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[jksaabh]

All this while, I was thinking of using wireless transmitters with my subs. Then a horrible thought struck me: what if they fail or are unreliable, or what if I upgrade to a pair of subwoofers that don't have a wireless transmitter option. Something had to be done; and fast!

To save the future me from a ton of trouble, I thought it best to pre-wire the subs. Two coax cables to the front of the theater, and one each on the sides. I would use a wall plate to terminate the coax cables, and hook it up with the subs using subwoofer cable.

Since I was placing an order with monoprice anyways, I bought four HDMI cables to connect the Roku3, PS4, DVR and DVD player to the receiver. Also, bought some stereo/mono cables for the Logitech Harmony remote (may get one next week). I'll post my plans on how I plan on using them in a future post. Here is my shopping cart from earlier today:

 

[jksaabh]

Weekend update:


Received my first order from Monoprice.


Framing of the office area is done.


Front wall







What do you guys think?

 

[Jason Charlton]

It's really coming along! Looks good.

 

[jksaabh]

So the wife felt that the area in the landing wasn't enough, so we pushed the frame four feet away from where it was originally planned.



The media rack is slowly taking shape.


The HDMI pre-wire is done: since I will have drop ceiling, I'm not running conduit. I'm using the monoprice redmere cable - one going from the receiver to the TV and another going to the ceiling mounted projector.

 

[jksaabh]

It's really coming along! Looks good.

Thanks so much, Jason.

 

[jksaabh]

So last evening I called Verizon to request an additional setup box for the basement. They said it would increase my monthly bill by around $15, which I felt was okay as it gave me access to the recordings on my existing DVR. I was just about to ask them to ship the box, when the representative then gave me the new total and to my shock it was almost two times what I was paying before. On questioning the sudden and huge hike in rates, I was informed that my two year contract was just up and the new price was the best they could offer. I asked if removing our unused landline service would help reduce the cost, and I was told that removing it actually increased it. We asked if it would be possible to retain only the internet, and cancel the cable and landline, and we were told that they needed the phone line to provide internet (which didn't make sense to me). Anyways, at the end of a rather long call we knew that we had no choice: we had to switch providers.

We found Comcast a plan called "blast plus" where they gave you upto 110mbps internet, local TV channels (non-HD), and a HBO Go account for around $70 per month. Now this was less than half I was to pay Verizon, so we decided to make the switch. Since we will not be getting HD channels, I will not need a setup box in the basement. I guess I will just have to create a HuluPlus account, and watch everything on my Roku3. I am also looking at indoor antennas to receive local channels in HD.

I can have then have Comcast setup box in the living room, in case we ever want to watch something in "regular D". What this also means is I can move my LG smart TV from my living area to the basement (behind the projector screen). Of course, the 47" TV, is small for my basement but it will have to do for now. Maybe I'll find something during BlackFriday to replace it. I have an old 720p TV in the guest bedroom, and I plan to move it to the living room.

We have kept a two day overlap between the service providers, just in case we are not pleased with Comcast's internet service. I have my fingers crossed, but am rather pleased with the fact that we may actually have reduced our monthly cable bill by a hundred bucks. Is this a wise decision, only time will tell.

 

[jksaabh]

In other news, I'm putting off buying a UPS - I'll pick up a surge protector with a high joule rating, and look for a good deal on a UPS during Black Friday. Same applies to the Roku3, although I don't see it going on discount this year.

 

[jksaabh]

So quite a few things happened yesterday:
Early in the morning, we had the Comcast technician come over and swap the service. I decided to rent Comcast's modem until I find a good deal on a dual band modem. When the comcast guy left, our electric inspector arrived and we passed.

The media rack is getting more accessible:


The stage is almost ready:




And work on the HVAC ducts has begun.



In the evening, I received my first set of speakers: my surrounds. I guess they were shipped individually.



The wife and I also went to Lowe's looking for a dark carpet, but didn't find any. All the colors they had were light and pastel. I picked up a 100' coaxial cable and an IR dimmer switch while we were there. But on getting home I found that Home Depot had the same coax for half the cost. I guess I have to make another trip to Lowes later this evening.

 

[Jason Charlton]

For all intents and purposes, that's the same dimmer I used for my system. The only difference was that I needed the "multi-location" version so that I could wire two of them in a 3-way (double pole) configuration. I don't think Lowe's or HD carried the multi-location version - I had to order them online.

The remote works really well and it was a breeze to program my Harmony remote to control the lights. I love having the lights on a remote-controlled dimmer - it's fun when the credits start rolling to bring the lights up a bit, just like in the theater.

 

[jksaabh]

So here is my electrical cabling:


1, 3, 6, 7: Dedicated line for subwoofers
2: Line for LED lighting that would line the stage. This will be a low plug.
4: Surge protected line for TV.
5: Line for electric screen.
8, 9: Lines for home office.
10, 11, 12, 13: No plans as of yet.
14: 20amp dedicated line for media rack.
15: Surge protected line for Projector. Will be backed up by a UPS eventually.

