thatitalian's house build thread - PICS (and loving the new forum!)

[thatitalian]

Well, as you may or may not know I have been quite busy recently.

My partner and I are moving into our new home a making a few (by that I mean a lot) of changes.

We are starting with a complete refurb and restoration of a Victorian house. There is a host of original features that we are trying to restore as well as adding a hint of a modern touch to the place.

First of all is the living room, which is a part I need advice on.

I am planning on having 5.1 surround sound (Acoustic Energy Neo's) in there. The drawing below outlines where everything will go.



The TV point is the hub of the whole thing. It will house the amp, blu-ray, xbox, server and centre speaker.

I plan on running speaker cable under the floor boards and having wall plates at each speaker/sub point so that speakers can be connected to the wall plates. At the TV point there will be a 5.1 plate that will hook up to the amp.

Now, is it a good idea to use wall plates? I have heard mixed reviews. TBH I want the neatness. Which wall plate is better, banana plug or binding post?

I also plan on getting Virgin media. Ideally I would like to install a wall plate at the TV point for that also. Is this a good idea?

Sky+ was at the house before and as a result the wires are still there. I would like to keep them just in case and plan on using a wall plate for this too.

Ideally I would like to use one wall plate for Virgin, Sky and for the digital aerial. Is this possible? Effectively I want to have one TV point.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Just so you know what the house looked like, some photos are attached. You can see where the 80's came into play and all the original skirting, etc was replaced with 50mm planks!

[Dexter]

In relation to the speaker posts, you can use either. Just make sure that they're gold plated. More important is that you use decent speaker wire both in-wall and from posts to speaker. You'd be surprised at how many people use cheap wire in-wall and then buy a couple of meters of expensive cable from socket to speaker, which defeats the purpose.

I'm currently putting all of my cabling in-wall for my own home cinema, including hdmi and power cabling. Pain in the arse but will be well worth the effort.

[orion]

There is nothing wrong with using wall plates, they make life easier when you can use them. Looking at your diagram though, I do have to say that the speaker placement in relation to the TV, doesn't look all that great. If I had to install a system in that room, I would recommend placing an LCD or plasma above the fireplace, and then using in ceiling speakers so you can place them more appropriately in relation to the position of the TV and the room layout. Of course I say this without an inkling as to what your budget is, or what challenges there are for you in that house for running cable.

[saint]

I had the same concern. Either you won't be centered on your TV visually, or you won't be centered between your speakers audibly. I believe with a good receiver you can tweak it to adjust for the off-center placement, but I'm not an audiophile...

[orion]

Actually, if possible I think that this would be a better layout for the room.

[thatitalian]

Umm, bit hard with a door in the way! (bottom right)

And yes Saint, you can tweak it!

Plus, my GF has bought a mirror for above the fireplace, she would kill me if I told her no. It was hard enough convicing her to OK all the equipment!

[Dexter]

I was looking at in ceiling speakers at one stage also, these guys have a good selection and do free delivery to london....

http://www.hifix.co.uk/sku_list.lasso?red=1&dept_id=89&dept=6ad2577bbdec37b28a4861cd321b5b73&majorg=df0a525aae5e656bbf4d1f13d5739ea74a2fd2164ab079cd1a31aa9e988239dd&minorg=af0a63aeb1433aa0&minor_id=&major_id=124

[Franco B]

Plus, my GF has bought a mirror for above the fireplace, she would kill me if I told her no. It was hard enough convicing her to OK all the equipment!

Dude, seriously! You are adding (man)value to the house. If she wants somewhere to put the mirror then mount it over your bed

Looks like a nice place tho bud, nice score

[stace]

Hi mate,

If you are able to put the TV into the bay, you will simplify the whole installation and get a better result.

You should also consider moving the sub to the front soundstage.

The neo's are good speakers.

