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Spaceman Theater build

286K views 1K replies 140 participants last post by  rmerlano 
#1 · (Edited)
EDIT: added build summary and thread index to 1st post

Before & After:

Existing Floor Plan



Proposed Floor Plan (orientation rotated clockwise 90 degrees from existing floor plan). Click on image to open larger version.

Changes to the design since printing this plan image include:
1. Moving the left and right front speakers behind the screen and extending the false wall until it hit both corner bass traps.
2. This allowed me to go from a 100" 16:9 to a 115" 2.35:1 screen.
3. Shifted the 4 HVAC supplies so each one sits directly in front of one of the columns.
4. Relocated HVAC return from side wall to back right corner of room.
5. Added a 2nd can light to the equipment closet and 2 can lights to the media closet.



Proposed Ceiling Plan



Screen Wall-Before


Screen Wall-After




Back Wall-Before (was originally going to be the screen wall)


Back Wall-After


Left Wall-Before


Left Wall-After



Right Wall-Before


Right Wall-After



Ceiling-during construction



Ceiling with painted star mural by Night Sky Murals





Room Summary
2nd floor build to replace builder-grade media room. Scope of work included:
-removal of existing wetbar, carpet, & drywall
-removal of all existing electrical wiring, including outlets, switches and fixtures
-temporary removal of insulation in ceiling & exterior walls
-adding a new dedicated 20A circuit
-upgrading existing 15A circuit to 20A and rewiring entire room (new outlets, switches, dimmers and fixtures)
-installing conduit to equipment closet, projector, speakers, riser and stage
-adding new wall to create screen wall/media closet
-adding perimeter soffit
-changing vaulted ceiling to coffered ceiling
-relocating entry door
-creating arched opening to new media closet
-adding 3 additional hvac supplies and 1 return
-adding insulation to interior walls and reinstalling insulation in ceiling and exterior walls
-new drywall
-adding stage, riser and false wall
-adding acoustic treatments to front, side and rear walls
-building 4 decorative columns. 1 hides equipment rack, 2 hide side surrounds and 1 contains lighting controls
-installing 7.1 speaker system
-hiding acoustic treatments/speakers behind custom-made fabric panels
-installation of baseboards, wall trim & light trays
-painting soffit and ceiling
-painted star mural
-installing new carpet
-installing new door & threshold
-installing screen, projector, & related av equipment

Dimensions (original room)
Width: 12’-7”
Length: 19’-2”
Height: 7’-9” at walls, vaulted to 10' in center of room

Finished dimensions (after installing treatments/panels)
Width: 12’-4”
Length (back wall to front wall): 18’-7”
Length (back wall to screen): 17’-10”
Height: 7’-9” at perimeter soffit, 9’ at bottom of coffers, 10’ to top of coffers

Color Scheme
Dark brown wall fabric: Guilford of Maine FR701-Chocolate
Light brown wall fabric: Acoustex Designer Series-#60 Cocoa
Black fabric on screen wall: SyFabrics Plush Triple Velvet-Black
Trim & Door: Behr Premium Plus Interior Eggshell-Mouse Ears Black
Ceiling: Behr Premium Plus Interior Flat Enamel-equivalent to SW Jute Brown
Light tray: Behr Premium Plus Interior Flat Enamel-Bitter Chocolate
Soffit: Behr Premium Plus Interior Flat Enamel-Mouse Ears Black
Carpet: Main floor/riser: Masland, Style:Quadrate I, Color:Times Square Stage: Masland, Style: Signet, Color: Black

AV Equipment Summary
Projector: JVC RS45
Projector Mount: Chief 5" Designer Ceiling Plate #CMA-101, 3" Fixed extension column #CMS-003, RPA281 mount and SLB281 bracket
Screen: 115”wide 2.35:1 SeymourAV frame w/CenterStage XD screen fabric
LCR Speakers: (3) Atlantic Technology 727 In-wall
Side surround speakers: (2) Triad In-wall Bronze
Rear surround speakers: (2) Triad In-wall Bronze
Subwoofer: (1) Hsu Research VTF-2 MK3
Receiver: Denon 4311CI
Blu-Ray player: Panasonic DMP-BD655
CD-Changer: Technics SL-PD888
Power Console: Belkin PureAV AP21100-12 (PF31)
Remote: URC R40

