# My System



## SteveCallas

See post #56 for updates


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## Hakka

SteveCallas said:


> About as much as I will get away with until I build a home. A 57" LCD upgrade is in the plans.


Looks good steve, i would like to do a similar thing with the centre matched to the mains. 
And it seems you have every gaming system ever made!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## eugovector

Are those bass traps or subs in the corners?


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## thxgoon

Looks like you took a lot of time setting that up with all the tilt angles and what not! Is that a Yamaha receiver?


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## SteveCallas

eugovector said:


> Are those bass traps or subs in the corners?


The big black tubes are my dual Avalanche 18 LLTs. The white things are absorption pannels and are used throughout the room, as seen in these extra pictures.



thxgoon said:


> Looks like you took a lot of time setting that up with all the tilt angles and what not! Is that a Yamaha receiver?


Yeah, I've got everything just right. I have zero plans for any audio upgrading after having completed the second subwoofer, everything sounds great. Watching movies and listening to music is a real treat.....a larger tv down the road would only make things better. Yes, I'm using a Yamaha HTR 5890.


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## SteveCallas

Well, what do we have here? A wider upper section of a tv stand? Hmm, what on earth could that be for? :devil::devil::devil:


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## Mike P.

Just a wild guess but I'd say a 57" LCD would fit on that stand. But I could be wrong!


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## oldmp3

Steve,

Very nice setup. :daydream: Could you post a list of your components or did I miss that? The vertical center is a nice choice - what brand speakers, and component racks?

Thanks.


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## Sonnie

Hmmm... that looks strikingly similar to the Samsung stand I have that will hold a 57" - 67" display. :bigsmile:


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## SteveCallas

Well guys, the original plan was a 57" LCD, the Honeywell Altura 57" to be exact, but this thing just doesn't seem to be coming to fruition. The tv was supposed to launch last Jan, then last April, then last July, then last October, and now who knows. The website doesn't even answer my emails, I guess it's vaporware. 

When it didn't launch last October, I had to move to plan B. The Samsung 650/750 models got rave reviews from every technical website based on objective measurements as well as high subjective praise. After viewing it several times for myself, it definitely looks like a winner. So I think I will be getting the ln52a650. The 42" 1080p Westinghouse will replace my 21" computer monitor - that should be pretty sweet.

The stand is actually a Mitsubishi stand for their DLP models, but it's the only stand out of literally hundreds out there that fit my needs of holding enough weight, being wide enough without being too wide, and having a look that will easily allow me to match it when I build a lower stand to stack it on. All that and the price was ridiculously low because the DLP model in question is discontinued :R



oldmp3 said:


> Very nice setup. Could you post a list of your components or did I miss that? The vertical center is a nice choice - what brand speakers, and component racks?


Thanks. I was a bit hesitant to try the vertical center speaker idea, but now I could never go back, much more seamless sound.

Here's my equipment list.

The racks were some Walmart brand, Home Essentials or something, nothing special. You'll notice the tv stand is actually two stands, as I had to build the mini one on the bottom to get the tv the correct height. I'll be doing the same thing with the new stand. I'll be keeping the audio racks....although the grey bars won't match anymore.....I may have to paint them black :scratchhead:


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## geniusadam

is that an N64, a nintendo, and a sega genesis that i see? SEXY!!!


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## SteveCallas

Don't forget the Atari 7800 Master System, Gamecube, and Xbox 360. Sadly I've had almost zero time to play with any of them for the past year. Early retirement is the only path to happiness.


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## SteveCallas

Finally made up my mind and just placed my order. The new display that will be taking the place of my Westinghouse LVM-42W2 is the Samsung LN52B750. The specs and pq are great, and the new design with TOC grey as opposed to red should go well with my existing audio racks.

Should be here within a couple weeks :yay:


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## ironglen

Good for you Steve! You'll appreciate the larger picture- I recently bought a 50" and although it is 720p, I'm glad I bought a 50" vs a 42" 1080p. Watching my first sports on it right now-nba basketball looks great! Enjoy!:T


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## SteveCallas

Alright, here it is. Two new tv stands - I built the one on bottom. New display, a Samsung LN52B750 LCD. A new arrangement of my equipment which does a much, much better job of hiding the hundreds of cables. A Belkin surge protector which you can't see has been added, as well as some Monoprice cable upgrades. 

