The Transformation from Den to Audio Man Cave. In many crazy steps!

Gentle reader,

I can't thank you enough for taking the time to read my humble blog. This one is going to be short on words and long on photos. As digital cameras got better with bigger pixel counts, the images got larger as well, as you will see.

What follows is the conversion from what was designed to be the master bedroom in our humble suburban split-foyer home to a "Den" where we newly-empty-nesters could enjoy watching TV or movies (before streaming came along, at least to us) in our IKEA chairs with matching foot rests, in surround sound. We chose a nice brown paint for the walls with mini-chair rail molding as well as mini crown molding and other wooden trim in bright white and with an off-white ceiling.

A little history, the TV, et.al., had always been in the living room as had the stereo. This was a daughter's room. I've been into listening to music on the best equipment my humble budget could afford since 1975 or so. I always wanted big (i.e., 15" woofers; think Radio Shack Mach One) speakers and prior to moving in here, had came across some Radio Shack Optimus 4000 speakers with 15" woofers and nice real walnut veneer. My wife, hoping I would move said big speakers from the living room, bought me a pair of brand new BOSE 301 speakers. Well, her plan didn't work. But all was not lost.

I will not attempt to name speakers and components in each of the fifty five photos that make up this not-quite time-lapse photo montage. Depending upon what you are looking at this on, handheld device, laptop or proper PC (mine has a 23" widescreen monitor) you might be able to guess some of them. That is not the point of this exercise. It is to show what my wonderful wife figured out long ago: I seem to thrive on change. At least in trying my latest thrift store/yard sale/flea market or eBay finds. Without further ado, here are the images.

If you are familiar with those "Find what is different in these two pictures." things, this is going to be like that. Watch closely as the room, gets more....well, you'll see.

Starts out nice enough, as you can see. Little in the way of decorations on the walls.

I started doing car racing simulations when a buddy gave me some PC racing games many years ago. I bought a Logitech steering wheel/pedals set and started having fun. Later my daughter surprised me with a new SONY PlayStation 2 Slim. Later an XB0x 360 joined. I have to have a wheel and pedals, one does not operate their vehicle with a "controller" nor do they drive from outside the car and up in the air behind it. This all prior to the XBox 360. Two wheels for son and I to race each other. But I digress.

I simply moved the two chairs, table, etcetera back,  and pulled up the racing seat, again, my wife bought me that. Has 2.1 speakers and amplifier built right it. She truly loves me.

I also designed and built the two assemblies that hold the steering wheel and pedal sets which are each adjustable for different people to race.

Then, one day, I asked my wife, "How would you feel about moving the stereo into the den and moving the TV into the living room?" "That is an EXCELLENT idea!" 

As you can see, I chose to put the stereo electronics to my left so that I could reach the volume knob and the speakers to the front of me. My goodness, what ever did prompt me to choose that hideous chair?

As you can see above, I have fallen for the "cables" line. Those are all Liberty Cable brand. Only the ones plugged into the turntable remain. They now connect the preamplifier to the power amplifier. I gave all the other Liberty Cables their freedom.

At first, I couldn't see the difference, other than angle taken, in these two pictures. Then I did, do you see it too?

Those are DCM speakers with 12" woofers. Don't recall the model number now.

SO excited when I spied these big vintage B.I.C Formula 6 Venturi speakers way in the back of an antiques store! Foam grilles had long ago rotted away and there was some minor repair and restoration to do. Funny how something that is so desirable when we see/read about it, then isn't all that grand once we have them? Or is it me?

In the background are the two big Optimus Pro 4000 speakers. Yet, they are now merely a shell housing some other speakers. I believe I wrote about that transformation long ago. This IS my 195th post of this blog, so I can't possibly remember.

I had found that Pioneer receiver and ONE Pioneer speaker at the same time, so decided to make a mono setup. Seemed like a good idea at the time. The wiring is growing in number and type as I get more and more speakers to try out.

See the different subwoofer?

Tall speakers were my first buy at a pawn shop since my very first buy at a pawn shop in April, 1995 which was my first 35mm SLR camera. I was 39 at that time. First appearance of a shelf on the wall. That clock now sits atop my PC right next to me in this room.

Recognize any of these speakers? I've had some legendary names in that room and this one too, over the crazy years of finding and buying other peoples stuff.

Psyched to find these FIVE Definitive Technology speakers at the thrift store! WAS able to fit them all in my tiny sports car somehow. Fortunately, it was Summer and I could put the top down!

