I previously had posted this in the Dedicated Theater forum, but I think that this is probably a better forum for it, so here it is.

I've been working on my first home theater for a little while now and am nearing completion of phase 1. So I thought I'd take some time and document my progress and share it with you all. Please feel free to provide and feedback or advice you may have. This is my first home and first home theater and I have done everything myself to date.

I have to give a ton of credit to the folks on these boards for helping me with equipment advice and general layout and construction ideas.

I'm hoping this theater will provide me and my family many years of entertainment in the future.

To kick things off, I made a crude layout of the basement to give everyone an idea of what I had to work with.

http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs258.snc1/10535_178870045239_637930239_4149218_6728576_n.jpg

It is a wide open area, that was just filled with "stuff". The stairs, water heater and furnace were right in the middle as you can see. My plan was to finish part of the basement with a home theater area and a wet bar area then and leave the other part unfinished for storage and my workshop area, so all of the structural stuff that I was not going to move provided a good line to divide on.

The theater area of the basement started life as my shop area. Here is what is looked like from the get-go.

http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs092.snc1/4671_110111310239_637930239_3122402_4075330_n.jpg

It is about 12 feet wide and about 20 feet deep to the end of the left wall. The ceiling is only 7' high as it is under a sunken family room. The cinder block on the far end is under the fireplace in the family room and as you can see in the diagram comes out a few feet from the back wall leaving odd cavities on either side. The cavity on the right is where the breaker box is housed which will present some difficulties for me later on.

Here are some more before pictures to give more of an idea of what I had.

The future shop area (looking towards the lower right hand corner of the layout)
http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs092.snc1/4671_110111300239_637930239_3122401_2060594_n.jpg

The future wet bar area (looking towards the middle of the left side of the layout)
http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs092.snc1/4671_110111315239_637930239_3122403_7334615_n.jpg

Standing in the home theater area looking towards the future shop area (you can see the furnace, water heater, and top of the stairs)
http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs112.snc1/4671_110111320239_637930239_3122404_6473369_n.jpg

Standing at the foot of the stairs looking towards the back of the future theater area (I'm planning on putting an old pool table that I'm refinishing towards the right side of this area)
http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs112.snc1/4671_110111325239_637930239_3122405_6584847_n.jpg

There's the first post. My next post will feature some of the construction pics.

Moving on to some of the costruction photos

Started off by building a couple of shelves to help organize and clear up the contruction area.
http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs112.snc1/4671_110111330239_637930239_3122406_796141_n.jpg

Packed to the brim with "stuff"
http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs092.snc1/4671_110111350239_637930239_3122409_5714347_n.jpg

Starting to stud out the walls. This is the future theater area.
http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs112.snc1/4671_110111335239_637930239_3122407_4059467_n.jpg

This is the future wet bar area.
http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs092.snc1/4671_110111345239_637930239_3122408_5739303_n.jpg

Framing out around the water heater. It wasn't fun trying to work around all the stuff laying around, but my shelves just weren't enough to hold everything.
http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs112.snc1/4671_110111365239_637930239_3122410_6804149_n.jpg

Bottom of the stairs, roughing out the doorway.
http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs112.snc1/4671_110111375239_637930239_3122411_6159743_n.jpg

A few shots of the pool table that I'm refinishing. It's an old old Brunswick that I got from my grandpa. It will eventually go in the area behind the theater. That may be a while however.
http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs112.snc1/4671_110115045239_637930239_3122516_3031747_n.jpg

http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs112.snc1/4671_110115050239_637930239_3122517_5188037_n.jpg

http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs092.snc1/4671_110115055239_637930239_3122518_4314192_n.jpg

http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs092.snc1/4671_110115060239_637930239_3122519_8119396_n.jpg

http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs112.snc1/4671_110115065239_637930239_3122520_4271815_n.jpg

http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs112.snc1/4671_110115070239_637930239_3122521_403546_n.jpg

Working on the drywall (looking from the base of the stairs towards the theater area)
http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v2315/124/125/637930239/n637930239_2489420_4092.jpg

More of the theater area. You can see how low I had to build the soffets to accomodate the beam and HVAC. There was just no way to move the HVAC without incurring ridiculous expense. There is only about 6'3" of clearance under the lowest soffet, fortunately I'm only 5'10" so even with shoes I clear with no problem. My dad on the other hand just barely clears it. You can also see the pool table that I'm working on refinishing (that project has been put on hold lately)
http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v2315/124/125/637930239/n637930239_2489423_5786.jpg

More shots looking towards the theater area. I'm standing approximately where the pool table will eventually be.
http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v2315/124/125/637930239/n637930239_2489424_6024.jpg

http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v2315/124/125/637930239/n637930239_2489425_6336.jpg

http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v2315/124/125/637930239/n637930239_2489431_7802.jpg

This is where the screen will be. Since the wall is built in front of the cinder block that is below the fireplace, I needed to to keep access to the ash chute for future cleaning. You can also see the breaker box that I referred to in the first post.
http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v2315/124/125/637930239/n637930239_2489426_6589.jpg

Looking back from the screen wall
http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v2315/124/125/637930239/n637930239_2489427_6828.jpg

http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v2315/124/125/637930239/n637930239_2489428_7070.jpg

http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v2315/124/125/637930239/n637930239_2489429_7313.jpg

This is from the base of the stairs looking towards where the wet bar will be. You can see the plumbing coming out of the wall.
http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v2315/124/125/637930239/n637930239_2489418_3604.jpg

Another shot of the bar area.
http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v2315/124/125/637930239/n637930239_2489418_3604.jpg

The stairwell area.
http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v2315/124/125/637930239/n637930239_2489421_5309.jpg

The stairwell again (with a temp carboard door to prevent dust from getting into the other side)
http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v2315/124/125/637930239/n637930239_2489422_5554.jpg

Back of the theater area looking towards the bar area and bottom of the stairwell.
http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v2315/124/125/637930239/n637930239_2489430_7563.jpg

http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v2315/124/125/637930239/n637930239_2489432_8046.jpg

The sole window down here. This will really help keep the ambient light down when using the theater area.
http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v2315/124/125/637930239/n637930239_2489433_8429.jpg

The next post will show the painting and flooring going in.

Moving onto some paint

The theater area is a chocolate brown (the wife wouldn't let me do black)
http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v1980/124/125/637930239/n637930239_2592590_3361.jpg

http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v1980/124/125/637930239/n637930239_2592591_3812.jpg

This is looking from the theater area back towards where the pool table will be. While the theater area is in brown, the rest of the basement is in a light beige.
http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v1980/124/125/637930239/n637930239_2592592_4115.jpg

From the back of the theater again.
http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v1980/124/125/637930239/n637930239_2592593_4417.jpg

From the pool table area.
http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v1980/124/125/637930239/n637930239_2592594_4874.jpg

The stairwell. You can see that under the stairwell is open. I'm planning on building a wine rack to utilize that space.
http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v1980/124/125/637930239/n637930239_2592595_5149.jpg

http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v1980/124/125/637930239/n637930239_2592596_5473.jpg

My daughter demanding faster progress.
http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v1980/124/125/637930239/n637930239_2592597_5962.jpg

The next post will feature shots of the flooring.

Wow. Time warp building - makes a project seem to fly by! Nice progress, and great pool table! A few questions to pull some more information out of you.

I didn't see any mention of pulling low voltage wires for speakers, subs & perhaps a PJ. Did you not do that, or did you just not snap those photos? Are you planning on a PJ, or a TV?

Are you planning a separate equipment closet, or just putting the equipment on a shelf below the screen? One of those cubbies on the screen wall would seem to be an option for that.

What did you use for thermal insulation? I'm sure you did something since even though you're a southerner to me, it's still cold in Illinois! Did you use the JM batts I saw lying around in one of your photos? And are you doing anything for sound containment?

What kind of tree is that growing in your basement? :cool:

It's coming along nicely. I'd be curious to what you plan on doing with the ceiling. Will it be insulated and drywalled or drop ceiling?

Thanks guys.

It's amazing how fast it looks when I simply have to upload my photos. I actually started in November of '08. The goal was to get the walls and and floor in by my daughter's first birthday party in March so that we could use the space. Unfortunately I didn't make the timeline with the floor. The next few posts will still be in fast forward mode until I get to the present, then progress will slow substantially.

I agree about the pool table. The back story on that is that my grandfather was a member of the Odd Fellows back in the 40's and this was one of the pool tables in the lodge. When they shuttered the lodge he was able to get the pool table and four of the pool table chairs (which you see in some of the pics, however only three still remain). He says that the pool table was old when he joined the Odd Fellows, so he estimates that it's nearing 100 years old if not older. It does have a serial number stamped on the interior, so when I get a little more time I'm going to see if I can find any manufacturing information on it.

You are correct about the low voltage wires. Since this is my first surround system, I didn't have much knowledge as to where I was going to put my speakers, so I hadn't run any wires at this point. Fortunately though, I had planned for a suspended ceiling, so the tops of the wall were still accessible so with some fish tape I figured I'd be able to run the wires once I figured out where everything was going to go. As I said, I was trying to get done in order for the party so I was just trying to get the walls up and painted.

I did however insulate everything, because as you said, it gets cold down here. The JM insulation you see in the window is behind every one of those walls, exterior and interior. I also put some insulation in the ceiling joists to try and help with sound isolation.

The equipment closet is one thing that I wish I had planned better. I am going to utilize one of the cubbies, but could I do it over again, I would have put it somewhere behind the seating so as not to be distracting when watching a movie. When I get to the present, you will see that I still don't have that part quite worked out yet and I will be looking for advice.

An finally the tree. I have no idea what that is about. My wife has several of those thing throughout the house. They are all fake, but I don't see the point of them. But I have no say in anything other than the basement, and she still gets to dictate some of the basement. Women...

Prior to laying down any flooring I wanted to seal the floor. The house is 30 years old so I figure the concrete would definitely be cured by now. I read mixed reviews on whether you should seal a concrete basement floor or not, but I gathered that as long as it wasn't a new construction is should be ok. I'm still not sure if I should have done this or not, but what's done is done I guess.
http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs092.snc1/4671_110111440239_637930239_3122421_5445843_n.jpg

http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs112.snc1/4671_110111425239_637930239_3122419_5951137_n.jpg

A shot of the cork floor. We have four cats, a dog and an 18 month old, so I am attempting to replace all of the carpet upstairs in the house with hardwood as you might be able to imagine how dirty the carpet gets. I know carpet is the first choice typically for basements, but since I didn't want any upstairs, I surely wasn't going put any down here. Since you shouldn't use hardwood in the basement due to moisture, I found this cork laminate that I thought would work good. The cork was a great choice as it provides insulation as well as noise absorbtion. I also have a poly foam underlayment under the cork to help with cusioning and insulation.
http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs092.snc1/4671_110111430239_637930239_3122420_4520921_n.jpg

The next post will feature the first piece of equipment as well as some work on the ceilings.

A shot of the cork floor. We have four cats, a dog and an 18 month old, so I am attempting to replace all of the carpet upstairs in the house with hardwood as you might be able to imagine how dirty the carpet gets. I know carpet is the first choice typically for basements, but since I didn't want any upstairs, I surely wasn't going put any down here. Since you shouldn't use hardwood in the basement due to moisture, I found this cork laminate that I thought would work good. The cork was a great choice as it provides insulation as well as noise absorbtion. I also have a poly foam underlayment under the cork to help with cusioning and insulation.
http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs092.snc1/4671_110111430239_637930239_3122420_4520921_n.jpg

Nice. I'm seriously considering cork laminate right now as well. May be buying something in the next week, so perfect timing for me.

When you get a minute, can you elaborate a bit more on this product more - where you bought yours & the approximate price? Any photos/details on the poly foam underlayment (I saw someone used dricore, but I'm trying to decide if that is necessary or worth the cost)? How hard was the installation - did you do glue down or floating? Any early opinions on the product & how well it insulates?

Subscribed. Love blitzkrieg builds!!

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr79/hanesian/Siwq4.jpg

Cult-Daddy,

A belated welcome.

You've done a lot with this space - looking good!
Nice to see another Northern Illinois build (I'm just south of lake Zurich myself)

Looking forward to seeing more photos

Hey Hanesian. I was just over at your thread checking it out. You look like you are going to have a great room when it's all done (not that it will ever be done, upgraditus anyone?) Smart move on subbing out the drywall. I've never hung drywall or taped and mudded before so I wanted to give it a shot, plus the funds just weren't there to hire someone. Now that I've had a taste of it, I can cross it off my bucket list and hire someone next time.

As for the the floor, I got it from Lumber Liquidators. It's $3.79/sq. ft. Lisbon Cork Flooring (http://www.lumberliquidators.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=5188&categoryId=448&sectionId=2&subCategoryId=11) A little cheaper than hardwood, but I think perhaps a little more expensive than carpet (but I'm not sure on that as I didn't price out carpet as I knew I wasn't putting it in). I think I picked up about 600 sq. ft. of it. One nice thing about LL is that you have order these little 6"x6" samples of differnt corks to find the style that would work best for you. I think they may be a couple of bucks or so for each sample, but if you end up ordering from LL then you can use the sample expense as credit towards your final purchase. I think I ordered about 8 different samples and ended up choosing what you see in the pictures.

I used this underlayment (http://www.lumberliquidators.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=2007) Mine was actually yellow, but I think it's the same stuff. I looked at some thicker more expensive stuff, but ,like you, I thought that might be overkill.

The installation wasn't too hard at all. It's a floating floor so each plank is a locking tounge and groove. The first couple of rows were a little squirrely as they wanted to move and seperate while I was tapping in the subsequent planks. I ended using some blue painters tape on the seams to keep the pieces together. Once I had about three or four rows done, there was enough weight that I didn't need the tape anymore. My daughter had a field day though pulling up all of the tape when I was done.

The insulating properties are great. The unfinished part of the basement doesn't have anything on the floor, just bare concrete. You can tell a significant temp change when you go from the bare concrete to the cork flooring. I'm comfortable walking on the cork flooring barefooted, where as on the concrete I wouldn't be able to for too long before it got uncomfortable. For noise properties, I don't have anything too scientific, but prior to putting down the floor, there were significant echoes (as one would expect) but after putting down the floor, they have been reduced.) I would guess acoustically they are better than hardwood, but not as good as carpet.

It also has a nice cushioning property which I really like having a little one running around. LIke the acoustic properties, not as soft as carpet, but a ton more giving than hardwood would be if she happened to bounce her head off of it.

It's only been down about 7 months now so I can't really comment on how long it will last, but it does have a 25 year warranty. One other benefit (although this didn't really weigh into my decision) is that it is a relatively "green" material.

Overall, I would highly recommend the cork flooring. I couldn't be happier with my choice.

If you do decide to go this route, I recommend going to HD or Lowes and getting two accessories used to install laminate floors. One is a block that you use to tap against when locking in the joints. I started out just using a block of 2x4. But for 5 bucks the block that made for it worked much better. I has a nice little cut-out so it sits flat against the floor and overlaps on top of the plank. The other tool you absolutely need is a pulling bar. You use this when you are installing the last plank in a row. It is against the wall, and I initially thought I could just use a pry bar and wedge it in. That didn't work so well. The pulling bar has one edge that you slip between the wall and the plank and on the other edge, you can tap with your hammer. Worked great. LL has a kit (http://www.lumberliquidators.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=4214) that has these items that looks reasonably priced. The kit also has some spacers that I did use, but they weren't nearly as helpful as the other two tools. I picked up all of this stuff at Home Depot as I didn't think I would need them when I ordered my materials, but you definitely should get them from somewhere.

