I'm finally getting around to posting my play-by-play of the construction of our theater room. It's actually near done now - we are using it regularly - all it is missing are some decorative items like drapes and room lighting. But it is completely functional and we are already having a blast with it.

I’ll split this up into multiple posts to make it easier to read.

Our theater was built in an upstairs bonus room in our home. We did it all ourselves and tried not to modify the room too much. The goal was to install moderately high-end equipment and modify the room enough to get good seating positions and good light control, but not to completely redo the room to look totally like a real movie theater. We tried to strike a balance, and to save some money on furnishings. We decided not to paint the room dark or buy seating specifically made for theaters. This would save us some money and help the room blend with the feel of the rest of the house. If it were a completely enclosed room, say in the basement (if we had a basement), then we might have gone all out and made it look like a true theater, but as it was, we just wanted a nice, comfortable place to watch movies on the big screen, with good sound and good seating.

During the planning phase, I posted my initial design in this forum looking for feedback. You can find that thread here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=899340

I got some good advice from many folks, some of which I followed. I did not go with the extra wide screen, nor did I flip the room around, for several reasons. Turns out I was able to remove the little wall sticking out without a problem (more on that later), so the screen mounted nicely. Anyway, I’m jumping ahead, so how about I start from the beginning.

Getting Started

Here’s the bonus room before we really got going. This was back in mid August 2007.

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As you can see, the seating is already there. This is really what got the ball rolling. We had been talking about doing a theater room for a while, but hadn’t acted. One day a friend told us that Macy’s Furniture Gallery was having an incredible sale, so we went to check it out. They were selling nice microfiber recliners for only $500 per pair! We ordered four that day, along with a couch for the front row. Unfortunately, one of the compromises we had to make to save all this money was that the couch material is not exactly the same color as the chairs.

Now that we were committed to this theater room, I started researching equipment. That began with a trip to Magnolia, which happened to be right across the street from Macy’s. Spent about two hours there, put together a list of possibilities, then went home and did a bunch of research on the internet (including AVS Forum, of course).

Decisions I made early on: I wanted clean, powerful sound. No cheap home-theater-in-a-box for us. I wanted good quality equipment, but not excessive cost. I was content with 5.1 surround for now, figuring that this is still what most audio sources output, and if I got good equipment, I could always add speakers later if needed. I wanted a 1080p projector if at all possible. But I did not want to spend more than three grand for one. I wanted a big enough screen that the movie room felt much more impressive than sitting in front of our 50” DLP set downstairs. Otherwise, why bother, right? So I decided on 100” minimum HDTV ratio screen (I eventually selected a 106” screen). That size was one of the reasons I decided on 1080p, because I didn’t want obvious pixels showing up.

Here’s what I ended up purchasing. The audio equipment all came from Magnolia, the rest from other sources:


Monitor Audio RG6 Front tower speakers

Monitor Audio RSLCR Center speaker

Speakercraft Aim 8 Two in-ceiling surrounds

Martin Logan Abyss subwoofer

Denon AVR2308Cl receiver

Epson Home Cinema 1080 projector

Da-Lite High Contrast Cinema Vision 106” fixed screen with pro-trim frame finish

Dish Network ViP 722 DVR

Xbox360 with HD-DVD add on drive

Monster AVL300 Universal Remote (Harmony)

… all of this came in at a price tag of around $8500. Not bad, eh? I could have spent that much just on the projector.

A few words on why I chose this equipment…

The projector was a pretty easy choice. There was nothing else in this price range that did 1080p with this level of image quality and had lens shift. It is simply a great projector for the price. After using it for several weeks, I’m extremely pleased with it.

The screen took a bit longer to settle on. Magnolia and most other high end equipment retailers only sell Stewarts. They tried hard to sell me one. These are amazing screens, but the high contrast grey Stewart in this size range is about $2500. I thought I should be able to get very close to a Stewart at significantly lower cost. After a lot of research, I settled on the Da-Lite. For $1500, I got a terrific looking screen for a lot less, and most reviewers say this is pretty close to a Stewart. I’m extremely pleased with the results. It does a pretty good job rejecting reflected light in the room (particularly important because I have light colored paint on the walls), and paired with this projector, displays a very bright and contrasty image, sometimes TOO bright when the projector is in the Dynamic (brightest) setting. And since the projector mounted at the back of the room (ie. nowhere near the minimum distance), that’s saying a lot.

I don’t have much to say about the other equipment – I’m new to Monitor Audio but it sounded stunning in the store, and the online reviews were very positive. Same with the Speakercrafts. Denon is a great name in receivers – just needed enough wattage to fill my room with clean sound. I already owned the Xbox 360 – moving it upstairs to the new theater was a no-brainer. The HD-DVD add on drive was a cheap way to get into the HD movie game without waiting for the format war to sort out, and movies look stunning on it. Since my Xbox doesn’t have HDMI, I ran a separate VGA cable back to the projector for that source, and another HDMI cable for the other sources (just the DVR for now). My experience has been that the Xbox 360 VGA output comes extremely close to HDMI in quality, far better than component, and so I don’t sweat the lack of HDMI in this case. Bottom line – HD movies look absolutely stunning!

