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Arctic Build

14K views 163 replies 19 participants last post by  arcticbowman 
#1 · (Edited)
Arctic Build (DIY in progress)

Construction started early November 2016, was hoping to be done by summer of 2017, but I can tell this will be an ongoing process to tweak, adjust and fine tune the theater. I built this house in 2006-2007 and the first room I framed in the basement was our future home theater. Pretty much everything else was completed in the house with the exception of the theater and bar area. The boss lady finally give me some allowance to get it done so we could enjoy it before the kids start moving out of the house. I started drawing up the plans with my brother at the end of October, and the first nails were driven around the second week of November. Initial goal was to have it done by superbowl in early February, but that was a bit overly optimistic.

Going into this build, I had very little knowledge on home theater design and options. I've learned so much on the AVS forums and tried to incorporate as much as I could into my build. From AT screens, ATMOS surrounds, star ceilings, room acoustics, etc, there was so much to learn that it really slowed the construction down, but will be well worth it in the end.

Room dimensions are as follows:

13'3" wide
25' deep (includes a ~32" deep turret behind the screen)
100" ceilings.

The back wall (turret) where the screen is and one side wall are insulated concrete forms. The opposite side wall is a retaining wall and is roughly 10" deep. The back wall is framed in 2X4. I have 3 runs pulled into the room from the 100amp subpanel, as well as a phone line and two cable lines. There are no windows in the room. The ceiling was mostly decoupled with a 2X6 framed drop ceiling to house a 6'X10' fiber optic star ceiling. The wood framed side wall is roughly 10" deep because I decoupled the original 2X6 wall with a 2X4 wall. Roxul insulation was used throughout the walls. Since this is in our house, I didn't focus much attention on controlling the sound coming out of the theater.

A 12" riser was built to accommodate 4 HTMarket Pembroke recliners in a double loveseat configuration. A matching set of recliners are in front of the riser at floor level. By seating 8, I will end up with the chairs fairly close to the side wall on the opposite end from the door, and a 32-26" hallway on one side. I installed speaker mounts for the side and rear speakers slightly elevated and angled down towards the listeners. 4 ATMOS speakers were installed in the ceiling with 2 slightly in front of the front row and the other 2 slightly behind the rear row of seats.


A 19" tall riser with a radius front was built for the screen wall that the front speakers will sit on behind the AT screen. The ICF wall was framed with 2X4's and 2X2's to allow 2" of OC703 boards with a 1.5" air gap to be installed. 100% black polyester fabric was stretched over the boards to give it a clean look and provide a dark backing for the screen. Royalty 3 velvet from JoAnn's was used to cover the plywood where the speakers would sit. An LED light strip will be installed behind the screen to illuminate the speakers behind it.


Future plan is to move one of the two Klipsch 15" subs to the rear of the room in a cubby specifically built for it. The two 15's up front will be replaced with a pair of 18" or 21" DIY subs that will be placed between the LCR's. I also installed two extra ceiling speaker boxes which are wired back to the AV cabinet in case a receiver comes out that can handle 7.2.6 ATMOS. (Denon 8500!)

Equipment and supplies used in the theater are as follows:

Projector: Sony VPL HW45ES https://www.crutchfield.com/p_158HW45ES/Sony-VPL-HW45ES.html?tp=164
Projector Mount: Peerless PRG-UNV https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000TXNS6G/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
OPPO UDP-203 Blu Ray Player https://www.crutchfield.com/p_768UDP203/Oppo-UDP-203.html?search=OPPO_203&skipvs=T
Harmony Elite Remote with hub and app https://www.crutchfield.com/p_596ELITE/Logitech-Harmony-Elite.html?search=harmony_elite&skipvs=T
Nvidia Shield Streaming Device
DirecTV

Screen: Seymour AT 137.7" UF premier frame http://www.seymourav.com/screensfixed.asp

Speakers: http://www.acousticsounddesign.com/
7.2.4 Klipsch Set Up
Fronts & Center: RP-280F
Subs: 2 X RP-115SW
Front Surrounds: RP-250S
Rear Surrounds: Klipsch R-5800W-II
ATMOS in ceiling: 4X (hopefully soon to be 6X) Klipsch CDT-5800-C II

Receiver:
Denon 11.2 AVR-X6300H https://www.amazon.com/Denon-AVRX63...TF8&qid=1493240950&sr=1-1&keywords=denon+6300