And my speaker cabling is more or less done, I grossly underestimated the amount of cable I needed. So had to put in another order for 150ft of speaker cable from monoprice. Here is how I plan to pre-wire my speaker cable:


Start state: 5.2 setup.
Intermediate state 1: 5.2.4 dolby atmos setup.
Intermediate state 2: 5.2.4 dolby atmos setup, with two speakers in zone 2 (home office). This will require an additional 2ch power amplifier for my Denon x4100. I'll just pick up a 5ch amp, so I can use it in the end state.
End state: 7.2.4 dolby atmos setup, with two speakers in zone 2 (home office).

I'll pre-wire coax for four possible locations for subwoofers: two up front, and two on the sides. Will also run coax so that I can house a modem and comcast receiver in the media rack. There will be two HDMI cables (redmere from monoprice), that run from the media rack to the TV and projector. The other cable I'll be pre-wiring is a CAT6 network cable to the office from the modem in the media rack.



What do you guys think?

 

[jksaabh]

The remote works really well and it was a breeze to program my Harmony remote to control the lights.

This is why I picked this brand too. How many IR blasters do you use with your harmony hub? I need to decide how best to set it up so it can interact with all the media in the rack, as well as with the TV and projector outside.

 

[jksaabh]

Since my gear will be in a behind the wall, I am planning to use the Logitech Harmony Remote. Here is how I plan to hook it up. I'd really appreciate feedback on the setup.

 

[Bobofbone]

Concerning the IR blasters, I've found they tend to be more reliable if the emitter is positioned over the receiver on the equipment. That's what was in my instructions on the Niles equipment I bought. The control unit has multiple plugs for jacks for emitters. I also had to use low power emitters, as the control units I had don't power the emitters (flashers) that can control multiple pieces of equipment,.

 

[Jason Charlton]

How many IR blasters do you use with your harmony hub?

My system is a bit more "old school" than what you can do with the newer Harmony remotes. My Harmony is an older model and does not include the hub. I assembled my IR repeater system from Buffalo Electronics. One inconspicuous "eye" mounted above the center of the screen near the ceiling wired to a receiver block mounted to the wall next to my equipment rack. The blocks support 4 or 6 IR repeaters (can't remember) and can be daisy chained together. I spliced an IR repeater and ran it to the projector, then have others running to my AVR and blu-ray player, maybe others.

The lights are easily controlled on their own, since I wired the switches in a double-pole configuration and the other switch is on the screen wall.

The system works pretty well, though the projector is hit-or-miss when it comes to getting the signal. Turning it off is almost always a manual process because the power button needs to be pressed twice, and no matter the delays I programmed into the macro on my Harmony, it was never consistent.

 

[Sam Posten]

My Lutron dimmer is maybe in the top 3 things I built into my theater!

 

[jksaabh]

Some updates from the last couple of days:

Rather than running conduit all over the house, we have a conduit from the media center to the drop ceiling.


Insulation is in the newly constructed left wall:


Received my second shipment of cables from monoprice. This mainly had coax, and wall plates to run subwoofer cable:


and stereo/mono cables for the harmony remote setup:


The four sub locations now have a coax cable as backup, in case the wireless fails:




And last, but not the least my speakers and receiver arrived.

 

[jksaabh]

The system works pretty well, though the projector is hit-or-miss when it comes to getting the signal. Turning it off is almost always a manual process because the power button needs to be pressed twice, and no matter the delays I programmed into the macro on my Harmony, it was never consistent.

I'm not expecting the remote to work flawlessly, that way anything it does will exceed my expectations.

My Lutron dimmer is maybe in the top 3 things I built into my theater!

And the other two are..?

 

[jksaabh]

For the projector, I was more or less set on the Epson 5030UB. The things I wasn't too pleased about were:
1. It comes only in white, and it would clash against my black drop ceiling. I would have to cough a thousand big ones to get the noir 6030UB.
2. I have read a lot about lag while gaming. I am not an avid gamer, but go through phases when you cant get the controller out of my hands. I read about a firmware update that should be out sometime later this month that addresses some of the lag issues.

So, I read about the VPL-HW40ES and was able to audition it at a local dealer. It was fantastic (and black, woo hoo), but of course it had it's drawbacks:
1. It comes with IR glasses, whereas the Epson comes with RF glasses. I would have to buy the RF glasses and an RF emitter for the Sony.
2. It does not have a 12V trigger.

Decisions, decisions!

 

[jksaabh]

Weekend Update: Dry wall is up.

 

[jksaabh]

One of the things we did this weekend was decide on our carpet. We had visited Home Depot, Lowes and local carpet dealers several times over the last few weeks so it was very satisfying to finally make a decision. With the carpet selected the next thing to do was select the color for the walls. We plan to use three colors: one a dark gray which would be used for the three main walls of the home theater, a lighter variant which would be used for the others, and a bright yellow accent.




What do you guys think?