The "Name Pending" Home Cinema Construction - Page 5

Well, the day has finally arrived....

No, not that day! Carpet day! Yes, the era of hard, dusty, dirty floors is a thing of the past. On to better days of cushy, soft, nap-inducing plushness....

zzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzz

Ok, I'm back.



The installers arrived at 9:15 ready to work. (albeit, 15 minutes late...) They began the usual process of tacking down the strips and laying out the padding. We had the game room/concession area carpeted as well, but with a patterened goldish color to keep it from getting too busy.









And here is the carpet being laid and the finished look! I cannot begin to tell you how COMFORTABLE this carpet is. It is as soft as a teddy bear, and as cushy as a mattress. However, the pattern is quite busy with the arched panels on the walls. I was worried about how much surface area there is, but remembered one thing: the seating! The berkline 4 seaters will be covering up most of the large areas, thus reducing the "business" of the pattern. The black should contrast nicely with the rest of the room.

Ok, enough of my babbling. On to the pictures!

















The next stage is finished electrical. That should be done on Tuesday, thus allowing us to begin hooking up the equipment! We also started the star ceiling this weekend, but I haven't had a chance to take pictures yet. Stay tuned for more news soon!

I apologize for the delayed posting. Things have been very busy with school, work, the theater, and other house projects. I hope to have the most recent pictures online in a few days.

Quick update: the theater chairs are in, the equipment has been hooked up, projector mounted, sheet hung, and movies watched! Yes, yes........we watched a movie BEFORE everything was finished. It wasn't my decision! I swear!

Also, the star ceiling has been constructed, installed, and trimmed. It looks awesome. Pictures to follow soon.

Alright,

A lot has transpired over the past few weeks. Sounds has been heard. Video has been displayed. Movies have been watched......yes, you heard that right: movies. The rule was broken (the family won) and the theater was put to use before it was completed. More on that later. I will split the updates into a few posts so that I don't ramble for too long...

Finish Electrical

We have light! Yes, after months of working in the blinding light of a home depot tripod halogen spot, the can lighting is complete. We have a combination of 4" art cans on the sides to shine down on the acoustic panels, regular 4" cans for the stage, and double arm sconce lights on the columns. I was worried about how shiny the sconces were, but they ended up fitting in nicely with the decor. You can judge that for yourself

(EDIT: It appears that these pictures were taken BEFORE the can trim was finished. That is why it looks like the bulbs are just hanging out. Will post new ones later this week!)







We also had two outlets installed in the ceiling: one for the projector, the other for the star ceiling. (not sure I have mentioned that before...)



Two more outlets were installed on the risers for the Berkline power recliners.





The Stage lights

After looking around at the price of completed star ceilings, we decided to build one ourselves.

WARNING: It takes a lot of time!!! WARNING

While the work is tedious and laborious, it isn't all that difficult. To start off, we needed to decide on how big we wanted the panels to be. After some 3D sketchup (pun intended) we went with a 7'x11' area. Next, I needed to find a star map that was suitable for our size. I looked everywhere online and didn't find anything that was easily transferrable to the panel. So we got out an old telescope book and found one. I then drew a graph of 1" squares that corresponded to 1' squares on the panel. It worked out well and was easy to follow.


As far as materials go, we had this foam board lying around from a previous purchase mistake. (The worker didn't consult with me prior to buying it ). We used 3/4" thick foamboard, cut it to the appropriate sizes, and nailed it to a wood frame. We then wrapped this in black speaker cloth to give it that sky look. Here are some pics:





We created four panels: two long ones, and two shorter, wide ones. I was worried about the seams, but you can hardly see them in the dim light of the theater. After this, I created the graph on the boards and began drawing, one by one, the dots for the star locations.



All that is left to do is to cut the fiber to the right length, drill holes in the frame to feed it through the various panels, and insert each fiber into its star location on the foam board. You have to use a large needle to poke a hole through the foam and fabric, and then stick the fiber through. It isn't very easy, but it works. Here is the final product:







I purchased the illuminator and all of the fiber from http://www.starceiling123.com. They were easy to work with and the product works well.



Here is the star ceiling installed, but before crown molding and trimming the fiber.







Pictures of the finished crown and what it looks like at night coming soon! (I haven't taken them yet )

Time for the fun stuff

It took about 2 hours to hookup the front speakers, the sub, the receiver, sub amp, and xbox 360 + HD-DVD player. A friend of mine is a HA/Audio/Video dealer who happened to have an older Middle Atlantic Slide-Out rack in his garage. We bought it from him for $200. Not bad! Here are some picks of it in action.