I was down to my last two rows before I smacked my thumb with the hammer, see if you can beat that. :D

Hey CuzEd. I was looking at your page as well, but I've only been through the first page so far. The bathroom looks great but I know that was finished a couple of years ago. I'll make it through the rest of the post before long. One of many things I am missing in my basement is a bathroom. Although I have thought about putting a urinal in the unfinished area (shhhh don't tell my wife). I figure that will help ensure it maintains itself as a mancave, although it currently is housing my wife's scrapbooking stuff and my daughters toys until I can finish the pool table and push them out.

Something else I noticed on your page is the IR light switches. I would love to get some dimmers that I could control with a Harmony One, so I may have some questions for you in the future. Once again though, that post is about two years ago, so you may have changed some stuff by the time I get caught up to the present.

So here is the first piece of equipment. It's a Samsung LN40B640, or basically a 40 inch LCD. I also have a Comcast cable box hooked up via HDMI. So that's it at this particular point in time, a tv and cable box. But it provided enough of a distraction that work slowed down. You can see in the pic that I still had some cable management to work on. I did have the HDMI hidden at this time. You can see the HDMI going from the cable box to the wall on the left side. This is connected to another HDMI outlet directly behind the tv. I hadn't yet installed power behind the tv. That's the cable you see hanging from the tv. I was still trying to figure out what to do about the ash chute and breaker box at this point as well. That's my daughter wielding the power.
http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs112.snc1/4671_110111380239_637930239_3122412_6856119_n.jpg

http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs092.snc1/4671_110111415239_637930239_3122417_1131458_n.jpg

Looking back from the tv
http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs112.snc1/4671_110111385239_637930239_3122413_8117971_n.jpg

From the back of the theater looking towards the bar room. I had an old electronic dartboard that I got several years ago, but it had been sitting in the box since I had nowhere to put it up. Finally it has found a home. I made a frame and used some leftover flooring to made a backer board for it.
http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs092.snc1/4671_110111400239_637930239_3122414_2129750_n.jpg

Starting to put up the gridwork for the suspended ceiling.
http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs092.snc1/4671_110111405239_637930239_3122415_8361825_n.jpg

An old solid oak door that we had laying around. Never again will I build my own jamb. Way too much work when you can buy a pre-hung. More progress on the gridwork as well.
http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs112.snc1/4671_110111455239_637930239_3122424_3407295_n.jpg

Next up will be some shots of the (mostly) finished ceiling, some better cable management, as well as some lighting.

Hey CuzEd.

Something else I noticed on your page is the IR light switches. I would love to get some dimmers that I could control with a Harmony One, so I may have some questions for you in the future.

One of the things remaining on my list:

Is to buy a new Harmony (likely an 890) and see if I can get it to talk to, or at least learn these econo-model light switches :D

Thanks for the very thorough info on the cork flooring. Very impressive.

JPDeuce used a similar product, although he went with dricore and glue down flooring. Interestingly, it also looks like your product they recommend finishing with poly, while his they do not. Here's a link (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=17193437#post17193437) to his thread.

Things just get curiouser and curiouser. :confused:

Do you notice any telltale clicking or other noises/movements from doing your floating floor?

No problem. I don't mind talking about the cork at all. I think it was one of the best decisions I've made so far regarding my basement. My floor came with a finish already on it so I didn't apply another, however I could see how that might help with some of the joints if you spilled something on it. I would perhaps be a bit more concerned in a kitchen or somewhere where there would be higher chances of having liquids spill on it. Of course, once I get in the wet bar, those odds go up for me.

I did look at the glue down tiles, but I decided on the floating because I didn't want to mess with the glue. I figured that I would have enough area that I didn't need to worry about the floor moving on me. If I had a small 10x10 room or something like that, then I would do the glue down method to keep it from moving.

I'm not sure what you mean when you say clicking. Do you mean when walking on it the joints clicking or that it clicks when it touches the floor underneath? Either way, I've not heard any clicking. The actual cork is just the top layer and it lies on top of a soft green material. I'm not sure what it is but it creates a hell of a lot of dust when cutting it on the miter box. I'll try to get a few pictures of one of the planks to show you. Speaking of cutting it, since the planks are 3'x1' you can't cut them on a regular mitre box. Thankfully I have a sliding compound so it could cut the full 12" in one pass.

At this point I've finally got the ceiling in and was able to hide all of the cables for a relatively clean look. I've also added some sconces to the theater area. In the first photo you can see that the theater ceiling is about 7 inches lower than the pool table area. This is because the family room which is directly above is a step down from the kitchen. That makes the ceiling only 6'7" in the theater area. This may cause a problem when I eventually install a projector and possibly build a riser. You can see at this point I still don't have a cover for the ash chute and still hadn't figured out what to do about the cubbie on the right.
http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs170.snc1/6368_124949205239_637930239_3388364_5944062_n.jpg

Right now I just have an old couch and love seat in the area with a some slip covers on them. Eventually, these will be replaced by theater recliners.
http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs170.snc1/6368_124949210239_637930239_3388365_4391310_n.jpg

Here is a good shot of the ghetto rack system and the complete lack of equipment. I only have the TV, cable box and PS3 at this point in time. Since I didn't have a receiver at this point, if I wanted to go from cable to PS3, I would have to unplug the cable HDMI from the wall and plug in the PS3 HDMI into the outlet since I only have one HDMI going to the TV. I could have ran a temp HDMI outside the wall directly from the PS3 to the TV, but I didn't have an extra HDMI laying around and I didn't need to switch too frequently.
http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs170.snc1/6368_124949215239_637930239_3388366_3644807_n.jpg

Here is a shot of the ceiling over the pool table area. I had old tin ceiling panels that were slightly rusty, so I had to use steel wool on each panel and then I spray painted each one. I set-up a temp spray booth in my shop area that only had room for three panels, so I did three panels per night. Needless to say, it took a while to get them all done. The missing panel is because I don't have a pool table light yet and I didn't want to lose the light there because my wife does scrapbooking in that area right now and needs the light. Once I get a pool table light I'll replace that fixture and put in the final panel.
http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs170.snc1/6368_124949220239_637930239_3388367_7487516_n.jpg

Here is the wet bar area with the tin ceiling panels in and some can lights. The three cans in a row in the middle are directly above where the front bar will be. I'm planning on it being a U shape with the opening towards where I'm standing when I took this picture and the back back obviously against the wall on the right. I'm planning on it being about 12ft long. I'm going to model the back bar off the one in the picture (Harry's Chocolate Shop, my old haunt from college).
http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs190.snc1/6368_124949225239_637930239_3388368_4623549_n.jpg

Here is the old door that I had and built the jamb for. I was going to paint it white, but I used some furniture oil on it and it cleaned up pretty good, so I think I'm going to leave it as is. I still need to get the trim up.
http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs190.snc1/6368_124949240239_637930239_3388369_137188_n.jpg

I still need to figure out what to do with the stairs. I'm thinking about oak tread and risers. We'll see. I also still need to figure out what to do underneath the stairs. I'm planning on a wine rack but I still need to build that. The desk top is the temporary blockade for my daughter. And yes that is a 25lb cat sitting on the stairs, not a dog. He is a beast.
http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs170.snc1/6368_124949245239_637930239_3388370_7850772_n.jpg

One last shot looking from the base of the stairs to the theater area, or it will be a theater area once I get a projector and screen in there.
http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs170.snc1/6368_124949250239_637930239_3388371_7251179_n.jpg

The next post will have shots of the theater in it's present state. Thanks for following along.

Just read through your thread, saw that you posted over in mine. Man, your basement is really coming along nice. I love the tin ceiling, I really want to do something like that in a kitchen down the road.

I love my cork floor, and see you did the same. The reason I went with OSB and platon was for the moisture protection under the floor...and some insulation and feel. We love it. My daughter face planted on it this weekend and she got up with a little whimper and I couldn't even tell if her head or face hit first. If that happened upstairs on the hardwood, she would have been crying and it definitely would have bruised. She hit pretty hard.

Your place is coming along nicely though. I like the color choices and I'm digging that pool table project. I'd like to have something like that to work on, once my big house projects are done. Something I could take my time on and have something with some character to show for it at the end. That's going to be really cool.

I think you should be thinking about doing a drop down screen and projo in front of the LCD panel, for Phase 2. You won't believe the difference once you get 90+ inches down there. The basement is looking good though, that is going to be a cool place for your family for years to come.

It's funny that you mention the tins in the kitchen, because that's exactly why I was holding on to them, but we just never put them up. So they came in real handy when I decided to finish the basement.

We have a 19 month old daughter and she spends much of her play time down in the basement because of the floors. We have hardwood on much of the upstairs, so like you said, if she were to faceplant, I would much prefer it to be on the cork rather than the hardwood.

I am definitely going to put a projector down there at some point. My initial thoughts were, as you suggested, putting a drop down in front of the LCD and dropping it for movies or sports and using the LCD for general viewing. I have lately been considering removing the LCD and put up a fixed frame instead and using the LCD in the bedroom or something. But then I worry about using the projector too much. Fortunately (or unfortunately) I have some time before I'll be buying a projector so I'll have plenty of time to change my mind several hundred times.

I am definitely going to put a projector down there at some point. My initial thoughts were, as you suggested, putting a drop down in front of the LCD and dropping it for movies or sports and using the LCD for general viewing. I have lately been considering removing the LCD and put up a fixed frame instead and using the LCD in the bedroom or something. But then I worry about using the projector too much. Fortunately (or unfortunately) I have some time before I'll be buying a projector so I'll have plenty of time to change my mind several hundred times.

I mentioned a drop down for a couple reasons:
- I didn't think you were considering moving the LCD
- I didn't think you would want to be limited by the width of that part of the wall for the size of screen.

I prefer the fixed frame, but that's because we don't have any other purpose for the wall. As far as "over-using" the projector...there's no such thing. If you are using it that much, then it's well worth the $2-300 for another bulb, to keep using it a lot. That just means to me that you are getting good return on your investment of time, sweat, and money.

Hanesian, I was able to get some close-up picks of the cork flooring. Here you go.

Here is a shot of a cut edge with a ruler for perspective. The thickness is 7/16". The cork itself is about 1/8". Then the layer of the green stuff and finally some more cork (the kind that's closer to what you would find on cork board) that's about 1/16".
http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs256.snc1/10335_182841515239_637930239_4194226_3189095_n.jpg

http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs276.snc1/10335_182841535239_637930239_4194229_4284956_n.jpg

http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs256.snc1/10335_182841540239_637930239_4194230_1418563_n.jpg

Here's a shot of the locking tongue and groove.
http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs256.snc1/10335_182841520239_637930239_4194227_5726221_n.jpg

http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs276.snc1/10335_182841525239_637930239_4194228_8282324_n.jpg

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr79/hanesian/35bgglt.jpg

Thanks, Cult Daddy. That gives me more insight.

I actually stopped by Home Depot today for some paint, but wandered over to the flooring department just to see if they had any cork flooring. The guy there said they used to carry it, but they discontinued it because no one bought it.

I may have a little time to figure this out - if you read the recent part of my build thread you'll know I have some family staying with us for a while until their house is finished. I think we'll wait on the flooring for the HT (their temporary bedroom) until they move out.

Thanks for the update. 'Preciate it.

Hanes,

Quite some time ago; I was looking into cork for another room in my house. At that time Home Depot did not carry it. However this spring; I was at a Menards browsing for other supplies and was very surprised to see that they had some in stock....

Cult Daddy.

Thanks for sharing these details on the cork flooring. I have a spare bedroom that I will be redoing in the spring, Hmm......?

Now to slow things down a bit. After the flurry of posts rehashing the past, I now bring everyone to the present time.

I present the home theater area (keep in mind this is just current state, not finished state, I still have lots of ideas I would like to implement).
http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs210.snc1/7723_181232120239_637930239_4176292_2851985_n.jpg

This shows the new receiver, the front three speakers and the new bookshelf and ash chute cover.

It also shows the repositioned couches. This is eventually how the recliners will be and I plan to build a riser for the second row.

This shot shows the the left surround and the left rear surround (in the very upper left hand corner). I decided to go with The Speaker Company speakers. This is my first surround system and knew/know nothing about audio and had a limited budget. Thanks to the folks on this forum I discovered TSC and have been very happy with what I got for my money. Currently I only have a 7.0 system but am very close to having money saved for the sub I want.
http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs210.snc1/7723_181232125239_637930239_4176293_680102_n.jpg

Right surround and right rear.
http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs230.snc1/7723_181232130239_637930239_4176294_8163104_n.jpg

Another total room shot. The LCD is going to eventually either get replaced by screen that will take up the whole width of the middle wall, or I will have a screen that drops down in front of it. Either way a rear projector will be in the room at some point.
http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs230.snc1/7723_181232140239_637930239_4176295_8163147_n.jpg

This is the bookcase that I built to house the movie collection, but it also hides the breaker box behind it. I installed lights in the shelves but they are difficult to make out with the flash on the camera.
http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs230.snc1/7723_181232145239_637930239_4176296_3750088_n.jpg

It pivots out in order to access the breaker box. It has pivot point on the top and bottom about eight inches in from the right side and a caster on the left side for support.
http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs230.snc1/7723_181232160239_637930239_4176297_6773055_n.jpg

http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs210.snc1/7723_181232165239_637930239_4176298_1146064_n.jpg

This is the backside where you can see the cavity for the breaker box and the wiring for the lights. This is also where I house my cable modem and wireless router. They are attached to the floor joists above so you can't see them in this picture. The tiny wire going through the side is for a touch dimmer that I can control the lights with from the front side.
http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs210.snc1/7723_181232170239_637930239_4176299_1798471_n.jpg

Close up of the center speaker stand. I made the speaker stands for all three front speakers. The wires pass through the supports so you don't see the wire hanging down from the speaker. Unfortunately you can still see them when they emerge from the bottom of the stand and connect to the wall outlet. You can also (kind of) see in the picture, the panel my dad made for me to cover the ash chute. It's held in place by some spring clips that he made from an old hacksaw blade. It's nearly invisible but still gives me access for cleaning.
http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs210.snc1/7723_181232175239_637930239_4176300_698093_n.jpg

I fabricated the right rear bracket out of some sheet metal and painted it black to blend in. I think it turned out pretty good. The left rear has a similar bracket but it's hidden by the soffit.
http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs210.snc1/7723_181232180239_637930239_4176301_5608281_n.jpg

You can barely see the speaker wire coming from the ceiling to the speaker.
http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs210.snc1/7723_181232185239_637930239_4176302_8084052_n.jpg

http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs230.snc1/7723_181232205239_637930239_4176305_4029269_n.jpg

Right surround. These are TSC dipoles. I was really debating on the dipoles versus direct for the surrounds, but ended up going with the dipoles. I wasn't sure how well the dipoles would do with an open back to my room. But I think they sound great. Of course, I don't have much to compare to, so that may change if I ever get to hear a real system and how bad my set-up really is. I really like the low profile of them though, since the left is in my walkway. I didn't want anything too obtrusive. They are only about 4" deep and don't really stick out any further than the sconces.
http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs230.snc1/7723_181232200239_637930239_4176304_699205_n.jpg

Left rear and my poster of one of the best movies ever. I'm a child of the 80's and this VHS tape was worn out at my house. It is going to be a blu-ray purchase for me.

http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs230.snc1/7723_181232210239_637930239_4176306_230361_n.jpg

Left surround
http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs230.snc1/7723_181232220239_637930239_4176307_8021519_n.jpg

So that's it. That's what I'm living with right now. I'll do another couple of posts later, listing my equipment and what else I would like to do.

