Calvin's Games & HT construction thread - Page 4

Jeff,

Yes the ducting has been a real pain but I'll have to address it later at this point. I'm just hoping the rest of the build goes smoothly.
In option #3 I will have to walk through the space between the 2 rows of chairs to access the office. Not Ideal but it should still work for my needs I'll also have a office PC upstairs by the Bonus room HT that will most likely get the lions share of use. Still a work in progress but I may end up moving the network printer upstairs as well.
Thanks for the post.
Cheers

Brendin,

Thanks for stopping by. The home is a Pacesetter home and they are sadly not living up to expectations but this is again the market we are in. The framers were excellent for my house- I personally checked all of the walls and they were within a 1/16" which is excellent
The plumbing and electrical has been pretty good - only complaint is the ducting which is by far the worst I've seen in any home built since 1980 I'm not even sure if they were apprentices putting this in
I'm looking at just building a stand alone HT in a separate building outside or just selling and rebuilding in a year or two at this point. I originally wanted to build with Avi and now I'm kicking myself in the ass for not going with them even with the premium it would have cost I would have been far further ahead.

I bought the 333 from AVS here on the forum they are asking $7500 (us) which is an excellent price for a 3 chip DLP. I wouldn't recommend the $500 (us) overnight priority express delivery though as I paid for that and it wasn't worth it to get the PJ a day or two early. They still have a powerbuy topic up in the above $3500 PJ forum to get the numbers for Jason and co. here at AVS. The bulbs I believe with the powerbuy are just under $700 (us) and last around 1500 hours.

Thanks for the post and looking forward to seeing your pics

Missedagain,

Wow lots of people from Edmonton here My build is on the Terwillegar side of town. Pretty hard to believe the market that is for sure and million dollar home sure doesn't get you nearly as much in Edmonton or Calgary as it would have even 4-5 years ago.
Here is an interesting article on housing.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/st...-20060621.html
Our lot has also more then doubled in the last 18 months - across from me in the new sub division just been developed I've been told the lots will start at $500,000 and go to 1.3 million (just for the lots ) These are 60 pockets so some huge homes going in there no doubt, will be interesting to see what and who is building there. Will make my home look like a bargain to sell for twice what I've paid in a few years I'm sure.
I'm looking at a couple of acres just outside of town right now - may buy the land now and build new again in few years once I have this one paid off.

Back on topic - My wife is heading in to do a walk through and take some pictures tomorrow afternoon so I should have some new pictures to post on Monday. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about the basement . They are using metal framing for the entire basement which I've heard will be a complete disaster sound wise for inwall speakers like I've planned so I'll be trying to get that changed if its not to late. I may just have them stop working down there as it's going to be easier to fix it from this point then when they are finished.(If they are not done already - who knows the basement could be ready for paint by the Sunday walkthrough)

Cheers

missedagain,

Yep we are both in a highly prized area you moreso then I - I just wasn't comfortable with a million dollar mortgage so I moved south a bit where it's a bit cheaper (but still expensive )

Thanks for the kind words the project is sadly going to take a bit more work after moving then I was hoping for as I wanted to just run downstairs and turn everything on ideally. Now I will likely have to replace a couple of those darn steel framed walls in the basement and remove some of the ceiling to rerun the ducting etc.. figure going to cost me several thousands more and month or two to get everything where it should be (this is my learning cost for not planning well enough - lesson learned )

As far as costs I haven't added everything up yet and I've been paying cash for everything up to this point but I would say I passed $50K in equipment or will by the time its done + the basement been finished was $35K and installation for the A/V company is another $6k or $7k (not sure haven't seen the final bill as I'm still making last minute changes to the A/V side).

I'm looking at getting a 40" + LCD or Plasma for the living room HT which I've budgeted $2 to $4K for and then I'll likely replace my older 61" 4:3 toshiba as well for the bonus room HT and I'm looking at anywhere from $3k to $7k for a 60" to 72" DLP / LCOS set.

