Wallew's Home Theater Setup

[wallew]

Well, my MIL's health slipped.  My wife WAS going to retire.  Went and talked to her company to  tell her boss that.  They asked if she was sure.  She asked why?  Talks ensued.

HERE WE ARE NOW.  She got a nice raise, a promotion and tons more responsibility.  She is  still traveling 60% +.

I'll get pix posted up in the next week.  

It's funny.

You really never know how much 'stuff' you have until you move it all from one state to another.  We used to move every three years, so our 'stuff' could all fit in one large rental truck.  THEN about fifteen years ago, I asked if we could 'stay in one place'. We did.  Stuff collection ensued (like my SONY stuff).

Then life happened. And we moved.  And it took that same large rental truck (stuff I didn't want the movers to touch - like all my SONY stuff - etc) with a trailer with my wife's car on it.  Then the MOVING VAN showed up and they stuffed it full.  And I sold one MV before we left Denver, drove one MV pulling another MV and the wife drove the Suburban with a really small rental trailer with the leftover stuff in it...

It took almost three months, FOUR contracts (three fell through) and a long time in numerous hotels to find a place to call home here.

But we have gotten in.  I still have a few boxes left to unpack.  This time around I actually PAID a guy (THX certified) to pull all my 12 ga OFC wire in the walls.  It wasn't cheap, but he did it in about a day and a half.  I just watched.  It would have taken me a week OR LONGER.  I'm just not as young as I once was.  It was well worth the money for sure.

And my systems sound even better in this house.  The reason?  The two rooms with my Sony equipment in it have raised ceilings - almost twice the ceiling height as we are used to at angles.  And the sounds that results are really impressive.

I will admit, having all  my stuff  packed up for more than four months, it was a nice surprise to hook it all back up and have it work better than I remember it working.  Still have not gotten my 'office' unpacked yet.  LOW priority.


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I'm a Renaissance man, gunsmith, chef, gardener, medic, computer whiz, philosopher, mechanic, bartender, janitor, and security specialist

[mykyll2727]

Jim_I smiled when I read your comment about your office. First things first. One bright side is at least your systems are sounding better._mykl

[wallew]

OK folks, here's our new home in Keller, Texas

I start out on the 'guest side' of the house in the bathroom, show you the guest room, my study, our living room with great acoustics because of the raised ceiling - on into the kitchen eating area, I show you the kitchen - LOOK AT MY NEW COMMERCIAL REFRIGERATOR -  a glimpse into our laundry room where you see TOP LOADING washer AND DRYER and my commercial freezer, then off into our master bedroom and I end up with our master bathroom

WE TRULY GOT LUCKY

https://youtu.be/48mMx3UNL4Q
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I'm a Renaissance man, gunsmith, chef, gardener, medic, computer whiz, philosopher, mechanic, bartender, janitor, and security specialist

[mykyll2727]

Jim_What a cool video!!!! I loved it!! Thanks for sharing your new home with us!!!!!_mykl

[wallew]

I just reread my thread about our home theater.  The wife is off today and sitting next to me on her work computer doing work (yeah, even when she's NOT at work, she still works at home a lot).

What a long road it has been.  Eight years have passed since the first time I posted about my 'Home Theater'.

And the original setup has been changed.  We no longer have the rear projection Sony 53" large screen.  It was left in Denver with a friend of mine two plus years ago.  He used it for more than a year before it gave out.  He replaced it with a 90" flat screen I've yet to see.

We replaced that 53" with a Toshiba Projection system eight years ago.  And I still have two Toshiba TLP770 HD projectors that work great.  One minor difference here in Keller is that the walls are painted a soft yellow (my wife's favorite color) and we have been projecting the large screen TV on that.  I must admit that the soft yellow is an even BETTER color for projecting images on than the Satin White (three drops of white added).  It just seems to give a 'softer' TV picture and a bit easier on the eyes.  Everyone raves about it.

Of course, our throw of the image is a bit longer, 24 feet compare to a touch less than 20 feet.  So we have a 130" TV screen  Takes up MOST of the wall.

We still have two STRDA9000ES, though still only use one.  I HAVE decided that I will set up the second 9000 in our bedroom, though it will have to go on top of the video unit we purchased.  Currently we have the STRDA5000ES in the bedroom and it fits great in the video unit we got.  The STRDA9000ES is too tall to fit in the same space as the STRDA5000ES.  So I am going to put the 9000 on top on top of the video unit and just hook it up.  That's the main reason I'm dragging my feet as I've been trying to figure out how to make it fit in the video unit.

I will then move the STRDA5000ES into our den.

I have finally unpacked and set up all 21 SSK90ED's.  Six in the bedroom with the 60" LCD flat screen. ten in the living room with the projector and then five more in the den with a 48" LCD flat screen (gonna have to 'upgrade' the den flat screen at some point).

I started a thread about using two SSK90ED's for front speakers.  Which is what I have set up in both our bedroom and our living room/TV projection system.  

But with the STRDA5000ES still set up in the bedroom and not setting up the STRDA9000ES in place of the STRDA5000ES, it means I don't have a receiver to set up the den sound system yet.  I will only be using one SSK90ED front speaker for that set up, as I only have five for that system.