For wall plates, look here http://www.letsautomate.com/index.cfm?&Nav=Walloutlets&

 

[drventure]

Mirror over the fireplace would be better feng shui, if you're into that sort of thing 

[orion]

Umm, bit hard with a door in the way! (bottom right)

And yes Saint, you can tweak it!

Plus, my GF has bought a mirror for above the fireplace, she would kill me if I told her no. It was hard enough convicing her to OK all the equipment!

That's what the in ceiling speakers will allow, better placement in that room. I see you are trying to work with the GF with this, and hence your problem. Just remember it's easier to work with GF 1.0 then wife 2.0. As difficult as it might be, try to work with her now. You still might have a chance to turn her to your way of thinking, but if you ever get married I can almost guarantee you won't get any tech bliss as it will almost certainly conflict with her since of decor.

[thatitalian]

Dude, seriously! You are adding (man)value to the house. If she wants somewhere to put the mirror then mount it over your bed

 

I really wanted it over the fireplace as the TV is a Samsung LED so it is ULTRA thin.

I will be using something similar to those ceiling speakers outside. Obviously they will need to be waterproof. See the plan below:



The back of the garden has raised stepped decking with a canopy. The speakers are mounted at the back. We plan on having cast iron railings made which are the black lines towards the front of the decking on the paln. A matching shed will be to the right of the decking to blend in. LEDs will be mounted to the step and the top decking parts facing forward to light the gravel path that leads to the decking.

On the left of the path will be a few plants and a herb garden. On the right is the dining area which will have a table, chairs and parasol. Against the house (near the dining area) will be my BBQ. The paving is already in the garden and will stay as is. We are lucky as we have french doors that lead into the garden as well as a kitchen door.

We also had a score. We stripped the wallpaper in the main bedroom to find a piece of plyboard on the chimney breast that was sticking out from the wall. We removed it and found a fireplace behind it. You can see it in the attached pic. I never could understand why people cover these up. At least the previous owner didn't throw it out as so many people do. We found out that it is worth £300!

[stace]

If you do go with in-ceiling make sure you use bins and spend a reasonable amount of money.

Sound leakage doesn't help with the quality of output in my experience.

[orion]

"Chill zone"? So what's that going to be? Sounds "cool" whatever it is. ( I know I couldn't resist the bad pun)  

[thatitalian]

Hahaha, yeah, funny as hell though!

The Chill zone is basically some sofas, a table, some outdoor white xmas lights that will be run down the back wall, a lamp heater for those colder nights and a little extra that I am keeping secret...

The speakers will hook up to one of the ports on my amp so that I can hook up my ipod/xbox and listen to some music, but the sound will come in handy for other more visual things too...

The amp I will proably go with is the Denon 1910.

The GF is very reasonable, about 85% of the house ideas came from me. She quite likes gadgets but she also likes the fact that we can take them with us if we ever move. I have to admit I agree with that after spending £600 on speakers (superfi had a bargain offer!)

Loving the feng shui...

[thatitalian]

So, there is a Sky+ connection at the house (2 cables from the dish). I plan on having Virgin media with V+ HD box and also plan on getting a digital aerial on the roof as there is no aerial!!!

I am going to have a wall plate made for this so that I can conceal all the wires. What connection type is the Virgin line in? When the guy comes I will get him to connect to the wall plate and then run a wire to the V+ box. Is this all even possible?

[stace]

coax

[stace]

Got to agree.

& if you decide to have a working fireplace, you are a little bit shafted!! (depending on the fire!)

[orion]

Hahaha, yeah, funny as hell though!

The Chill zone is basically some sofas, a table, some outdoor white xmas lights that will be run down the back wall, a lamp heater for those colder nights and a little extra that I am keeping secret...

The speakers will hook up to one of the ports on my amp so that I can hook up my ipod/xbox and listen to some music, but the sound will come in handy for other more visual things too...

The amp I will proably go with is the Denon 1910.

The GF is very reasonable, about 85% of the house ideas came from me. She quite likes gadgets but she also likes the fact that we can take them with us if we ever move. I have to admit I agree with that after spending £600 on speakers (superfi had a bargain offer!)

