Adidas4275's new living room theater build

A

Adidas4275

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Mar 11, 2006
Messages
5,986
Okay guys my wife and I recently bought our first home and being the [H]ard member that I am I needed to build my own home theater. Our home is a 1900 sqf 4 bed, 2 full bath with a 2 car garage. The living room, dining room and kitchen are all one open space, which is very applealing but really difficult for light control for a projector.

I did my "homework" for about 3 months and came up with my list of equipment, most of it had to be purchase since we came from a 600 sqf 1 bedroom appartment.

Equipment List:

Projector: Epson Home Cinema 720 from Visual Apex (free extra lamp from rebate)
Projector Mount: Visual Apex Universal Projector Mount AV-818U
Speakers: 5.1 (MIA is the sub, still needs to be purchased) All from "The Speaker Company" they had good reviews over at AVSfourm for the price.
Front L R and C are IW-D5 LCR pack $159
Rear 2 are IC-5 - Pair 5.25" $39.99 pair
AVR: Onkyo 605 bought for $200 off of AVS fourm

HTPC:
CPU: AMD X2 BE-2400 45w 2.3GHZ (Friday will be replaced with an X2 245)
Motherboard: Foxconn A7GM-S
RAM: 2GB DDR2 667 2 Sticks
HDD: WD Black 640gb
ODD: LG Blu-Ray reader
PSU: Antec Smartpower
GPU: ATI 4830 Silent (motherboard doesnt do 5.1/7.1 over HDMI)


WHS:
Case: Norco 4020
CPU: Intel Celeron E1400
Motherboard: Biostar G31-M7 TE (CPU and Motherboard were bought for $50 at a Frys)
HDD: 6 750gb WD7500AAKS on Highpoint RR 2300 Raid 5 with 1 as hotspare
2 750gb WD7500AAKS on motherboard as OS and storage pool drive
Drives run at 47*C with ambient at 30*C
4TB of Useable Space with RAID5 and a hotspare
PSU: Antec 650w Earthwatt
STB: Motorola STB HD comcast box (soon to be tapped into for recording via either FireSTB, ATI Cable Card (with hack) or PVR-HD)
All speaker wiring is CL2 in-wall rated 12ga wiring from monoprice, it took 200ft for my install.
HDMI cables are also monoprice: 2 6 ft and 1 25ft

All components are in the closet of the next bedroom, I will either build my own rack or buy a MA rack, depending on the $$ flow soon.....

And I have a logitech 890 RF remote that will be here on friday ( i was looking at the 900, but $400 vs $150 for basically the same function)

Here are some Pics:

photos can be found here:
https://onedrive.live.com/redir?res...68&authkey=!ANJdgPMtqc6SYpU&ithint=folder,JPG


pics will be uploaded shortly... still learning how to link to my skydrive
you can see the 3 logitech squeezebox receivers and the 2 Elan amps.

the 2nd Elan amp will be used shortly for the Master Bedroom, My Office and either Back Yard or in the hallways.

I finally bought a real rack. it is a dell 42" enclosure. I am currently buying shelves, rails, PDUs and other rack accessories. In a couple months I will take down the wooden homemade rack and install my dell rack with all the goodies. It will be sideways in the closet and the doors will go back on. (wife is excited :D )



More to come shortly.

Also I am going to start blogging this content and future projects over at missingremote.com









Future Upgrades:

Z-wave thermostat (DONE)
motion/temp sensors
z-wave light switches in each room
z-wave door lock
z-wave door/window sensors
install 2nd touchscreen in the hallway near the garage
ip webcam with motion detection for the front door (DONE)


Program homeseer to work how i want it :D
 
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That is a really cool idea! Let us know how it works out after you can block all that nasty daylight :)
 
we watched Wall-E on blu-ray last night and the Epson was set to Theater Black 1 which I changed the settings to match the AVSforum Epson 720 owners thread guide and it looked and sounded great.

The speakers from "The Speaker Company" produce good lows.... I was surprise how it sounded with out a sub. Next paycheck will be a sub purchase


----------------------------

I took 4 years of drafting in HS from a retired architect and so I drafted out the plans for the cabinet build about 3 months ago.....

who would have known school could be usefull :) (btw I teach HS biology)
 
I have 2 point and shoot digitals a Cannon Elph and some other one that take nice pics, it was just much easier at the time to take them with the phone....

