Pilgrim's Electric Boogaloo - v2.0 - Page 3

Not that I could perceive in my testing. But for $20+ship, it was worth the risk, especially for surround duty. MSRP is like $375 or something like that. I picked up its now painted brother for $100+ship used.

Room is too small for 7.1 IMHO. So, yeah 5.1. I have scavenged up hardware to wall mount the surrounds or use stands. The stands are kind of sweet, so I might use those. Or I might put them in columns - but I don't think that will work well in a room of this size for symetry and spacing reasons.

Thanks gentlemen.

I have the panasonic EPP through a business contact (I once met their lobbyist), so I have been waiting to see a shipment notice.



Michael - I'd say better late than never, but to be honest with you, not a heck of a lot has happened so far. It looks like my '09 free cashflow will eventually find its way to the yard, the living room, and a bunch of other stuff. So there won't be any heavy action until spring of 2010 (bonuses are in the spring). I have some rigid fiberglass that I picked up from another user, so I am thinking about making a few 2x4 acoustic panels. I only have WAF for little projects while the kids are so little.

I am often accused of sconce envy. Lately its towards Cathan and his Hubbardton Forge bling.

The rumor mill at work makes me think I won't be seeing as much of a bonus in 2010 as hoped. I guess the goal metrics were set pretty high. We are prioritizing some yard work first, so the HT will have to wait. My new goal will be to reorganize the storage in the garage to get all the crap that has been piled up in my HT. Maybe the yard needs a shed. Disappointing, but as much as I want the HT back, we have to be prudent with our money, time and choices. Sounds like my future PJ will be 3D compliant (in 2011).

Oh well, that aside, life is very good. Family is healthy and happy. I hope everyone is having a great Christmas season.

We'll need a shed building subforum. Maybe I'll post the landscaping pics. I'll throw some outdoor speakers in to keep it semi-on-topic.

I am hoping with the days off to get some quality reading into the Floyd Toole book. But I'll probably spend the time off playing with the kids and checking in with the family.

Thanks for checking in, pretty much its going to be 2011 at the earliest. All my money is going into the yard. The plans are set, most of the gear has been scooped up, though I tried to score some hubbardton forge sconces on e-bay for cheap this past week (not surprisingly outbid). I just got a mini-Kreg jig, and I am going to make my acoustic panels made over the next month or so - but that is mostly to get the raw rigid insulation moved out of my garage and away from my kids.

If you want to see where the money is going this year, here are the plans. Clears up some drainage issues, gives us some playground space and entertaining space, reduces mow space (increases care space) particularly the hilly part, and generally cleans things up.

I spent several months on gardenweb trying to come up with ideas on my own. But I could never get the hang of the trade offs and design principals, in part because there are so many more variables (climate, goals, etc). I think actually hiring a landscape architect for my suburban 1/3 of an acre lot is a bit overkill. A lot of the examples he gave me to look at were for much more substantial properties. But we are really happy with the project and I think we came to a design that meets our goals.

I'll drop you a PM with a few more specifics. Safe to say, its not unlike the Erskine DIY plans.

We have moved around a bit, but before the kids it would have felt like exile. With two little ones, its been great. Our neighbors all have kids, my commute is short and traffic less, etc. We lack a bit in variety in stores or restaurants, and lack a major airport. But we are in DC to see family enough for those things.

Latest (last?) ebay find. Some Hubbardton Forge sconces. May move me towards a color scheme in the browns?

At this point I have all the audio gear, the graphik eye, and soon, the sconces all in boxes. Not much more to bargain hunt (unless seats come up locally, not that I have room to store those). Which means when I finally start, I can put my money strictly in the build. I won't buy the PJ till last since the tech continues to evolve. Now, get through the yard project and rebuild the war chest for the HT.

Grabbed the last four.

I had been watching for a couple weeks and only one other one popped that had at least four. That one had seven outdoor sconces and went over $1K. My snipe was for $400 or something.

I saw lots of one off items, but I wouldn't want to pay retail to complete the set.

Well, we are finally close to bid out on my yard project, so I spent Sunday power-washing all the mold off my composite deck. We plan to paint the support structure, so a wash was over due. This takes several hours (composite is NOT maintenance free), and it turns out that the ground below the deck got saturated with water, which in turn flooded my basement. We are talking a ton condensation on the slab, a couple of puddles in the unfinished area, and likely a couple in the kids playroom. The playroom has a wood floating floor which was a buckled mess when we found it this morning. Some of the joints were discolored in a way that suggests there are puddles beneath. Yard drainage was already in the landscaping plans, but we hadn't had an intrusion prior to this. Obviously we will be beefing that up even more.

So, now the humidifiers are running, and my wife has been reading up on the internet and she thinks the floor will be a loss. So now we'll need to put some of the yard money into dricore and most likely carpet. We'll probably phase the yard project to accommodate the new expenses.

What that does to the theater time-line, who knows, doesn't help on the freeing up money front. We have been thinking we might give up on the small dedicated room in favor of using the playroom as a multi-function space. This will mean a drop screen, a sectional and a lot less sound isolation, but it might be more practical for the space we have, and how our family is operating. The proposed theater room would become a gym. We have a couple pieces of exercise equipment, and they are getting used. These will be dislocated when we add a bath to the basement. Which is something that we want to add soon if we are going to further enjoy the patio and other outdoor improvements as well as whatever indoor entertaining space we add to the basement.

I have been kicking this idea around for a couple weeks. My wife has said its 100% my call, which is nice. The upside of the non-dedicated is I could get it up and running a lot sooner. My wife is ok with darkening up the room to a certain extent, as well as adding more light control (its a walk out). The playroom is a much bigger space, an would create some opportunities (and challenges). Interesting times.

My kids are almost 2 and almost 5, so it will be more dress up stuff and train tables than pool tables and card tables. In many respects it offers some better potential than a very tight dedicated room. But, speaker placement (and treatments) are definitely the challenge.

We met with the landscaper to go over the bid, and on further reflection, its probably the exterior faucet leaked in the wall than the water wicked up through the concrete. Either way, the floor is in bad shape.

Put a few things up in the classifieds. We are going for the multipurpose room, so I am selling 2 cases of green glue, a 6 zone QS Grafik eye, 3 speakers (monitor radius 225's). I may put the 4 sconces up, but I am debating if I can find another place for them in the house.

At the end of the day its the right call for our family. I am sure this won't be my last house, so I'll hope to go for a dedicated space in the next house.