Integrating Home Cinema into your Living Room...

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Hi folks, Im after a bit of help for what Im sure is a common problem....

I currently have two sitting rooms, one which is more decorative with less kit in it - 50 inch tv, skybox, no surround sound and another which has a smaller tv but has surround sound and my projector. However in the next few months my wife and I will be moving house and are expecting our first child. Exciting times but a shift in priorities.

Among other discussions we are trying to work out whether we need the two sitting rooms. In reality the projector is under used and indeed the second sitting room itself isn't used as much as it could be. That said I love the projector and I love a bit of tech so we are faced with a few choices. My wife doesn't want a room dominated by speakers and all that sort of kit at the expense of home homely features (hence the two sitting rooms in the first place) but at the same time would be willing and happy to compromise if we had to have everything in one room. She likes watching movies on the projector but also as I say, wants a room that looks as much like a conventional, family friendly sitting room as possible.

Is it possible to do both in the one room? Have you and your other half made this compromise and if so how? Could you post some pics to give me and idea of what it looks like and how it works in practice?

At the end of the day there will be some reno work going on in the new house so we have plenty of options, eventually I have a barn and an attic that could be converted into a more bespoke home cinema room but thats a fair way down the lien so this would be a medium term solution.....

.....or should I just buy a bigger tv, ditch the projector and surround sound and accept that the compromise isn't a practical one?

 

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In all honesty I haven't actually looked at anything yet, this thread was my first effort at doing anything to see if I would get any ideas first.

 

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Take a look at richer sound site... it might be that your wife has a different idea about speakers - they don't all have to be big blocks you can get more discreet systems which sound good

Basically she doesn't want anything that means the overall feel of the room is dominated by tech, however id like to keep the projector, screen and surround sound too. If it can't be done then it will just have to go in a different room. I guess a screen can be quite discreet and projector placement might not be too bad either. The other issue is adding in Sky box, sub, amp, playstation etc and before you know it you have boxes everywhere!!

 

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http://imgur.com/a/W12Ga

This is mine. Ignore the fact the amp is on a crappy table (will be replaced ) and the speaker cables are exposed........ will be sorted when I can be bothered

and that the centre speaker is on the floor with a nice speaker cable effect

But I feel that they don't dominate the room at all, barely noticeable tbh and they sound fantastic

Where do the wires go from the speakers and from the tv and what happens to the cables if you want to change the equipment if the wires are going behind the walls and in trunking? This has puzzled me but if do-able would make a big difference to my options!

Can you put the screen behind some sort of box on the roof. A sheet of wood painted the same colour as the roof, wall whatever to hide it? So no one would know it's there unless looking for it. And obviously the same with the PJ. It'll obviously take some extra work though.

I've seen pj's that hide in the roof and electronically come out, but I'd imagine the work/cost will be high.

I can do any of this as the rooms will need work, redecorating etc anyway but I don't have a huge budget given the fact that i'll have a child by then! Happy to spend a bit of cash though for the right ideas if we are doing some work anyway.

Thanks for the replies everyone, keep them coming!

 

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Lounge PJ setups dont really work for me. The wife friendly option would be a 55" (65" if you can) and a pair of speakers. Given that you've got a kid en route I assume a sub is out?

That is an option but as I already have the projector id like to try and make it work if possible. I haven't ruled anything in or out at this stage though. Any reason you feel it doesn't work?

If you are ripping walls down and replastering then the wires will simply go through the wall and stick out wherever you want the speakers. If it's just paint etc then it will be almost impossible to hide the cables without some trunking or so

When changing equipment this is no issue as the cables will always be the same - just standard speaker wire for all speakers.
It was easy for us however as the part you see is a newly built extension so we just ran the speaker cable the day before the plasterer came and started nailing the plasterboards in

Wire goes through the wall and then into the amp, and then from the amp it is just 1 HDMI cable again behind the wall in a drain pipe up to the TV so once finished the cables will be invisible

In my head Id be panicking at the prospect of a cable packing in and not being able to change it, I assume this isn't really likely though! We would be looking at replastering as part of an insulation upgrade so this could well be doable the more i think about it.

Ive seen the speakers mentioned above and they are very room friendly, are these recommended?

http://petertyson.co.uk/index.php/q-acoustics-q7000i-5-1.html

 

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Those are the ones I have and although I am no sound expert they are really good and reviewers seem to think highly of them as well
You will need an amp to go with them - I went with Denon X2300W as they were on an offer at richer sounds for a package of the speakers and amp

Speaker cable is extremely simple, just two cables. Once they are in before plastering just give them a quick test with an electrical tester to make sure a signal or electricity is passing from one end to the other and all will be well. Once in the wall nothing is going to happen to them. It's the only way to get a clean look with no cables everywhere for wall mounted speakers.

Yeah amp isn't a problem, cheers for the recommendations. I think i'll probably go along these lines with hiding the wires, seems daft not to if we are replastering anyway. Will look into projector options too.

 

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I was in the same boat as you a few years ago, it's amusing you think you'll have time to watch anything lol. I went from watching films on a big screen to watching them in bed on my phone with headphones on. You'll be worrying about not being able to hear the baby monitor while they are sleeping, tip toeing round trying not to wake them as you'll get so little sleep every second counts.

I'm ok now tho she's just turning 2 and life is returning to some normality, although the wife keeps dropping hints of another.....

Oh I'm well aware of the situation don't worry! However the renovation work is being done so I need to look at what is possible and not possible so than down the line I can watch Peppa Pig on a 120 inch screen!!!

 

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If you're looking for inspiration you could look at some of the builds on AV Forums. https://www.avforums.com/forums/members-diy-home-cinema-showcases.152/

With the equipment hidden in a cabinet and a drop down projector screen If you're willing to spend a bit of time and money on a build don't see why you couldn't have a great working system. You could even go as far as in wall speakers / subwoofer if you want a totally clean look.

Thanks I will check that out. Spending money is relative I suppose. Ultimately the house is mortgage free so we will probably take out a small one for renovations a little of which may allow us to integrate the Home Cinema and do some nice things. The other side of that coin is that with a child on the way the days of spending cash on such frivolous things should probably be over!! Hopefully we find some middle ground somewhere!

 

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Recently had a similar situation, just finished re-decorating one of our living rooms and wanted to soften it down a little in terms of AV gear. Went with the Q Acoustics 7000i speakers due to their size/looks (and a bonus they perform well ).

Using just a Marantz NR1607 amp and an Xbox One to drive all media to cut down on black boxes (also have a home server in the loft hosting the majority of non-streamable content).

All cables are in the walls (audio, network, data) with wall plates installed behind the av unit. I’ve even wired up some cables in the ceiling in readiness if I choose to install an additional two ATMOS speakers.

Later in the year I want to replace the existing 50” plasma with something a little larger.

Thats pretty much along the lines of what I could be looking for with PJ in the ceiling too, out of the way. Looks really nice and doesn't dominate the room. Excellent. Would need black out blinds etc, but its the sort of compromise that would be acceptable!

Anyone got any more thats heading in this direction?

 

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Easyrider,at the risk of appearing stalker-ish Ive admired you cinema rooms on these forums for a long long time in the threads you created. One day Id aim to have something similar myself, I'll have the spare space and would be looking to create a bespoke room. I definitely like what you have done with the speakers there, very unobtrusive in a living room I think assuming I'll have the space on the walls with the TV, Screen placement , looks great though.