SWithey Home Theater Construction

[swithey]

Well, I figured it was my turn to start building my Home Theater. I’ve been planning it “in my head” for a few years and on paper for the past 6 months. I must say the wealth of knowledge on the board has both given be insight into what to do and not to do as well as inspiration.

Construction started in October '05.

Just a quick summary:
- Room Size: 14.5 x 17.5 x 8’-10’ (vaulted).
- Walls: Painted Drywall with GOM covered panels
- Treatments: A combination of 2" JM814 and 5.5" Cotton around the room (custom balanced by Brian Pape (Bpape) of Sensible Sound Solutions)
- Projector: JVC RS1
- Screen: DIY SMX 124" 2.35:1
- Speakers: DIY 7 speaker system: (3) Floorstanders for the fronts, bi-pole for the sides and direct radiating for the rears
- Sub: (4) 15" SoundSplinter woofers in an Infinate Baffel (IB) Design
- Receiver: Pioneer Elite VSX-82TXS


The "Completed" Room (6/8/07)

Front


Rear


Star Ceiling (8/18/07)


Wide Angle Shot w/ Star Ceiling


Shot with the new larger wall panels - added 11/15/07


Wet Bar - completed 5/24/09

[swithey]

The pics below are out of date. I have since flipped the room 180 degrees. Click HERE to see the updated design.


Top View. (4) Front Home Theater seating and (4) Rear bar stools. Notice the HUGE 2’x2’ bass traps in the rear behind the false wall.


Lighting and Star Ceiling Breakdown. Small circles are can lights -- each color depicts a different lighting zone. Dotted yellow line is rope lighting. Pink is the star ceiling. Coffered ceiling similar to the one I saw at the restaurant.



View from the cheap seats (bar stools). Also note the metal inlays in the front columns.

[swithey]

Adding a vault on the left side of the room for acoustical balancing. Notice I need to move both a supply and a return air duct.



This is the attic space behind the HT rear wall. I plan to use 2' wide x the width of the room (14.5') to house my rear Paradigm 20s, a second HSU sub and some hefty bass traps.



Two layers of R19 insulation has been added for my HT's "false wall" area. I still need to put down some R13 in between the 2x4s to fill in the 1.5" gap above the joists. 3/4" plywood will be applied on top to create my final floor. Since this area will be hidden, function is the priority.



Added the top layer of R13 to fill the gap of the 2x4s on top of the rafters.

[swithey]

3/4" plywood applied and other floor boards re-attached. Next step, add the new rear wall, which will outline the 3/4" ply I just installed



New rear wall now exists. It's about 14.5 foot long and 6' high. Next, LOTS of electrical.



Added 750' of Romex throughout the room for multiple zone lighting and (3) dedicated circuits for the equipment. This is the left wall. I would have shown you more but wire is just wire (not the most exciting thing to see)



All wires end up here. These are the main junction boxes for power to the circuits and splices needed from the existing room electrical. The main breaker panel in located in the garage below this attic space. A total of (4) circuits exist for this room: (3) 20amp for the equipment and (1) 15amp all the lighting.


I am planning to move (3) AC vents between Xmas and New Years and wrap up the electrical. More pictures to come soon.

Steve

[victor-eyd]

Whoa!

That is gonna be one sweet theater. I love those front columns. The false wall for the bar stools intrigues me also.

Are you gonna go htpc or the standard stuff?

Victor

[swithey]

Originally Posted by victor-eyd

Are you gonna go htpc or the standard stuff?

Victor

Victor,

I have not decided yet. I have a PC ready to be HTPC but am also eyeing the Denon DVD-2910 and DVD-3910. Based on how expenses go, may have to go the HTPC option just because it's already paid for

BTW -- thanks for the kudos on the HT. I'm really excited to finally get started!

[cburbs]

Steve,
Looks like you have alot of work ahead of you but looks like it will be a nice place to kick back relax and watch some movies.

