Taffs New Study and Home Cinema Room

Supertaff

Supertaff

Supertaff

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Joined
12 Jul 2005
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Hi All,

Well following on from Easy Riders superb effort at a cinema room. I'm also going to be having a go.

The wife refuses to let me have a big TV / 5.1 cinema set up in the living room, so I'm going to change my current study over to be a Study / Home Cinema Room.

So I thought I'd post up my ideas here and get the community help on the build.

The hope is to start this build at the beginning of March, with it being completed by the end of April.

My room isn't as big as easy's as it is 333cm * 328cm.

The requirements are

Ability to have nice Oak desk, have one already in mind
New Office chair
2 seater recliner sofa
Built in Oak bookcase on one wall
Ability to hang 3 * 24" Dell monitors on wall for triple head gaming.
Projector / Screen or LCD / Plasma TV on wall for cinema experience
5.1 or 7.1 speaker system (think 5.1 will be enough)
Somewhere to store gaming case (Antec P900)
Somewhere to store Home Server (Thermaltake Tsunami Dream)
Printer shelf (probably on the Oak Bookcase)

The build plan is
remove all current equipment and chase walls for cabling, HDMI, speakers etc
Put in new power sockets (as only 2 * 2 sockets at present)
Sand back floor (currently stripped pine floor boards) and re-varnish
Plaster wall and ceiling
re-paint room
set up all equipment

and then there will be one happy Taff.

I'll post below the my basic plan at present as well as pictures of the room as it is currently.

So the questions I'll need help with

1) I'm going to hang my 3 * Dells on the wall above the desk using normal LCD mounting brackets, but do I then put a large 42"/50" LCD plasma above them, with ability maybe to use as 4th monitor or do I ut a projector and screen in so screen, when down covers 3 * dells, something like a 77" screen.
2) Do I install Sky into this room, and if so how best to do it, Skyt multi room via PC, or sky box.
3) If I go for projector, How long can you run a HDMI cable for, is there a limit? As I think I'll need one about 6m to reach from where Sky box/PC is to where projector will be.

Then the questions follow,
If I go for a LCD / Plasma - What ones?
If I go for projector / screen - What ones?
Budget approx £1,000 for the screen set up
Note : Room is south facing so get a lot of sun through south facing window.

For my Dells, Should I just go for basic flat wall hangers, or should I go with flexible arms?

What sound system, currently have pc running basic 5.1 creative set up, and also have a nice old sony set up (in attic). Possible budget for this item £300.

Will probably source 2 seater recliner sofa from somewhere like DFS.

Next Post Will contain the current WIP plan.

Taff
 
Here's the current plan



On left hand wall have the bookcase
On top wall have gaming PC and desk, also trying to show 3 * Dells and projector scree/ LCD / Plasma above desk
Bottom right, place to put server, this is also where my BB connection comes into the room
Sofa in middle of room
Chair under desk
Projector attached to ceiling.

Powers points that currently exist are on the top and bottom walls on the left hand side. Need to get one somewhere up near projector if I use a projector.
4 / 6 more on top wall right hand side of desk
2 more on bottom right, by the server

Taff
 
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Will save this post as having taken virginity on the thread :D

Looks good, will be good to read the build!
 
first thing I have noticed it is that the door surely must be hung the other way around. how do you even get into the room with the sofa there!?!?!?

even without the sofa, it would be a strange way to put the door on.

I see there is a speaker potentially in the way, but i would do something with the speaker (mount the rear speakers up high pointed down?) instead of compromising so much with the door.
 
If you are going to have the projection screen come down in front of the monitors you are almost certainly going to get a lot of reflection off your desk surface, plus you will need to move the chair out of the way as that will become a distraction.

Get a blackout blind for the window. I've used Shy and whilst not cheap they make good products.
 
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TomO said:
first thing I have noticed it is that the door surely must be hung the other way around. how do you even get into the room with the sofa there!?!?!?

even without the sofa, it would be a strange way to put the door on.

