2 posts tagged “home theater”

This is what a tenth of a mile of audio, video and network cable looks like.

You know how concert halls or space shuttles are always talking about how many hundreds of miles of cable they have? Well, I decided I'd calculate the mileage on the big box of cable which was delivered today. I was hoping it would be impressive. It wasn't, really. Still though, it was fun to unpack and I'm sure it'll be even more fun to install... this weekend!

That's right – the time has finally come. My window of opportunity for wiring the "theater" occurs between the electrical close-in inspection and the hanging of drywall. The former is happening tomorrow, and the latter will begin early next week. So this is it; my one and only chance to stick things in the walls before they're sealed up for good. I'm excited and just a little bit pressed for time. The last thing I want to do is to delay the project... but I'm cautiously optimistic that I can comfortably get everything done in time.

Oh – and in my continuing quest to do things the hard way, I've increased the scope of my own project to include minor carpentry. I got worried that the in-wall speakers might not sound all that great when the area behind them was completely open and backed with concrete block and insulation foil. So I emailed tech support at the designers (Sonance), and to my amazement they got back to me...within a few hours, no less! They readily dispensed advice on the optimal size and material of a back box I could build to improve the speakers' performance. Now that's customer service.

So tomorrow, I'll be headed to Lowe's once again to pick up materials to make three such boxes. At least I get to unpack and try out the new saw!

In conclusion, here are some more exciting things that have happened in the basement in the past few days:

• The plumber came back and finished the bathroom drain, but did not fix the huge hole he created. I assume someone else is coming to pour concrete at some point.
• A joint between old copper and new PVC supply line sprung a leak and required my mom to intervene using a handy bucket.
• The plumbing inspector was nice enough to treat us to a half-hour-long diatribe on illegal immigration and its deleterious effects on our county.
• My electrician friend came back to run outlets to two of the cutouts on my recessed boxes. This is going to be so slick, f'realz yallz.
• I bought a low-priced, low-sized, high-awesomeness subwoofer. Uhn tss uhn tss uhn tss...

If anyone wants to come help me with my construction and cable routing this weekend, let me know. ;) I'll provide your beverage of choice!

Please don't ask me why, because I don't fully understand. I am, however, happy for her! The bigger mystery, however, is why they chose to brand this particular unit with such a grand moniker as TOTAL TOILET ENSEMBLE. Surely the mere inclusion of a wax gasket and a seat shouldn't warrant the bestowal of such a regal honorific. Maybe they just should have called it a "throne."

All of these bathroom fittings were purchased because the plumber arrived on Friday and began tricking out the bathroom with all manner of piping, and will be returning Monday and Tuesday to finish the job. He'll also be completing work on moving all of the pipes which ran below the ceiling joists up and out of the way of the drywall (coming soon!) But by far the most amusing job he had to do was this:

Until you've seen a 90-pound dude grab a jackhammer and make an enormous hole in your foundation, you ain't seen nothin'. The kids thought it was cool that they could see the dirt under the house. All of this is being done to move the toilet rough-in from its current location (on which mounting a toilet would be nigh on impossible) to a much less ridiculous one. Yeah, I'm so glad I'm not a plumber.

In contrast to plumbing, I find electrical work very appealing. This is mainly because unlike water and sewage, electricity rarely leaks through junctions in its conveyance to form a giant puddle on your floor and ruin your fancy things, house and life. So I was very happy when Josh (the electrician) called me on Friday morning to have a nice conversation about low-voltage wiring and recessed outlets. Our original goal was to mount an LCD TV on the wall without having a bunch of ugly wires strewn everywhere. Somewhere along the way this ballooned into the commissioning of a pretty fancy home theater system, slick but with a firm grasp on budget realism. At the risk of counting chickens in the pre-hatching phase, I want to say that we've succeeded.

On Friday, I placed an order at monoprice.com for over $200 worth of cables for the system. This sounds like a lot until you realize that the same cables at a big box store would have cost more than $1,000! The next day, we picked up the rest of the equipment and spent a few hours geeking out over it. This is the first time I've been able to design a new setup before the walls are even put up...and it's a real treat!

These are two of the three Leviton recessed boxes which I installed today. This pair goes behind where the A/V components will be, and the third one is located up on the wall behind the TV. As soon as the high-voltage wiring inspection is done, I'll be running cables between these locations in-wall and terminating them in some very cool panels that fit into the rectangular holes you see. The idea is to keep all wiring out of sight. It'll look very slick – you'll see!

Also in the walls (and ceiling) will be five speakers... this house's first surround setup. I think it's safe to say that we're going to have a lot of fun with this. :) We'll need to have a party or something when it finally comes together.

That is, after we take care of a few minor details like plumbing, wiring, lights, walls, a floor...