The His and Her Room by Ellen and Brad Westcott makes the March issue of Audio Video Interiors!

Take a moment to visit the site and provide your impressions of its WAF.

Congrats!

I don't think that is very WAF ish to me. For us, WAF is something that doesen't dominate the room. For my family room, WAF is NOT a 100 inch projection screen. Not shown but also a big no-no for us would be the projector. 18 foot cielings and a 26 foot room means that projector has to hang down on a pole somewhere ugly.

For 32K I'd have built a dedicated space somewhere if possible. I hope the owners really enjoy it though, and it is a very nice space, but a wife accepted space????? I'm sure most would agree that is not the type of living room most of our wives would be happy with.,

Tboy

I am sure my wife would approve - although she might also want the speakers hidden.

Cables and equipment are her main issues as long as they are not visible she is happy.

Nice job on that space!

Well the fact that the windows above don't have shades pretty much means it is night time viewing only. Not terribly impressed with the room to be completely honest.

Well the fact that the windows above don't have shades pretty much means it is night time viewing only. Not terribly impressed with the room to be completely honest.

Guess you didn't read the note about installing roll down storm shutters on the outside?? A pretty expensive solution to get darkness. I happen to like the feel of the room.

We all know that it's not refined as some of the dedicated spaces but I think it was tastefully done. I don't think they set out to build the best theater, rather the best theater that wouldn't totally overwhelm a family room and for my money they succeeded. As has been pointed out maybe an inwall triad sound system with color coordinated covers would have reduced the intrusion of the tall Klipshes.

I was also curious about the projector location in that room and the fact that you can't see it in any of the PICs. So I went to the Westcott home page and found the mount. (just click his name and home page for many more images)

http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/2205110060080308535mbSOrF?vhost=home-and-garden

I assume he sets it on the cabinet for movie events. Pretty clever. I think the room demonstrates how you can push the boundaries of a family room and maintain a certain balance of uses.

BRAD: I'm curious about the kitchen bar stools do you have a link? They look just what we may be looking for?

Dear BIGm,

As you pointed out, I just pull the projector out and set it on the AV credenza when watching a movie. Running a 40 foot+ HDMI cable would have been expensive and there would have been no guarantee that the video quality would not have suffered or not been there at all. I could have maybe used an amplifier system for the signal but that can get expensive too.

As pointed out by one of the more observant readers, automatic roller hurricane shutters are deployed on the outside of the house. We live in Hurricane country here on the water in Galveston County, Texas and so it was not just for light control. It did provide one added benefit and that is it has reduced our electricity bill by over $500 this year alone!!

As far as the screen. I am almost finished with a four panel painting that will fold over the projector screen when not in use. It was easy to make but we are still working on colors to incorporate and a design that I can tackle. From what I have seen of most contemporary art, how bad could I mess it up ;) I should have photos of this by the end of the month if my wife and I can agree on the paint and design. Any suggestions on contemporary artwork I could use as a reference would be appreciated.

The only other visible components are the speakers and that was something I was NOT going to compromise on. In wall speakers are a poor solution for good audio quality and not something I recommend if you want true audio performance. You can not test their placement, you have no control after they are installed, and unsealed wall studs and sheetrock as speaker boxes? Even 2pi speaker designs are a compromise. Only those who have to make the compromise because of WAF factors should consider it although I never can understand why it is done in a dedicated home theater.

Here in the South, we do not have the luxury of basements. We are just too close to sea level. I ran some acoustic calculations on all the rooms that were candidates for the HT and the living room won. Only one room mode at 125Hz. :)
The floors were painstakingly floated and insulated before the Vermont Maple floors went down. This was very labor intensive and expensive but since this is a shared family room, bass traps were not an immediate option. I am still working on that sales pitch to the boss!