Looking forward to more pic's

Now on to the room modifications…

The first step was designing the room. I didn’t actually order the screen until I got this part worked out and was certain about the screen size that would work best. Here are my design drawings, which I produced in AutoCAD. I’m a civil engineer, so it was handy to know how to use this tool, particularly for designing the details of the platform.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2228/2074458590_209019d3d8.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2393/2074458618_58d3a7fd23.jpg

Platform

Next I had to detail the design of the platform, then build it. This was a pretty big undertaking for me. I’ve only done minor carpentry before this. I ended up having to buy a bunch of new tools, including a really good cordless drill/screwdriver, because I decided to glue and screw all the lumber to ensure a tight and squeak-free finished product, so I had a ton of screws to put in.

I agonized quite a bit about how I would space the seats, how tall the platform needed to be, and how low I could mount the screen and still see it from the back row. These things are all interrelated, so it took me a while to figure it out to my satisfaction. It ended up working out perfectly the first time without any rework. The key was not to rush it – take it a step at a time. Be conservative about the platform height (go a little higher than you think you need), and don’t actually mount the screen until the rest is done and you can fine-tune the height (better to keep the fragile screen in its box until the heavy carpentry is done anyway). Don’t forget to account for the fact that the rear seats recline – you want people to be able to lean back without heads in the front row blocking the view. And it’s good to make the platform long and wide enough to space the seats the way you want them and allow people to walk past the front of the seats when they are reclined.

In the end I decided on a full 12” of platform height. Originally I was only going to do 7”. Even though 12” was a lot more work and lumber, I’m very glad I went that route. Having used the back seats several times now to watch movies, I would not want any less. If I went with 7”, I would have had to mount the screen higher, and that means sore necks for the poor folks in the front row.

Here's my final platform drawing:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2229/2073667505_a210e62247.jpg

Here’s a pic of the platform construction:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2236/2070916655_cdbc274380.jpg

It’s constructed entirely of two layers of 2x6’s followed by a layer of 3/4 inch tongue and groove plywood. I just built it right on top of the existing carpet, which seemed to work just fine, and probably helped with vibration control. Corners and crossings are reinforced with strong-ties. Beam spacing is around 20” on center – basically the width divided into even intervals of between 16 – 24”. The plywood is rated for 24” floor spans. I did not need beams to line up with plywood joints because I used T&G plywood. Before I installed the plywood, I filled the cavities with a single layer of plastic-wrapped R20 fiberglass insulation, for sound absorption.

Before someone points out that my work space was unnecessarily tight – let me say yes, I know. The furniture was delivered before anything else happened, and I wanted the furniture guys to haul the pieces upstairs, not myself and my wife later on. So it was already there when I started working. I shifted stuff around and made do. It worked out.

Here’s the finished platform before carpet. Coming along nicely.

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Carpet installed. I used 3/4 inch staples and glue to attach it. Trimming and fitting around the corners was tough. Keep changing that razor blade – they dull quickly.

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The platform turned out great. It feels rock-solid when you walk on it. There are no squeaks or hollow sounds at all. We’re very happy with it!

You will love the Monitor's. Good sized room for them as well. I have the Epson Pro 1080 and they are really good for the money. Plus they look sexeh.

I've got my xbox 360 run directly to it via component video, and if I had any complaints about the projector, it would be the sharpness of the 360 image using this input. It sounds like I need to get the vga adapter for it.

If you need any help setting up the pj shoot me a pm.:)

Equipment/Screen Wall

Now it was time to deal with the other end of the room. Strangely, there was this little wall sticking out at a 90 degree angle from the main wall. It stuck out 3 feet then stopped. I could never figure out why it was there in the first place, but I confirmed it was non-structural, then I got out the sledge hammer and made short work of that wall. Lesson learned: Next time, throw down a tarp first. Clean up is much easier that way!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2170/2070919455_68fae049b7.jpg

My wife sat downstairs and cringed while I banged out that wall. I don’t think she was ever sure I wouldn’t somehow destroy the home in the process!

The one big advantage of removing that wall was that I now had a nice “channel” through the sheetrock to route the HDMI and VGA cables from the floor up to the attic. This also gave me access to notch the wall cap for the cables. Since these cables have the fat plugs on each end (particularly the VGA), pulling them through drilled holes with a fish tape was not an option.

Next I had to remove the window blinds and sill from the window on the screen wall, and patch the area where the wall was demo’d. My father came over and helped out with this. I cut a piece of plywood to cover the window, painted the outside face white (so it wouldn’t look like our house was boarded up), then we installed it.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2083/2071714446_07d697ff2f.jpg

Cables

After that, it was time to route cables and install the rear ceiling surround speakers. I purchased 50’ lengths of HDMI and VGA cables online. Think I spent less than $300 on both cables together, and they are off brands (but not the very cheapest I could find either). I made sure to get ones with ferrite shields on the ends. Anyway, they both work flawlessly at 1080i. There’s no need for Monster cables.

