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Beginning My Basement HT.... (1 Viewer)

David Flora

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Hello all,

I'm starting my basement home theater. Here is a picture of the section of my basement I will use for it (the tv will go against the wall where the broom is leaning)...

Another view of the space from the right side and further back....


The red posts will be moved to open up the space. Just to the left of the picture are the stairs (where the left post will go) and the post to the right will line up with the wall sticking out on the right. Where you see the cables in the corner is where my A/V closet will be. Here is a better picture of it...


The small space in between the opening for the closet and the concrete wall (where the wires are hanging) will be where all my wires will come for my "hub". I'll have them on a door that will swing open to access the lines. I have a drawing of what I think that will look like here.....


The space definitely has its flaws. As you can see, the right side of the room will be open, which doesn't allow me to close the space in. From the red posts to the concrete wall is only about 12 feet, and I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to do with my Polk FXI A6 surrounds. It could be a situation where they are slightly in front of the couch due to the limits on how far the wall comes out. I have Polk surrounds for the rear of the room, but the room is about 30 feet long, so they are going to be WAY back there, but better than nothing I guess.

Anyway, I'd be interested to hear your comments. I'll post pictures as I get more of it together!
 

David Flora

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May 26, 2002
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Not to ask a rather stupid question, but how would I do that? Suggestions on how would really help me! I will have a drop ceiling (my basement has 9ft ceilings), so if I hung it from the ceiling, would I get my money's worth out of it? The surround on the left side of the room will be able to be placed on the wall since it runs the entire length of the room. So it would just be the surround on the right side.....Thanks!
 

chuckg

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Apr 27, 2004
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You could screw a couple short lengths of small chain to the back speakers, and hang them from the drop-ceiling T-bar if they are lightweight. You could run a 2x4 across a pair of joists and hang the chains from that. Or, you could nail a chunk of plywood to the 2x4, let it stick down below the ceiling, and mount the speaker to the plywood.
 

David Flora

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My biggest concern with doing something like this would be from the wife, who probably wouldn't be too happy if it doesn't look good. The joists are going the wrong way to be able to put a 2X4 inbetween and hang some plywood off of it. And yes, if you don't know what the FXI A6's are like, they are VERY heavy for a surround sound speaker, so I'm going to need something that will hold some weight. Thanks for the suggestions!
 

chuckg

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Looks like you found reasonable spots for those surround speakers! so...the little boom box is to make it an 8.1 system, right? ha ha.

Lookin' good.
 

David Flora

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Originally Posted by chuckg

Looks like you found reasonable spots for those surround speakers! so...the little boom box is to make it an 8.1 system, right? ha ha.

Lookin' good.
You read my mind! It's coming along, I just wish the room was a little better laid out for this, but when you purchase a home that you didn't design, I guess this is part of the deal.
 

Adam Gregorich

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Once the lights are dimmed and the movie starts you will forget about the things you will do differently next time. Is your equipment going to go in the same area are your wiring hub? If so you may want to make sure you have some network cables there. Think gaming console(s), receiver, BD player, etc.
 

David Flora

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Originally Posted by Adam Gregorich

Once the lights are dimmed and the movie starts you will forget about the things you will do differently next time. Is your equipment going to go in the same area are your wiring hub? If so you may want to make sure you have some network cables there. Think gaming console(s), receiver, BD player, etc.
I hear ya. If you look at the picture of the inside of my A/V closet where all the wires are hanging, on the left side of the picture you'll see a ton of blue wires hanging down...that's my CAT6 wiring. I actually had the electrician punch a bunch of HDMI and CAT6 cable upstairs as well, so if I wanted to branch a video that was playing on my blu-ray player in the basement to the upstairs living room or my master bedroom, I could just move a cable and I'd have it upstairs as well. I wired all the bedrooms and living room for CAT6 as well, so hopefully I should be set. Thanks!
 

David Flora

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May 26, 2002
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96
Originally Posted by Adam Gregorich

See if you can track one of these down: http://www.radiient.com/Radiient-Repeat-6-HDMI-Distributor_3 Its a 1 in 6 out HDMI distributor/repeater. That way you don't have to switch cables. Your downstairs source will be "always on" to all the other TVs. Unlike a lot of HDMI toys these really work!
Sorry, I should have been a bit more clear when I responded to the earlier post. I have Monoprice's version of the HDMI splitter, but mine is only a 4-way splitter. I meant moving the hdmi cable from say, my Directv receiver to my blu-ray player to broadcast the signal to different parts of my house. I'm always up for an upgrade though, so if 4 ways wouldn't be enough, maybe I'll check it out. I would just want to make sure that the radiient splitter is HDMI 1.3a compatible and not an old splitter (not that it probably matters much, but I'd just want as updated of a product as possible). Thanks for the link!
 

David Flora

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May 26, 2002
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Well after being in the original box for the last 9 months, I've FINALLY been able to hook up my tv! I've still got quite a bit of work to do in my A/V closet to get the cabinet in for the equipment and finish hooking up all the wiring, but at least I can USE the damn thing now! Here are a few pictures....http://i657.photobucket.com/albums/uu293/florad1/0065.jpg">[/url]

Here is a shot of all the wall plates behind the tv. Yeah, I know I have a lot, but with all the equipment I have, I just wanted to be sure I had enough put in in case I wanted to hook up certain items, and you can never have enough wires, right?
 

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