Home theater project

[drumpriest]

The combination of an amp burning out, a tv with a bad panel, and a new couch means that I needed a new tv unit, and led to some new surround sound gear. It's nothing fancy, but I'm putting together a 7.1 surround system for my new 40" LED LCD Samsung, and a new stand as well....

Today I lacquered, all day. Also mounted my left and right speakers to the wall, nice and high so my kid can't get to em.

here is the flickr set....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/2278107...7623776593329/

[cabinetman]

Parts are looking good so far. Color is great...Red Oak is one of my favorites. What did you use for a stain? Looking forward to seeing it all installed.

A bit of a tip spraying WB polyurethane (you're using Target I think), is to spray panels vertical when possible. Using a lot of light to follow the "wet" line lets you apply material without getting runs, getting good coverage, and being vertical keeps some airborn dust off. FWIW.
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[JimD]

Looks good. My main TV is a 10 year old 32 inch conventional set. The box above the wall it sits in will support up to about a 40 inch LCD. I have been watching the LED prices because I like the idea of using less electricity and I hear the blacks are better. Do you think you got a good deal on the TV?

I built a sub into the floor when I put in my surround sound. I had the opportunity to wire while the house was under construction so I ran wires through the walls for 5.1 sound. My floor sub is 12 inch, ported, with a 100W amp. Not huge but enough for us. It fires out a fake heat vent. The box sits between the trusses holding up our first floor. It will make noise down close to 20 Hz so it adds a lot of realism on movies like Armageddon.

Jim

[drumpriest]

Cabinetman, vertical is how I spray anything I can setup that way, I get less clogging up of the gun that way. The stain is just off the shelf English Chestnut from minwax, as it closely matches the other entertainment unit color. (the old e-unit side lights are still in use). And yep, the top coat is Target's EM6000 water "lacquer".

Jim, we got an ok deal on the set. Our "old" HDTV had a bad panel, and we were credited the value, so we were on a somewhat tight timeline, but I did wait for a bit of a sale before I did it. We got the 40" LED LCD for 1400$, last august, pretty good price for the time. There are other manufacturers making "LED" systems now, but you need to be wary of how they work. Not all of them have the same LED to LCD pixel ratios. I'm pretty happy with the TV though, overall. The blacks are much better, and more localized luminance is nice, especially for displaying photos (photography is another addiction/hobby). We didn't really need bigger than 40" in our current house.

As for the surround, I'm pretty excited for it. I tested out the speakers, and they sound pretty great. Ours isn't huge or anything, just a 770watt 7.1 amp from Sony and a bunch of sony and cambridge soundworks speakers. Our sub is a 10" 100 watt job, does a nice job though, HUGE impact with it there. I couldn't have put it in our floor (concrete subfloor), but that's a cool idea! Ours sits in a dead space in the corner behind our sectional. I'm thinking to make a Krenov cabinet for back there that'll straddle the sub and hold some stuff for us.

[JimD]

Keith,

Thanks for the information on the TV. My current set has a few quirks but works so I am holding out for more problems with it and/or lower prices on the LED/LCD TVs. Your sound setup sound like it should be plenty.


Jim