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Jamis' theater thread!

354K views 962 replies 131 participants last post by  RTROSE 
#1 ·

Updated 11/18/2013:

The theater is pretty much done (as of November 2008). Here is an index to the most interesting parts and milestones of the thread. There are other interesting posts and pictures in between each step, but these are the ones that immediately jumped out as worthwhile to mention.


Thanks to everyone who helped in this 5+ month project!

Take the video tour! (24MB)

My theater was featured on Electronic House! (8/11/2009)
My theater was written up on HackedGadgets.com! (3/15/2009)

01/24/2007 - Started this thread. Posted first ideas and designs.
04/12/2008 - Permits pulled and design revised.
04/21/2008 - Lumber has arrived and the project starts for real.
06/16/2008 - Framing, conduit, HVAC, plumbing done.
06/25/2008 - Insulation, rough electrical done.
07/13/2008 - Drywall done.
07/20/2008 - Bathroom tile and paint.
08/11/2008 - Cabinets installed, picking out carpet and flooring.
08/17/2008 - Hardwood installed in Kitchenette.
08/25/2008 - Granite installed
08/31/2008 - Acoustic panels installed and the start of the screen wall. Put tint on sliding glass doors.
09/03/2008 - Kitchenette and bathroom complete. Starting to tackle basement stairs.
09/05/2008 - Carpet installed.
09/06/2008 - Speakers, screen and seats installed.
09/13/2008 - Stairs done.
09/25/2008 - Bass shakers installed.
10/30/2008 - Projector Installed
10/31/2008 - First screen shots.
11/02/2008 - More screen shots.
11/11/2008 - Movie posters framed and hung.
11/15/2008 - A few more finished pics.
12/02/2008 - Installed Littlites on the bar.
01/08/2009 - Popcorn machine and a finished rack!
03/14/2009 - Cleaned up the equipment closet a bit and my 1000th post!
04/05/2009 - Under cabinet lighting in the kitchenette.
04/24/2009 - Treated screen wall with acoustical cotton.
05/13/2009 - Built a new HTPC!

Final Equipment List:

Panasonic PT-AE3000 Projector

Panasonic PT-AE8000 Projector   (upgraded 12/2012)

129" wide SmX ProLine Screen - 2.37:1


Denon 3808ci Receiver (retired)

Pioneer SC-1522-K Receiver  (upgraded 3/30/2013)

Playstation 3

Playstation 4 (new)

Sony BDP-N460 Bluray player + streaming media (netflix)

Sony BDP-S5100 Bluray player + streaming media (netflix)   (upgraded 4/3/2013)

Monitor Audio RS6 left and right front speakers

Monitor Audio RSLCR center channel speaker

Monitor Audio RSFX surround speakers

Monitor Audio RSFX rear speakers

SVS PC-13 Ultra Subwoofer


6 Aura Pro Bass Shakers

300 watt BASH subwoofer amplifier

Berkline 13175 seating


Nintendo Wii   (retired)

Comcast HD DVR

Verizon FiOS Multi-room DVR

Thecus N5200 NAS (1.5TB RAID5 network attached storage)


HTPC -
  • 2.7GHz dual core Pentium
  • 4GB RAM
  • GIGABYTE GA-E7AUM-DS2H motherboard (geForce 9400 - HDMI)
  • 500GB hard drive
  • DVD +/-RW drive
  • Silverstone LC17B case
  • MS Entertainment Desktop 7000 keyboard/mouse
  • Mythbuntu (Linux)

 

Harmony One universal remote

X10 Powermid IR repeater




-------------------------------------------------------------------------


Well... after a year and a half (almost), I've finally decided to start planning the basement theater. Not quite sure on when construction will begin especially since I have yet to finalize my plans. In fact, I'd love to hear feedback on my current sketches.


Some basics (updated 3/16/2009):

 
  • Finished width of the theater is approximately 13'4"
  • The final length of the theater comes out to around 32'
  • 7.1 surround sound
  • Acoustically transparent screen with 2.37:1 aspect ratio
  • Ceiling was drywalled with 2x3's used as furring strips to clear some copper plumbing.
  • Soffits/beam will be approximately 6'9" in height
  • Blue rectangles on the open wall in the pictures are a window and sliding patio doors.
  • Lighting will be primarily 4" can lights. There will be cove lighting (rope) around the soffits and as step lighting for the riser.
  • Seating is comprised of Berkline 13175's (two rows of three) and four bar stools.
  • Equipment rack would go under the stairs
  • Moving the lolly columns is not an option.

