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[benn600]

I would like to post some pictures of our theater as it progresses.  We already have essentially all of the equipment but are now getting going on the room.  So our equipment is still unopened until the room gets finished.  I'll keep the chit chat minimal as it focuses on the pictures.

Here is the general floor plan, which I have been working on for about three weeks.  I call this version 4.0.  Previous versions included different door placements, two risers, components on the opposite wall, etc.


PRELIMINARY PICTURES
The planned entrance to the theater.  This is a walk out patio basement but the theater part is fully underground.


Theater area.  Can see furnace, breaker box, etc.


Viewing the planned door entrance from the other side.  We moved the return air vent to the right under the thermostat (later pictures).


Looking at the future theater.  The nightstand is holding the ethernet switches.  During construction, they unplugged the switches.  I immediately emerged because I lost my VPN connection to my employer in California.  Their internet music stopped, too.  It was funny.


DAY 1
The hole is now cut in the wall.  The cement saw line is not true but their sprayed/chalked line is true and straight.


Framed door.  Across the hall is the bathroom.


First wall put up.  Very tight and secure.  One nail misfire issue that I'm going to have them fix (minor).


DAY 2
Added the riser in.  Is also very secure but again, has one nail misfire issue on one of the boards.  They're adding bottom supports too.


Another view.  They said it could easily be a dance floor with a band on the riser.  Then I determined we could add a door at the top of the riser, which could go to the "Storage" (green) room and could be a prop room.  Absolutely not but it came to mind.


So that's the start & first two days of work.  Both days were only half days.  They'll be back Monday.  I'll keep posting pictures.  I may be directing some people to this thread.  It will hopefully cover each bit of progress.  Good memory of the project.

[benn600]

Day 3
The riser with bottom supports and the top surface added.


Room framed with closet area and the front extra spacing wall.


Theater entrance to upcoming hallway "print shop" with tray ceiling drop down pieces.


Alternate view of area from exercise area.  Shows hallway "print shop" and theater wall on the side.

[benn600]

Day 4
My quickie music system for the team.  They usually listen to XM radio but it wasn't worth trying to get reception in the basement.  Just Windows Media Player's radio.  Nearly the first time I've ever used it but it has a great radio station they like.


The entire area is now framed.  The inspector should be over tomorrow if possible.  Side exercise door and wall.  Really portrays the room sizes well with it framed up.


The riser with steps added in.  Looks quite nice.


The main "Print Shop" entrance from living room space.


Plenty of room all the way around the furnace and water heater.


Moved the cold air return.  Awaiting dry wall repair to finish it up...of course this is later.


After the inspector, the electrician will be in.  Then, I will run my low-voltage stuff including Cat5e throughout and surround speaker wire.  I am running AudioQuest Rocket 44 wire to the surround speakers.  At least a day or two before anything more will get done I think.  My goal is by Halloween but that doesn't seem possible.  So far we are going with matching trim in the "Print Shop" and cherry woodwork in the theater, including a built in component stand, to match the speakers we have.  Lots to do yet!  We're having mid-wall trim added for two tone walls, a dropped tray ceiling with rope lighting, rope lighting on the steps, 4 sconces, and 4 or 6 canned recessed lights.  Also have to run heating vents off the second zone (basement) and need something to the closet because the server will reside in there.  Still trying to figure out a way to keep good circulation to the closet without letting the server noise out.

[gappie]

is that your new home? would be a great place for a studio... keep the pics cumming. love to see how it ends up..

 
gab

[benn600]

It is my parents new home.  I'm at home another 2 years or so.  My parents moved over the summer while I was in California.  One major reason for moving was that my parents were ready for a nicer, newer house.  We also had accumulated so much stuff at our old one.  This one, though, is even temporary.  When my sister and I finish school and move out, my parents are going to build a new house out in the country.  Our old house was years ago but it built up around us.  They like county taxes.

