I've started the "Upstairs Theater" - Page 3

The FI subs have arrived!



These subs are made specifically for infinite baffle setups.





It will be a modest IB setup but it should do the job.





I have come to the conclusion that I am going to be hauling drywall upstairs for the rest of my life.....





Here is the closet that will become the chamber for the IB subs.





And just like that the drywall is up. If it were only that quick in real life.....





Here is the frame for the plug for the door opening.





Test fit.





And DD with GG for the inside of the plug. After the sub manifold is mounted I will screw the plug in the opening, fill it with insulation and add the drywall on the outside.

I did a quick a dirty noise test:
On the other side of the closet that the IB subs are going to be in is my dust collector for my shop. It is very loud (92 db) and that side of the wall does not have any drywall on it all. With the door plug partially installed I was getting an over 30 db drop in the room just on the other side of the wall and I'm not even finished with the sound proofing on that wall.

Time for an update!



I cut an opening from the closet into the main room for the IB manifold.





And I reinforced it with studs all around.





The manifold itself is constructed in two layers. Here is the inner layer that is made of MDF.




Here is the test fit of the sub box before I put the second layer on.





Here is the outer layer is OSB. The two layers are glued, screwed, and bracketed together. All seams are also glued and screwed together.





Here are the mounting bolts for the subs. Rather than using the factory mounting holes most people use a clamp style mount for the subs. This let you put the bolts further away from the fragile edge of the wood.





And here is a test fit with the subs installed. You can seed the brackets I used to clamp the subs in the manifold. Not shown is the foot I installed under the rear section of the manifold to help support the weight. I would estimate that the subs and the manifold come in at around 100lbs.





My IB subs are wired in series so first I installed the cross wire.





And then added the wires that will lead to the connection in the soffit.





My "helper" would be quiet surprised if I powered up the subs right now....




I installed the door plug and sealed up any gaps.





Now since I'm using in-wall speakers I needed to make another wall to install them in behind the screen. This is so I don't destroy the soundproofing by cutting giant holes in it. Here is the right side panel.





The left side panel.





And finally the middle panel.





The sub wiring goes up a stud in the left side panel to be connected in the soffit later.





The last (hopefully) piece of drywall is installed.





A nice shot of the manifold. The opening measures 10"x17.5"





A test fit of the front main speakers.

I did do a quick test of the subs before I finished up the wall. I was able to play a 20 Hz (the lowest test tone I had on my laptop) at 98 db with no effort from the amp or the subs. The GG/DD was a resounding success. Outside the house the only noise you could hear was the vinyl soffits rattling even with me playing a 31.5 Hz tone at 118 db. That's nothing a little clear silicone won't fix. Even with me only installing a sealed, solid interior door very little of the low bass traveled outside of the theater room. I'm very pleased with the soundproofing results.

Thanks! Don't worry, her time will come ....

I was extremely happy that the soundproofing worked well with just doing the outside walls and the subfloor (the IB sub "room" is 100% DD/GG all around). I really did not want to drag any more drywall up stairs to do the ceiling if I did not have to.

Yes sir, I am.

They are just such a great bang for the buck. Mine is a very small system in comparison to most and, just with my small amount of testing, looks like it's going to be way more than enough. Another thing I like is that it really does not rattle the house. I have a 10" self powered sub that I used for initial testing and that thing would shake the recessed lights in the rooms below the theater. The IB does none of that yet still has much, much, MUCH more capability than that "little" sub ever could.

It's like getting hit with a velvet covered cinder block.

That is ultimately what is going to be there. Right now it's 3/4" OSB over wooden I-beam (glued and screwed) then GG (2 tubes per 4x8 sheet) and then 2nd layer of 3/4" OSB. Over roughly 50% of the floor space there will be a riser and a stage that will end up making another layer of 3/4" OSB and all of that will be covered with 8 lb pad and finally carpet. Right now you cannot hear any footsteps in the room below and construction noise is audible but that is without any padding or carpet.

Shoot me a PM when you have some free time and I'll let you demo the IB setup. I just got my Speakon connectors in so I can go ahead and finish the IB wiring back to the equipment room. If you did an IB setup you would probably have to do 4 18" drivers (or 2 of the new 22" if they are available then) since you room has at least twice the internal volume of mine.

I did some soffit work this long weekend. As many of you know finding 2x4s that don't look like wet noodles is tough enough, let alone smaller dimensional lumber. I decided to take matters into my own hands and just mill my own wood for the soffits.



Here is my stack of wood for the soffits.




I made real 1x1s mostly to give me as much open space in the soffits as possible.




I started out by putting the braces on the walls that the box framing will attach to.




Then I added the ceiling bracing.




I started in the corners with the box framing.




And I proceeded around the room with the framing for the sides. Most of the box framing is made out of real 1x2s. You can see the space for the projector shelf in this shot.




And here is a shot of the front.

Next I need to add the soffit lights. They will be mounted in plates that are attached to rails that are screwed to the soffit framing. The plates will have oversized mounting holes so I can make fine adjustments on their mounting location when I added the trim panels later.




Since I have a ton of lights and lots of identical parts to make I set up fixtures so I would not have to layout all the holes on every part.




These spacer rings were fun to make....




Here is a light mounted in it plate.




And from the backside. I added foam tape around the fixture so it could not possible rattle.




The lights are mounted and wired.




And they work!




Dim.




Really dim.

My amp for the IB subs has pro-grade connections on it so why not use them?



I started out by mounting a Speakon jack for the subs at soffit height.




I then made a patch cable with Speakon ends. The Speakon connectors are a twist lock connector with a spring lock.




Next is to make some balanced XLR cables. Here is the wire stripped and ready to go.




This jack is a solder type. I pre-cut some solder to drop into the pin cups to make it a bit easier to solder.




Here is the jack soldered on. I added some tech-flex tubing mostly because I have a big roll of it laying around....




And the finished connector.

I got the soffit lights at Lowes (they were dirt cheap and came with the bulbs) and no, I'm going to paint them black.

Here is another quick render:



The carpet color did not come out right but you can get the idea.

I started the stage this weekend.




Here is what I started with.




I framed out the stage with 2x12s. I made sure to space them away from the drywall.




I used up my remaining 2x12 for the supports that run under the seams in the OSB.





I then framed out the step and added the rest of the stage framing.




My HVAC ducts are in the face of the step.




I made sure to seal up any gaps in the duct area.




I then framed out the curve on the face of the step and temporarily attached some material to the face so I could mark the OSB.




I packed the step framing (and the riser framing) with insulation.




And here is the finished step with the metal flex duct fittings attached.