What this large room did provide is awesome acoustics and room for the reference series to show their stuff. Room interactions are minimal due to the larger size, insulated and floated floors, high ceiling, open floor plan, and the controlled dispersion provided by the horn design of the Klipsch. The speakers are a good 4 feet from the front wall and 3 1/2 feet from the side walls. Seating position is a perfect two thirds at 16 feet. This makes for almost a perfect audio triangle. The subwoofer is placed close to a null so only two room modes are excited. Very clean bass and no need for reinforcement in the corner with 2400 watts peak power!!! Frequency response measured in the room is super flat. The 125Hz hump was nullified due to the all the opening to the room I presume. The center channel is so important and considerable effort went into making sure that it was as close on axis to the left and right horn driver level. The 18 foot ceilings provided the space to place it optimally while still installing a large projector screen and a small display. Try doing that with 8 or 9 foot ceilings! The screen is higher than I would have liked for the couch, but from the kitchen it is great. Too low and it would not be visible from the kitchen and we all know that everyone gravitates toward the kitchen when their is a gathering.

"stools come in two heights, counter and bar height. Mine are counter height and swivel. The island in the kitchen was customised and its surface size was doubled to provide comfortable seating. If you look real close, you can see the RF hub mounted to the bottom, in line with the AV credenza.

The Sony TV will be removed some day when I either get a flat panel and/or SD programming becomes the less dominant programming material. It is still tough to beat the picture quality of a good CRT.

Do not let the clean, simple look deceive you. A lot of planning and thought went into its design. The wiring is run under the floors in a channel cut in the foundation. Why? Because three of the four walls are structural, contain fire breaks, and large support beams that make wiring a real challenge. Power was run in a separate channel from the AV cables. Even the furniture is light weight and easily moved or reconfigured. The backs and arms are removable to make a fainting couch, ottomans, chaise (sp?), etc. The subwoofer is on its own dedicated circuit and Tripp lite Isobar. The AV equipment in the credenza are also on their own dedicated circuit and Isobar. You will notice that there is nothing plugged into any of the wall sockets around the room.

Yes, I did make some compromises and so did my wife but in the end, we are both very happy. Had it been a dedicated room, I doubt it would have made the magazine. What I would have given for a dedicated room. It would have saved me thousands of dollars on light control and other considerations that are not a concern when building a dedicated room. I could have mounted the projector on a back wall or the ceiling and my cable costs would have been non existent compared to what I had to spend to place the AV crendenza semi out of sight. Glowning lights from components can be distracting and this was also considered.

Thanks again to everyone here who have provided guidance and support through this process. Without your help, this project would not have been as successful.

Pictures of the hurricane shutters and more here!

http://www.webshots.com/user/jbwestcott

P.S. My hardrive took a vacation on me and so I wil have to dig up the receipts for the counter height stools. They are very heavy and have a brushed stainless appearance. Make sure you get the right height for your application and although backs and arms would have been more comfortable long term, the tight space at the island was not conducive for them.

http://www.webshots.com/user/jbwestcott

I am sure my wife would approve - although she might also want the speakers hidden.

Cables and equipment are her main issues as long as they are not visible she is happy.

Nice job on that space!

Thanks skidmark. That was my wifes main consideration, as well. The cherry wood finish on the speakers are furniture grade and match well with the other wood furniture in the room.

The screen will be hidden soon, as well.

Dear BIG



As far as the screen. I am almost finished with a four panel painting that will fold over the projector screen when not in use. It was easy to make but we are still working on colors to incorporate and a design that I can tackle. From what I have seen of most contemporary art, how bad could I mess it up ;) I should have photos of this by the end of the month if my wife and I can agree on the paint and design. Any suggestions on contemporary artwork I could use as a reference would be appreciated.

stools come in two heights, counter and bar height. Mine are counter height and swivel. The island in the kitchen was customised and its surface size was doubled to provide comfortable seating. If you look real close, you can see the RF hub mounted to the bottom, in line with the AV credenza.





Some thoughts about the ART. Grab a pocket camera and head for the museums.

Here is one idea. I see this guys work at every contemporary museum his name skips my mind.
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b393/bigmouthindc/DSCN2418.jpg

Here is one of my images. I do closeups of interesting buildings and then over saturate and modify the colors
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b393/bigmouthindc/Museumcrop6.jpg

Another thing is to go to a book store and look at the art books. Find something you like, take a pic/scan and with your projector shine it on the canvas and then trace the outlines of the shapes. Then it's just a matter of paint by number to add the paint.