Lighting Summary
Side & Rear Soffits: 4" recessed housing with 4" black baffle trim
Front Soffit: 4" recessed housing with 4" black eyeball trim
Light Trays in Coffered Ceiling: 24" Black light #7020BL
Speaker uplights behind AT screen: Kvart wall/clamp spotlight
Step Lights: Royal Pacific 8905WH Mini Indoor Incandescent Step Light

Lighting Control:
1. Master Keypad: Insteon 8-Button KeypadLinc Dimmer, wired directly to the side can lights and remotely controlling items 2-6.
2. Insteon ToggleLinc Relay Switch wired directly to step lights
3. Insteon ToggleLinc Relay Switch wired directly to black lights in light trays
4. Insteon SwitchLinc Dimmer wired directly to front can lights
5. Insteon SwitchLinc Dimmer wired directly to rear can lights
6. Speaker uplights behind screen plugged into Insteon OutletLinc Dimmer
7. Insteon IR Linc to operate all zones via universal remote

Soundproofing: None (besides adding insulation to 2 interior walls)

Acoustic Treatment Summary
Front wall: (2) 17”x17”x24” corner bass traps cut from 2" Knauf unfaced insulation board (3 pcf), 1 layer of 3.5 mil poly sheeting sandwiched between (2) 1” layers of JM Linacoustic (floor to ceiling between bass traps)

Side walls: 1” JM Linacoustic inside fabric panels, floor to ceiling from screen to 1st row, floor to ear-height from first row to back wall

Back wall: (2) 2” layers of 3pcf insulation board. First layer against wall consists of Knauf unfaced insulation boards. 2nd layer facing room consists of Certainteed CertaPro boards with FSK facing. Prior to placing fabric panels over back wall, the FSK facing was covered with black fabric to prevent the FSK from reflecting through the fabric panels. 1 of the back corners includes (1) 17”x17”x24” corner bass trap cut from 2" Knauf unfaced insulation board (3 pcf). The corner without a bass trap contains an HVAC chase for a return duct that passes through the theater.

Riser as bass trap: 2x12 perimeter frame with 2x8 joists, fully insulated with 2 layers of R19 insulation and (7) 4x10 vents along back wall

Cost Breakdown:
Project was all DIY, with the exception of adding a dedicated breaker, adding 3 additional HVAC supplies and 1 return, hanging and finishing drywall and installing carpet.

Room Improvements: $13,370.34
AV Equipment: $9,667.05
Seating: $3,124.93
Tools & Supplies: $1,267.81
Project Total: $27,430.13 (as of 1/1/13)

For a complete line item breakdown, refer to the attachments below.

Excel Spreadsheet:

Home Theater Expenses.xls 91k .xls file

PDF Version:

Home Theater Expenses.pdf 22k .pdf file

Build Timeline & Index:
Phase 1: Research & Design - 2 Years
12/3/09 - 12/1/11

Phase 2: Demolition/HVAC modifications - 2 months of actual work spread over 2 years
1/2/10 – 2/7/10 – [post="17835304"]begin demo[/post] (wetbar, walls)
2/18/10 - [post="18162229"]hvac modifications[/post]
2/19/10 – 12/1/11 – project on hold
12/1/11 – 12/31/11 – [post="18089096"]complete demo[/post] (ceiling, electrical, doors)

