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Deadwood Theater Comes Alive

94K views 455 replies 98 participants last post by  Sam Ash 
#1 · (Edited)
After 6 months of planning/CAD, and another 6 months of construction, not to mention concurrent perusing of the many inspirational threads here, I'm posting the results of converting my second floor bonus room, 11.5’ x 17’ x 8’. More talk later, first have a peek.









Equipment console with AV processor, CD player, BD player, and BassQ processor


Full screen 16x9


2.40:1 Wide screen


Two of the four new HSU subwoofers. When the screen is retracted into the soffit, the windows (and removable plugs) are visible.


The motorized screen is programmed to stop at 16x9 and 2.40:1 aspect ratios (same width), and can roll down enough to achieve a 2.7:1 aspect ratio--not that it will be needed. The picture below shows how the screen rides behind an 8' flat acoustic panel which masks the bottom, and a pair of ASC half round bass traps on either side which hide the screen tensioners.


Shows the right side wall, and the lighted stairs. The surround speakers are behind the grill cloth frames.






The door, right smack in the middle of the side wall first reflection points, has a Perf-Sorber panel, with cutout for the handle. There is another such panel on the opposite wall.


Why I call it the Deadwood.


Custom carved sign over door


I should probably mention that, IMHO, the room sounds great, and the projected picture really impresses me.
 

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#2 · (Edited)
Screen
106” diag 16:9 Da-Lite Tensioned Advantage Electrol, High Contrast Cinema Vision surface, 22” total drop, SCB-200 and IR-200 remote. Bottom of screen drops behind fixed masking (acoustic) panel 30” above floor. IR control calls preset drop positions. Max aspect ratio 2.70:1. Screen fully retracts to expose windows when not in use. Here's how I programmed the SCB-200 screen controller.

Speakers
L/R Aerial Acoustics 7B
C Aerial Acoustics CC3B
While the pictures show the Aerial SW12, that has been sold.
4 Hsu ULS-15 subs are now installed (as of 8/2010) See post 49 for more details.
4 surrounds: B&W CWM-8180 in-walls in custom back boxes lined with MLV
4 heights: Tannoy Di 6DC

Electronics
Projector
JVC DLA-RS10
· mounted with lens aligned to top of screen in 16x9 position
· 15’ throw
· sits in open frame rack for good air flow

Amplifiers
· Anthem MCA50 for C & 4 surrounds
· Classe CAV-150 for L/R & 4 heights
AV processor: Classe SSP-800 for PLIIx 7.1; Marantz AV7702 for Atmos 7.4.4 and Auro-3D 5.4.4
DVR/OTA tuner: DirecTV Genie HR44 & C41 Mini
Blu-ray / DVD player: Oppo BDP-93, Sony BDP-S3200 (for Atmos)
CD player: Sony CDP-X55
Media Player: AppleTV, Gen1 160GB for photos and CD collection, all ripped AIFF

APC UPS for AppleTV/SSP-800/AV7702

Furniture
Custom oak stand for amps and C speaker with angled top
Ekornes Stressless Arion 3-seat recliner (2 rows) with low backs to prevent blocking the surrounds. Front row has matching ottoman.
Equipment console, model Santa Fe, made by Prestige Furniture.

Lighting
Installed 13 35W soffit spots in 4” Halo cans to supplement the four existing 50W ceiling floods

6 Lutron RadioRA dimmers drive these light groups:
Rear room soffit spots (6)
Front room soffit spots (7)
Ceiling recessed floods (4)
Stair/riser 20” incandescent strips (2)
Accent lamps on riser end tables (2)
Floor lamp
The RadioRA remote calls 5 scenes plus all on/off
 
#3 ·
Acoustic isolation
  • 300 lb STC-56 door to keep sound out of main hallway
  • QuietRock510 on common wall with GreenGlue/SilenSeal
  • Over subfloor is layer of original carpet (pad removed), ¾” T&G OSB/GG/5/8” plywood, MLV, felt pad, carpet.

Acoustic treatment
  • 13” riser built over foam carpet pad, filled with pink insulation, 5 vents on top for bass trapping. ½” felt pad under carpet.
  • 2” Quest Perf-Sorbers for side-wall first reflections
  • 2” absorber ceiling cloud for first reflections ( AcousticsFirst )
  • 2” absorber inserts for all windows to block light, reduce sound intrusion, and provide absorption on front/rear walls (AcousticsFirst)
  • 4.5” diffusors on side-surround walls (Model C, AcousticsFirst)
  • side soffits have carpet inserts on bottom surfaces to reduce reflections and pass LF to 5.5” cotton insulation inside
  • 1” 2’x8’ absorber panel under screen acts as lower masking (AcousticsFirst)
  • ASC Tube Traps (20” half round x 7’ tall) in front L/R corners flanking screen
  • Custom ASC triangular (15”x20”x3’ tall) bass absorbers in rear corners coupled into riser


The ceiling cloud is suspended by wires from eyelets, and they looked ugly, so I cut some 4" sections of foam pipe insulation and covered them with it. Cheap and cheerful, as they say! The front side of the timber frame is painted black to reduce reflections back onto the screen, as it sits only a couple feet away.
 