Chad

[swithey]

Originally Posted by cburbs

Steve,
Looks like you have alot of work ahead of you

Chad

Chad,

Yes I do. My "plan" is to have it completed Feb/March. Hope I can make it

Steve

[Darkking]

Gonna look sweet when done. I'll be watching.

[MikeN]

Another Dallasite Where in Dallas are you?

[GPowers]

Originally Posted by swithey

Well, I figured it was my turn to start building my Home Theater.

Looks like you took the leap. I like all the drawings, gives you a feel of the final product. Keep the drawing and photos comming.

[DenW]

Hi Steve,

I saw the pics on your site, and am convinced it will look great once finished. You're moving ahead a lot faster then I am...

Happy building!

[swithey]

Originally Posted by MikeN

Another Dallasite Where in Dallas are you?

Mike,

I'm actually in North Plano just south of 121. You might be right down the street.

Hope you can get re-started on your own HT soon (looks like it's on hold for right now). Design looks great

[lmunz22]

Very nice looking theater! I was just wondering, is any part of the screen blocked while sitting on the bar stools? Otherwise very professionsal, and comfy looking!

[swithey]

Originally Posted by lmunz22

Very nice looking theater! I was just wondering, is any part of the screen blocked while sitting on the bar stools?

lmunz22 ,

Glad you like the look. I think there will be no blockage (or very limited) because the nature of the bar stool is a higher seat. Here is a crude rendering I made to check that very concern you mentioned:

[GPowers]

Steve:

I love the digrams. You must spend hours doing these things. They do help visualize all aspects of the theater. The detail of the digrams make questions clearly answered and undisputable.

Greg

[MaximAvs]

Steve...

Good to see your construction thread up and running!! It looks like a great project!

Keep the pictures coming!!

and good luck!!!

Sean

[swithey]

Greg--
Yes, I have spend a number of hours putting together the drawings (used Visio 2003). It was a way to "get started" before I was actually ready to pick up a hammer and nail The best part about it was that I could design, re-design and tune without any wasted materials, money, etc. Not to say it's been smooth sailing the entire time -- but the pics really helped get me started.

One note on your HT, I did bookmark your panel design. I plan to do something very similar in mine (as I mentioned to you before). Thanks for the detailed how-to!

Sean --
Thanks for the kind words. Yes, more pics to come. I'm planning to work more on it toward the tail end of next week. Thankfully, I have fellow AVSer (yldesyde/David) coming over to help me do some work

[SmX]

Originally Posted by swithey

Thankfully, I have fellow AVSer (yldesyde/David) coming over to help me do some work

Looking Good. I wish I had some Fellow AVSer's coming over my place to help out
Any Takers?

Ruben

[YldeSyde]

SandMax, if you'll pay for the ticket to Florida, I could possibly be persuaded lol.

Steve, I guess it is really official now since the eyes of AVS are upon you keeping watch on your progress. No chance anymore of hiding and pushing out deadlines lol. I hope Santa was good to you and just so you know, I am still pushing for the SuperBowl in your theater. Aggressive goal...yes. But if I stay unemployed I will have plenty of time to help. The only question is my ability level lol.

Good work on the site and thread. I am glad I will have the chance to help bring it into fruition.

David

P.S. Thanks for the credit ;-)

[swithey]

David,

Thanks for the "push" to get done by Superbowl. That was my original goal but since the chairs will not be in until late February, it "conveniently" moved my goal a little further out I think I'm going to need the time

[swithey]

I finally completed the electical. Seems like everytime I thought I was done, I'd think of something else to add The next step was to insulate the new rear wall so I could remove all drywall from the original rear wall. This will keep the room from becoming "attic" temperature. Not that big of a concern lately (since it's been unseasonably warmer -- upper 60's, low 70's here in Dallas) but I'm sure it will get cold one of these days


BEFORE -- No Rear wall insulation

AFTER -- Rear wall insulation installed. I saved a few $$ because I was able to move the insulation from the existing rear wall to the new "rear" wall (yellow). I just needed to add R19 to the ceiling and side walls (pink and brown).