I hope you can get the name of those stools. You might look under one of the seats. There might be a tag.

I guess the WAF depends on your "W". Mine loves movies and having a dedicated theater. Compromise is great, not having to is even better. ;)

BIGm,

I did not think to look under the stool seat.

Tempo Industries out of Los Angeles, California.

I found a link that has a picture and the model. It is called the Chrysler Backless

http://www.furniture-showrooms.com/products.aspx

Thanks for the ideas and I hope the counter stool information is what you are looking for.

I guess the WAF depends on your "W". Mine loves movies and having a dedicated theater. Compromise is great, not having to is even better. ;)

So does mine, but she also trusts my judgement. I never have to compromise with what I want to do, but she knows I have the same taste as her. While the room looks nice and clean, I'd never put a screen up so high, nor would I want speakers that large visible in my living room (no matter what the finish). Before I moved into a house with space for a dedicated theater (moved to a different house, specifically for that reason), we had a nice set up in our living room, but everything was rather seamless. We had a whole wall entertainment center made that had room for the big screen TV (60") and doors that would fold around it when not in use. The floor standing speakers on the sides of the unit blended in as they were the same finish as the unit so you didn't even notice them. All you really saw was a nice semi-built in entertainment unit that blended with the rest of the room.


Also, a 40' HDMI isn't that expensive. I haven't looked lately, but I bought my 35' cable from bluejeans a couple of years ago for around $100 and it works perfectly in my dedicated theater room.

Everyone talks about WAF and my wife has no say in what I do with any of the rooms in the house, but she also knows I wouldn't have any eye-sores anywhere.

The art work idea makes sense. To be honest with you, when I saw all the effort that went into minimizing the impact of the other component I was a bit mystified why a retractable screen wasn't chosen.

I believe Frank Stella is the name of the artist who painted the non-objective colorful concentric circles, or someone paying homage to him.

I found a company that will tranfer a photo to canvas but I am still waiting on a response for a price on larger transfers.

I believe that as long as you do not sign the artwork, it is not considered forgery.

A retractable screen can be expensive and over time, they wear out much faster. They loose their flatness so long term, a permanent screen can be better. I did consider it but as the light control budget got out of control, Carada came to the rescue with their more than fair pricing and quality construction.

Remember, I was selected for AV Interiors before I was finished so bear that in mind. My wife has also agreed to place some acoustic paneling on the study doors, just right of the right front speaker. I will provide an update as we get further along. We are just now getting to artwork and other decorative elements and the HT is not the only room in the house that is being renovated during this process.

As I have said before, acoustics are very important and large entertainment centers that limit proper placement, or block or house a speaker are not conducive to that end and that is why it was not considered. It just depends were your priorities are. The photos seem to amplify the speaker size because they are focused on them but when you take the whole house size into consideration, they are but a small part of the picture in reality.

Not to be negative, but I don't know how you made it to AV Interiors. Not a space that I can say wow ! To each it's own, I guess

Forum member and one of the fathers of surround sound, Charlie Wood, owns and operates a high end photography gallery of his work about a mile from me in southern Utah. He has the capability of doing very high quality printing of photos on canvas. I don't know if he's interested in any more work, but you can contact him at cwood7000@aol.com .

You can see his other spectacular images here... http://www.earthlightgallery.com/

Looks good....
I can tell you from experiance that it takes a long time to plan a project like this.
It took me 2 1/2 years for the planning and building of my home theater, but I would not have done it any other way.

I love having the dedicated room, the WAF factor is almost none...all though I did look to here for color and decorating ideas :)

Here is my play room: www.socalht.com/ray

Looks good....
I can tell you from experiance that it takes a long time to plan a project like this.
It took me 2 1/2 years for the planning and building of my home theater, but I would not have done it any other way.

I love having the dedicated room, the WAF factor is almost none...all though I did look to here for color and decorating ideas :)

Here is my play room: www.socalht.com/ray

Thanks Ray for taking time to show your appreciation. I love the coved ceiling, two tone paint, and especially the high quality A/V equipment in your dedicated space. All the planning shows and I am sure you enjoy your system as much as we do ours.