Loving the feng shui...

That sounds cool indeed. I didn't comment on this earlier, but that's a nice house. That "little extra secret" wouldn't be one of those "special" swings would it?  You are a lucky man that your GF likes gadgets. I had to make a deal with my wife, I got a Media room to to with what I wanted, but she had free reign over the rest of the house. I look forward to see how this project goes for you. I take it that with the Sky TV, you are located somewhere in England?

[orion]

TVs over the fireplace are the tackiest thing ever.  In 30 years, whenever someone is making a comedy about the 00s, guaranteed you'll see TVs over the fireplace as an icon of the era.   

Personally I don't have a preference one way or another, but I think there is a lot of that these days because fireplaces are designed to be the focal point in a room.. and so are big screen TV's... and now people can put a large screen TV over the fireplace. I have seen really nice installations before where they are over the fire place, yet concealed behind some motorized waynes coating type panels. You have to admit though that they look a lot nicer than those TV "hutches" they used to build in over fireplaces to accomodate CRT's.  You are right about one thing, it's something that is a trade mark in home design to this decade... along with open floor plans and granite counter tops.

[thatitalian]

Well, it turns out that the plastering could be a nightmare.

We need to remove some on the external walls and redo it.

We also need to do a few ceilings due to cracks. One guy recommended I mesh it and plaster it, another told me overboard. The problem with overboard is that there is original coving. Does anyone know if the mesh method is decent. I know a crack will appear over time but how big will it be? Can't I just fill it a paint it when it does occur?

Fun fun fun...

[orion]

Well, it turns out that the plastering could be a nightmare.

We need to remove some on the external walls and redo it.

We also need to do a few ceilings due to cracks. One guy recommended I mesh it and plaster it, another told me overboard. The problem with overboard is that there is original coving. Does anyone know if the mesh method is decent. I know a crack will appear over time but how big will it be? Can't I just fill it a paint it when it does occur?

Fun fun fun...

I take it this is plaster and lath? You have to reattach the plaster to the lath in someway, and then patch the crack. Traditionally, you do this with screws and large plastic washers, and then fix the crack with mesh tape. Or you use the screws and washers and then you start scraping out loose material in the crack and then moistening it some so that the old plaster doesn't suck the moister out of the new plaster as it cures. Looks like though there is a new kit, being recommended by "Ask This Old House" I would give this a try, as these guys really know their stuff.

http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/article/0,,1628100,00.html

[protokatie]

Someone already brought up the issue with the sub-woofer, but I am also wondering about what floor plan you have for furnature (couch, la-z-boy, etc). IMHO, the best place for a sub is right behind the couch, or just under the coffee table in front of the couch (if you plan on a couch being the primary view-point).

As for the chill room, don't forget to add a humidor when using that "special" inspiration. It tends to not smell the house up as much... (You were talking about weed, right?)

[thatitalian]

As for the chill room, don't forget to add a humidor when using that "special" inspiration. It tends to not smell the house up as much... (You were talking about weed, right?)

Ummm, no, I wasn't actually...

Lol. I was actually thinking of possibly making a waterproof cocktail cab...

[thatitalian]

I am trying to connect my AE Neo sub to a Denon 1910. However I plan on running the wiring in the wall using wall plates.

I have two wall plates (one 5.1 plate and another sub plate, both phono connections, similar to the bottom centre connection on this: http://www.nexxia.co.uk/Wall_plate_C...P-024_back.jpg). What cable should I use to connect the plates? Coax? And if so where can I buy some from? More importantly, how do I connect the cable to the phono connectors? If I solder, what part do I use?

Also, will I need to use a splitter to connect the wall plate to the sub? If so, what type? (you can see the back of the sub here: ACOUSTIC ENERGY AEGIS NEO 5.1 SPEAKER PACKAGE - available from Superfi UK Visit http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/page/moreinfo.cfm/product_id/3225 for details)

[stace]

Mate,

Whilst this forum is great and there is a wealth of knowledge here, do you not think it would be of benefit to go to the AV forums where you can get these answers PDQ.

