my ever evolving media room

Equipment:

Projector - Panny pt 2000 (replacement soon)
AV - Marantz sr7002 (replacement soon)
Amp - Emotiva xpa3
BD Player/Gaming - ps3
Gaming - xbox 360
Remote - mx3000
Screen - elite screen cinetension
TV - vizio 26"

Speakers - jtr t12 center, jtr t8 left and right - side and rear surrounds, 4 emotiva erd's (replacement soon with jtr triple 8 for sides and slanted 8 for rears)

Subs - 2 eD a7s-650's DIY's and 2 hsu mbm's

Lighting - x10

Acoustic panels - acoustimac and some hand made...more acousticmac acoustic panels coming this week.

Seating - Palliser sectional - sleeper for guests.
I also have 4 office leather chairs that come out when I have guests....seats 9 people comfortably.

Room has a fridge for beverages underneath the counter and an inexpensive popcorn machine that is more for show then functional...pops it, just not enough of it.

21x15 dedicated sealed room that is double drywalled with acoustic glue...solid core door. Suprisingly quiet outside the room except for the bass...whole house feels it.

Star tiles built myself for under $100 each...2 4X4 tiles framed out.

All cables from monoprice.

Rear part of room: Need to get rid of that brown trim...red wrapped 1x4 will go over the brown paint(same as what is running along where the angle ceiling meets the wall)...never liked the brown

Thanks everyone! I kept going back and forth with the t8's or the t12's. I originally bought the t12 as the center and down the road I figure I would get the other t12's. I decided with my space requirements, about 2600 cubic ft, the t8 would be plenty. I do prefer the t8's over the ed's...in fact it seems every time I get a new set of speakers, I prefer the newer ones...isn't that always the case...lol.

The ed 12's were very good but the t8, imo, beats it...in fact after playing them for a while, I favor the t8's even more then before over the ed 12's. At first they were close but I never blasted the t8's against the ed12. I have never found the ed 12's bright at all and found them as detailed as the t8 but when I really blast the t8, the upper end sounds more natural, yet very detailed...so I guess the ed's were slightly brighter but never bothering me at all and would never call them bright, just the t8 is a bit more laid back with outstanding detail...and the mid bass is slightly better then the ed 12, maybe that has something to do with the more natural sound. I always wonder how the upgrade ed 12's would do against the t8 but by the time you add the upgrades, your pushing closer to the price of the t8...I like buying from jtr too, straight answers and timely delivery of his product...and the workmanship and quality is outstanding...but i gotta hand it to ed...that ed 12 is a great value.

I know Iam done with my front stage and I just don't think I can do better then what I have now given the price point and value these offer...the surrounds are next for replacement.

the next thing on the agenda are these darn doors...I hate them and been trying to figure away to blend them in more into the room...they stick out like a sore thumb, but they give me easy access to my other chairs and makes any updating wiring a breeze...but I think I have come up with a way to blend them into the decor of the room.

Here are the pics:





so my solution to those darn doors:

I've decided to build a dvd/bd/cd rack that would go directly over the entire door. similar to the one on the top pic. I would drill a hole for the handle and change the knob to a darker color so it would blend into the cabinet.

I will then just screw the cabinet into the solid core door. The cabinet would completely cover the entire door and opening will not be an issue. I would leave the trim around the door on...originally, I was going to bring the trim out and kinda box the whole thing in but then the door wouldn't be able to open, so the trim will stay put. I guess my only concern is weight being applied to the door but the one I built in the upper pic, really isn't that heavy...hopefully this will be a good solution to my problem.

No pics when I was building. It was a new house and I did alot of the work myself...I just didn't have time...was going to do a thread on the build but I just wanted to get the house done and move in...I spent many evenings till 2 am, doing all the electrical and painting for the whole house, as well as other stuff. I was glad when it was over and moved in.

As far as the tiles, I used plywood (cut them out 4x4) that was left over and drilled small holes randomly for the fiber optic cable. I then wrapped the plywood in black fabric and stapled it. I then pushed the optic cable through the hole and through the fabric and left about an 1/2" sticking through. Then I used clear silicone and glued every one that I pushed through...

I bought a cheap led light illuminator, which had twinkle only for around $65. I did a google and could only find one similar for around $100 but I didn't search very long... I bought mine three years ago. I bought a endcable that was a mix of different sizes...can't remember, but I think I paid around $35 for 6'. It was very simple to do but was time consuming using the silicone/glue on every optic strand that I pushed through.

I then put that inside the trim that I built up and then used 1x6 the extended an inch to hold the panel in place. I'll try to get some pics up of the tile and have an extra illuminator somewhere and I'll take a pic of that as well.

Screen size is 94" . My knee walls are 5'. I thought about going with two rows of theater seating, with a riser for the rear seating...after me and my wife talked about it, it just didn't seem practical...so I went with a sectional because I really wanted a multi use area, tho its turning more into a movie themed room. Its nice to have extra space for guests to sleep with the pull out and the sectional allows my kids to watch regular tv on the side wall. If I wasn't going to have the sectional, I was going to have a tv in the middle that would behind the screen but that would block alot of the window. Its nice to be able to raise the screen up and have the window with natural light coming into the room, so the sectional seemed to be the best bet.

I also raised the screen up a bit, so it wouldn't impede veiwing when I had extra guests who would be sitting in the back. I also like the idea of pulling out the leather chairs that are behind the knee wall for the extra guests and when they leave, I put them back into the knee wall attic space. The room feels very roomy and not cramped when the leather chairs get stowed away, which I like.







Here are my leather chairs that fit perfectly into the knee wall attic space, I have since got rid of the table that people would sit at...just hated it crowding the room, I prefer more open space when its just the family. I probably would of kept it if I had guests over more often, I may go back to the table, but for now I prefer just the sectional, with the extra chairs coming out when needed.

I did some panels myself, but after factoring all the prices to build them, it really wasn't much more and they look a heck of alot better then what I could do...even has a nice beveled edge to them. I think they work well...my room acoustically wasn't bad but it did deaden the room a bit in a good way. I would by more and definitely not build more...building just didn't seem worth it...my time is worth something and like I said, these look excellent.

I love my mbm's near the listening position...I really have no problem with localization. I have them there for the mid bass punch...Ive moved them to the front, rear but the sides by the listening position made that punch happen...in a big way! If you can, you need to try it...I have heard some people affected with localization...but its no problem with my room..and I have it crossed over @ 100hz.

The couch was a sectional, so the only piece I was worried about was the sofa sleeper part. I actually put in a larger door to accomodate moving any large pieces of furniture in with no worries.

I built that table myself...the pic makes it look great, but honestly, it looked like crap...the finish was horrible and I kinda just through it together without much planning...I think if the finish was better and I used better lumber, I may have thought twice about getting rid of it....I do like an open feel and the table felt like it crowded the space.