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433K views 1K replies 153 participants last post by  Reddig 
#1 ·

Updated (index added, original post follows):

Project: DIY HT, approx 15'x26'x10' in basement dug under existing house, IB sub, absorption/diffusion acoustic design, motorized hidden entrance, star ceiling, room within room construction, CIH curved screen, three rows.

Current Status:









Enjoying the theater and still working on the entrance


The starting point (a distant memory):


Thread Index:

1. Basement dig! start / complete

2. Adjacent Garage Remodel: start / complete

3. Framing: start / complete

4. HVAC

5. Skinning the room with OSB

6. Drywall: start / complete

7. IB Sub: start / complete

8. Riser

9. Stage

10. Soffits

11. Star Ceiling: start / complete

12. Design Details & Color

13. Acoustic Treatment: Front / Sides

14. QRD Diffusor Panels: start / complete

15. Quiet Extraction Fan

16. Hardwood Trim: Soffits start Soffits complete

17. Soffit lights: start

18. Carpet & hardwood Floor

19. Seats are in!

20. Walnut wall trim

21. Triggered Outlets

22. 2.4:1 Curved Screen/Masking start / completed (separate thread )

23. Columns start finish

24. Hushbox and A-lens build calibration

25. Media Library

26. Backlight Poster Boxes

Gear:

Subs: Front: DIY IB design with 4x18" Fi drivers

         Rear: 2x Klipsch KW120-THX

Speakers: Klipsch THX Ultra 2 (wired for 11.2 with 9.2 active)

Amps: 2x Berhinger EP4000 (IB sub/rear sub/buttkicker)

         1x Outlaw Model 7700 (7 channel)

         1x Outlaw Model 7500 (5 channels)

Pre/Pro: Integra DHC-80.1

Sub EQ: Berhinger DCX2496 (for 3 channel sub EQ)

Source Player: Oppo BDP-83

Projector: JVC RS40 / Prismasonic HD-6000R cylindrical anamorphic lens

Screen: DIY 130" CIH (2.4:1) w/ automated masking

Media Server: Dune Smart H1

Media Vault: QNAP TS-859+ (16Tb)

Other: Sonos wireless music distribution

          ButtKicker LFE

          Google ChromeCast

UPS: APC J15 (AV equipment)

       APC Smart-UPS (NAS, network)

Rack: Middle Atlantic sliding rack with custom faceplates

  

===================== Original Post =====================


Hi All,


So my dedicated home theater tale begins and I've no idea when it's going to end...


First a thanks for the fantastic goldmine of collective expertise on this forum and the wealth of inspiration. It's been nearly 10 years since the HT bug infected me, about 1 year of reading this forum and thus far about 8 weeks of construction.

The Details:

Approx 30' x 15'4" x 10' space created by converting a under house crawl space into a basement.

Emphasis on acoustic isolation: built as a room within a room, independent ceiling joists, isolated subfloor, DD or TD & GG, communicating door entry, etc

Approx 11' curved CIH AT screen, stage, raised seating

Two rows of three chairs and bar seating at the rear

"Sealed Box" construction - soffits, electrical, etc will all be run inside of the drywall shell

Named "The Old Vic"


I think the most unusual aspect is the starting point. I don't live in the mid-west where everybody has huge basements yet I really wanted an isolated space (well actually the WAF mandated it ;-). So I came up with the idea of excavating out one of my crawl space areas under the house and retrofitting a basement! I'm doing just about all the work myself except for the excavation... I know when I'm beat.


Here is the design so far. It does not show any acoustic treatment/basetraps although these are planned but rather concentrates on the use of space and audio isolation from the rest of the house. I'm curious to hear people's thoughts...

The theater layout:



Floor & Ceiling Construction:
 
 
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14
#652 ·
I received my last order from monoprice, a replacement HDMI cable to replace the one I drilled through
So I could finally tidy up the rack wiring.




Dialed in the thermostat to 85 degrees:




The one thing I've got left to do is build a dual 20A trigger outlet so I can completely automate the power cycle of the amps that lack a built in trigger.
 