Forum member and one of the fathers of surround sound, Charlie Wood, owns and operates a high end photography gallery of his work about a mile from me in southern Utah. He has the capability of doing very high quality printing of photos on canvas. I don't know if he's interested in any more work, but you can contact him at cwood7000@aol.com .

You can see his other spectacular images here... http://www.earthlightgallery.com/

Paul,

I think your public message has overwhelmed Mr. Woods internet server so I will try again to access his site later in the evening.

Thanks again for the help. It is appreciated by both of us.

Forum member and one of the fathers of surround sound, Charlie Wood, owns and operates a high end photography gallery of his work about a mile from me in southern Utah. He has the capability of doing very high quality printing of photos on canvas. I don't know if he's interested in any more work, but you can contact him at cwood7000@aol.com .

You can see his other spectacular images here... http://www.earthlightgallery.com/

Paul,

I finally got a call back from Mr. Wood. I guess he was at a trade show and so it took a while to get a quote. Basically, he charges $25/ft2! A painting 58" x 96" is approximately 40ft2! for a total of US$1000.00. About what one would pay for a professional painting. I will have to stew on that one. Thanks again for the help!

nor would I want speakers that large visible in my living room (no matter what the finish). We had a whole wall entertainment center made that had room for the big screen TV (60") and doors that would fold around it when not in use. The floor standing speakers on the sides of the unit blended in as they were the same finish as the unit so you didn't even notice them. All you really saw was a nice semi-built in entertainment unit that blended with the rest of the room.


Placing speakers inside an entertainment center is counterproductive for good audio. It causes all kinds of acoustic problems that are not acceptable for good audio. If you do some research into audio, you will find out what I am talking about. Speakers produce sound omnidirectionally and that is why they need a lot of free space to opearate properly.

So many people know nothing about acoustics and only care about the looks and it shows in most of the systems I see with center channels placed inside a cabinet or entertainment center, or worse yet, inside a wall.

I think you need to do some homework on audio because you obviously do not know what you are talking about.

Placing speakers inside an entertainment center is counterproductive for good audio. It causes all kinds of acoustic problems that are not acceptable for good audio. If you do some research into audio, you will find out what I am talking about. Speakers produce sound omnidirectionally and that is why they need a lot of free space to opearate properly.

So many people know nothing about acoustics and only care about the looks and it shows in most of the systems I see with center channels placed inside a cabinet or entertainment center, or worse yet, inside a wall.

I think you need to do some homework on audio because you obviously do not know what you are talking about.

LOL, and I think you need to either 1) learn how to read OR 2) learn how to understand what you've read.

Where did I ever recommend placing speakers inside an entertainment center? Of course, it causes accoustical problems. Duh.

Thanks for the lesson on the obvious though.

Speaking for my own wife, having a set up like the poster in a room that we would entertain in would never fly. The dedicated theater was her idea. I thought she was just being sweet but rather she just wanted my loads of theater related crap out of eye sight.

That said, the poster's place looks nice to me....certainly it will truly be WAF friendly when the screen is covered. Nice.

Westcott,

You may consider another avenue for artwork. I have this in the hallway leading into my dedicated room. It's another slant that many haven't done in their homes. If you're interested, I can provide you with the link on where to get more info.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/zx10guy/basement/bigmike.jpg

I'd want to spray that thing with Raid every time I went up the steps. :D

Well the room does look like a comfortable space. However, I think the general conscensus is that it could have had been a little better with some tweaking here and there. Not that most rooms dont need that. Perhaps a little more research. I cant imagine having to setup the pj everytime you want to use it. Sounds like a hassle just to save 100 bucks on a cable. Also dont be so quick to bash inwalls. There are plenty of options that dont use drywall as a speaker box. How about some Triads?

I was Up in NY a couple of weeks back and when I saw this painting. I was reminded of your desire to come up with a print to cover the space.

This is at the MOMA, it's Monet's Water Lilies

So, get a canvas, Drink a little (Maybe a lot of) French Wine and try your hand.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b393/bigmouthindc/Picture081.jpg

I was Up in NY a couple of weeks back and when I saw this painting. I was reminded of your desire to come up with a print to cover the space.