Seating:
HT Market Pembroke Black Recliners - 52043. Two rows, dual loveseats in each row. http://www.htmarket.com/htdepehothse.html
IOOIOOI
IOOIOOI

6'X10' Star Ceiling:
Build thread: http://www.avsforum.com/forum/19-de...ber-optic-star-ceiling-1-1-2-foam-boards.html
Wiedemark 288 strand with 3 size fibers http://www.wiedamark.com/288ledstarceiling.aspx
32' LED light strip from Amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00WRDG9CQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
1&1/2" foam insulation framed in with 2X6
Black poly fabric from JoAnn's ~76" wide


Lighting:

10 - 4" can lights on dimmers were installed around the star ceiling to provide the main lighting.
4 - 2" GU10 lights were installed over the screen to illuminate the front of the screen and the forward portion of the theater
2 LED night lights in the rear speaker boxes to illuminate the speakers behind the cloth https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000LWIRE8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1


AV Cabinet was custom built with Infinity fans to draw in cool air and vent out hot air into the bar area. A little more organizing needs to happen in the cabinet, including figuring out what the plan is for doors. The lower two shelves pull out and the top two shelves are adjustable. Access to the rear is done through the top of the cabinet. A small panel is in place to keep things from falling back in there. The opening was made to fit blue ray movies. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00QFWLGPU/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1


Entry door: Not quite sure yet. Considering custom birch door using wood from the property. I did this for the bar top, and am considering matching the bar top to the outside of the theater door. The inside may be treated for acoustics.

The bar is another room, but is a big part of the theater. Lots of bar pictures start around post 159.

I'll keep posting updates as I progress with the build. Any suggestions along the way will be highly appreciated. Below are a couple pictures of the current status as of January, 2018:


Jerry






 
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#2 ·
Just some advice, and I'm no pro by any means, but learned a few things. Read, read, read on these forums. I like the thread on what I'd do differently next time. Lots of good lessons learned in there.

Make up the drawings with Sketchup. It's free. Helps you visualize the room beforehand. And, you can sketch it to exact dimensions. Nice tool.

Will you be sound-proofing? LOTS of work, but I can say from experience that it is absolutely worth it.

The receiver I went with is the Onkyo TX-RZ900 7.2 140watts per channel. Got this with a deal paired up with 2x TI-500 Polk towers. Bascially got the two speakers for free based on the going price of the Onkyo. Check NewEgg.com for those deals.

My projector is close to yours. Sony VPLHW40ES. I have a very short throw at 12' to the screen @120". Purchased WELL below the $2k mark, FYI. Amazon helped me there to find a seller for a super deal.
 
#3 ·
I plan to install insulation in the wood framed walls. The other two walls are already solid surface. I'd like to install some acoustical panels as well. For the ceiling I plan to install insulation in all of the floor joists as well. I was blessed with a brother that is a contractor, so I've got a great resource for the remaining construction.

Thanks for the input on sketchup. I'll check it out. I'll also start reading up on the "what would I do different" thread. I've been researching quite a bit here and finally decided to join up and start a thread on my build.

Jerry
 
#4 · (Edited)
Just my opinion, but get the room almost finished before buying any AV gear.

I still have an unopened Onkyo 818, that I bought over 3 years ago, when I got all excited thinking the theatre was 'on its way'!

Also, technology changes, when I bought the 818 ATMOS hadn't even been talked about - now, almost every new cinema build includes ATMOS.

Projectors too - just a couple of years ago, people were saying 4K would never be affordable on a projector. Epson and JVC now do pretty affordable models, and this situation will continue, with either prices dropping, or being able to get more for the same budget.

Probably the only exception to this is the speakers themselves, technology here seems to be pretty stable, with very few new ideas coming to market. However, here, you'll get your best bang for buck by going DIY. Just look at the DIY speaker threads for ideas.

(Personally, and this is where I have already spent money, I've been collecting 2nd hand speakers of a certain type over the last few years, which I'll use to start with; but intend upgrading to DIY eventually - and my cinema build is planned around this).

By all means 'plan' on what you'll buy, so that projector to screen distances are reasonable, and speaker locations too. But I'd advise not doing what I did with the receiver and spend money, until the room is just about ready to take the equipment. Spending, (and wasting), money is easy, anyone can do that - and plenty do, including me!

Plan the room first, build the room second, and only then, populate it with your new toys (which will be 'new', not something that's been sat in a box running out of warranty whilst you do the build itself).

