Sir Arthur
Established Member
Well, after three months, which included the arrival of a baby boy, I have finished the project.
Please scroll down to the end of this post for the new photos.
You've probably wondered recently, who has actually managed to sell a house and move this autumn? In the days of crunches, crashes and bailouts, who on earth actually moved? Well, I'll answer your question: It's me.
With Sir Arthur Junior on the way, me and Dame Arthur decided that we'd try to sell our London flat and move out to Essex. So, thanks to a chap needing a Redbridge address for school catchment area, we managed to sell near our asking price and get a bargain further North.
However, bargains are bargains for a reason, and so we needed to gut the place to be able to live there. After getting the previous owners to damp course and re-concrete the floor, we embarked on creating a family home, with my new AV set-up always near the front of my mind!
It's not finished at the time of writing, but we have entered the interesting stage. Here's the story so far, in pictures:
The Front Room just a few days into the project. Note the hideous fireplace.
The fireplace and chimney breast have gone, leaving some interesting holes...
A wall crying out for a telly...
...And a telly crying out for a wall (note favourite website).
And that's it for now. At the moment we are using a slightly more basic Home Theatre...
The equipment to be inserted into the house is as follows:
Sony Bravia KDL-40W4000 LCD TV (new)
Sharp Aquos LC32P50E LCD TV (existing)
PS3 (existing)
Sky HD (new)
Pioneer DV375A DVD player (existing)
Sony HTSF-1300 Home Theatre AV Amp & Speakers (new)
Six zone Sonos system (new)
Buffalo Linkstation Live NAS (new)
KEF Ci160 and Ci80 ceiling speakers (new)
Logitech Harmony One Remote (new)
Dell Studio 15 Laptop (new) and O2 Broadband (new)
Comtrend Powerline Internet plugs
IR4PS3 (new)
Hot Link Pro IR repeater (new)
Apollo LED kit (new)
Virtually everything on that list is based on information from this site.
I'll add new pics as new things happen in the next couple of weeks.
New Pics (10/10/08)
All good lounges should have a tumble drier and a "feature" toilet, I'm led to believe.
The sockets all in place.
And the Magical Box of Discovery and Wonder (sitting on top of the new pushchair).
13/10/08
Well, stuff's been taken out of storage, so once the lounge is carpeted, I can start setting up. As you can see, there are gadgets and kit hiding everywhere...
21/10/08
This weekend the carpet was indeed fitted and the remaining fourteen boxes of stuff taken out of Big Yellow. However, my HT and most of my cabling are buried deep under said boxes (note how in the pic above it's in a far corner? Well, you can guess what happened next) so it looks like being a slow process (that and the fact that Junior still hasn't shown up - eight days late now).
22/12/08
So here we are. Everything's connected, the CDs are ripped and networked, there are Homeplugs buzzing away, the PS3 is controlled seamlessly by the Harmony remote and everything is hidden in Ikea's finest cupboards and talked to on a HotLink hidden behind the telly. For some reason a baby monitor has sneaked into the set-up and I might have to fish pine needles out of the subwoofer, but I suppose there has to be some negotiation!
Here's the telly, units and three of the five speakers. The SW is currently off to the right.
I originally wanted everything on show, but had to make a deal with my missus to hide it all. I'm glad I did now. The two outer cupboards house the wireless box, NAS, some media and assorted junk for the moment. The box to the right of the PS3 is the handmade-in-Canada-IR4PS3, which is a superb gadget. You really don't think a Harmony remote will control a Playstation until, well, it does.
New(ish) Dell Studio laptop (in midnight blue), Harmony One and the downstairs Sonos controller (which runs through the surround sound in the living room) There's also an upstairs one which allows Lady Arthur to educate Junior in Mozart and XFM. There are (not shown) ceiling mounted speakers in both bathrooms, main bedroom and nursery with another Sonos playing through a micro hi-fi in the kitchen. Six Zoneplayers sit in the loft controlling everything. Ten points for anyone able to identify which album is currently playing.
Up and runnning. Here's a few TV shots, with the lighting kit in full flow.
I've also included a collectors' item. This is Mr Dean Ashton, while not injured.
And finally, Catalina gets into the spirit. She did start attacking the screen's HD fish, but by the time I got the camera ready she'd calmed down and was happy just to observe.
Thanks for all the advice and general chit-chat to those who post here. I'm really pleased with the multimedia extravaganza in the front room. Unfortunately, now I'm a Dad I rarely get the time to use it and when I do, I'm not allowed to turn the volume up!