I'll get some more pics up in a little bit with a better camera
 
It looks great and I'm impressed with the cabinets. I actually was thinking you were going to be putting a smaller tv where you put the pictures so you wouldn't always have to run the projector. Now all you need is something to get the server off the carpet. :eek:
 
SC385 said:
It looks great and I'm impressed with the cabinets. I actually was thinking you were going to be putting a smaller tv where you put the pictures so you wouldn't always have to run the projector. Now all you need is something to get the server off the carpet. :eek:
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EXACTLY what i thought. . . looks like a decent sized tv could fit there too
 
yeah i built it so that a 52' TV would fit if we ever wanted to put on there. We like having people over and only having the "TV" be the center of attention when we want it to be.....

but there is a cable jack and a power outlet behind there.... i could also run CAT6 back there at some point also.


thank for the complements on the cabinet, it was at the top of my ability levels and I just knew enough to get it done.... my father and wife helped some also.


And the server will be off the ground bye saturday :)
 
its my HTPC for the projector..... it is in a ebay special 4U rackmount short case. That way when i make my temp rack (will buy a real MA network rack some day) it will fit nicely rather than in my nmedia HTPC case...
 
Good start.

If your server and HTPC are going to be in the same closet you could consolidate them into one machine in the norco case and save on power (depending on usage habits with each, of course).

After you watch a few movies you'll probably start to hate the reflections from the white shelves surrounding the screen but because of your speakers you'd need an acoustically transparent mask or a way to convince the wife to let you paint them a darker matte color. You'll probably get infected by the upgraditis bug that goes with HT and want a light controlled room by then too ;)
 
Can you resize your pics to something smaller than 100000000X9000000?

Some of us still run 800X600 (work) or 1024X768 (home).
 
I like the hidden design and the shelving. To bad you can't recess the projector into the ceiling. I think it complete the room feel and fit with hiding the screen well.

I still think it looks great though. Very nice job dude!! :)
 
novadude said:
Good start.

If your server and HTPC are going to be in the same closet you could consolidate them into one machine in the norco case and save on power (depending on usage habits with each, of course).
Click to expand...

Yeah, i had my "server" running Vista 32bit before to have MCE and such on it to use as both server and HTPC, but I really like having a WHS type server... I love being able to turn the HTPC off when it is not in use and only have the WHS on. It only uses 180w idle for the server, my HTPC has a 4830 in it and it just adds to the power.


SarverSystems said:
Can you resize your pics to something smaller than 100000000X9000000?

Some of us still run 800X600 (work) or 1024X768 (home).
Click to expand...


Yeah I will. i have to reupload them all..... sigh

Shockey said:
I like the hidden design and the shelving. To bad you can't recess the projector into the ceiling. I think it complete the room feel and fit with hiding the screen well.

I still think it looks great though. Very nice job dude!! :)
Click to expand...

Thanks, yeah I thought about recessing the PJ, the room is there in the ceiling..... The $4000 electric mounts that are recessed look ugly and would look worse than the PJ.

I have 10ft ceilings and i have had 3 people come in the front door, looking right at the PJ, and comment on how there is no TV in the living room (screen up). Since the casing is white and only hangs down about 1ft its not bad.... but I did think about it :D
 
Sigh, I've always wanted a harmony 890. PLUS, it does z-wave rf - something that the new 900 does not (if you someday want addressable lighting control with your remote). So really you get MORE with the cheaper remote IMO.
 
yeah, i had a monster AVL 300 first but it would not talk to the RF unit..... which sucks...

the thing with the 890 that sucks it that you cannot have it be the secondary z-wave controller. So i want a thinkstick USB to be my primary controller connected to homeseer or mcontrol for advanced programming but i cannot use a PC and the remote as both z-wave devices... BOO

so I will be adding 1 lighting module shortly to test it out and then add more, plus thermostat and more...
 
just added new pics of my DIY network rack, rough design..... will be finished later.

1st post.


I will also be doing a video distribution, patch pannel, rack mount switch and UPS shortly
 
I love the rackmount, it makes your setup so clean. What size is the screen, it is kinda hard to judge the size and I didn't see it listed in your setup? Very nice work with the shelving. Everything looks great.
 
