The DIY thread - DIYourself

rlb said:
Pulled the old rock & insulation, replaced insulation, foamed window, and installed ceiling fan. Doesn't seem like it should have been such a long day. On the last step of ceiling fan install I realized that the plug for the light assembly was fubared, so I get to take it all apart again tomorrow and return at HD. That'll have to wait until I get the sheetrock up.

Not really sure why the insulation in this house is so pathetic. There wasn't anything better in the 60's?





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I hear you on the insulation. I have none on the outside walls, except where the garage is attached. Another item on the to-do list.

Also like your choice of ceiling fan. Do you have a link? We have a ton of fans in our place, a few of which need to go. The tough ones are going to be the ones in the finished attic which are very small, but have lights, which isn't exactly a popular combination.
 
Any audio people out there?

We just put this wall up and mounted the tv. I'm trying to figure out where to mount the front speakers.
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1393261746.473809.jpg

Not knowing anything I was just going to mount the center Chanel below the tv and right speaker centered between the tv and be end of the wall at about ear level and use that distance from the tv for the left speaker as well. Would this be correct?

There is no room behind the couch to set the rear speakers back too much so they will be kind of off to either side. I'm not a huge audio guy so it doesn't have to be perfect but I'd like to get it as correct as possible.

Edit: Pay no attention to the wine and the fact the cabinet isn't centered under the tv...
 
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Glenlivet12 said:
mount the center Chanel below the tv and right speaker centered between the tv and be end of the wall at about ear level and use that distance from the tv for the left speaker as well. Would this be correct?
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This is a good plan for that setup. Keep the center as close to the tv as you can and pointed at the listener. If you're not planning for an optimal seating position the placement isn't going to be super critical. You'd get a better surround experience with some more spacing of the surrounds, but your setup will still sound infinitely better than just the TV.

Here is a site with layouts and placement suggestions.
 
ChrisRU said:
This is a good plan for that setup. Keep the center as close to the tv as you can and pointed at the listener. If you're not planning for an optimal seating position the placement isn't going to be super critical. You'd get a better surround experience with some more spacing of the surrounds, but your setup will still sound infinitely better than just the TV.

Here is a site with layouts and placement suggestions.
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This is perfect, thanks. Looks like the only thing i can't really follow is the sub placement. Its going to have to either be on the wall to the right of the seats halfway between the tv and the seats or in between the two seats. we have on the back wall.
 
rlb said:
Damn, I'd bump that up the list! Have you looked in to the blown-in stuff? They can do it from outside the house so no need to tear up all of the walls.

This is the fan, the blades are reversible:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Hampton-Bay-Andross-48-in-Brushed-Nickel-Ceiling-Fan-14939/202584770
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Thanks. It is definitely something that I'd consider. I do believe that there's foam insulating under the exterior siding (based on spare materials that were with additional siding in the attic), so there's something, just not a lot. From everything I've read, the priority should be attic, basement, then walls etc (conditioned space). I'm going to be replacing the recessed lighting in the attic knee wall with IC/sealed units so that I can insulate over those. Also, the attic door could use more insulation, which I'll probably deal with this weekend. Unfortunately the attic floor is insulated with vermiculite, which I'm not going to touch. Perhaps at some point I'll get a quote to remove because there are definitely huge improvements that could be made there.

The walls are also concrete block, so I'm not positive about the blown in stuff from the exterior. It could be fine, I just haven't looked into it very much. And I have several, I think 6 actually, casement windows that protrude from the house (not sure what the term is there) which are definitely a significant insulation issue, so I'd like to see what I can do there.

Bottom line...I've got my work cut out for me, but I've only been in the place 6 months or so. Plenty of time.
 
Glenlivet12 said:
This is perfect, thanks. Looks like the only thing i can't really follow is the sub placement. Its going to have to either be on the wall to the right of the seats halfway between the tv and the seats or in between the two seats. we have on the back wall.
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I think your plan makes sense as well. I have my rear speakers set up on either side of the couch pointing at the listeners and it works well. Subwoofer placement is by far the least critical so I wouldn't worry about that at all.
 
ebarker9 said:
I think your plan makes sense as well. I have my rear speakers set up on either side of the couch pointing at the listeners and it works well. Subwoofer placement is by far the least critical so I wouldn't worry about that at all.
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Agreed. Bass is omnidirectional so sub placement is not a big deal. THX specs (which were linked) favor big subs fired at the listeners, but subs can really go anywhere you can fit them.
 
