Time to post my new theater build - Page 2

A little progress lately. I have set up a Harmony 890 remote, and had to get a second IR emitter to control the Grafik Eye. Picture below shows the tiny LED emitter I tucked into the back of the seat directly in front of it:


As well, I built a proper stand for my center channel. I made it out of 3/4" MDF, and it looks pretty good

When its cranked up, it still shakes the house a fair bit, but at moderately loud night viewing, you cant hear a thing upstairs. The subs are in a double drywalled, insulated, and isolated from the other walls on 3 sides and the top. The side against the stairs is packed with insulation and is quite thick. And the subs themselves are not touching the enclosure they are in. I did have one trouble at first, my CD changer skipped from the bass. Because it is a megachanger, its plays the disks on their side, so it is susceptible to skipping anyway, but I had to put a 1/4" foam sheet under it. Plays fine now, even at loud volume. I spent the most amount of time myself on that wall and enclosure just to keep the bass as contained as possible. Those old paradigms still really rock.

Finally some more progress, I have been stuck at home for a while now so it was time to get some stuff done

My bass shakers arrived from parts express last week!


Attached to some 1x8 Fir planks for mounting


This is where they are going


Here is some perspective on how they are going in, I thought I was going to have to take all the seats apart to mount them from underneath, but was able to do it all from the front and back of the seats. It only meant moving the front row forward a few feet. It turned out to be a very simple project.


The front screwed into the wooden seat frame. The back is screwed kinda the same.


Connected to the wire I had run during the build, I wired 3 in series to show as a 12 Ohm load to the amp. I had an old receiver around that is working perfectly for it.

I thought the bass shakers would be gimicky and something that I would not use often, but I have to admit the effect is pretty cool. Now all I want to watch are flying and driving movies with lots of action.

Next... On to room treatments:


I picked up some Rockboard 80 at the local hardware store, they were able to find it in the city so I picked it up the same day.


I built my frame out of 3/4" MDF


I drilled the sides out to reduce weight and also to allow for a little more hig freq absorption from the sides as well as the face.


The sides all drilled and routered, ready to put together


A better view of the side profile


I used 1/8" pegboard as a backing, it gives the frame good strength but doesnt add much weight.


All framed together


I added L-brackets to the corners, I didnt do this on my prototype and managed to push the bottom end piece off when pressing in the rockboard. The small blocks are to attach an eye-hook or other kind hanger.


Then I sprayed the sides black so the wood wouldn't show through the burlap.


Slide a piece of rockboard into the frame.


I was going to take some pics during the wrapping phase, but it really just wasnt that exciting, so fast forward to finished. I am working on mounting hardware now, but am starting the assembly line process to make 7 more full size absorbers and then 3 smaller ones for the back wall.


Today I started on the rest of them, as seen below:

Drilling all those holes made a real mess. It was also taking forever with the dull spade bit I was using, but then found a Forstner bit that I had laying around for many years but had never used. It made quick work of the rest of them.

Here is where I got to tonight, tomorrow comes the sanding and painting, and maybe I can wrap them on Friday. New treatments in time for the weekend

It's 2" Rockboard 80. I plan to do 4" thick corner bass traps as well but will start with 8 2" panels on the side walls.

Well, laziness got the best of me and I am behind schedule again. Here is where I got to last night:




Notching out the rockboard for the hanger hardware, it is so easy to work with this stuff, it cuts like soft styrofoam with a sharp knife.



Tomorrow morning I start wrapping these in burlap


Daviddeng - the seats were a discontinued model from Sears, one row was a floor model, and the other row was in another Sears warehouse somewhere and they brought them in for me. I have seen this color in a number of furniture stores so you should be able to find something close.

A full Sunday afternoon of stapling and I am done!


Some shots of the wrapping process



And mounting the hanging hardware


The only hooks I could find that were heavy enough, but had a small enough eye, was on these latches.

I bent them open and just used the eye hooks


I wanted small hooks so they would stay flush below the edge of the absorber, I didnt want them rattling against the wall.

I used picture hanging wire to make a loop on each eye hook



Wrapped and ready to hang


And the finished project!

Make sure to read the Acoustical Treatments Master thread in this forum. There are lots of online resources discussing acoustical treatments and calculators for room size and how may should be used. The consensus seems to be "more is better"

I did the mirror test to see where the speakers were reflecting on my seating positions, even then I would have put in more if it weren't for the location of the lights, the side speakers, and the equipment rack.

As far as sound, it has improved front staging and imaging. I get a smoother transition from left to right across the front stage. I dont want to use all the flowery, colorful language of a typical audio review, but as with any audible improvement, there are those that can hear it and those that cannot tell any difference at all. I can tell that softer voices are more clear and really busy action scenes dont seem as noisy and distorted, but part of that may be in my head.

I plan to add 3 smaller absorbers on the back wall, and am thinking about making some for below the screen. I plan to use corner traps in the front corners, so that will be my next project.

Yes, 4" thick traps that will be a little taller than the side panels. Probably around 6' tall so there is just a small gap at the top and bottom of them.

I'm going to say 'No, its not necessary'. It may offer improvements, but will not be practical in my theater so I am only doing the walls. When I do my star ceiling, I will make sure that it is solid and free of any rattles or vibrations, but the surface will still be an acoustically reflective material.