More Equipment pics







Projector

I ordered the Epson 6500UB from www.projectorpeople.com Part of the deal was a free ceiling mount. Well, it was obvious as to why it was free. It didn't have all of the bolts you needed and was a bit on the wobbly side. However, it did end up working and we were able to mount it.





As you can see, the white looks TERRIBLE in there. So we are going to have to come up with some solution to hide it. I am thinking of raising it up close to the ceiling (rather than using the 9" extender) and building a box around it, covered in speaker cloth. What do you guys think?

After it was all hooked up, I fired up the equipment and............no picture. Long story short, for some reason the Xbox 360 would not put out 1080i into the Onkyo receiver. It can't do 1080p, but 1080i is supported (supposedly.) I had to go blind through the menus (remember, no picture) to set the 360 to 720p instead. I was disappointed, but we are getting a blu-ray player soon anyways. After a week or so, I decided to give the 1080i another shot. 4 attempts of switching later, and BAM it works. I have no idea why, but it does. Go figure....

We threw up a white sheet to test out what size screen we wanted. After some painful ( ) testing, we are thinking 120". It is a little big from the front row, but great for the second row (which is about 14 feet back). Here are pics from that first night.

Flash completely washed out the screen


The inspector was pleased with the setup, and decided to take a much needed rest.


The first movie we watched was Valkyrie (DVD). It was AMAZING!! No, the movie was ok, but the sound was unbelievable. I have never *felt* bass like that before. In the first part of the movie there is a plane bombing scene. It felt like you were in the plane, getting hit with bullets, and being blasted by bomb shells. Needless to say, it was quite a first impression . And this is all without any calibration! I can't wait to hear it after everything is setup and functioning properly. The picture was ok, but it was just a DVD, so it is hard to judge. The clarity was great, but the blacks were lacking.

Well, that wraps it up for the updates. I will post the chairs, star ceiling at night, and the rope lightning later this week! Let me know what you guys think.

I apologize for the delay in posting, guys. School has been very busy and I just recently injured my neck. I won't be able to take any more pictures nor upload them for at least a week. However, here are some updates:

We moved the projector up towards the ceiling so it wouldn't be as obvious when you walk in.

Rope lighting in the crown and around the risers is complete. I just need to hook them up to dimmers.

All of the seating is installed.

Sconces on the front wall sides are installed.

Screen has been ordered and should arrive in a fee weeks. I decided to go professional and get a 120" Fixed Frame 16:9 AT XD screen from SeymourAV.

The concession room bar has been tiled and grouted. Next is glass for the snack bar.

Bluray player arrives today or tomorrow.

FiOS Tv was installed.

Decided to create a little half bar in the very back with two barstools. The bar is done but we still have to purchase the stools.

I think that raps it up. Hopefully I will be well enough to post some pictures in a week or so.

Update:

Well, after recovering from injuring my neck, I got sick! I am still getting over that so I have been unable to take pictures of the theater and post them. As far as progress goes, not a whole lot has been done. We were waiting on the screen and that finally arrived on Monday. We went with a Seymour AV Fixed Frame 120" 16:9. More details on that in the next week or so.

Once we get the screen up and installed, I will post the latest photos. Sorry for the delay, guys!

Wow....

It has been a really long time since I updated this! I am so sorry, guys. (Especially Frank!) Long story short, this is the first week I have been able to get back to a somewhat normal schedule. I have pretty much been couch ridden for 15 weeks due to an illness. The theater is indeed finished (FINALLY!) but I haven't had a chance to take pictures of it. I promise that within the next week I will upload them and continue the thread. Don't give up on me! Stay tuned!

Man, I am so sorry for the long delay, guys. Things have been kind of crazy with my health and school/work. I just got a new phone so I will take some video of the theater and post pics ASAP.

To answer you questions in order:

1) I used 14 gauge CL2 rated (for in-wall) speaker wire to each of the locations. I believe I got it at Home Depot, so it wasn't anything special.

2) I am using the Onkyo TX-SR876. I do not have a dedicated amp. I am really happy with the power/quality, so I don't see a need for another amp.

3) The total cost for the starfield was probably ~$500 bucks or less. Very inexpensive and it looks fantastic! I would highly recommend doing it. It is definitely labor intensive, so be prepared to put in several dozen hours. Yes, they are supposed to be trimmed! I took that picture before it was finished. We cut them back to about 1/4" left. I will take video of the finished product, but my camera isn't the best quality so it may not come out very well.