Please give some comments.

The "Hinged" bookshelf is a great solution - turned out nice.
Also good work on that speakerstand!

Cuz and Hanes, When I was thinking about the cork flooring I happened to stop by Lowes. They had probably 6 or 7 different types of cork flooring on thier displays. They seemed to be almost the exact same thing I got from Lumber Liquidators, however Lowes price was around $5/ sq. ft. if I recall correctly. I never did find anything at HD or Menards. I did come across a Mendards ad that had cork laminate featured in it, but they didn't have any in my store.

For those that may be interested here is my equipment list:

Samsung LN40B640 LCD TV

PS3 for the gaming and blu-ray

Harman/Kardon AVR 254 7.1 Receiver

TSC TSBL L & R Speakers

TSC TC2 Center Channel

TSC TSS-B Dipolar Surrounds

TSC TSAT-1000SB Rears

As you can see it's a relatively budget system so far, and it's missing a sub. There are two more items that I must have, a sub and universal remote. I almost have enough money saved up to get the sub I want, so I think I will be ordering it in a week or two. I'm planning on getting the eD A3-300. I think that should provide more than enough boom in my basement (at least to start with ;)). And I'm planning on a Harmony One for my Universal. Please chime in if anyone has any opinions (good or bad) on either one of those choices.

I just placed my order this morning for the eD A3-300. It should hopefully arrive early next week as IA and IL aren't too far from each other :). I'll take pics when it arrives.

All looks good to me. I am in the "research" stage for my equipment, and I find the subwoofer to be the hardest part. As for remotes, I'm a fan of the Harmony remotes. I have an 880 for my current setup, and the new setup should have an 890 for RF capabilities since the equipment closet may not always be line-of-sight.

Looking forward to seeing how it all comes together!

B, that is exactly why it was one of the last items I purchased. I was all over the board, from a TSC sub to two PA-120s to even a DIY (just don't have the knowledge nor the patience at this time). I finally settled on the A3-300 with tons of research and lots of advice from the great members of this board. Good luck with your choices as you finish out the huge basement.

Wow - I just did a bit of research on the a3-300, and it's going on the short list! Front-firing (which I need since I am putting it in my equipment room behind a grate), and some good feedback online. Will be interested in your impressions when you get it!

Bravo cult_daddy,

Awesome job from start to finish. now i need to get off my lazy back and do teh same. question on the SAMSUNG LN40B640. I just bought the same and have a wall mount. I have the power outlet in the back of the tv for a clean look similar to yours. problem is I cannot plug the cord in the outlet as there does not seem to be enough clearance between tv and wall with pronged end of cord directly in back of tv. did you encounter the same?

very much appreciate your feedback. again, awesome job. may you and your family enjoy for many years to come!

Hey TVHead. Thanks for the kind words. It has been a fun but frustrating project at times. I did have a little difficulty with some of the wiring, but my main problem was with the HDMI. I put the outlets for both the power and HDMI (CAT5 as well since I have that going to the TV) located right in the middle of the mount. I bought a low profile mount from BB (had I done it again I would get one from Monoprice for about 1/4 the BB price, but I wasn't aware that Monoprice had mounts at the time), and it barely gives me the clearance for the cables on back. I actually broke one of my monoprice HDMI because there wasn't enough clearance. But with the power cord, it does barely fit. Granted it is at pretty much a 90 degree angle once the cable comes out the prong housing or whatever you call it. If I were to do it again, I would probably get a tilting mount or at least a standard mount in order to get a little more clearance on the back side than the low profile provides.

Good luck with your project and get some pictures up so we can all check it out.

Well I placed the order on Friday morning and my new sub arrived yesterday morning. Amazing turnaround considering the free shipping. Now for a few pictures of the new addition to the family.

The first one is the box that showed up. My mother-in-law watches my daughter at our house during the day, so she was home for the delivery. She said the poor FedEx guy was really struggling with it. Here is the box with my daughter next to it for some perspective. It was pretty massive.
http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs256.snc1/10335_186710320239_637930239_4230523_268831_n.jpg

After struggling to get it down the stairs to the basement, here it sits just waiting to be freed.
http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs276.snc1/10335_186694455239_637930239_4230346_2858726_n.jpg

Good packing job. They even tape the power cord to one of the styrofoam corner blocks to prevent it from rattleing around.
http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs276.snc1/10335_186710325239_637930239_4230524_3241943_n.jpg

Ready for extraction. Good thing I have a strong back, although it may be shot after lifting this thing out.
http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs276.snc1/10335_186697945239_637930239_4230400_7919764_n.jpg

In it's new home. This may not be where it ultimately ends up after I do the "sub crawl" this weekend, but for now there it sits. Since I had sub outs prewired into the same plates as the L & R outs it was simply a matter of plugging in the power and then plugging in the RCA cable.
http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs276.snc1/10335_186710330239_637930239_4230525_5674665_n.jpg

http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs276.snc1/10335_186710345239_637930239_4230526_2780965_n.jpg

I ran the auto set-up on the H/K (I've been wanting to do that for a while, but I needed the .1 before it would allow me to run it. I goosed up the level on the sub from where the auto set it just because I really wanted to see what it could do. I pulled out my Dark Knight bluray and popped it in. I went to every scene from the waterfall thread and let that sucker play. Oh boy, was that fun. My wife was up stairs in the family room above. After I got done screwing around I went up there and she said the whole floor was shaking :D. And I didn't even have everything turned up to where I'd like to watch it as my daughter was already in bed. Although I did have it pretty loud. Fortunately though she didn't seem to stir at all, so I may be able to run it closer to what I'd like to even when she's sleeping. Good thing she's on the second floor and I'm in the basement.

My initial impressions are great. Although this is the first surround system and subwoofer I've ever owned so I don't have much to compare to and anything would be an upgrade. I'll have to shoot over to the sub forum and find out what kind of tweaks I should be looking to do.

One slight problem was that I did not receive the grill. It was supposed to ship in a different box and the FedEx tracking for it still says "Initiated" but not yet been picked up. So I'll have to give eD a call this morning when they open up.

What does everyone think? Any suggestions on placement or set-up advice for a noob?

Samsung LN40B640 LCD TV

PS3 for the gaming and blu-ray

Harman/Kardon AVR 254 7.1 Receiver

TSC TSBL L & R Speakers

TSC TC2 Center Channel

TSC TSS-B Dipolar Surrounds

TSC TSAT-1000SB Rears

Elemental Designs A3-300 Sub

Just spoke with Alex and he said that there was a slight issue with the grills but they should be shipping out later this week. He mentioned that they felt it was better to ship the sub without the grill rather than wait to ship the sub and grill together. He was 100% correct. Kudos to eD and the team in IA. I highly recommend them to anyone looking for a great sub.

Well, now that I've got this thread up to the present, I thought I would start listing some of the items I still have left in my head that I'd like to do. This is going to be a total mind dump and will in no way be true to the order that I want to accomplish these tasks in, just the order that they pop into my head.

- Finish the left cubby area next to the TV. I would like to get a Middle Atlantic Slim 5 or a DIY rack system of some kind in there. In the pictures you may have noticed a cable or two hanging down from the ceiling in that area. That is because I didn't put any ceiling tiles there because I planned on cutting that cubby area off similarly to what I did on the right side with the bookshelf. What I need to figure out however is exactly what to do there. Do I do another rotating bookshelf type thing in order to get behind the equipment, or do I do a permanent rack and leave a space to get behind and cover that space with a removable panel of some kind? Not quite sure. I like the idea of having symmetry with the other side, but I also really like what YW84U did in this (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13046275#post13046275). Anyone have any thoughts?

- Finish the stairs. I'm thinking of just doing oak treads and risers on the stairs. But what do I do with the stringers? Cover them with some 1/4" oak ply, rip everything out and start new? Just not sure yet. Looking for suggestions.

- Trim the window. I only have one window in the finished area. It is an egress window and I would like to keep it's functionality. But how do I finish it? It has a nasty looking metal casing (I guess that's what you would call it), so I was thinking I might just make a wood carcass and attach the trim to the front of the carcass and it would just sit via friction inside the window well. That way, if I or any of my family ever needed to use the window for a quick escape, then you just pull out the whole wood carcass and then you can pull out the window.

- Projector and screen. I really want a projector and screen down there to get a bigger picture. My wife actually just commented last night that I need a bigger screen down there. She suggested that I take the 52" from the family room and swap it out. Sometimes she does get it ;). But rather than just a bigger LCD, I want a front projector. What I still need to figure out however, is:
1) Do I want a drop down screen that would come down in front of the LCD? This would allow me to use the LCD for everyday viewing and only use the projector for movie night or sporting events. This would help prolong the life of the bulbs in the projector from not having to cycle it on and off if I just want to watch a show or two at night after work.
or
2) Do I want to pull down the LCD and put up a fixed frame screen? This would allow me to go a little bigger on the screen as I could take up the entire wall and not be limited on the width by the case of a drop down screen. This would also be cheaper as I would likely attempt a DIY screen. This would also lessen the possibility of the waviness that is sometimes found on non-tensioned drop down screens. Another advantage is that then I could use the LCD somewhere else in the house. Maybe in the bedroom or even in the bar area. The negative with this option is the benefit of the first, I would have to cycle it on and off frequently thereby reducing the bulb life and having to replace bulbs often. Now that I think about it think about, if I move the LCD to the bar area, I could just do my standard viewing from there. hmmm

- Install the pool table light and finally finish the ceiling tiles. This one is easy, I just need to save up them money to purchase the light. I already have the final tile painted and ready to install, so once I get the light, this is a gimme.

- Finish the pool table. I have most of the body sanded and ready to go, but I still need to strip the rails. Then I have to stain (or however I'm going to finish everything), install new rail sights, install new bumpers, get the three slate pieces from my grandparent's house, level it, put on new felt. None of which I've ever done before. Should be a fun challenge.

- Build a drink ledge in the pool table area similar to what CuznEddy did here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=16564058#post16564058). Unfortunately I didn't have the forethought to put in a metal beam to span the are, but I think I could still come up with something that would work.

- Build a riser. I'd like to build a riser for the second row. I'm thinking I'd like to have a bar attached to the back with some stools. Not only would this provide extra seating for the theater area, but it could be used for seating for the pool table as well. I'd like to light it with some ropelight or some LEDs or something. And I also tossed around the idea of making it a big basstrap.

- Build a wet bar. This is the biggest project left to be completed. I have tons of ideas for this, and it will be a major undertaking. I also want to include a kegerator. I have plans that I intend to base my design off of, but there will be a ton of trial and error I think.

If anyone has any ideas or links to good threads that would help me out with any of the above listed projects, I'm all ears.

Good to hear your feedback on the eD. I'm probably about a week away from my equipment purchases, and that sub is leading. I am leaning towards Atlantic Technology in-walls and in-ceilings, but the sub from them is at least $1200 and it looks like the eD is on par from a stats and reviews perspective.

Cult Daddy;

Lots of decisons to be made;
*** a few comments, see below


- Finish the stairs. I'm thinking of just doing oak treads and risers on the stairs. But what do I do with the stringers? Cover them with some 1/4" oak ply, rip everything out and start new? Just not sure yet. Looking for suggestions.

*** Depends on how much "wall" you want to have in your stairwell..?
Easiest route might be to add 1/4" stained ply or veneeer to the edge and face of the existing stringers..?

- Trim the window. I only have one window in the finished area. It is an egress window and I would like to keep it's functionality. But how do I finish it? It has a nasty looking metal casing (I guess that's what you would call it), so I was thinking I might just make a wood carcass and attach the trim to the front of the carcass and it would just sit via friction inside the window well. That way, if I or any of my family ever needed to use the window for a quick escape, then you just pull out the whole wood carcass and then you can pull out the window.

*** Please keep that egress window fully functional !!

- Projector and screen. I really want a projector and screen down there to get a bigger picture. My wife actually just commented last night that I need a bigger screen down there. She suggested that I take the 52" from the family room and swap it out. Sometimes she does get it ;). But rather than just a bigger LCD, I want a front projector. What I still need to figure out however, is:
1) Do I want a drop down screen that would come down in front of the LCD? This would allow me to use the LCD for everyday viewing and only use the projector for movie night or sporting events. This would help prolong the life of the bulbs in the projector from not having to cycle it on and off if I just want to watch a show or two at night after work.


*** Yes; further pursue the drop down screen in front of your LCD, Although going full man cave > with a fixed PJ screen is a great choice also. Glad I could help with this decision :confused:

- Build a drink ledge in the pool table area similar to what CuznEddy did here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=16564058#post16564058). Unfortunately I didn't have the forethought to put in a metal beam to span the are, but I think I could still come up with something that would work.

*** I like the way you think :D



Sorry I could not be more definitive...

I bought the a3-300 and its now sitting in our master bedroom closet. Can't believe that I'll likely have to wait a month before firing it up!

I hope everyone had a great holiday season. I can't believe it's been over two months since I have been on these threads. Time flies around the holidays I guess.

I haven't made much progress on my basement. The only thing I've done is I've finally trimmed the window (yes Cuzed it is still fully functional, one only has to pull out the trim and then pull out the window in case of emergency). I've decided that my next project is to tackle the stairs. That's all for now, I hope to post more frequently with better updates in the months ahead.

I have officially started on my equipment rack. I decided to do a DIY rack that is half rack and half shelves that will match the other side. I built another rotating frame this weekend so I'll show what I've done to date.

First though here is a shot of my previous rotating bookshelf to refresh memories as to what it looks like.

http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs125.snc3/17270_289479570239_637930239_4933130_610382_n.jpg

These first few shots are of the frame already in place. You’d be surprised how long it took me to get a simple four sided frame put together. Measure twice cut one works great, if you actually assemble it the way you measured. It makes a ton a difference whether you screw through the top member into the sides, or if you do as I did initially and screw through the sides into the top. It makes about 3 inches of difference actually. My dad was in town and helped me out a little, and got a pretty good laugh at my expense when I couldn’t figure out how my measurements were off and then realized what I had done.

You can see more of the details on how I did the pivoting versus my pics from my other shelves. I can take the credit though as it was my dad’s idea. I had originally planned on just going with a hinged approach, but I think the pivot worked out much better. The wisdom of my elders I suppose. You can see on left side that I have a couple pieces of all-thread on the top and bottom. It took a little patience to get it all lined up correctly (thank god for plumb bobs), but it eventually was true and swung properly. You can see that caster on the right hand side that helps to take off the burden from my pivot points. Don't laugh at the framing. I pieced it together with old 2x4s that I had laying around my shop as I was too lazy to go buy new lumber.

