Finally in my New House...basement plans

Well after waiting almost two years for my new home,
I'm FINALLY IN!!!!

I've been reading and posting here for almost two years to the day,
and after filling my tiny apartment with A/V components over the past two years,
the day has finally come to move my toys to a dedicated "Man-Cave"...in a REAL house.

...a little background
My humble beginnings here at AVS, Sept 2006, 1 Bedroom 500 sq.ft. apartment.
a 10 year old 27" Mitsubishi CRT TV,Yamaha 5.1 pro logic surround sound w/Yamaha 8" 85 watt sub lol
Mission bookshelf speakers and a Yamaha progressive scan SD DVD player.

 

My first HD  purchase Sept. 08/2006 Pioneer PDP-5070HD , Motorola HD STB (DCT-6200)
...then things started snow-balling (ohoh, hang on tight!)

 

 

Followed shortly by an XBOX 360 w/HD DVD drive, PS3, Yamaha RX-V661 for HDMI and 7.1 audio
Then in the Spring 07' I added some better Tower speakers (Mission) ebay score for half price and a real sub from Velodyne.
I ditched the XBOX HD-DVD add-on in favour of a Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD player for Lossless Audio and better upconversion...

 

Picked up a second Pioneer plasma (PDP-5080HD) Kuro in the Spring of 08', so I could move the 5070 pio plasma to the Master Bedroom.
Another AVR upgrade (Yamaha RX-V1800), and found a second matching 12" Velodyne sub on sale, Half Price!
and added another Motorola HD PVR (DCT-3416) now that I had two TV's.



My ex-bachelor pad just a couple weeks before moving day to the new home ...still projector shopping will likely be a JVC or Epson





Current Component list:

Video
Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 1080UB (Ultra Black) Projector
120" Motorized Richvision 1.3 Gain Screen w/ wireless remote
Pioneer Kuro PDP-5080HD Plasma
Motorola HD PVR (DCT 3416)
Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD

Sony BDP-S5100 Bluray
XBOX 360 Elite

PS3 80Gig

Audio
Yamaha RX-V3900 AVR 9.3 speaker configuration
(7.1 + 2 Front Presence channels, + 2 Extra Sub's)

Mission Speakers
M31i Front Presence
M34i L/R Towers
M32i Center
M31i Side Surround
M31i Back Surround

Velodyne Subs
Two 12" Velodyne DPS-12's  (Front L/R)
One 15" Velodyne DLS-5000R (Rear near field) ....number 2 is on the way,

found another old stock NIB and heavily discounted so I couldn't resist.

 

Power Conditioner/Surge Protection

Monster Power HDP 2500 Power Center
Monster Power HDP 1800 Power Center

Spares/BackUps
Yamaha RX-V1800 AVR
PS3 60Gig (original launch)
Pioneer PDP5070-HD (Master Bedroom plasma)
Samsung 26" LCD (Kitchen T.V.)
Motorola DCT 6200 HD STB (Master Bedroom)
Yamaha RX-V661 AVR
Yamaha 8" Powered Sub
4 Mission M30 speakers

1 Mission M3C1i center


My New Home
New Built in 05', Two Storey Victorian/Craftsman with "un-finished" Basement !
3 Bedroom, 2.5 Bath and about 700 sq.ft. per level put it about 4x the size of my apartment.



A Former Show Home I designed/drafted, came fully decorated and furnished, stainless steel appliances all included.


before/after exterior shots...amazing what a little landscaping can do







The plan for the basement man-cave is to start with my 50" plasma and eventually set up for a Projector/Screen (106"-120")

Now for the Fun stuff: using Google SketchUp























Back to reality...here's where I'm at now

Finished stairwell leading down to the future HT
.
.
.

Dedicated Theater area 14'-5"  x 16'-9"  x 7'-9"  = aprox 250 sq.ft./1900 cubic feet


I cant afford to Totally finish the space right away, so this is going to be a long drawn out work-in-progress,
and to make things even more difficult, I will need to work around all my gear after the room is full of furniture and AV equipment.
Not ideal I know, but its either that or leave everything in storage for another year or two...THAT just aint Happenin'

My First Home Theater
...My Kuro plasma just wasn't enough, so I made my home movie Experience Larger than Life with a Projector!