Not cheap that is for sure but I don't collect cars, Harley's, boats or other goodies like many of my co-workers do - electronics and movies are my vice

missed again,

What TV did you end up buying (model and brand?) and where if you don't mind me asking (no need to mention price as you've already done that. Reason I ask is I'm looking for a 1080P for the HT in the Bonus room and maybe that set will fit the bill

Thanks.

Did a quick tally after missedagains question. Figured I should know where I'm at for spending
As we are not allowed to show anything but MSRP I've tried to do that in all cases to obey forum rules.
Some cases I could not as I couldn't locate anything on Google to give me a Canadian or US MSRP - like the Infocus 333 which was bought off of the AVS site so I'm sure they won't mind me giving the price I paid.
I've converted everything into CDN and applied MSRP CDN store prices where possible. Obviously the list will have some discrepancies and of course I haven't paid the prices listed except where noted below.

ok here is the cost for new construction HT equipment only (not counting the old stuff I had before buying the home).

Downstairs-------------------------------------------------MSRP
Sherwood Newcastle R-965 ----------------------------$ 2600
HSB-600 -------------------------------------------------$ 400
Infocus 333* --------------------------------------------$ 9500
Behringer BFD 1124P x 2 ------------------------------ $ 450
Crown CE 1000A ----------------------------------------$ 550
Behringer EP 2500 AMP ---------------------------------$ 525
Flying mole cascade amp& modules-------------------- $ 5200
Super X pro Crossovers x 2 ----------------------------- $ 300
Earthquake Thor x 4 ****--------------------------------- $ 10,000
W850 Series x 8 (only using 7) -------------------------$ 4600
GE distribution Panel ** -------------------------------- $ 1000
The Adagio Berkline Chairs x 8 --------------------------$12000
c/w power and lighted cupholders ***
Toshiba XA1 -------------------------------------------------$ 1200
Xbox 360-----------------------------------------------------$ 600
SMX Screen (what I sent)-----------------------------------$ 500

Main Level
CA850 Series x 4------------------------------------------ $ 2300
IW55Ix 1----------------------------------------------------$ 375
IWS10 x 1--------------------------------------------------- $ 700
Leather furniture ------------------------------------------- $ 8000
PDR Mount--------------------------------------------------- $ 1000
Xbox 360-----------------------------------------------------$ 600
Toshiba A1 ---------------------------------------------------$ 700
Sherwood Newcastle R-771---------------------------------$ 1000

Wires, inter-connects & remotes etc-----------------------$ 3000
Back boxes and brackets for speakers----------------------$ 1500
S&H, customs and brokerage
not included in prices above------------------------------$ 3000

Equipment + associated costs total ============= $70,200 MSRP

Installation estimated----------------------------------- $ 6000
Partially finished Basement costs------------------------$35000
(not including unfinished areas)

Total HT Components MSRP and basement costs. ----------$112,200 (+ our lovely 6% Goods & sales tax of course )
Not included in the costs are any items I had prior to construction like
the HT components going into the bonus room and PC's

* = Converted from US to CDN including S&H and customs charges not MSRP but actual price in this case
** = Actual price I paid can't find a MSRP on the exact panel I've purchased
*** = Estimated MSRP as I can't find an actual MSRP on these chairs but when you factor in exchange, S&H + C&B charges this will be pretty close to what I'm paying anyways
**** Edit - Changed this value after finding these are listed as $1999.99 MSRP (us).

Better hide this number from the wife - makes her budgeting $75K for the backyard seem down right feasible compared to my spending already and I'll likely be spending another $30K more before this is all done!

Updated photos:

The wife was by for a walkthrough today. Here are some new photos and some quick notes.

(click to enlarge all photos)

No drywalling has started yet but they are ready to go tomorrow from the looks of things as alot has been moved into the upstairs already.



Storage Room walls in place - just a barrier wall between the mechanical room and the HT where I can store materials.





Framing (spare room area)



Bathroom and A/V equipment rack room.



More to come in the next post

continued from above:

Corner fireplace in Basement HT.



Sound room and screen wall updated photo:



Closer up look at A/V room



Next Saturday I'll be back in town and will be taking the pictures on our next walk through.
Should be looking a whole lot different by then I imagine if they are done drywall.