I ordered a couple of rack rails off of ebay for the equipment rack side. I didn’t really want to trust my measurements to get the rail spacing correct, so what I did was to attach a rail to the left side of my frame. As soon as I got the perfectly vertically level and secured, I then attached the 1U blanks to the top, middle and bottom. After I attached my second rail to the blanks, I then attached the right side 2x4 to it and then screwed that 2x4 into the frame. I figured this was a fool proof way of getting my second rail into place.

http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs145.snc3/17270_289274800239_637930239_4931808_8336553_n.jpg

http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs145.snc3/17270_289274835239_637930239_4931809_2056871_n.jpg

http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs125.snc3/17270_289274855239_637930239_4931810_6901258_n.jpg

http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs125.snc3/17270_289274875239_637930239_4931811_4444270_n.jpg

Here is a shot of the carcass that is going into the non-rack side. It’s just like the other bookcase, only a mini-me version. It’s just four pieces of 5/8 particle board with a piece of ¼ ply on the back. Glued and screwed.

http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs125.snc3/17270_289479455239_637930239_4933125_3327390_n.jpg

Putting the carcass into place.

http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs125.snc3/17270_289479470239_637930239_4933126_4676263_n.jpg

http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs125.snc3/17270_289479505239_637930239_4933127_415148_n.jpg

In position.

http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs145.snc3/17270_289479545239_637930239_4933129_5038287_n.jpg

Here’s a full room shot. It’ll be nice to have a little symmetry across the front of the room.

http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs125.snc3/17270_289486010239_637930239_4933145_3716023_n.jpg

Now I need to work on the shelves and get everything painted up. I ordered the lights this morning so they should hopefully be in by the weekend. They come in multiples of 5 and I need 6. I figured I could just use the extra 4 on the back side to give me some light while working on the wiring or whatever I need to do on the backside of the equipment.

My three pieces of equipment are going to look pretty sad in that 36U rack, but I’ve got a couple of ideas on what to do with the extra space.

Very nice ... but how could you possibly work when the Vikes were puttin' a lickin' on the Cowboys right in front of you?! :D

As a Bears fan I was glad to see someone from the North spank the Cowboys like that (I can't stand the Cowboys), but as a Purdue alum, I hate to tell you, but I'll be pulling for my boy Brees as I continue working on the rack this weekend.

I’m back with another update. I was able to work on the rack and shelves a little more over the weekend. Still far from done, but getting closer.

The first photo shows the bookshelf area all nice and painted up. I’ve also installed the supports for the shelves. The shelves fit around these supports on the top and bottom. I do this to accommodate the lights in the shelves.

http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs178.snc3/20570_300514935239_637930239_4983407_7656189_n.jpg

Here are some of the shelf pieces. I actually painted a full length of the ¼ plywood and then cut out my shelf pieces from the pre-painted piece. I learned from my last shelving unit that it’s easier to paint beforehand and then assemble and then do any touch-up painting versus putting everything together and trying to paint all of the little nooks and crannies.

Basically each shelf has a top and bottom with the bottom having the hole cut into it for the puck lights. Small strips of particle board are then sandwiched between these two pieces to make each shelf.

http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs198.snc3/20570_300514940239_637930239_4983408_870949_n.jpg

Particle board in place. I then put the top on and installed the lights. I made five of them.

http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs198.snc3/20570_300514955239_637930239_4983409_1213103_n.jpg

I was also able to work on my faceplates a little this weekend. I’m using thin aluminum sheets and doing everything pretty much by hand. I took all of my measurements and drew them onto the aluminum and then cut them out. I initially tried to use a jigsaw, but it didn’t work out quite as I has hoped, so I resorted to using tin snips. Takes a little longer but I was happier with the outcome. I snipped as close to my line as a could and then in the vice it went and I filed right down to the line. The next two pictures show my first attempt. Everything turned out pretty good. Don’t ask me why I choose my most difficult piece of equipment for my first attempt, but I guess since I was able to do that one, everything else would be cake.

http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs178.snc3/20570_300514960239_637930239_4983410_8173087_n.jpg

http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs178.snc3/20570_300514965239_637930239_4983411_1019788_n.jpg

Here is my second piece in the rack with it’s new “custom” faceplate on. I sprayed it with a flat black paint that has a little bit of texture to it.

http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs178.snc3/20570_300514970239_637930239_4983412_3333993_n.jpg

Here are both pieces of equipment that I was able to finish this weekend in place. I’m pretty happy with how they turned out. One thing I forgot about however, is that I have the Logitech IR to Bluetooth converter for using my harmony remote with the PS3. I didn’t make a space for that on the PS3 plate. So I have to think about what I want to do with that. I can place it on the shelves next to the rack or try to modify the PS3 faceplate to accommodate it, or even try to come up with another option. Suggestions?

http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs178.snc3/20570_300514975239_637930239_4983413_5229752_n.jpg

Here is a distance shot of the equipment in the rack so far and the shelves in place.

http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs198.snc3/20570_300514985239_637930239_4983414_4975271_n.jpg

Here is the back of the shelves to show the wiring.

http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs178.snc3/20570_300515030239_637930239_4983419_2686394_n.jpg

Since I had six lights for the shelves (one for each of the five shelves and one in the top) and the lights I bought came in packs of five, I had four lights left over. I decided to install them on the back side of the shelves facing the equipment rack to give myself a little light when I’m working on the back connections. Here’s a shot of the top two, I have two more on the lower side.

http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs198.snc3/20570_300515035239_637930239_4983420_3803438_n.jpg

The final few shots are of the shelves lit up to get an idea of what it will look like. I tried a couple of different settings on my camera to see which on took the better picture.

The space right above the cable box is where I’ll house the receiver. The large space above that is where I plan on putting a small 19” LCD. I’m eventually going to get a projector for the basement so the large LCD will move to somewhere else in the house and I plan on using the smaller one for when I want to set-up DVR or something like that where I don’t want to fire up the projector. All the space below the PS3 is unclaimed space as of right now. I may just make a large blank panel until I can figure out what I want to do with it.

http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs198.snc3/20570_300514995239_637930239_4983415_2123173_n.jpg

http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs198.snc3/20570_300515005239_637930239_4983416_1960183_n.jpg

http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs198.snc3/20570_300515015239_637930239_4983417_7546393_n.jpg

http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs178.snc3/20570_300515025239_637930239_4983418_3559243_n.jpg

That's all for now.

Cult Daddy,

Looking good - seems you had a productive weekend!

Yeah it was pretty productive especially considering most of this work takes place after 8pm or before 7am while my daughter is sleeping. It makes for not a lot of sleep for Daddy.

Man I hear you on the times...if I do get to work on something I have just enough time to get all the tools spread out or paint canned opened with 2 brushes dirty and start getting in the groove before there is a firedrill, accident, poop, screaming fit, grocery trip, ending or beginning nap, bath or generally grumpy wife :( that brings it too an quick end!

Nice work by the way, been following the progress.

Coffeyman, I feel your pain. It's amazing how much work you can get in a couple of uninterrupted hours after everyone is asleep vs trying to do it during the day when chaos has taken over the house.

With that, I've accoplished a little more this week while watching some college BB (my Boilers just won a nailbiter last night!!!!!)

I've finished the faceplate for my receiver as well as made a temp plate for top where the 19" screen will eventually go. You can see in the last picture the plate for the bottom section cut and ready to get painted and installed.

http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs178.snc3/20570_307355040239_637930239_5010040_7316364_n.jpg

http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs178.snc3/20570_307355050239_637930239_5010042_5283067_n.jpg

http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs198.snc3/20570_307355065239_637930239_5010044_5376814_n.jpg

I bought the oak for the trim yeserday so hopefully I'll find a little time to work on that this weekend.

Since I have so much extra space in my rack, does anyone have any good suggestionsfor things I could put in there? I'm thinking about one of these (http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=108&cp_id=10839&cs_id=1083901&p_id=4153&seq=1&format=2) and maybe a 4U drawer. I've also tossed around the idea of installing a couple of fans. What else does everyone have in thier racks that they can't live without?

So I finally have my rack nearly finished. I’ve only a few more minor touches to finalize it, but I thought that I would present it in its current state.

First off, I learned from my first bookshelf to stain and protect the face frame before attaching it to the bookshelf rather than afterwards. Blue tape works great for protection when working with paint, but not quite so good with stain as evidenced by the bleeding in my first bookshelf. Fortunately it wasn’t too bad and no one has noticed except for me, but still I didn’t want that to happen again. So are a few shots of the stained face frame pieces prior to attachment.

http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs198.snc3/20570_324861880239_637930239_5079233_3832300_n.jpg

http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs178.snc3/20570_324861890239_637930239_5079234_5709297_n.jpg

The next shot is just an assembly shot. I biscuit joined the face frame to the case in order to not have any exposed fasteners on the front. A little wood glue and a couple of clamps and there you go. A little easier said than done, but worth the effort. I had to remove my two big blank panels in order to use the clamps, but I was going to do that any way as I had a bit of concern with them. Since the panels were so large and made from thin aluminum and I only attached at the corners, I was worried that there might be some vibrations when the bass kicked in. So prior to putting them back on, I applied double sided tape along the vertical edges to keep them snug to the rails. So far so good.

http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs178.snc3/20570_324861905239_637930239_5079235_7324513_n.jpg

So here is the nearly finished piece. Nearly finished because I still need to attach the base molding, and I have a a few gaps on the top and bottom along the left side to fill.

http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs178.snc3/20570_324861920239_637930239_5079236_8098863_n.jpg

I said in my previous post that I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with the receiver for the PS3 adapter for the harmony remote. Well I decided to kill two birds with one outlet. Prior to having the bookshelf in, for my subwoofer power I simply ran the cord behind my ghetto shelf. Now with the bookshelf in place, that was no longer an option. So I decided to add an outlet to the bottom shelf so I could plug in both my sub as well as the PS3 adapter. Works well so far.

http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs178.snc3/20570_324861940239_637930239_5079237_7317663_n.jpg

These next few shots are of the shelf now stocked with blu-rays, PS3 games and more DVDs. I moved the old ghetto shelf behind the original pivoting bookshelf so now I can keep all my manuals, old xbox games (the xbox died a while back), and other misc. stuff back there and pseudo-organized.

http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs198.snc3/20570_324861950239_637930239_5079238_3406446_n.jpg

http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs198.snc3/20570_324861955239_637930239_5079239_5177031_n.jpg

http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs178.snc3/20570_324861960239_637930239_5079240_4459277_n.jpg

http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs178.snc3/20570_324861975239_637930239_5079241_6840735_n.jpg

Finally here are a few shots of the back. It’s relatively organized, at least good enough that nothing gets tangled or caught when I open or close the bookshelf.

http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs178.snc3/20570_324861990239_637930239_5079242_5407668_n.jpg

http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs178.snc3/20570_324862000239_637930239_5079243_8187812_n.jpg

http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs198.snc3/20570_324862005239_637930239_5079244_6297337_n.jpg

I’m still looking for suggestions on accessories that I can add as I have a lot of space that can be utilized. Questions, critiques or suggestions are welcome.

Wow man, that's turning out really nice. I love the pivoting idea. Front wall is looking nice. Have you thought about putting the lights on a dimmer? Would there be a way to do that?

Hey JP, thanks alot. It's taken a while but it's getting there. The front wall will look much better when I put the big screen up once I can finally afford a projector. I measure 79" between the frames of the two bookshelves. I calculated that would give me a 91" diagnal. That's outer dimensions so depending on frame width of the screen, it would be somewhere smaller than that. Obviously far from the largest screen I've seen on here, but pretty good for what I have to work with, especially considering the low ceilings I have.

The lights in the bookshelves are actually on dimmers, albeit touch dimmers. If you look closely in some of the pictures, you will see in the third shelf, near the top there is a small disc. This is the touch dimmer that has 4 levels of dimness (if that's a word). Unfortunately, each shelf has its own dimmer, so they have to be controlled independently. I always just put it on the highest level when I take pictures. I don't know why I do, it would probably make more sense to have a lower light level to make the picture look more like real life. I'd like to eventually get all of my lights on IR dimmers so that I could control them with my remote, but for now, this is the best I can do.

Cult Daddy,

The rack and shelving turned out great - NICE JOB !!

Thanks Cuz. I've decided that my next project will the the riser for the back row. I really want to do some columns and some acoustical treatments on the walls, but since I'm planning on my riser being right next to the right side wall, I want to get that in place first before building any kind of column.

For anyone who's done a riser, any advice? I was thinking of using the Auralex U-boats on the bottom to de-couple from the floor, but I don't know if it would make any difference since I'd be building the riser on top of my cork flooring which is resting on a concrete slab. I would think they'd be necessary if I was on the first or second floor and I just had a plywood subfloor beneath, but I don't know. I'm such a noob with this stuff.

Also, I'm assuming that I shouldn't attach the riser to the wall as it should be decoupled from that, but I've seen lots of riser on here that look like they are right up to the wall. Are those just really close to the wall and then with trim make the look like they are attached, or are they really attached?

I've done soem research already, but any advice would be great.

I really like the way your wall with shelves/rack looks. Great job!

Is there any chance you'd post a pic with the shelves on dimmest setting (or second dimmest if the dimmest is near black)?

Cult Daddy,

Riser is a great idea if you have the ceiling hiegth to allow for it (the location of a future ceiling mounted PJ could also be a factor). I did a reasonable amount of research, but stopped short of building a riser. However; If I were going that route I would:

1) Make sure it is decoupled form the sidewalls, even if the space is only a fraction of an inch.

2) Regardless of the flooring; I would also decouple it from the floor by using those upboats, or even hockey pucks. The reason for this; it is possible that at extreme bass levels that the riser could actually vibrate to give you some bass shaker effect into your seating. Some people even go so far as to cut port holes or "vents" into the vertical faces of the riser for this purpose.

3) You will want to fill the riser with ordinary insulation so that it does not resonate at higher audible frequencies (also for some level of bass trapping)

4) Also think about pre-wiring for; the possibility of step lights, rope light edging, or for actual bass shaker transducers...?

Cory, I'll try to get some pics tonight of lower light settings, if nothing else I will get some done by this weekend.

Cuz, thanks for the words of wisdom. This is why I love these forums. I am a little concerned about the ceiling height. I have really low ceilings in that area, but I thought I would build the riser out of 2x6, to give a little height but not too much. As for the projector, I'm thinking I will have it ceiling mounted but I won't have it centered. I'm looking at LCD projectors (Epson 8100 specifically) so that I can have some lense shift. With my relatively low ceilings I pretty much have to go with an LCD in order to keep the image off of the floor, so I figured I would take advantage of the horizontal shift and place the projector off to the right side so as to not interfere with the back row.

Thanks for clearing up the side wall for me. That's kind of what I thought, but I figured I'd better ask the experts.

You read my mind with the ports. I found this (http://www.audioholics.com/tweaks/do-it-yourself-diy-topics/multifunction-theater-seat-riser) article that I was thinking about mimicking. That's where I learned about the U-boats. Do standard hockey pucks work just as well? That might be a cheaper route to go.

Finally, I agree, prewiring is a must. I love the look of the ropelights around the riser so I will definitly have to do that and I plan on adding several outlets, for some (hopefully) motorized berklines in the future. Plus some shakers could be really cool.

Thanks again for the tips.

Cory, here are a couple of pics with the lights on a lower dimmer setting.

This first one is at the lowest level.

http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs212.snc3/21970_333089015239_637930239_5109000_5354965_n.jpg

And this one is at the next level up.

http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs212.snc3/21970_333089005239_637930239_5108999_3827424_n.jpg

The images are a little blurry. I lent my tripod to a coworker so he could use it for his Audessey set-up, so I had to try and keep as steady as possible. Clearly it's good that I'm not smart enough to be a surgeon, because with my shaky hands there would be a lot of dead patients.

