My Budget (Ugly) Garage Theater - Page 3

Thanks,

I have 4 audiosource Amp 300's. They will put out 235 watts into 4 ohms. I know they are not top of the line audiophile amps or even pro amps, but since each of the JTR's will hit reference level at my seating position with 40 watts, I think I will lbe fine.

The Triple 8's fit perfectly under my screen when vertical. I am going to try to move the coaxial position to the top so it is as close as possible to the screen. I will be able to get rid of my cinder block speaker stands.

Just rewired my LCR speaker cables with Speakon connectors. It was not nearly as bad to wire them with 4x12 gauge wire as I was afraid it would be. The Speakon connectors are nice to work with. When I upgrade my surrounds to JTR's I will request them as well.

I hope to have the JTR's installed and calibrated by the end of the day on Tuesday, but I have not been on schedule with any other part of this project, so who knows.

The plan is get the rest of the wiring cleaned up tomorrow morning, get the rest of the garage cleaned up tomorrow afternoon, move the coaxials to the top position in the Triple 8's and install them on Tuesday morning and afternoon so I can calibrate Tuesday night.

I got my Triple 8's set up.

Rather than double post a my review I have linked it here.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...8#post17121298

I will post pictures soon.

I posted pictures of the current setup with the Triple 8's and Amp 300's in the first post.

I haven't updated this thread in a while so I though I would post pictures of the worlds cheapest riser.

We had some friends over to watch a movie and one of them had the idea of putting our folding chairs on the coffee table that I had moved behind the couch to eliminate reflections from the front 3 speakers.

It worked well, but I discovered, when we turned the lights on that I had nearly fallen off the side so I decided to attach the chairs to the table.

I was planning on throwing it out. It is pretty scratched up, but is very sturdy. The riser was free to me. I already had the table, chairs and brackets lying around.

It has worked out well. During the process, I ended up moving my surround back speakers to the top of my acoustic panels which is probably better placement for the font row as well, since they were partially blocked by the back of the couch in their prior position.





After numerous AB tests, I am leaving Audyssey's EQ off. It seems to take the life out of the sound when playing music using my JTR's. However, I am currently trying to get a good deal on a Behringer Feedback Destroyer Pro on Ebay so I can at least EQ my sub. In a few months, I may add a JTR Captivator if I can ever figure out a good spot for it, but for right now, I am really loving the sound. The crystal clear reference level output of the Triple 8's is something that has to be experienced to really understand it. I have never heard commercial speakers that can provide this experience. I watch movies around -5 or louder now. With my old setup I would watch around -13. With the low distortion of the professional speakers it does not sound too loud even at 0. My wife used to complain when it the volume was as low as -12, but now never complains that it is too loud. Movie watching has become a whole new experience and listening to music is almost like being at a concert.

After several sessions of Audyssey calibration with advice from RMK! and the Audyssey thread, I have a calibration result that I am happy with. I am really enjoying the sound. This setup should tide me over for quite some time.

Dark Knut,

My garage is not insulated either, but even on the worst of days it never gets below the high 40's in the garage. I think the summers are actually worse. I am more worried about my equipment overheating than being too cold. Unless it gets really cold, I do not think it will be a problem for equipment.

Yeah, that is the store. The paradigms did sound good, even if the salesman's information was not entirely accurate.

I have decided to make the jump to an AT screen. I am going to use the Semour AV Center Stage XD Fabric, http://www.seymourav.com/screens.asp and make a frame using http://www.8020.net/ T-slot aluminum framing.

Here are the plans that I made on sketchup for the frame.

I plan on using the 1.5 inch material for the frame.

Eventually, I will add the border as shown.

The railings come in 12 foot lengths that the distributer cuts to your specifications. They have a wealth of connectors that can be used for corners or to string the railing to gether end to end.

I am going to try this connector: http://www.amazon.com/80-20-4-HOLE-I.../dp/B001IA12YE

I may add this connector: http://www.amazon.com/80-20-5-HOLE-J...943418&sr=1-44

or this connector: http://www.amazon.com/80-20-5-HOLE-D...943418&sr=1-45

for added rigidity.

Bosch Rexroth sells a similar system: http://www.boschrexroth-us.com/count.../mge/index.jsp

My hope is that the frame will be rigid enough to avoid the need for a center support.

If more rigidity is required they sell 1x2" rails and 1.5 x3" rails.

The screen material does not weigh that much but I wonder if the tension will be too much.

I am planning on making a 114" diagonal 16x9 screen. That is as large as my projector is capable of based on the calculator at projectorcentral.com.

It is also just wide enough to fit my Triple 8's behind at their current width, and about as big as I can fit in my tiny room.

It may be that 114" is too much for my room, so I may not use the whole screen, but I will have a pretty big screen for later use in a better room.

I am thinking about going this route to attach the screen, although it looks pretty involved: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...1#post17212501

That would make it pretty easy for me to take this apart and put it up again somewhere else. It looks like the same method that Seymour uses to attach their screens to the frames.

Thanks polardkevin,

After the acoustically transparent screen is done, I may move on to the appearance of the room.

My Center Stage XD screen material has arrived. I hope to buy the aluminum frame pieces this week and get it all put together next Saturday.

I have a day off so I am going to try to build a stand for my speakers and new AT screen.

Here are the plans:



And here is a mock up with speakers and acoustic panels:

By the way, here is the link to my screen building thread for anyone who is interested:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1252857

New front stage.



Here it is with the screen installed.

The screen is attached to the frame with industrial strength Velcro. Getting it tight was difficult. I would probably go with screen tight or grommets and o rings if I were to do it again.

I sit about 9 feet from the screen. If I am looking for the texture I can find it when there is a very uniform light color on the screen, but even then it is not at all distracting.

New picture of the screen. I ditched the Velcro and reattached it onto my 80/20 frame with grommets and o-rings. It turned out great. It is much tighter than before.

Thanks. I have had the whole family in here this weekend enjoying the theater.

I added speaker grill cloth as black backing for my screen. It took care of the reflections I was getting off of the metal grills of the Triple 8s. I could not be happier with the sound and video quality at this point.

Thanks ddgtr.

I still need to add a velvet wrapped frame, but I may wait until I move to a larger place. I am only using about 100" of the 112" screen because at 9 feet away, the larger picture is a little overwhelming.

I am in my last year of Radiology residency, so I will most likely be moving in July. I don't know where yet. My plan is to build a dedicated theater when I move, but we will see what happens.