Cheers

I was talking with my A/V installer today on the phone and he and I were discussing what to do about the inwall subs going into the side walls. We both agreed with the steel framed walls the vibration would likely sound like hell regardless of how we framed the subwoofer with out replacing the wall themselves.

What he suggested is moving them out of the walls and putting them into the riser under the seats (similar to the drawing - of course placement can be moved to where ever in the riser it would work best). similar to the picture below. Note the subs are pretty close to scale in the diagram they are almost the size of the seat cushion on the chairs.

(click to enlarge)



The subs would be inset with a mesh covering to protect them and he thinks it will still produce a far better result then putting them in the wall.

What are your thoughts everyone ? Any ideas, comments thoughts are appreciated as this is all brand new for me wasn't even considering anything like it.

Thanks for any replies and comments

Brad,

Thanks for stopping by - your build is coming along nicely one of the construction threads I've been watching and saying to myself - Why didn't I think of that ?. I should have done even more reading and planning before starting my HT in the basement but more importantly I should have gotten all of my plans on paper and signed off by the builder that is why I've been ending alot of posts with sadly lately


That is a good idea but my wife is actually pretty darn good with money and up to this point hasn't really been very 'spendy' (which is a great thing). With the giant back yard though I seem to have brought out a whole separate person as she's got some pretty big plans for that yard and they are going to cost a pretty penny methinks (concrete pads, gazebo, hot tub, foreign trees etc....)


I did read up on alot of the sound proofing and thought with the insulation between the floors (24" of insulation between the basement and main floor) I would be ok as long as I got the ducting out of the room. I'm not concerned about the sound "filling" the basement at all just keeping it from the main and top floors as much as possible. Didn't work out for me but I'll see what I can do to fix it once I'm in the home.


Same line of thinking my wife used to sway me to stick with black. The rational mind usually wins me over once I think about these things so I agreed and went with the black hopefully I won't be disappointed.


Expensive real estate in southern California with the beautiful weather, ocean etc... all makes sense to me but in Edmonton, Alberta a 2000 sq. ft Condo selling for $700,000 is pure insanity


I original thought the basement would be larger then it is in my mind but once I started throwing things down on paper close to scale I saw that I was pretty much left with option #3 as the only option unless I dramatically shrunk my screen. I'm not sure how the ducting will effect everything yet. Right now my plan is to mount the PJ at 18' back and just use the zoom function to find the sweet spot that works for the room.

Did you have any thoughts regarding the new sub placement in the riser? I've heard from another fellow that I should make sure they are at least 6" from the floor and I should also inset them so they don't get damaged by the chairs.
I think I'll have to fill the whole riser with sand as well or the vibration will be horrid.
Still trying to figure out the best placement as well. I'm thinking centering them more on that row - moving them in so they basically cover 1/2 the outside arms of the loveseat and the adjoining chair.

Any thoughts on that anyone?

Jeremy,

Thanks for the input. I'll have to check into those ideas I'm not a speaker builder but hopefully someone more knowledgeable will chime in on your suggestions. I'll look into it myself in case no speaker gurus are watching my thread

Here are some more pictures and some of the literature that came with the in walls for downstairs

(Click to enlarge)



Back side



In-wall bracket instructions



Page 1 speaker information:



Page 2 Speaker information.



The long lost fed ex order Finally in my living room.



More to Come soon:

The rest of the order that finally showed up from Fed ex and my spare bulb for the 333 has also finally shown up.

Bulb for the 333



Sherwood Newcastle R-771


Back of the R-771



Articulating Arm for Display in living room:




I've also talked to Kyle at Carolina furniture friday and he thinks my chairs will be showing up very soon as the shipping company was recently in contact with him asking for shipping directions
more to come;

Joe,

Thanks for the kind words. I don't think I'm going to catch you though I'm at the mercy of my general contractor and as you can see from my last few posts things are going very slow. I was hoping they would be finished drywall and painting by mid October. Flooring by the end of October and then finally on to finishing work which will still be 6 to 8 weeks as my home has a ton of detail work and it takes time. All of the rooms have both crown and base molding, all of my doors are arched etc... its these types of "touches" that will take a lot of time.
I'm moving my expected move in Date from November 30th, 2006 to Feb. 30th 2007 now which means x-mas at the old house again. My builder won't confirm a possession date until 30 days before handing me the keys but I'm pretty darn sure baring a miracle it won't be in 2006.


