Project Overview
The owner of this great, modernized 60’s home in N Seattle is in extensive remodel mode and wanted excellent music quality to enjoy while cooking in the newly remodeled kitchen that was more satisfying that his Denon/Klipsch surround setup. Working with the remodel plan/construction schedule, Theater Design Northwest came up with several space-saving designs for nice mid-high end audio that would be built into the kitchen, with multizone audio for the fab remodeled deck out back. But the 60’s homes have severely limited space and in the end, cooking functionality trumped AV design-the kitchen designer just wouldn’t let us put a sub in the space allocated for a pan drawer!
The client had a nice VT60 plasma already on furniture with huge tower speaks and taking up space in the recently remodeled living room. So we hatched the idea to wallmount the HDTV and do a nice high end system that had a huge soundstage that would cover the open kitchen and and the deck with the sliders open. One visit to the TDNW listen room to hear our version of high end 2.1 audio with big sound sealed the deal. We designed a fantastic system using Parasound Halo separates powering Totem Acoustics Tribe in walls and an M&K X-8 sub with Sonos as the music source and HDTV sources plugged directly into the HDTV with an optical out to the Halo P5’s nice DAC. This scenario has proven excellent in a space that doesn’t have the room for surround sound componentry + you enjoy reference analog audio quality of separates and it mitigates the need for an AV receiver. Even the detail of HDMI sources directly into the TV delivers a noticeable improvement in pic quality if you use excellent HDMI cable like Wireworld Ultraviolet and above.
To maximise the multiroom potential, we designed and custom built beautiful sapele hardwood framed hinged in wall brackets for the speakers that allow him to swivel the speakers out from the wall and aim into the kitchen/deck area. The system is seamlessly controlled from an iPad using URC Total Control for simple control from anywhere in wifi range.
Photos
Key Components
- Parasound Halo P5 preamp/A23 power amp
- Totem acoustics Tribe in wall speakers
- MK Sound X-8 subwoofer
- Panasonic VT 60 plasma display
- Sonos CONNECT player
- URC Total Control
- Wireworld interconnects
- Surgex power conditioning
- TP Link gigabit switches
- XBox
- Prism TV
Summary
As always with a first high quality separates system, the client is thrilled to enjoy his music collection and even rediscover new details and revealing of emotional connection in old favorite albums! We did this AV + networking project in coordination with general contractor Jackson Design Build of Seattle. Great client, great contractor, great job!
