Pimp My Garage - Page 6

Thanks Greg! If I had a basement, I'd use that, but not many basements 'round these parts. The best option I have to work with!


Thanks IGO! After I found the deal on the MA Slim5, I decided I'll just be rolling it into the A/V closet - I'll leave a gap in the middle, which is about the height of the connections to the wall, so I can unplug and roll it out when needed. Not perfect, takes about 5 minutes in and out, but not too bad. If I change my mind, it will be easier to create that hole than to patch it I figure.

Hey I thought of a good solution to my Genelec envy - I could enlarge some pictures of your speakers to life size, and put them behind my AT screen, and add some lighting behind the screen to pretend that's what I have behind there.

Progress - some forward, some in reverse :

• my PC died, so can't post pics right now - not sure what's up with it, I added a Microsoft wireless USB mouse, and it went poof after maybe 1/2 an hour, now won't boot - ran diagnostics, HD looks OK, CPU looks OK, even says the USB is OK which is what I was suspecting due to the new device...grumble
• got the closet painted
• installed a light fixture in the closet - a couple days later, it won't turn on, hope its the (halogen) bulb - pretty crappy bulb that came with the fixture if so
• installed adjustable shelving behind the screen to support the LCRs - need to add a few more supports, as the shelves are sagging under the weight of the speakers (I put the supports 32" apart, will need to add a middle support to make it every 16")
• installed 1" OC 703 on the front wall, Roxul AFB SuperChunks in the front corners, and SuperChunks in the rear corners, with a gap for the rear surround speakers
• installed 1 1/2" 703 FRK (FSK?) on the bottom of the soffits, over the pink fluffy insulation - to put something more fire retardant under where the cloth covering the soffit bottom will be - however the FRK/FSK is shiny silver, wonder whether it will show through the cloth - may need to spray paint it black first (??) or double up the cloth
• fried my sub amp yay - short circuit at the sub end speaker wiring - fortunately, QSC HQ isn't far from my office, so will try to drop it off for repair this week - when I power it on now, I get a hum and the internal breaker trips after a couple seconds

Bah sucks with no pics - maybe I'll take some and upload via my son's PC. Trust me though, my SuperChunks are dead sexy. Cutting the Roxul AFB with the electric carving knife worked really well too, kudos to whoever first thought that up.

Thinking of ordering the Hot Link XL for IR extender - I have the Hot Link Pro in the master bedroom, works quite well.

Progress this weekend:

Saturday - all day family party.

Sunday - almost all day son's birthday party.

Sunday night - added a separate single gang old work LV box and plate for the subs in the equipment closet, and wired it - the combo HT plate I put in for the rest of the speakers was out of space. Replaced the combo HT plate, since the bottom screw holes got rotozipped off when the drywall guys went at it. No biggie, $16, and I reused one of the pieces for the sub speaker connectors.

Monday - went to Home Depot for 40 2x2s and a box of screws, and started framing up some columns. Borrowing the idea from Ronnie Jackson of columns that are deeper at the top than the bottom, except mine aren't curved. They will be 7" deep at the bottom, 12" deep at the top; and 18" wide. On the fence whether to add decorative columns forward in the room for symmetry/balance/whatever - I think I probably will, building a mockup to see what it looks like with and without.

I'm putting my surrounds (monopole) at 60" from the top of the riser, which means 72" above floor level (before carpet and pad) from the first row perspective. That seems right based on what I've read, but welcome any comments. At 60" up, the columns are about 10.5" deep, which is deep enough for my surround speakers. Still need to build the shelf that supports the speaker inside the column, and install some furring strips for the columns to screw onto. And figure out how to build some type of grill. Which reminds me I need to order some more speaker grill ball and socket connectors.


I bought the Hot Link XL, but haven't installed it yet. For a remote, I picked up a refurbished Harmony 880 for like $65 I think (eBay). Works well, will see if I run into any of the issues that cropped up with them historically (charging station contacts I heard mentioned). Haven't gotten it programmed, other than playing around to see if it works with the Grafik Eye, which is does.


Yeah, probably will eventually - but I'm running just with a receiver, no separate amp for mains - but do have the QSC sub amp and BFD. Plus will be loading up the bottom half of the rack with my guitar/synth rack gear, so that should weigh it down nicely. I better get the carpet in soon, not looking forward to moving that rack around once its all loaded up, it will weigh a ton.

