AVS Forum banner

The Kiwi Media Room

3K views 11 replies 4 participants last post by  Andy Sowden 
#1 · (Edited)
Hi All, I have been across these forums for a few months mainly hanging out in the Mitsubishi 7900DW owners thread as I purchased one of these along with an Elite screen to start my first home theatre project.

It was a little harder than most as I a had to work out a cost effective way to get the projector and screen to New Zealand. Both are finally here now via sea freight.


This room has to be multipurpose and be both a kids playroom for my 2 year old daughter and her rug rat friends and I have been allowed to use it as my media room as long as I can keep things out of sight and out of prying hands as much as possible.






Above is the 3d Plan of the room currently. I am going to have the screen drop down in front of the slider door. I originally looked at having it the other way around and being on the opposite wall as per the below Photo but with the door there and opening onto the screen I could see that as being an issue.



(I was going to put a big book case along the wall in the below pic and put my AV gear, but since I have decided to put it on the other side of this wall which is a cupboard under the stairs.



I have now started the demolition of the rooms ceiling so I can try to sound proof where I can and run all of my wires for network, RG6 and speakers.





Doing demolition work with kids stuff still in the room is not the easiest but the house is full up and there is no place to move it to.





Once the ceiling was off then I put up the screen and projector to test it. One of the things I have to contend with is a low ceiling of about 7 foot 5in.
 
See less See more
6
#2 ·
Over the weekend I started on running the network cables as well as cable for the satellite TV (Sky HDi) and terrestrial areal ( UHF Freeview)


Since the ceiling was off I was able to run Cat6 and RG6 up to the TV that is in the lounge directly above. I also put an HDMI cable run from the upstairs TV area with the other cables back to the closet under the stairs which is on the other side of the wall from the media room.


The challenge we have in New Zealand is that we have horizontal nogs between our vertical studs in our walls so not only do you have to get through the top plate to run the cables but you also have to drill through two horizontal wooden nogs as well to get your cables from the top to the bottom of a wall.
 

Attachments

#3 · (Edited)
Been a while since my last update

I have been doing a lot of the behind the scenes wiring, connecting up the network and TV Ariel and satellite dish (SkyTV) as well as the 12v trigger for the Projector and screen.

I built a rack for the media closet as well as mounted some plywood for the network and TV patching.

Of course painted it all Black so it looks the part even though its hiding in the closet :)





 

Attachments

#4 ·
I have to say putting plasterboard between the joists is one not the nicest job in the world. It has taken me nearly 2 full days to complete just one layer of 1/2" (13mm) board. Of course all of my joists aren't the exact same width and then I have support blocking (noggin) between then which are not exactly straight either. So that has meant a lot of measuring and a lot of cutting or re-cutting. I know it will be worth it in the end but what a terrible job! At least the second layer which I have just started seems to be a little easier since I can measure the existing piece and just cut to that.


I am hoping to get the railing and plasterboard up next weekend so that means I think I will be working after work each night to try to get the second layer finished.


 

Attachments

#5 · (Edited)
I cant believe how long some things take to get completed in this room. I have well and truly gone over the amount of time (and money) I thought it would take me to get the room completed.


We went away for family time this weekend so not a huge amount of progress but I did manage to get the remaining speaker cable installed and made a start on the MDF box for the Elite motorized screen to be housed.


I m just about ready to get the screen box installed and then can install the rails, sound insulation, mdf light boxes and the plasterboard. The last couple of things I need to do is to re-seal some of the edges where the sound insulation chalk has dried and shrunk and left a gap as well as run some speaker wire for upstairs zone 2 outdoor speakers.

Cables from the Media room running down the wall and into the cupboard under the stairs.



Start of the Screen box



 

Attachments

#6 · (Edited)
Its been a busy weekend with some great progress. Got the rails up, MDF boxes for the screen and lights ready and the sound insulation installed. I looked into sound isolation clips but they were nearly $1000 when I priced them up and it was a cost that I could not justify on a tight budget.