Only news this week is I have my wife running the back boxes and brackets over to the A/V installer before they begin drywalling. We have our next walk through on Sunday the 22nd so hopefully I'll have some news and some photos showing some completed work at that point.

I'll keep the updates coming as new things happen of course but this thread is going to be going awhile I think.

Cheers
Calvin

I sent this e-mail to Proficient (Speakercraft) the other day to get my answer from the source

Here is a copy of the E-mail and their response.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sent: Thursday, October 12, 2006 4:49 PM

Subject: questions about the W-850 Inwall speakers

Proficient,

I've recently purchased some of your W-850, 8" inwall speaker for a 7.4 application that my A/V installer is installing in a new home construction. I have some specific questions I'm sure your better suited to answer.

Are the in-wall designed to work with a specific volume within the wall enclosure?

I have them going into a 2" x 4" metal frame wall + 1/2 dry wall with the brackets that are designed for these speakers. I've asked the construction company to insulate the walls completely around each speaker so I assume this my best approach?

Should I leave a certain space around each speaker, leave the wall areas between the stud hollow or insulate and compact the insulation as much as possible around each speaker and bracket?

Thanks for your time.

Regards

Calvin

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From Sergio Rodriguez
Sent Friday, October 13, 2006 9:27 am
Subject RE: questions about the W-850 Inwall speakers

Calvin,

No there is no specific volume that you have to use for the in wall speakers in the wall enclosure. I would make sure that there is plenty of insulation in the walls since you have the metal frames but make sure you do not cover the speakers completely go around them as much as you can compacting the walls very well so they do not rattle.

Thanks,

Sergio

Willie,

Thanks for stopping by. I've read your thread and was visiting it the other day again - Nice pics of "Master and Commander" and I'd suggest the Mits 3000 (out of the ones you mentioned) when your ready to upgrade bang for the buck its a great PJ.
In alot of ways I wish I was building this house or at least had left the basement for myself to finish off. To late now but perhaps my next home as this sadly won't be the house I'll be living in for the next 20 years as I had originally hoped
Living up here in Edmonton is very expensive the average 2 story home is around $350,000 now I've heard and that is starting so your not getting a whole lot. Payments on a $300k to $700k mortgage at 6% are not pretty that is for sure and I honestly don't know how many people are doing it as not everyone can be making $100K + a year. I think many people are doing 35yr mortgages and taking on far to much debt.
I wanted the Sherwood Newcastle after doing a lot of research bang for the buck they are an incredible piece of equipment. If you shop around you can get them for far less then I would have imagined as well. In hind sight I would have like to have gone to separates but I was offered a terrific deal on the R-965 and the HSB-600 together so I went that direction instead. The R-965 is a beast of a receiver and compared to the R-771 I picked up later its a giant. The R-771 was an after thought I figured I'd pick up to use in the bonus room and move my Yamaha 1000 down in the A/V room to run the living room HT.
I'll be sure to share my thoughts on everything once its up and running but I'm expecting to be impressed with everything once it's all properly calibrated and set up even with the basement not quite coming together as planned.
Cheers
Calvin

My friend just bought that exact same TV from Futureshop last week I'm heading over to his house on the 20th to check it out and see if its going to fit the bill for what I'm looking for. He paid under $3500 but it was on sale I guess and I'm not sure I won't want a 70" unit for the bonus room if it will fit ok in the window space I've planned for. I'll definitely be getting the largest display I can fit in the space with the components I can.

I'm spending a pretty big chunk of change no doubt but I originally planned to live in this house for the next 20 to 30 years so at the time it was an investment into my happiness. I'll definitely have to be selling it to another HT nut to get anything back out of my investment as the average home buyer doesn't want a $50k increase to the value of the home due to built in HT gear.
I wish I could say I'll have mine paid off in 2 to 3 years but that is just not possible for me with out eating mac and cheese and locking myself into my office at work for 400 hours a month (I'm already here for 280 and that enough ) I'm looking at 10 to 15 years to pay this one off if I keep it.