 

Update - 3/16/2009 - the information below is from the original post and contains some out of date information.


I'm not sure if I want a wet bar or not, but if I do it will have to be adjacent to the utility room for best access to the sewer pipe. I am also having a tough time deciding what do to in the rear of the theater (wall? wall with french doors? leave it open and just put heavy curtains over the sliding glass doors? Leave it open but continue the wall along the beam?).


I've also been playing with different sized utility rooms (from the entire corner to right up against the oil tank). My wife would like a good compromise of storage + usable space, though again, any sort of wet bar or plumbing should be adjacent to the utility room.


Any feedback or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! See my attachments for the bare basement mock-up as well as a partially finished layout I've been playing with...


Thanks!

Chris (jamis)


 
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#52 ·
Huzzah!


Framing is done (except for a curved front to the stage, should I feel industrious enough to attempt it). A friend came over this weekend and helped me knock out the rest of the ceiling. Only took three trips to Lowes, stepping on a nail (ouch), an incident with the framing nailer (ouch), and a sore back.


The electrician should be in tomorrow and I am starting the process of getting drywall quotes.


Pics:











 
#53 ·
Ran the vent for the bathroom fan last night...


Rough electrical is 95% done...


Contemplating insulation...


Starting to get drywall quotes...


Pics soon...
 
#54 ·
Rough electrical is done and passed inspection.


Rough plumbing passed inspection.


Waiting for a call back from the building dept. to schedule the framing and mechanical inspections.


A few small items I have also accomplished recently:
  • Ran speaker wire (through 1/2" ENT conduit)
  • Ran RG6 for subwoofer (through 1/2" ENT conduit)
  • Ran HDMI, Component, VGA, cat6 to the projector box (through 2" conduit)
  • Put in boxes for the buttkicker connections on the riser.
  • Blocked out and secured all HVAC supplies and returns in their proper places
  • Ran a 25' flex duct and vent for the bathroom exhaust fan to the outside
  • Used some scrap 2x6 to block out the two most likely places I will put the projector mount.
  • Put up some double gang LV openings for access to two water shut offs in the ceiling. I will cover these with black 2-gang covers.
  • Ordered (almost) all of my wall plates for speakers, sub, etc.
  • Started bringing home a few rolls of R-13 with each run to Lowes. I should have all I need in no time given how often I'm there.


After I get the framing/mechanical inspection out of the way (hopefully this week), I will start insulating, followed by drywall.


I will post pics when I am done for the weekend.
 
#55 ·
Grafik Eye goes here. I would have preferred a metal box, but this one is very deep and fits everything just fine. I may pop out some of the punch-outs for ventilation and put some aluminum foil on the left side of the stud to block EMI from the rack.




The tenticles of my currently unorganized A/V closet. Most of the wall plates and such have arrived. I can't wait to wire 'em all up.



Blocking around one of the HVAC supplies...



4" IC-rated can light from USALight.com...



Outlet for the rope light which will lay in some crown molding.



Electrical in the riser. The outlet in the upper right corner will be for some rope light under the bar counter.



Grafik Eye 3106 (6 zone) and two entrance controls.



Looking at the screen wall.



Kitchenette/pass-through. There will be two pendants above the pass-through.



Blocking for the projector mount. I will mount it to the 2x6s...



Electrical in the riser (part 2)... the blue boxes are for the buttkickers/transducers.



Looking back through the theater towards the back...
 
#56 ·
Passed the framing inspection and the wife and I finished the insulation tonight. I hope to get the insulation inspection this week and finish up the riser and stage this weekend.


We pretty much filled just about every bay (except the one the grafik eye will live in) and the soffits with insulation. Probably overkill, but whatever.



Drywall should start July 7.









 
#57 ·
Just got word that we passed the insulation inspection. Drywall should be a go for July 7th!


I will post pics this weekend if/when I complete the stage and riser.


Gotta do more cleaning and organizing too before the drywall crew shows up.


Any last minute suggestions on things I should do while the walls are still open?
 
#58 ·
Riser and stage are done!


