apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

you. must. be. wealthy.

Finally! This is what I'm talking about in a Small Cool Tech space. It's got great integration, covers multiple functions, has a clean install, and is more than just plunking a computer down on a desk or sticking a flat panel on a wall.

Love the shout out to AVS (I post under MBK over there). Love the SVS sub (I have one as well, they are fantastic!).

This is arguably the best setup so far and beats the pants off of my forthcoming entry.

I must compliment you on getting around the disadvantages of a projector by also having a tv and feeding both sources.

I have to ask though:

1. How are you dealing with hiding the projector and it's noise?
2. If you have a wii, but two screens, do you just recalibrate it every time you want to play on a different screen?

Julian,

Nerds are really good at saving money for things deemed "essential". You should see my office. (I was going to enter it, but it's not "done" yet)

Oh trust me, I can find valid justification for a new router sooner than can I come to spend money on groceries... !

Mat,

Most projectors these days (save for business projectors and the real "light cannons") are actually pretty quiet. I think mine clocks in at 28db, about the noise level of a whisper. It's audible during the most quiet portions of movies when there is no score, but very rarely.

What project do you have? Love the setup by the way

Sorry, meant what projector?

I'm beginning to feel that A/V and home office should be entirely different categories. The room looks nice (plasma placed a little too high for my comfort), but it seems like a big part of a nice A/V set-up is what components you can hide. I'd also like to know more about the challenges of a small space.

Hi All,

Thanks for the kind words. I always see others entries and I am jealous, so its cool to get nice feedback.

To answer some questions, the projector is a Sanyo PLV-Z4, its mounted on a 3/4 wall about 8 feet tall, thats opposite the screen on a shelf. The shelf hangs back into the room behind (bedroom), so from the living room you dont see the PJ and in the bedroom is tucked high and away too. The projector is not audible in either rooms.

Ah the Wii! I have a wireless sensor bar that I put on the mantle when on the plasma, and i put a magnet on the back of it and can attach it to the lower bar of the screen when I play on the projector.

I have toiled with the idea of putting everything in a closet but I honestly like having my gear out (yea I am a dork).

The plasma is indeed higher than I would recommend for a sole option. It tilts down and the chairs are lower slung than they seem. I am tall at 6'5" so it works well for me. Everything in the unit has been scaled up for me!

On the office vs AV note. I will often times use the HTPC in the setup to surf or do some quicken so it doubles duty some, but I do have a wireless house with a printer tucked away in a bookcase on the other side, so I can also print at will. And I have a laptop. I do think though for this contest they should think about seperating them.

Thanks for the kind words all. Let me know if you have any thoughts. You can put this all together much cheaper than it looks! AVSFORUM rocks

I smell a man.

Where did those chairs come from? I have a big chair-shaped hole in my living room.

I think this room - and the av set-up - looks fantastic. But what's SMALL about it?

I also like that the gear is all out and easily accessible - no need to hide it, especially in a room that is devoted to experiencing awesome media performance(s).

where's the floorplan- all I see is three views of one room!?

Hey Logan,

The chairs are from C&B (evan). I like them for their simple lines and i like being able to rearrange them based on what I need to do in the space.

bball
- th only let us have 3 pictures for this contest since its only your AV or home office set up

I love this place! Those chairs look great for moving around to have friends over for movie night. Gears of War must look incredible on that big screen!

Maybe I don't understand the nature of the contest, but this set-up doesn't seem particularly ingenious, and it doesn't seem particularly beautiful, either. And if the idea here is that there's a search on for the smallest and coolest (i.e., under 1000 sf), I have to wonder --is this a separate A/V room or is it really a living room cluttered with gadgetry? For these and other reasons --the wires on the floor, the mismatched height between the mantle and the A/V shelves, the lonely acoustic guitar weirdly separated from the techno-toys below-- I had to rate this dial-up only. My biggest problem, though, was that I can't get with this thing of sticking flat screens above the fireplace. It seems really inelegant.

the place has some nice model home looking furniture set up perfect for a home showing but really where's the ingenuity here? yeah i would go to your home to watch movies, yeah you saved money on the system "thousands" to be exact, but really design wise i'm not thrilled by the asthetic. just my two cents.

now this is the responses i was expecting! I wont defend too much but just say the chord you see is my stupid laptop chord i didnt even notice it there until it posted! Doh! The other comments hold but i would say most people who come by aren't particularly struck by my tech as its off to the corner and i just have the remove. I wish i could show the integration better.

I meant "remote" not "remove".

where'd you get the table? nice and skinny- just what i need!