This tv is pretty slick - to appreciate the size difference, use one of the receivers on the upper rack of the audio towers for scale.

I'm very happy :bigsmile:


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## Sonnie

Lookin' good... :T


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## tonyvdb

Boy those subs are not easy to hide, The lows must really hit you when watching moves in that room.


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## SteveCallas

Thanks Sonnie!



tony said:


> Boy those subs are not easy to hide, The lows must really hit you when watching moves in that room


Who wants to hide them? :wave: The room would be really plain and empty looking without them. And yes, they are quite capable :hsd:


Next upgrade would logically be a blue ray player, but I'm not exactly itching for one by any means. Maybe when a good quality player comes along for ~$200 and the movies can be had for less than $10 used I'll jump. I'm willing to spend money on HT as can be deduced, but there has to be some sense of value for me to make a purchase, and blue ray currently doesn't exude any sense of value to me.


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## tonyvdb

SteveCallas said:


> Next upgrade would logically be a blue ray player, but I'm not exactly itching for one by any means. Maybe when a good quality player comes along for ~$200 and the movies can be had for less than $10 used I'll jump. I'm willing to spend money on HT as can be deduced, but there has to be some sense of value for me to make a purchase, and blue ray currently doesn't exude any sense of value to me.


BluRay has issues, HD DVD was far better and much cheaper for quality gear. My Samsung still has issues playing some BluRay movies usually twice during a movie the video drops out for about 5 seconds, its really annoying.


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## ironglen

Very nice. I too am waiting on blu ray-for a multitude of reasons, but primarily cost! The upgrade(s) to my entire system have my jaw dropping all the time- this with regular dvd's, so no hurry for blu ray.


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## salvasol

Nice setup.....specially those silos on the sides :innocent:


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## Fabricator

BIG sounds, small video. and no blu-ray ?! i am frugal, and i do not watch anything but blu-rays. $200 panasonic bd35 and netflix. doesn't get much cheaper than that. yeah BD has problems, but what doesn't.

anyway

your setup looks pretty nice. :hsd:


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## SteveCallas

Sure it's no 120" screen, but it is 52" with a seating distance of 6.5', giving me a perfect 1.5 viewing distance ratio. When it comes to PQ, this set is in the upper tier.



> yeah BD has problems, but what doesn't


dvd, hd-dvd

Blue Ray still needs to mature with a final set of specifications and disc prices need to come down. Used prices are still high because not nearly enough people are buying Blue Ray discs - they won't until prices come down, so it's a never-ending cycle.


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## tcarcio

Your system is very nice and those subs are fantastic. I have been lucky so far with my BD player, Samsung bdp-1500, it has the original firmware that it came with and has played everything I have put into it so far. It would look nice with your new TV.:T


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## SteveCallas

You guys are cranking up the peer pressure :R Maybe if the rumored PS3 $100 price drop pans out I'll come on board - with it I know I can always download the latest updates, and the loading time is supposed to be pretty fast. Disc prices are still the killer. One blue ray movie for $15-25 or 4-5 dvds for the same cost?


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## Mike P.

> One blue ray movie for $15-25 or 4-5 dvds for the same cost?


My thoughts exactly. I'm perfectly happy with my Sony 1080p up converting DVD player.


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## SteveCallas

Yeah, just a minute ago I bought Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets on HD DVD new sealed for $0.49 with $2.98 shipping. If it's good, I keep it. If I don't like it, I can sell it back on Amazon and probably make money in the process.