Phase 3: Construction - 1 Year +/-
1/1/12 - 2/10/12 - framing: [post="21579439"]walls & coffered ceiling[/post], [post="21611228"]soffits & ceiling,[/post] [post="21628329"]curved soffit at screen[/post]
1/28/12 – [post="21564257"]revised floor plan and preliminary elevations[/post]
2/10/12 – 2/29/12 – [post="21678155"]electrical[/post], including low voltage [post="21674706"]conduit[/post]
3/1/12 – 3/30/12 – [post="21847790"]insulation[/post]
4/1/12 – 4/12/12 – [post="21877668"]drywall[/post]
4/11/12 – [post="21895163"]revised plan to include 2.35:1 screen[/post]
4/16/12 – 4/26/12 – [post="21954356"]riser[/post]
4/27/12 – 5/1/12 – [post="21973325"]stage[/post]
5/11/12 – 5/21/12 – corner bass traps - [post="22011813"]1[/post], [post="22048058"]2[/post]
5/24/12 – [post="22060424"]front wall acoustic treatments[/post]
5/27/12 – [post="22070688"]front wall speaker boxes[/post]
5/29/12 – 6/21/12 – [post="22108969"]revise fabric panel design, fabric & carpet research (round 1)[/post]
6/24/12 – 7/2/12 – [post="22163782"]rear wall acoustic treatments[/post], [post="22188339"]surround speaker boxes[/post]
7/3/12 – 7/13/12 – [post="22188339"]coffered ceiling trim/light trays[/post], [post="22199473"]more light trays[/post], [post="22201568"]more light trays[/post], [post="22216286"]completed light trays[/post]
7/16/12 – [post="22225364"]columns[/post]
7/17/12 – 7/30/12 – [post="22264365"]furring strips for fabric panels[/post]
7/30/12 – 8/15/12 – [post="22289458"]fabric & carpet research (round 2)[/post]
8/17/12 – 9/10/12 – [post="22324651"]begin fabric frames[/post]
9/5/12 – [post="22373246"]final selection of fabric & carpet[/post]
9/9/12 – 9/12/12 – [post="22390961"]false wall[/post]
9/12/12 – 10/2/12 – [post="22422766"]more fabric frames[/post]
10/3/12 – [post="22457586"]fabric panel color schemes[/post]
10/7/12 – 10/18/12 – [post="22475046"]painting of soffit and fabric frames[/post]
10/10/12 – [post="22481750"]lighting control concept[/post]
10/18/12 - [post="22506141"]ceiling paint[/post]
10/19/12 – [post="22509283"]fabric dispenser[/post]
10/23/12 – 11/4/12 – [post="22529886"]adding fabric to frames[/post], [post="22548050"]more fabric[/post], [post="22557375"]more fabric[/post]
10/26/12 –[post="22530870"]bulb selection for soffits[/post]
11/5/12 - 11/11/12 – [post="22559380"]door threshold[/post]/[post="22577362"]hardware[/post] research
11/11/12 - 11/12/12 – [post="22579437"]repaint ceiling[/post], paint door
11/13/12 – 11/15/12 – carpet bids
11/19/12 – paint ceiling & floor registers & return grill
11/30/12 – [post="22647668"]star ceiling[/post]
12/11/12 – [post="22693952"]carpet install[/post]
12/17/12 – [post="22714436"]mount projector & screen[/post]
12/19/12 – [post="22722380"]temporary rack[/post]
12/20/12 - [post="22727959"]seats installed[/post]
12/29/12 - [post="22759114"]LCR speaker uplights[/post]
01/06/13 - [post="22793313"]Insteon switches installed[/post]
01/22/13 - [post="22861298"]mini riser[/post]
01/27/13 - [post="22879576"]screen wall fabric[/post]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Original 1st Post:





Well...I officially broke ground on my theater last weekend, if laying plywood in the attic counts. I also ripped down some drywall to see what was lurking behind a wall I want to remove. Before I get too much further with demo, I'd like to get the rest of my plan on paper. In order to do that, I need some constructive criticism. I'm attaching a plan of the existing room as well as a plan showing some options I have in mind. Because my room is not very deep, I am having to place the 2nd row fairly close to the back wall, so I have some concerns with acoustics. I'm also not sure where to locate the rear speakers since the 2nd row is so far back. I'm also fairly close to the screen in one option and I'd like to hear from those of you who are sitting at 9' or less to hear how large your screens are. I have a few questions/comments included on the attachments, so any feedback would be appreciated.

I'm looking forward to many more posts as I plan to document my build as it moves along. Hopefully some more demo this weekend.
 

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18
#77 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by 230-SEAN /forum/post/21648894


Just curious as how you measure the viewing angle? I have no idea how to do that, it is probably an important thing to know, lol.


-Sean

AutoCAD did it for me.
Someone that did better in trigonometry is going to have to weigh in.
 