I see there is a speaker potentially in the way, but i would do something with the speaker (mount the rear speakers up high pointed down?) instead of compromising so much with the door.
Click to expand...

Hi TomO,

Thanks for your feedback.

Unfortunatley, that is the way the door opens. It's a house built in 1928 in a street of individual designed house, so everything is a bit strange on each house. The door being one of them in my house.

I agree there may be problems with the sofa and it's positioning because of the swing of the door. Maybe I should speak to my carpenter about changing the door over to swing to the back wall instead of into the room.

The item on the back wall inst a speaker, but I've put an icon to represent a power supply in that position. But there will need to be a speaker somewhere up on that wall as well to provide the back speakers for the 5.1 set up.

cram said:
If you are going to have the projection screen come down in front of the monitors you are almost certainly going a lot of reflection off your desk surface, plus you will need to move the chair out of the way as that will become a distraction.

Get a blackout blind for the window. I've used Shy and whilst not cheap they make good products.
Click to expand...

Hi Cram,

Yup agree with you in regards to reflectio from the desk and also the fact that I'll need a black out blind to get best from a projector. Especially with the amount of light I get in the room. I'm wondering are projectors good enough these days so that I'll be able to watch a projector/screen set up without closing the curtains, as I don't want to have to close the curtains everytime I want to watch some tv or films, the neighbours may think I'm up to something strange.

Taff
 
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you might find the projector screen above the desk is a bit too high up. I used to have a setup similar to yours with my projector screen above the desk, it worked but after so long I got tired of looking up :(
 
Supertaff said:
I'm wondering are projectors good enough these days so that I'll be able to watch a projector/screen set up without closing the curtains, as I don't want to have to close the curtains everytime I want to watch some tv or films, the neighbours may think I'm up to something strange.
Taff
Click to expand...

In a south facing room, don't think so. Business projectors tend to be brighter than video projectors but either way the image will look seriously washed out. I get by with black out blinds in my room but even with those I still dim the lights, if not switch them off entirely.
 
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I think you have a tricky situation there as you're looking to combine two different room types.

If it was me I'd get rid of the desk and use a much smaller desk on castors that can be wheeled around. This means that if you want to watch a film then move the wheelie desk and chair into the corner (bottom right in your diagram) and then drop the screen so it goes in front of your monitors. You could have a wireless mouse and keyboard on the wheelie desk so you don't have to worry about cables.

As mentioned I think having a screen mounted above a large desk may be a bit restrictive.
 
sk3lph said:
I think you have a tricky situation there as you're looking to combine two different room types.

If it was me I'd get rid of the desk and use a much smaller desk on castors that can be wheeled around. This means that if you want to watch a film then move the wheelie desk and chair into the corner (bottom right in your diagram) and then drop the screen so it goes in front of your monitors. You could have a wireless mouse and keyboard on the wheelie desk so you don't have to worry about cables.

As mentioned I think having a screen mounted above a large desk may be a bit restrictive.
Click to expand...


I'm afraid I do need a large desk as I run a business and ork from home quite often and need o have a lot of paperwork, diagrams etc spread around, so a small desk on castors doesn't suit. Though it is a good idea, i think the room would then go to much towards a home cinema than a study for my needs. Also as I'm putting a good amount of the purchases through my limited company, if the tax/vat man was to ever call around it's got to have a good Home Office feel about it so he doesnt' think I'm pulling a fast one ;-)

From the comments above I in regards to the light problem with it being a south facing room and the rfeflection issues, it may be better looking at an LCD/ Plasma, but that may end up being to high on the wal to comfortably look at.

I think tonight I will sketch up that far wall with possible layouts in terms of how high I need the monitors and then how much space I have above that for a screen/lcd/plasma

Appreciate all the good feedback already, it's givingin me some good pointers as to what I need to consider.