We are adding sound board to the walls.  Anyone have any other suggestions for improving the sound?  It is formally a theater but could be a dance floor quite easily.  I just went over where we want electrical outlets with the builder (my cousin) and as soon as the electrician gets in, hopefully Friday, then I will run my ethernet & surround speaker wire.  We're adding 3 dedicated outlets in the front center, 1 dedicated on each side (dual sub upgrade path), with shared projector power.  All these in addition to about 25 outlets throughout the room and hallway.  The entire unfinished area previously had 1 outlet--for about 1,000 square feet of unfinished basement. I contend you cannot get a good house without customizing it.  And when I look at houses that other people over-customized, I shudder.  So many of them are disgusting.  There is such a thing as over-customizing.  I'm going to go crazy with ethernet because it's always useful.  We had to put a ton of effort into getting ethernet in many spots in this house.  The next house my parents build is going to have it in the walls when its built.  I cannot imagine living in a house without ethernet.  Most builders ignore it!  They might put one in each room for phone that can be converted to ethernet.  Uhuu.  I want a minimum of 2 ports per room.  But if I was choosing, 4-12 per room...no questions asked.  Then just have a nice patch panel in the basement.  Of course it's important to note that MC has contributed to the near-requirement for Ethernet due to increased media distribution.

It's unfortunate that it has been about 5 weeks since we ordered our Paradigm 5.1 speakers so I am incredibly anxious to get it going.  At this point we're moving as fast as we can.  Thankfully, my cousin has quite a bit of pull with contractors in the area.  Our local Lowe's said a month + on carpet installation.  My cousin has a lot of pull at a local independent carpet place--which includes a nice discount--and fast access probably in a couple days when ready.  The time between buying the speakers and starting construction was in getting three estimates.  My cousin was less than half the price of the other two.  And he's trusted family--his own business.  They are doing an excellent job.

I'll post more pictures as soon as anything more gets accomplished--probably electrical and/or low-voltage (which I run).  Electrical & low-voltage probably Friday.  Tinning (air vents) will be added on Monday.  Probably one to the hallway, and two to the theater.  Possibly something to the newly created two unfinished rooms but they both have a vent already.  Then, we'll need three or four new smoke detectors for all the newly created partitions.  Finally, soundboard, dry wall, dropped ceiling, tray ceiling, paint, trim, carpet, built-ins, access panels.  Oh I'm ready for this to be done.  They are going to build us a 120" screen frame out of the room wood: cherry.  Our speakers are cherry so it should look great.  Of course I designed the floor plan and equipment.  I'm letting my parents and the builders decide on colors and carpets.  I've spent probably a hundred hours on this project or more already.

[benn600]

The tinner and electrician will be over tomorrow (Monday) in addition to my cousin, the main constructor, who will build the projector box and a few basic built ins that need constructed now.  I have personally ran 16 ethernet ports throughout the theater, print shop, exercise area, and window-side unfinished area.  I ran out of Cat5e and as soon as I get more, I have 4 more ports to run.  It's hard to believe that we have used 3 boxes of 1,000 feet Cat5e (since stringing our first 10Mbit single duplex network many years ago).

[benn600]

Another excellent day of progress.  I did not photograph my ethernet runs before the electrical runs because they aren't very impressive.

The Print Shop viewed from the exercise room entrance.  We added 3 built in shelves.  2 will be in the hallway while the third will open into the other end (by the furnace) and it will hold a UPS.  I will have the main house base station on the first (middle) visible shelf from the hallway.  This is going to be plugged into the hidden UPS.  This way, all the phones stay up if the power goes out.  I have to run 3 ethernet ports here.  2 for the two lines (landline + Skype) and a third probably for the Airport Extreme / DSL modem.  Still thinking on this.


In the theater looking at the closet.  You can see the outlets both in and outside the closet, ethernet running from one end to the other (server on right & house wide ethernet patch panel on left.  Also can see the lower sconce gang box and lighting circuit for closet (light & switch).


Front of the theater.  Each gang box is a dedicated 20 amp circuit except the middle upper right, which is shared with the projector outlet.


From the theater looking out.  Still have a few additions awaiting.  We're using the Lutron Spacer System for 4 lighting dimmers with infrared remote and 5-scene control.  We need a 4-gang box (replace 3-gang pictured) in addition to a single on the theater side.  It's a 2x6 wall so it will fit opposite the hallway light switch gang box.


The projector box (on the right).  It holds the projector with plenty of space to breathe and possibly upgrade later.  The riser has 3 outlets in the back on the wall, one on each side, and 3 floor outlets.  The side of the riser has one on each side (by each step), one for the step rope lighting and the other non-switched for if we add a motorized recline couch later on.


