Shawn's Man Cave - well sort of.

[trbo4wd]

Hello All,
I have been a silent reader for many months, and promised Will at the Audioholics Store that I would post some pictures of my "Man Cave", or as my wife calls it the "Wo-Man Cave" and my boys call it the "Mini-Man Cave". The room is still a work in progress. (The cabinets have been ordered for the wet bar and when I get and install them, I will add more pictures.) I started the renovations 1/1/11, and have been doing all the work myself.

Here is what is in the room:
LG 65LW6500 3d TV
Sanus VLF311-B1 Full Motion Mount
___
Sanus CFR115 Media Rack
Yamaha AVR-3010 Surround Receiver
Atlantic Technologies SA-380 Subwoofer Amp
Oppo BDP-93 Blu-Ray Player
Sony DHG-HDD250 DVR
Panamax M5400-PM
___
Speakers - 7.1
Atlantic Technologies:
(2) GFR-626 Grille/Frame
In-Box-8e wood enclosure
IWTS-8e in wall subwoofer
(2) In-Box-30LCR wood enclosure
(2) IWTS-30 LCR (Front L&R)
(2) IWTS-30SR (pair) (mids and rears)
Klipsch KL6405-THX (center)
Klipsch IK-504-W install kit

Impressions so far - Very Pleased.

*** I am sorry, I tried to post a bunch of picture of the room, but was informed by the Forum system that because this is my first post I do not have enough to add links or pictures.

 

[trbo4wd]

With this post I should hit the number necessary to post the pictures. To set the stage of the pictures that are coming:
I started my project on the 1st of the year and what you might notice is the desire to maximize space. My goal was to flush mount everything as much as possible.
I have included a picture of the room before I started. As you can see I removed more brick than ever care to remove again. There were quite a few truck fulls. By removing that brick it allowed me the ability to open up the floor plan by 2 feet.
All of the walls were opened up. I created an extended wall so that I would have the ability to flush the tv with the fireplace behind it. Everything was insulated well, and the carpet was removed and replaced with Santos Mahogony hardwood floors.
In order to get the best sound, I added all the recommended enclosures for the speaker that use 8" subs. (If you would like to see pics of those, let me know.)

 

[trbo4wd]

The actual pictures

Sorry in advance for the large picture sizes.

The before picture:

The room is operational and almost complete pictures:

Subwoofer and Media Rack

Right Mids and Rears

Left Mids and Rears

Front R&L, Center, TV and Remote Gas Fireplace

Into the Room

Into the Room

Media Rack

Power Reclining Sofa

Operational with the upper rope lights on

 

[Cruise Missile]

The only problem I see with this room is how similar the rack and fridge probably look in with the lights down.

I can see myself going to put in a new CD and coming back with a bottle of wine.

Looks great!

 

[adk highlander]

Nice job.

Did you do all the install work? I like the recessed TV but is there enough circulation around it?

 

[trbo4wd]

Cruise - Thank you for the good laugh! I am hoping once I get the cabinets and the bar in place it will make it a bit harder to make the mistake, but as we all know nobody is perfect.

ADK - I will post a construction pic in a bit. I tried to design it with maximum volume behind the TV. One of the ways I did this was instead of adding sheet rock behind the tv, I primed the 1.5 inch ply (1 1/8 + 3/8) and then mudded and taped it smooth. This gave me about 4 5/8 inches of space for the Sanus mounting bracket. (5/8 rock for the inwall speakers) I made sure the mount was "full motion" so I could pull the TV from the wall and make the connections. It also has tilt so to help the ventilation the bottom of the TV is about 3/4 of an inch inside the wall and the top of the tv is about 1/4 sticking out with between 1-1.5 inches of space around the tv. I also did this to allow us to run the fireplace without sending any of that heat behind the TV. (The fireplace has dual fans to send the heat into the room.)

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Nice setup, but why mismatching Center/Mains?

P.s: What are you using to control it ?

 

[trbo4wd]

BoredSysAdmin - The center selection was not entirely by choice. I will post a couple of pictures of the install, and you will see I was limited by the amount of space I had to work with. I decided on the Klipsch because I thought they might bring a bit of balance to the Atlantic Technology Speakers. I have some Klipsch I bought about 10 years ago for a home theather. (still have them.) What I found was they really were more ideal for music than movies. When I read reviews on the Atlantic Tech (which are hard to find) I read that people said they seemed to be better tuned for movies vs. music. (Thus my thought on balancing them.) Maybe a bit naive on my part, but I was also thinking since they are all THX certified they could work ok together.

I am actually very pleased with the sound. Even with no area rug added - yet. People that have come over to watch movies are surpised at how "natural" everything sounds.

I am using the Yamaha RX-A3010. Manually set the speaker distances and the effects are set to Straight Pass through 7.1
(My bad.. I listed a wrong model number up above and it looks like I am not allowed to edit the post anymore... oops!)

 

[trbo4wd]

Under Construction Pics

Here are a few pics of the work in progress. You can see the Atlantic Technology Enclosures. The subwoofer enclosure took me by surprise when it arrived.

 

[skyline_123]

Wow, that is amazingly clean. Maybe a little too clean. Do you do that sort of thing for a living because you do impressive work.

You should take pictures with the grills off. I like nudity when it comes to speakers...and other stuff.

