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New House/New System

Maximo said:
Flint said:
My preference is option three, but I would move the side surround speakers farther to the sides.

I would use the cubby area next to the window as a large bass trap - imagine what looks like a row of cabinets along the ceiling hanging down 18" with a fabric faced open frame cover designed to blend into your decor. Fill that entire length of "cabinet" with fiberglass batting and you'll have a phenomenal bass trap in a good location. Bass energy is inherently attracted to smaller cubbies and cavities (as well as corners).
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Forgive my ignorance. But I am assuming that means that less bass energy will escape the room because it is being trapped in that soffitt or that it will help me tame standing waves, etc...increasing the quality of the bass.
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The realized benefit will be the room sounding better for the listener in the room. There will be a slight reduction in escaping bass, but not enough that you'll appreciate it outside of the room. Keep in mind that acoustic energy is perceived exponentially. A 10dB increase in bass sound (perceived as about a 2x increase in "loudness") requires 10x the energy. So, a 3dB improvement in the bass peaks and nulls in the room isn't going to be a huge difference in the amount of energy in the room and escaping the room.

The whole point of bass traps is not to reduce the acoustic energy from the subwoofer. It is to reduce the reflected energy off the walls, ceiling and floor. The goal is for the initial sound from the subwoofer to wash over your body and instead of reflecting back over you, over and over and over and over before it decays, the sound will wash over you then reflect over and over, decaying very rapidly.
 
Ok, time to prewire. I am goingto use the top of the coat closetin the downstairs hallway as my main tech closet. This is where cable internet will run to, also the fireplace tv pvc chase will run here, the wireless router will be here and maybe the htpc.

The other location for gear will be in the bonus room in the corner of the 3'9" wall and the 8'9" wall. I plan on running cat 5 to that location and a possible secondary bonus room upstairs. Thoughts on anywhere else? Or should I just go nuts with coax and cat 5 while the walls are open?

PS both LR and Bonus room will be prewired for 7.1.

Oh. I almost forgot. I am also goign to install an exhaust fan in the closet for the gear and I plan on running a zone 2 off of what will most likely be a Denon or Onkyo to the deck. Maybe even 2.1.

Lastly, I am going to set up some old gear in the garage. I am thinking 2.1 for garage, a simple internet computer for nextflix and pandora and a modest display for the tread mill.
 
Make sure puts power in the closet for you, depending on how much gear perhaps even 20a....
 
Ok ,tomorrow or the next day I will be biting the bullet and prewiring the upstairs. I am really struggling with this because I really want it on the north wall (door side) but that just won't work. Most likely going to end up putting the screen in front of the window.

But, we are going to wait until drywall is up until we decide. So, I am going to rum a 25 foot hdmi cable to the middle of the room for the projector and then run a couple hundred feet of speaker wire in the room. Basically prewiring for a coupple of different options. Man this is tough.
 
I love refurbs. Someone explained it to me like this one time. Maybe one in a hundred or more products get bench tested on the production line but a refurb gets individual attention on the bench. that coupled with the fact that most people return stuff for dumb reasons and there really was nothing wqrong with it.
 
Ok, so I am convinced that a projector goes in this room. So I am going to prewire by running a power cord and HDMI to the center of the ceiling (with room to move as needed)

And I guess run cat 5/6 for a 12volt trigger for screen?

I know nothing about screens. What else should I plan for. Right now I am most likely going to do a wall mount in front of the window. (like the idea of non movie time chilling in front of the window.)
 
Maximo said:
And I guess run cat 5/6 for a 12volt trigger for screen?
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No, you'll want to run a 12v cable to trigger the screen.

And while you're doing that, running an ethernet cable too would be most prudent of you. I think it would be much better to go through the minimal expense and minimal effort to run it now - and potentially not need it - than to go through the agonizing effort of running it after the room is done.
 
Where does one find a 12 volt trigger cable. Is it just an 1/8" mono jack?

I am running out of time. Drywall starts going up on wed/thurs.

I figure, if I can't get the 12 volt cable at least the cat 5/6 is in there and I will just have to hardwure or splice connections.
 
Maximo said:
Where does one find a 12 volt trigger cable. Is it just an 1/8" mono jack?
Click to expand...

Yes, and if you go to Radio Shack to get one I suggest you test it for continuity before leaving the store. I had to return one and found two more bad ones at the store...
 
Ok, we have a decision. Option two. I am going to run everything I can think of and am betting the farm on putting a screen in front of the window. Center on the floor. Floors standers on either side of the window. I guess I am going to plan on in ceiling surrounds again. Anyone want to chime in on the virtues of inceiling surrounds vs inwalls?

Too bad I didn't make more on my house. These would be perfect for my system

http://app.audiogon.com/listings/paradi ... -studio--2
 
Update! Well, I got my bonus room wired tonight. Can't believe how releived I am now that its done before sheetrock. I got the good 12 guage monoprice inwall stuff (has a white jacket).

I got a power cable run to the general area where teh projector will go. I was able to wire for up to a floor standing center, floor standers on the fronts and the sides but I had to settle for ceiling/high wall mounted bookshelves for the back.

I did not get a power cable or 12 volt run to the screen location but I did run a cat 5 andI have access to it later. Also, I did not have an HDMI cable so I will have to run that later. Thanfully I will have attic access. OR I could get an Epson 5010e and do that.


Pics tomorrow.
 
Ok, well I think I made a small wiring sanfu. After THINKING about where I want everythign to go, I think I want WII, Network BD Player, and MEdia Extender upstairs in the kids' room. Which means a small switch I guess.
 
While you're at it, you should probably wire every room in the house with at least one network cable (cat5e or cat6) to a central location. Even the kitchen. You might be surprised to know how often people need connectivity in there. I'd also run at least two network cables to any spaces that you plan to use a PC along with any networked HT gear. For no good reason I like to keep my computer and HT networks as seperated as I can.
 
YEah...didn't do that. Walls are up so I am done running cable. I have wired network to the two bonus rooms upstiars.
 
Maximo said:
YEah...didn't do that. Walls are up so I am done running cable. I have wired network to the two bonus rooms upstiars.
Click to expand...

Looking good Max.

Haven't responded on this much as you are in the construction phase and well as previously stated I am a klutz when it comes to such things.

When you start dealing with the actual system(s) I will most likely have more to say.
 
Ok, so a bit of good news. I won a demo Paradigm Cinema 330 off of audiogon for $190. It has the same tweeter and similar driver compositions to my monitor 7's so I figured it would be a good fit. Especially because I was trying to find a good over the fireplace replcement for my CC-290 that had higher WAF.

Anyway, I called them today because my speaker had not come yet and they said that they cashed my money order but couldn't find the speaker. So they are sending a new one. Yay me! :)
 
I got my new center channel today! Brand new and ready to go. Overall I can say that it is surprisingly heavy! To me weight equals quality! But we shall see.
 
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