Hey thanks that was quick! Looks really well done.

Cult Daddy,

The shelving lighting turned out very nice - I like it!!

As for the workaround of mounting a PJ off center:
Please be aware it has been mentioned on these forums (somewhere), that this can introduce some artifacts - you might want to check this out..

Craig, thanks for the heads-up concerning the PJ mounting. I wasn't aware of that issue. I'll definitely do a little more research when I am closer to purchasing.

So I was hanging out down in the basement Friday night watching some tv and thinking about how I wanted to approach the riser/bar. I've always planned to do a combo unit like BuffBaker did here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7120813#post7120813). Reason being is that I wanted to raise the second row, but I also wanted to have a bar at the back for when people are playing pool as well.

So I broke out the tape measure and started plotting my plan, that's when it hit me. I'd better measure the pool table too. It's currently in several pieces since I'm in the process of trying to refinish it, so I went back into my unfinished part of the basement and measured the length. I was shocked when I saw 102"!! I don't know what I was thinking. I'd always just assumed it would fit with no problems and I guess I never realized it was an 8' table. I guess I'd just figured it was a 7 footer. So this leads me to my dilemma. What to do with the riser and pool table. I'd love to have two rows of seating, but I also need to have room for the pool table. So I have several questions for everyone:

1. I'm planning on having about an 88" diagonal viewable area when I get a projector and make my screen. What is the closest people would recommend I put the first row to the screen? I am currently about 9' back from wall (where my head is, not to the front of the couch).

2. What is the minimum depth I could have for the riser? I'd like to be able to use recliners on it, so I'm guessing I need at least 5.5' or so, but the shallower the better.

3. How much distance do I need between the playing surface of the pool table and the wall? I read that it is recommended to have at least a cue length (~52"), but that seems a little excesive to me. It's not like I'm going to be holding tournaments or anything down there. I just want to shoot a couple games every once in a while.

Any input would be very appreciated. I'm currently trying to do up a model of my room and the all of the furniture in SketchUp, so that might help me decide when I can virtually move things around. I'll be sure to put those up when I can get them to a usable state.

Thanks,

Scott

when I was trying to decide seating distance and screen size, I found recommendations all over the board. My situation is a little different from yours- it sounds like you've got a limited space for the screen, so you know what size you can get.

I basically had the whole wall to choose from, so we bought the PJ and then played with different sizes.

For me, we have a 110 diag screen (about 96" wide) and the main seating is about 12' (1.5x screen width) away. It's ALMOST too big at 16:9 (sports, HDTV) but not quite. It was the largest vertical size we could fit in our space. Wide aspect movies look great, could probably even go wider- but then no room for speakers, which is half (or more) the fun.

I think it's all very subjective. Some guys sit two feet from their 120 screens and love it. With your screen size, 9' should be fine. You may be able to scoot closer. But it is very subjective from person to person (ie. Mac vs PC, Ford vs. Chevy)...

Really I'm just replying so I can follow along.

rprice, thanks for the suggestions. The more I think about it, I may just have to wait to start on the riser until I actually get my projector and get it set-up so I can see for myself how comfortably close I can get. Like you said it's pretty subjective so the best thing would be to wait and see before I install something permanent like a riser. And I was so looking forward to getting started and stealing your column look ;)

By the way, PC and Chevy.

By the way, PC and Chevy

Boy, and here I was starting to like you... one out of two ain't bad. I like my Silverado.

Haven't posted in a while as I haven't made much progress lately. But today I stopped at my local BB on a whim, and they happened to have the exact projector that I was planning on buying. So for 0 percent interest for 36 months, I picked up an Epson Home Cinema 8100!!!!

It's killing me that I can't get it all hooked up yet since I don't have a long enough cable to get to the back of my room. However I did get a 45' HDMI ordered from Blue Jeans (Monoprice is having a few issues, otherwise I would have normally gone with them) so hopefully I will get that sometime early in the week. I have been able to route power and install a new outlet that I can use to power it this evening so not everything is stagnant while waiting on the cable. I've also picked up some sheet metal, a couple of flanges and 4 inch nipple to try and fashion my own DIY mount.

I've also ordered a fixed frame screen that will hopefully come before the end of the week. We're having our daughter's second birthday party next Saturday so I would love to have everything up and running for that to show it off.

I was able to get my projector mounted yesterday. I made my own mount and took a couple of pictures. I simply cut out a peice of 16 guage sheet metal and drilled the hole pattern for the projector mounts and for the flange. I then mounted the flange and screwed in the pipe. Here are some dark pictures of the mount itself.

http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs495.snc3/27065_399224270239_637930239_5337421_7424867_n.jpg

http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs515.snc3/27065_399224275239_637930239_5337422_4871135_n.jpg

http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs515.snc3/27065_399224285239_637930239_5337423_4115634_n.jpg

I then mounted the plate to the projector.

http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs495.ash1/27065_399224295239_637930239_5337424_1085483_n.jpg

I had to use a couple of washer to create some space so that the bolts that mounted the flange weren't driving into the case of the projector.

http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs495.ash1/27065_399224310239_637930239_5337425_491268_n.jpg

http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs495.ash1/27065_399224320239_637930239_5337426_3573023_n.jpg

Finally, I took out my ceiling panel and installed a 2x4 between my floor joists and attached the second flange to that. I cut a hole in the tile, stuck the pipe through and with a couple of spins the projector was mounted.

http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs495.ash1/27065_399224340239_637930239_5337427_297841_n.jpg

http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs495.ash1/27065_399224355239_637930239_5337428_6242559_n.jpg

As you can see in the last picture, two critical items are missing. I don't have an HDMI running to the projector yet and I don't have a screen. However both items have been ordered and will hopefully get to me sometime mid-week. That's when the real fun begins. :D

Cult Daddy,

Congrats on your membership into the PJ club!!

Curious > how much headroom do you have under the PJ? I'm thinking the wait for that screen and cable is painful

go ahead and hang a sheet...

go ahead and hang a sheet...

Funny you say that. I actually had my wife pick up a cheap white sheet while she was out shopping. So if my cable comes in before my screen, you can bet I'll be watching my first movie on that sheet. But as Craig said, yes the wait is killing me.

My parents are in town and my dad and I sat there just looking at the blank Epson screen imagining what it's going to be like for about 15 minutes after I got the projector hung.

If that's a drop in ceiling, I would cram the blu ray player up there just to make it work :)

When my PJ came in, I swore I wouldn't mess with it until we had the basement at a ready point... and then I set it up on my bed and projected onto the bedroom wall (green paint BTW) and watched iron man on the blu ray player lying next to it on the bed. It was at that point that my wife 'got it' as well and bought into the whole process.

The wait was over sooner than I expected. My screen and cable came in yesterday. So last night was spent routing the new cable (after I connected it directly just to be sure it worked before I went through the effort) and assmebling and installing the screen. The picture is amazing. My dad was floored when he saw it. We sat down and watched Star Trek on bluray once I had everything installed. So with all the time spent watching it, I didn't have time to get any pictures taken. I will try to get some tonight and post them tomorrow. Now I will really have something to show off at my daughter's b-day party.

Craig, I realized I forgot to answer your question. I have just under 6 feet clearance under the projector. I'm 5'10" an with shoes on my hair brushes the bottom of it. Not the ideal situation to be sure, but I have to deal with the hand I was dealt. If I do end up making a riser it could be a concern, but for right now it's up, working and looks great.

Excellent,

Two things are about to happen:
1) A botox type smile that will be hard to remove from your face
2) All progress will stop

Serously:

For that low PJ height - if it is mounted in the "2nd row area"?
Just consider putitng a drink or end table directly underneath it to prevent anyone from standing up and having an overhead collision. You could "flank" the table with a couple of comfy chairs?

Excellent work! Can't wait to se the pics with the screen up.

Thank for the compliment 4fit? As promised here are some pics of the new set up.

I went with a grey screen to get better blacks. As I have nothing to compare it against, I'm just going to say I made the right choice.

http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs480.ash1/26295_409799400239_637930239_5386404_7506914_n.jpg

Some of you may have noticed that the center channel is a little lower. I had to take about six inches off of the legs as the speaker was in front of the screen. Of course I'd much rather shorten six legs than have to get a smaller screen :D

Here are some shots with the projector on. The first couple are with the lights on. The screen is actually much brighter than the picture shows.

http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs480.snc3/26295_409799415239_637930239_5386405_2788143_n.jpg

http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs460.snc3/26295_409799420239_637930239_5386406_6797586_n.jpg

And finally some shots of the darkened room with only the projector on.

http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs480.ash1/26295_409799425239_637930239_5386407_809428_n.jpg

This one is a little too overexposed. A problem with the picture, not the projector or screen. I still need to figure out how to take good shots in a darkened room.

http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs460.snc3/26295_409799440239_637930239_5386409_662395_n.jpg

Finally a shot of a great game. My Boilers ended up winning this in OT.

http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs480.snc3/26295_409799445239_637930239_5386410_7995667_n.jpg

I'm sitting here watching the second episode of The Pacific and am still blown away by the picture.

All of the husbands that attended my daughter's Birthday party were in awe when they came down to the basement. We watched a lot of the tournament and then when the kids went upstairs, I put in the Dark Knight bluray and they all had huge smiles on their faces when it was over. I got nothing but compliments. It felt great after all the work I've put into this basement.

Craig, you were right. I had a couple of people bump thier heads this weekend, so I am definitely going to have to figure out something to protect it.

What size screen did you get? Visually, it's a nice fit. How close are you? Just curious.

What size screen did you get? Visually, it's a nice fit. How close are you? Just curious.

I got this (http://www.htdepot.com/Focupix_Widescreen_Fixed_Frame_Screen_95_p/ff169lt-80gy.htm) screen. It's an 80" viewable screen. I have 79" between my two bookshelves. This one has an overall width of about 75" so it was the best fit I could find (not to mention right in my price range). I was originally planning on doing a DIY screen, but when I found this one, I figured I'd only save a few dollars over what this one cost, so it was pretty much a no-brainer for me (just don't tell MississippiMan from the DIY screen forums ;)).

Nice work cult_daddy ! I really like the PJ mount you made. I was looking for a little inspiration tonight :)

I'm thinking I'm going to follow your lead and post up the first 2 years of my build. lol Talk about slow, I'm just now nearing the point of STARTING on the theater room.

One question (for tonight) - how do you cut the 16 gauge steel?

Knightgambit, thanks for the kind words. It was pretty fun just putting up my pictures at a lightning quick pace, of course it made for a lot of would've, could've, should'ves after I read everything that I did. Lessons learned for HT part 2, when/if we ever move, I guess.

As for cutting the 16 guage steel, I did it on my band saw with a metal cutting blade. Not the best option for making straight cuts. As you can see in the picture of it mounted to the projector, the right side is a little jaggy, but I figured that it would be so close to the ceiling, that nobody would ever be able to see it. I could've cleaned it up with a file and sander, but I was just in too much of a hurry to get it up. A shear would've been the best option, but I don't have access to one.

Let me know if you have any other questions. I'll be on the look out for your thread.

It's been a little while since I've posted. Just been enjoying the theater and not really doing much work on it. However, I think I'm now ready to try my next addition to the theater.

I've been reading lately about bass-traps and room acoustics and the such. I've always wanted to add columns to my room and I thought that perhaps I could integrate the two. My plan is to make a four or five inch deep box out of MDF, open on the front and back and stuff that with 3 lb fiberglass board. Then wrap the boxes in an acoustically transparent fabric and mount them to the wall. The boxes would be just over a foot wide and go from floor to ceiling.

My plan is to make at least four of them and mount them on the wall where the sconces currently are. Not only would this provide a place for the sconces, but my sconces are almost exactly at my first reflection point (at least for the primary seat). I'm thinking that maybe I will have one more on each side near the back of the room, mostly for asthetics.

I've already picked 9 sheets of 2'x4'x2" insulation. I plan to cut it to 1'x4' to get four inches of thickness to put in the columns.

My questions are, what are the major holes in my plan, and do you think this will have an acoustic benefit? I will try later to do a crude photo shop of what it may look like.

I appreciate any and all comments.

Cult Daddy,

Welcome Back! Putting columns at the FRPs sounds good - I bet you will get more opinions after you post your plan via photoshop.

I wonder if you can adequately cover the entire FRP by going just 1' wide. If you are talking only one row of seats it might be fine.

Thanks for the feedback, Craig. Yeah, I was wondering the same thing, but I dont think I want to make the columns too much wider than 1 foot.

I put together a crude sketch on one of my old photos to give a feel for what I was planning on doing.

http://hphotos-sjc1.fbcdn.net/hs591.snc3/31176_425928555239_637930239_5786906_4087123_n.jpg

I've only colored the trim white to highlight what I would like to do.

I'd like to model my columns after what rprice54 did here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=18129254#post18129254). However, as I stated mine will be wrapped in fabric with no MDF on the face and stuffed with insulation board.

Another thought I had, was to just make solid columns just like rprice, and use the insulation for some hangable bass traps. Let me hear your thoughts.

Scott

Cult Daddy,

If you can manage to position thes to hit the FRPs - I say go for the columns.

As for "hangable" bass traps not so sure; keep in mind you are talking the need for lots of absorption (thickness) to suck up the bass.

Very nice theater. I really like the fact that you got it to the point of usability and are doing incremental upgrades. No reason to start with giant columns and sconces and get over your head.

If I could afford a house in the Chicago area, I'd build a theater like yours. As it stands, apartment theater is all I can get....for now. Love the basement theater.

Thanks snowman. The only problem with getting it the point of usability first is that all of those incremental upgrades take soooo much longer to get around to.

Craig, I think I am going to go the route of the columns as bass traps. I just don't think I have enough room for standard columns and seperate bass traps, especially with where my surrounds are located. With any luck, I might be able to get a start on at least a prototype column to see if my plan will even work this weekend. I will make suer to post pics.

In the meantime, if any one else has an opinion, please share.

Since our area is also going to serve as a family room and not a dedicated theater, I did not go crazy with acoustical treatments. I did upgrade the carpet pad and we went with a thick carpet. All four walls are filled with mineral wool behind the drywall. We have big, stuffy furniture in there as well. I had contemplated stuffing my columns with insulation and wrapping them with fabric as well, but that would have lead to monster columns. I wanted them to just barely stick out. Plus, I have small kids, and they would just tear that stuff up.

One option I have seen around here, was someone built panels to go between the columns and filled those with insulation and wrapped with fabric and basically covered the entire wall.

5 days and NO updates?? What gives slacker?? Man lets get these columns up already!!

Subscribed. This is a pretty sweet build!

So would the columns just be for looks? I'd think that the drop-ceiling would have enough room for sound-deadening.

rprice, Thanks for pointing that out. The child aspect did not cross my mind. I have a two year old running around and she may cause havoc. I think I'm going to move ahead with the columns and see what happens. If she tears them up, I won't have sunk too much money into them.

Steve, yeah, no progress on the columns just yet. I do have the insulation, fabric and MDF purchased, I just haven't had a chance to get downstairs and do any actual fabrication just yet. The weather was nice this weekend so I spent it outside working on a giant over-engineered playset that I'm building for my daughter and putting up a shed. I hope to get a chance to work on them this week or at the lastest this upcoming weekend.

Nate, thanks for the encouragement. I initially wanted the columns for purely aesthetic reasons, but I think they should work to improve acoustics as well. The ceiling does a pretty good job, but it doesn't help with FRPs on the walls. So my hope is that these cut down on the muddiness (although being a noob to all of this, I think it sounds good down there, but everything I've read says that acoustical treatments are nearly a must).

