The [H] Post Pictures of your ManCave

I like, I like, I like.

Give us some details. What's in the rack? screen size, speakers, etc.

Emotiva ERT 8.3
Emotiva ERM 6.3
Emotiva ERD-1
Emotiva UAW 6.2
Rythmik FV15HP x 2
Sony HW50ES
Carda 110" BW

Rack

Denon 4311
Emotiva XPA-5
Lumagen Mini 3D
Darbee Darblet
Oppo BDP-103
URC MX-6000 Remote also controls 3 RF Lutron Switches for lighting...
Xbox One
PS4
Pure AV PF60 Power Center

you had me at the second Emotiva.

A Lumagen and a Darbee, nice .

I mainly picked up the Lumagen to take advantage of the 125 point auto calibration with chromapure. Thought about getting the new model that integrates darbee and increases to a 729 point calibration.

Figured i'd share some photos of my "man cave." I recently renovated an office my wife and I shared. We setup a spare room for her and I took over the smallest of the bedrooms in the house for my "mancave."

I'm into photography and everything on the walls is my own work. In the office is my main computer (right of desk) and than 2 servers (left of desk). One is my home server (handles backups both onsite and for clients who are offsite as well as my home theater media library) and my Minecraft server (www.nyminecraft.com).

I have a dual monitor setup but I've been thinking of going to three monitors. The monitor stand is from Monoprice, works great. The desk itself I pieced together from an Ikea countertop and two ikea rolling drawer units (i removed the drawers). Carpet is Ikea also. Not a bad way to go rather then those rolling mats, more cost effective also. Bookshelf is ikea and the TV is a Samsung LED TV with a Samsung bluetooth enabled sound bar. Couch is Bob's (went cheap on the couch since really the only one who uses it is my dog. He likes to come in and sleep on it while im playing video games.

TWISM said:

I mainly picked up the Lumagen to take advantage of the 125 point auto calibration with chromapure. Thought about getting the new model that integrates darbee and increases to a 729 point calibration.

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Hell yeah! I want a Lumagen but man are they expensive. Currently I've been using JRiver + madVR + ArgyllCMS w/dispcalGUI for 3DLUT color correction. I'll probably go with one of those eeColor LUT boxes at some point. I've also been thinking of picking up Chromapure too. Love my Darbee, it's amazing how just a pinch more detail can do for an already outstanding picture.

Just upgraded my center channel

Jascias said:

*snip*

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That is the wildest thing + story I've ever seen. Mad props to you. Seeing as I'm about to be homeless, I'm suddenly hopeful for the future

How much did that whole deal cost you (minus the electronics + furnishings)?

Did you do all the construction work yourself? That looks more professional than even most mansion-housed rooms!

aardvark sandwich said:

Updating the pic with guitar stuff. Another 15" woofer to the mix.

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I love that thing on the back wall! Is it just decoration? Did you make it yourself (and how)?

Those tiles in the background are diffusors and the foam "accordion" in the middle is an absorption panel, both are part of acoustically treating his room to prevent unwanted echoes and reverberations which may negatively impact listening conditions. Diffusors accomplish this by scattering sound waves, without limiting the acoustic energy in a space, and absorption panels accomplish this by absorbing acoustic energy rather than bouncing it back into the room.

Many different companies make diffusors and absorption panels. The white diffusors on the top look like there were made by a company named Auralex. The foam absorption panel and lower diffusors could be made by that same company, or they may be DIY.

TESLA said:

Those tiles in the background are diffusors and the foam "accordion" in the middle is an absorption panel, both are part of acoustically treating his room to prevent unwanted echoes and reverberations which may negatively impact listening conditions. Diffusors accomplish this by scattering sound waves, without limiting the acoustic energy in a space, and absorption panels accomplish this by absorbing acoustic energy rather than bouncing it back into the room.

Many different companies make diffusors and absorption panels. The white diffusors on the top look like there were made by a company named Auralex. The foam absorption panel and lower diffusors could be made by that same company, or they may be DIY.

Click to expand...

I thought that might be what they are, but assumed they'd need to cover the entire wall(s) if so...? Unless it's only for the speakers' back-ports.

TESLA said:

Those tiles in the background are diffusors and the foam "accordion" in the middle is an absorption panel, both are part of acoustically treating his room to prevent unwanted echoes and reverberations which may negatively impact listening conditions. Diffusors accomplish this by scattering sound waves, without limiting the acoustic energy in a space, and absorption panels accomplish this by absorbing acoustic energy rather than bouncing it back into the room.

Many different companies make diffusors and absorption panels. The white diffusors on the top look like there were made by a company named Auralex. The foam absorption panel and lower diffusors could be made by that same company, or they may be DIY.

Click to expand...

Acoustics aside, the panels look bad ass!

I'm currently in the middle of painting and doing all sorts of work to my office while I take advantage of the summer climate, but I recently finished a pretty big stage of the project in purchasing a new TV and getting it mounted.

