Update Nov 2015:
The Vortex Theater was named AVSForum's "Home Theater of the Month" for November! Home Theater of the Month
Edited first post since this is finally becoming "official".
As for the name of the build, years ago in my old townhouse my friends nicknamed our place "The Vortex" because they said parties I had there sucked you in and made you unable to leave. Guess I will take that as a compliment! Since I moved into our new single family, the name came with, so I figured I'd name the build after the unofficial nickname of the house.
I'll keep the first post updated with equipment choices (when made) and post pics throughout the build.
My plan has changed at least 5 times since I started this build in March of 2014. This is the most recent equipment list and plan:
I decided to DIY pretty much everything in it since I wanted to learn a few more trades. The only thing I outsourced was carpet. I ended up building a total of 13 DIYSoundGroup.com speakers (these are AMAZING speakers for their prices. Definitely check them out - shameless plug)
This is the equipment I ended up landing on:
Video Equipment:
Projector: Sony VPL-HW55ES
Video Processing: Lumagen Mini 3D
Screen: Falcon Screens AT 130" Wide 2.35
Audio Equipment:
L/C/R Speakers: 3x Fusion Tempest 12
Surrounds: 4x Volt 10 Angled Enclosure
Atmos Ceiling: 4x Volt 6 Angled Enclosure
Subwoofers: 2x UXL-18 in ported DIYSoundGroup Stonehenge Cab tuned to 18Hz
AVR: Marantz SR7009 + AudioSource AMP-102
Subwoofer Amp: iNuke 6000DSP
Buttkicker Amp: BKA-1000N
Source Equipment:
Gaming Consoles: PS4 & Xbox One
Broadcast: TiVo Roamio with upgraded HD
Streaming: Roku 3
HTPC: Custom HTPC that will be used for Gaming & streaming videos off my home media server
Misc Equipment:
Chairs: 6x Fusion Escape in black bonded (2 rows of |o|o|o|).
Construction plan:
- DONE: Remove the sump door and make a panel in the closet to access sump room.
- DONE: Remove the double french door and frame for a 32" solid core door.
- DONE: Tear down existing walls and reframe using IB3 clips.
- DONE: Wire for all outlets, soffit lighting, rope lighting, screen wash lights, speaker wash lights, riser lights
- DONE: Pull speaker wires to the front wall, surrounds, and ceiling speakers
- DONE: Hang WhisperClips & Hat channel on the ceiling and the single wall joining the rec room
- DONE: Insulate & install double drywall & green glue
- DONE: Small stage. Just for presentation - doesn't really do much since the speakers are behind the false wall.
- DONE: Build a 14" riser that is 7' deep.
- DONE: Tape & Mud drywall
- DONE: Paint walls, ceiling, soffit.
- DONE: Build a false soffit around the entire room to house down lights as well as LED strip lights & UV lights to charge the night sky mural
- DONE: Carpet for riser/floor/stage
- DONE: Build "minimalist" screen wall
- DONE: Hang Falcon 130" AT screen and build black fabric panels for surround
- DONE: Fabric squares and acoustic treatments
- DONE: Painted Night Sky Mural star mural
Thanks for reading!
EDIT: Theater is officially complete 5/15/15!
Here's what it looked like before:
And here is what it looks like now!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Original (WAY outdated!) post:
Greetings all,
I'm taking ownership of a new construction in Ashburn, VA in a little less than two weeks. I'm very much looking forward to building a home theater in it. It has a dedicated "media room" in the finished basement that is 19'5" x 11'11" with ~ 8' 5" ceilings. So, its not terribly large in comparison to some of the monster dedicated theaters I see in this forum.
I'm trying to get some inspiration as to what I can accomplish in this space. In retrospect, I probably should have not had the builder finish the space, and then frame it myself, but its already drywalled and wired. I had them prewire in 7.1 with a projector electrical outlet in ceiling. I ended up coming in one night pre-drywall and pulled HDMI/Cat6 in the ceiling (because the LV contractor they force you to go through was absolutely ridiculous about the prices they were trying to charge for pulling HDMI in wall pre-drywall). It is hiding in the ceiling near the electrical outlet.
I plan on the screen being on the right side of the above floorplan and seating on the left. The space on the far right of the floorplan (behind where the screen is going to go) is unfinished storage with HVAC. This is where my rack is going to go for the whole house (networking, servers, A/V gear, HA gear, etc).
What I'm wondering is, has anyone on this forum done a theater in a room this size (links)? I won't be able to put up any sort of major soundproofing since the walls are already up (or am I incorrect in this?) I'd love to do two rows of 3 seats, with a riser in the back of the room. Even a small stage might be nice, but I'm afraid the doors are somewhat in the way for this.
I've already started a dialogue with BIG (since he lives about 15 minutes from me) and plan on utilizing his expertise for this project as well. He's definitely done some amazing builds.
Anyway, looking forward to some comments here and maybe browsing some other similar-sized build threads (I could only find ones that were quite a bit larger than mine. Hmm, that didn't sound right.)