Wow that looks like it took a lot of work! It also looks like it'll be worth it. Really inspirational haha. How's that Epson during the day? Can you see it clearly enough? Or do you have to draw the blinds?
 
Awesome setup! I bet you get some nice amazed looks when people see that screen drop down for the first time!
 
bencorn said:
I love the rackmount, it makes your setup so clean. What size is the screen, it is kinda hard to judge the size and I didn't see it listed in your setup? Very nice work with the shelving. Everything looks great.
Click to expand...

it is a Elite Screen's 100" VMAX2, thanks man


joeshmoe said:
Wow that looks like it took a lot of work! It also looks like it'll be worth it. Really inspirational haha. How's that Epson during the day? Can you see it clearly enough? Or do you have to draw the blinds?
Click to expand...

Yeah, it has been a decent amount of work, I am working on a A/V distribution system and whole house cat6, so a lot more work still to be done.... :D

the epson is okay..... i am liking the new line that they just released... it is great for sports durring the day, but movies are really washed out.... they are watchable but not good. at night it is amazing. I am looking forward to next summer when i will buy one of the new, 2200 lumins PJ. Sports are great at all times, which at this time of year thats all I am watching on sat and sunday anyways :D

randy5554 said:
Awesome setup! I bet you get some nice amazed looks when people see that screen drop down for the first time!
Click to expand...

Yeah, with the 11' ceilings people dont even notice the projector......... they are like wow that is a huge TV..... i'm like uhhh its not a TV.... dont you see the projector :D

Thanks for the complements
 
Adidas4275 said:
I am looking forward to next summer when i will buy one of the new, 2200 lumins PJ. Sports are great at all times, which at this time of year thats all I am watching on sat and sunday anyways :D
Click to expand...

How many lumins is the one you have now? I thought brightly lit rooms needed 3000+ to be really clear. I'd give it a test run first. yeah yeah football (i'm guessing)!
 
You guys did a wonderful job! I love how you hid the drop-down screen like you did. Other than having the projector, no one would have a clue that you have the screen there. :p

How far away is your network rack from your setup? Just curious how you wired all of that up.
 
the rack is 22' away from the PJ and 38' from the screen and speakers ..... so my 25' monoprice inwall HDMI cable works great.

I used 300' for speakers :D it was a lot of line running. I will be doing CAT6 for all rooms with 4 runs per room..... that is going to be a ton of CAT6
 
Why 4 runs per room? Are you running a ton of devices or are you just looking for the ability to move equipment to and from any room and have plenty of network cables ready to go?
 
1 for internet, 1 for HDMI or Component distribution, IR Distribution and Home automation
 
Really impressive and clean! Do you plan on using it for games at all? Beefy power for just BD playback.
 
lilfleck said:
Really impressive and clean! Do you plan on using it for games at all? Beefy power for just BD playback.
Click to expand...

well not ATM, but I would like to get a Xbox 360 and a Wii at some point, not sure if I am going to have them on the PJ or my 32" 720p LCD TV in the other room. We use it everyday as our PVR and movie server. Will be adding mControl with some Home Automation stuff soon. Thanks for the complements

Hulk said:
how much did you pay for everything?
Click to expand...

hmm, good question..... didnt really keep track that way. I spent about $2200 on the new electronics: PJ, screen, AVR, UPS, Speakers and wiring.

Already had the HTPC and a media sever, but added the Norco case recently.

Also you would have to add the $500 in wood, paint and hardware..... and then there are the tools i purchased....

if you added up, not that I want to, everything that I have ever spent to get this project done... it would be around $4,000 +/- 500.

but I didnt go out and drop $4,000 at once. It was over a 2 year period of time.

Reaper said:
Since I didn't see anyone ask, how old is your sister?
Click to expand...

lol, like 13......
 
Bob21 said:
did I see this on AVS forum as well?

looks really nice!
Click to expand...

yeah, and on TGB :D

I think the posts actually got me a "job" with missingremote.com

I have been writing some reviews and such for them recently....

great bunch of guys wit great ideas for the HTPC and hometheater world
 
Nice, and congrats on the your new home.I'm really digging the shelving and the ability to hide your screen when not in use. Subbed for future reference :)
 
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