So, it's been eight years since I first posted this thread.  We have literally changed houses, even changed states.  Yet the Sony HT remains one of many constants in our lives.  We still rescue large dogs.  We currently have four, three Newfoundlands and one Great Pyrenees.  The wife still works for the same company, albeit in Texas.  I am slowly getting rid of my militaria collection, the wife sold her Subaru and upgraded to a 2002 SLK32 AMG Mercedes Benz hardtop convertible (her ONLY fun car she's ever owned).

The more things change, the more they stay the same.  ONE of these days, if we ever make up our minds about some built in book cases, we will FINALLY unpack some of the last boxes we have to unpack.  We may change the den into a study.  We may also change the den triple windows into a set of french doors and install a redwood deck outside the den so it will allow us to enjoy the outside from the den as well as the living room and the kitchen.

I've learned so much and have been so lucky to find and use some serious Sony HT equipment and I would NEVER have done that without this website.

So big kudos to everyone here.  Newbie or old hand.  This is IMHO the best audio site for Sony owners.  I am humbled by all the help and camaraderie I've been a part of because of the site.

I am still here.  Most times I don't even log in.  Just scan a few of the forums for any new info and then shut my computer down.

THANKS GUYS.


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I'm a Renaissance man, retired gunsmith, retired NRA firearms instructor, chef, gardener, medic, retired computer whiz, philosopher, mechanic, bartender, janitor, and security specialist

[jttar]

Hello Jim,

Great to hear from you!!  Thank you for the Home Theater update. Your 21 SSK90ED's always puts a smile on my face. I well remember when you were collecting them. I hope your wife yourself and your big "kid's" are all doing well. Kudos to you my friend for all the years of sharing with us.

Warm regards,
Joe

[wallew]

Joe,

Without this site, it would all just have remained my dream. I'm sitting here watching our 130" 'monster projection' TV.

The funny part is I'm still working on making it larger. The viewing area is currently 108" wide by 58" tall. I align the top of the 16:9 HD screen to the top of the wall and it ends at about waist high. That leaves me about 35" in height and 45" in width left to expand the TV from floor to ceiling. Realistically though, with the two front speakers, I can only go about 28" in width.

But that would give me a viewing area that would end up being 146" wide by 93" high, though with the 16:9 ratio, I don't know if that will actually be the final screen size.

With the three HT systems, I rarely don't have something on. Mainly I listen to Frank Sinatra. But I love watching HGTV and Food Network. Plus several series of TV shows - Elementary, Covert Affairs, White Collar, are but a few. We just let our DVR's record all of our shows and then watch them at our leisure.

Like I said, the wife has grown to love the setup as much as I do. I've got very little left for additions to my HT - like a turntable. But slowly I tweek it.

Again, without this site, it would all still just be a dream.

peace

out

jim

[jehill]

Apparently, the links to your photos were lost sometime in the past when the Agoraquest server was updated.  Have you thought about updating the links?  What about photos of your new system(s)?

[wallew]

On 2013-11-09 13:43, jehill wrote:


Apparently, the links to your photos were lost sometime in the past when the Agoraquest server was updated.  Have you thought about updating the links?  What about photos of your new system(s)?

I noticed that.  I probably still have those photo's on my server, but will have to look for them.

And I have been thinking about taking pictures of current setups.  Though not much has changed.  Just a few more speakers.

I'll have to set up my second STRDA9000ES in our bedroom.  Then move the STRAD5000ES into the den - but that means having my satellite guy to come back over and drop the speaker cables.

Not a big deal, but I have not had the time to do all this yet.

With the holidays upon us.  We are going to relax a bit and just hang out.  For the first time that I can remember in the past ten years, we have no relatives or guest for Thanksgiving or Xmas.

It's been a long time that the wife and I have the holidays at home without the hustle and bustle of family and friends.

Kind of nice actually.

In the early of next year, I will update the picture links and add some photo's of our current set up.  Funny how retiring makes things take longer.  I'm just not in a rush any more.

my best,

jim

[wallew]

Well, I have once again reread the whole thread.

What a long trip it has been.

I have found the pictures that I need to update and have PMed JTTAR to ask if he would be willing to upload the pictures again. (THX JOE).

Once we get the 'how/where' he wants the photos sent, I will have him reload those pictures.

We still have two rooms left. We cannot agree on the TYPE of bookshelves we want in our den/study. Basically I want them to be built in - the wife doesn't care one way or the other. The only problem is that the built in route costs about twice what seperate bookshelves would cost. The upside to that is it gives our house a minor bump in value.

With over 2000 hardback books, I just want to do it a certain way. We would then move my 'office' stuff into the 'den' and it would become a study/office with all the bookshelves, I would add my drafting table and my wife has a desk in mind she wants. And then FIN ALLY install the third Sony system (STRDA9000ES, SSK90ED speakers). I still have the 'old' stereo stand that I plan on reusing in the study/office. Oh, and it will also have a TV, but I want to get a larger one than the 40" that is on the wall right now. One more thing I thought of and that is there are three full sized windows on the south wall. My wife wants those turned into french doors and have them open up on a new deck. So that means taking out three windows, add the french doors and THEN add a new deck. It will look great, but it's just one (two?) more things on the list.

AND it would free up the current office to be turned BACK into the third bedroom for visiting guests.

Geez, owning a home is a never ending chore.

I will reshoot all the pictures once we get the den/office work done.