I don't watch much television but i've been wanting a nice TV to stream movies to from the computer, and among other things Samsung has first-party app support for Plex Media Center so it was an easy choice.

By the way, running cables in an insulated exterior wall is loads of fun.

More like a Man Nook than a Man Cave. She ain't much, but she's mine.



Everything else is in my Man Storage in the cubby behind my chair until we get a bigger place

jamsomito said:

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I'd love to have a little space like that. The skylight is excellent!

jamsomito said:

Everything else is in my Man Storage in the cubby behind my chair until we get a bigger place

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And I would love to have such much hidden extra space for all my PC stuff...

I second this. This would be awesome!

jamsomito said:

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Only 3 PC chassis? Tut tut!

Got my new sub yes that's a 2 liter. Having the box for it built next week. Box will be 2x2x4 foot ported. Should be around 11 square foot of air space. I have an iNuke 3000dsp rack mounted amp that will be pushing it with 1000 watts rms. The box is tuned to go down to 16-17hz. I SO can't wait haven't had a sub in almost 8 years. My 12x20 foot detected room really needs some bass.

Once you crank that up you might not have anything left of your 12x20ft. space. That is going to rumble. I've got an el cheapo Polk 150w sub in almost the exact same size room. Might be time for an upgrade......

Makeroflostsouls said:

Got my new sub yes that's a 2 liter. Having the box for it built next week. Box will be 2x2x4 foot ported. Should be around 11 square foot of air space. I have an iNuke 3000dsp rack mounted amp that will be pushing it with 1000 watts rms. The box is tuned to go down to 16-17hz. I SO can't wait haven't had a sub in almost 8 years. My 12x20 foot detected room really needs some bass.

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Stereo Integrity 18"?

|Tch0rT| said:

Stereo Integrity 18"?

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Yep sure is.. there only an hour from me.

Hell yeah, I want a few of their 24"... too much $$ though.

Sub is all done and hooked up in my theater.. Needs some more tweaking to get it right but I'm happy with it so far , other then the size. You really don't know how big it is till you have it in your room lol. Had a local guy build the box for my. He did a great job.

nevermind.

My Optoma HD25e next to the Epson.



New mount in..


Got it pretty much perfect through the drop ceiling.


And all mounted up.. Ignore the missing tiles I have a box on order..



So I have only got to play with it for about an hour. But so far I'm really happy with the upgrade. I believe I have one dead blue pixel but the only time I see it is when the screen goes black to change resolutions. I haven't seen it while watching anything. It's not as sharp as the Optoma but I knew that was going to be the case with it being 3 lcd. It's not a huge difference but it's there. Only really see it when i'm in the XBMC interface or on the web or something. The panel alignment was pretty good on my projector It's only out for about a 10x10 inch section in the bottom right corner of the screen. So it's not a big deal It barely makes it past the black bars on 2.35:1 content. Only noticed it because the clock on the desktop of my HTPC was blurry. Adjusted the panels and it's pretty good now though still off a little. Have only done a quick contrast and brightness calibration on it. But the picture looks great in THX mode. Skin tones seam to be a little bit off but not to much. What do you all have the SKIN tone setting on? Black level is where this thing really kills my Optoma . I can see so much more detail in dark scenes then I could before. They looked really murky looking and washed out on my Optoma. Now it has a lot more POP to the picture and more dimension then it did with the Optoma. I can't wait to watch some dark movies on it to really take it in. I haven't played any games on it so I can't comment on the input lag as of yet. When I get some more time I'll fire up the xbox one and run a few games through it. I really didn't think I would be as big of an upgrade from the Optoma as this. I'm very please with this projector so far. I am going to invest in a calibration for it. As I think this would really benefit from it. Oh and the noise from it isn't near as bad as from the Optoma. I could hear the fan kicking up and down with the lamp dimming , also hear the color wheel in it. Where I just hear the auto irs on the Epson do the little rumble but it's not bad and only noticed it because the sound was all the way off. A lot less annoying to me then the Optoma sounds. Now I kicked the lamp to high and the fan ramped up and that sucker is loud , the epson that is. I"ll update this as I have had a few days with it to watch a few things on it. Also mess with the settings a bit more.

It's always nice to see mancave upgrades. What model Epson is that?

Its a Epson 5030ube..Yea my man cave/family theater is almost done. Just have one more box of tiles to put in and run some new speaker wire , oh and put in some can lights. Then I can stop spending money on it for a while lol..

Krenum said:

I'd love to have a little space like that. The skylight is excellent!

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Agreed. That's an awesome little hangout spot.

Makeroflostsouls said:

Its a Epson 5030ube..Yea my man cave/family theater is almost done. Just have one more box of tiles to put in and run some new speaker wire , oh and put in some can lights. Then I can stop spending money on it for a while lol..