#78 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by jautor /forum/post/21648986


I did the same thing, but I wish i had put a few outlets on the 'rack' circuit. With all the adjustments to the lighting/installation, it would have made it much easier to plug in temp lights in the room when the 'lighting' circuit was off. In hindsight, I sort of had that because of the PowerBridge (didn't think of that until now) which also connected the front wall outets...


(and every time I see those ceiling pictures I think I've somehow clicked on my build thread instead...
)


Jeff

You should be confused. It's YOUR ceiling in MY room.
 
#79 ·
What is the preferred way to secure romex? Hard staples and a hammer or one of these?
http://www.amazon.com/Arrow-Wire-Cab...ef=pd_sim_hi_3

It sounds like many of the staplers aren't able to fully seat a staple so you have to go back and pound them in anyway. I didn't get a chance to see how the electricians did it today, but it sounded like they were using a hammer. I'll have quite a bit to do over the next few days and am interested in the easiest way.
 
#81 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by 230-SEAN /forum/post/0


Just curious as how you measure the viewing angle? I have no idea how to do that, it is probably an important thing to know, lol.


-Sean

You can use trigonometry to calculate the viewing angle. Measure the vertical distance from your eyes to the top of the screen. Then measure the horizontal distance from your eyes to the surface of the screen. This gives you a right triangle with these two distances as the legs. To find the angle you use the inverse tangent function of the opposite leg over the adjacent leg.


So it's tan^-1(vertical distance/horizontal distance)


This will give you the angle that you will need to tilt your head to have your eyes pointing at the top of the screen.


BTW Spaceman the room is looking really good. I second the recommendation to use staples and a hammer. They aren't too difficult to drive and if you end up boring holes through your walls then most of the wire will be supported without staples.
 
#82 ·
I've been trying to come up with a simple way to control my lighting. The current plan is for 5 zones:

-3 can lights over screen on dimmer

-2 can lights in rear soffit on dimmer

-6 can lights in right & left soffits on dimmer (3 in each soffit)

-rope lights in ceiling on dimmer

-step lights on switch (should these be on a dimmer?)


I've been looking at the Insteon dimmers that can be controlled by the IRLinc IR to Insteon converter module.
http://www.insteon.net/2476d-switchl...mer-white.html
http://www.insteon.net/2411R-IRLinc.html


I don't have a lot of room by my entry door for 4 or 5 dimmers needed to control the zones mentioned above. I was thinking of placing just one of these by the door
http://www.insteon.net/2486dwh6-keypadlinc.html and have the actual dimmers further down the wall or even in the equipment closet. I could then use the keypad as a main switch when coming into the room and then once in my seat, control everything by the remote (either with Insteon's supplied remote but preferably with a Harmony).


I have absolutley zero experience when it comes to home automation so I don't know if this is the best or most cost effective solution for what I'm trying to do. My goal is to control dimming for individual zones with a remote, or have them automated when I press play on the Blu-Ray player. An uncluttered entry with just one wall plate is preferred, but I could probably make room for (3) 2-gang boxes at the entry if I had to. And like everything else in my build, an economical but reliable solution is the goal. If I could have an automated lighting system for around $4-500, I'd be happy.


Am I on the right track? Are there other systems I should look at?
 
#83 ·
I would take a look at Lutron Grafik Eyes. They are a lighting controller that fits in a 4-gang box. Looks kind of like your house's thermostat. The Grafik Eyes make it really easy to program different lighting scenes. So you could have a scene for when you walk in and then when you press "watch a movie" on the harmony it automatically adjusts the lights to the desired level. They can get kind of expensive though but eBay might have some used for cheaper. If you can drop down to 4-zones them some cheaper models may open up for you. Maybe do the step lights on a motion sensing switch so that they come on when someone walks by?
 
#84 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by aaustin /forum/post/21652352


BTW Spaceman the room is looking really good. I second the recommendation to use staples and a hammer. They aren't too difficult to drive and if you end up boring holes through your walls then most of the wire will be supported without staples.

Thanks aaustin. Staples and hammer it is. Hope to get the can light housings up today (got sidetracked browsing EBay for Grafikeyes and have already lost an hour). Maybe I'll be running wire this weekend.