#289 ·
Acoustic treatment
  • 4.5” diffusors on side-surround walls (Model C, AcousticsFirst)
How's the paint holding up on those diffusors? I've had trouble getting paint to stick to Thermoplastic, maybe I didn't prep the plastic right but I was afraid to mess with them too much. My solution was to cover them with grill cloth but I think these look cool.

Thanks for sharing your theater with all of us!

Cheers,
 
#4 · (Edited)
Rear windows


Front windows, and some AV gear awaiting a purpose


Door with partial framing


Backboxes installed
 

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#5 · (Edited)
As the room was already complete with drywall, I chose not to open them to run wires. All power and low voltage AV wires are inside the room envelope. Mostly, inside the soffits. To gain access to run/change wiring, the side panels flip open on Blum 170-deg hinges. The side/rear panels have gaps between slots to allow air circulation.






The amp rack is made out of oak bits from Lowes. The shelves are 4' stair treads cut in half, then biscuit jointed. No sagging allowed! The top shelf tilts the C speaker up 5º.


Cosmetics
  • Ceiling and front wall painted black (Sherwin Williams 6990 Caviar)
  • Side walls and diffusors painted deep red (Sherwin Williams 7593 Rustic Red)
  • Acoustic panels in GOM 408 black
  • Carpet Style Contour, color Olive Branch
  • Timber frame: resawn douglas fir
  • Door casing and baseboards: knotty alder
  • Soffit side panels: hemlock
  • All woods finished with Polyshades Pecan satin
 

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#6 · (Edited)
Atmos being added

Oct 2014 update. Added 4 height speakers as shown. Marantz AV7702 in Nov 2014.

Speaker locations given in polar coordinates (azimuth, elevation):
L/R Aerial 7B, ±30º, 0º
C, Aerial CC3B, 0º, -7º
4 surrounds B&W CWM-8180. Ls/Rs, ±100º, 22º; Lb/Rb, ±140º, 21º
4 heights Tannoy Di6 DC.Front tops ±32º, 38º;Rear tops ±135º, 43º

The following 3 diagrams show the "Dolby style" speaker angles. Fun with numbers. The actual vertical separation between the fronts/tops is 38º, and between the back surrounds/tops is 21º. Using the Dolby numbers one might think it is 41º and 33º, respectively. Much the same for the fronts, but quite a difference in the rear. This happens because the azimuths are wider for the rear tops than the front tops.

Plan view


Side view


Front view (looking toward screen)




Looking forward from MLP


From MLP. a look over the shoulder. (Not my actual surrounds, but a model I found at Sketchup warehouse.)


Height speakers installed.


A view from the screen:


Looking at left wall from doorway:


Front of room
 

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#341 ·
Great room

Oct 2014 update. Added 4 height speakers as shown. Marantz AV7702 in Nov 2014.

Speaker locations given in polar coordinates (azimuth, elevation):
L/R Aerial 7B, ±30º, 0º
C, Aerial CC3B, 0º, -7º
4 surrounds B&W CWM-8180. Ls/Rs, ±100º, 22º; Lb/Rb, ±140º, 21º
4 heights Tannoy Di6 DC.Front tops ±32º, 38º;Rear tops ±135º, 43º

The following 3 diagrams show the "Dolby style" speaker angles. Fun with numbers. The actual vertical separation between the fronts/tops is 38º, and between the back surrounds/tops is 21º. Using the Dolby numbers one might think it is 41º and 33º, respectively. Much the same for the fronts, but quite a difference in the rear. This happens because the azimuths are wider for the rear tops than the front tops.

Plan view


Side view


Front view (looking toward screen)




Looking forward from MLP


From MLP. a look over the shoulder. (Not my actual surrounds, but a model I found at Sketchup warehouse.)


Height speakers installed.


A view from the screen:


Looking at left wall from doorway:


Front of room
I love the diffuser on the side walls with acoustic panels.

They look like these http://www.vicoustic.com/hifi-home-cinema/products/acoustic-treatment/diffusion/panel/317
 
#8 ·
I like it RD; a nice mix between HT and a kick-ass listening room...with great Classe gear to boot. Any chance you documented your window-plug design? It looks really clean.


CD
 
#13 ·
Thank you all for the kind comments!