Thanks to BIGmouthinDC for the homemade 2-by 'c' scribe idea to mark the curved stage. I ended up using a couple 2x3's with a scrap of 3/4" ply in between. Having the gap be the same thickness as the floor made the scribe more steady.


It was the slowest, most careful use of a jigsaw I've ever done. Not a perfect cut, but the carpet will cover the waves.



It feels weird having pretty much nothing left to do until the drywall is done... the calm before the storm.




 
#59 ·
What do you all think?


Should I have the underside of the soffits textured (and painted) to match the ceiling?


I was probably going to paint them to match, but I am undecided if they should be textured as well. Probably doing a stipple (brush) texture similar to knockdown.
 
#60 ·
I went back and forth over which color to paint the underside of my soffits as well. I ended up using the ceiling color and wrapping it from soffit to ceiling (see my thread in my signature for pics). Personally, I like the smooth look, but that's just my opinion.
 
#61 ·
I like your soffits/ceiling. Very nice!


I think the biggest motivator will be how well I framed the soffits and how good the drywall crew can hide any defects. If it looks wavy, I'll probably texture it for sure.



I was originally thinking of doing all vertical surfaces (walls, sides of soffits) the same color, and the horizontal surfaces the same color/texture (ceiling, under soffit).


More suggestions/examples would be appreciated.
 
#62 ·
That's true about textured surfaces hiding imperfections. I considered painting all vertical surfaces the color of the walls as well. The one thing I like about having the soffit/ceiling the same color is that the entire ceiling area fades away seamlessly as the lights dim.


Thanks again for the comments.
 
#63 ·
I just painted my soffits yesterday...last pics in my HT build. I just kept it simple with the same color combination going.
 
#64 ·
Looking good! Keep the pictures coming after the drywall gets installed.
 
#65 ·
Drywall was delivered today... the crew starts on Monday.
 
#67 ·
The strategy I used to learn Sketchup was to make a flat 2D floor plan, including the outlines for all the walls and use the 'push/pull' tool to pull the walls out of the floor from the outlines. Made things REALLY easy to build up. Once I got the hang of that, it became easy to do the more complex aspects.
 
#68 ·
Drywall - Day 1


Two man crew (one of them the owner of the company), no lifts or stilts required.


Before anyone asks... there were a couple extra sheets of 8' MRD (moisture resistant) and rather than cut some 12 footers, they used the MRD in a couple places instead.
















 
#69 ·
Looking good dude. I like the creative solution to hiding the water shutoff.
 
#70 ·
Drywall - Day 2


Corners, tape, and first coat of mud on the butts/screws done...














 
#71 ·
The drywall makes completely changes the look, doesn't it! It starts to feel like a real room!
 
#72 ·
Drywall is done! Walls have been vacuumed, floors have been mopped.


The cabinets for the kitchenette have been ordered (med-dark cherry) and should arrive by the end of the month.


We also picked out our granite for the kitchenette, pass-through, and bar. It's called 'Antique Brown'. In person in lower lighting conditions, it looks black with large crystalline structures that shimmer a bit as you change angle. Under brighter lights (such as a camera flash), you can really see the brown.


My wife starts priming and painting tomorrow while I'm at work.



Shown in the last picture are the two boxes of 12" slate tiles for the bathroom. I figured I'd put my diamond blade to more use! I'll start that project after the bathroom is painted (hopefully this week).

















 
#74 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by aaronlinkous /forum/post/14281351


I think i have almost that same granite in my kitchen... it looks black until you hit the can lights and looks really good against the wood cabinets.


You'll really enjoy it, minus the fact that you will see EVERYTHING on it... one peice of toast in the toaster looks like you dumped entire thing of bread crumbs over the place.

We currently have a black granite in the kitchen (nero impala).. so I know that feeling.
 
#75 ·
We are making steady progress with paint.


Everything has been primed. The bathroom (grey) is done. The ceilings, screen wall, and soffits (black) are all done. The kitchenette area (brownish-tan) has one coat. The theater (dark red) has one coat.


Theoretically, we could be done painting tomorrow if we can finish the second coat in the kitchenette and theater areas.


Potential projects for this weekend include the tile for the bathroom floor and starting to hookup the speaker face plates.


The electrician should be coming in sometime next week to do the finial hookups.


I will post pics when the paint is done.
 
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