It sounds like once you've paid off your house in 2-3 years you will have no problems getting "a bunch of neat stuff" with your means You will definitely have to start a thread and get some pictures up once you start getting the A/V bug I would love to see what a fellow with your resources puts together considering your knowledge from the AVS forums I'm sure it would be pretty spectacular!
Cheers

Slow work day today - going through some corporate changes up here so I figured I'd take this down time to work on my riser plans.

This is what I've come up with so far for level 1 made with 2 x 4 treated lumber which will sit directly on the carpeted floor in the basement.

(as usual click to enlarge all photos )



For the second level I've gone with 2 x 6 untreated lumber with a box to hold the subs. I've decided to glue and screw one level of 3/4" OSB between the 2 levels and to insulate or sand between all the braces (haven't made up my mind yet on insulation, sand or a mixture of both? any input here would be appreciated.

2nd level



I'll have the subs inset in the 2nd level and a protective grating to ensure they can be protected from a mishap like a chair leg getting slid over top of them. I'm not sure exactly how I'm going to do this but I think a steel grill of some kind I can have a welder friend make up should fit the bill

After the subs are inset I'll have the subs plugged in to the pre run speaker cable and have the power bar or power bars placed so that the 4 chairs will have the necessary power, once done I can carpet the rest and leave the subs open other then the grating.

I have no plans for any lighting in the riser. I'm willing to live with out that final "nice" touch. I may change my mind later and if so I'll just have to strip that one small section with the stair portion.

let me know what you think , any ideas thoughts, comments or suggestions are always welcome.

Thanks
Calvin

Joe,

Thanks for the comment. I was thinking like you 100% as to the way to do it but when I met with my builder and they told me they weren't changing a thing (they are behind schedule and over budget ). I'm basically left with what they build if it isn't specifically in writing
This just gets chalked up in my lessons learned column for next time but sadly if I want to rework the room I will have to do it myself and after I take possession of the home. I haven't completely given up on the idea redoing the room once I move in but I'm just as likely to sell the home and start over from scratch with a new builder in a new location as well. I think it will cost me $20,000 to fix (or more) all the mistakes I currently have in the room, as it will be when its finished. My plan for now is to let them finish it their way (they are anyways) and then try to do what I can (which is live with the ducting, move the subs into the riser etc..).
My A/V installer suggested the subs in the riser rather then not use them at all (which is what I was planning on doing - just returning or selling the two I wouldn't be using). He seems to think it will be good and says he's done it in the past with success - I have never seen it first hand so I'm willing to waste some time and money to see if its better then no subs in the rear part of the room for now.
Sadly what can not be changed must be endured so that is why I'm going the less the perfect route in this case.
Cheers
Calvin

Thanks Joe always appreciate the comments. Good, bad or otherwise. I'm learning as I go and in hindsight everything is clearer. I always wanted to build my own room but I knew with my schedule and work load and the time I spend physically away from the home I would have no chance to get my HT up and running with out a year or two going by. I figured my best bet was to pay others to do it but I was short sighted in that I didn't supply specific written instructions regarding every aspect of the build - the seller as usual told me one thing and the builder told me another. Sadly in this case the builder and not the seller has the stroke so I'm left with what they will do with the contract in place.

I was at one point (after I saw the ducting) going to stop all the building in the basement completely other then the mechanical room but my wife talked me out of it. The cost and the time needed for me to do it myself again at this late date would have been considerable so she's convinced me to just try it out and see if I can live with it. If I can't I can always tear it all out, build another HT room onto the existing home or just build a whole new house somewhere else so eventually I'll end up with something I like just might take a bit longer and a lot more $$. As always nothing time and money can't fix.

The wife is doing a walkthrough today at 1:00 pm so I hope to have some new photos up either later today or tomorrow if anything has been done at the home since my last one. She is also dropping off all the brackets and back boxes for the speakers so hopefully my A/V installer gets those in place before another contractor walks off with them.