Its a great feeling getting that bit closer to reaching the end :).....well the end in that its all enclosed and its just all the finishing that is needed.





Rails installed.





MDF light boxes and a couple of boxes for Atmos overhead speakers 'if' I ever upgrade in the future. Thinking maybe to 5.1.2 or possibly 7.1.2





Box ready for the screen.
 

Attachments

#8 ·
It's good to see another kiwi on these forums. I can't wait to see where you end up.
 
#9 · (Edited)
Thanks PG_rider and Jonny5nz, its great to get some encouragement when the journey takes so long :) It will be well worth it in the end. Not many of us Kiwi's on here Jonny but I think that has to do with the affordability of this 'hobby' considering the large mark-up if you buy equipment in NZ!

Major progress this weekend with getting all of the drywall/plasterboard up on the ceiling. All of the long hours and hard work of putting up dual layers of drywall/plasterboard, sound sealant, sound absorbing insulation and hundreds of feet of network, coaxel, speaker and power cable are all now covered up waiting for the plasterer who is coming tomorrow.





I love my Drywall lifter!! It allowed me to install the ceiling myself. I did get the wife to help a few times with a few of the board around the screen. I must say that was some challenging cutting of drywall and I did have to play around a little to get the right fit. The plasterer will be doing his thing (mudding I think you call it in the US?) tomorrow.






Below is the last sheet of drywall left to install. Here in New Zealand it is called Noiseline and is extra dense to help with sound control.




The finished screen box surrounded by plasterboard. I had the electrician come on Saturday and he installed a power supply in the screen box for the electric screen. I also have the 12v trigger that runs from the projector in there as well. the black wire dangling down is for the centre speaker. I don't have too many options but putting it on the ceiling with the speaker pointing down to the seating.




The below pic shows the recess for the projector. I have a Mitsubishi 7900DW that has quite a big screen offset so to combat my low ceiling then I have recessed the projector so that the lens is essentially level with the ceiling. Yes I did test it with the screen before all of the construction to ensure that the screen height worked :)

 

Attachments

#11 · (Edited)
The plasterer came today and 'mudded' the ceiling. He is back in a couple of days once its dry to sand it ready for me to paint. Its really starting to look like a room once again :) Next up this weekend - painting!!

Here is a pic taken looking at the back of the Room, which is also the entrance to room.





The next pic shows the view towards the screen. The plaster told me that I will need to possibly frame the screen box as the plaster will crack where it joins the plasterboard and MDF. I has hoped to have a rather flush join with the plasterboard and MDF box so I may just have to wait and see if it cracks.


 

Attachments

#12 · (Edited)
Well it has finally arrived! The day I finished my Home theatre.


Of course they are never really finished and here are the things to do;
  • Purchase a new AVR (Running off a HTIAB Panasonic receiver currently)
  • Decide if I want to go Atmos 5.1.2 or go 7.1 (Currently just 5.1)
  • Work out iRule to control all of my devices
  • Need to work out how to best stream content off my server. I have a HTPC but its not really that easy to control.
It was a busy weekend of painting to finish off the room and then all the little tasks such as fitting down lights, speakers, installing the screen and the projector.





Measure twice, cut once...or you miss your light box. Oops bit of plastering to fix my miscalculation on where the light should go.





Ceiling and walls all painted. Sooo over painting when I finally finished.





Projector installed. Its a Mitsubishi 7900DW





Screen up. Speakers installed.





Finished product with the screen down. I have the screen on a 12v trigger from the projector so that it goes down/up when the projector is turned on/off.





So my clean theatre lasted about one day before it started to be overtaken with toys as the intention was that this is a dual purpose room. Play room for the kids during the day and play room for the adults at night.


A lot of hours have gone into it but I am really happy with the outcome. The Picture quality of the Mitsubishi is amazing.


I am looking forward to getting a good AVR and then really getting an appreciation of the sound to go hand in hand with these great Kef 305 speakers.
 

Attachments

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top