The entire area is using 9 circuit breakers.  Our box has 11 free, so we will be left with only 2 free.  Our equipment up front absolutely requires dedicated circuits and we have enough that we could upgrade (second sub or more powerful amp).  The electricians will be back tomorrow to finish a few remaining pieces needed now and the tinner will arrive early as well, to add a furnace vent to the hallway & theater.  We're using a very large, low volume flow vent to reduce air flow noise.

[benn600]

Today the electricians finished a few pieces and added a few outlets that are needed right away.  I also spent quite a bit of time running my last few Cat5e cables around the room and cleaning up / finishing my previous work.  The tinner is delayed because he gets a lot of calls this time of year from people who's furnace isn't working.  I mean, come on!  This theater is more important!  Just grab a blanket!

lol, just kidding.  But he said tomorrow will be no problem.  Then inspections and the ball falls back in my cousin's court.  He can get the sound board on all the walls, insulation added, drywall up, tape & mud, etc.

[benn600]

Okay, enough progress to post more pictures.  It isn't a lot.  The next step is critical (inspections) and then they're going to go crazy with it.

Insulation, which is the next step after the inspections.  The 6 inch wall is getting insulated with soundboard and dry-wall.  This should really help reduce audio escape.


The built in shelves.  The lower will be visible from the back and hold an APC UPS.  The second shelf, visible from in the hallway, will hold the main phone base station.  I ran 4 Cat5e to the patch room that I can easily send our two lines across, in addition to probably the N wifi router (Airport Extreme).  This is the best place in the house for this (reasonably best) because either of the other two wings of the basement means the signal has to go through solid concrete and dirt, so it is not a good placement choice anywhere else.  The top shelf will likely be used to hold whatever we decide it should hold.  What a breakthrough thought on my part!


This is the doorway to the theater.  I decided that the switch facing this way should have a manual dimmer on it.  This way, the 3 cans in the hallway can be dimmed to avoid disturbing the theater as much.  The other end will just have a switch so the dimmer will affect the light but only be controllable from one spot.  This is a huge benefit without going for a system like we're doing in the theater, which could actually allow for multiple control boxes (or IR remotes, like we're using).


The projector box mounted with a heavily insulated heating duct quickly ran behind it.  We're using a large, low flow vent to reduce noise.  It will also be easily turned on and off because the room may get very hot since it is so well insulated and has so many very hot components (projector, amp, etc.)


The patch room closet.  I am putting our server in here and probably the theater computer, too, so I don't have to deal with its noise.  I hope this gets insulated enough to make the server silent.  We are also running an air return from here to the furnace to keep the heat pulled from the room every now and again.  The ceiling is not going to be finished so the heat can escape upward throughout the rafters, too.


Another view of the theater, from by the closet backwards.


Last picture for now is of the quickie run of the heating duct.  I'm quickly learning that there are quick run trips and the workers later return to finish and close things up.  I myself have 24 Cat5e ports throughout this area that I get to later add jacks and covers to.  It took several days in my spare time to get all these ran.


We have also ordered the furniture for the room.  It is a 3 seater couch in the front.  We wanted this over typical individual seat furniture so one can lay down.  The back row has two loveseats.  This brings defined seating to 3 in the front and 4 in the back.  All four in the back and the two outer in the front are power recline.  There was an unexpected good deal so we decided to add the power recline, which is an awesome feature.  They are black microfiber with cup holders for all but the couch center seat.  The loveseats also have a storage area in the center of the seats.

It is amazing how much time this entire project requires, even when we personally are not doing a whole lot of the work.  Just choosing components, carpet, paint, fixtures, floor layout (which I designed), furniture, etc. consumes many hours each week...

[benn600]

Electrical got approved moments ago and the framing inspector should be over tomorrow morning.  Tomorrow afternoon they hope to get started hanging sound board or whatever else they want to start on.

[gappie]

you know ben. i think it is rather freakies building something like that in a private home. it intrigues (sp) me, and im jealous. i would love to do something like that, not a theater, but all the same. thanks for the updates, i enjoy seeing the posts.

[benn600]

Thanks, gappie.  I enjoy this thread because it helps keep me taking progressive photographs to look back on later and this thread allows me to preserve some basic thoughts on the process as we progress.  Who knows, the next week may put us nearly finished on the entire room.