Although the overall style is nice, there are a few audiophile rules that have been broken through the system. 1)The flat panel is WAY to high, middle of the screen should be a relaxed eye level. 2) Sitting position to the projector screen seems really close, rule of thumb is 2.5x the diameter of the screen, I really do not think that the other couch is about >20ft away. 3) No isolation of the gear, especially with the spinning hard drives you are going to want isolation spikes on everything, and something that is alteast made out of 3/4" MDF to advoid interferience between them. 4) No Panamax/AC line regenerator, especially after you say protect your storage, this would be one of the best investments 5) Your speakers on the Projector screen do not apear to be equi distance from the center line. 6) No wall treatments?? You have to have some bad reverb from the walls and floor 7) The sub that close to wood blinds has got to lead to some interesting sound, why not get a heavy curtain to avoid that.

To properly set up what you have I would swap the Projector screen and the plasma, get a nice swing arm mount and mount it to the bricks. Assuming you can move the section chairs/couch back some allowing for proper space, also the speakers should almost be treated as an piece of art, I would actually center the projector screen on the center line of the fire place, then place the magnepans to each side of the fire place. But that is just me

Actually Thom, there are a few things incorrect in your post.

Point 2: Usual seating distance is between 1.5 and 2.5 x screen width. With higher resolution projectors people are often closer to 1.5. Very few people sit 2.5 times screen width.

Point 3: Spikes do absolutely nothing to isolate components. They actually COUPLE components to whatever surface they are on. This is useful in the case of sensitive components (i.e. turntables and really nothing else these days) where you couple the less-massive turntable to the more-massive stand and thus reduce vibration. Since this is an all-digital system vibration won't matter at all (unless it is such big vibration it shakes connections loose or causes drive-heads to impact the plater and thus ruin the drive). MDF won't provide any interference shielding benefits, unless we are talking about providing mass to help prevent vibration. But again, the system described here won't really be harmed by minor vibration.

Point 7: The low frequencies coming off that sub will pierce just about anything you put in front of them. As the blinds are suspended I doubt they are having much impact on the sound.

I can't resist. I really need to do some work today. THom to a couple of your points.

1. Agreed plasma is high, but i watch a lot from the kitchem and its perfect standing height or from my desk, but is indeed a compromise. I am thinking about some other fun things to do with it. I am sketching a setup to lower it from the cieling suspended on cables to infront of the fireplace and then pull it up into the cieling when not needed. I paint, so I would love to reclaim the mantle.

4. The gear is actually line conditioned the conditioner is in the back. I have played a bunch with line conditioners, and I have seen very little improvement, maybe i need a more discriminating set up.

5. Good observation on the speakers, in the pics they are in their "stowed" position. I should have moved them in the pic with the proj on. You can tell I photograph for contests well. Since they are bi planar, they need to come out from the wall. I pull them out and put them on either side of the screen about 2 feet from the back wall, creating an almost equilateral traingle to the viewing seats of the couch. When watching a movie the chairs get staggered into a wide arc for extra seating. Again should have showed that.

7. Max is right the suspension of the blinds keeps them from being a secodndary noise source.

gemion,

the table is from Costplus (aman). Its actually a bench. Its very strong and sturdy and its great for additional seating when you need it.

Wow! You have a ton of good shit!! I never would go to the effort of backing my media up on a server -- but WOW!
Good Job!

This is an amazing set up. I feel like people are being harsh on you because you have nice stuff. The integration of all of that tech into a bookcase than doesnt seem to be the focal point of the room is awesome. Mutilple HD sources, a computer, a server, and a home network all in one relatively small bookcase. AWESOME You deserve to be in the top 2 no doubt. Don't let the haters get you down.

First, I am not bashing, I did do installs of high end gear (read: bryston, integra, krell, etc...) and its the little tweaks that always make a system that much better, consider it constructive.

In response to Max:

2) If a higher resolution, read 1920x1080ish not 1280x720, I would agree, but at the same time I would recommend it being no less then 2x the diameter. Personally I tend to like 3x the distance, as was the case with my old Fujitsu panel and my current Hitachi panel. still assuming 2x the diameter of the 100" recommended viewing screen size would give you almost 17'

3) school of thought is still to isolate the system from vibrations on anything that contains a somewhat higher end amplifier system, I have my krells sitting on granite slabs which then sit on spikes and then on my rack. While you are correct that it is used to couple a "system", I was referring to isolating the system from the spinning hard drives, and with the MDF yes I meant as a density not a radio interference. I still strongly believe in vibrations will effect the overall sound, even of a digital system. Don't believe me on anything that is running an optical system (pure digital) just tap the wire while playing something, you can hear it. This is also a school of thought as why bryston subs are made of 1" thick billet aluminum

7) That although suspended I am talking about vibration against each other which is audible when sub produces sound in the 25hz range, and includes lower. Remember sound waves= movement of air particles and therefore will vibrate the blinds causing rattle, this is taken from personal experience and from professionals

Randall:

1) I find that would be a good idea of lowering as needed especially if motorize, only issue would be making a cable management system that would keep it from knotting up

4) Although I have had a noticeable difference pre and post, it is also a nice thing to have to monitor your gear and protect it from surges/really dirty power sources, but since you have one it is a moot point

5)thumbs up

7) see my response to Max

Also to Rugbym8t, what fun is it to have high end gear if it is not a focal point