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Lol, yeah right. I always say that but for some reason the changing/upgrading of stuff never really stops. There are a few lulls here and there but I'm always looking for something new even if its just a sign or poster to hang on the wall.

Manhouse, because single with no kids. My watercooling setup wouldn't be possible if there was a female on premises counteracting the insanity.

I feel bad for the dudes who have had their nuts cut off and their setup relegated to a corner of a bedroom. Stay strong!

dr/owned said:

Manhouse, because single with no kids. My watercooling setup wouldn't be possible if there was a female on premises counteracting the insanity.

I feel bad for the dudes who have had their nuts cut off and their setup relegated to a corner of a bedroom. Stay strong!

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My watercooling setup counteracts the insanity of my wife. Actually, I think I need another GPU just to keep it even.

Just gotta meet the right woman...



I made some changes to mine, I posted almost exactly a year ago...

Got the projector up, painted the ceiling to minimize some reflections.. Not sure if I had the rears up last year yet or not -- Put the rear surrounds on the wall next to the ceiling to minimize people knocking them over and touching them (my 5yr old nephew most specifically)



Changed out some equipment shown with **

Equipment:
Sony HW50ES Projector
Carada 118 Brilliant White Screen
Sony DBP-S5100 BD Player
Salamander Designs Cabinet
Onkyo TX-NR3010**
Emotiva XPA-3 Gen2 Amp**
PS4**
XBox One**
Wii U
Mac Mini (stream movies from server)


7.1 Surround Sound
B&W 683
B&W HT61 Center
B&W 685 surrounds
Dual stacked SVS P12-NSD subwoofers
















Yes I am married and there are girls movies in there.

And added a fun area for my Thrustmaster tx and xbox one -- looking forward to Project Cars!! -- just plain got tired of moving the seat out of the way, then back to the center of the room, and out again for company etc. etc. Now its behind a closed door and is permanently setup. I think I might do a small surround sound setup with it for fun.

It's a Sony 40 inch 1080p set in front of a playseat.

That gives new meaning to the phrase "man cave". Nice work!

Halloween update

XA5400ES swapped out for Resonessence Labs Mirus dac.
8 dacs per stereo channel of ludicrously clean audio.

Tube preamp swapped out for passive balanced Goldpoint attenuator.
This lowered the noise floor to absolutely inaudible levels. I'm a born again passive pre believer.

Put the ATC SCM150ASL speakers on 3/4" all-baltic birch plywood stands (20" x 30") with 2x6 stud boxes on the inside, with 3 layers of shop mat neoprene in between them and the speakers.

And a cheap carpet & pad.

I purchased a Bel Canto redbook transport to have that hasn't shipped yet.
But mostly I will be playing DSD and high rez flac directly from SDXC cards.
The monitor is just a UI for the card that works off an apple remote, there is no computer connected.

The sound is glorious. Completely flat neutral with absolutely no noise whatsoever.
I can't oversell it.

Now that I have stands I'm experimenting with a near/midfield equilateral triangle listening position, rather than a far field setup as previously.

Default ESS fast filter on the dac, I have not tried the other 6 filters yet, probably would only try the Resonessence fast filter. Nothing weird or lossy.




bigger

*edit* USPS delivered the Bel Canto CD3T this morning.
Spinning some Hank Mobley now.

Now that is really cool

JacobC1983 said:

Just gotta meet the right woman...



I made some changes to mine, I posted almost exactly a year ago...

Got the projector up, painted the ceiling to minimize some reflections.. Not sure if I had the rears up last year yet or not -- Put the rear surrounds on the wall next to the ceiling to minimize people knocking them over and touching them (my 5yr old nephew most specifically)



Changed out some equipment shown with **

Equipment:
Sony HW50ES Projector
Carada 118 Brilliant White Screen
Sony DBP-S5100 BD Player
Salamander Designs Cabinet
Onkyo TX-NR3010**
Emotiva XPA-3 Gen2 Amp**
PS4**
XBox One**
Wii U
Mac Mini (stream movies from server)


7.1 Surround Sound
B&W 683
B&W HT61 Center
B&W 685 surrounds
Dual stacked SVS P12-NSD subwoofers
















Yes I am married and there are girls movies in there.

And added a fun area for my Thrustmaster tx and xbox one -- looking forward to Project Cars!! -- just plain got tired of moving the seat out of the way, then back to the center of the room, and out again for company etc. etc. Now its behind a closed door and is permanently setup. I think I might do a small surround sound setup with it for fun.

It's a Sony 40 inch 1080p set in front of a playseat.

Click to expand...

I envy you, wish i had more space to put a home theatre properly and the playseat setup is just awesome. I actually have a small space under my staircase that has that inner concave shape you got there perfect for this sort of thing.

^^ what he said.

JacobC1983 - that is one amazing setup. From the color choices to the layout. Just wow!

Someday i'll have a house and take it to the next level. But until the economy balances out and my finacial income increases, this will do for now.