Saga of the "Old Vic" - Page 21

Beautiful speakers.

I agree. I'm not really a woodworker (I just dabble in a bunch of things) but I love the look of natural wood. One of the things I've tried to do is not to use stain or over use poly which can add a plastic look. Originally I was planning to use cherry which is a little cheaper but when building everything from scratch the delta to walnut is pretty minor.


I hear you. I feel the room needs a splash of color and the center band of the walls is the area reserved for that. I'll assemble a few for samples to make sure I get it right. BTW my snappy camera is a bit off in its color representation especially when I use the flash.

Thanks Paul. It's been a long road but I've throughly enjoyed the build and in some ways have deliberately extended some parts. Everything has worked out great so far and I now have the end in sight ... ordered a JVC RS50 projector for December delivery


Just great. I needed the max dose of happy pills for a few days after the surgery but I'm working on my soffit again. In fact I'm going to put the last coat of poly on the latest batch of moldings today.


While I was recuperating I played around a little with bass EQ. This will be heresy to some but I think I'm going to ditch my Audyssey EQ1 sub equalizer. The plan was to have it automatically integrate the front and rear subs but I wasn't completely happy with the results. So I'm going the manual route and installed a Berhinger DCX2496. What a cool piece of equipment this is. I have it set up (and it is infinitely flexible) so that my sub channel is split into three (front/rear/buttkicker) and individually EQ'd. This is giving me tons of flexibility to tweak things like apply a low shelf filter to slightly extend the IB sub response, mess with phase of rear sub to modal ringing and apply a low pass cutoff to the buttkicker out so it only augments the very low end. Eventually, I'm going to program a couple of the memories so I can have couple of EQ presets: one for movies with best bass results over the entire set of seats and another for music with everything dialed in for just one seat and without the tactile effects. Right now I still getting used to what's possible and in any case I've still got a couple of months of HT building left so shouldn't get distracted .

Just in case I sound as if I know what I'm doing, I don't, although I'm learning quickly and the DCX2496 is so easy to program via a laptop and then hear/feel the results. This is a fun hobby!

It's to soon to know how it will hold up long term but so far I'm very happy with the carpet. It's made of Eurolon which is a kind of polypropylene. I wouldn't say it is susceptible to crush -- I've had my recliners sitting for several weeks and had reason to move one the other day. By the time I was ready to put it back the leg marks had vanished. One nice quality is that it is soft and completely static free (good for use with just socks). I've heard about the friction burns but AFAIK that is only likely to be caused by dragging heavy furniture quickly across the floor. The bottom line is that it is unlikely that a HT will see the same kind of foot traffic you would see on a stairs (the stairs in my situation is not my primary stairs) so I'm not sure the carpet material matters as much. One thing I did do was choose the premium 'memory foam' underlay which feels nicer than the carpeted areas elsewhere in my house.

It's only taken a year but I finally wrapped up my soffits today. I've been in hiding making and finishing over 500' of walnut moldings and most of it is now out of the workshop and hanging where it should be in the theater. Other than filling a few nail holes and finishing up the hush box I can't tell you how happy I am to be done working up a step ladder.

Here are some pics showing progress:

First of all, some time ago there was a consensus to use red soffit lighting next to the star field. Well, I tried this but wasn't happy with the result. The picture actually looks better than it did in person -- basically the red light just didn't reflect off the black GOM and just didn't look good. So in the end I went with LED blue:


Trim, trim and more trim:


The curved pieces were back sawed every 1/2" to make them nice and bendy:


Three days later they were all fitted. The forth picture shows the final profile. I was planning a 15 degree angle to the trim but the complexity of shaping the front curved section (would have been a compound curve) defeated me, so for the first time in the saga of the old vic I compromised... Anyway, I am very happy with the results -- I just hope we don't have an earthquake 'cause I couldn't stomach doing this again.





I also started on the hush box. I can't take it much further than this until my JVC RS50 arrives, but the plan is to create a deep chamfered hinged top to make it less boxy looking and cut an extended porthole in the front to allow for the anamorphic lens. Of course this will be trimed in walnut too

A couple more pics while I'm cleaning out my camera...

I'm officially declaring that I'm now entering the final 10%, however in an attempt to make sure this is not the longest 10%, I've been diligent to finish up loose ends as I go. For the first time I'm making a todo list for work inside the theater:
1. Finish the fabric wall paneling
2. Build screen.
3. Build columns.
4. Top for bar
5. Fit projector and finish hush box.

Hmmm, I must have forgotten something because I can't believe it is less than 6 items!

Anyway, I'll be moving my Oppo BD player into the alcove shortly (the only component inside the theater) and think may add a small LCD screen and IR sensor to allow for messing around without having to have the projector on. I'll have to see what Costco is selling... I also ordered a second GE so that I can control all the lighting zones in the same way; should be here in a week.



Finally, I have a shortlist of fabric samples for the middle wall sections. Actually I think I've already chosen, but I'll throw them out here for the record (and comments). From left to right:
Anchorage Straw, FR701 Red, Anchorage Vanilla, Anchorage Goldenrod, Anchorage Mullberry.

Bingo! I agree. I think the color looks really good in the flesh. The goldenrod was a close second but I thought it would look a bit washed out over such a large area. But first I'm going to finish up the black around the ceiling this weekend...

Yes I am, it's worked out nicely. I feel it gives character and depth to the woodwork whilst retaining minimal trim detail. I've also stuck with my goal of not using stain (except for a little dye in the shellac to warm the maple). Just need to figure out how to tie in the columns.


All I can say is that it would have not been as good if it wasn't for this forum -- both examples and peer pressure (such as the man quoted above) to step up the game.

I've made a bit of progress this past couple of weeks.

First up was to fit the black GOM from soffit around the top portion of the walls.

I decided to save a bit of fabricmate track and to use a furring strip to hold a strip of GOM tight against the edge of the soffit and then fitted the fabric into the track against the wall corner.



Then the GOM was continued for down to form the topmost panel.


I used a piece of track to from the joint in each corner. Then put a miter on the end of the furring strip on the next secton to complete the seam.



I also managed to fit most of the wall fabric I purchased (surplus from Robert_S .. thanks) although I'll need to order a few more yards to complete inside the alcove.



The archway to the alcove caused a bit of head scratching and careful mitering/bending of the track. I was worried that I would not be able to successfully bend the track but the key was to invest some energy and make a jig, then slowly mold the track using a heat gun and lots of clamps.



I'm pretty happy with the color which, in the flesh, is a little darker than in looks in the pics. I think it works well with the walnut trim and should look really good once separated with more wood on the columns. (note the panels are missing inside the alcove).