
Thanks for your comments. As you will be aware, some compromises have to be made and one was that the kit is as out of sight as is reasonably possible when not in use.

Ideally the centre speaker would be higher up but it hasn't made any difference sonically, having it slightly lower.
 
Moved to HC Gallery :cool:
 
Nice setup :thumbsup:

can you not squeeze a bigger sub in there though, sure it would make a massive difference as some of that kit is pretty high end seems a little bit of a waste to just have a little q150 with all that power on tap from the denon?

as i say though... looking good :smashin:
 
looks great, nice big screen :smashin:
 
Looks nice, Well done :thumbsup:
 
Great looking setup

:thumbsup:
 
Great to see a 7.1 setup! How good does the rear panning sound?:smashin:
 
To try to answer your questions, the sub works well. I have thought of adding another at the other side, but I was watching the Two Towers last night and the opening of Mordor's black gate spurs the sub into action, and sounded pretty good and deep. I don't want an overwhelming sound. The room is not massive.

LOTR is one of only a small number of films on dvd with either DD EX or DTS 6.1ES, but the Denon also remixes 5.1 to use all four rear speakers. When extended surround is present, it is noticeable and really makes a difference. You must use di-poles at the sides though, I think, to get a good spread of sound.
 
Nice setup :thumbsup:

can you not squeeze a bigger sub in there though, sure it would make a massive difference as some of that kit is pretty high end seems a little bit of a waste to just have a little q150 with all that power on tap from the denon?

as i say though... looking good :smashin:

I keep thinking about this, since you mentioned it. What sub would you recommend?
 
I keep thinking about this, since you mentioned it. What sub would you recommend?

Any SVS model would be a good place to start

:D
 
My Sony VPL-VW10HT projector is for sale in the classifieds. I may consider swapping for a decent sub, if anyone feels so inclined.
 
I have changed the "13 inch" square tv for a Panasonic 32". Fits quite snugly, but restricts the room for a bigger sub slightly.

DSCN0023.JPG
 
I have recently installed an HDMI cable from the dvd to the projector, via a component to HDMI convertor/adaptor box.

While not exactly HD, it definitely improves the picture quality and I would recommend it as a "halfway house" before possibly going the full blu-ray route, which is what I intend next year, when the top of the range Denon player is expected.

As I understand it, Gefen is the best, but there are quite a few manufacturers of convertors and it is an easy upgrade.
 
I've taken a bit of advice from here and bought a Dynaudio Sub 500 subwoofer. It hasn't arrived yet so I can't report on the sound, but my Q150E is now in the classifieds section.
 
I have had the Dynaudio sub for 5 months now, having upgraded following advice from on here. I can report that the difference was well worth the expense.

Deeper, and with much more authority and a much greater variation in the sounds it produces from the REL, which was more or less the same sound, whenever it was called into use.

The next move is to blu-ray, although I am sceptical that the Denon 3800 will match the A1 in terms of picture quality while using ordinary dvds, which is what I will be viewing most of the time this year. I could hold out for the A1-UD, due in March, but I think it's just too expensive.
 
I really like your idea of the blind coming down over the fixed screen.

We're having an extension later in the year and am planning for a fixed screen but also had some reservations of having a permanent big white rectangle in the room. This might be the solution to hid it away when not in use!!!! Thanks! :)
 
Having had a white screen (drop down) and a silver screen (fixed, that we have now), I would try to go for a silver one if you can. Much more detail, especially in the shadows.

As far as the blind is concerned, the screen was expensive and we have kids, so I had to do something. I suppose a curtain would be just as good but the blind matches the paint on the back wall, so is SWMBO friendly. ;)
 

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