Addition: framing just got approved (or rough-in inspector).  Hope to get a bit more done today.

[benn600]

More done today!  About half a day total.

Walking into theater from main entrance (family room).


Looking at theater door.  Apparently some sort of Halloween joke.  Guess I can't go in...


Viewing hallway "Print Shop" from window unfinished area.


I got in the theater!  This shows the back section.  The surround cable is hanging from the ceiling.  It is 13 AWG AudioQuest Rocket 44 cable.  I am using a 33' piece on each side to be added over the dropped ceiling (to be black).  You can see the soundboard.  Dry wall will be added a bit later.  They stapled this up and are going to screw the dry wall and soundboard down later.


The opposite wall with the other Rocket 44 cable.  They did not finish this wall's sound board yet.


The server / storage closet.  This is also insulated and will get soundboard soon.


The main wall into the hallway.  It is all soundboarded.  The upper electrical boxes are for sconces, the lower several are electrical outlets and Cat5e Ethernet ports, and the area next to the door is a four gang box for the four lighting circuit dimmers + the master control in its own which is for selecting a scene.


Finally, the ceiling which is also insulated.  This really helps stop sound from going up whereas before it was easy to hear people talking above this unfinished area.  Overall, we're adding insulation, soundboard, ceiling tiles, and carpet/other things in the room to reduce reflections.  This should reduce upward sound travel.

[benn600]

More sound board added today.  They are busy Wednesday but will be back for most or all of Thursday & Friday.  Before we know it, they'll be finishing things.

The ceiling, showing the projector box, with sound board added.


The ceiling facing the left wall of the theater (when facing front).


The front of the theater.  We are going to remove the tray in the front because we need the height for the screen.  Rope lighting will not run in the front (which would diminish picture quality too).


Another piece of equipment revealed: the Paradigm Signature ADP3 v2 surround speakers.  I unboxed them only because we want to match the cherry finish color.  I have not unboxed any other component, except the projector which was purchased as a display unit and we are using it to verify image placement and size abilities.  These surrounds are rated for 180 watts, which is quite a bit above typical front speakers.  They each contain two 1" beryllium tweeters, two 4" midrange drivers, and one 8" bass driver.  They also included mounting hardware.  It is interesting to note that the box contained a message saying they no longer contain mounting hardware but there was indeed mounting hardware.  Our salesman said he made sure to have them include it...either way, we're very pleased to have the right hardware already included...with safety strap and all!

[benn600]

Wednesday and Thursday were quiet but the crew worked most of the day Friday.  They said they will most likely work on the project all next week and hopefully start some finish carpentry.  I don't want to set a finish date but I'm definitely getting anxious to see all this finished up.

The outer wall against the riser.


The outer wall again, showing the door.  They didn't want to bring another sheet of drywall down today so this area still needs finished (obviously among many other areas).


The back corner.


The closet door side.


The front, with much left to finish up.  Their lighting setup since no lighting exists right now.  That will not be added for probably a week.

[benn600]

Quite a bit of drywall progress today.  Some of the pictures may be from part way through the day.

From exercise area to print shop.  They are dry walling the open wall, too.


In the print shop at the angled wall.  This shows the small built in shelves that are going to have an outward ledge for additional storage space.  The main phone base station will go here.  The other side of the wall has a ledge for storing the UPS that the phone runs off of.  It also has 4 Cat5e cables that I can send filtered phone & 2nd line down for the base station, in addition to ethernet for a wireless access point.


In the print shop looking from the window unfinished area.


Looking from theater door to print shop.


Front of the theater finished with the 6 dedicated circuits and ethernet/coax box.


Viewing the back of the theater with some dry wall left to hang.


The front of the theater with the newly changed, smaller tray to allow more vertical space for the screen.  This way we also won't have rope lighting near the screen.


They'll be back tomorrow.  They're really moving now, which is great.

[benn600]

Some more progress today...

The projector box wrapped with ceiling piece filled in--rounded corners, too.


A bit more finalized in the front right.


The main wall, 5.5" thick plus two layers of sound board and two layers of dry wall...7.5" wall.  We're hoping for a thicker than average door, too.


When entering the print shop from the family room, this indent is formed from built-ins where they went a bit further than they needed to.  They are going to add a built in area here still--probably about the last piece to complete before finalizing the dry wall.


