Upgrades for 2002.

I bought a proper coaxial Digital lead to connect between the DVD player & the receiver, which has improved the sound noticeably. Cost £25-. I also upgraded the Subwoofer to an MJ Acoustics Pro 50, Which received 'Best Buy under £300-' in the What Hi-fi 2002 awards. I heard this sub at the Bristol Hi-fi & AV show in February that year, I was well impressed back then, Cost £299. I also bought a touch screen LCD learning remote control from Maplins, which I use most of the time for controlling the Hardware. Cost £40-.

All my home cinema gear is installed in my bedroom. Everything except the sky digibox you see below is I’ve either sold on or given away. The only hardware I’ve kept is the TV, the VCR, the old DVD player & the Sky Digital Receiver. I didn't have an awful lot of room for a TV, so a 28 “Widescreen TV fits in comfortably & suited me at the time for about 95% of my viewing requirements (which is mainly sports, documentaries & the odd music channel on Sky Digital). A 32' CRT Widescreen TV would have been be too large & cumbersome to lift upstairs & fit in my bedroom. You may be able to see the Terminator 2 (Region 1) DVD main menu displayed on the TV.

The old hardware list from 2002 is as follows:

Sony STR-DB 940 5.1 Receiver.

Sony DVPS-525 DVD player.

Sony MDS-JB520 Mindisc player.

Panasonic NVFJ710 VCR. (I won in a competition)

Tannoy M2 front speakers.

Tannoy M1 Rear speakers.

Jamo Centre 100 centre speaker.

MJ Acoustics Pro 50 Subwoofer.

JVC AV28WT2 28” Widescreen TV.

Pace Sky digibox.

The wires you see across the chimney breast are co-ax cables wiring Sky Digital TV to the rest of the TV's in the house (a DIY job).

A closer look of the 2002 Grimleyplex. The rack with the Hi-fi separates on it came from Argos.

The birth of the Grimleyplex Website.

I came up with the idea for the Grimleyplex web site in March of this year, after surfing the web looking at other Home Cinema web sites (I became a member of AV & the DVD Forums) I began designing the site in my spare time as part of a computer course I had enrolled in. The Grimleyplex web site was born (You're looking at it now, aren't you?)The pictures on this page were taken in early 2002, (I didn’t complete the computer course, but I finished the original website).

2003.

No upgrades planned for this year so far due to holidays, my health & double glazing expenses. I concentrated on increasing my DVD collection instead. I went over to broadband internet connection for easier & quicker surfing of the web.

As new surround sound formats were appearing & the price of decent quality front projectors were decreasing to more affordable levels, I decided I wanted a Cinema sized picture, as large as I could reasonably afford & I could fit in my bedroom. I wanted a decent quality source to feed the projector as well.

6.1 surround sound setups & DVD’s were becoming more common & affordable, I felt there was no balance to the speaker setup , the only way to solve that was to replace the old speakers with a setup with identical speakers all round. The bass was OK, but I knew I could (& afford) to do better.

I also began saving to give my Home Cinema a major overhaul, the results which you will see on the 2004 page.

[How it all began.] [The Beginning.] [The 1st Upgrades.] [DVD Arrives.] [2004 Grimleyplex.] [2006 Grimleyplex.] [The Future?]