What's new

Sam's Underground Aerie (1 Viewer)

DaveF

Moderator
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2001
Messages
28,687
Location
Catfisch Cinema
Real Name
Dave
We had dimmable CFLs in our basement. They buzzed and barely dimmed. The builder replaced them with incandescents. I'll check tomorrow and see if they have any info, and if they're the same as you use. They're the large, in-ceiling bulbs, but i don't know if they're "floods"
 

Sam Posten

Moderator
Premium
HW Reviewer
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Oct 30, 1997
Messages
33,674
Location
Aberdeen, MD & Navesink, NJ
Real Name
Sam Posten
Just to be clear, I need 12 bulbs that total under 600 watts and they are replacing R30 size bulbs in there now. The only incandecents I see at R30 are 65w size. I'd have to swap down to R20 size to get 45s in there to make it under 600 total watts. The only ones that seem to fit this are the GE's which nobody has tested: http://www.amazon.com/20330-6-Floodlight-Light-White-6-Pack/dp/B000VRHJU6/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1357446621&sr=8-3&keywords=r30+45w+incandescent The one review claims they are the wrong size.
 

Sam Posten

Moderator
Premium
HW Reviewer
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Oct 30, 1997
Messages
33,674
Location
Aberdeen, MD & Navesink, NJ
Real Name
Sam Posten
Bleh, found out that Lutron will NOT work with a standard switch on one end, had to go buy a companion dimmer, but since those were not in stock had to buy another master :( Installing now, wiser but poorer hehe!
 

Sam Posten

Moderator
Premium
HW Reviewer
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Oct 30, 1997
Messages
33,674
Location
Aberdeen, MD & Navesink, NJ
Real Name
Sam Posten
And of course Home depot was wrong, you cant put two masters in there. Thay's going back as are the shitty dimmable cfl's, shoulda listened to Dave, the hum is unbearable! Will order the companion and incandecent floods from amazon right now.
 

DaveF

Moderator
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2001
Messages
28,687
Location
Catfisch Cinema
Real Name
Dave
I've got a bank of 10 x 65W Philips branded floods. That must be what you're finding. Hope your CFLs work for you. The combo of dimmer and CFLs we had was no good. It would be cool to step up to LED, but that's a needless luxury for me currently. And I see your update. Sorry you got the buzz, too. It's a bummer, since I'd rather do ~120W of CFLs than 650W of incandescents, for the same brightness.
 

schan1269

HTF Expert
HW Reviewer
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jul 4, 2012
Messages
17,104
Location
Chicago-ish/NW Indiana
Real Name
Sam
My theatre is a combo of 4w "torpedo" bulbs in the ceiling fans(3 each fan) which don't dim...the fan speed is on a dimmer...the lights are on a "2 lit" or "3 lit" switch. and these...in the recesses.. http://www.amazon.com/11-Watt-Dimmable-Light-Lumens/dp/B008SB2MAO/ref=sr_1_12?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1357510700&sr=1-12&keywords=dimmable+led+bulbs (not this "exact" bulb...but our came from Lowe's. GE or FEIT...one or the other)
 

Sam Posten

Moderator
Premium
HW Reviewer
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Oct 30, 1997
Messages
33,674
Location
Aberdeen, MD & Navesink, NJ
Real Name
Sam Posten
Indeed. Thanks for the heads up on incandescent. Those worked the trick and the ones I linked from Amazon came out to about $5 a pop. Will stock up on them in case they get even more scarce. And of course thanks to Jason for getting me started with his dimmer advice! Also, i started trying to dial in the PJ a bit better than I had it, was relying on the old calibration from a few years ago on the smaller screen, and was able to eke out some much better brightness and contrast. I'm still not done pining for an upgrade but it took the edge off. At least I'm for sure gonna wait till I find a serious price drop on the Epson 5020 or the Panny 8000.
 

Philip Hamm

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jan 23, 1999
Messages
6,874
Wow that looks great! Exactly what you needed! Glad I could help! Interesting discussion of the lighting.... When we had our tract home built (see my other thread) I had all sorts of stuff installed for my movie room, including sconce locations at about eye level (as well as an in-wall rack, rear channel speaker cabling, dedicated projector circuit, etc.). Hooked to a dimmer with 15 watt bulbs it's just like a movie theater when dimmed all the way down. Love it. I keep cfls in the ceiling floods for party times when the pool table and dart board are being used. BTW do you have any plans for wall colors? I don't know if you can tell from my pics, but my basement walls are all painted dark. Green in the great room, brown in the bar, and the wall with the movie screen on it is painted black. Ceilings are builder white but what the heck.
 

Sam Posten

Moderator
Premium
HW Reviewer
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Oct 30, 1997
Messages
33,674
Location
Aberdeen, MD & Navesink, NJ
Real Name
Sam Posten
I so wanted to. But but but we are watching so much in the basement now that the poor blacks of the AE-900 compared to plasma (and even compared to 2012 era LCD panel in my bedroom) was just grinding on me with every viewing. And I had a decent tax return and didn't spend nearly what I thought I would on vacation. Toss in the $$$ I got BB to drop off the top in Delaware and the $300 my Brother in Law is gonna give me for the 900u and an old roll up screen and I had to do it. :D BUT. I did it without completely breaking the bank so when an affordable 4K PJ does come along that I'm not going to cry about buying it, I'll resell it off and upgrade. Best of both worlds, I hope.
 

DaveF

Moderator
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2001
Messages
28,687
Location
Catfisch Cinema
Real Name
Dave
Sounds like a plan to me. However, I'm not sure you've properly accounted for the the tremendous cost of cat toys you face in the future ;) Look forward to some pics when its set up.
 

Sam Posten

Moderator
Premium
HW Reviewer
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Oct 30, 1997
Messages
33,674
Location
Aberdeen, MD & Navesink, NJ
Real Name
Sam Posten
Dude! We are GOOD with a $3 mouse on a string and a house full of carpet they can sharpen their claws on =) No further budget needed on that at all! Trust me, there will be a flood of pics. I keep checking my email to see if it's in today at BB. If they get it before tonight I will go pick up in DE and install tonight for Survivor. Otherwise it probably won't get installed before Sunday or Monday night =(
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Latest Articles

Forum statistics

Threads
356,808
Messages
5,123,533
Members
144,184
Latest member
H-508
Recent bookmarks
0
Top