Regarding my lighting control options, would the Lutron Spacer system be comparible to the Insteon system? Too many choices!! And in case you couldn't tell by now, I'm not the best at making a final decision. Analysis paralysis gets the best of me sometimes, ok, most times. Just ask my wife how long it took us to pick out a refrigerator (repeat trips to multiple stores). Or better yet, how long I spent in the tool aisle at HD trying to select the best magnetic bit holder/drive guide. The sales associate finally felt bad for her and asked if he should come help me.


Good thing you guys stepped up and helped me on my romex staple issue or I would have a spreadsheet going comparing features of different staplers.
 
#86 ·
You will find that I'm definitely in the minority in not doing the DD/GG with decoupling. It's not that I'm not a believer in the benefits. I had considered it, but quickly realized that one small mistake along the way pretty much ruins all of the effort/money spent trying to accomplish sonic nirvana. Based on my skill set, I'm pretty sure I would have made at least 1, if not 10 mistakes along the way. Believe me, I'm as anal as the rest of the folks on here (take that as a compliment guys and gals), but the learning curve and potential for failure was not worth it to me, based on all of the other things I need to master in order to pull off this build.


We also do the majority of our movie watching as a family, so there really isn't any late night reference level movie watching going on after the kids go to bed. I guess lowering the noise floor in the room by reducing outside noises would be nice, but we live in a very quiet neighborhood on a large lot. I really didn't see the need to go through all of that trouble. My theater is also on the 2nd floor, so I would have had to address the floor as well as the ceiling.


If you have the time/money and energy to do it right, by all means go for it. I'm sure you will be very happy. I think it all depends on your particular situation.
 
#87 ·
Based on what I have seen of your work so far you should not doubt your abilities to decouple the room. Almost everyone on this forum has no experience with these decoupling techniques and manage to get it right. I would not let the experiences of a few skew your ideas of how difficult it is. I can assure you that the experience in that recent thread is not typical. In my room I still have a lot of little things to do like seal up some holes - door seals etc. If you read that recent thread you would assume that something like the door not being sealed would completely defeat all my efforts and I can tell you that just isn't true. Even with the door wide open, the room still contains a lot of the sound from the floor above.


I can understand not doing it because of cost / time or other factors but don't doubt your abilities to do the work.
 
#88 ·
Thanks for the words of encouragement, Stockmonkey. Cost also played a part (being unemployed at the moment), but mostly the decision was based on our viewing habits (don't really watch movies late at night) and the noise level in our neighborhood (or lack of). My closest neighbor is several hundred feet away. If we still lived in California where the wall of the neighbor's house was literally 10' from our house, I would certainly reconsider my approach.
 
#89 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Spaceman /forum/post/21653568


Regarding my lighting control options, would the Lutron Spacer system be comparible to the Insteon system?

Spaceman, I'm also currently reviewing options for lighting control in my media room (half HT, half play area). I've installed Lutron's spacer system in my last to homes and never had any issues with. However, the biggest drawback is that it's IR, so you need line of sight to the switch or switches.


With the Insteon system, which I'm leaning toward, it is dual band (RF and over the Wire). So you can control multiple switches without line of sight to any of them. You also have the advantage that all your wiring doesn't have to run back to one electrical gang (like you do with a Graphic Eye).


Everyone, I'm still researching lighting options so if I misspoke feel free to correct me.
 
#90 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by mwehnes /forum/post/21664524


Spaceman, I'm also currently reviewing options for lighting control in my media room (half HT, half play area). I've installed Lutron's spacer system in my last to homes and never had any issues with. However, the biggest drawback is that it's IR, so you need line of sight to the switch or switches.


With the Insteon system, which I'm leaning toward, it is dual band (RF and over the Wire). So you can control multiple switches without line of sight to any of them. You also have the advantage that all your wiring doesn't have to run back to one electrical gang (like you do with a Graphic Eye).


Everyone, I'm still researching lighting options so if I misspoke feel free to correct me.


Hopefully this is not hijacking the thread, but I am a newbie at home automation. If I ALREADY have everything "wired" and now realize that I have a bit more money to try and control a few lights...is the Insteon System what I want? Do you simply REPLACE existing switches and then away you go ? Or do you have to "rewire"...can't seem to find a simply HOW TO guide anywhere ?
 
