Hey Judson,

The seats look great! An awesome finishing touch for a beautiful space. So, is there anything left to finish on the build or is this about to get a "Done" stamp?

35 bags of sand later. 1750 lbs of sand! I know this is standard practice here but when I tell people I filled my stage with that much sand they think I am medicated:eek:

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q113/judsonp/Home%20Theater%20Construction/stage011.jpg

I am hoping I can get some OSB this weekend and get the top put on.

Sorry for being a noob, but what is the sand for?

Sorry for being a noob, but what is the sand for?

If the stage is hollow you'll get a very nasty resonance from it. Basically, you want whatever your speakers are on to be absolutely solid and dead, acoustically speaking.

Sorry for being a noob, but what is the sand for?

Here you go, sand on foundation or slab, or get an engineer. In upper levels use insulation to avoid resonating like a drum:

Stage...

Originally Posted by Dennis Erskine http://images.avsforum.com/avs-images/buttons/viewpost.gif (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9456283#post9456283)
The sand filled stage is a functional portion of a good home theater which, fortunately, can be disguised as something architectural and belonging in the room (such as stage, for example). First, the stage must be constructed AFTER the drywall is installed. Second, when it is built, it should not come into contact with any of the walls (and idealy be isolated from the floor or that great sound conductor called a concrete slab). Here's what it does:
1. the subs are anchored to the stage. For optimal subwoofer performance, the sub must be anchored to something of considerably more mass than the sub itself.
2. The dry play sand provides the mass; but, it is not a solid mass that would allow vibrations from the sub (and the other main speakers) to pass through on their merry way to the rest of the house...the sand is an absorber reducing (rather dramatically) the amount of kinetic energy entering the structure.
3. Because the kinetic energy is not being transferred to the structure, your walls do not become occasional speakers injecting distortion artifacts into the room.

[At the lower frequencies, the vibration enters the structure...within the home their a lots of walls of different sizes, shapes and mass. Each of this has a resonance frequency. When that resonance frequency is equal to or a harmonic of the frequency being produced by your sub, that wall becomes a speaker...and, a surprisingly loud one at that.]

Here's another POV. You're spending a bunch of money on your gear (and many times a few grand on your subwoofer). For $300 to $500 are you willing to bet it (the stage) won't help.

Until you've heard truly smooth bass response and the sound in a well calibrated room, you cannot imagine what you're giving up...and, I've a demo room for just that purpose.

So is it just set up in the laundry room?

Seats look great. Congrats, I think you started when my first build kicked, so those seats have been a long time coming. Great to see rooms come together.

Yeah, it's just an old rack with the glass front door set up in the laundry room. I cleaned out the old closet under the stairs and might move everything in there to cut down on the dust. I just need to consider venting and cooling, etc.
You are right, the seats have been a long time in coming. How's the planning on Theater 2.0 coming? I need to jump over to your thread.

Hey Judson,

The seats look great! An awesome finishing touch for a beautiful space. So, is there anything left to finish on the build or is this about to get a "Done" stamp?

Ryan,

I have to build out the cabinets in the snack area and finish two panels on the screen wall then the theater is "done". Of course this doesn't take into account automating the lights, finishing the rack, upgrading the projector, adding 7.1 rear speakers, wiring for gaming systems in the theater, and building out better speaker stands behind the screen wall.

Judson

You are right, the seats have been a long time in coming. How's the planning on Theater 2.0 coming? I need to jump over to your thread.

Its pretty much planned out. Not many details left for me to figure out for the room (aesthetics aside). The tough one is figuring out a start date. We have a few projects stacked up in front of it, and family time is pretty intensive at this point. There is a chance we could start in the spring, but we might, ahh, let projector tech improve for another year. In the meantime, I need to start whittling down the junk that has been piled up there if I am ever going to be able to start. And think good thoughts when bonus comes up in the spring.

Life is good though, the theater can wait if necessary.

Ryan,

I have to build out the cabinets in the snack area and finish two panels on the screen wall then the theater is "done". Of course this doesn't take into account automating the lights, finishing the rack, upgrading the projector, adding 7.1 rear speakers, wiring for gaming systems in the theater, and building out better speaker stands behind the screen wall.

Judson

Very cool, glad to hear that everything is moving along nicely! You'll be planning 2.0 before you know it! :D

If you need any help on the remaining projects, feel free to let me know. I am not too knowledgeable, but can help with grunt work.

judsonp,

Great theater Thank you for sharing it with us.

chester

judsonp,

Great theater Thank you for sharing it with us.

chester

Thanks Chester, glad you like it!