Taff
 
When I did my garage conversion the original idea was a cinema room cum office. The room was slightly bigger than yours (5m x just under 3m). I never really got the design to work properly for me so I went with a dedicated cinema room in the end and left the office in a spare bedroom.
 
Luckily my wife was quite happy for me to install a screen and a projector in the lounge although the idea of a dedicated cinema room does sound good as cram says. Based on your comments taff, maybe a big screen TV in your study is the better option.

The good thing about projectors is they can be positioned in a lounge and not be anywhere near as in your face as a big TV - you could use one of those portable screens that can be put away after you've finished your viewing, which may sway your good lady to having a projector in the lounge.
 
Have updated the thread in post 2 with pictures of current state of room.

Bought the desk I wanted today, belows a picture of it.





Looking for a nice chair now max price £300, looking for something similar to the chair below, any recommendations?







Taff
 
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I'm a big guy and can only recommend Markus from Ikea. I was willing to spend allot more because I wanted a descent chair for long gaming seesion and was very impressed with it and for about 110 pounds you cannot fault it

ikea+markus.jpg


Very rock solid build quality and tbh is not often found on the rest of the ikea stuff
 
Mumu2k said:
I'm a big guy and can only recommend Markus from Ikea. I was willing to spend allot more because I wanted a descent chair for long gaming seesion and was very impressed with it and for about 110 pounds you cannot fault it



Very rock solid build quality and tbh is not often found on the rest of the ikea stuff
Click to expand...

Cheers for the info Mumu2k, will pop into Ikea on way home one day this week and take a look, there's one only 10 minutes out of my way.

Have just had delivered 3 monitor arms to mount my 2407's on. They are heavy duty and will allow movement of the monitors between 100mm and 500mm from the wall with vertical and horizontal movement available. Will take a picture and post up when I've unpacked them.

A couple of questions now

1) I think I've given up on the projector for the TV part of the room and I'm going to go with an LCD instead. have been looking at the Samsung UE46B7020W 46-inch. This is one of the new thin LED screens. I can then mount it on an arm to lower it down in front of the monitors if required so that I'm not looking up to high at it. I think I'll get a better quality picture in the room that way. Any options/opinions?

2) Speakers, to get decent sound in the room I'd like a decent speaker set up. I've seen some nice Kef 1005.2's for £299. They seem to have great reviews, can anyone comment on personal expereince of these, or provide another option in the same price range. I want small speakers and be able to mount them on the wall preferrably.

Thanks

Taff
 
Supertaff said:
1) I think I've given up on the projector for the TV part of the room and I'm going to go with an LCD instead. have been looking at the Samsung UE46B7020W 46-inch. This is one of the new thin LED screens. I can then mount it on an arm to lower it down in front of the monitors if required so that I'm not looking up to high at it. I think I'll get a better quality picture in the room that way. Any options/opinions?
Thanks

Taff
Click to expand...

Don't waste your money on an LED sidelit LCD. Grab yourself the biggest plasma you can for your money.

Is the room really 3.3m long? Doesn't look it. If it is I'd try and find a way to make projection work. You really cannot beat the big screen experience. A decent LCD projector will still give a 90-100" screen at that throw.

Have the screen come down in front of your monitors, as low as you can and cover the walls/ceiling in black material, and have a throw ready to put over the desk. The height of it shouldn't be too bad, the bottom of my 108" screen is about the same height as a desk and It works great for me.
 
Yup, room is 333cm camera gives bad impression of how big it is. One of the reasons being that I can't stand with my back to either wall due to units on the walls.

Also is plasma still better at bigger sizes? I know there is a lot of people in each camp, but thought LCD had got to the same level now?

Maybe I'll see if I can find someone I know that has a projector that they can lend me so that I can give it a test to prove if it works or not before investing the money as I'd prefer the biggest screen experience I can get. Not sure about having to have the room dark everytime I want to use the screen, the neighbours will think I'm watching pron all the time.
 
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