Learn from my mistake! (I should really put this in the 'What I'd do differently' thread I guess).

IMHO

HTH
 
#5 ·
I agree with Dreamer. I purchased a Pioneer SC-57 when it was the flavour of the month...sat in it's factory box for over a year...now considered a boat anchor. Much to my wife's dismay, I've been on this forum, studying, for two hours a night for a few years now learning. Still haven't gathered my nuts to start a build thread. Tons of great info on here to absorb.
 
#6 ·
Thanks for the input. I figure by buying the equipment, it will work as motivation to get the build done. I plan to clean out the room and get things started this weekend. I think I will postpone the big purchase until the basic framing is done, but the ambitious goal is to be able to watch the Superbowl on the big screen in there. It may be standing room only though. :D First order of business is to determine the screen size. I considered framing the screen into the front wall, but I'm rethinking that idea. It would probably be safer to buy a framed screen that I can swap out later on if necessary if the quality isn't up to par or the size isn't where I'd like it.


I'm going to be framing in the platform for the second row of seating and the front of the theater over the next few weekends. I started clearing a few things out, and have finished the majority of the area outside of the theater, but I've held off on the flooring just outside the theater in the bar area until I figure out what I'm going to do for the door into the theater.


You can see in the first picture I've added some blocking in the floor joists to help firm things up. In the second picture I've got some duct work that I need to work around. I plan to install framing around the perimeter of the theater for a slight tray ceiling that will cover it up and add some dimension to the ceiling.
 

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#7 ·
I enjoy seeing the photo's in build threads, so I will make sure to include plenty in mine. Below is the work I performed in 2010 on the area outside of the theater. I've got a large gathering area, which will eventually include a pool table and full bar. There was a long break in construction in the basement from 2011-2014, but we got the ball rolling again during the winter of 2014 and I finished up the two bedrooms, full bathroom and the stairs to the basement. We installed black risers on the bottom of the stairs since we wanted to install black flooring throughout the main area of the basement. The finish work had not been completed on the stairs before I took the pictures.
 

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#8 ·
Below is the work I did over the last year or so. We found a burnt pine floor that matched what we were looking for. It blends in well with the black risers on the stairs, although the picture doesn't do it much justice. We installed blue and red pendent lights over the bar top which gives a nice aurora look to the area. We installed all of the recessed lights and outlets as well.


I had a long term plan with the bar top, and I think it came out great. I had a large birch tree in the front of the house that needed to come down, so I took in a long section to a local mill and had them make a couple of large planks for me. I took the sections to a local hardwood shop and had them kiln dried. I gave them 4 lengths, two for trade and two for me. Unfortunately they sold two of the planks before I had a chance to tell them which ones I wanted, so I ended up with two different widths. A radius cut on the corners worked to blend them together though. I left one end natural and put a bevel on the other end. I've put on a couple layers of clear epoxy, but the long term plan is to get them to stained and shined up nicely. I'm still debating on what to do with the fascia of the bar. I'm leaning towards faux rock.


In the picture with the pool table light, you can see a large chunk missing on the sheetrock in the back of the bar. In October of 2014, we had city water come through the neighborhood, so I got hooked up. What a relief to not have to haul water any longer, especially when it was 40 below out. The contractor left a mess of the area though, so I have some cleanup work to do when I do my finish work in the bar.
 

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#9 · (Edited)
You're doing some really nice work. The dark floor looks good and those stairs look great as well. I'm looking forward to seeing how things come along.

Also, I think it's pretty cool that you are in Alaska and building an HT. My wife and I live an CA. Before I met her though, she did a week long cruise around Alaska and got to see the Northern lights as well. She's mentioned to me countless times how beautiful it was.
 
#10 ·
Wow, you were hauling water? I thought that was the thing back in the 1800s. Crazy stuff...

Nice picks on the rooms so far. I didn't notice the seam in the bartop until you mentioned it. Nice work getting that to meet up with different widths. I think the faux rock would look nice and would blend with the natural look given the wooden top. I figured you were just going to drywall it.

Post picks of the actual theater room so we can get an idea of where the screen will be, etc.
 
#11 ·
My plan is to get it cleaned out this weekend and get some better pictures and measurements. I plan to draw out the seating and figure how far forward I need to set the screen in the turret.


Lots of folks in my town still haul their own water or have it delivered. Heck, growing up I didn't have running water or a bathroom in the house until I was 8 years old.


