Living Room with in-wall 7.1.4 and PJ

dancook · 6 Oct 2017 at 16:07

I will need 11 speaker cables between the wall plates and the AVR. So I bought 12 pairs of banana plugs, totally forgetting to calculate terminating both ends.

Incidentally not impressed with these banana plugs, you’re suppose to be able to put the cable up the middle of it and screw it on. What stops it coming out, compression? No. You need to twist it into a mess and try and screw the thread over the top of it – it’s a pain.

The Stanley automatic wire stripper is pretty awesome though.

dancook · 6 Oct 2017 at 16:22

signs said:
What wall plates have you chosen Dan ? i just jot some plastic blanks and drilled a hole then went straight to speakers with the cable , but its a pain when i have to move the amp .

Fisual 7.2 plate, and 4.1 plate - HDMI and 1.1 plates

I already had the 7.2, added the 4.1 for ATMOS. Will re-use the 1.1 plate for the subwoofer and connect the other end to the 4.1 plate. There will be an HDMI plate behind the AVR system, but I have a brush plate for the other end at the projector.

dancook · 8 Oct 2017 at 08:52

So I was just reading something related to my speakers which said “Bezel and grille can be painted to match your room”

Bezel? oh crap.

fortunately louise is happy with them like this and can be changed in the future if desired.

dancook · 8 Oct 2017 at 12:38

tres said:
They look good

Thanks,

tomorrow all the lighting, sockets, and speakers get wired up I think - and the underfloor heating wired.

The flooring and skirting goes down, exciting..

dancook · 10 Oct 2017 at 15:53

The wall speakers, switches and lights went in today.

Got a lot of paint touching up to do..

dancook · 10 Oct 2017 at 17:48

dancook · 10 Oct 2017 at 18:06

Phate said:
Looking fantastic. Really really interesting for potential future project of my own. Need to make a point of rereading the thread from the beginning.

thanks! The extended living room is part of a bigger project, I also have blogged the progress of everything not just the lounge https://cookhousestory.wordpress.com/

dancook · 10 Oct 2017 at 18:25

I'm pretty sure using same speaker for left/right/centre is recommended because they will all be tonally matched.

My wife and I did the decorating. I work from home, so I've kept a close eye on things. I planned things like the stud wall, so we could sink the speakers in and it made a good target to put the AV plates for ease of wiring. The electrician did all the wiring.

Yea white ceiling is a quite surprise to some, but we like it - and it will help cut down on reflection for the projector. But it's not so dark that it feels like a dedicated cinema room.

dancook · 10 Oct 2017 at 18:28

I also planned the light layout, so it worked with the atmos speakers and where the joists/steels were.

dancook · 10 Oct 2017 at 18:52

I will do a better video when room is done.

dancook · 10 Oct 2017 at 19:47

Phate said:
Tonally, yes. But my thoughts were more along the speech/vocals suddenly having a lot more power than a typical centre?

I'm not sure. Just thinking out loud here. I know from personal experience when I upgraded my centre to my current one which is much newer and more powerful than my fronts that suddenly it was almost overbearing at first. Although thinking about it, it's a large room to fill as well...so more umph for vocals might not be such a bad thing!

There is the Anthem Audio Room Correction which should balance the speakers, comes with a microphone - you connect it to a pc/laptop run the setup and you get a nice PDF report of before & after

dancook · 10 Oct 2017 at 23:10

hornetstinger said:
Wish could do a room up from scratch like you, but alas. What amps do you have? I'd defo be looking into dedicated amps for Kef Reference (have Kef Reference myself)

What sub do you have?

I have a bk electric monolith df plus.

Also using Anthem mrx1120

It's a semi detached house, can't go mad

dancook · 11 Oct 2017 at 07:37

hornetstinger said:
I'd be careful with some of those channels <40w power

Careful? do you think something could break?

Since there's a limit to how loud I'm going to have it, I will wait before considering a power amp. I've already added a shelf to a custom designed rack in case I need one.

dancook · 11 Oct 2017 at 16:05

Flooring should be finished tomorrow then electricians coming in on Friday to finish up.

dancook · 11 Oct 2017 at 16:23

Phate said:
Fantastic. Love the wood colour.

Can you enlighten us on a rough "budget" for this? Not specifically for the whole extention but lets imagine the room was already built and ready to be worked on to bring it to this state with your hardware picked?

thanks!

It's not difficult to work out the RRP prices of the kit involved, but I feel a bit reluctant to put a price on this room

dancook · 11 Oct 2017 at 20:20

hornetstinger said:
Those matching Anthem poweramps (P series) aren't cheap. The A series is more affordable, or the MCA series.

It's not even under consideration until I see how it performs, I have a professional coming to calibrate it - I will see what he thinks.

dancook · 11 Oct 2017 at 21:37

https://referencehometheater.com/review/anthem-mrx-1120-receiver-review/

These guys did a 5.1.4 system - with 5 x 5160 - so there's something.

But still I'll wait for the professional installer to calibrate it

dancook · 12 Oct 2017 at 08:29

FurryLemon said:
Sweet setup for a non-dedicated room.

thanks

dancook · 13 Oct 2017 at 16:09

Today the floor was finished, the skirting and we got a new door on the hinges – yet to get a handle.

We cannot take living in the dining room anymore and are going to move into the lounge – even though the electrician hasn’t finished, we’ve also got to paint the skirting and do some touch ups.

dancook · 13 Oct 2017 at 16:14

Phate said:
Fantastic! I really think the blue works really well, the floor compliments it nicely.

I did wonder if you were going to break it up with white skirtying. Whilst some will argue its distracting. I am glad you did. Like you say. Its a living room when not in "movie mode"

hah, you speak too soon - we have not painted the door or skirting yet, it will be dark grey