#91 ·
Recent progress includes installing (11) can lights around the perimeter of the room, relocating (4) hvac supplies to the soffit and running some of the conduit.


I have a few locations where the conduit can only enter the low voltage bracket from the back instead of from the top or bottom. I added some 2x4 blocking behind the box with a 1 1/2" hole



I had hoped to use one of these to secure the conduit to the back of the blocking



Unfortunately, this isn't a common fitting carried by the big box stores and I didn't feel like tracking them down through an electrical supply house, so I came up with the following:


-(1) Carlon 3/4" ENT male adapter (blue fitting) (same fitting used to connect to the top or bottom of the low voltage bracket)

-(1) Lasco 3/4" SCH40 riser extender (white fitting)

-(2) 1" to 3/4" reducing washers

-(1) 3/4" conduit locknut

-2 1/2"x2 1/2"x1/2" plywood spacer with 1 1/2" hole



Attached the 3/4" male adapter to the end of the conduit



Loosely placed one of the reducing washers over the threads of the 3/4" male adapter



Screwed the white riser extender onto the male adapter, sandwiching the washer in between the two fittings



Inserted end of conduit through the back of the 2x4 blocking until the reducing washer was snug with the back of the blocking



The threads on the white riser extender were too far past the face of the 2x4 to get a snug fit, so I had to create a wooden spacer out of 1/2" plywood.



The wooden spacer and a second reducing washer get slipped over the end of the white riser extender



and secured with the 3/4" locknut




Nice and snug



Kudos to my 6 and 10 year olds, who managed to entertain themselves in the conduit/fittings aisle while I figured all of this out.
 
#92 ·
More progress......


6 boxes set for rope lighting. These will be hidden behind the light tray.





Right wall with 3 can lights and 2 hvac supply registers. Lights are centered between the columns and will wash the wall. HVAC registers are centered over the columns.





Left wall with 3 can lights and 2 hvac supply registers, including some 1 1/2" conduit coming into the back of the equipment closet. One run will go under the riser to a keystone wall plate. The other goes to a keystone wall plate in the back corner of the room. I need to pick up a few more couplers to complete these conduit runs. All of the other conduit goes up into the attic to a custom pull box/chase, where all wire will be bundled and run to the equipment closet through a single (or perhaps double) 2" conduit.







Rear wall with conduit runs to rear surrounds and sub. Also have 2 can lights up in the soffit. I would like to place my HVAC return in the bottom of the soffit between the two lights, but this is where I had planned to mount the projector. Sliding the projector forward and running a pole off the next tier of the ceiling is an option but I think people will be banging their heads as they stand up from the rear seats. This area is sort of a head-scratcher at the moment. I'd like to get the return somewhere in this vicinity so it can help pull hot air away from the projector but I'm having a hard time finding a home for it.





Front wall with conduit to LCRs. Also installed the 3 can lights over the screen. These will get the eyeball trim while the other cans get standard trim.
 
#93 ·
I'm getting ready to start wiring my recessed lighting. I'll have 3 zones for the following areas:

-2 lights in the rear soffit

-6 cans in the left and right soffits (3 cans/side)

-3 cans over the screen


I was originally going to daisy chain the lights in each zone together, using the push-type connectors that came with the housings. Then I started to wonder if pigtailing would be better (so if something happened with one light, the others would still work). Now I'm wondering if it's really worth the extra time to pigtail since I have so few lights on each zone? I should be able to quickly diagnose a problem if a zone with only two lights goes out. Of course, it might be fairly quick to pigtail a zone with only two lights. Thoughts?


EDIT: Should I take any preventive measures to keep the wire connections from rattling around in the box during heavy bass scenes or is this really not a concern?
 
#94 ·
I've finished running wire to my lights and am starting runs to the outlets. I have two runs that will ultimately go under my riser, one that will be switched for the step lights and another unswitched run for the riser outlets. I installed 1 1/2" conduit that starts in the attic and elbows through the side wall of the theater into the area that will be under the riser. The plan was to pull the 2 romex wires through this conduit once drywall was up, but I am a little confused as to whether romex can even be run through conduit.


Depending on the source, I've read conflicting reports on whether it is allowed in interior applications. Most say that THHN wire needs to be used within conduit due to heat issues. Can someone who is familiar with the code clarify this for me?
 