We had a 1500 gallon buried tank to the side of the garage that I would back up to and fill using a smaller tank in the back of the truck. Always interesting playing with water in sub zero temperatures. Having a wife and two daughters, I tried my best to have them conserve water but that never worked. We would go through close to 1300 gallons a week.
 

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#12 ·
Cool! (literally)! Another Far North build! I'm just down the road in Wasilla in the Mat-su Valley and I am also in the process of building a theater. Looks like our room dimensions are almost the same too (mine is about 13 x 25 x 9). I plan on two rows of three. You could get 4 rows fairly comfortably if you were to go with theater style seats instead of big plushy recliners. I have yet to decide which style of seat I will be using. Hoping I can begin this coming spring. I will be following along to watch your progress.

Funny how people don't realize just how rural Alaska can be even when you live very near a population center.
 
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#13 ·
Thanks Brazen. I look forward to seeing yours come together as well. Do you have any experience with Image Audio down in your neck of the woods? I was contemplating contacting them for some input, but I wouldn't be surprised to see the standard Alaska markups at their store. It would be nice to have a professional help with the finish work as far as calibrations and positioning goes, but I think ultimately I can get it figured out.

I saw your comment on your build thread about being called to the outdoors during summer. How true that is. :D Now that winter is back, time to start working indoors again.
 
#16 ·
I've been into Image Audio a few times and of course most things are marked up more than they probably should be. Honestly I'm not that impressed with the store and what they have to offer. It really is geared more towards media rooms vs the home theaters like we have on this forum which is completely understandable. There is another one out here, Elite Audio, but it looks like it has a residential address so I'm not sure what is going on with that. There are several in Anchorage too but I have not visited any since moving back to Alaska. I used to go to one called Pyramid and I think they are still there. As I recall they were OK but it has been 12+ years since I've been into their store.
 
#14 ·
Looking forward to seeing the space you have available for the theatre. A dimensioned plan would be cool!

As far as being rural, it happens here in the UK too, though no-one carries water. We live just a couple of miles from a village that has both mains gas, and water; we have neither. However, we do have our own bore-hole, are these not available over there? Or do the harsh winters preclude them? We don't fly over Alaska, but do fly over, and into, a lot of Canada - your/their winters are truly epic!
 
#15 ·
We had the option of drilling a well, but we knew city water would eventually come through our neighborhood, so we saved several thousand by installing a holding tank instead. The water company told us they were going to install water in 2008, but the recession hit and it was delayed until 2014. If we knew it was going to have been that long, I think drilling a well would have been worth it. I bought a lot of water at 1.5 to 2 cents per gallon over the years. I recall one day I was in Las Vegas and bought a 16oz water at a casino for $8.00, then flew home and filled up my 325 gallon truck tank a little over $5.00.

I slowly started clearing out some of the room today. Lots of things are going in the donation bin. I guess if you haven't used it for 10 years, you won't miss it when it's gone, but some things are going to be hard to let go of. My brother is coming over on Sunday and we plan to build a materials list to start the platform for the second row of seating, the framing for the front and the tray ceiling. The wife told me tonight she wants stars in the ceiling, so not I gotta figure that out.:rolleyes:
 
#17 · (Edited)
My brother came by today and we spent a good 4-5 hours laying out the initial design of the theater and putting together a materials list to build the front wall, the platform for the rear seating and the soffit. I thought it wouldn't take as long, but he's got OCD when it comes to building, so he has to make everything line up. We had issues that we needed to trouble shoot with 2 corners.

The door was the most difficult as I'm pretty set on wanting seating for 8, however the width we have to work with will make it very tight, especially with the angled door. The door swing will go in towards the theater from left to right (back wall). The platform for the seating will be scooted forward about 4 feet, and we will continue the platform behind those rear seats which will allow us to put a cabinet behind the seats for the electronics, and have enough room to slide in a couple of stools if need be for more seating.

The next issue was the front corners in the turret are different lengths. In order to have the screen centered and lined up with the soffits, we will need to frame the wall out on the 57" side of the turret to match the 63" side.

The soffit will run on all walls except for above the screen. It will be 8" tall by 16" deep, however the full soffit will be 8"X10" and there will be a covered lip about 6" deep for rope lighting. I'm contemplating ordering speakers this coming week so we can frame in the center and subs in the screen wall.