Next step (hopefully tomorrow) is to remove all the drywall on the existing rear wall (since this will be the future "false" rear wall).

[swithey]

Worked on the rear wall today. Here are some pics.


BEFORE: This is the current HT rear wall. Behind this wall is a new rear wall. In the space between these walls will house some special acoustical items (see next pic for more detail).



AFTER: This is after the drywall was removed from the current HT rear wall, exposing the new rear wall. The area between the walls is 2' deep by 14.5' long. It will house some 2’ x 2’ bass trap in each corner, a "tuned" bass trap in the center, a bowed deflector above the "tuned" trap, (2) rear surround speakers (Paradigm 20s) and a second sub (HSU VTF-3). Of course, I still need to add the drywall.

[hvn4179]

Hi Steve - Im booking mark this thread as it'll be one of my reference design. I'm building a new house with a dedicated Texas basement for HT so I will keep an eye and learn from your experience. Are you going to redo the existing surround walls to isolate this room from the rest of the house (I assume they haven't been done)?

[chinadog]

Steve,

Looking good. Fun, isn't it? I like your color scheme as well.

Bud

[rameshkr]

Good luck.

[stevennoland]

Just subscribed! Good luck and keep the pics coming. Don't lose sight of the finish line. I'm currently in the works on a dedicated. When I'm ready, I'll post!

[swithey]

Finally finished re-studding the rear wall. Here are some pics.


Removed all existing studs to make room for a new stud design. Sorry this pic ended up a bit blurry.



Here is the diagram I created before I started re-studding the wall. This will give you a sense of how the columns will fit over the studs. I know... a bit over the top but it helped me to have a plan before I started screwing in studs. Still had to re-do a few as I went but this helped immensely.



New re-studded rear wall. I now have (3) virtual areas. Left and right side for the 2'x2' bass traps and the center for the speakers and bass diffusion/tuned bass traps.

[swithey]

Originally Posted by hvn4179

Are you going to redo the existing surround walls to isolate this room from the rest of the house (I assume they haven't been done)?

hvn4179,

Since only 1 wall is exposed to living space (and that is separated by another "non-sleeping space" room - laundry room/dry bar area), I opted to stay with the builder single-drywall design. All walls have R19 insulation and the neighboring room is also equipped with more R19 insulation. I have a sold core door and will apply some weather stripping to help seal it a bit more. The room is above the garage with more insulation between. If I went double-drywall, I would need to remove all the existing texture before I applied the second layer of sheetrock. I'm not interested in the mess accompanied with that.

If I could do it again, I would have had the builder double-drywall. I just don't know how excited/willing he would have been if I asked him to put Green Glue between the layers -- might have made his head spin I can hear it now: "You want to do what?"

It's not as soundproofed as I wanted but with the bass absorbtion I'm doing in the room, it should dramatically help the "length" of the boominess heard outside the room. What you'll hear is a quick "boom, boom" outside verses "booooooooooooooom, booooooooooooooooom".

Oh and good luck on your HT. Please post your progress once you get started

[swithey]

Originally Posted by chinadog

Steve,

Looking good. Fun, isn't it? I like your color scheme as well.

Bud

Bud,

The brown paint that is on the walls now will be covered up by the fabric panels I plan to apply. I will also be painting the ceiling black (which will be mostly covered up by the coffered ceiling/star design. Here are the final color choices "my wife" decided on for the room


Left to Right: GOM Anchorage 2335 (2016 Onyx): used for fiber stars, GOM Vertical Surface Solids 2402 (278 Camel): cover column mounted speakers, GOM Anchorage 2335 (2083 Coffee Bean): cover all wall panels, Natuzzi Montecarlo: leather selection for the Natuzzi chairs.