Thanks a bunch Zulu, I really like the look of your HT too. Hopefully mine will someday enjoy the status of "can watch a movie in it" that yours has. I sometimes have my doubts, lol - the atta-boys really help.

No, I landed a good deal on the used MA Slim 5 with the casters, so I decided to just roll it into the equipment closet. I'll leave the middle section of the rack open, so from the front I can disconnect it from the wall connectors if/when I need to roll it out for service. Not as convenient as full access to the rear - but easier to change mind to the hole in the wall than the other way around if I change my mind.


I've heard that too - but on the other hand, those are also the heaviest components, worried I could make it too top heavy and tip it over when muscling it around.


I haven't picked carpet out yet, guess I need to shop for it. I'd like to take delivery of my Berklines that I ordered during the last rsh special, so guess I need to get that done. Have been wanting to make sure I do all the messy stuff first, but I think I'm about done with that. Prob need to paint the door frames first though.


I bought the clips, but ended up not using them. With how I ended up positioning the rope inside the tray, there was no room to get them in. I ended up keeping it in place with a row of angled finishing nails to wedge the rope against the inner tray edge.


Yup, amazon.

Catching up with some pics:

Mini Coopers, even Clubmans, are not optimal insulation transport vehicles - not an inch to spare in this load:



Inside of the entry doors painted satin black:



Right rear surround column / bass trap - used Roxul AFB, great stuff - cheap and super easy to work with with an electric carving knife. Framing is 2x2s, and 1/2" plywood speaker shelf. I plan on filling the bottom part with more AFB, but need to discuss the outlets buried in there with the building inspector - can I leave them and bury them, or move into the columns, or move outside columns. Same issue with all column locations.



Left surround speaker column:



Right surround column, right rear column:



Right screen wall superchunk:



Screen wall - L/R superchunks, 1" OC 703, Rubbermaid shelving for LCRs (THT will either be upright in the corners, or slide under the LCR shelf on its side:



1.5" OC 703 FRK/FSK in the soffits, covering pink fiberglass filling. Boy sure is shiny, wish me luck not having that show through fabric. May have to paint it or use two layers of cloth, not sure.



Left side of room, showing rear column, side column, and side front (dummy) column.



Right side of the room, showing columns and miscellaneous mess.



Still thinking through color schemes - for the soffit, columns, and wall panels. Going to have an earth tone scheme for sure - the ceiling is very dark brown, the front faces of the columns will be black speaker cloth - so need to decide on soffit, rest of columns, and walls. Some combination of contrasting brown colors, olive greens, or deep wine reds. Any suggestions??

No sconces, so no issue there - I guess I'll test with a piece of fabric and take a flash photo to see where I stand before stapling up the fabric.

Haha yeah, no question - look forward to watching your progress when you get rolling.

I'm home sick today - I wonder how long before I convince myself that I've magically gotten better and start making some therapeutic sawdust.

Oh yeah, keeping the scrim so I don't overdo it and HF absorption.

Oh yeah, the corner traps were very easy - just screwed/liquid nailed a couple 2x2s floor to ceiling at 17" from the corner, and then load the AFB triangles - that's all they need for support. I bought an electric carving knife at Target for $20, and it made cutting the AFB a breeze. Each corner trap was probably a couple hours work.

I got the AFB from a local place in Anaheim that carries commercial insulation, called MacArthur Co. (http://macarthurco.com/) - they seem to be mostly West Coast, but some offices scattered around elsewhere. I found them by sending an e-mail to Roxul and asking for local distributors. The price was nice too, $0.71/sf for 3", so the material for all four corner traps cost me $91 plus tax.

Thanks for the support.

My Berklines are on their way, woot. I bought them during the power buy. No, not that power buy - the one back in August. They've been warehoused since then.

I guess I better shop for carpet this week, so they don't end up just moving from Roman's warehouse to my warehouse (garage).

Work on the HT work, or "work" work?

I found them not too bad - I used those push in wire nuts, I wonder if that helped? Plus didn't leave real long leads to stuff in, I'm always chintzy on extra wire, sometimes to my detriment (a couple wires to my Grafik Eye I really wish were a couple inches longer - a bear to get the box off and back on).