[MarkH]

Finally got around to taking a few pics of my two setups over Xmas, and happy enough to show them to the world! In the Theatre, due to the fact that my HD media is expanding fast, I will most likely find storage outside of the room itself for the movies. I do prefer a clutter-free look. Anyway enough talk, here's the systems - I'll start with the Theatre first:-

THEATRE ROOM

Equipment:-

Sony VPL-VW60 SXRD 1080p PJ

Yamaha RX-Z7 AV Receiver

Toshiba XE1 HD-DVD Player

2 x Sony PS3 (Fat REg A and Slim Reg B)

Xbox 360 120GB Elite

Beyonwiz DP-P1 250GB Twin HD PVR

Belkin PF40 Power Conditioner

Richter Wizard Front Speakers

Richter Legend Centre

Richter Legend Rears

Krix Atmospherix In-Ceiling Speakers

2 x REL T3 Subwoofers

92" 16:9 Fixed Screen


Before the renovation

AFTER


Front View - Cabinet

Left Angled View

Right Angled View

Lamp On

HD media, DIY wall panels and foot stools

Rear Speakers - Left

Rear Speakers - Right

Couch

PJ

Ceiling - Light

Equipment:-

Cyrus Pre XPd Pre-Amp

Cyrus 8 Power x 2

Cyrus CD8SE CD Player

ProJect RPM 5 turntable (sold temporarily, to be replaced with an RPM6.1)

Pioneer PDP-C509 50" Plasma TV

Apple AirPort Express

XTZ 99.25 (on loan while I wait for my XTZ 99.26/10.17 to arrive from Sweden, again!)

UPDATED: Added Remote

The Brains of the Operation


Remote

UPDATED: Added Headphone pics

UPDATE 25th APRIL: Added some pics of my installed RFX6000 Extender HERE

UPDATE 12th October: Added some new headphone pics HERE

UPDATE 8th November:Updated Living Room pics to reflect new additions HERE

UPDATE 18th July:Updated Living Room and Main Bedroom pics HERE

UPDATE 4th August:Some nighttime pics of Bedroom system added HERE

 

[ddgtr]

Nice, very nice indeed... Also, great equipment, I love the ELACs together with the rest of your 2 channel! Can you elaborate a little on how it all sounds together??

 

[Aaron Gilbert]

Mark,


Wow, you have got two really spectacular rooms there! I love your equipment stand in the theater room. I don't believe I've ever seen one quite like it. It's very unique and stylish. I just love the symmetry of your front setup, yet not complete, with the light in one corner and sticks (I know, doesn't do them justice) in the other. It's such a clean room, no wires or clutter showing anywhere!


And your living room, just amazing! The orange color really pops without being overwhelming (unless you hate orange I guess - I love it). The lighting in that second shot is just perfect and makes it look almost too good to be real. I really like those lights you have on the TV stand, and the way most of the system sits into that alcove just makes it look like everything was designed to fit there.


Of course, all your equipment seems top-notch, too. Thanks for posting!

 

[THE_FORCE]

Mark, 2 absolutely stunning rooms there in both decor and kit. Love 'em both (and that light fitting in the cinema room looks familiar ?

)


Are you using any sort of cooling for your Z7 such as an Antec Veris etc. ? My RX went into protect mode and stayed there after being enclosed for a while with lack of ventilation.

 

[MarkH]



Quote:
Originally Posted by ddgtr /forum/post/15493558


Nice, very nice indeed... Also, great equipment, I love the ELACs together with the rest of your 2 channel! Can you elaborate a little on how it all sounds together??

Many thanks ddgtr,

Can I be biased and say its sounds very good?

In terms of the stereo system, I must confess to loving ELAC speakers. Still made entirely in Germany, and they have incredible imaging and accuracy, which works well with the very clinical Cambridge. However, I think personally the Cyrus gear Im hoping to upgrade to towards the end of the year will truly take them to the next level. Ive been fortunate to hear them setup with the very same speakers and my RPM 5 turntable - my oh my! And of course Im thinking of going up to the ELAC FS249 speakers, and all this without the missus knowing - its gonna be some job if I can do it!