#95 ·
Why run romex through the conduit? I would run all the wiring I can outside of the conduit and use the conduit for future runs. If you know there is a wire you are going to need go ahead and run that through the walls - The conduit is for the wires you don't realize you need and will run later. Its not really that easy running wire through conduit anyway especially the smurf tube flexible stuff - much easier to drill holes and pull the wiring. Stiff Romex would be especially hard to pull through the smurf tube.


You also do not need to worry about using the push connectors that come with the lights. The other lights can still work if something goes wrong with a light. The push connectors are the same as 'pigtailing' everything together. The wire connections should not rattle if they are stapled close to the box and you use a bushing on the hole punchout.


Your framing work looks very nice but it is still hard for me to get a vision of what the ceiling looks like - can't wait to see what it looks like with drywall up.
 
#96 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by stockmonkey2000 /forum/post/21707370


Why run romex through the conduit? I would run all the wiring I can outside of the conduit and use the conduit for future runs. If you know there is a wire you are going to need go ahead and run that through the walls - The conduit is for the wires you don't realize you need and will run later. Its not really that easy running wire through conduit anyway especially the smurf tube flexible stuff - much easier to drill holes and pull the wiring. Stiff Romex would be especially hard to pull through the smurf tube.

The smurf tube is only for speaker and sub wire. It's not really necessary but for minimal cost, I felt more comfortable using it.


98% of the romex will be outside conduit with the exception of the run to and under the riser, which I was going to run through 1 1/2" Sch40 PVC conduit (not smurf tube). I just wasn't quite sure how to handle the pull into the riser area without conduit. If I was putting up the drywall myself, I would simply cut a small hole in the drywall and pull the wire through as the sheet is placed on the wall. I'm assuming that is how Morph and Big handled all of these wire drops at the Black Cat Theater


But I'm not doing the drywall myself, so I thought conduit would be the simplest way for both me and the drywall guys. Since there won't be a box or LV bracket on the wall for the drywall guys to trim to, I would have to ask them to pull the 4-5' of wire through the drywall as they install it. I thought 1) they wouldn't want to do this, 2) they would forget to do it, 3) they would do it in the wrong spot, hence the 1 1/2" conduit. Is there a better way?


I thought about eliminating the conduit and putting a 1 or 2-gang LV bracket at the location where the romex would come through the drywall. This would give them something to trim to and give me a backless box that would make it fairly easy to fish the wire out of the wall. Would this be better than conduit?
 
#97 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by stockmonkey2000 /forum/post/21707370


Your framing work looks very nice but it is still hard for me to get a vision of what the ceiling looks like - can't wait to see what it looks like with drywall up.

Thanks. The goal is to have something like Jautor's ceiling.
 
#99 ·
Busted!!
 
#100 ·
Thought I would check in one more time to see if a Sparky with knowledge of the code can weigh in on whether I can run (2) 12-2 romex cables inside a 1 1/2" Sch40 PVC conduit? I've read that THHN should be used instead of romex, at least for exterior applications but can't find a definitive answer for interior use.
 
#101 ·
I'm just about done with insulation and will be getting drywall bids next week. I'm in the process of sourcing my acoustic treatments, based on the following plan:

-4" OC703 or equal on the back wall, full height

-1" Linacoustic on side walls, full height for front 25%, ear height for remaining 75%

-2" Linacoustic on front wall (2- 1" layers), full height

-2" OC703 stacked in corners


Before pulling the trigger on the Linacoustic for the front and side walls, I want to make sure that it will perform as well as OC703. I believe Linacoustic is only 1.5pcf, and it seems that most recommendations are to use material that is at least 3pcf. Is that correct?


Will there be a noticeable difference if my front wall has (2) 1" layers of Linacoustic vs. a single 2" layer of OC703? Would 1" OC703 be better on the side walls instead of 1" Linacoustic? The numbers seem very close in BobGolds absorption chart, assuming a double layer of 1" Linacoustic acts the same as a single 2" layer.


The Linacoustic is about half the price of OC703 or other rigid fiberglass panels, so it would be my preferred choice assuming the performance is about the same.
 
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