Anyhoo... Season's Greetings...
Please scroll down to the end of this post for the new photos.
You've probably wondered recently, who has actually managed to sell a house and move this autumn? In the days of crunches, crashes and bailouts, who on earth actually moved? Well, I'll answer your question: It's me.
With Sir Arthur Junior on the way, me and Dame Arthur decided that we'd try to sell our London flat and move out to Essex. So, thanks to a chap needing a Redbridge address for school catchment area, we managed to sell near our asking price and get a bargain further North.
However, bargains are bargains for a reason, and so we needed to gut the place to be able to live there. After getting the previous owners to damp course and re-concrete the floor, we embarked on creating a family home, with my new AV set-up always near the front of my mind!
It's not finished at the time of writing, but we have entered the interesting stage. Here's the story so far, in pictures:
The Front Room just a few days into the project. Note the hideous fireplace.
The fireplace and chimney breast have gone, leaving some interesting holes...
A wall crying out for a telly...
...And a telly crying out for a wall (note favourite website).
And that's it for now. At the moment we are using a slightly more basic Home Theatre...
The equipment to be inserted into the house is as follows:
Sony Bravia KDL-40W4000 LCD TV (new)
Sharp Aquos LC32P50E LCD TV (existing)
PS3 (existing)
Sky HD (new)
Pioneer DV375A DVD player (existing)
Sony HTSF-1300 Home Theatre AV Amp & Speakers (new)
Six zone Sonos system (new)
Buffalo Linkstation Live NAS (new)
KEF Ci160 and Ci80 ceiling speakers (new)
Logitech Harmony One Remote (new)
Dell Studio 15 Laptop (new) and O2 Broadband (new)
Comtrend Powerline Internet plugs
IR4PS3 (new)
Hot Link Pro IR repeater (new)
Apollo LED kit (new)
Virtually everything on that list is based on information from this site.
I'll add new pics as new things happen in the next couple of weeks.
New Pics (10/10/08)
All good lounges should have a tumble drier and a "feature" toilet, I'm led to believe.
The sockets all in place.
And the Magical Box of Discovery and Wonder (sitting on top of the new pushchair).
13/10/08
Well, stuff's been taken out of storage, so once the lounge is carpeted, I can start setting up. As you can see, there are gadgets and kit hiding everywhere...
21/10/08
This weekend the carpet was indeed fitted and the remaining fourteen boxes of stuff taken out of Big Yellow. However, my HT and most of my cabling are buried deep under said boxes (note how in the pic above it's in a far corner? Well, you can guess what happened next) so it looks like being a slow process (that and the fact that Junior still hasn't shown up - eight days late now).
22/12/08
So here we are. Everything's connected, the CDs are ripped and networked, there are Homeplugs buzzing away, the PS3 is controlled seamlessly by the Harmony remote and everything is hidden in Ikea's finest cupboards and talked to on a HotLink hidden behind the telly. For some reason a baby monitor has sneaked into the set-up and I might have to fish pine needles out of the subwoofer, but I suppose there has to be some negotiation!
Here's the telly, units and three of the five speakers. The SW is currently off to the right.
I originally wanted everything on show, but had to make a deal with my missus to hide it all. I'm glad I did now. The two outer cupboards house the wireless box, NAS, some media and assorted junk for the moment. The box to the right of the PS3 is the handmade-in-Canada-IR4PS3, which is a superb gadget. You really don't think a Harmony remote will control a Playstation until, well, it does.
New(ish) Dell Studio laptop (in midnight blue), Harmony One and the downstairs Sonos controller (which runs through the surround sound in the living room) There's also an upstairs one which allows Lady Arthur to educate Junior in Mozart and XFM. There are (not shown) ceiling mounted speakers in both bathrooms, main bedroom and nursery with another Sonos playing through a micro hi-fi in the kitchen. Six Zoneplayers sit in the loft controlling everything. Ten points for anyone able to identify which album is currently playing.
Up and runnning. Here's a few TV shots, with the lighting kit in full flow.
I've also included a collectors' item. This is Mr Dean Ashton, while not injured.
And finally, Catalina gets into the spirit. She did start attacking the screen's HD fish, but by the time I got the camera ready she'd calmed down and was happy just to observe.
Thanks for all the advice and general chit-chat to those who post here. I'm really pleased with the multimedia extravaganza in the front room. Unfortunately, now I'm a Dad I rarely get the time to use it and when I do, I'm not allowed to turn the volume up!
Anyhoo... Season's Greetings...
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