The Vortex Theater was named AVSForum's "Home Theater of the Month" for November! Home Theater of the Month
Edited first post since this is finally becoming "official".
As for the name of the build, years ago in my old townhouse my friends nicknamed our place "The Vortex" because they said parties I had there sucked you in and made you unable to leave. Guess I will take that as a compliment! Since I moved into our new single family, the name came with, so I figured I'd name the build after the unofficial nickname of the house.
I'll keep the first post updated with equipment choices (when made) and post pics throughout the build.
My plan has changed at least 5 times since I started this build in March of 2014. This is the most recent equipment list and plan:
I decided to DIY pretty much everything in it since I wanted to learn a few more trades. The only thing I outsourced was carpet. I ended up building a total of 13 DIYSoundGroup.com speakers (these are AMAZING speakers for their prices. Definitely check them out - shameless plug)
This is the equipment I ended up landing on:
Video Equipment:
Projector: Sony VPL-HW55ES
Video Processing: Lumagen Mini 3D
Screen: Falcon Screens AT 130" Wide 2.35
Audio Equipment:
L/C/R Speakers: 3x Fusion Tempest 12
Surrounds: 4x Volt 10 Angled Enclosure
Atmos Ceiling: 4x Volt 6 Angled Enclosure
Subwoofers: 2x UXL-18 in ported DIYSoundGroup Stonehenge Cab tuned to 18Hz
AVR: Marantz SR7009 + AudioSource AMP-102
Subwoofer Amp: iNuke 6000DSP
Buttkicker Amp: BKA-1000N
Source Equipment:
Gaming Consoles: PS4 & Xbox One
Broadcast: TiVo Roamio with upgraded HD
Streaming: Roku 3
HTPC: Custom HTPC that will be used for Gaming & streaming videos off my home media server
Misc Equipment:
Chairs: 6x Fusion Escape in black bonded (2 rows of |o|o|o|).
Construction plan:
- DONE: Remove the sump door and make a panel in the closet to access sump room.
- DONE: Remove the double french door and frame for a 32" solid core door.
- DONE: Tear down existing walls and reframe using IB3 clips.
- DONE: Wire for all outlets, soffit lighting, rope lighting, screen wash lights, speaker wash lights, riser lights
- DONE: Pull speaker wires to the front wall, surrounds, and ceiling speakers
- DONE: Hang WhisperClips & Hat channel on the ceiling and the single wall joining the rec room
- DONE: Insulate & install double drywall & green glue
- DONE: Small stage. Just for presentation - doesn't really do much since the speakers are behind the false wall.
- DONE: Build a 14" riser that is 7' deep.
- DONE: Tape & Mud drywall
- DONE: Paint walls, ceiling, soffit.
- DONE: Build a false soffit around the entire room to house down lights as well as LED strip lights & UV lights to charge the night sky mural
- DONE: Carpet for riser/floor/stage
- DONE: Build "minimalist" screen wall
- DONE: Hang Falcon 130" AT screen and build black fabric panels for surround
- DONE: Fabric squares and acoustic treatments
- DONE: Painted Night Sky Mural star mural
Thanks for reading!
EDIT: Theater is officially complete 5/15/15!
Here's what it looked like before:
And here is what it looks like now!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Original (WAY outdated!) post:
Greetings all,
I'm taking ownership of a new construction in Ashburn, VA in a little less than two weeks. I'm very much looking forward to building a home theater in it. It has a dedicated "media room" in the finished basement that is 19'5" x 11'11" with ~ 8' 5" ceilings. So, its not terribly large in comparison to some of the monster dedicated theaters I see in this forum.
I'm trying to get some inspiration as to what I can accomplish in this space. In retrospect, I probably should have not had the builder finish the space, and then frame it myself, but its already drywalled and wired. I had them prewire in 7.1 with a projector electrical outlet in ceiling. I ended up coming in one night pre-drywall and pulled HDMI/Cat6 in the ceiling (because the LV contractor they force you to go through was absolutely ridiculous about the prices they were trying to charge for pulling HDMI in wall pre-drywall). It is hiding in the ceiling near the electrical outlet.
I plan on the screen being on the right side of the above floorplan and seating on the left. The space on the far right of the floorplan (behind where the screen is going to go) is unfinished storage with HVAC. This is where my rack is going to go for the whole house (networking, servers, A/V gear, HA gear, etc).
What I'm wondering is, has anyone on this forum done a theater in a room this size (links)? I won't be able to put up any sort of major soundproofing since the walls are already up (or am I incorrect in this?) I'd love to do two rows of 3 seats, with a riser in the back of the room. Even a small stage might be nice, but I'm afraid the doors are somewhat in the way for this.
I've already started a dialogue with BIG (since he lives about 15 minutes from me) and plan on utilizing his expertise for this project as well. He's definitely done some amazing builds.
Anyway, looking forward to some comments here and maybe browsing some other similar-sized build threads (I could only find ones that were quite a bit larger than mine. Hmm, that didn't sound right.)