My Basement Renovation » Speakercraft Speakers

Installing Speakercraft AIM Wides in Ceiling

admin — Fri, 01 May 2009 14:51:14 +0000

The Speakercraft AIM Wides were chosen for their aimable dual tweeters/cones. They feature the same easy-install flip out drywall supports as the in-ceilings. They were a little heavier than expected which made installing a little tricky for one person, but I managed. Having banana plugs on the wires helped a lot here.

I aimed the tweeters/cones as follows, with the side surrounds going front to back and the rear surrounds going side to side:

Speakercraft AIM Wide Placement

The woofer in the AIM Wides is 8″, giving the total diameter close to a foot:

Speakercraft AIM Wide

Handy push spring connectors:

Speakercraft AIM Wide Connection

The drywall Support clamp in closed position, where it is when raised into the hole:

Speakercraft AIM Wide Support Clamp Closed

The AIM Wide’s drywall support in the open position, where it flips to after you start screwing ii in:

Speakercraft AIM Wide

Speakercraft AIM Wide Template:

Speakercraft AIM Wide Template

…and the hole!

Speakercraft AIM Wide Installation

Word of CAUTION: If you are using a power screwdriver/drill of sorts….which really helps with an above-head installation, be very careful and slow…the clamp sort of sneaks up on you and can damage teh drywall:

Speakercraft AIM wide installation

Installing Speakercraft Cinema In Wall Speakers

admin — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 19:06:27 +0000

The speaker setup had to be an in-wall/in-ceiling system. This is probably not an uncommon scenario for basement remodeling projects. After much research I decided on the Speakercraft lines. I would have loved to use my old Allison CD-9s and try to match a center but in-wall and in-ceiling speakers was a must, so Speakercraft it was.

For the front left and right I used the Speakercraft Cinemas. I was initially thinking I would use the Cinemas for Left, Right, and Center until one of the handful of phone conversations I had with Speakercraft. They pointed out that since the Cinemas were engineered to be positioned vertically, they aren’t ideal for a horizontal mount that would be required of a center channel speaker. They recommended the Speakercraft LCR series. So for the front sound field I ended up with:

Speakercraft Cinema Three – Left & Right
Speakercraft LCR Three – Center.

Painting Speakercraft Speakers:

I chose to paint the frame and grills the same color as the wall. Speakercraft highly recommends thinning down the paint for the grills so as to not clog any of the holes. I almost bought paint thinner (they state a 5:1 ratio of thinning agent to paint) and I’m glad the guy at the store asked me what I was thinning down. It was obvious to me afterward but water is used to thin water based latex paint, paint thinner for oil based.

As it turns out I was not happy with the thinned out paint. It was still clogging holes (small test area used on the grill) and had very little coverage. I went back to the store and was able to find a real close match in a spray can. It turns out, due to the different texture of the grill, you can’t even notice the paint color is not exact. A few coats of spray paint on the front three grills and I was all set.

Basement Remodeling for Speakercraft Cinema Installation

Speakercraft Cinema Three Installation

Painting Speakercraft In-Walls

Since the center channel is below the screen and rather low, the aimability of the Speakercraft LCR Three came in handy. I have this one aimed upward, which is a relatively easy task, so that the angle hits the listeners ear level seated in the primary seating area.

Installing Speakercraft LCR Three Speaker

Drywall Complete

admin — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 13:32:07 +0000

The completion of the drywall allows me to concentrate on painting, rack installation and speakercraft in-wall/in-ceiling speaker installation.

recessed flat panel TV area

In the above picture you can see how the top part of the recessed tv area has a sloped to to help let heat from the panasonic plasma escape.

drywall cutout for middle atlantic rack

The top cutout will be the home of a custom middle atlantic rack system. A cabinet door will cover the bottom were PC and networking gear will be stored.

cutout cubby under basement sairs

looking back toward bathroom/closet

Basement remodel drywall complete

looking at front

Basement Drywall – Recessed TV

admin — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 18:48:53 +0000

In a previous post on my basement renovation I mentioned a nice architechtural detail that I found hidden behind a lousy old drywall job. The previous owner framed and boxed in the brick columns seen below. It was framed crooked, no corner bead, and basically the corner cutting that could be found everywhere down here when I moved in.

Basement Renovation: Brick Columns

I decided to to leave this section exposed and I’ll install dark wood shelving in between the columns. The depth is perfect for DVDs.

Basement Renovation: Brick Columns Exposed

The insulation for this basement renovation is R19 in the ceiling and R13 in the walls. I spent a lot of time making sure it was stuffed into every crack, nook, an cranny. I did not think about insulation when wiring the lights, however. I wish I did and used more romex by making the runs up and down between the joists nice and tight up against each joist. I had romex running every which way including diagnal. This made for a very itchy night of insulating, have to rip and cut and stuff many small peices.

Basement Renovation Drywall

Basement Remodel Drywall

The one thing I don’t do myself anymore is drywall. I’m outta that biz. I’m too slow, get too frustrated, and the end result is bad. I always hire a friend who does home improvements for a living to do it. It was very important to let them know about the in ceiling speaker cables. Four Speakercraft AIM wides will populate the back area. The side AIMs wile fire the dual tweeters front to back while the rear AIMs will fire left to right. More on the Speakercrafts to come.

recessed plasma wall

The recessed section was made about 2″ wider than the screen all around for venting. The Panasonic th-58 plasma has it’s fans running along the top back, facing upwards. I made the top part of the recessed tv area sloped upward from back to front to help with venting as well. The indide will be painting flat black, like the av rack cutout, and have the same dark stained poplar frame.