Edited by PioManiac - 4/17/13 at 10:20am

Before I get too far ahead of myself with a PJ/Screen/Rack,
I better get my plasma setup and my wire management planned first...






Last weekend I got into the home to get the basement floor painted,
I chose a chocolate colored Behr Porch/Floor paint in Rich Brown

It was a cheap temporary solution and will make future cleanup a breeze
as well as keeping concrete dust down to a minimum.







New IKEA Bookcases (less than $100 ea, and a couple clearance priced area rugs from Home Outfitters (70% off)























Well that was easy enough to get started, moving day is still a couple weeks away.

My First Home Theater
...when a Kuro plasma just isnt enough, Make your home movie Experience Larger than Life with a Projector!

I have several EXPEDIT Bookcases from IKEA,
and LACK tables/shelves along my front screen wall

.

I used 1 small Expedit bookcase (standing upright) and 1 large Expedit side-by-side along the back wall
and laid a couple small units on their sides for my side surrounds/lamps.

LACK TV stand up front is low enough to hold my center channel and components, a couple LACK side tables on either side for my PS3's
.

I furnished my entire room (minus the power recliners) from IKEA,
4 Bookcases, TV Stand, Floating Shelf, 2 Side Tables
2 Floor Lamps and 2 smaller Table Lamps... all for under $700.

Area Rugs from Home Outfitters came to about $250
(for two 5x8's and a 4x6.)


Camera phone shot of my Powered Recliners from the show room floor at Finesse Furniture

I actually found this at a local furniture store (Finesse Furniture in Alberta)
and cant confirm yet whether it's an actual "Berkline", it's likely knock-off.
All I know for sure is its real leather, soft as buttah! and I sunk into it like I was sitting in a cloud.
When I hit the power recline button I feel the stress of the day melt away leaving my body.

Even my g/f approved once she tried it, and said we HAVE to get this.
at $2399 and don't pay for 6 months, no interest I couldn't refuse.



I found this pic of a similar* style Berkline labled as a 45009,
but not sure that's correct either, maybe its a discontinued line.
(*note the middle two armrests are wider with drawers)


Moving Day madness!...

My recliners were delivered first thing in the morning, set up and plugged in.
The rest of the move was done in record time in the afternoon...so I've finally got some free time!
First order of business, wire up the rest of the toys of course
(I'll hide the wires after I'm satisfied everything is working 100%)

please excuse the temporary mess in this transitional phase. It will all come together soon enough
I'm doing this backasswards by filling the room first, then finishing around my "stuff"



I've got plans to hide the back of that ugly old wall unit from the old apartment soon...
For now its acting as a room divider, with one of the tower sections utilized for HD Media storage,
the other one will eventually be used as my AV Rack. ...yes I'm cheap and like to recycle





















Bargain Bin Micro Suede curtains...$50 Wow what a difference!, I cant wait to get the rest of my walls covered!



Still have 4' space between the seat and the rear bookcase,
will have to move the seating back once the big screen arrives.





Oh, almost forgot...Ordered my very first FP from AVDeals.ca (now known as Higher Definition.ca link: http://www.hd.ca/)
(after rebates it came to about $2k Cdn)
$300 U.S. rebate (about$360Cdn), free spare Bulb ($350 U.S.) Free Ceiling mount, Free FedEx to my door
2 Year Full quick exchange Warranty from Epson Canada

My calculations from projector central :

Paint is Colour Your World (ICI Dulux)
Stairwalls/Living Room Walls: Wright Stone 10YY 30/106
Kitchen and Bedrooms: Stone Harbor 10YY 48/071


http://www.icipaints.com/colourtools...s/schemer.html

Installed my 50" Plasma on the wall with a Sanus full motion articulating mount (VMAA18B)





Swapped my Towers with the Subs to allow space for a screen between, added one extra stud for a W-I-D-E-R screen

WOOOHOOOO!!! My new Epson 1080UB arrived!

Extended my screen wall (1 extra stud space on the left)
...and installed my new Powered drop down 120" screen I scored on ebay for $250 (shipped).
Both IR and RF wireless remotes work great!!!

I've only had my Epson 1080UB for less than a week,
and for my dedicated room with total light control,
....already prefer it over my 50" Pioneer Kuro (PDP-5080HD)

Just picked up Sin City on Bluray last night on the way home from work...

