The "I Want it Done" Build Thread - Page 4

Thanks HDVids, this really helps - sorting through all the different rack options is a bit overwhelming. On those MA face plates, do you think I could screw them directly into wood studs if I didn't use a "real" rack and built my own?

^^^

I didn't grasp the interlocking with the shelves until you mentioned it and I researched further, thanks for calling that out. I can see your point - why spend a bunch of money on custom face plates and run the risk of them not lining up & looking right when you can buy the rails for just a few bucks more. Many of the sites that sell the face plates are hard to understand, the one that was the clearest also happens to have the best price on them by a substantial margin. Most of the others were confusing about whether the shelves AND the face plate are included; this site clearly says both are included for the price tag.

Here's what I'm considering ordering:

Rails 21U - only need to cover my AVR (3U), Blu-Ray player (2U or 3U), Cable Box (2U), and Xbox 360 (3U). Want a 4U drawer too, This should leave me with 6U or 7U to grow on.
http://www.customavrack.com/products/496-middle-atlantic-rrf21-10-32-mounting-rack-rails.aspx

Shelves and Face plates - this site had the clearest description and the best price:
http://www.customavrack.com/products/597-middle-atlantic-custom-rack-shelves.aspx

Drawer:
http://www.customavrack.com/Products/603-middle-atlantic-d4-storage-drawer.aspx

Filler Panel:
http://www.customavrack.com/Products/645-middle-atlantic-hbl6-black-brushed-and-anodized-blank-filler-panel-6u.aspx

Any thoughts are welcome!

Finished up the hardware installation on the cabinets... Also a very productive trip to pick up the rest of the OC703 to finish filling out the wall panels and to Home Depot to get supplies for base/crown moulding for the family room side and a few pieces to tie up the joints between it and the theater side. When I finish up the insulation on the panels, I also need to stretch out and re-staple the fabric to get rid of some wrinkles. The final panel still needs built, which is pending all the decisions on the rack build which has recently become part of the project (as seen in the few posts above). The rack build will be absolutely shamelessly copied from HDVids4all's. So far this project, which started as only a theater has added: Bar/cabients/refrigerator, entire family room side gut/re-build/re-wire/re-light/carpet/furnish, and now very likely wall mounted custom AV rack. The add ons exceed the cost of the theater substantially at this point!

Pics of the finished bar. You can also see the Ohio State tree my wife made for me and the Holiday selection in the fridge.

Sounds good - we looked at a house over on Northfield and I know several of the families out there (Grossglass, Strawser, Tootle, Snyder).

Shoveling is all done, sledding and snow man complete; heading north for OSU hoops game so nothing will get done on theater today!

I'll think about your tips as wells, good stuff.

I actually have a PC I built that serves as a Media PC that streams to Apple TV's throughout the house. It doesn't qualify as a "HTPC" for a number of reasons, but I could build something easily that did. What do you use for your HT interface? I've looked at XMBC but looks like a time investment to learn it.



This is a good idea, I may buy and mount a 45U and just not expose the lower rails. If I ever want to expand, the extra U's will be there and I will just have to make the opening in the wall and the panel covering it.

FedEx man comes through and delivers this on my day off! Rack building the rest of the day, not sure how much progress I'll make but can at least get a start.

I like the Polks, they sound great to my ears but I'm coming off a HTIAB set up that was pretty low end. I also managed to score a 2nd sub for free - 1st one came with a slightly damaged corner but fully functional. NewEgg sent me a new one and UPS didn't want the damaged one so I hooked both up. I haven't run Audyssey on my new Denon 3313CI yet, so really hoping for a nice bump up in the room response once I get the build done and allow myself to run it.

Got the rack assembled, glad I spent the $$$ at bought the MA custom shelves & faceplates. Good experience from opening the box through assembly. As expected, I have plenty of space to burn on my 27U rails. Welcome suggestions on component configuration, but here is how I am planning it. Would like feedback on the order of components as well as how to fill the empty space. Not planning on any cooling as the rack will be totally exposed into the the basement utility room.




The 1 year old likes the new rack (took my eye off for 30 seconds):

Lowes on South High in Columbus. Cost about 4,000 total with my own install on the cabinets. The granite install was included in the price. The beverage fridge was another $600, see my earlier review of that before buying the same brand. Good luck with your brother's build! I know mine has helped me out a ton!

^^^

The fridge is OK... not great, but not unacceptable. I knew what I was getting into at that price. If you can find a quiet one in that price range let me know; I couldn't find anything with a glass door and that look for anywhere near that price so I took the bad with the good.
Edited by kelton325 - 1/26/13 at 10:15am

Productive morning re-routing some electrical and doing the construction of the wall where the rack will be mounted. Hopefully will get some time later this weekend to put the rack in and fill it with gear. I ordered the remaining rack pieces as shown in an earlier post, so hopefully those will get here soon.