#654 ·
"The filler has the added advantage of locating the handle so don't spin relative to one another. This function is normally accomplished by interlocking parts, but when the handle is stretched to fit a thick door the parts no longer interlock." --- Brilliant solution.. Kudos on the door, its looks phenomenal!!..


What did you do for your threshold?


Brad.
 
#655 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jon_B /forum/post/19545029


Excellent work! (as you always do) That's a great idea on the door. Did you do the welding too?

Of course! Actually I was lucky enough to buy a totally over the top TIG welder for a ridiculously low price from a bike factory when in closed about 10 years ago...



Quote:
Originally Posted by KNKKNK /forum/post/19552941


"The filler has the added advantage of locating the handle so don't spin relative to one another. This function is normally accomplished by interlocking parts, but when the handle is stretched to fit a thick door the parts no longer interlock." --- Brilliant solution.. Kudos on the door, its looks phenomenal!!..


What did you do for your threshold?


Brad.

I embedded a drop down seal I purchased from Ted White. As the close reaches its last few inches of travel the plunger on the hinge side causes the neoprene seal to drop about 3/8"-1/2" sealing against the hardwood insert in the floor. I know it seals pretty well (and that my room is airtight) because I tried an experiment and nearly got temporarily stuck in the room -- I covered the return vents, had the A/C fan on full and shut the door (actually it slammed itself shut). I could then listen for any leaks around the door. The problem was that the door was nearly impossible to open against the air pressure built up in the room
. I needed two hands to pull it open.

 
#657 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Moggie /forum/post/19554492


The problem was that the door was nearly impossible to open against the air pressure built up in the room
. I needed two hands to pull it open.

Funny, You could have been stuck in there all day "Screaming" for help and no one would have heard you...
 
#658 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by KNKKNK /forum/post/19556788


Funny, You could have been stuck in there all day "Screaming" for help and no one would have heard you...

Haaa, that made me lol!
 
#660 ·
What are the dimensions of that door? Looks like a real beast... I really like how you've blended that in with the rest of the room - I'm looking to do something very similar.


AWESOME work!! Your craftsmanship is superior!! I can only hope mine turns out half as nice.
 
#661 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by rader /forum/post/19562557


What kind of door did you end up getting? Or did you also build the door yourself?


Awesome work... Everyone else has said it, but it's worth repeating.
Quote:
Originally Posted by FlyingCheese /forum/post/19562605


What are the dimensions of that door? Looks like a real beast... I really like how you've blended that in with the rest of the room - I'm looking to do something very similar.


AWESOME work!! Your craftsmanship is superior!! I can only hope mine turns out half as nice.

The door is pretty straightforward. It's started life as a 1 3/4" plain, paint grade, pre-hung external solid core door just like you can order from the big box stores. The external grade will ensure you get a heavy duty frame and seals around the sides and top. On the inside is 1" of treatment behind the fabric (diffusors up top, cotton on lower half) and the hardwood trim. On the outside I'm going to add an additional 1/2" for added mass so right now there is just a temporary spacer for the handle. I routed in a drop down seal to the bottom as mentioned in an earlier post. Finally to accommodate the additional thickness I extended the handle and replaced the hinges with ball bearing wide-throw hinges. The hinges were special ordered on-line since they are not common but effectively move the pivot point out past the fabric wall panels.


The only other thing I remember doing is to plane a small angle on the non hinge edge to ensure consistent gap as the, now 3" thick, door closes and extending the stop for a better seal. Oh, and the frame was well caulked to the surrounding drywall to maximize sound proofing.


My observation is that this door performs remarkably well in sound isolation but it is still clearly the weakest link in my build. I'll decide after I built my second decorative sliding door in the entrance whether the extra mass or seals are necessary.


Let me know if you have any more questions and thanks for the kudos it really helps to motivate me
 
#662 ·
Just perused this entire thread. Words can not express how much I applaud your effort. I read maybe 20%-25% of th posts. Of particular interest to me is the IB sub, and the integration of the room treatments.


You are to be commended. Just an unbelievable amount of effort.