Love that movie too.

 

[trbo4wd]

Skyline, nope... My profession is High Tech Sales. Electrical and General Construction was weekend side jobs and summer work when I was younger. I am fortunate to have an understanding wife that lets me have 9-12 month projects. But as part of that, I have to make concessions. She wanted the speakers to match the wall, so I ended up air brushing them the same color as the walls. I too like the natural beauty of the speakers and would be more than happy to have them *pop* on the walls. That said, my boys (6&4) were magnetically drawn to the cones and wanting to push them in!

Here's some of the nude pictures you wanted...

Those under 18 look away!!!

 

[skyline_123]

Looks great man! How do you like the bipole/dipole speakers?

That room really does look nice. Uber clean and I'm diggin' the exposed beams, it really gives that room some character.

So you're name has me curious. I'm a huge fan of turbo cars, especially from the 90's, but my initial guess on yours would be the legendary STI or Evo? Of course, they aren't technically 4wd so maybe you actually have some monster jeep or truck you turbo'd. Am I close?

Skyline, nope... My profession is High Tech Sales. Electrical and General Construction was weekend side jobs and summer work when I was younger. I am fortunate to have an understanding wife that lets me have 9-12 month projects. But as part of that, I have to make concessions. She wanted the speakers to match the wall, so I ended up air brushing them the same color as the walls. I too like the natural beauty of the speakers and would be more than happy to have them *pop* on the walls. That said, my boys (6&4) were magnetically drawn to the cones and wanting to push them in!

Here's some of the nude pictures you wanted...

Those under 18 look away!!!

 

[trbo4wd]

So you're name has me curious. I'm a huge fan of turbo cars, especially from the 90's, but my initial guess on yours would be the legendary STI or Evo? Of course, they aren't technically 4wd so maybe you actually have some monster jeep or truck you turbo'd. Am I close?

Spot on.
I own a 1998 Mits Eclipse GSX (from new and still own it.) It is currently a paper weight in the garage with 58K miles on it. I lost a race motor to crank walk back in 2003. This was when we bought our house and the money stopped flowing into the car and diverted into the house.

Regarding the alias: Back in the day I registered the domain Turbo4WD because the AWD version was taken. I then got the plates TRBO4WD which are on the Eclipse, and that became my alias on most forums.

In 2004, my wife and bought a 2004 Subaru WRX STI. Kept it stock, and in 2007 needed to sell it to get a Toyota Sienna because the STI would not support a growing family. I almost went with the AWD Sienna, but went 2WD for the fuel savings.

My most recent toy is a 2001 Porsche 996 TT with 42K on the odometer. I have only owned it for about a month, and I am considering transferring the plates off of the Eclipse and over to the Porsche.

Looks great man! How do you like the bipole/dipole speakers?

I am very pleased with the speakers. But to be honest, I have not really played around with them that much. I just kept all the switches to the factory preset which were the THX settings. I am sure if a true audiophile came over, they might be able to really get them to shine.

 

[96cobra10101]

Sweet Porsche!

 

[skyline_123]

You, sir, have GREAT tastes in cars! The rare, totally underrated GSX that few people own and even fewer know about.

And the STI, the family rocket ship. One of my dream cars I must say. Gotta love that torque bias wheel switch. I love the fact that you and the wife can stick your kids in the back seat, pack a cooler and an easy up, drive out to the local autocross, kick some a$$ on the track, and return home in the same car. You can make it drive like a rwd car and slide the tail out in the corners or you can choose a more civil setting and drive it around like an awd car.

Wow, the Porsche TT, beyond a dream! I find it hard to put into words just how I feel about turbo Porsches. Faster 0-60 than most cars are 0-on. Just beautiful. I have driven the Cayman S and it's amazing how hard you can push them and yet it remains so composed. Very forgiving car.

Thanks for taking the time to share your photos!

 

[EDM95]

Sweet cave, where did you get the man cave sign?

 

[trbo4wd]

Man Cave Sign

Sweet cave, where did you get the man cave sign?

Funny enough, my mother got it as a joke because I kept calling the room my "Man Cave" while I was redoing it. As it turned out, it matched the wall color pretty well.
I gave her a ring, and she said it came from: Gifts, Clothing, Jewelry, Home Decor & Home Furnishings as Featured in Popular Catalogs | Catalog Favorites

 

[darien87]

And the STI, the family rocket ship. One of my dream cars I must say. Gotta love that torque bias wheel switch. I love the fact that you and the wife can stick your kids in the back seat, pack a cooler and an easy up, drive out to the local autocross, kick some a$$ on the track, and return home in the same car. You can make it drive like a rwd car and slide the tail out in the corners or you can choose a more civil setting and drive it around like an awd car.

I think you missed the part where he said he sold it for a MINIVAN!!! Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!


Porsches suck.............................................. cuz I don't have one.

 

[trbo4wd]

I think you missed the part where he said he sold it for a MINIVAN!!! Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!

Yes that is true! and I received an ear full from all my friends. They all thought I was done for. I switched from impractical to practical with the purchase of my Nissan Frontier Truck for home improvement projects and our Toyota Sienna for the family. Most were stunned when I bought the Porsche... Little do they know, I convinced myself and the family it was a practical car because the kids could fit in the back seats!!!

 

[K-Dubb]

Very clean.