My living room setup

rharris

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Hi everyone, i thought it was about time i shared my living room set up with you all as i've been studying everyone else's for the last 2 years.

In the beginning (dec 06)
New TV, Sony kdl-52x2000, Sony dvp-ns76h and SkyHD to accompany old amp and home cinema package speakers.

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Wall mount (mar 07)
Heavy duty slim line bracket from ebay. Sony wanted £500!!!:eek:

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Then lots and lots and lots of waiting for the release of sony str-da5300es

Speakers (jan 08)
i went january sale shopping and treated myself to 7.1 set of kef 3005se's

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Finally

Amp (mar 08)
Sony str-da5300es

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Cables (bristol show 08)
QED original speaker cable (50m), 3 QED qunex hdmi-p (2m), 3 QED performance toslink optical audio (3m) and 1 QED qunex p-sw subwoofer cable (3m)

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HTPC (apr 08)
Antec fusion media centre case with VFD
Asus p5e-vm hdmi motherboard
Intel core2duo e8400 processor
Zalman cnps8700nt cpu cooler
OCZ 4gb ddr2 pc2-6400 800mhz memory
2 samsung hd103uj spinpoint f 1tb hard drives
Pioneer bdc-202bk blu-ray reader
Keysonic ack-540rf mini keyboard with touch pad
Microsoft media centre remote control
belkin pureav isolator

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Installation (aug 08)
MDF false wall and custom made high gloss black cabinet. This was going to be a diy project but my mate's dad is a carpenter and i had got a new toy outside :devil: to play with so i hired him to do it.

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Remote (aug 08)
Logitech harmony 895

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Decorating (oct 08)
First attempt at filling and sanding MDF joints with p38 car body filler and painting with MDF primer. Joints still visable after settled.

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Second attempt much better

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Finished (well for now but you all know what i mean)

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So there you go, thats what ten grand buys you. Worth every penny tough. I love the looks and performance of my setup, most of the time anyway (htpc and blu-ray can be frustrating at times). Actually only cost me seven and a half, just goes to show that it pays to shop around.

hope you all enjoyed reading my post as much as i enjoyed all of yours
Rob.
 
Thats a real sweet set up there mate! Strangely I liked the look of the MDF panel joints being exposed and not filled in!

Love the custom made cabinet too. All round top job mate :thumbsup:
 
That looks really impressive, good job :thumbsup:

Just a couple of tips
I've got those same KEF speakers, but only 5.1 (think its an extra 200 quid for the extra 2) but I've got mine set on the wall at 5ft 6" from the floor.
Just a couple of tips here to help you get a better movie experience from just looking at your photos :) .....

Have you still got your speakers that high and pointing straight ahead? If it was lower then your getting a better audio experience, maybe put it at the height of your screen as the audio is meant to be level (directional) with the action on screen. And the center speaker is meant to be directly below the screen or directly above the screen (above your screen would be too high anyway) as its just for speech. It would be odd to hear someone speech coming at you from near the floor.
 
Cool setup, now for some shopping for discs? :thumbsup:
 
Great job! Nice clean set up! I agree with the above, the fronts L, C & R should be near the same level if possible.
 
Very nice!! I like how the tv sits in the recess.
 
Very clean and neat set up mate:thumbsup:
 
Very nice setup mate, looks clean and tidy. Love the custom high gloss unit, did the carpenter have the finish put on after building it or did he use pre finished panels?

Looks great :smashin:
 
thankyou all for your comments. the unit seems to of attracted some attention :thumbsup: it is actually just a modified 300mm high gloss black tall kitchen unit from b&q. i ordered 3 end panels (1 for top, 1 for bottom and 1 to cut up for uprights) and a set of doors. when it was delivered each of the end panels i ordered was a pack of 2 so i had six in total. this was good though because they are white on the inside so the extras aloowed me to double them up back to back to give me the gloss black finish inside and out plus the added chuckiness look and support. was approx £230 for the wood and £50 for carpenter to cut and put together. the closest cabinet i could find to buy was the artcoustic linax duo av. of which i would have needed two at about £800 each and would have been left with join on the top.
 
Sorry to be naive, but can you explain where £10k comes from out of that lot - is it mainly the PC equipment?
 
Looks great!
That first unit you had, was the the Ikea 'LACK' unit? If so, how did you find it? Thinking of getting one soon in brown/black :)
 
One thing I have never been able to comprehend. How on earth do you bolt the tv onto a bracket, let alone a one in a recess :confused:

Love the setup though, the look of the LCD is fantastic, and the quality of the finish you have attained is excellent !
 
hi guys, below is a break down of the costs.
TV 4500rrp 3300actual 1200saving
SkyHD 300rrp 150actual 150saving
Amp 1300rrp 1000actual 300saving
Speakers 1300rrp 1000actual 300saving
Htpc 780rrp 780actual 0saving
Software 140rrp 120actual 20saving
Cables 500rrp 350actual 150saving
Surge protector 60rrp 50actual 10saving
Remote 200rrp 170actual 30saving
Wall 120rrp 120actual 0saving
Cabinet 300rrp 300actual 0saving
TOTAL 9500rrp 7340actual 2160saving

it sounds a lot but over the time it didnt seem that bad. i must admit i would have thought twice about paying for it all in one go lol. add up all of your kit, i bet you'll be surprised at the total. its always more than you set out to spend originally.

the original unit was the lack one from ikea. it was ok for the price but if you intend to use it for a big tv you will need additional supports under it. mine looked like a banana after a month or two! also no good for big equipment, internal height is limited.

as for bolting tv to the bracket its easy, bract is in two halfs, one bolts to wall other to tv and then you just hang it on. problem with recess is you cant then secure the locking tabs at the bottom!
 
A banana! That's no good is it hehe
Would you reccommend buying couple inch thick block of wood to wedge in the middle then? I plan on buying a 37" LCD, so roughly 20kgs for that. Then I'll have my 360 and surround amp, which in total don't amount to that much, perhaps 10kgs at most. So would you say stick that bit of wood underneath the unit? Surely those metal bars support the top from the bottom shelf?
 
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the metal bars support between the top and the middle but i found the whole thing started to bow. would suggest a block of wood between bottom shelf and floor in the middle. my tv does weigh around 50kg with base i think though lol. also make sure you check the height of your equipment going on the bottom shelf. still great value, smart looking stand though.
 
it sounds a lot but over the time it didnt seem that bad. i must admit i would have thought twice about paying for it all in one go lol. add up all of your kit, i bet you'll be surprised at the total. its always more than you set out to spend originally.

as for bolting tv to the bracket its easy, bract is in two halfs, one bolts to wall other to tv and then you just hang it on. problem with recess is you cant then secure the locking tabs at the bottom!


Ah cheers, thought it must have been something like that, otherwise you would have to send an army of ants in there to do it for you ;)

Adding up kit is the last thing I want to do, makes me realise the stupid amount spent :D

O and for some nice speakers, how about these for £1750, probably the most gorgeous I have ever seen (sonus faber - crem auditor):

 
the metal bars support between the top and the middle but i found the whole thing started to bow. would suggest a block of wood between bottom shelf and floor in the middle. my tv does weigh around 50kg with base i think though lol. also make sure you check the height of your equipment going on the bottom shelf. still great value, smart looking stand though.

Sounds good. The only kit I will be shelving there is my 360 + pretty slim Toshiba amp for my surround sound. Probably going to get a slim blu-ray player later on as well, so clearance should'nt be a major issue :)

Thanks for the advice!
 

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