With regard to the HT room, the sonic difference between the room before and after renovation are night and day. That "before" pic doesnt tell half the story - the carpet was black (great) but incredibly thin, as was the non-existant underlay. And what was I thinking with the colours! Yes the dark navy/purple feature wall was Ok, but the illuminous orange? Surprisingly worked well though when you watched a movie. But I wanted a room that was inviting, the type of room you would feel cosy in on a rainy afternoon, hence the more "earthy" colours. So I bought the best underlay I could, the thickest, nicest carpet I could find, and straight away the acoustics improved dramatically. My first reflection points on the left of the room was where the window started, so only option was thick curtains. On the right wall, I decided to make my DIY panels, that would serve as a treatment and a feature in themselves. Only problem is heat. Summers are furious here in Perth, and at the moment we are into week 2 of near-40 degrees C, with another week to come. Unfortunately I have no air con in this room, so it can be a struggle at the moment to sit comfortably in there, but I dont mind, thats when I rediscover the joys of music listening all over again in the Living Room!

 

[MarkH]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Aaron Gilbert /forum/post/15493564


Mark,


Wow, you have got two really spectacular rooms there! I love your equipment stand in the theater room. I don't believe I've ever seen one quite like it. It's very unique and stylish. I just love the symmetry of your front setup, yet not complete, with the light in one corner and sticks (I know, doesn't do them justice) in the other. It's such a clean room, no wires or clutter showing anywhere!


And your living room, just amazing! The orange color really pops without being overwhelming (unless you hate orange I guess - I love it). The lighting in that second shot is just perfect and makes it look almost too good to be real. I really like those lights you have on the TV stand, and the way most of the system sits into that alcove just makes it look like everything was designed to fit there.


Of course, all your equipment seems top-notch, too. Thanks for posting!

Thanks Aaron,

Its funny, a lot of the furniture store have the same cabinet on their floors in a white finish - its no wonder its remained ahidden gem! As I work in the AV industry I could source it direct from the distributor. It was relatively inexpnsive at the time, and I was amazed at how well-built it was (about 70 kilos) for the money. The lights in the Living Room were AUD$25 from Target, not bad eh!

The feature colour in the Living Room is more of a darker maroon - I guess the digital camera lies a little bit, although the day time shots were taken on a 38degree day, and the far left wall of this area is almost entirely floor to high-ceiling glass doors, so a lot of sunlight comes through if the blinds are up!

 

[MarkH]



Quote:
Originally Posted by THE_FORCE /forum/post/15493732


Mark, 2 absolutely stunning rooms there in both decor and kit. Love 'em both (and that light fitting in the cinema room looks familiar ?

)


Are you using any sort of cooling for your Z7 such as an Antec Veris etc. ? My RX went into protect mode and stayed there after being enclosed for a while with lack of ventilation.

Thanks Force - Ive been watching your thread over at AVFsince it started, so for you to say as much makes me breath a sigh of relief!

I'd be lying if I said the Z7 wasnt a tight fit from a vertical point-of-view, but the cabinet is open back and naturally at the front too and the receiver surprisingly never gets too hot (like my 3800 did). Having said that its switched off whenever its not being used, and I dont bother with the HDMI pass through mode in standby either as it consumes as much power! If I can fit an Antec or some such in I probably will do it anyway. It does get used a lot as it feeds the AV equipment to the Living Room via HDMI-CAT5.

As for the lamp, another Target buy, but they do say imitation is the best form of flattery!

 

[wvlax21]

Where did you find that media stand in your living room. I really like it. Everything else looks great as well!

 

[MarkH]



Quote:
Originally Posted by wvlax21 /forum/post/15496853


Where did you find that media stand in your living room. I really like it. Everything else looks great as well!

It was a Sydney-based manufacturer here in Australia that I think dont exist anymore, from memory they were called Everett Worthington.

 

[Franin]

Hi Mark congratulations on your setup looks very nice. just wanted to ask I noticed you have Richter Legend Rears, Krix Atmospherix In-Ceiling Speakers. Are the in ceiling speakers Rear backs?

 

[MarkH]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Franin /forum/post/15505363


Hi Mark congratulations on your setup looks very nice. just wanted to ask I noticed you have Richter Legend Rears, Krix Atmospherix In-Ceiling Speakers. Are the in ceiling speakers Rear backs?

Thanks Franin,

The Krix act as my surround (or side rears if you will) and the Richters are my surround backs. Its a small room (4 metres) so space was always going to be an issue upgrading to 7 channel, but Im incredibly happy with steering of the surround effects despite the "compromise" that appears.