Inside the closet on the left side. This is where the networking switches are going.  All ~50 ethernet ports from the whole house run here.


The right, or other side, of the closet.  This is where I hope to "rack mount" the server...basically, just mount it right to the walls.  It is the correct width.  I hope to leave space in front and back and then make it tall enough that I can duck down and walk underneath it.


The sump pump, now covered by a handy sturdy and secure cover.


Tomorrow they will tape and mud the dry wall.

[benn600]

Some more progress, but nothing very noticeable.  Just preparation for the next steps.

The entrance to the hallway with an angled wall to correct for issues with support beams.  Also added a small storage area which will have a finished door over it for a garbage can or whatever else we need.


The front of the theater with the access panel progressed a bit by the finish carpenter.


Insulation added sparsely under the riser to reduce echos.


Additional progress on the ceiling.


Monday will be texture and around then, paint and ceiling.  Yep, still got a ways to go but of course it's all progress.

[benn600]

It's been a week with not a whole lot of visible progress.  But the ceiling is in (only in the theater).

Theater with added ceiling.  The walls are also textured.  The ceiling and projector box will be painted black.


Inside the projector box.  We recently added the HDMI cable, the AudioQuest HDMI-1 cable.  I believe it is 30' long.  High awg wires will help with the long run.


Another view of the finished ceiling and texture.  It does really look nice.  Although we are really starting to get anxious to finish this.  Unfortunately, such work leaves a coating of dry-wall dust throughout the entire house.

[gappie]

well, it really starts to look good. visible progress indeed.

[benn600]

They started painting some color today.  It is really starting to look nice.  They still have another coat or two on the hallway and the theater ceiling just has primer.

This shows the theater entrance from the hallway.


In the theater, showing the ceiling with primer.


In the hallway, walking through the window unfinished area door (theater door directly to left).


A step back through the same door.  Can see how two walls are burgundy with the rest the lighter color.  The decorator suggested that.  In the theater, part of the walls (vertically) will be different colors.  Out here, different entire walls vary.  Nice variety thrown in...


Another coat of paint Tuesday morning and maybe even a third where needed at the end of the work day.  The electricians and other finish people will start showing up soon.

[benn600]

The electricians added outlets and most of the lighting.  It's getting quite close.  The problem is that we're waiting on the doors.  But this is starting to drag on so we're discussing other door options...of course then they wouldn't match the rest of the house.  I'll post more pictures soon.

[benn600]

Still held up and part of the group is out of town for a few days.  We have a strict deadline of comfortably before Christmas but that will even be difficult to meet.  From the start of this project, I never would have even dreamed it would drag on into December.

From the window unfinished area looking into the Print Shop.  Can see light switch for the area and the light switch in the Print Shop.  This is going to be replaced with a dimmer when the electricians return (in Print Shop).


Viewing the entrance to the Print Shop, which is from existing finished area.  Bathroom is right across the hall.


In Print Shop looking toward theater entrance.  The hanging down light is going to be directional and will be setup when they return.  We have a custom sign to put on the wall there and the light will shine on it.


In the theater, can see the riser, painted walls, where mid-wall trim will go, sconces on wall.  Also, one can light in the ceiling.  Electricians still have a few plates to put on and I have to put ethernet jacks in several areas in the theater and tons in the closet area.  There are 24 ports of Ethernet ran throughout the construction area.


The theater contains 6 can lights.  My camera lens must need cleaned very badly because there are circles everywhere.  They are going to paint the can lights and touch up the ceiling (black).


Since timelines are getting pushed tighter, I am working on ordering a screen.  We were going to wait until all was set in place and setup and then order one since we can be up and running audio-wise without one.  But our time is running out so I'm going to order one very soon.

[benn600]

We have a nearly-guaranteed completion date of Friday December 19.  This is barely sufficient time for me to get everything hooked up before company arrives for Christmas.  The project will have lingered on for about 9 weeks and I will be so glad to finally sit down and relax in the new area.  Now I just hope the promise we've been given is possible per more delays.

[JimH]

The key to happiness, whey you're doing construction, is to always double the time the builder says it will take.

Think about it.  Every customer they have wants it done by the same day.