Just giving you a hard time Scott. It was my way of sating "Hey, its me" while still incorporating some harassment which I have to believe you would expect from me. I have been trying to come up with a concept for some columns for my new build (build thread 2.o still to come)that I can put my sides and rear speakers in. They are not true in wall but I think if I give enough space inside and behind them that they will be fine.

Well I was able to get a little bit of progress made on at least my prototype column today. I got most of the pieces of MDF cut up and biscuit slots cut, unfortunately I don't have any clamps long enough to clamp anything up yet, so I wasn't able to glue anything, therefore no pics. I know, I know, with no pics it means it didn't really happen. However I do have pics of something else.

I made a few signs similar to plaques that you see. Pics were free, prints were 12 bucks from Walmart and the frames were like three bucks each from Walmart, so for a total of less than 25 bucks I ended up these.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs525.ash1/30876_430177000239_637930239_5879787_7062121_n.jpg

I'm not sure where I want to hang them yet. I was thinking about the blank space at the top of my rack where I plan to put the 19", but I printed these as 8x10s and they are too big to fit there. I could pull it off if I wanted to redo them as 4x6s, and the cost would pretty much be a non-factor. Instead I was thinking about putting them here.

http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs585.snc3/30876_430177010239_637930239_5879788_2911797_n.jpg

I was thinking right above the switches. This is the back left of my theater, the part that is open to the future bar area. So my question is, do you guys think that above the rack as 4x6s or above the switches as 8x10s (already ready to go) would be better.

I'm going to pick up some clamps tomorrow morning, so hopefully I will have a chance to put together the prototype column and get some pics up.

Ok, so I said with no pics there is no progress, well I have progress and pics.

To those not following along, I'm trying to fabricate some columns that will not only incoporate my sconces, but will also serve as acoustical treatments. I'm building a framework out of 3/4" MDF, going to fill them with 3lb fiberglass board and then wrap them in an acoustically transparent fabric.

To tackle this I decided to build one column first as a prototype to see if my plan will work, and then finish off the other 3 or 5 depending on how many I decide on. And so, without further ado, here are the pics.

This first shot shows the 3/4" MDF cut up and being biscuited and glued together. Notice the nice new 24" bar clamps I "had" to purchase for this project. Any excuse for new tools. But please don't notice the absolute mess my shop is.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs333.snc3/29276_430550680239_637930239_5892981_8081701_n.jpg

This one is the MDF frame being test fit into place prior to wrapping it. The crossmember at the top is obviously where I'm going to put a box and mount the sconce to. The purpose for the three at the bottom is not so obvious. For one, they will help keep the sides from bowing, but that is not their primary purpose. Their main purpose, is as nailers. If you notice in my crude mockup, I have chair rail and a frame on the front. With this being a completely fabric front, and not wanting the frames to go all the way accross the column, I needed something solid to nail against. This was the best I could come up with. The chair rail does not need one as it can span the whole column width.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs342.ash1/29276_430550690239_637930239_5892982_7408922_n.jpg

After the frame was build, I wrapped the whole thing in quilt batting. This will help to keep in the fibers of the insulation and also it added a some padding which helped to hide any slight imperfections. One thing I contemplated was putting a series on 2" diameter holes along both edges of the frames, to allow more sound waves into the insulation. I decided against that as I thought they might show through the fabric when it was pulled tight. However, with this batting on, I don't think my initial worries are justified and I think I would have been able to do it. Oh well, maybe in HT 2.0, if it ever happens (I'm not quite as insane as IUSteve (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1119390) in that I'd like to finish HT 1.0 before moving on the HT 2.x)

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs353.snc3/29276_430507180239_637930239_5891049_2826769_n.jpg

Here is the backside after beign wrapped in the acoustic fabric. My first ever upholstry attempt. I think it turned out decent.

http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs353.snc3/29276_430507205239_637930239_5891051_8287471_n.jpg

And now for the front side. No wrinkles or anthing :D

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs353.snc3/29276_430507195239_637930239_5891050_4131835_n.jpg

And one more with the switch box for the light in place.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs342.ash1/29276_430507210239_637930239_5891052_147452_n.jpg

So that's my progress so far. The column is going to have more detail when I'm done. I'm going to have crown across the top, the sconce mounted on it, and the chair rail and frame I mentioned earlier. Right now it has the appearance of the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey. I expect some monkey men to start beating it with a bone at any time.

So next on my list is to figure out a mounting system. I'm thinking about justing mounting a few cleats to the wall, one at the top and bottom and one in the middle where the chair rail would be. This way, I could attach them through the side of the frames with screws (in case I ever need to remove them) and the screws would be covered up with the crown, base and chair rail. Other thoughts?

So does anyone have any feedback after seeing the prototype that I should think about before moving on to the rest of the columns?

They look great Scott. In fact next time your in E-town stop by and fabricate a "few" for me. I only need 4 and they need to be large enough to conceal my surrounds.....thats it....oh and bring your biscuit joiner I dont have one yet, but I'll buy the biscuits
http://supplementalscience.files.wordpress.com/2007/06/biscuits2.jpg

And the biscuits............

http://www.hardwarestore.com/media/product/273268_front200.jpg

Steve, I prefer the Buttermilk Biscuits from Sir Mix-a-Lot circa 1988 :cool: I love the biscuit joiner. It's actually my dad's, but when he ever needs it back from me, I will be out there buying one for myself the very next day.

So I was able to find a little time last night and cut down a sheet of my insulation and stuff it into the column. I plan on having another half a sheet worth in the top, but I didn't get that far. After I put the insulation in, I put my column approximately where it is going to go and sat down and watched some tv. I'm not sure if it was a placebo effect or what, but I definitely heard a difference in the bass. I don't have an SPL meter or any other kind of fancy instrument, so I can't confirm that it really did anything, but to my untrained, slightly deaf ears, I could hear a difference. If nothing else, it provided me motivation to keep going with this project and see what kind of difference (whather percieved or real) I can get with the other columns made and with them all in thier final resting place.

Well ran into a slight delay in my project last night. While cutting some more crossmembers for the other columns, my tablesaw decided it was done working on MDF and wanted to work on human flesh and bone instead. Me being the closest, it decided to take a chunk out of my finger. Fortunately it is the index finger on my left hand and I'm a righty, so hopefully it won't delay too long. Is it sick that the first thought that went through my mind when I saw my finger is that I was disappointed that I'm not going to be able to work on this for a little while.

Well anyways, the ER doc put in six stitches but I have to see a hand surgeon today as I fractured the bone as well, so the doc was only able to tack it into place. If anyone is curious I've linked to a couple of pictures, because I didn't want to subject anyone to it that doesn't have a morbid curiosity.

Finger pics (http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=222489&id=637930239&l=656c973305)

Cult Daddy,

Ouch!

Thanks; for not sharing the morbid and squeamish photos.

Well ran into a slight delay in my project last night. While cutting some more crossmembers for the other columns, my tablesaw decided it was done working on MDF and wanted to work on human flesh and bone instead. Me being the closest, it decided to take a chunk out of my finger. Fortunately it is the index finger on my left hand and I'm a righty, so hopefully it won't delay too long. Is it sick that the first thought that went through my mind when I saw my finger is that I was disappointed that I'm not going to be able to work on this for a little while.

Well anyways, the ER doc put in six stitches but I have to see a hand surgeon today as I fractured the bone as well, so the doc was only able to tack it into place. If anyone is curious I've linked to a couple of pictures, because I didn't want to subject anyone to it that doesn't have a morbid curiosity.

Finger pics (http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=222489&id=637930239&l=656c973305)

It is right now that I wish I didn't click that link...

You were warned ;) By the way, thanks for checking out the thread and judging by the tag, you must be a CMU guy. I'm a Boiler, so I am quite familiar the Chippewas.

HOLY SWWEEET MOTHER OF JESUS!!!!!!!!! Damn Scott that is sick man. Why in the world did I ever click that link???????????? Dude cut the wood NOT your finger! Your lucky you didnt whack it right off HOLY SH%$

cult daddy,

Hope you are healing OK? Because; we need to see more progress photos :)

Hey Craig, thanks for the well wishes. It's hurting a lot less now than it did a week ago ;).

I go back to the surgeon tomorrow to get the bandage off, so I hope to get back to work this weekend. I tried to put up the cleats on the wall for my first column, but with the splint on my finger it just wasn't happening. Don't worry, I'll be back soon, it's driving me nuts that I'm not able to do anything right now.

By the way, there are a few more pics from when I visited the surgeon on the link in post #96. Warning howver, I think they are a little more graphic than the first ones.

Hey Craig, thanks for the well wishes. It's hurting a lot less now than it did a week ago ;).

I go back to the surgeon tomorrow to get the bandage off, so I hope to get back to work this weekend. I tried to put up the cleats on the wall for my first column, but with the splint on my finger it just wasn't happening. Don't worry, I'll be back soon, it's driving me nuts that I'm not able to do anything right now.

By the way, there are a few more pics from when I visited the surgeon on the link in post #96. Warning howver, I think they are a little more graphic than the first ones.

Scott where are the detailed "in surgery" shots or are those the ones? The one with your finger tip folded over rocked by the way ;)

Hey Steve, the ones that you've seen are as good as they get. I was only able to get a few shots while he was sewing me up. The eight pics that are up there are the only ones I have, when I first put up the link I only had four ER pics. I should get some "post" shots tomorrow when he removes the bandages.

By the way, that one is my favorite as well :D

Gentlemen,

Way too much info..., as you might guess these are photos I will not be looking at :)

The one with your finger tip folded over rocked by the way ;)

AAAAaaaaagggggggghhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr79/hanesian/Funny_Pictures_79714.jpg

My finger is healed enough that I thought I could get back to work a little bit. So I was able to mount my three cleats on the wall. I mounted one near the top, one near the bottom, and one 36" above the floor. I chose those locations because when I tack the column to the cleats, I'll be able to cover the brad head (if it is exposed) with the crown, the base molding and the chair rail molding.

I was also able to run my electric to the new box on the column and get the sconce wired up.

Here are the pics.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs331.ash1/28726_435986725239_637930239_6045415_813505_n.jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs302.snc3/28726_435986740239_637930239_6045416_5166452_n.jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs322.snc3/28726_435986755239_637930239_6045417_5877245_n.jpg

The color difference between the wall color and the column color is not as pronounced in real life as it is in the pictures, but there is a difference, which is good because I wanted at least a little contrast.

In the last pic you can see the middle cleat. Apparently the wall I built is not perfectly flat, shocking I know. So I'm going to see how much I can close that gap when I actually attach the column to the cleats. If the gap is still pretty significant then I might have to think of some kind of trim to put there.

Speaking of trim, does anyone have any good ideas for color? I am lousy with choosing colors. Pre columns, the base was just white, but now since I want to use chair rail and a frame on the columns I was thinking white might be too much of a contrast. Does anyone have any thoughts? One thing I thought was that I could stain some oak trim with the same stain as the bookshelves. The problem with this is, expense. I already have the base trim so I can paint that and reuse, but to stain I would have to buy all new. Not something that the budget needs right now.

Looks good Scott. First off where are the new pics.....some of us want to see updates after surgery and the wrap came off.....dont disappoint your fans on this!

Second the columns look great. I really am now leaning toward some columns, mainly to hide my surrounds in and contemplating fabric as well. Looks great

Don't worry, Steve, I'll try to get some of the latest finger pics up tonight.

I've seen some guys that have hid their surrounds in columns and I really like the look. I couldn't do that as my columns would have to be way too big to house the surrounds. However, I guess if I made a cut-out into the wall and set the speaker back into that and then built a column over that it could work. Obviously though it would have to be a direct radianting rather than a dipole. Anyways, if we ever saw any updated pics on your thread then some of the fellas could suggest if it was a good idea or not ;)

hawks win!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ok, Steve, I have more finger pics up on the same link from above.

A great Hawks win last night, what a game!! Also the pics look great, I think its going to heal nicely. Did you lose any feeling in the finger or the tip? As for updates in my thread.....well there isnt much to post right now as I have been busy with outside stuff and my son has baseball game 4 days a week so any free time is spent resting...lol. I have been working on a few things on the other side of the basement and will post soon I promise but I an nowhere near column construction....

i just got done reading this entire thread, or at least reading the pictures :D epic build man! you really transformed your basement from a dump into a sweet theater room!

i really envy your carpentry skills too...

how did you make your speaker stands? that that PVC?

Thanks for the kudos, Speck. I don't know that you should envy my carpentry skills, have you seen what I did to my finger ;).

As for the speaker stands, they are indeed PVC. I have all-thread going from the top to the bottom in each piece of PVC, so they are basically sandwiched between the top and bottom pieces of oak and held tight with a series of nuts and washers. They are also filled with (don't laugh) kitty litter. I did this to give the some more mass and, therfore, hopefully more stability. So far so good as I haven't had any fall over yet, and trust my two year old has made a few attempts at it. I painted them with a textured Rust-Oleum spray paint to give them a sort of metal look.

If you have any other questions or comments about the build shoot them my way and I'll try to give you more details.

Thanks again for looking.

ha. thats a good idea. might steal it from you :D

can't wait to see it all done!

No picture of actual build progress (however I have started on the second column), but I did get a new addition to the theater.

Ta Da!!!!!
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs535.ash1/31376_437492330239_637930239_6089154_6402850_n.jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs535.ash1/31376_437492335239_637930239_6089155_4774277_n.jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs575.snc3/31376_437492340239_637930239_6089156_2787668_n.jpg

I finally have some home theater chairs!!! They aren't top of the line, far from it actually, but I am quite pleased with them as entry level. I found out about them from this (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1062161) thread. I picked them up at my local K-Mart. They were on sale so I picked up all three for just under $700. I was originally hoping to get some motorized Berks in brown, but I can get 6 of these chairs for less than what I could get 3 of the Berks for. So I figured since I have a two year old and 4 cats in the house, I might just get the cheapo ones for now, and then in several years when my daughter is older and the cats are dead, I can splurge for something higher up the foodchain. They are pretty comfortable, I watched Inglorius Basterds last night and for the full two and half hours I was quite comfortable (pretty good flick by the way, however Tarantino certainly took some artisitc license by completely altering history). They are probably not the greatest for tall people, but seeing as my wife and I are both well within the average range they should suit the most frequent users just fine.

Now however, I've given myself a new job in addition to the columns. I need to build a riser. I've gotten a taste of recliner life and I like it. So now I need to save up a few more bucks and get another set for a second row and in the meantime design and build a riser. I'm going to need the experts on here to stay tuned as I will probably have many questions when I get started on the riser.

Congrats on the recliners - they look great.

Sounds like after making a little sawdust (for that riser) that you will be adding 3 more chairs?

Hey Craig,

Yeah I was thinking 3 more chairs, but then I got to thinking, maybe 4 more chairs would be nice. I'm sitting here at work, so I don't know if these could possibly fit (I'll have to take some measurements when I get home), but I sketched up a couple of ideas for a 3-4 formation.

V1

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs532.snc3/30236_437572840239_637930239_6091851_2121284_n.jpg

V2

http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs552.snc3/30236_437572850239_637930239_6091852_409475_n.jpg

V1 would take just one large riser, basically the exact same thing I would do for antoher row of three, just a little larger. The problem I see is that it might not leave enough space between the wall on the left to get to the front row. I'm sure you could squeeze by, but it would probably be akward.

