Deftones

Ok, let's try this again.

My parents just recently finished their cabin about 3 hours away from their home. The HT guys were there this weekend setting everying up. I was lucky to be able to to be up there and take some pics.

Here's the setup for the HT room:

Marantz DV6400 SACD/DVD player.
Integra 6 disc CD Changer
Marantz Receiver SR7400 (black)
Sherwood AM/FM Receiver RX-4100
JVS S-VHS
Marantz DLP VP-12S3
Stewart Fiewhawk 60 x 107 screen (I think that's the size)
2 Monitor Audio GR-20 Front Speakers
1 Monitor Audio GR-Center
4 Monitor Audio GRfx Rear and Sides
2 Rel Acoustics Q-150E Subs
LG LS-3200A HDTV DirecTV receiver

Here are some pics I took. Some of the quality is low due to low light conditions. The set up is of 3 tiers. There is a low tier, a middle tier (which is room level), and a 2 higher tiers in the back. That way anywhere you sit, you won't be looking at the back of someone's head.

Pic of the screen and speaker from the middle tier.


Picture of the DLP


Picture looking from the left upper tier


Picture looking from the right upper tier.


Upclose w/ the DLP


Pic of one of the Monitor 20's and one of the two Rel Subs


One of the four Monitor rears


Looking from the middle tier down into the first one


From the entrance, looking up at the DLP and screen


Picture of the component rack in the closet



My dad also had a special compartment built into the fireplace for a 62" Zenith HD LCD screen. It's also hooked up to DVD, CD and the HDTV DirecTv receiver.

Up close


From a distance

Dah-Dee

"My parents just recently finished their cabin about 3 hours away from their home. The HT guys were there this weekend setting everying up. I was lucky to be able to to be up there and take some pics."

Just kidding. Kidding! It's very nice. I'm envious. Freaking rich kids. Kidding!

Deftones

I don't get to see any of that wealth. I'm a poor government worker. I only get the benefit of using this and someday inheriting it with my siblings.

JimRochester

My parents would be cool like that if they had the money. My in-laws still can't figure out why they can't buy 8-track tapes.

B.A.

Deftones - your parents seem to have a very nice place and it certainly looks like they made some wise choices. Did they ask for any input from you on some of their purchases or did they shop solo?


My mom and dad are moving into a new house next month that is almost twice the size of their present house. There is already a HDTV-ready RPTV in the basement family room and my dad may give me a budget to help him build a little home theater. He already said that when the RPTV goes out he is going to get a projector system to replace it. Your pics make wish he would just do it right away.

On my list of things to buy:

Receiver (I'm also looking into separates)
Prog-scan DVD player
Speakers and Sub.
HDTV receiver

The bulk of my budget will probably go to speakers (a 3:1 ratio between the speakers and receiver is what I am shooting for). I'm not too worried about the DVD player since they are so cheap nowadays and he will probably just get and HD cable box from Charter (if they even have them around here).

Deftones

Well, unfortunately I didn't get too much input on it. My dad was going to get some info from me, but never did.

It was OK, though. He is in the home building business, and one of his good friends here owns one of the largest HT install companies in AZ. He was the one that did most of the designing of it. He got a killer deal on all of the stuff too. Retail the cost was about $45,000, and my dad walked away paying about $25,000 including all the prewiring in the house.

There are a ton of other speakers all around the house. It's entirely wired from the HT room, so you can listen to music in any room our outside if you wanted to.

Overall, I was extremely happy with what he did. The only disappointment this past weekend, was that they couldn't get the DirecTV dish in the right place to get the HDTV channels. We won't be able to fix that until the snow melts.

We threw on several movies and they looked phenomenal with that projector. Matrix Reloaded was amazing, for the 2 minutes I saw of it. 2 Fast 2 Furious sounded great and looked great as well.

Once he gets the furniture in, probably in another month or two, I'll really get into it and test the system out.

B.A.

Damn, sounds like a pretty sweet deal. You're fortunate to be able to enjoy such a sweet setup. And you didn't have to help put it in either.

So let's cut to the chase - when are going to throw a little Otter meet up there?

Deftones

The magic 8-ball says "never"

I wouldn't have minded putting it in. Obviously there is some stuff that I just wouldn't have the ability to do (wiring) but I could've hooked up the components.

B.A.

Wiring just takes plenty of patience and the more sq. ft. one has to deal w/, the less patient one becomes.

Deftones

Well, the cabin is about 4500 sq. ft., so I think if asked, I would've passed.

B.A.

I think it is safe to say that is too big of a house to be considered a cabin. Cabin's only have 2 or 3 rooms max, sounds like your parents have a few more than that.

Another question - why aren't you in the family business? Your dad seems to do pretty well for himself (I am not knocking your government job or anything).

Deftones

Well, they call it a cabin, I call it a compound. It has 4 bedrooms. One for each of my siblings and my parents.

Well, it's not like my dad owns a business. He's the president of a fairly well known home building company. I don't like that corporate 9-5 mumbo jumbo. I like my job because I show up when I want, and no matter how badly I dress, they can't fire me.

B.A.

That's the attitude.

Sdallnct

Maybe it is just the camera angle, but it looks like the projector is very close to the screen. Did they have to get a wide angle lens for it? About how far is the spacing?

I'm considering a projector for a media room in our new house. But what I want to do is remove the existing fan and use the power for the projector, but I'm worried it will be to close (about 6 feet away).

Deftones

It's the camera angle. I think from projector to screen is about 15 feet, give or take a few.

The entire room is about 20 feet deep and about 15 feet wide.

steebo777

Can't wait to have enough money to buy a cottage to throw a HT setup in

the aftermath

Awesome pics, are your folks looking to adopt by any chance? I promise to keep my Giants propoganda out of the household

Dah-Dee

Well, just remember: If you visit the "compound,".... don't ... drink ... the Kool-Aid!

Edit: P.S. -- If you go, take your camera for pics; I'm sure you'll be excited, but this time try to keep your "finger" out of the photos

Deftones

Sorry. No Giants fans allowed. El Scorcho gets a temporary permit to break those rules if he ever shows up.

the aftermath

Shutup, shutup, shutup!

Looks like I'll have to skin El Scorcho and then put it on and pose as him to gain entry. I'll have to stretch the skin a couple feet first though.

Shilex

Hey, is that your copy of Chapelle's Show Season 1 or is that your parents?

chowchris13

Monitor Gold Speakers???? If they are....those are the best sounding speakers in the world

Shroud

Nice setup, its very similar to my Home Theater that I converted a spare bedroom into. A few observations though,

1. The rear speakers seem a bit high towards the ceiling, at ear level (when seated) is usually the prefered position.

2. Since your running dual subs, most audophiles recommend putting both subs together in the same corner and adjusting the phase until the highest SPL reading.

3. You should consider mounting your front and center channel speakers on the wall at ear level. Not only will it improve the sound quality, but makes a neater appearance. You can hang speakers with a heavy hanging kit from Home Depot, I was able to hang my B&W DM 620i speakers and they are approx 55 pounds each.

4. Was everything properly calibrated with Avia or other professional calibration disk. If your father spent $25,000, I hope he got it all ISF certified.

gotapex

Preferred position for surround and rear speakers are not at ear level. Dolby specifies above the ear, normally about 2' or so. Bipoles/Dipoles can be placed even higher, especially with wide vertical dispersion tweeters, like the C-CAM's.

Closer to the ear (perhaps only a foot or so above) is preferred for the surrounds and rears only with narrow dispersion monopoles, though even this creates some localization problems.

steebo777

I completely agree with everything you said, as that is how I set my HT up.