[benn600]

I've learned that rule countless times.  I'm actually used to 3x in many cases, too.  This time my anticipation overwhelmed my logic.  It is exactly that, about twice what was expected.

[benn600]

Since the room has a scheduled finished date of Friday the 19th, I knew our speakers would not have time to be broken in properly before our Christmas gatherings when we will undoubtedly have to blast everything.  I have been told 150 hours to break in, or 100 - 300 hours overall.  So, we spent Friday night from about midnight to 3 AM (Saturday morning) setting up and briefly demoing the system.  Our system includes these components, many made in Canada:
1. Anthem Statement D2 Pre-amp processor with several AudioQuest HDMI-1 cables
2. Anthem Statement A5 amplifier with AudioQuest King Cobra interconnects
3. Paradigm Signature S8 front speakers with AudioQuest Rockefeller cable
4. Paradigm Signature C5 center speaker with AudioQuest Rockefeller cable
5. Paradigm Signature ADP3 surround speakers with AudioQuest Rocket 44 cable
6. Paradigm Signature Servo subwoofer with AudioQuest Sub-1 cable
7. My home built HTPC with HDMI.

We will keep everything playing pretty much solid day and night (quieter at night) and by Friday when the room is done, that will be about 168 hours, which I feel comfortable running with as a complete break in period.  I question the need for such a long period because Paradigm themselves simply says several hours and I have heard 4 hours specifically.  I would tend to believe 150 hours but can't believe more than that.  They tell us to not push the equipment at all until after this period.  So I haven't played anything extremely loudly yet, but I do lean a bit toward a moderate volume.

[benn600]

We are really nearing completion.  The front speaker risers and component stand are now built with the doors in and much of the woodwork stained/some put up.  We're planning everything finished tomorrow (Friday) with the furniture being delivered Saturday.

[Peter_T]

I've always thought that the breaking-in of speakers was a bit of a sham.  Let them break in over normal use, I say.  Good speaker sound fantastic out of the box - if they sound better in a few weeks of regular use, great!   

[benn600]

I did follow the break-in suggested by our audio guy.  I played them nearly solid for about 130 hours and they recommend 150.  At this point I decided it was enough to start blasting them.  Wow.  I haven't experienced +dB territory yet.  And we got the smaller 180 watt amp.  The P5 is 325...wow that would be overkill.  I'm not one who wants to damage my hearing...but I like it loud sometimes.

[benn600]

Our theater is finished.  The main construction was finished Friday, carpet and furniture added Saturday, and final construction (doors put up, touch up paint, etc.) Sunday.  Monday was my day to finish everything.  We were up until 5:30 AM.  We had to get all the equipment put in, mounted the screen, some other electrical additions, etc. on Monday.  It was all ready for our visitors Tuesday.  I'll get pictures posted soon.

[JimH]

Congratulations!  And Merry Xmas.

[benn600]

Here are the more or less finalized pictures for our print shop (hallway) and theater.

Brand new door entering the print shop from basement family room/bar area.


In the print shop viewing printer with our traditional, short Christmas tree.


Built in storage area (trash can / recycle bin)


Under print shop for cable management and paper storage at some point in the future.  All nicely hidden cables up top.


Tree with lights off.


Built ins (left when walking in) holding main phone base station (10 handsets), DSL modem, and again, everything plugged in on the other side.  There are small, neat holes to feed all the cable through with 4 ethernet and a UPS on the other side.


Theater entrance with our custom sign (blurred out).  Solid core cherry door.


Combination lock with manual dimmer in print shop.


Theater door opened.


Inside theater, our Lutron Spacer System with four lighting dimmers and the master control with 5-scenes.  Ceiling cans, sconces, tray green rope lighting, and stair rope lighting.


Theater side left from sitting looking forward.


From the back looking toward the screen and main equipment.


Closet door, front left, and subwoofer.


Remotes.  Left to right: Lutron 4-scene remote, Denon Blu-Ray player, Mitsubishi projector, Anthem pre-amp, and Sony universal to control computer (and possibly all later on).


Door to enter the theater.


Theater seating: couch and 4 dedicated theater seats.  We did not want all theater seating.  Nice compromise.


Stair rope lighting, garbage can, furniture.


Right wall with sconces and right surround speaker on wall.


Under screen with built-in component stand--on casters so it rolls out.  All the cables hide very nicely and tuck below the front riser because there is a gap from the front wall.