From head to screen we are looking at ~11&1/2' and ~17' for the two rows of seating. The seats will end up hugging the outside wall which will leave a ~42-48" hallway down the side with the entry door. There is a beam at 16'8" which I can hopefully use for mounting the projector, otherwise I'll need to add a little blocking for it. I'm still leaning towards a 133-135" screen, and I'm optimistic that it won't be overwhelming for the first row of seats. Once I get the screen wall roughed in, I can hopefully get a better idea if it will work. Being in Alaska, there aren't a lot of folks with home theaters that I can go and get reference from, so having a place like this to get feedback is invaluable.
 

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#22 ·
Hauled the lumber home for the screen, seating platform and soffits today. I've officially dropped the first coins on the theater, and I'm sure it won't be long until it starts stinging a little bit.

I'm still researching for my speaker set up, but I've decided now to go with an acoustically transparent screen and build a shelf behind the screen for the LCR and two subs to sit on. Since I'm already pushing the screen forward about 3 feet due to the turret, I might as well make the most of that space. My Amazon shopping cart runneth over with options right now. :D

Can't believe it is October 31st and we have no snow and it was in the mid 30's today. I remember trick or treating as a kid with over 2 feet of snow on the ground and wearing parka's over our costumes because it was 20 below out.
 

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#23 · (Edited)
Let the games begin

I'll start out by saying I have an awesome brother, but he does have some ulterior motives in mind. He said by helping me he is investing in "seat time"? I'm sure I'll figure that out soon enough. :D

Today we began framing in the soffit and the stage. I also furred out the short angled wall to make it even with the opposite wall. What was going to be about 6 hours of work turned into another 4 hours of planning and 2 hours of work. My brother and I built my house back in 2006-2007 and we started with some rough plans, but pretty much winged it after week 2. I have a feeling this theater build is going to go the same way.

Behind the rear seats, there will be 4' deep by 7' wide platform level with the seats. The back corner will have an angled cabinet for the electronics, and we may install a flip down bench off the back wall for a couple extra seats in the rear if we have a full house. We spent almost 2 hours brainstorming other ways to make it work, ending up right back where we had originally planned last week. I was pleased to see after we had the outer edge of the platform framed, there is sufficient room to open and close the door, and a wide enough hallway down the side to not feel cramped.

I had to build out one of the angled walls in the turret to match the opposite side. 3" seemed to do the trick to get the two sides evened up to less than 1/4". I strung up a 10' 2X8 to get an idea of the screen width, and we determined the screen will sit about 10&1/2" down from the ceiling and about 16" up from the floor. I think I've decided on the Seymour XD 137.7" AT screen in 16.9, but I may need to tone it down to the 131.9" screen. The 5" of width I'd save will allow me to move the screen back a little further into the turret. Right now the front row is sitting between 11-12' from screen to noggin, and it was suggested to me to keep the distance at 12'+ with the XD material. Every inch counts, right?

As for speakers, the left and right fronts will have elevated cabinets built off to the side of the screen in the outer edges of the turret that will be slightly angled towards the viewer. Two subs and the center will be placed behind the screen. I'm still leaning towards two Klipsch RF280's for the left and right, the 450C for the center and 2 SW115's for the subs.

Lastly the soffit is coming together. We are framing with 2X2's, and there is a 1&1/2" lip on the outer edge that will hold rope lighting for some added ambiance. I need to figure out how to finish the front face of it, but I think I'll either use 1X3's or some fancy trim.
 

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#24 ·
Just food for thought with the lighting placed directly above when thinking about star ceiling and general viewing. Anything directly between the viewer and screen will distract as long as it's within line of sight no matter how black or flat colored sheen it's painted. Sconces and side rotatable lighting seems to work much better if the ceiling isn't stepped so that it gets higher towards the screen so that the line of sight keeps the cans from being viewable. So if you can draw a line from the viewer's eyes to the light then it will/could very well be a distraction. Many theaters place lights in the middle of the room just like your plan just like I did but my HT2.0 will remedy my qualms by either completely recessing them in treatments or by moving them to the sides.

Good call on the AT screen. You won't regret it by any means!
 