I used Transparent brand speaker cable for all the speakers. At $2 per foot, they are not cheap but still far from high-end. My local theater contractor/store sold me this cable. I was initially skeptical that this cable would do any better than good 16-ga copper from Radio Shack, but this theater store let me borrow a few lengths of their cable to compare. We hooked up the Radio Shack cable to the left speaker, and the Transparent to the right. My wife and I both noticed a difference, so we went with the Transparent.

Crawling around in our tiny attic to pull the cables was a huge pain. I had to step over huge ducts and feel through the sprayed insulation to find the roof beams to step on so that I wouldn’t push through the sheetrock. Somehow I managed to get through this and not do any damage.

Here’s a pic of the cables poking out of the back wall. I had to cut out a piece of sheetrock at the top of the wall to notch the wall cap beam and get those fat cable ends around it.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2107/2071715284_1e20fa4841.jpg

I decided to mount the projector on a shelf at the rear of the room. This would place the projector about 2/3 of the way back in its usable range for this image size. I was a little worried this would dim the image too much (many people recommend placing the projector where it’s zoomed at full wide angle, to get the best and brightest image). Also some of these Epsons apparently have convergence issues at long zooms. But mine turned out fine here. It was just easier to do a rear shelf rather than buying and installing a ceiling mount. Plus we have a ceiling fan in the middle of the room, and we wanted to keep it if possible.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2392/2071716838_7121c16d6c.jpg

The room is coming together now. I got the screen put together. The screen brackets are now mounted, and I stapled black felt fabric over the entire screen wall to cover up the sheetrock patching and provide a dark background behind the curtains that I will eventually install. I didn’t try to be too careful installing this fabric because I knew you would hardly see it after the curtains were in.

I also have our equipment cabinet assembled in this photo. We purchased the cabinet from Magnolia, and it’s a Salamander Designs Synergy Quad. These are really nice cabinets. This one is about as long as the screen, so we felt that having it below the screen with the tower speakers on either side would fill the space nicely and give it a similar feel to a stage. It worked out great, as you will see.

These last few photos show the (almost) finished theater as it is now. Call it Phase 1. Phase 2 is to order and install a big curtain over the open side of the room, plus curtains around and above the screen. Then put in some kind of sconce lighting plus track lights to shine on the movie posters, and integrate all those lights with an RF dimmer that I can control with my Monster universal remote. Also we’d like to get better wedge tables to go between the chairs. Right now we just have a cheap set of four folding tables from Linens N Things for fifty bucks – but at least they are walnut just like the Salamander cabinet.

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In the long run I can envision a Phase 3, where we paint the room darker and maybe get it looking more like a real movie room. But I can tell you we are already VERY happy with the results – we’ve had some friends over and they were blown away. All said and done, I think we’re into this for about $14,000. Personally, I think that’s a steal given the quality of the image and sound we’re getting. I did do all the construction myself, but it wasn’t too hard even for a novice like me. The hard part was keeping at it – all said it took about three months of spending a good chunk of my weekends researching, buying supplies, and doing the actual work in the room.

Now that the room is functionally complete, it will be hard to get motivated to finish Phase 2 (lighting and curtains). But I have my wife to help me with that!

By the way, I have to take a moment to thank Audio F/X Home Theater in Folsom, CA (where I live). They were VERY helpful throughout the process, even though I didn’t discover them until after I ordered all the A/V equipment from other sources. Audio F/X sold me the screen and cable only, but yet they were always available to answer questions, and they even trusted me to borrow a full spool of Transparent cable for a month so I could use what I needed and just pay for what I used. Normally they do turn-key supply+install, but they are perfectly willing to just sell you gear and provide help if you need it. And they certainly have high quality brands there! So if you’re a local and need stuff, go see ‘em.

You will love the Monitor's. Good sized room for them as well. I have the Epson Pro 1080 and they are really good for the money. Plus they look sexeh.

I've got my xbox 360 run directly to it via component video, and if I had any complaints about the projector, it would be the sharpness of the 360 image using this input. It sounds like I need to get the vga adapter for it.

If you need any help setting up the pj shoot me a pm.:)

Go for the VGA for sure - you will not be sorry! I believe you would be very hard pressed to see a difference between VGA and HDMI, but you will certainly see a difference between Component and HDMI!!

After you get a VGA cable, make sure to go into the Xbox display settings and change the "Reference Levels" to Expanded. This will give you good contrast.

I should also mention that my wife and I are now debating whether to actually do curtains around the screen or something different. The curtains to go along the open side of the room will be a velvety sage green, which should go well with the carpet and the furnishings. We can do the same around the screen, or perhaps black, or something else. Any suggestions?

Also we will be getting at least one more movie poster, a media rack (Salamander makes a nice matching one for this cabinet), and some decor like movie reels to hang on the walls.

Looks real nice. I like your Microfiber sofa in the front row.

Details please?

Great theater, redman. Looks very comfortable and inviting.