People here have a love for, and get geeky over everything Arcade.  People on the AV forums genuinely pull the end off themselves answering questions like these....

Just my two penneth.
Stace

[thatitalian]

Been there, done that. The responses are slow and generally unhelpful on that forum. You do get the odd person who is extremely helpful, but they are few and far between. Plus, I like this forum more

[stace]

Been there, done that. The responses are slow and generally unhelpful on that forum. You do get the odd person who is extremely helpful, but they are few and far between. Plus, I like this forum more

  I always find them really helpful.

No worries, was just a suggestion.

[Dexter]

What cable should I use to connect the plates? Coax? And if so where can I buy some from? More importantly, how do I connect the cable to the phono connectors? If I solder, what part do I use?

Also, will I need to use a splitter to connect the wall plate to the sub? If so, what type? (you can see the back of the sub here: ACOUSTIC ENERGY AEGIS NEO 5.1 SPEAKER PACKAGE - available from Superfi UK Visit http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/page/moreinfo.cfm/product_id/3225 for details)

If you're using a standard sub out on your amp to the sub in on the subwoofer, you can strip a standard phono cable at either end and solder the wires to the back of the corresponding wall plate pins. For high level (not recommended) you should use speaker cable. Any OFC cable should give you a clean signal.

For my own setup I'm stripping a pair of 5 meter phono cables and soldering them to a dual phono wall plate. One phono will be the feed from the amp to the sub and the other will be a coaxial digital back to the amp for my squeezebox.

Oh, and you WON'T need  splitter. For your 5.1 setup the .1 is the amp channel i.e. single channel so you connect 1 phono cable to the "subwoofer line-in" on that sub. When soldering, solder the inner part of the cable to the centre pin on the connector and the outer part of the cable to the ring/sleeve part of the connector.

[thatitalian]

Cheers for that!  I figured it out in the end. You are right about the inner/outer soldering.

One thing I wanted to ask is actually about aerials. I am having an aerial fitted and I have bought wall plates for the aerial points in the house (3 in total). How do i connect the aerial wires (coax again?) to the wall plates? HERE are the wall plates.

[Dexter]

Should be the same. Solder the cable core to the tip, then shield/outer to the ring/sleeve.

[thatitalian]

Using a coax again?

[Dexter]

Yep, aerial coax..
http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=9686667&fh_view_size=150&fh_start_index=0&fh_location=%2f%2fcatalog01%2fen_GB&fh_search=aerial&fh_eds=%c3%9f&fh_refview=search&ts=1252922012925&isSearch=true

[thatitalian]

Well, a ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- load of progress has been made. Pics will be up tonight as I haven't got the at work at the mo.

Here are the only pics I have on this PC.

[drventure]

Dang, that looks like a lot of work.

But it also looks like it's going to be awesome when you finish!

 

[Franco B]

Dang, that looks like a lot of work.

But it also looks like it's going to be awesome when you finish!

 

No kidding! You have been a busy boy.

I hope you have a nice area planned for your cab once its built

[thatitalian]

No kidding! You have been a busy boy.

I hope you have a nice area planned for your cab once its built

I certainly do! A whole room in fact!

[Franco B]

Sweet

I have cabs in the kitchen, two bedrooms and garage at the moment. Think I'm starting to push the GFs leniency 

[HaRuMaN]

Sweet

I have cabs in the kitchen, two bedrooms and garage at the moment. Think I'm starting to push the GFs leniency 

Just start quoting Eddy Murphy:

"This is my house, and if you don't like it, you can get the f*** out!"

[shmokes]

I was surprised when you mentioned that your GF had a mirror picked out, cos I thought you were gay based on your first post.  Who refers to his girlfriend as his partner, lol?