Good luck
 
#663 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by FOH /forum/post/19574504


Of particular interest to me is the IB sub

Since you expressed interest, I did an IB sub too. It's relatively cheap if you can install it. I installed mine in new construction, so it was easy. 8 AE-IB15 woofers came to $1,000 and a Behringer EP2500 was $225 all shipping included. Add to that a little wood, wire, nuts and bolts and you have something that feels like the house is gonna come down! You don't need butt-kickers!
 
#664 ·
Finally got covers on the step lights. The issue was that the covers I wanted to use were leftover’s from a landscaping project and the hole alignment conflicted with the mounting of the light assembly. The solution was to epoxy some all-thread into some coupling nuts so I could both screw the light in and then fit the covers into the same holes. The nuts also created the correct standoff for the carpet.





The other thing I’ve been working on (and spending money) is my DIY masking screen…
 
#665 ·
It is with great trepidation and mixed feelings that I’m launching into my screen building. The reason for the emotions is that I am so desperate to watch some movies in my HT since I’ve hardly seen any since I started my build and the movie-catch up is going to take weeks.


Anyway, I haven’t come this far to give up on my screen plan, so here is the first installment.


The plan:

130” wide curved AT screen with integrated (within the frame border) horizontal masking with full independent left/right masking control. The goals I’ve set are that I want to create a professional job that is less than 4” thick so that it disappears into the screen wall frame, the mechanism needs to be simple to reduce build and setup time and the budget should be around $1600. Possible….??? We shall see.


After numerous design scribbles I realized that building a curved screen complicated what really should be a fairly simple process for a flat screen. Some of the problems include attachment to the screen fabric along the arc whilst allowing a very close fitting mask, bending of any linear slide mechanism for the mask, keeping a simple drive mechanism that can stay within the 4” thickness goal.


The basic construction approach is shown here:




The goal is to leverage the precise repeatability of the new Somfy ILT motors and to use a constant spring to provide closing tension. I.e. no pulleys, no wires, just the KISS approach. Of course the devil is in the details and I’m under no illusions that a cheap, curved and smooth linear motion track that doesn’t get stuck is the key. The plan is to have the mask ride right next to the screen fabric (to prevent shadows) and to have a minimal gap at top and bottom for the leading edge of the mask.


Step 1. I wanted to be sure that the size was going to work, particularly the location of the leading edge of the mask at the prime aspect ratios. The leading edge of the mask will be solid and I didn’t want this to fall in the direct path of the tweeters.




Step 2 was to get the horizontal frame members bent to my calculated 42’ radius. My preference was to use an extruded aluminum frame with various t-slot cutouts for convenient attachment but I completely failed to find somebody to bend these or to purchase them pre-bent. The problem with bending aluminum is that it is difficult to keep the extrusion profile intact without the correct bending die or by bending as the extrusion is made.


My fallback was to opt for a steel frame. Aluminum would have been nice and lighter but one advantage of steel is that it is much easier to bend and weld. So off to my local steel yard to purchase the steel and to get them to run a couple of pieces through their Eagle rolling machine. Cha-ching: $320 including bending.


Once home I cut the pieces to size and welded up the frame, taking care to ensure it stayed square. The primitive rolling machine the metal yard used did get the radius curve correct but gave me a slight warp which I needed to work out during the welding process. You can see a laser level in the second photo keeping me honest.




Once welded it was outside to do a bit of cleanup of the welds on the inside edge (the side that I plan on using a cunning plan to mount the screen fabric). In fact the screen attachment plan is so secretive that I don’t know it myself yet…





Then a coat of primer. You can see the cleaned up weld to create a perfectly smooth surface.




It was precisely at this point that I panicked and questioned what the heck I was doing and call up Jason Turk at AVS to see if I could get a 130” non-masking SMX screen cheap. No luck. A few beers later I calmed down and got my wife to lift this monster back into the garage. Then I panicked again… what if this wouldn’t fit through the theater doorway? Luckily, I think it will simply due to my fortunate door arrangement (alignment).




I then spent the rest of the day on-line ordering parts:

2x Somfy Sonesse LT50 ILT motors: $740 (yikes!)