Hey judsonp, does your dimmer get very warm to the touch? I installed mine the other day (4-gang box, 3 zone spacer system) and the metal around the edges gets pretty warm. Is that normal? I was going to call Lutron, but thought I'l ask you.

thanks

patrick

Hey judsonp, does your dimmer get very warm to the touch? I installed mine the other day (4-gang box, 3 zone spacer system) and the metal around the edges gets pretty warm. Is that normal? I was going to call Lutron, but thought I'l ask you.

thanks

patrick

Patrick,

It does get warm when I turn the lights up but we seldomly have them on and very dim if so. I do remember that Lutron warns you to leave the aluminum fans on the dimmers for cooling.

Judson

Patrick,

It does get warm when I turn the lights up but we seldomly have them on and very dim if so. I do remember that Lutron warns you to leave the aluminum fans on the dimmers for cooling.

Judson

Yes I agree. The only time mine gets warm is when all the lights are left on for a substantial amount of time .. I usually only have the house lights up but sometimes the kids go playing in the near finished room and they just hit the all lights on button ...and when I go down find that all the lights are on I've found itg to be a little warmer than usual

Judson,

Your theater looks wonderful! I'm sure you're proud. Love the color scheme, front wall design and how it all came together. Great job. I'm sure you'll be enjoying it for some time.

Bud

Great job on your room... mine is of similar dimensions (a little wider). I did not install a stage because I wanted as much distance front the scree to the first row of seating. I also did black walls. It may not be flashy but it sure works the best for watching movies. I may have missed it but did you list your equipment in your post?

Judson,

Your theater looks wonderful! I'm sure you're proud. Love the color scheme, front wall design and how it all came together. Great job. I'm sure you'll be enjoying it for some time.

Bud

Great job on your room... mine is of similar dimensions (a little wider). I did not install a stage because I wanted as much distance front the scree to the first row of seating. I also did black walls. It may not be flashy but it sure works the best for watching movies. I may have missed it but did you list your equipment in your post?

Guys...! Sorry I missed this. Thank you so much for the comments. Bud, your build was a huge motivator for me. It helped me as I know it helped many others!
Zortronx! Thanks for your comments!

Judson

I was about to jump back in and finish this theater up then my wife had to go and have another baby.
My son Camden was born on 3/18/2010. He weighed 10 lbs 6 oz and was 22 in long.
Things are settling down a little and I am starting to look for someone to finish the cabinetry in the theater. Once done I can mark this room complete.

Judson

Congratulations! That's a big boy! Glad to hear everyone is doing well.

The weather is starting to change and my outdoor honey-do list is starting to shrink. I just picked up an Onkyo TX-NR3007 and some rack parts for my MA Slim5. That and the Audyssey stuff should keep me busy for a while.
Still trying to convince the wife that I "need" 1080p. I'll post some pictures when I get the rack set up.

Everything is kind of just tossed in there for now. But it's all working with a first run calibration. Sounds fantastic...

Silverstone HTPC case
Monster Power Center
Onkyo

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q113/judsonp/Home%20Theater%20Construction/rack.jpg

Hey Judson! It's great to hear that everything is sounding great! Hope all is well and thanks again for sharing your project with us. BTW, I don't remember if you posted this earlier but what model Onkyo is that? How do you like it?

Hey Judson! It's great to hear that everything is sounding great! Hope all is well and thanks again for sharing your project with us. BTW, I don't remember if you posted this earlier but what model Onkyo is that? How do you like it?

Its the TX-NR3007. I'm still learning all the features but it's a pretty amazing box. A huge upgrade from my 15 year old Denon.

Where did you pick up the braided speaker cable covers?

Also, I finished one of my speaker cables. It took about 30 minutes to make. I will make two more to complete the fronts. I am also thinking about trying my hand at RCA cables.
It turned out pretty nice with the braiding on it. Eat your heart out Monster Cable!

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q113/judsonp/Home%20Theater%20Construction/Speakercables007.jpg

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q113/judsonp/Home%20Theater%20Construction/Speakercables002.jpg[/QUOTE]

Where did you pick up the braided speaker cable covers?

It's called Techflex and is available in a dizzying array of options at
www.partsexpress.com

Perfect. Thank you.

Perfect. Thank you.

You bet. I also came across a kit on the Emotiva website that came complete with everything but wire. Looked pretty nice for the price.

http://emotiva.com/images/cables/finished_kit700.jpg