The UN-Theater Build - Page 47

Had a rough Halloween, as far as I can remember.



But at least Noah didn't posted any more of his strange photos here, so I guess that's something to be thankful for.

Looks like you and your school girls had quite a night, Brian! Love your 'do - looks a bit like mine!

Maybe some day I'll happen to be driving by wherever it is in the NY mountains you live at the exact moment you're having a party (seemingly just about anytime)!

I wasn't entirely idle for Halloween: I unveiled my new invention for discretely sipping wine while walking around trick-or-treating with the
kids.

OK gents, time for an overdue progress update:



And I might have the same mission all weekend.

There. My job here is done.

Dear RT,

Chad,

I must have drank too much, too, as I'm seeing double of your post!

EDIT: Quick rebound there, my friend. Nice!

All right, I continue to amaze all and sundry (or at least all of my multiple personalities) with my pathetic, little steps of "progress." Baby steps.

First, after moving all (i.e. both) of my AV components into the newly built rack outside the HT, I needed to finally get going on some sort of IR remote solution, as it can get a bit annoying to have to get up and leave the room every time you want to adjust the volume or pause a movie. I didn't really need or want to spend the money on a nicer remote, mainly because all we're doing in there is watching movies, but I looked long and hard at a couple other remotes that intrigued me, like this one ...



... but for some reason it had a very low WAF with my bride. She thought this one might suit her just fine ...



... but I was a little concerned about that one, and informed her it didn't pass the HAF (if there wasn't a Husband Acceptance Factor before, there sure is now!). I thought I found a great compromise remote ...



... until she reminded me that she preferred wine to beer. Next she countered with something easy on our old eyes ...



... which might have worked fine, but in the end I settled on a basic Universal Remote something like this one that for less than $20 does the job just fine, plus when the inevitable happens and my kids lose or break it, I won't be too stressed about it:




I combined this with a Next Generation Remote Control Extender, which is relatively cheap and very, very easy. It was a snap to set up, and has worked flawlessly.



What a world a difference this stuff is from when I was a kid. You other old-timers remember that? ...



... if you wanted to turn the channel you had to actually get up and walk across the room and physically turn the channel dial (CLICK!!... CLICK!!...CLICK!!) until you decided which of the 4 or 5 available channels you were going to watch. Plus it was uphill ... and in the snow ... in both directions ... whatever.

Where was I?

Next I turned my attention to finally installing my rear surrounds so I could at last experience surround sound. I know it doesn't look as nice as most of your guys' set ups, but one man's ceiling is another mans' floor and all that.



So my goal was to translate that ^^ basic advanced surround sound concept to my cozy little HT-in-progress. (I know I tend to set my goals awfully high, but there is a method to my madness, to wit



So, back to my little HT-in-progress. I am really space limited on the back wall, including height-wise, but something will be better than nothing, and this is what I have to work with. Hopefully you can just make out the low voltage boxes for the rear speakers.



So I got another Monoprice order, and after painting the face plates black, I had something that looks like crap but sounds better than anything I've ever had before.









And before you all start giving me crap about how bad that looks, I'll just say this about that:



So there!

Seriously, it's all relative, and seeing as I'm coming from a "system" whose audio amounted to the single 2.5" speaker built into the old tube TV, this works just fine for me.



Watched my first movie in 5.1 surround sound last night and it sounded a gazillion times better than my 3.1 system sounded, which was 16 kabillion times better that my old 2.5" single speaker. So multiply 16 kabillion times a gazillion and you get ... um, carry the nine ... well, you get reminded that it's been a long time since your last math class back in the day.

Sometime soon I'll turn my attention to replacing the fancy white sheet screen with something a bit more upmarket (as IF that is possible! ) In the meantime I'll rock out with my new Walkman iPod player.