#25 ·
AVH, thanks for the input on the lighting. I wasn't feeling the recessed lights down the center, but my brother and wife were saying we should have them. My thought is to install the smaller soffit lights and see how well they light up the room before adding any more. I think their problem is they haven't been staying up all night looking at build threads like I have been. :D
 
#26 ·
Last night I built a screen template so I can start to gauge what depth I'm working with for the front speakers. I've spoken with Seymour and due to the front seats only being ~11&1/2' back, they recommended the UF instead of the XD. This gives me some flexibility to move the screen a little further forward which will give me some extra width for the speakers behind the screen. Right now I'm working with 91" of usable width behind the screen (18-32" of depth to work with). I'll have about 15" of width remaining in front of the turret to the sides of the screen.

It took more time than I expected to lay out the theater, but we are officially committed now. As time permits I'll keep postings updates on the progress. I'm very grateful for this site, but it has become pretty time consuming with all the research and browsing around for ideas. The wife and I are thinking about taking a trip to Seattle in December to check out some seating options. I'm not too interested to drop big money into seating without trying it out first. I really wish I could do the same with the audio equipment, but I am optimistic that I'm going the right direction with Klipsch.
 

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#29 ·
I haven't decided on which type of seating either. I kind of like the theater style seats but the wife likes the reclining plushy stuff. I think she plans on making up on sleep time while movie watching.
 
#31 ·
Got a little more done today. All that time spent trying to find the "sweet spot" for the screen in the turret is behind me now. I settled on the 32" from the back wall of the turret, and it gives me more than enough room to install the three towers and two 15" subs behind the screen. The platform for the speakers will be about 19" from the floor and the bottom of the screen will be about 20" off the floor. I will probably build stands for the subs to get them along the same height as the towers.

The rear platform and stairs are framed in for the elevated seating and I'm starting the wiring. We used treated 2X12 and 2X6 for the borders, and 2X8's for the stringers. I will put in two floor outlets for the rear seats, and two more outlets on the fascia of the platform for the front seats. I purchased three lights for the top steps, 2 for the 48" step, and 1 for the 25" step. The last picture is the theater entry that shows elevated section that we will have behind the rear seats. This platform is 4' X 7', and in the far corner, we will build a rack for electronics.

I thought I only had three runs from breakers in the theater, but I actually have 4. I'll need one for lighting, one for outlets and one for audio and video. Should I have separate breakers for the audio and video, or should they be run off the same?
 

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#33 ·
Progress today. My brother and our buddy Jeremy came by today and we got a bit more done. I'm too much of an optimist that I thought we would get a lot more done, but these guys love being precise, which is a real asset to me.

We finished the rear stage/riser for the most part. I used Henry's sealant for the edge of the Arxx wall to give an extra level of security from water getting in from the outside. After we finished wiring, we stapled on some R15 insulation to keep the material off the floor, then installed the T&G 3/4" plywood. I was reading up on other risers and seeing quite a bit more material used, but I think I'll take the chance and just stick to the one sub layer. The whole portion will be carpeted when we get to the finish work.

I removed soffit 1.0 and decided to go a different route. I will end up having a 6" tray ceiling with the front of the theater being normal ceiling height and the rear being 6" lower. For the front we are planning a radius instead of going with a straight 90 degree edge. In the middle over both rows of seats, there will be a 3&1/2' by 5&1/2' star ceiling that will provide some ambient lighting during movies and add a sunroof type feel while you are seated. The 4 Atmos speakers will be just on the outside edge of the recession that will hold the star ceilings. I'm estimating that there will be a 3" difference in depth between the star ceiling and the finished ceiling. I need to go pick up 6 - 16' 2X6's to continue with the rest of the ceiling framing. I still want to use some rope lighting around the edges of the star ceilings, so I'll figure that out once I get it all framed in. I have 3/4" MDF on hand now as well for mounting the Atmos speakers. I picked up 2 sheets in case I wanted to build boxes for them, but the jury is still out on if I will do that or not.

On black Friday, I headed to UPS to pick up my speakers and DVR. I ended up going with the Klipsch 7.2.4 set up, and the Denon AVR-6300H. I ordered up 400 feet of 12 gauge wire and banana clips, but only half showed up so I at least can get started with some wiring once the ceiling is done. Now that those speakers are here, I'm very motivated to get this theater done.

We are in freezer filling mode right now as well. My dad and I headed out to fill a couple of caribou tags on the Denali highway on Tuesday of last week, and I'll be taking my daughter out Sunday to try and find her a bison. She drew a difficult to get tag for wild bison in the Delta area that we've been trying to fill since October. You would think I was trying to kill her with the amount of walking I'm making her do. This coming Thursday we will try to get a couple more caribou from the 40 mile herd. Sometime in between all this hunting I'll be making time to keep working forward on the theater.
 

