The system below was
put together for video first and audio second. However, I
left in a two channel speaker system, electrostatic headphones,
and Super T-amp for great sound quality when I am in the mood.
The point of this page is to give people an idea of how to put
together a respectable media setup in a bedroom. The
surround system that I mention below is not the end-all-be-all
for sound, but it still gives the audience a "theater-lite" feel
to the festivities.
I decided to get a king size bed to fit all
the dogs in the family. Therefore, I was
no longer in a bed that would work with a TV that was
mounted so close to the ceiling. I also had a spare 61
inch 720p HDTV lying around, so I decided to move the LCD to
my office/workout/mancave room. The setup below is the
result of the changes. I am still using the Onkyo
receiver, PS3, Linkplayer, etc...
One of the other changes I made was moving the Electrostat
headphone/T-amp to the nightstand so that I could listen to
music while lying in my new bed. Typically, the Roku
is not sitting on top of the Entech DAC, but I thought it
was easier to see the DAC in the picture this way:
One of the other features I like about the bed is that it
has a Precision Comfort foundation, so I am able to lift the
head of the bed while playing games. It also has a
massage feature and it can lift the feet when I am in the
mood for ultimate relaxation. The bed is a Select
Comfort 7000 series and I fell in love the minute I layed on
it in the store. I have a bad back and this thing is
the best way to manage it.
Below is a shot of the "little girl" resting on my side
of the split-king bed:
Some shots I took of the old
system (most of the stuff is still in use. I mainly
moved the TV to a different room:
As you can see, I was not kidding when I told you this thing
was close to the ceiling (see my Westinghouse remarks in the
section below if you wonder why I have it mounted so high)!
The shot below is Grand Turismo HD. I took it from the
bed. The bed is pretty high, so the fact that the TV
is mounted so high is not much of a problem.
This game was free from Sony of the internet. There are
not very many games out right now that are must buys for my
tastes, so I can envision playing this and other demos until
they release Devil May Cry and Metal Gear Solid on the PS3.
(The "Freeze" button is from the TV because I wanted a
somewhat still shot for posting).
Below is a picture of the web browser. As you can see,
it is pointed to the best site on the web! LOL Some
people have complained that the PS3 font is too small and I
agree that they should have a way to make it bigger.
A shot of a Blu-ray trailer for Underworld - Evolution (sorry
my flash made this a less than stellar pic):
Insignia™ 6-1/2" Bass-Reflex Bookshelf Speakers - These are
the >$50 speakers many on the internet are raving about.
Very good for the price. I guess I could get a surround
system in the bedroom, but the two channels are perfect for me
right now.
Westinghouse LVM-42W2 42" 1080p LCD HDTV -
I have been wanting a new TV for my bedroom for a while now.
Unfortunately, my bedroom setup leaves a lot to be desired
from a TV watching perspective. As a result, the TV
had to go on top of a "wardrobe" and not be so tall that it
hit the ceiling. Our bed is very high, so mounting it that
high does not hurt too much if we are watching from bed.
However, the TV, with stand, had to be less than 30 inches
tall to fit the space nicely. Luckily, I liked this TV
anyway because it is priced relatively low and it uses 1080P
resolution. It also fit the space perfectly!
The combination of Westinghouse and my
Linkplayer leaves me a great place to watch movies!
I did hook up my cable HD - DVR to it and it looks
spectacular!
PS3 (60GB) - They had 3 of these at Target, so I went ahead
and bought one. I decided to put it in the
bedroom with the Westinghouse. I may move it into the
living room on occasion to watch a Blu-ray movie, but it
makes sense to put the gaming machine in the bedroom since
it is rare for the living room TV to be free for my sole
purposes.
It is a pretty awesome machine with gaming, blu-ray (a form of
DVD for High def), web browsing, SACD playback, and many
other features.
I-O Data Linkplayer - I mentioned this player on the gadget page for it's great
networking and it's USB 2.0 abilities. The Linkplayer is also a
DVD player. It has the ability to upscale DVDs to HD resolutions.
The DVD player can handle DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R and
DVD-RWs! This month the company is providing an update that will
handle WMVHD DVDs with Microsoft digital rights management. Did I
mention that player is available for $250?
Harmony 880 Remote - Love this so much in the living room that
I bought one for the bedroom, too!
Entech 203.2 - Works great as a DAC for my IO-Data Linkplayer
and I will also use it with my HD PVR when it is delivered.
Super T amp with Realistic HP100 Electrostatic headphones - I
use this for music, but I also feed my Insignia speakers
using the "energizer box". I keep this unit on a
different shelf near my massage chair because the headphone
cable is very short.
Sony Sat-T60 - This is a standard def DVR that I have had
since I started using DirecTV. It will probably get
less use when the SA 8300HD shows up! update: Comcast
was supposed to put me on a waiting list and bring me a DVR
when it became available. Two months went by, no phone
call, so I called them. They said they were still
out...Bye, Bye cable, I am canceling the service and adding
another Directv box instead.. The Tivo to the right is
still hooked up for old recorded programming, but will
eventually be moved out of the system.
Updated:
I have also added a cheapish surround system ($159) to the
bedroom. It is a refurbished HT-S590S - 5.1-Channel Home Theater
System from
Shop Onkyo.
Being a longtime customer of DirecTV, I got a bargain on
another HD DVR. The functionality is not up to Tivo
standards, but it will pick up more high def channels than
the old Tivo and use less space when recording them.
Now my bedroom system is also complete. :-)