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## Fabricator

SteveCallas said:


> Sure it's no 120" screen, but it is 52" with a seating distance of 6.5', giving me a perfect 1.5 viewing distance ratio. When it comes to PQ, this set is in the upper tier.
> 
> 
> dvd, hd-dvd
> 
> Blue Ray still needs to mature with a final set of specifications and disc prices need to come down. Used prices are still high because not nearly enough people are buying Blue Ray discs - they won't until prices come down, so it's a never-ending cycle.


fair enough. i didn't realize just how close you are seated. i have a 65 dlp, i sit at 10'. with a non zoomed picture, it is just to small. most guys hate zoom, but thats what i use. i have 65", and i want to see a 65" picture. now, i am looking at projectors and 100ish screens.

dvd, lower PQ. never seen hd-dvd. 

i agree on the prices. since i only watch a movie 1 time, i never buy. netflix ftw. though i am looking for a cheap copy of cloverfield for testing.

anyway. nice setup :T


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## Fabricator

SteveCallas said:


> You guys are cranking up the peer pressure :R


lol. i'm not tryin to do that. i'm just saying how much i LOVE the pq and sound of HD. sure, blu-ray has problems, i have many stories. but the quality, when it works right, is just fabulous, imho. if you live by me, i would gladly bring my panasonic bd35 to your home and we would check it out. i bet that would push you off the fence :yes:


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## SteveCallas

I can't imagine it being noticably better than a good hd-dvd, and a good hd-dvd is not earth shatteringly better than a good dvd. 

Input from Sonnie might be good - he had hd-dvd, has blue ray, and has good dvd upscaling.


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## Sonnie

Well... you could almost flip a coin, but I have to admit (begrudgingly) that Blu-ray does look better on my 125" projection screen than does anything else I have seen. I think it all depends on what you are viewing it on. When I had my PS3 in the great room on our 61" Samsung, I could hardly tell a difference between upconverted and Blu-ray. I still think our OPPO 983 is every bit as good with SD-DVD as the PS3 was with BD on our now 67" Samsung. Comparing the BD on the 125" with the upconverting OPPO on the 67", BD wins. There is a subtle difference in the SD upconverting between the two with a slight edge towards the BDP-83 on the 125" screen. Keep in mind that none of this is with a side by side comparison and I am not the most critical of viewers.

I really did like my HD-DVD and I do remember it and the PS3 being on par with one another, but the Toshiba bested the PS3 in upconversion.

They are all very good pictures IMO and I could probably be happy with any of them. I am not regretting my OPPO BD player purchase in the least bit, because it has given me the best picture I have ever seen thus far, albeit not earth shattering like some make it out to me. If I had it to do over, I would do the same exact thing I have done. I have only purchased a few BD's... (4) and will only purchase very select ones until the prices come down. I will NOT be replacing my entire DVD collection, although it is not that large anymore.

Fab... Cloverfield new from $13 and used from $10 on BD. It is one of the 4 BD I own and it is a must have demo IMO. Make sure you got good subs! :hsd:


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## Fabricator

thanx, Sonnie. i had not realized upconvert was so good. i had been avoiding them like the plague. 
now, for some movies, i will rent them. 

i have somewhat good subs. check them out in my "what my box tuned to ?" thread, in the diy ported room. but i have no idea on how to tune them = new thread coming. 

thanx for the link


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## BrianAbington

does it ever feel like the screen is up to high since you have to clear your center chanel speaker?

I'm sure it was akward at first but does that ever still become a distraction?


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## SteveCallas

No - it actually feels ackward when I go to someone's house who has their tv mounted on a 20" tall tv stand and I have to look down at it :scratchhead: I liken it to a movie theater - you typically view at a slight upward angle as opposed to looking down at the screen, so looking down at a tv seems strange to me. I haven't looked down at a tv in my system since I used a 27" JVC tube tv in an entertainment center in college, so I'm probably quite biased at this point.

I have the back of my tv propped up just a little bit so that the screen surface is parallel to my plane of vision.


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## BrianAbington

guess my setup is different...my couch is vintage so it sits low...and my 30" samsung on the stand is pretty much eye level.


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## jairo

Yeah, I ´m also waiting on Blu ray prices to drop as well, cant see changing over just yet, here in costa rica blu ray disc´s cost about 30-40 a piece, not money easily spent. Like to get a PS3, more for the games than the player, but still the best alternative for me.:hissyfit:


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## SteveCallas

Yeah, plus I just picked up a few more hd dvds this week for less than $1 each and some used dvds I've been wanting to see for less than $2 each. I'm spoiled in getting films I want for less than $5 delivered to my house.


