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Upgrades for 2004. The 1st thing I did was to have a clear out of the old hardware I owned & no longer wanted. I sold the subwoofer, the rear speakers & the receiver to a friend for a total of £400-. I gave the front speakers to my parents in exchange for their old speakers with the intention of selling them & the old centre speakers in the near future. I bought an LCD Projector & Projection Screen (£1200-), new AV Receiver (£630-), a new Speaker System (£550-) a better DVD player (£240-) & a good quality connecting lead between the projector & the new DVD player. (£70-) total net cost £2,300- A very expensive year, but I had the big screen & the latest 6.1 surround sound setup I wanted. The next thing I did was some research on how to accommodate the projector (a Panasonic PT-AE 300). In the end I had to place the projector upside down in my wardrobe in order to get the correct height & throw distance to the screen, so I made a special shelf unit & projector stand, as well as cutting the back off the rear of the wardrobe so the projector has sufficient ventilation, as shown below. I also fitted 180 degree hinges to the left hand door of the wardrobe so the door would not cause any viewing obstructions.
The next task was to install the screen. I decided the screen could not be ceiling mounted due to the coving & the chimney breast obstructions, the throw distance would be not quite sufficient for my requirements. I didn’t want the screen hanging there all the time so I decided to make the screen removable when not in use, so I fitted adjustable shelf wall mounts & used some old shelf brackets I had from previous hardware installations. Now the screen brackets are fitted I can install the screen in a couple of minutes. It actually stays there for long periods, as I have no room to store the screen & its a pig to install anyway!
I also had to put the old TV on castors as the TV obstructs the screen when it is installed so I can move the TV away from the viewing area. The next thing I did was to wire up the centre back speaker for the 6.1 surround system. The space between the top of the wardrobe & the ceiling was too small for the speaker to be mounted normally, so I made a stand so the centre back speaker could sit in that space horizontally, as shown below.
The last thing I did was to wire everything up & make sure it all works & it does. The whole thing must have taken about a week to do. The finished article from March 2004.
I also built my own PC for the 1st time. 2005.A major overhaul of the Grimleyplex was completed, I was happy with the sound but not completely happy with the big screen picture. I was reluctant to upgrade early in the year, due to my employers sale to my now current employer & possible redundancy - I had to pay off a large dental bill as well. Once I knew my job future was safe I began further upgrades. I also cleared out all of my remaining pre-recorded VHS tapes & began to upgrade my existing DVD collection. the results you will see on the 2006 page .
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