All screen shots taken from the same position/camera settings:
Seating distance is about 10', throw distance about 12'.

Kuro 50" Plasma (pic's from my brand new Fuji S5800 digi camera that I haven't quite figured out yet)





There's a Lot to be said for size, (when the PQ is still Great)
and the immersion effect when you're 10' from a 9' wide image was enough to convert this Kuro fan



Me standing off to the side (far right) of my 120" screen


Little Marv on the 50" Kuro


Haha, my 50" Kuro looks like a little PC monitor now


Big Marv, really In-Your-Face, the way the director intended




I'm very pleased with the Contrast/Black Levels of the Epson Powerlite Home Cinema 1080UB
Bluray movies through my PS3 look fantastic. Clear, clean and razor sharp just like my Kuro
..I just wish my $100 camera was better for taking screen shots because it looks so much better in person.

Okay, the PJ wins for size, but size isn't everything right? How about the "Quality"?

Plasma vs Projector round 2

50" Pio vs 120" projected image but this time the photo cropped to the same size.

My 50" Kuro from last year in my old apartment , aprox 4' diagonal (Eagles HD DVD)


My Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 1080UB at 120" ...10 FEET diagonal


Colors, skin tones and shadow details look pretty good to me
...the only question left in my mind is why didn't I do this years ago?

It's 3/4" Thick 2-1/4" slats
American Walnut from Mirage, Natural, with Satin Finish
Nailed to a 3/4" Fir Plywood subfloor.

Link:http://www.miragefloors.com/floors/c...exclusive.html




More of the rest of the home in my Webshots albums...
http://community.webshots.com/user/bjotf

Now for the real thing...
as good as my Plasma, but oooohhhh so much Bigger



the SketchUp mockup


the screen ended up a little larger than planned, but no regrets here!


Once the lights are out it's all good.




HD Gaming is nothing short of Amazing at 120" ! The main reason I chose a 16:9 screen over a 2.35:1 scope screen

Call Of Duty 4 (PS3)




no pause on the next few shots...controller in one hand, camera in the other so its a little out of focus


run&gun with the controller in my left, point and shoot with the camera in the right


Uncharted (PS3 Game) on a BIG screen and The scenery is freaking AMAZING! at 10 foot diagonal.


I'm an old Tomb Raider fan from years ago that used to play for hours on end on a little 15" CRT PC monitor
...but THIS is Stunning! It's all I can do to put the controller down and walk away so I don't rip through it too fast.

Here's a quickie screen shot, sorry no pause so it's a bit blurry.


This one came out a bit too dark due to the wrong shutter speed/aperture setting on my crap camera.
...But Don't ya love it when the characters are almost life size?


^^^^^^
That's me in front of the left edge of the screen

Well although mine are not "officially" Sante Fe seats,
I'm assuming they are similar based on photos only.

Negative?hmmmmmm, absolutely nothing,nadda
...other than I don't want to get up to leave my basement now,
I just need a beer fridge and a catheter.

I've actually had them since August 29th and every guest who
has tried them has asked how to get a set for themselves.

Seriously though,
if the arm rests that slide forward 6" [to cover the cup holders] were changed
to a hinged lid over a small storage tray for remotes/game controllers, I would be thrilled!!!

I dont care for universal remotes, so I currently keep my remotes on a two-tiered table behind my last seat,
its on a swivel so they stay semi hidden while not in use, then within arms reach when I roll the bottom tray forward.


I may look into doing it myself someday.
I never need to cover the cup holders anyway.

Fully reclined is almost dead flat,
so no good for viewing my plasma, [without and extra pillow]
It may work for the FP if I used my lens shift and adjusted my screen to the ceiling though

Okay, maybe not Dead Flat...but close

I dont know if you missed it or not,
but these are fully motorized, electric control so there is no "standard" 3 position *clunk*clunk*clunk* like manual recliners.

You have the ability to stop the recline at any position you find comfortable.

This shows the Left chair upright with slight leg extention,
Middle chair at my prefered position, mid recline, feet up.
Right chair is full reclined...good for sleeping



Another advantage is they are nearly zero clearance
IOW, they roll forward as they recline and can be placed as close as 2" from a rear wall.



Upright sideview


and with center seat reclined...