V2 would be nice as it leaves a nice large aisle in the middle, rather than two small ones on either side. But, I would have to build two individual risers, everyone would have to pass by the projector to get to the front row (and I have low ceilings in there so that would be a major problem), and the seat furthest to the right would have seriously diminished headroom as I have a soffit on that side.

Or finally I could take the easy route and go with three seats in the second row. Smaller riser, plenty of clearance by the wall, and lessened worries about people smacking thier heads on the projector (Dad if you are reading this I'm looking at you)

Obviously I can't really decide on anything (except I know the three chairs would work) until I take some measurements, but when I am not feeling overly productive at work, I have to ponder something.

Good deal on the chairs.

Scott,

I would go with either V1 or with the 3 in the back row.
Although; V1 will have the advantage of staggered lines of sight; meaning the back row viewers will get to look between the heads of those in front. Might be beneficial if you are limited with the riser height...?

I personally like the 4 in the back and 2 upfront theme but its your space try them all. As for the chairs they are nice for the price, I actually considered them back when I purchased mine but then Costco had the berks that I got for about $400 for 3. My only wish was that I would have purchased 2 sets....I had never intended on a riser nor a dedicated theater but oh well.

There's no way I could do two up front, I need an odd number of seats in the front row to have my center chair :D Everyone else can fight over the leftovers. I remember reading about you driving to get the Berks, that's a hell of a deal on those.

There's no way I could do two up front, I need an odd number of seats in the front row to have my center chair :D Everyone else can fight over the leftovers. I remember reading about you driving to get the Berks, that's a hell of a deal on those.

Yea it was waaaaay to good to pass up just too bad I didnt get two sets. I meant 3 in the front and four in the back sorry. I find that the center chair in the back row is the "prime" spot to watch but its a personal feeling and depends on distance from seat to screen, screen size, etc.

Minor progress update.

Bought a new Lutron IR switch this past weekend and installed it. Lots of fun just playing with that. I can easily see how this could lead me into more automation (Insteon perhaps. I can't afford the likes of Creston and this is a DIY project afterall). I have programmed the Harmony One in my computer, but I was too lazy to walk downstairs to get the physical remote to upload the new activites last night, so I've yet to try to control the lights with the harmony. However I was having fun just sitting in my chair turning the lights up and down. Simple things amuse me.

In addition, I have a second column wrapped an insulated. I haven't acutally mounted it yet but its ready to go. I have the frames for the last two built, but I'm going to have to modify one. I realized that one of them will be going where the riser will be, so I can't really work on that one until I design, plan, build and install the riser. Needless to say, I may be with only three columns for a good period of time.

That's all for now.

Cult

Hey man, just shot over here from Steves thread. Great looking build! I love the lighting in your shelving! Ive got a free spot on my grafik eye and i really want to add some lighting to my A/V rack. Forgive me if you've covered this already, i didnt read through the hole post...just looked at all the pretty pictures. :)

But could you give me a run down of how you did the lighting for those? is it puck lighting, or rope lighting? How did you hide it etc?


Sorry about your finger man!! That was narlly! At least they were able to put it back on!

Ooops sorry. I went back and saw what you did with the lights. Very cool.

Wow cult! Lots of inspiration in this thread for me!

Wow cult! Lots of inspiration in this thread for me!

Nope no such inspiration without pictures! :D We need pics man!!!

Ooops sorry. I went back and saw what you did with the lights. Very cool.

Matthew, no problem, if you have any questions, feel free to ask. After checking out what you did in your thread, they are obviously nothing you can't handle. Very impressive!!! I'll definitely check out the whole thread in a little more detail. What town are you in? They have some beautiful old home in central IN. I remember there were some amazing houses in Logansport when I used to drive through there on the way to school.

Wow cult! Lots of inspiration in this thread for me!

Thanks a bunch. I see from your title that I may be hitting you up for some pointers when I decide to finally attempt a HTPC build. I've only made it far enough to buy Maimum PC magazine so far :)

Nope no such inspiration without pictures! :D We need pics man!!!

This coming from a guy who has 4 pages without a single progress pic ;)

This coming from a guy who has 4 pages without a single progress pic ;)

Touche my friend touche!! Thats because there is no progress except for money spent.....the new 360 and the SVS. I call that progress but some dont :p

Matt is from Bourbon about 40 minutes south of E-town, He is having all of us Hoosiers over for a HT meet sometime REAL soon, just ask :D

Matthew, no problem, if you have any questions, feel free to ask. After checking out what you did in your thread, they are obviously nothing you can't handle. Very impressive!!! I'll definitely check out the whole thread in a little more detail. What town are you in? They have some beautiful old home in central IN. I remember there were some amazing houses in Logansport when I used to drive through there on the way to school.

BOILER UP!!!! I'm assuming since you were rooting for the boilers in one of your previous screen shots and driving through Logansport to get to school...you went to Purdue? I spent some time down there from 03-07.

I live in Bourbon now. Its between Plymouth and Warsaw on 331....or if you dont know those towns....south of south bend/mishiwaka by about 30 min or so.

Great looking theater. I like seeing the ones come together where space and budget(self imposed or otherwise) are limited. I feel like good design is always based on restriction and i think you've done really well.

Question about your seating dilemma...is there room to build a small bar section behind the second row riser? You could then do 3 seats up front 3 seats on the riser, and 3 bar stool seats directly behind that. That way you are only missing 1 comfy seat, but adding 2 extra potential seats without sacrificing clearance on either side. Plus im not sure what the rest of your basement is used for but the bar stools can then be multi functional. You could swivel them around to face the rest of the basement if all the action inst necessarily in the theater and it might even help tie the rest of the basement into the theater.

basically something like this (probably scaled down a bit due to space constraints.)

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b393/bigmouthindc/Theater%20Dec%202008/2008_11250043.jpg

You are probably already familiar with this picture....i think everyone has seen Bigs theater.

BOILER UP!!!! I'm assuming since you were rooting for the boilers in one of your previous screen shots and driving through Logansport to get to school...you went to Purdue? I spent some time down there from 03-07.

I live in Bourbon now. Its between Plymouth and Warsaw on 331....or if you dont know those towns....south of south bend/mishiwaka by about 30 min or so.

Great looking theater. I like seeing the ones come together where space and budget(self imposed or otherwise) are limited. I feel like good design is always based on restriction and i think you've done really well.

Matt, you guessed correctly. Boiler through and through. I was actually born in Saint Elizabeth in Lafayette while my dad was going to school down there. I was there '94-'98 for undergrad and '02-'04 for grad school. My wife, sister and brother-in-law all went there as well, so we are a true Old Gold and Black family. Don't ask me how I tolerate Steve with his Hoosier and Domer tendencies. I guess we all have our flaws :)

I grew up in Elkhart so I have a good idea where you are located. I'm working my way through your thread during my lulls at work. Very impressive stuff!!!!

Concerning the bar idea, great minds think alike. That's exactly what I think I'm going to do. I found this (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7120813#post7120813) done by BuffBaker a while back and was always planning on doing a back bar like this. I was holding off however because I have a pool table that I was working on finishing and I wasn't sure if everything would fit. I think, however, that I'm just going to move forward with with riser and bar as my daughter has taken over the part of the basement that I was going to put the pool table (I've not made it far enough in your thread to know if you've had the baby yet, but they take over everything, you'll find out soon enough), so that part's been put on hold indefinitely. If and when I ever get back to the pool table, I'll just deal with the space constraints at that time.

Thanks for the compliments. The baby is not here yet...about a month and a half to go or so....kinda depends on him so they tell me...lol.

I think a nice oak bar to match your custom cabinetry at the front of the room would look fantastic.

Unfortunately i made some pretty poor decisions while at Purdue and never ended up graduating. I bounced around about 5 different majors in 4 years, and eventually ran out of time/money and decided to go to work for a while and figure stuff out. And like everyone said...lol...if you leave now you wont go back, and i haven't. Once the house is finished id like to try to pursue something. Id like to see if i could get a degree from one of the purdue extensions....i just want a diploma that says purdue on it...after all they have all my money!!!

...after all they have all my money!!!

Man can I relate to that!!!! 6 years down there with two of them being out-of-state tuition, and my wife went there for four and a half years, with all of them being out-of-state tuition!!! Here's hoping my daughter can get a scholarship, because I don't think I'd be able to afford out-of-state 15 years from now when she's ready for college.

Yeah I'm thinking an oak bar attached to the back of the riser is the way to go. I just need to get off my lazy butt and get started on it.

I hope you wrap as much as you can up in the next month and a half, because your free time is going to be at a premium when he shows up, but as they say, it's well worth it.

Man can I relate to that!!!! 6 years down there with two of them being out-of-state tuition, and my wife went there for four and a half years, with all of them being out-of-state tuition!!! Here's hoping my daughter can get a scholarship, because I don't think I'd be able to afford out-of-state 15 years from now when she's ready for college.

Yeah I'm thinking an oak bar attached to the back of the riser is the way to go. I just need to get off my lazy butt and get started on it.

I hope you wrap as much as you can up in the next month and a half, because your free time is going to be at a premium when he shows up, but as they say, it's well worth it.

Unfortunately right now the big project that i HAVE to HAVE to HAVE to get finished is getting our fence up around the yard. I've had the lumber for a few weeks now, but summer has gotten in the way :D Thats going to take a lot of my free time here for a bit, but at soon as that is done hopefully i can start working on finishing touches in the theater.

Unfortunately right now the big project that i HAVE to HAVE to HAVE to get finished is getting our fence up around the yard. I've had the lumber for a few weeks now, but summer has gotten in the way :D Thats going to take a lot of my free time here for a bit, but at soon as that is done hopefully i can start working on finishing touches in the theater.

Hah, that sounds like me. I had a few PC graphics cards I needed to repair (got those out of the way today), I have a PC case I'm building, and I have to wire up my four new car fog lights and get them working (still need to buy two switches/fuses/fuse holders for this)

Knock, knock, anybody home?

If not; hope they turned off the lights (I mean the projector) on the way out

Knock, knock, anybody home?

If not; hope they turned off the lights (I mean the projector) on the way out

Ha ha, unfortunately I have barely been home. With the nice weather, I've been spending most of my time outside, and we just got back from a week in Hilton Head. Booze and beach a good team do make.

As for progress, the second column is still leaning against the wall where I left it about two months ago. One of these days, I swear I will mount it. And then it's on to the riser.

good to know I'm not the only one stalled out.

good to know I'm not the only one stalled out.

I've been around these parts for quite some time now and it happens to everyone....trust me! In fact I am "stalled out" as we speak :o One day I too swear I will be back at it ;)

Scott, hope you had a good time @ Hilton Head

Wow I had to dig really deep to find my thread. Clearly I have been very lazy. However, I have news...I bought lumber!!!!

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs154.ash2/41029_460757175239_637930239_6727744_8318685_n.jpg

Here are the 2x4s and 2x6s that are going to be used to for the riser/bar.

Here's a close up of the box on top as I figure not many people could guess what's in there.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs361.snc4/44449_460756545239_637930239_6727701_5451551_n.jpg

It is a box of Auralex U-Boats and some plastic computer desk grommets. The U-boats are easy, but who can guess what the grommets are going to be used for?

Some kind of wiring going to the seats? I'm guessing to shock people when they start talking through the movie.

Some kind of wiring going to the seats? I'm guessing to shock people when they start talking through the movie.

Not quite what I had in mind, but I like the way you think :D

I was able to get down to the basement for several hours this weekend and actually accomplish something. Albeit, not finish anything.

I got a good start on the framing of the riser/bar. You can see where I used all of the U-boats. I wanted to make sure that this would be decoupled from everything because I'm hoping to get some tactile response for the second row out it when a good LFE hits. We'll see if they work or if there were just a waste of a hundred bucks.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs365.snc4/44793_461893950239_637930239_6760245_8072015_n.jpg

Another shot from the front

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs275.snc4/40097_461893960239_637930239_6760246_5035037_n.jpg

Here is a close-up of the front. Now I'm sure you can guess what the grommets are for. I ported the front of each "chamber" so the riser can act as a bass trap. Once again, I have no idea if it will work, but it's worth a shot. I got the idea from a riser that Tom Andry from Audioholics did years ago.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs149.ash2/40800_461893975239_637930239_6760248_8321013_n.jpg

Here is a close-up of how I intend to use the grommets. First of all since I'm not carpeting it like Tom did, I need these to act as a trim piece to make the hole nicer, and second, I'm using the to hold a piece of my column fabric in the hole. Since I'm not using carpet to cover the riser, the hole would just be straight through to the insulation, and I didn't like the thought of that. So I'll be using some of my leftover acoustically transparent cloth to cover the hole. This is just a test fit to ensure that the hole I cut out would work with the grommet/cloth combo.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs149.ash2/40800_461893985239_637930239_6760249_3839331_n.jpg

And finally, just for good measure, I wrapped and insulated the third column. You can see it here, leaning against the second column that still has yet to be mounted.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs184.ash2/44697_461894000239_637930239_6760251_5805962_n.jpg

Scott,

You said you did a little work this weekend - looks like you did very well. The riser looks good!

It appears your bar will be attached to the riser base therefore, the whole assembly will be floating on the u-boats?

One question/comment:
What is the diameter of those ports you have drilled into the face of the riser? I think it takes a pretty good size opening to pass the lowest frequencies (the larger the better).

Looking forward to seeing more!

Craig,

Yeah the bar is attached to the riser. I do have uboats under the ends of the "legs" of the bar. Hopefully if my plans work the way I hope, having the bar attached won't shake up the beers that will be commonly be found on the bar too much :)

As for the ports, I made them 2". I have no idea if that is a good size or not. I based it on this plan

http://www.audioholics.com/tweaks/do-it-yourself-diy-topics/multifunction-theater-seat-riser/riser.jpg/image_preview

Like I said earlier I based this on an Audioholic write-up. (http://www.audioholics.com/tweaks/do-it-yourself-diy-topics/multifunction-theater-seat-riser) I noticed in Tom's article, he opted for two 1.5" ports per chamber. Hopefully they will be enough. If not, I should change out the 2x6 now before I get the finish material on. Do you guys think they'll be enough? As of now, I don't know that they will actually do anything, but I guess I can tell people that they do when they come over and let them enjoy the placebo effect :D

In Tom's writeup, he used fiber board to fill the cavities. I was planning on just using standard "pink stuff" insulation. Does anyone see a problem with using that stuff?

Based on that Auralex drawing you should be good. I vaguely remembered that article, and somehow thought the holes were even bigger - sorry about that.

I hope others chime in - but IMO the fluffy stuff should be good. You are only looking to kill hollow resonance sounds. The fluffy stuff should have no detrimental effects for your goals of trying to get some low frequency "effects".

Hey did you ever get your "Home Theater Revealed DVD" (the first feature is me embarassing myself with "compromises")?

So there's one vote for the pink stuff.

No I've not yet received my DVD. Of course I've not yet been charged for it either. When did you receive yours? Maybe you got your early since you're the star. I tried to find out when the latest one has been or is going to be released, but I can't find any information. The thread for the DVD still features disc 5 I think, and I know the disc I have at home it definitely higher than that. What number is the disc that you are on?

Scott - I think it is disc #7 (I'll take a look tonight)

I just checked mine and it is volume 7. But the first theater is from a guy named JJ. I'll have to send them an e-mail to make sure I'm still receiving them.