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## ironglen

Hey Steve, that looks like a nice setup. I don't have a bluray yet either, no worries. I was curious about those Boston speakers you have as I'll want to get/build real main/center in the future. Can you tell me what model it is or size & number of drivers are in it?


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## SteveCallas

Well I folded and picked up a PS3 Slim on a great sale from Dell.com, so actaully now I do have a blue ray player :huh:

The mains are Boston VR3s, center and surrounds are VR1s, and rears are Ascend Acoustics CMT 340s. Boston unfortunately no longer offers the VR line of speakers, it was phased out about a year or two ago. If you are currently looking at Boston mains, I've gotta think the top choice right now is the heavily discounted E100s which have also been discontinued. Those used to go for ~$2500 each and are now going fo $1000 each. If I were in the market for speakers right now, I would definitely try to get some listening time in with them.


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## ironglen

:whistling: Actually, I'm looking at picking up, maybe seven anarchys to build a couple MTM mains along with MT center and surrounds this next year. I can maybe do $1000 for all five, so the boston's are out, but I was curious what those were so I could look up their specs and compare to my potential build speakers. I recently picked up an outlaw 7x100 amp along with an old samson 2x225 amp, so I've just got to figure out the speakers, along with REW in the future and I'll be golden:bigsmile:

Thanks for the Mal-x LLT recommendation- my guests and I have been thoroughly impressed:T


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## SteveCallas

Even though you are going to go DIY, you can still benefit from listening to as many commercial speakers as you can find, if only to learn what type of FR profile and driver alignments you prefer. Personally, I haven't heard any MTM that has the imaging quality of an equivalent speaker with no driver above the tweeter, so knowing that for example, any DIY project I might consider would be something like a TMW. I also like a slightly elevated upper midrange as opposed to completely flat.


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## ironglen

I see your point with the TMW vs MTM. I'm looking at how much time and money it will take to build a nice, tall set to place the tweeter higher- it's quite a bit. So I'm contemplating/looking at a number of designs, and a couple have drawn my interest. Of course I've seen the SVS bookshelf and towers, I really wouldn't mind bookshelf speakers for surround, or maybe center, but definitely not for mains. The SVS towers are impressive, but I think I'd rather diy if I were to spend anywhere near that much. Also looked at the Boston CS226 TMM 2 way and the EMP E5Ti TMWW, currently heavily sale priced and rated very well for value/sound. These last two are similarly priced, however the EMP handles 150w vs 250w of the Boston's, which I believe shows differences in driver quality. Furthermore, I'd like to have a set that can handle some power, perhaps [email protected]/[email protected] as I have a 2ch proamp to use for this. Of course, I can still diy, maybe an anarchy TMMM 2.5way?...probably wouldn't need a sub with the dual 6.5's in separate ported enclosure below, probably ~$600/pr

Decisions, decisions...any advice?


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## SteveCallas

Take a look at the Dayton RS270 10" for use as the woofer section. It measures very well, is very inexpensive, and doesn't require a massive enclosure. You could do a TMW that is still relatively compact and put it on a speaker stand if you didn't want to build a large tower.

As for wanting - let alone needing - 225 watts running through your main speaker, keep in mind speakers tend to be more efficient than subwoofers. 225 watts in a well designed speaker in room should result in ear bleeding levels. You should aim to use as little power as necessary to attain your desired listening levels.


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## bigred7078

:T looks great!


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## martinez331

Had any issues with "buzzing" from your SAMSUNG Plasma? I have the PN58B860 and have buzzing. Not too bad, but audible.


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## eugovector

I haven't seen a plasma yet that didn't buzz, especially on light colored images.

Make sure you've properly adjusted your brightness to keep the buzzing to a minimum, but in my experience, it's just a drawback of plasma tech.


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## martinez331

True, as I was in Hawaii last week and the plasma in my room buzzed. Not as loud as my SAMSUNG though. It was an LG. Hence I'm getting a tech out to make sure it cant be remedied.


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## SteveCallas

I only use LCDs, no plasma in my system.