Component stand with (top left-right) Anthem pre-amp, Denon Blu-Ray, Anthem amp, home built computer.


In closet with server sitting on shelf.  I have to be able to walk under it to get behind it and work on it.


Closet floor under shelf with UPS.


Other end of closet (left of walking in) with angled shelves and housewide ethernet ports / switches.


Final look from back row left seat (lower than eye height would be).

[benn600]

My camera lens is dirty so sorry about the splotches on the pictures.  I also messed with the levels to brighten some but not all so some are more closely real while others are over bright or too dark.  And nothing compares to real life viewing.

So here are several points I'd like to bring up.

1. The new Media Center is so unbelievable beyond belief.  I only regret not upgrading to the latest before our Christmas party.  The new one fixes the not-sorted problem and adds even cooler animations.
2. The interface is so well polished.  I know a lot went into the back-end that really adds some efficient polish to the viewer interface.  I can only imagine what will show up next.
3. I am so pleased that I went for FLAC two and a half years ago when I found Media Center.  It's SOOO nice that the hundreds of hours I put into this project doesn't need to be added on top of re-ripping my entire library now that we have a high-end stereo to justify it.
4. I am also impressed with the DVD quality output I'm getting--better than I was expecting.
5. People freak when they see the MC interface loaded with all of our content--100% of which has high quality cover art / thumbnails.
6. I really like having, for audio, Artist sorted (2 letters at a time) + another artist to pick the specific one.  Then, album choice.  Finally, I have toggled the view so there is a list with large cover art & details on right.  GREAT!

[JimH]

Nice work, Ben.  Thanks for sharing.

[gappie]

impressive ben.. looks beautiful..
enjoy it

 
gab

[benn600]

One song I consistently demo for people is "Come With Me" by Phil Collins on album Testify.  It has so much variety, imagined surround, and some serious bass / treble sections.  It is a great and powerful song...breathtaking.  I had set MC to random for our 17K songs during the break in period and literally the first song I heard was this (randomly chosen) and it was unbelievable.  Of course I still haven't rated every song I own and this, of course, hadn't been rated yet.  5 stars!

The pictures do look nice.  But, as always, pictures rarely compete with real life.  I couldn't really get a good shot of the tray, which has green rope lighting--very dim.  We had our traditional Christmas guests and for better or for worse, most of our time was spent in the theater.  We typically focus on talking and keeping company...but the theater stole this Christmas.

[Peter_T]

Fantastic!

[imugli]

DUDE! That is freaking unreal!

Congrats on an awesome setup...

1 question if I may? How did you get the other (better) half to agree? 

[benn600]

Well, I'm just a kid.  It's my parents.  But my mom and I are the ones who designed the whole room.  I did most of the layout, including the print shop (Illustrator design at top), and she did most of the colors.  We both ran ideas by the other.  My dad started the deal by picking the high-end speakers and I chose the equipment to go along with them.  Realize that this was previously unfinished, basically unused space.  Just look at the pictures.  Now we have two unfinished rooms, which is more manageable.  I guess I'd have to ask what typical wives might say to something like this?  My mom loves it.  She has brought up that we could have gotten the Paradigm Studio speakers and saved ten or more thousand dollars, but then we wouldn't have the gorgeous cherry cabinets that we matched up the wood to.  So all in all, everyone is very happy.  My dad had no idea it would turn out as nice as it did...of course neither did I.  It all came together in literally about 3 days, right before our company arrived.  I was up until 5:30 the night before...plenty to do.

[imugli]

Sorry Mate, just saw your age on your profile 

I think my wife would be Ok with it if there was nothing more pressing to spend the cash on, before that though and I believe I would be advised I could use my garage. A guy can't give up his garage, so that wouldn't happen :-)

With regards to controlling the whole thing, have you thought about running Cinemar's MainLobby/DVDLobby/MusicLobby off a UMPC?

[benn600]

With regards to controlling the whole thing, have you thought about running Cinemar's MainLobby/DVDLobby/MusicLobby off a UMPC?

I use Media Center 13 and it blows people away--especially with a nicely populated and cared for library.  My uncle, who is in tune with a lot of tech, even remarked how much better MC looks this year as opposed to previous year's they have visited.  The changes right before Christmas really revamped the system.