Made some progress on the riser this weekend. I was able to get everything wired up and get some of the oak plywood stained and attached. The first photo is a shot of side with the plywood up. Near the floor I've put in some LED lights that are supposed to kick on with the motion sensor you see pictured. It works ok, but the riser isn't in its official location yet, so I'm hoping it works a little better in place. I may have to play with the location of the motion sensor a little.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs632.snc4/59193_467973360239_637930239_6905715_1887281_n.jpg

Next up is the front of the bar part. I've put two outlets in here in case I ever decide to get buttshakers or something, or if I just want to plug anything in.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs160.ash2/41326_467973375239_637930239_6905716_4886512_n.jpg

Here is the front where I put in another two outlets (you can never have too many right)

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs615.snc4/59499_467973415239_637930239_6905718_3826306_n.jpg

Wiring for the LEDs

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs216.ash2/47909_467973440239_637930239_6905719_7104840_n.jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs411.snc4/47432_467973740239_637930239_6905725_2027354_n.jpg

I've installed one more outlet that is going to be above the bartop. This is where I'm going to put my charger for the Harmony One. This way I can pick it up when I go into the theater and put it back on my way out when I'm done in there.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs302.ash2/58282_467973450239_637930239_6905720_7800030_n.jpg

What am I missing or not thinking about?

Scott things are looking great and trust me when I tell you that once the riser is complete it will REALLY bring the theater feel to the space. I need to know more on the motion sensor setup for the led's..............?

Steve, First off, thanks for not taunting after this weekend. It was a tough game to watch.

Secondly, the motion sensor is just one that I picked up at Menards. It's your standard $30ish motion sensor that you put in the place of a switch. It has the sensor on top and a on/off button on the bottom so you can turn it on and keep it on. If you just use the sensor part, it turns off after five minutes of not detecting motion. So I just have this hooked up to an outlet inside the riser and then the LEDs plugged into the outlet.

Let me know if you have any more specific questions.

Quick update on the riser/bar. I have filled the riser with insulation, attached the first layer of the flooring, applied the front skin and installed the grommet/insulation barriers, routed, stained and protected a top cap and installed another outlet with a switch just in case I want to add some rope light or something underneath the bar. With that said, on to the pics.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs661.snc4/60094_475687355239_637930239_7082280_1005573_n.jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs341.ash2/62148_475687370239_637930239_7082281_6264444_n.jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs644.snc4/60401_475687395239_637930239_7082282_5798847_n.jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs005.snc4/33619_475687415239_637930239_7082284_3642900_n.jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs680.snc4/62068_475687460239_637930239_7082286_6904648_n.jpg

There you can see where the new outlet is. The switch is on the outside facing the wall so it is easily accessible but not very noticeable.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs350.ash2/63047_475687490239_637930239_7082287_2298679_n.jpg

I had screwed up when I routed the ends the first time, so this is the second go at it. I think they turned out decently.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs340.ash2/62056_475687505239_637930239_7082288_2894101_n.jpg

And finally, here is what I've been working that has been keeping me from putting too much time in on the bar. I need to get this done before the weather turns too bad. Built from scratch using designs I drew up.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs002.ash2/33463_475688180239_637930239_7082315_1716403_n.jpg

I still have to put on a roof and some more trim work, but I think it's turning out pretty good.

CultDaddy,

Quite the playhouse!
Your daughter must be telling everyone that she has the coolest Dad !!

And nice progress on the bar :)

Scott great work on the playhouse, your daughter is going to enjoy that for years to come. I hope that you ran a gas line to it so that you can heat it during those frigid Chicago winters?! On a side note we were in Chicago Friday and Saturday. We went to the Cubs game Friday and hung around Wrigleyville after then had a spectacular pizza @ Pizano's on Chestnut and State St. and WOW was it GREAT!!

Quick update. I've framed the bartop.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs905.snc4/71893_481605115239_637930239_7201609_4160974_n.jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs801.snc4/68099_481605135239_637930239_7201610_4023610_n.jpg

As well, I'm now pretty much done with the playhouse. Just a couple more pieces of trim and one more window to build. But now I can start to concentrate downstairs again.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs415.ash2/69343_481604595239_637930239_7201591_3896214_n.jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs054.ash2/36052_481604610239_637930239_7201592_5509592_n.jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs823.snc4/68358_481604635239_637930239_7201593_5571669_n.jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs784.snc4/66456_481604645239_637930239_7201594_1817867_n.jpg

Quick question, a year later. What kind of hinges did you use for your swinging bookshelf that hid the electrical (I was just looking at the first page of your thread)? I'm trying to build a column that can swing to hide my electrical box and am curious to know what you used. Basically the column will end up being about 3 feet wide and needs to swing.

morgbug, take a look at this post. (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=17951507#post17951507) I didn't use hinges, I used a couple of pivot points and a caster to help distribute the weight. I was originally going to do hinges but I changed my mind. When I was thinking of hinges I initially thought a piano hinge to distribute the weight across the whole vertical, then I thought about standard door hinges and to use the caster, and then finally came up with the pivot point idea.

It doesn't sound like the pivot method would work for your application, so I would think a piano hinge or standard door hinges should work. Either way, I would definitely put a caster on the opposite side to help alleviate some of the strain on the hinges. A three foot wide column will probably put a lot of strain on the hinges without any help.

Hope this helps to give you some ideas.

Thanks Scott, that indeed is most helpful. At our old house we had a hidden shelf in the basement behind a large shelf/shelving unit that swung out. I had totally forgotten about it but it had a caster, as you recommend, and was on a piano hinge. It weighed a ton and we loaded it with movies that ultimately were probably heavier than what I have planned now. The shelf then was four feet wide, made of metal and full of VHS tapes yet still moved. I wonder if a second caster offset slightly would be helpful as well?

Glad I could be of some help. Concerning two casters, I was actually planning on using two casters as well, but I thought that it might be overkill, so I went with one. Mine is very heavy, and it pivots so easily I can't think that two caster would have made any difference at all. That's just my opinion, but I'm no engineer. I would think that a piano hinge would definitely be your best bet. I think it would be much easier to keep hidden rather than regular door hinges.

You should get some pictures up on a thread. There are plenty of folks on this forum that will be happy to give you their opinion, solicited or not :)

You should get some pictures up on a thread. There are plenty of folks on this forum that will be happy to give you their opinion, solicited or not :)

Ah but I have started a thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1281095) complete with very early stage pictures. Plus I was able to find the post with the "pillar" I wanted to sort of copy. But rather than having just a portion open, I want the whole thing to swing. Take a gander. And thanks again.

nice job on the basement.
Q: what did you do with the stairs?

JonyHouse,

Thanks. I've not yet done anything with the stairs. I bought the treads but they are sitting in the shop waiting to be stained and installed.

JonyHouse,

Thanks. I've not yet done anything with the stairs. I bought the treads but they are sitting in the shop waiting to be stained and installed.

please post pics when you can

Hey Scott whats happenin' man? Any progress, news or updates for those of us that require updates? Dont start slacking now we just got comfortable!

Hey Steve. Not too much news. Unfortunately I haven't had a ton of time to work down there. I haven't even been able to get on AVS forever. I did get started again down there yesterday in hopes of having people over for the Superbowl, but since the Bears aren't in it, I don't know if I'll still have people over.

I have done a couple of items, but don't have any pics so you'll have to take my word on it.

I mounted a small 32 incher for my daughter on the "bar" side of the basement. I've come to the realization that it's not going to be a bar side anytime in the near future. She now has all of her stuff over there and I think it'll be a long time coming before she's willing to give me my space back.

I added an APC surge protector and UPS in my rack. Mainly for the projector. That thing was a beast. It was around 80lbs. I was shocked when I first lifted it. The battery is obviously pretty substantial.

I added a couple of movie posters that I got for Christmas and like I said, started a little bit yesterday working on the riser/bar again.

I'll try to get some pics when I get home.

I see that you've been busy. I'm a little behind right now, so I'm going to have to spend some time and catch up. I think the last time I've been on the website was mid-October, but I've been getting updates in my e-mail everyday concerning your thread.

Hey Steve. Not too much news. Unfortunately I haven't had a ton of time to work down there. I haven't even been able to get on AVS forever. I did get started again down there yesterday in hopes of having people over for the Superbowl, but since the Bears aren't in it, I don't know if I'll still have people over.

I have done a couple of items, but don't have any pics so you'll have to take my word on it.

I mounted a small 32 incher for my daughter on the "bar" side of the basement. I've come to the realization that it's not going to be a bar side anytime in the near future. She now has all of her stuff over there and I think it'll be a long time coming before she's willing to give me my space back.

I added an APC surge protector and UPS in my rack. Mainly for the projector. That thing was a beast. It was around 80lbs. I was shocked when I first lifted it. The battery is obviously pretty substantial.

I added a couple of movie posters that I got for Christmas and like I said, started a little bit yesterday working on the riser/bar again.

I'll try to get some pics when I get home.

I see that you've been busy. I'm a little behind right now, so I'm going to have to spend some time and catch up. I think the last time I've been on the website was mid-October, but I've been getting updates in my e-mail everyday concerning your thread.

Well its time you get back to work and get things wrapped up in your build then, glad I could wake you and possibly motivate you toward completion. :D

I have been working on my new theater on the other (unfinished)side of my basement but have yet to start a new build thread but I will be doing so soon. The updates on the old thread are just gibber jabber. Stay tuned for the new thread that is if we can get you back around these parts.....

I have done a couple of items, but don't have any pics so you'll have to take my word on it.

I mounted a small 32 incher for my daughter on the "bar" side of the basement. I've come to the realization that it's not going to be a bar side anytime in the near future. She now has all of her stuff over there and I think it'll be a long time coming before she's willing to give me my space back.


Tell her to go play in that wonderful playhouse you built her.

I suggest that you use U-channel molding on your mounting system for your hardware you don't want to have a scratched up PS3 or receiver, I would hate to have the metal scuff my my PS3s gloss finish.

I would give you a link to some but I gotta have 3 posts first.

Scott,

My Chicagoland friend from the North - How ya been.
Good to see your resurfacing with some updates here!
Good to see

just found this thread, subscribed. Great job..

ill be watching.... =-P

just found this thread, subscribed. Great job..

ill be watching.... =-P

You can watch but there hasnt been much happening here as he is officially MIA :D:D

Very nice build. I'm interested in what you do with the stairs as I have to redo two staircases this summer.

Scott,

My Chicagoland friend from the North - How ya been.
Good to see your resurfacing with some updates here!
Good to see

Scott,
Knock - knock
Anything going on, and new updates..??
:D

Hey Craig. Wow how time flies. It looks like it's been over five months since I've been on here. I haven't done much in the basement at all over that time. I did get the bar/riser more or less complete and a couple more of the columns built. I'll try to get some pictures in the next couple of days. But other than that, just been enjoying watching stuff done there. Catching up on Game of Thrones, getting excited for the new season of Breaking Bad and been watching a bunch of movies.

I had Monday off and my wife and daughter were both gone, so I was going to try and get started on the stairs, but the recliner and projector were speaking much louder than the staircase. You know how it goes :D

Welcome Back - Glad you are still checking in!
Looking forward to more photos

As for me tweaking and some minor upgrades, AND PLENTY OF "RECLINERITIS"..
:)

He's ^ not "checking in" rather he gets an email when someone chimes in on his thread. Dont get too excited as Scott is another one of those AVS friends that we all get to know over the time of their build only to watch them vanish/slip away into the black hole that is a "partially finished theater".

Oh hey Scott whats up my man? How you been?? I'm getting close to column time so I need to see some more work done on yours so that I can steal/borrow your design and call it my own.

In spite of Steve's doubts, I really have done some work. Although it is definitely still partially finished. As is the standard here, the proof is in the pictures. As such, I present...


Here is a shot of the very future wet bar area. As I said before, it has been overrun by my daughter, but I still am trying to hold my ground by putting A Clockwork Orange poster and beer signs in her play area. Father of the year obviously. I threw a cheapo LCD/DVD player on the wall for her to watch Scooby Doo.

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/269459_10150301526795240_637930239_9457881_2803536_n.jpg

Another shot

http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/263689_10150301526855240_637930239_9457882_5337953_n.jpg

Yet another

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/260384_10150301527685240_637930239_9457909_6350948_n.jpg

This one shows that the LCD is on an extending pivoting mount so that it can be watched from pretty much any angle in that room.

http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/268799_10150301527800240_637930239_9457912_2321997_n.jpg

This is a shot from the theater area looking back at the future pool table area. I have a pool table light installed temporarily as I'm not completely sure where I'm going to have the table placed and I don't want to cut up my ceiling panels until I'm sure, ergo the missing panel. I picked up this light at a garage sale for 20 bucks. The people used to own a pool/hottub/billiards store that went out of business. It was brand new and still had the clearance tag on it from when they were trying to liquidate everything. Clearance price was $150!?!?! Looks like I need to replace the center bulb.

http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/264179_10150301526935240_637930239_9457886_4364288_n.jpg

Here is a shot of the nearly completed bar/riser. You can see on the far right that the corner trim doesn't cover the entire length. Poor estimating on my part. I just put that little piece in as a spacer so that I could do the rest of the trim. Some day I will make it to HD and pick up the last few feet that I need.

http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/263664_10150301527060240_637930239_9457888_8352811_n.jpg

Another shot of the bar. You can't really tell from the picture, but I have lights under the bar top.

http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/260479_10150301527165240_637930239_9457892_4669854_n.jpg

The front of the bar. I've still not bought my second row of theater seating so the couch is holding down the riser for now.

http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/263484_10150301527600240_637930239_9457907_2288043_n.jpg

The bartop. Just 12x12 black granite tiles. The quote for a granite slab for the top was north of 500 bucks. Just could not justify it when I got away with this for about 50. You can't really see, but there is an outlet near the top of this picture and I keep the dock for the Hamony 1 and a cordless phone docked here.

http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/261374_10150301527880240_637930239_9457915_5505288_n.jpg

The rope lighting underneath the bartop. I turn it on and off with a switch on the far side of the bar.

http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/261694_10150301527990240_637930239_9457919_8235553_n.jpg

The riser. I covered the top of it with leftover flooring, but as you can see near the top, I ended up about one box short. Some day I will order another box from Lumber Liquidators and finish it off.

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/263909_10150301527235240_637930239_9457895_8200927_n.jpg

Just a shot of the trim around the top of the riser.

http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/263679_10150301527300240_637930239_9457896_676766_n.jpg

and one of the miter.

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/269754_10150301527355240_637930239_9457898_3690033_n.jpg

A shot of the the two completed columns. I have the base on, but I still need to do chair rail and crown.

http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/263089_10150301527470240_637930239_9457901_7400238_n.jpg

One more column to go. I couldn't finish this one when I did the others as I was sure what height it was going to be until I finish the riser and I've not gotten around to finishing it quite yet.

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/267694_10150301527530240_637930239_9457904_1059051_n.jpg

So there you go. Proof of actual work, however the reclining and watching has certainly outpaced the work.

Cult Daddy,
Hey you came thru - WITH PHOTOS!!
A nice catching up for sure. Not sure how I missed it before - but it appears you have used some cork flooring? Also those rope lights under your bar - I might have to borrow this idea for my drink ledge..

Good to see I'm not the only one taking months off from a build. The bar looks great, good use of lighting.