I thought I was done with my home theater last August when I completed my matched 5.1 surround speaker setup and added those insanely overengineered Sound Anchor adjustable speaker stands. In fact, I proudly proclaimed that Home Theater 1.0 was FINISHED!

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Well, my wife had her own ideas of what finished REALLY meant! Anyway, let's just call this Home Theater 1.1 -- WAF Edition. For reference, here's what version 1.0 looked like. What I had considered more or less a finished product has been reduced to a footnote, a "before" picture, an interim step, etc.



Home Theater 1.0, with the wire rack on wheels, before its premature demise

All of our equipment was mounted on a wire rack, basically something that belongs in a kitchen. But, it was available and it served its use. Aside from audible rumble that got transmitted into the turntable, this was actually a decent (not to mention already paid for) way to put everything together. But, those cables in the back were very low on the WAF. I thought I was saving up for a HDTV, but my wife said no way we're looking at TVs until all that equipment found a new home (plus, she wanted to reclaim that rack for the kitchen). Plus, she wanted something that would store more of our living room stuff. But, more than anything, she didn't want those cables and wires SOOOOO visible.

So, I first went about looking for some low cost audio racks. But, the first thing that I noticed was that not a whole lot of racks our there have adjustable shelves, and with the number of odd-sized components in my system, adjustable shelves were needed. After a long search, I bit the bullet and started looking at the expensive modular systems. Went through a lot of options, and decided on the Salamander Synergy rack. It definitely was not cheap, but it's a pretty well built and versatile system. But, first and foremost, it looks pretty damn good and my wife is happy with it. Anyway, here it is ...



Home Theater 1.1 WAF Ed., with all the components tucked away. Now I've got a dedicated space for the PS2, and better access to the turntable plus shelf space for at least some of my vinyl. The corner positioning creates some open space behind the rack, and I'm thinking about putting some triangular acoustic foam into the corner.



View of the system with the rack door open. The mesh metal screen on the door is great because the remotes will work even with the doors closed.



Close up view of the components and CD rack



View of the surround speaker positioning. This is about what 110 degrees off-center (the ITU reference standard) from the listening position looks like, with the right side of the sofa as the center point. The speakers are at 45" height and pointed directly at one another.



View of the back wall. This is a good shot of the picture molding just underneath the ceiling that we installed last summer. The acoustic panels are homespun from inexpensive building materials and hardware, and suspended off of the molding, so no drilling or nailing is necessary and the panels can be moved around the room at will.

There you have it! NOW, it's time to start saving up for the TV upgrade... sheesh, it never ends, does it?