Any experience using cable line for the subwoofer? i've read any 75 ohm coax wiring can work. The wall i want to put the sub on is where the tv used to be so there is a coaxial jack there already and an outlet. When i moved the tv i ran new cable line to it so I was going to redirect the old cable to use for the sub w/ a coax to rca adapter.
 
No experience with that but it coudn't hurt to try if the internets say it can be done and will carry the signal properly. My experience with interconnects is they are generally all the same, you'd be hard pressed to tell the different between a $2 wire from ebay/monoprice and a $80 cable on steriods from best buy.
 
ChrisRU said:
No experience with that but it coudn't hurt to try if the internets say it can be done and will carry the signal properly. My experience with interconnects is they are generally all the same, you'd be hard pressed to tell the different between a $2 wire from ebay/monoprice and a $80 cable on steriods from best buy.
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So I hooked up the RG-6 cable line to the sub w/ a f type to rca adapter and it works great. This saved me a ton of time and hassle of running another line through the floor joists.

soundz said:
Speakers should not be smaller than your TV.
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Down the road i'd like to get some Paradigm Monitor 7 or Monitor 9 and use the fronts as surround speakers.
 
Glenlivet12 said:
Down the road i'd like to get some Paradigm Monitor 7 or Monitor 9 and use the fronts as surround speakers.
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Sounds good. I did the same kind of thing. Had PSB Image 4T's in the front which I then moved to the back when I found a good deal on some 6T's. Really like the setup. Subwoofer eventually.
 
ebarker9 said:
Sounds good. I did the same kind of thing. Had PSB Image 4T's in the front which I then moved to the back when I found a good deal on some 6T's. Really like the setup. Subwoofer eventually.
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The speakers I have now are close to 10 years old. I bought the paradigm cinema 70 5.1 set up when I got my first decent tv. The tvs been upgraded but the speakers still sound good. I have an equally old yamaha rx-v650 receiver powering them. I really want to update it to something that can handle hdmi and airplay but aside from the remote not functioning 100% it works great as well and I can't justify a new receiver.
 
My setup is a Paradigm 5.1 setup with a Denon reciever that is pushing 20 years at this this point, but still sounds great. I've gotten by sending my audio signals to the reciever via its coax and optical inputs and video over HDMI right into my TV.

Remote problems? The harmony one I picked up 2 years ago was probably one of the greatest purchases i've made. Since I got the programming dialed in I haven't touched the 6 remotes I used to need.
 
ChrisRU said:
My setup is a Paradigm 5.1 setup with a Denon reciever that is pushing 20 years at this this point, but still sounds great. I've gotten by sending my audio signals to the reciever via its coax and optical inputs and video over HDMI right into my TV.

Remote problems? The harmony one I picked up 2 years ago was probably one of the greatest purchases i've made. Since I got the programming dialed in I haven't touched the 6 remotes I used to need.
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Right now all audio/video is sent to the tv via hdmi and have an optical cable from the tv to the receiver. Its nice not to have to switch inputs on the receiver if i want to use my ps3 or hook a laptop up to it. The only adjustment is on the tv input. The TV only has two hdmi ports so if I get any new toys i'll have to use a switch. Which model harmony did you get? I looked into something like that a while ago but never followed through.
 
I've got a Harmony One, which is now outragously priced because it seems it has been replace with a newer model. When I was eyeing these for a while I noticed they do go on sale at times, I think i grabbed mine for around $130.
 
ChrisRU said:
I've got a Harmony One, which is now outragously priced because it seems it has been replace with a newer model. When I was eyeing these for a while I noticed they do go on sale at times, I think i grabbed mine for around $130.
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I have the same and it is great. I think the setup software could be about 10% better and then it would be amazing, but overall it's really nice.
 
What is the preferred routing of audio/video assuming enough HDMI ports on both the receiver and TV?
Should sources go directly to the TV, and then HDMI to the receiver, or vice versa?
When I first set things up, I had everything routed to the receiver and a single HDMI to the TV, but recently switched so everything is plugged to the TV.
On the Bluray, I noticed a difference in the video between the two hookups (darker when routed through receiver).

Is it a matter of what you want to compromise (audio if routed to TV, video if routed to receiver)?
 
The typical is certainly to have everything routed through a receiver. That's partly what they're designed for. Some of this is simply down to a cleaner install (1 HDMI running to the TV vs multiple). But I guess there are a few things to consider:

-Number of inputs available
-Whether or not you want your receiver to do any video processing
-Whether or not you want different picture settings depending on input

I route everything through my receiver and use the video passthrough mode so that it doesn't impact the picture. I trust my TV's scaler/deinterlacer/etc to do a better job than my receiver, although this could be different depending on your setup.
 
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