This is at the MOMA, it's Monet's Water Lilies

So, get a canvas, Drink a little (Maybe a lot of) French Wine and try your hand.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b393/bigmouthindc/Picture081.jpg

Well, I painted a few poster boards and I think we have settled on a simple design and some brighter colors. Now to transfer it to the stretched canvas panels I built.

I like the music sculpture. I would like the link to the website WonHung. Always looking for ideas. My wife is leaning more toward movie posters and actor photos.

Well the room does look like a comfortable space. However, I think the general conscensus is that it could have had been a little better with some tweaking here and there. Not that most rooms dont need that. Perhaps a little more research. I cant imagine having to setup the pj everytime you want to use it. Sounds like a hassle just to save 100 bucks on a cable. Also dont be so quick to bash inwalls. There are plenty of options that dont use drywall as a speaker box. How about some Triads?

It was not about saving money on cable but the question of losing video quality or not getting a picture at all with an HDMI cable that is 35"+.

I recently talked to Kurt at BlueJean cables, and they have designed a proprietary twisted pair HDMI cable, in cooperation with Beldin, and hope to have them available soon that will permit longer runs without a compromise in video quality.

In wall speakers are always a compromise and I was not willing to do so. If it works for you, go for it.

Anyone have a link to the pictures, I can't find it on there site.

Michael

....

In wall speakers are always a compromise and I was not willing to do so. If it works for you, go for it.

Since this thread got bumped up, I just wanted to say that in walls are not always a compromise. Many are, no doubt, but like most other products, when you go up the scale you can be amazed at what can be done. You may be surprised to learn the number of high end theaters from forum owners here using in wall speakers, and these are folks who could have very easily have chosen otherwise.

As the owner pointed out, the first thing I noticed was no visible cables; that's probably the most important WAF in our household. I think it's a nice compromise between a functional family room/HT room. I think it's very hard to have a nice compromise between 1) great video and sound quality and 2) comfortable surroundings that's not dominated by the A/V system.

Overall, I like it, given the constraints of the room.

I was Up in NY a couple of weeks back and when I saw this painting. I was reminded of your desire to come up with a print to cover the space.

This is at the MOMA, it's Monet's Water Lilies

So, get a canvas, Drink a little (Maybe a lot of) French Wine and try your hand.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b393/bigmouthindc/Picture081.jpg

Well, here is he finished product. I am not an artist but it adds color to the room and makes the projection screen far less conspicuous. I made the frames, stretched the canvas, primed and painted, and mounted with piano hinges. Needs some adjustment but I thought I would post some photos.

http://thumb15.webshots.net/t/30/466/2/30/97/2631230970080308535wYtnoW_th.jpg (http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/2631230970080308535wYtnoW)

http://thumb15.webshots.net/t/63/463/6/43/21/2460643210080308535XyWatW_th.jpg (http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/2460643210080308535XyWatW)

http://thumb15.webshots.net/t/30/466/5/51/48/2178551480080308535TVLxJQ_th.jpg (http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/2178551480080308535TVLxJQ)

Thanks for everyones input and ideas.

Love it.

Very Piet:

http://www.soho-art.com/cgi-bin/shop/mondrian.cgi?page=2

http://www.soho-art.com/cgi-bin/shop/shop.pl?fid=1090955727&cgifunction=form

This link may be of interest give it a try.

http://www.ptank.com/mondrian/

Love it.

Very Piet:

http://www.soho-art.com/cgi-bin/shop/mondrian.cgi?page=2

http://www.soho-art.com/cgi-bin/shop/shop.pl?fid=1090955727&cgifunction=form

This link may be of interest give it a try.

http://www.ptank.com/mondrian/

That Piet guy must be a smart cookie!!!
I like the way he thinks. :)

I wish I had heard about Piet before. Would have saved me a lot of consternation and this project would have been done a lot sooner.

Thanks again for your help.

Very nice wall art. Which store did you get it from?

Thanks

Very nice wall art. Which store did you get it from?

Thanks

I did all the work myself.

Glad you like it.