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## martinez331

SAMSUNGS sending me a new PN58C8000 as a replacement... cant complain!


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## Moonfly

eugovector said:


> I haven't seen a plasma yet that didn't buzz, especially on light colored images.
> 
> Make sure you've properly adjusted your brightness to keep the buzzing to a minimum, but in my experience, it's just a drawback of plasma tech.


I have 2 and have never honestly noticed a buzz of any kind on any material. They might do, but in 4 years Ive never noticed. Ive never owned an LCD to compare.


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## jimmerz

Nice set up.

I have had both plasma and lcd. I'm currently watching a 58" panasonic plasma...i love it. I've had 2 panny's so far and noticed no buzzing? I'm currently running all sound through my surround system in my family room so maybe thats why?

I have a cheap lg blu ray I got on black friday for $129. I'm not sold on blu rays but I usually just rent locally (giant eagle) $1 blu ray rentals or red box. The upscale is great, regular dvds look like hd to me. The problem I have with blu ray is the letter box format on some of the discs....i hate that, I want all 58 inches used!


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## mozez

Is that just a regular tower for center? I'm liking it, how's the sound as far as compared to an actual "center" also are all 3 fronts the same size/type?


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## SteveCallas

Some changes. I had been using some Boston A25s as my front highs placed on top of my LLTs for a while now, but with the long width of my room and me reading that most tended to prefer front wides, I decided to swap my Ascend 340s from rear surround duty to front wides and Boston A25s from front highs to rear surrounds. 

I probably should have done this a long time ago, as the front wides are noticably better than the front highs, again, especially in a room as wide as mine. To boot, the Onkyo TX-NR3010 now lets me use Dolby ProLogic IIx *Music * with Audyssey DSX to create the front wides. The 3008 only let me choose from IIx Music or IIz Height, and IIz Height would lose all my Music settings (I like the lowest center channel setting and only a bit of surround use for music playback).

At the same time, my two dvd racks became completely full, so I needed to build another one. Instead of building an identical third unit, I decided to build one large rack to rule them all. The new one can hold 900 dvds (right on the dot) plus a huge amount of cds or games.


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## SteveCallas

That's the old ones empty in the last photo, now construction of the new one.


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## SteveCallas

Complete. My current collection, which I've been building over the past 11 years or so, comes in short of half the capacity, so this thing should last me a LONg time.


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## SteveCallas

So I always wondered how great it would be for my display to encompass my entire range of focus, just inside my field of vision. I decided to buy a Samsung UN75F8000 and find out 

This required a new tv stand, and after searching far and wide, I couldn't find any that had the dimensions I needed. DIY to the rescue.


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## SteveCallas

This tv stand is my finest work yet, and the laminate counter top really puts it over the top imo. The picture quality on this display is very impressive.

I have found that DTS Neo X: Music actually handles my music better than Dolby Pro Logic IIx Music with Audyssey, as the center channel settings applied to DPLIIx Music (extending the center width all the way to one notch below max, meaning the center channel barely puts out any output) disappear with Audyssey active, and I do NOT like my center channel contributing equally to music listening. DTS Neo X: Music keeps the center attenuated AND gives me wides, so it wins.


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## JBrax

Very nice workmanship! Every time I encounter pics/threads in which members are building things such as you have done I wish I had those skills. Very nice setup and I love all of the vintage gaming gear you have.


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## Prof.

Very nicely done..:T


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## SteveCallas

Thanks guys. My goal on this was never to save money - I would have GLADLY paid for a nice stand, but one with the right dimensions just didn't exist. That said, this thing only came out to ~$350, and the labor, while frustrating at times (I hate painting and finishing), can be fun, and the sense of accomplishment is very nice. This stand will be with me a long, long time, as it can accommodate up to a 100" tv.


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## Bob in St. Louis

Hello again, my old friend! :wave:

You've got a wonderful looking room. I see you're "a bit" of a gamer, that's cool. 
The room looks great and I have no doubt sounds awesome....especially with those subs! Wow! :hsd:

I pray life is treating you well (although it looks like you're doing just fine).
Bob


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## Tooley

Very nice setup


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