The photo above contains everything, less the speaker stands, that I found in one trip to the thrift store. Those pretty Sansui Classique components were dropped on the way to the new owner's house. Last time I used UPS for shipping! We were both really upset by that!

IF you have a keen eye, you will recognize those small speakers on the stands are the legendary BBC mobile studio monitor speakers: LS3/5A. Those are Spendor brand. Got them for, wait for it, $10! New owner in Hong Kong spent a whole lot more to get them from me. Frankly, I was not impressed with their sound.

Don't remember most of the brands in this photo. But, I'd found a whole lot of 78 RPM records and picked out the ones I wanted. So, I bought a turntable capable of 78 RPM and a new 78-specific cartridge to play them. Kept it all for quite a while then realized the novelty had worn off and was happy to get rid of everything 78 related. Re-donated the records.

First time several of these speakers have made their appearance. Also, note the "Asian" rug? We're not supposed to use "Oriental" anymore. You guessed it, thrift store find. Later found two Turkish ones. Smaller, but thicker and must have been very expensive when new. The tall oak speakers in the corner were hand made from solid oak by someone in Maryland. He'd engraved his driver's license number on the back of them. Note DCM Time Frame speakers?

Center stack is again, all one day's haul. Radio is tube but only hummed. Later re-donated it. Bottom speaker is a Realistic Electrostatic. I never was sure if it worked correctly. 

First purchase of a "modern Dynaco" component. See it? A RCA version of Discwasher record cleaning brush sits atop it. Also, hanging beneath the rack is a Sherbourn amplifier. Wish I could remember the brand names of most of these speakers. KLH are only obvious ones.

First appearance of this nice Teak table stereo cabinet I found. I am still using it. PLUS, as you can see, the 78 stuff is gone and I decided to add a multi-channel SACD system in ADDITION to the separate stereo system. What was I thinking? As you can see, I moved the power amplifier and speaker switch to the Teak table as well. At the time, that hole is the only place I had room for the subwoofer.

Now THAT is better! Sold off the massed speakers. Am using only the OAK ones that I completely rebuilt with better drivers and crossovers. Sounded better.

Couldn't leave those spaces empty, could I? Nope, as I got more and more CDs, storage was becoming a problem. One that got solved over time. Have you been noticing that the type and brands of speaker cables have been changing too?

As I had found, by luck, matching Polk Audio speakers, I moved the BOSE 301 speakers into this room, where they still are and they still sound better than they should. See that convoluted foam in the corners? They are actually to cushion large circuit boards in transit to somewhere. But they were thrown out so I claimed them. They MAY help reduce bass being trapped in those corners. Or do they?

FIRST appearance of my SECOND "modern Dynaco" component. Spot it? Well the logo is pretty obvious. It is an ST-200 power amplifier. 100 watts-per-channel and very rare. I did a post comparing it and the Kenwood THX Certified 125 watt-per-channel amp that it replaced.

Have you noticed more and more Asian decorations appearing? I love that huge dragon. Why are dragons always playing with their balls? I had found a number of better quality speakers, as you can see. The ones on rags are Acutex, their top-of-the-line models which I made some minor changes to and refinished the lovely black walnut veneer. Speaker cables changing again. Did you notice? Also, more clocks showing up too.

The DCM Time Frame speakers WERE in this room and I moved them back to the listening room. Even more Asian stuff abounds.

More and more CD racks keep appearing. I found that nice newer Polk Audio center channel speaker, so the old vertical one went away.

I actually bought NEW Polk Audio speakers to audibly and visually match the center channel speaker. And no, they are not upside down. That's the way they designed them.

Acutex speakers are back in the room to be enjoyed. The ones in the corner are Axiom brand.

Second subwoofer has appeared. Drove them both with smaller speakers for the main sound.

I was JUST as excited to finally find some Cerwin-Vega! speakers for my very own! LS-12 models with that iconic red woofer surround.

But wait! What are these black interlopers? My considered opinion is they are some of the notorious "White Van" speakers. Because there is no such thing as a "digital" speaker. Aside from the bling, they are reminiscent of Radio Shack's vaunted Mach One design.

LS-12's are in the place of honor now where they have remained on and off since. As you will see. But what else is different about this picture and the one above?

