New TV and Sub Woofer

During the week Stephen located a Wharfedale "Power Cube 10" sub woofer for private sale in Kardinya, not too far away from his home.  After describing it to me I asked him to please buy it if he could, and the next day he made the purchase for a ridiculously low price of $70.  This is a well regarded sub woofer with full controls, including a crossover range of 35-85 Hz.  After he tested the unit at his home we arranged that he and Brenda would visit the house on Saturday so that he could help me set it up.

This spurred me to resolving the issue of a large (about 50") TV for the living room.  At the first shop I visited the salesman told me that the best buy for me was a Panasonic TH-50A430A at $845.  This is a full HD LED TV (1920 x 1080) with 100 Hz panel technology vs the usual 50 Hz.  This eliminates the annoying stuttering effect of fast moving objects (such as a tennis ball) being screened.  His story was that Panasonic held the price down by leaving out frills such as WiFi and focusing in the TV itself. 

Bracket Fixed to Wall

Woofer in Fireplace

This made sense to me.  The price seemed good and the Panasonic is a Tier One product for which there is a premium to be paid.

I figured that the TV didn't need WiFi because the blue ray DVD player provides access to the raw internet via a browser, various apps that among other things provides on-demand services to TV programs and movies, and movies stored on my Seagate external disc drive via a USB port.

The next day I visited another shop, The Good Guys, and among their large range of TV's on display was the same Panasonic for $745.  The sale price had expired the day before but the salesman let me have it at that price.  I asked him if this was a superseded model and he replied that it is a current model.  The price tag was labeled something like "Price Challenge" and he said that it meant that another retailer somewhere was offering the set at that price and they were matching it.

While he was ringing up the item I asked him about a wall mount rack and he sold me a super strong Crest CAFP6T wall bracket that can support screen sizes of up to 80" and up to 75 Kg in weight.  The price on it was $149 (which I have since confirmed is the common price) but he let me have it for $100.  The bracket allows for up to 10 degrees tilt, which I am using.

By the time Stephen and Brenda showed up I had everything I needed for a trouble free mounting.  The Crest package had all sorts of mounting screws and plugs for brick and wood studs behind gyprock but I had made a special trip to Bunnings to get thick 14G screws that were a relatively short at 18mm, with matching washers.  The screws had to be short because I would be fixing the bracket to jarrah planks or 20mm thickness.

We mounted the TV with no trouble, had lunch, went for a walk up the old rail line with Shelly the dog, then came back and set up the woofer.   We confirmed that placing the woofer in the fireplace gave very good results and because it is capable of delivering very powerful sound we found that running it at half volume was adequate.

Simon telephoned me that night and told me that my living room is ideal for a home entertainment system, with appropriate size and excellent acoustics.  That was a big deal to me because Simon is an expert in these issues.  I told him that when I put up that paneling in the late 1970's I did not dream that flat screen TV's of that size that can be hung up on the wall like paintings would be a reality in my lifetime.  He replied that I had mystically built it all for a future home theater, which spooked me a bit because stepping back, all of the paneling and shelving appears to be perfect for the home entertainment setup.

So now my living room entertainment system is complete, thanks mainly to Stephen.  He got the Hitachi amp going, helped me find the Sony amp, gave me the blue ray DVD player as a birthday gift, and found the woofer.

My task for the coming week is to set up the smaller TV in the kitchen so that I can watch the news while I am cooking.

My last project in the living room will be to do something about the fireplace.  I'll either restore it or panel it in wood, given that I'll never be lighting a fire in it again.