HTIP - Home Theater In Progress
- Thread starter Towen7
- Start date
I'm still waiting on the cabinet guy and I wont have time to build the pub tables until this weekend (at the earliest) so I took care of some of small wiring chores. A huge drawback to using the powered studio monitors if dealing with the "power". I really think that a mess of power cords and audio cords would seriously detract from the look of the room. Since the front of the room is attached to an attic space I decided to drill 5/8" holes near the floor into the attic and feed an RG6 and power cord through. I'm sure that running the power cord through the wall doesn't conform to doesn't conform to code but thats what I did. That necessitated cutting off the plug end of the power cords and replacing them with ones from a hardware store. I'll mount a permanent 4-socket electrical outlet in the attic to plug the L/R/C and sub to. If you look close in the third picture you'll see a blue blur. That's where I mounted the outlet box. I'm still deciding on the best way to provide power. One option I'm considering is pulling a dedicated circuit for the equipment rack and extending it to the front attic space.
That didn't take long so I crimped-on the RCA connectors to the RG6 cable for each speaker. I've used this Paladin tool set for years. It makes putting any connector on coax cable a breeze. The tool set isn't cheap (about $100 for the cutter, stripper, flare tool, crimper) and the RCA connectors are just over $1 each but I think its worth it for the time and aggravation saved.
The stripper is pre-set to leave 1/4" of bare copper and 1/4" of shielding. Just insert the flare tool, fold down the shielding, slide the connector on and crimp. If my math is correct I'll need to repeat this 20 times.
I'll check each cable with a multimeter to ensure the connections are good before I connect them. There should be infinite resistance between the tip and the housing. Then I'll shunt the opposite end's tip to the housing and I should read a near perfect short on the meter.
I don't think there is much more that I can do until the cabinet guy gets going. Hopefully I'll get enough time to build the pub tables this weekend. We'll see.
That didn't take long so I crimped-on the RCA connectors to the RG6 cable for each speaker. I've used this Paladin tool set for years. It makes putting any connector on coax cable a breeze. The tool set isn't cheap (about $100 for the cutter, stripper, flare tool, crimper) and the RCA connectors are just over $1 each but I think its worth it for the time and aggravation saved.
The stripper is pre-set to leave 1/4" of bare copper and 1/4" of shielding. Just insert the flare tool, fold down the shielding, slide the connector on and crimp. If my math is correct I'll need to repeat this 20 times.
I'll check each cable with a multimeter to ensure the connections are good before I connect them. There should be infinite resistance between the tip and the housing. Then I'll shunt the opposite end's tip to the housing and I should read a near perfect short on the meter.
I don't think there is much more that I can do until the cabinet guy gets going. Hopefully I'll get enough time to build the pub tables this weekend. We'll see.
Thanks. I've been struggling with the decision about how/where to mount it. It actually works pretty well where it is now but I think I'd like to get it about 2' higher.
I'd like to avoid a permanent ceiling mount if I can for a couple of reasons. The ceiling is 10' and with the ceiling fan in the way the down-rod for the projector mount would be pretty long. I'm going to ask the cabinet guy if we can come up with a solution that doesn't involve a major overhaul of the cabinets. Maybe a shelf support bracket mounted to the vertical stile. I'd also like to avoid having to wire an outlet in the ceiling. Because once it's there... It's there.
I'd like to avoid a permanent ceiling mount if I can for a couple of reasons. The ceiling is 10' and with the ceiling fan in the way the down-rod for the projector mount would be pretty long. I'm going to ask the cabinet guy if we can come up with a solution that doesn't involve a major overhaul of the cabinets. Maybe a shelf support bracket mounted to the vertical stile. I'd also like to avoid having to wire an outlet in the ceiling. Because once it's there... It's there.
Just looked up "bonus room"...
A bonus room is a relatively recent term that is mainly used in the United States. It is used to describe a large room in a house which could be used as a multi-purpose area. A bonus room, unlike an American bedroom, does not usually contain a closet. A bonus room might be used as a family room, sewing or hobby room, game room, home cinema, office, or den.