What's this? Some upstart little speakers DARE to block the mighty LS-12s? They are in fact one of the many Radio Shack brand speakers that I have updated. The only thing that remains of these once-Minimus-11 speakers is the diecast aluminum housings. I covered the operation in a couple of posts at the time. The conversion yielded some of the best sounding of all the small speakers that I've owned.

Now wait a doggone minute! Where have the LS-12s gone? All is not lost. Note that I marked the carpet with masking tape as to where they reside.

WHOA! What the heck happened here? I'll tell you. I decided to take EVERYTHING apart and start from scratch. Note also, some more Radio Shack speakers have arrived. These have the Linaeum ribbon tweeters atop the cabinets. Just LOOK at all those cables and stacks of components and all those speakers!

Ah! As you can see, order has returned to the room. Sort of. The Teak shelf has been moved to where the stereo was and vice versa. PLUS, the six-channel SACD system has left the building! Just keep watching these photos and try and keep up with all the changes!

LS-12s are back, but what are those tiny walnut speakers atop them? Why they are Radio Shack's famous Minimus 7W speakers. I was about to set upon a course that I would cover completely and the result would be significant audibly AND become some of the most popular of my humble blog's posts!

These three photos are the only close-up ones I decided to include in this long list of photos documenting the somewhat insane changes that I have wrought upon that room. 

Acoustic Research speakers, the late-Minumus-11s, Linaeum speakers with new woofers and the first VISIBLE change to the Minimus 7Ws. They now have woven Kevlar woofers from another set of Radio Shack speakers that have a cult following. The crossovers have been upgraded with "kit" created and sold just for Minimus 7 speakers.

The angle above was taken to show the 3/8" thick Lexan sheets that hold all those speakers and the BluTak that keeps them secure and from rattling when the music plays. I simply unplugged each pair of cables (with banana plugs, of course) and then chose which pair I wanted to listen to and plug the cables in.

NOT AGAIN! LS-12s are gone as are all the other small speakers. The Minimus 7W speakers are now fully modified and include FMT* ribbon tweeters. The same ones I used in the Minimus 11 mods. *Folded Metal Technology. BUT WAIT! There are more changes to see in the picture above and below.

Look, see? They were just at the back of the room. You think I ENJOY moving those heavy things? I do not.
I'm now including shot below, sans speakers. The photo below is a close up to enable you to better detect if there are any differences.

As the photos progress, the changes are sometimes less obvious, but there nonetheless.

For example, see those components, are any of them different? I wrote several posts about it. Cables, the same or different?

Did you detect those pretty new speakers next to the Minimus 7Ws? They are very rare Philips speakers with ribbon tweeters. Passed them on via eBay later on and the shippers dropped the box! Buyer was NOT happy, nor I.

We are nearing the end of this arduous journey. Take heart. You are not the one moving all this stuff around! So, what is the difference in this photo and the one above it? Not the speakers. Look more closely.  It's a couple of things.

Yet again, there are differences. Look closely, my long-suffering friend.

While this photo above may appear to be a close-up and the same as another photo above. It is not. Look at everything. Compare!

Going crazy yet! I must admit, I have to look closely too. I have written about all these changes and believe it or not, there have been over 100,000 page views and the number is climbing faster than ever!

Only ONE difference in this photo and the one above it. See it?

LAST TWO PHOTOS! The difference in this photo and the one above is not the photo's objects. It is the CAMERA I used! I've always used my now aged (only 6.3 megapixels) Nikon DSLR camera with 18-55mm lens and big multi-adjustable flash. 

The two below were made with a smaller but better camera. It is compact with built-in pop-up flash. The difference is the lens and sensor. Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3. It has a ten mega-pixel sensor far smaller than the Nikon has, PLUS it has a fast Leica DC Vario-Summicron lens. Leica and Panasonic joined up long ago to make digital cameras. Leica benefited from Panasonic's vast experience making digital cameras and some of their cameras benefited from employing Leica lenses.

At last we reach the end! The change is obvious in this photo. Those are my ten dollar 32 year-old Klipsch KG4 speakers. I am in LOVE with them! Fantastic speakers. In fact, the post I wrote about them, seen below is a link, is rapidly heading in the direction towards becoming my most popular post ever. Well, maybe THIS mind bending post will take off too. One never knows!
32 Year-Old Klipsch KG4 speakers found for $9.99!

Thanks for looking, I hope I was able to stretch your brain as you worked to find the differences in so many photos. This will truly confirm in my wife's mind that I am truly nuts.

Thanks for looking!

Scott