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#34 ·
I think the construction crew in that pic are trying to tell us something but I can't quite figure it out... :D

On a more somber note you are moving right along with construction!
 
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#35 ·
Arctic -- I have had 2 screens, 2 projectors, one set of speakers and AVR shipped up here from the lower 48 (build HT 1.0 in the first house and just wrapping up 2.0 in the second house). I also ordered rigid insulation and Guilford of maine fabric this last go around.


I can pm you an email if you want to chat about different vendors and some options
 
#37 ·
Thanks for the offer, I may need some help in locating fabric. I'll google Guilford and check them out. I've been doing pretty good shopping around and getting equipment up here. I managed to get the entire Klipsch 7.2.4 set with the Denon 6300 sent up with free shipping and about 30% off the Klipsch sale prices. Just ordered the projector from Crutchfield as they were offering free 3 day shipping to Alaska. So far, so good. I loaded up on insulation from Home Depot this weekend, and they are carrying the Roxul Safe and Sound now, so it's nice to be able to get it local.

Did you have a build thread on here?
 
#38 · (Edited)
Moving in the right direction, slowly but surely. I put in conduit this weekend and ran the speaker wires for the front LCR, each run at 44'. I have 50' subwoofer cables on order, as well as a 35' HDMI and 15' HDMI. I plan to run an HDMI from the Denon 6300 to the TV on the outside of the theater wall just in case I need it.

The first photo is the conduit run from the projector to where I'm going to build the AVR cabinet. It took some effort to get even short pieces of the 1&1/2" PVC up high in the floor joists. I ran 2" PVC for the front speakers since I will have 5-6 wires going through there, plus I had the room for it and some extra pipe laying around.

I'd been fighting myself on the ATMOS speakers for quite some time, and probably overthinking it a bit, but I finally got the MDF face plates built, utilizing simple 2X6 scraps and 3/4" MDF to house them. I stapled on some fabric to the tops to keep any dust or insulation from falling down on the speakers. I spent a couple hours measuring, calculating angles, even parked the wife in a chair to I could eyeball it before I made it official and screwed them in. I have the fronts in place, and I'll toss in the rears tomorrow night. I think I'm just about to the point of tossing in the R30 insulation I picked up this weekend into the floor joists. I need 7-8 more feet of duct, and unfortunately the one place that carries the hat channel here in town is sold out of it, so I'm hoping that won't cause too much of a delay. Nearly everything left can be run through the 6" drop ceiling. I installed blocking on the wood framed wall for the left surround speaker as well, and have the nailer strip on the ARXX wall marked for the right surround. I installed the blocking for the left surround 24" tall to leave myself some flexibility on moving the surrounds up or down if need be.

I elected to go with 3/4" MDF for the star ceiling. The final size will be 74" wide by 120" long. I felt that was a good L by W proportion. It's gonna be a heavy bugger. The plan is to screw it in from the outside edges only. I purchased some 8' lengths of aluminum angle that I will secure to the sections to help prevent any sagging over time. The projector will be mounted 2-3' in from the back of the star ceiling, so I need to install either blocking, or the bracket for the projector mount. I think I will go with blocking and cut a hole in the MDF for the star ceiling to fit around it. This way I have the ability to change brackets if I'm not happy with the Peerless mount.

Amazon order today included:
Peerless PRG-UNV projector mount
2 - 50' Mediabridge subwoofer cables
15' and 35' Mediabridge HDMI cables
32' LED strip lighting for the star ceiling
The second dozen Mediabridge banana clips (only ordered 1 dozen initially)
Variety of Christmas gifts for the family (I'm thinking me working on the theater isn't enough of a Christmas present for them)

Crutchfield order today included:
Sony VPL-HW45ES at the current $200 off special

I plan to order the fiber optics kit for the star ceiling this week, and once I get the wiring done in the theater, I will move in the sawhorses, MDF and get started on the panel for the star ceiling. I need to order the recessed lights for the drop ceiling as well. I'm thinking 8 - 4" lights should be sufficient.

Feeling pretty good about this build so far. I'd like to think I'm doing pretty good so far having little to no experience with this stuff. I've been spending a lot of time researching here has helped me insurmountably. I'm down a man due to my brother having his second surgery on his pinky, but hopefully he'll be able to help out when I start putting the star ceiling together.
 

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