So yeah... I guess it fits that description.
A bonus room is a relatively recent term that is mainly used in the United States. It is used to describe a large room in a house which could be used as a multi-purpose area. A bonus room, unlike an American bedroom, does not usually contain a closet. A bonus room might be used as a family room, sewing or hobby room, game room, home cinema, office, or den.
So yeah... I guess it fits that description.
Towen7 said:
"Bonus room" is just an extra room. At least in my area, they are called that. I don't know why they don't just call it an extra bedroom (4 bedroom/3 bath vs 3 bedroom/3 bath/bonus room), but maybe it has something to do with how a home is marketed or the location of the room (away from the rest of the bedrooms) compared to others, etc, who knows.
Most bonus rooms down here are right above the garage in a typical ranch style home.
Legally it can still be called bedroom since it has windows for natural light and ventilation. Some reagions tend to have their own terminology. For example, some parts of north east US, single room apartment is called efficiency unit while in other parts of country they are called studio unit.Yesfan70 said:
yromj
Well-Known Member
Bonus Room usually = Finished attic space. (It's considered "bonus" because no additional floorspace was needed to create the room.)
T7, you hit the nail on the head w/ one of 2 disadvantages of having a shelf-mounted projector: it's easy to block the image. The other, and I never thought of this until I installed one this way, is that it can easily be bumped and moved if it's not high enough to be out of the way.
Given your situation, I agree that shelf-mounting will be the best way to go. Just make sure that the projector is as high as you can go for all the reasons given.
John
T7, you hit the nail on the head w/ one of 2 disadvantages of having a shelf-mounted projector: it's easy to block the image. The other, and I never thought of this until I installed one this way, is that it can easily be bumped and moved if it's not high enough to be out of the way.
Given your situation, I agree that shelf-mounting will be the best way to go. Just make sure that the projector is as high as you can go for all the reasons given.
John
Still waiting on the cabinet gut so all I've done in the past few days is buy a used Samsung outboard tuner so I can watch football.
I'm not thrilled. One problem is that I'll have to use component cables because my preamp won't get HDMI sync unless the tuner's power is cycled after switching to the input. Thats not a big deal but... The picture quality is sub par. OTA broadcasts should look excellent but I'd describe the picture quality as "okay" at best. Maybe it just isn't intended to be on a 110" screen.
Another options to get OTA programming is to use my PC's tuner. The issue there is that the PC is in a different room. I don't think WMC will let me watch live broadcasts through an extender so I think I'll have to find another solution.
I'm not thrilled. One problem is that I'll have to use component cables because my preamp won't get HDMI sync unless the tuner's power is cycled after switching to the input. Thats not a big deal but... The picture quality is sub par. OTA broadcasts should look excellent but I'd describe the picture quality as "okay" at best. Maybe it just isn't intended to be on a 110" screen.
Another options to get OTA programming is to use my PC's tuner. The issue there is that the PC is in a different room. I don't think WMC will let me watch live broadcasts through an extender so I think I'll have to find another solution.
Maximo
Well-Known Member
Towen7 said:
It should look great, something is worng. Maybe it is set to 480p for some reason. Check your settings.
Also, WMC will let you do this. I have my WMC in my master bedroom and watch live tv via a lynksys DMA 2200. Look on ebay or craigslist for a DMA 2100 and you will be all set.
yromj
Well-Known Member
Towen7 said:
Just add a few steps to the "Watch HDTV" macro (Tuner "Power On"; Delay 0.5 seconds; Tuner "Power Off"; Delay 0.5 seconds; Tuner "Power On"). In fact, I think you may be able to solve it by adding a ~3 second delay between selecting the pre/pro's input and powering on the tuner.
John
Since the tuner doesn't have discreet on/off commands I'm left with a point and pray macro. Why bother when I can just leave the tuner on and use component/toslink cables? Besides being easier to program I get the added benefit of freeing-up one of the four HDMI ports.