 

[Franin]



Quote:
Originally Posted by MarkH /forum/post/15505858


Thanks Franin,

The Krix act as my surround (or side rears if you will) and the Richters are my surround backs. Its a small room (4 metres) so space was always going to be an issue upgrading to 7 channel, but Im incredibly happy with steering of the surround effects despite the "compromise" that appears.

im in the same boat with my room size. Surrounds work well.

 

[ldgibson76]

Hello MarkH!


I did see your photos when you initially posted them. Today when I was about to comment on your very impressive AV setup, there are only two photos visible. Apparently, your server is being a little stingy with the bandwidth, so says the response when I try to open one of the photos.


Regards.

 

[MarkH]



Quote:
Originally Posted by ldgibson76 /forum/post/15511769


Hello MarkH!


I did see your photos when you initially posted them. Today when I was about to comment on your very impressive AV setup, there are only two photos visible. Apparently, your server is being a little stingy with the bandwidth, so says the response when I try to open one of the photo.


Regards.

Yes it seems my ISP tells me one of my photos was hit by the same IP 60,000 times yesterday, hence the issue (out of bandwidth). I do plan on copying all these photos over to my photobucket or facebook pages to make it easier for me to consolidate. Apologies to everyone else having issues over the weekend - it should be back to normal by Monday when they find the problem IP.

As a flickr user how easy/quick is it to batch upload? I must say I love how easy it is to batch upload images to facebook.

 

[ldgibson76]



Quote:
Originally Posted by MarkH /forum/post/15513634


Yes it seems my ISP tells me one of my photos was hit by the same IP 60,000 times yesterday, hence the issue (out of bandwidth). I do plan on copying all these photos over to my photobucket or facebook pages to make it easier for me to consolidate. Apologies to everyone else having issues over the weekend - it should be back to normal by Monday when they find the problem IP.

As a flickr user how easy/quick is it to batch upload? I must say I love how easy it is to batch upload images to facebook.

Hello MarkH.


Flickr is very easy to upload. One stipulation is you must register with a yahoo email address. Another is with the free membership, you are only allowed to create and maintain 3 sets at one time. You can upgrade your package for a small fee, which will give you unlimited everything!


Regards.

 

[THE_FORCE]



Quote:
Originally Posted by MarkH /forum/post/15493790


Thanks Force - Ive been watching your thread over at AVFsince it started, so for you to say as much makes me breath a sigh of relief!

I'd be lying if I said the Z7 wasnt a tight fit from a vertical point-of-view, but the cabinet is open back and naturally at the front too and the receiver surprisingly never gets too hot (like my 3800 did). Having said that its switched off whenever its not being used, and I dont bother with the HDMI pass through mode in standby either as it consumes as much power! If I can fit an Antec or some such in I probably will do it anyway. It does get used a lot as it feeds the AV equipment to the Living Room via HDMI-CAT5.

As for the lamp, another Target buy, but they do say imitation is the best form of flattery!

lol It is a nice light fitting though eh ?!

Cheers for the reply Mark. I didn't realise the cabinet was open backed. That should help loads. I suppose I'm always over-cautious with electronics - I'm always worried they're gonna fail on me lol !

Enjoy !

 

[MarkH]

Images should be working again guys (re-hosted elsewhere). Apologies for the hassle!

 

[MarkH]

Here is some pics of materials involved in masking panels I made for masking the black bars on my 16:9 sccreen (when watching 2.35:1 content)and also how they look on the screen itself. I got 4 lengths of polystyrene cut to size (2 for use, 2 for backup/testing), and some black velour, which matches the finish on the screen frame. I simply used PVA glue to attach the material to the foam. As the length of the masks is a couple of mm longer than the inside of the frame itself, I am expecting gravity to hold the top one in place. Time will tell! The finished product looks very good but I will make up the other two and see which ones look best. Will take some actual screenshots tomorrow.


Materials

Preparing to Measure

Preparing to Glue

Leave to dry

Finished and in place (Flash ON)

 

[NYCHTBoy]

This looks great.. You have given me some good ideas here, cheers...

 

[MarkH]

Thanks for all the kind comments guys. Ive decided that I dont like the way the HD media is stacked on my floating wall shelf, which will get worse as I continue to buy more discs, so have removed all the cases from the shelf. I intend to find a storage device of some sort which may have to remain outside the room, as I really dont like clutter!

I will possibly buy some 18" movie figures to adorn the shelf now instead!