Trial Run in the New House!

[Eric4x4]

Looks fantastic Michael

[Mary]

Beautiful!

Can't wait to see pics of move in day. I know there will be complete happiness

[Hot4huntin]

Super looking home, Michael!

[Humper]

Livin large Senor Miguel!

[kornsqueezer]

Very nice !!!!!!!!

[Mike D]

[ATTACH]19483[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]19485[/ATTACH]

We put considerable thought (well, what I think is considerable thought...we'll see how it pans out when we start trying to connect it!) into trying to plan the entertainment system.

It's hard to tell from the picture with the cabinets, but here's one pre-cabinets that might help to explain. We'll have the satellite and DVD players on the open shelves. I considered putting them inside one of the base cabinets, but I didn't want to have to leave a door open to operate them with the remotes. There are multiple CAT5 and RG6 drops from the closet that you can probably see in the cabinets, or the upper quad box above. I also ran a line back out from the Satellite receiver to the wall immediately behind the tv (center of the entertainment center on the cabinet picture).

The yellow and pink wires are speaker wires that go to 9 different sets of speakers in various rooms, each with separate volume controls and it will be housed inside the enclosed base cabinet. I want to have inputs from DVD, VCR, Satellite and Stereo Receiver/Amp. I'm also exploring options on having inputs for streaming audio from the internet and pushing it to the room speakers, and possibly even streaming video to the television. Oh, we're also wired for surround sound in the living room.

They did mis-measure the cabinets before installing, so they had to "refit" them, which threw off some of my wiring. They said they could fix it, but we'll see how it'll look when they have to start cutting the holes.

Michael

You can still put any of the equipment in the base cabinets. You can get RF receivers for them and that way the remotes are all RF instead of IR.

On the video from the satellite to the TV and the DVD to the TV, what type of cable did you run? You will get your best picture and sound with HDMI if you are planning on going high def which I highly recommend. Regular RG6 won't cut it there. You could also go component video and optical audio but that is just more and bigger cables to run. Also, if you don't already have a DVD player, I highly recommend Blu-Ray. It is OMG good. You will definitely want HDMI if you go that route.

How do you plan to distribute and control the audio in all of the other rooms? There are receivers out there that are multi room/multi source capable and are expandable with just a wall module and a CAT5 cable from the receiver to the module. You could always go with a switching station but it can only be controlled from the living room. With the system I am talking about, many functions such as on/off, source, volume, etc... can all be controlled from within the room where you are listening. Harmon Kardon makes about the best system like this that I have seen. It is called their ABus system. There are also a lot of other cool features that can be preformed with the ABus system as well.

If you want really kick azz sound and quality stick with high quality (i.e. expensive) components like Harman Kardon for your receiver. These things are amazing with their capabilities. You want to use on of their AVR series receivers.

Check them out here at www.harmankardon.com

When you are ready to start gathering prices and components go to www.onecall.com. I bought my entire home theater setup from them and everything about the transaction was professional and easy. I spent about $7k on my theater system which included 56" DLP TV, Karman Kardon receiver, HK DVD player, Monster power conditioner, Klipsch speakers etc. They saved me over $2k rather than buying it all locally. I can't stress enough the importance of a good power conditioner. It will protect your equipment form surges and such especially out in the sticks where you live.

If you need any more suggestions, please don't hesitate to contact me.

[Justin]

Looks great! I know the girls are excited.

[Michael]

Here are some additional photos of...

Kitchen Cabinets





The Island (in the Living Room awaiting installation!)





Living Room Entertainment Center



And completed just today, the tile shower and bath in the Master Bedroom





Detail on Shower





Toilets and hot water heaters (on demand) were installed yesterday. Delivery of the propane tank was aborted when they came out this morning and it was too muddy. The winds and sun today dried it up considerably, so hopefully they can get it set before the next rain. If the rain will hold off, they will start the driveway on Thursday.

Michael

[Texas Grown]

Congrats on the progress Michael. Looking realy sharp!. I bet the girls are "way" past ready and you to sir

[Hoyt Man]

Looking good

[Squealer]

looking great...keep us posted

[Bubba]

Looks awsome.Are you on a well and is your hot water heaters gas.I put mine in and had to jack the well psi up. Heaters would turn off at 40 psi and you'd lose hot water.My pump started cycleing ( submerged pump) alot so I'm looking into adding a booster pump so the main well pump gets a break. Might look into this.