Quote:
Originally Posted by CDLehner /forum/post/17170498


I like it RD; a nice mix between HT and a kick-ass listening room...with great Classe gear to boot. Any chance you documented your window-plug design? It looks really clean.

The window plugs are just 2" thick acoustic panels from AcousticsFirst. They have half beveled, hardened edges, so they will not get mushy over time. I added black felt backing (3M 77!) to cover the exposed yellow fill, as they don't have a full wrap option. Also made handle pulls out of alder trim, screwed from the back thru fender washers. The plugs just slide into the window cavities, which are 4" deep, and hold themselves in there. There's three in front and two larger ones in the rear. I was lucky they came out exactly the size I specified--they stay put, yet come out easily.

Quote:
Originally Posted by gitSehT /forum/post/17170953


Those acoustical panels look great, can you provide some details?

If you mean those red, lumpy things, those are Model C diffusors from AcousticsFirst. Had them spray painted by a local guy with the latex wall paint. Each was stuffed with loose fiberglass (same as in the riser) before sealing them to the wall (SilenSeal) to reduce resonance--which really works (thanks to Keith Yates for that sage advice!). To hide the joints between panels and around the edges, I used "1 by 2" poplar. I probably could have used half as many panels, eliminating the upper row up against the soffit, but I didn't want more absorption, nor slap echos, and they look interesting...



Added a picture in Post 3 showing the ceiling cloud. Like the other black panels, it's 2" thick, from AcousticsFirst--came with a hanging frame glued on.


The only panels that are not from them are the Perf-Sorbers on the side wall first reflection points, which can be seen in Post 1. They look the same as the others, but there's a layer of perforated foil under the GOM, and another one sandwiched between the two 1" layers of fiberglass, so they have different acoustic properties than a normal absorber.
 
#15 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by whiskey alpha /forum/post/17173695


Beautiful!!! It's nice to see the front channels in the room instead of hiden behind the screen or panels.

Thanks for that. As others have observed, I favor music as much or more than movies, so didn't want the screen influencing the sound. Tony Grimani's excellent articles in issues 140/141 of Widescreen Review went to great pains to determine just how 'T' those AT screens are. Some are quite good, but the best are not yet in motorized form, which I must have.


Visually, it's all a lot less busy looking when the lights are off for a movie. They do not distract at all.


I made sure to keep the C speaker as high as possible, and it's only 8" below the L/R, wrt tweeter/midrange. Keeping the L/C/R away from chambers, baffles, and corners I think helps the sound quality, too.
 
#16 ·
Awesome room - nice job. The soffit is very clever. Did you have to take any measures to keep the soffit from rattling?
 
#18 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by kjlewie /forum/post/17266665


Awesome room - nice job. The soffit is very clever. Did you have to take any measures to keep the soffit from rattling?

Thanks! I plowed ahead with the soffit construction and figured I'd deal with rattles if/when they reared their head. They don't rattle at all. I suspect that's because the "door" is not in contact with the ceiling, and that the self-closing hinges are spring-loaded.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jdholmes /forum/post/17266872


I really like the look of the soffit...did you take any progress shots or make any plans for it during the build?

About all I have is the CAD drawing I used to play with the design of the door slats, attached. This a cross section, and the slats are "1x4" 12' long strips of hemlock right off the rack. For scale, the blue squares are 1.5". If you have any particular questions, let me know.
 
#20 ·
Beautiful theater. I concur- a ht room with a pro-audiophile stance is a great way to go.


Victor
 
#21 · (Edited)
Quote: Originally Posted by Elill

Almost the exact same size as mine, I am really struggling to get a 2nd row in. What distance is the first row at in yours?


Front row (eyeballs) are 10' from front wall, and rear row's are 14.5'. The smaller than typical 4.5' row spacing is possible because there are no footrests on the seats. Many of my guests prefer the back row, and there's room to cross their legs, so it appears to work fine. Nice to have the option for two different sight/sound perspectives. And they are different.

Here's a scale diagram of the room.
 

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#24 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Roger Dressler /forum/post/17335554


Front row (eyeballs) are 10' from front wall, and rear row's are 14.5'. The smaller than typical 4.5' row spacing is possible because there are no footrests on the seats. Many of my guests prefer the back row, so it appears to work fine. Nice to have the option for two different sight/sound perspectives. And they are different.

Sweet, did you do it all yourself!


I wish I was that handy
 
#25 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by wse /forum/post/17424611


Sweet, did you do it all yourself!


I wish I was that handy

Thanks! Yes, the only things I jobbed out were some HVAC ducting, carpeting, hefting the 300-lb door up the stairs
, and a carved sign for the doorway (picture added in Post 1).
 
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