Wall construction/framing inside utility room looking out into theater


From theater looking into utility room (you can see my old shelving I used for equipment)

The rack is installed and components loaded up, turned out great. I need to build some small panels to re-finish the walls and also put some trim around it to clean it up. Hopefully the blank panels and the portable media shelf come in soon so I can finish it up.

More progress today...

Thanks David, I will be glad when the build is done so I can spend more time using the room with those two little guys versus having to chase them around while I'm trying to get work done. Definitely getting lots of quality movie watching time with the 4 year old, so the investment is paying off and hopefully will when they're teenagers like yours!


Thanks denm! I have been really impressed with the product - if they make it through shipping OK, they are great to work with and look really nice and finished. People can't believe they're just plastic! For an interesting contrast, check out the pictures of the cabinets in the bar (above on this page), which has a similar pattern. Compare those to the ceiling - looks like the exact same material however one is solid wood and the other plastic. Impossible to tell without touching.


I'm probably not qualified to provide a really good review, and I haven't done extensive tuning yet as I'm still building, but here are my thoughts:

Epson 8700ub

Pros:
- Lens shift is an amazing feature and works GREAT. Really gives alot of flexibility
- Watching sports with the lights on is absolutely no problem on my 1.1 gain screen; especially in Dynamic mode
- With good source material, the picture at approx. 10' viewing distance looks clearer than my 55" Sony LCD
- I am thrilled with the value for the price. I constantly ask myself how these super-expensive $5k+ projectors could do that much better than this one a little over $2k. Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about, but I am constantly wowed with the picture even now that I'm getting hundreds of hours on the 1st bulb
- A rebate for a 2nd bulb was provided (which I claimed)

Cons:
- Somewhat loud, however my ceiling is very low so hard to blame projector on that
- Seem to have HDMI handshake sensitivity/issues. Blank outs for 4-6 seconds, especially if the projector is turned on after the receiver. Believe I have resolved this using a HDMI booster for the 25' run from my Denon 3313CI receiver; and also programming receiver to turn on second after a delay. Same receiver feeding a Sony LCD in HDMI Zone 2 runs 50 feet with no HDMI boost just fine, no blank outs.


Open Questions:
- May be a little bright for a 1.1 gain screen in total darkness Very light or white scenes on movies seem to sparkle (hot spots?). I need to play with the settings to see if this can be corrected.
- Need to learn more about Auto Iris - currently not using it at all (not sure what I'm missing but guessing something)

Conclusion: Love it. I think once I take time to master the settings and finish working out the HDMI handshake issues that are very common in 25'+ runs and may not be the fault of the projector, all will be well. Highly recommended.
Edited by kelton325 - 1/28/13 at 7:57pm

Thanks for the tip, I will have to try that... I thought Auto Iris might help since it's supposed to automatically adjust the light output, but I will try the Eco too. I really need to read the 8700 owner's thread, I haven't looked in there since I bought it and was verifying that people liked it. Probably lots of fine tuning tips in there.

Remaining Rack parts came in today, 10 mins of install later we are done with the rack itself, just need to cut & paint the trim moulding to be completely done. Yet again very satisfied with Middle Atlantic. The media player shelf even came with 2 different kinds of velcro to fasten the base of your media player (in my case the remote control charging stand) to the shelf so it is secure. Not that I don't have yards of velcro laying around from the fabric panel builds, but it's just a nice touch and really shows the thinking that goes into the MA products.

Big shout out to HDVids4All for the inspiration - this rack was modeled on what he did. Also good call by tbraden32 on adding more space for future proofing - totally glad I did that!

^^^

Thanks... I've been putting together an HTPC parts list using Assassin's guide as you suggested. I can't seem to find a rack mountable case I really like. I could skip the rack mountable requirement to open up my options and just buy another custom faceplate, but not really wanting to spend as much or more on the faceplate than the case itself will cost. Will be keeping my eyes open for something good. I've also been playing with different Media front ends... My brother turned me on to Plex, which I found was easier and slicker than some of the other options. It will play MKV's with no problem and streams to iPad/iPhone, and even to a built in app on a LG SmartTV I already have, which was a nice surprise. It will even stream over the web for remote viewing of your library. The setup was incredibly easy and I like the skins & usability so far, and I'm seriously considering moving away from my existing iTunes/AppleTV streaming solution that doesn't support MKVs.

That will become a project all on it's own... On the theater build, next steps are:

- Install moulding around rack
- Clean up wires w/ some ties on back side of rack. Install some cheap shelves in utility room next to rack for misc stuff.
- Finish fabric panel that will go over lightswitch. Been putting this one off due the complexity. Found a 3-gang electrical box extender online today which will help.
- Several panels need stretched to remove wrinkles
- Complete Crown & Base moulding on Family room side - all installed just need to finish filling nail holes, caulk to close gaps and touch up paint.
- Repair some damage to walls & re-paint (happend during Crown/Base installation)
- Final touch ups of black paint on ceiling - several nicked up spots as I was finishing walls.
- Run Audyssey for room correction (not letting myself do it until the panels are all up)
- Re-run Disney WOW to dial in Video