Well it has been quite a while since I had an update for you guys. Lets just say its been a whole lot of back and forth as far as progress is concerned. I will try and keep this as short as possible which is not something I am known for
Lets just get straight to the pictures!
Starting with not very exciting stuff, I finally got the wiring for the office run though the wall. I still haven't cut these in, but at least they are in the wall now. This is five CAT6 and one HDMI that just go to the main equipment closet. The HDMI is just there in case I want to display my main computer on the screen, or use one of my monitors to display the server/HTPC. Really, I have no specific use for it, but its there
The CAT6 is so that I can transfer files between my main computer and my server/HTPC quicker and easier. I need to get new network cards for both before I can take advantage of that.
Next up was cutting in the low voltage rings along the front wall. After I ran a screw so far into my finger that I needed to use the drill to take it back out, it all went very smoothly. That is until I realized that my spacing was not going to work out! Since this project has been going on since the dawn of time, I totally forgot that the studs on the left side were directly under two of my planned locations. My OCD was having none of that, so I took down that drywall and am planning on redoing it with the same spacing on both sides. Here it was when things were good though.
Then came some simple drywall on the side wall. You can see here the "box" I built to mount the surround to. This actually worked out really well as you will see later.
I got the rest of my Insteon switches installed and at least partly programmed.
I kept working my way around the room, and got to work on installing the brackets for the surround backs. Turns out I only had one though so here it is in all its glory!
This is when things started to slip back downhill. I was on a roll knocking out these little punch list items so I decided to keep it moving and jump on the projector. I am using a Chief mount which uses NPT piping to attach it to the ceiling. After finding a pipe flange that is made in the USA I machined the surfaces for no particular reason
I did also drill out the holes after these pics for those of you who may be wondering.
I started out by getting the screen positioned properly first, then worked on getting the projector positioned based on the screen. That was a little tricky, but I thought I had it figured out. I marked up the holes and drilled then with a small bit to start. That was when I realized that I was not hitting anything other than drywall!!! I had installed wood between the joist in the area that the projector was going, and after checking my old pics and taking some measurements I determined I must be just outside the wood. So down came the piece of drywall so I could see what was going on. This piece was cut a bit off anyway so I wasn't too upset I needed to take it down.
Sure enough I had just missed the wood with two of the screws, and the other two were further out
I also found out that I would need to remove the piece of drywall closer to the screen in order to fix this little debacle. As it turned out this was a bit of a blessing in disguise. I decided to switch to some DIY subs somewhere around this time, but I had no speaker wire connections in the back of the room. With that drywall down I would be able to pull the needed wires to do everything properly. Once I got to this point I shifted my focus back to the bar top debacle. I will stick with my theme of keeping that whole project for a separate post. What it means for this update is that I couldn't do anything down there for a few weeks.
Once that was all over (not really, but I needed to move on) I received my EMP Tek E55Wi speakers that I ordered during the black Friday/cyber Monday sale! I was pretty pumped to finally get some gear for this project, so of course I got them mounted up right away
Here you can see how perfect the "box" I built for the left surround worked out. If you don't remember there was a header over the window (obviously) so I built a box out of 2x3's to hold the speaker out a little bit. This allowed me to have some extra speaker wire behind the speaker just in case, and also allowed the speaker to sit flat with banana plugs installed.
On the right hand side I did pretty much the same thing except that it was all behind the drywall. I had to do this on this side because the speaker was being mounted on the return air duct for the basement. I am sure it was overkill (you can see the pics of this work elsewhere in here) but I didn't want any leaks and I wanted the speaker to sit flat. Mission accomplished!
We are finally caught up to this past weekend (December 19-20) where I finally closed off the ceiling again. Not very exciting, but I started by taking down (carefully this time) the forward piece of drywall.
I then started to get everything ready to pull the new wire. I was going to use the existing RG-6 to pull back two pairs of 12 gauge speaker wire and two RG-59 coax cables. I meant to get RG-6 of course, but accidentally bought RG-59. I was not feeling well as it was Saturday when I figured this out, but it was much more flexible (and thinner), and from what I could tell should work fine if I ever actually need it which is VERY unlikely. So after much debate, I stuck with the RG-59 for the two rear sub connections. It turned out to be a NIGHTMARE to pull the wire! I had done this once before already (changing the wiring), but I spent hours trying to get this going to no avail. Eventually I folded and took down even more drywall.
I immediately saw my problem (no pic) and felt like an idiot. I had put a bridle ring close to the end of the joist, so the wire had to come through the header and make two immediate bends to both come down the joist bay and make it though the bridle ring. Not sure how I forgot that, but it was really easy once I had it all exposed. After I got the wire pulled though to the other room (still need to fish it around to its final location) I put up the extra wood I needed around the projector, and then put up the drywall I took down. All of this was over the bar, so not very easy to get to with the lift. The two pieces I kept were not TOO bad to get back into place (with a few new screws for good measure), but the piece I had to remake was a bear to get put in. I had to straddle the end of the bar with the lift, and have the sheet hang way past center to reach into position. Couple that with the fact I was fighting butt joints on all 4 sides at once, it was a real blast. All's well that ends well though, and I never even got charged for the lift rental so I can't complain too much.
Yesterday I was a bit motivated after work and decided to get the projector mounted up. I am sure I way over thought this whole process, but I took about a million measurements to make sure I had it positioned perfectly. Would you believe that after ALL OF THAT, the mount ended up landing squarely on the wood that I had originally put up! The first time I went to install the projector mount I measured a bunch, but I still wasn't positive that I had it right. That was why I spent about an hour with lasers, a tape, checking and double checking and it was well off from the first time. Oh well I guess, at least I know I have room to move the mount if I change the projector, and I was able to add that extra wire. Here are some pics of the projector all mounted up (that nipple was just one I had laying around), and some images after a quick adjustment.
Just a little off, but again I didn't spend much time since it will move quite a bit when I finish everything.
I put on a BD rip of Gravity just to see what it looked like and it was amazing! For being a budget projector and screen I was happy with the image!
Blacks even looked pretty good to me. Keep in mind all of these are shitty cell phone pics
OK, that is probably enough for now
I can't believe it, we are finally all caught up! We are really hoping to get this project wrapped up pretty quickly after the holidays. My buddy is coming by on the 8th to finish the last of the electrical, and then I can finish the last of the drywall. Then we are gonna get some quotes to get it all mudded and taped, then some paint. I am hoping to order the rest of the speakers, and possibly the subs in the next couple of weeks. There is still quite a lot to do, and quite a bit of money to be spent, but the end is in sight now! Hopefully there is far less backwards progress than there has been lately and we can start enjoying the finished product.
Thanks for following along, and sorry if this was a bit long winded.
Sean