RS485 interface: $60

2” tubes and roller blind mounting h/w: $100

Grommets + tools, rubber rings: $32

USB to RS485 interface: $40

6061 aluminum bar, t-tracks, etc: $70

SeymorAV CenterStage XD fabric: $280

Total: $1,322


Plus steel, total to date: $1,622. Well, that’s blown the budget already so I might as well give up... Seriously, other than some miscellaneous fabric, misc hardware, some scraps of steel plate and some MDF (most of which I have lying around) I think I have all the raw materials I need.


I should probably explain my choice of the expensive Somfy motors a little. There is no way to get around the fact that these are expensive, but I know from experience how much time a motor control system takes to build when I converted my home mill/lathe to CNC. The neatness of the Somfy system, the quietness of their Sonesse motor (44 dbA), the ability to program 16 intermediate stopping positions, repeatable encoder based positioning and the fact that the RS485 control bus can easily interface to IR/RF/Z-wave, etc makes this an obvious cost/time trade-off to me. If anybody is curious I’d suggest you read up on the ILT line of motors and their “SDN” control bus. I briefly looked at the SMX masking system functionality and this motor and controllers can do everything that can do…


To be continued…
 
#666 ·
I'll be watching your screen/masking progress closely - I've got something similar in mind when I get to that point...Good luck and post what you learn!
 
#669 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by tjambro /forum/post/19590633


Moggie, you better be careful. If your screen comes out as good as it looks so far, you may end up forming a screen company and then you will never have time to watch movies!

Now that's an idea, but a crowded market these days don't you think
 
#672 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by mcascio
Moggie.


Your theater is looking awesome. Been a while since I have seen your progress.


Did your subs end up aligning vertically in the front of the room to the back of the room or are they varied in height?
Hi Mario,


Glad to see you back. My rear subs are about 6" higher than the fronts but are not quite as tall so they align pretty closely. I'm not sure how important that is, I just placed then at the center of the rear wall in a convenient location. I will say that having them has allowed a great deal of flexibility in EQing my bass although I needed to do it manually -- the Audyssey EQ1 I purchased didn't work out.
 
#673 ·
Whilst I'm waiting for all my screen parts to arrive I thought I'd fix the last remaining automation problem I have with my rack which is that two of the amplifiers do not have a remote trigger ability. To solve this I built a dual 20A outlet with remote triggers. The design is based on a couple of 30A relays from Omron ( like this ).


The problem is that these relays require 160mA to drive them so cannot be driven directly from most 12v trigger outputs on AV equipment. The solution was to build a simple buffer to allow easy connection. Whilst I was at it I added an additional 'dry contact' trigger, a way to switch both outlets from a single trigger and LED indicators. The schematic is shown below:


The components are non critical and the values shown were to work with the transistors I had at hand. I used a old wall wart to provide power. The max draw on the triggers is 1.8mA per trigger. Contact me if you are interested in more specifics.




The whole thing is built in a cast aluminum case. One thing I overlooked with the simple circuit design was the fact that the 'dry contact' jacks could not be grounded. Rather and re-engineer the circuit which was already finished, I cheated and mounted these on a plastic insert.






Here it is in my equipment closet -- would you believe me if I said it worked first time?

 
#675 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Moggie /forum/post/19611346


Whilst I'm waiting for all my screen parts to arrive I thought I'd fix the last remaining automation problem I have with my rack which is that two of the amplifiers do not have a remote trigger ability. To solve this I built a dual 20A outlet with remote triggers. The design is based on a couple of 30A relays from Omron

Very impressive. I have the same problem with 4 remote amps and 3 remote electronic crossovers. But I took the "wimp" way out compared to you. I used Insteon appliance modules controlled through URC MX-6000/MSC-400 macros. I think the current draw when they are turned on is over the Insteon rating, but it's worked great for 3 years. I think if you put too much current through a mechanical relay, the contacts will eventually weld together (be unable to turn the load off). We'll see... so far so good.


I'd show you my equipment closet but then I'd have to crawl under a rock and die.
 
#676 ·
Looking great. I bet you can't wait to watch your first movie in there?


BTW, My DIY screen is going to be something like 220lbs!
 
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