The Cinemar Home Theater Construction Thread - Page 56

Thanks. I'll see what he has done to see if I'm on track.

Wow. What a compliment to even be mentioned with the likes of Sandman's (Ruben's) thread.

Thanks for taking the time to chime in. I already accomodated for the Seymour screen border which in their case is about 3.25" wide border x 2. In my post, I just left out the border and thought it would be easier just to deal with the actuall screen size instead.

I do think it's going to be bigger than I'm used to. But based on this forum and other user experiences, alot of people said they really liked it bigger than the norm. My theory is I can always mask the screen to a smaller size...but you can't go bigger without ordering another new screen.

You definitely should post pictures of your theater.

I'm assuming that since the AE4000u will autoscale up to sizes, which for most is probably 16:9 and 2.35/2.40 I just wanted confirmation that the AE4000U will set both 2.35 and 2.40 aspect movies to the same size...meaning, I could have both those aspects fill the screen and just bleed over into the black border and "hopefully" not see the inch or so video on that edge.

Like I said, worst case, I can program through my automation software to send a Memory Load command based on aspect. I always just try to find the easier route though first.

Thanks BroncoSport.

I have a roll of denim that I plan to attach behind the red fabric panels.

I'm pretty sure I'll be adding 4-6" of OC703 on the lower 24" of all the in-room columns to help with bass. Can anyone else comment on this?

Thanks Tim.

I was just hoping to save time and not reinvent the wheel. Sometimes it's just challenging getting straight wood and several trips back and forth.

I was thinking I could use their Oak jamb which I would be significantly stronger than pine.

I'm planning to use a 1 3/4" thick door with door seals and stops. I'm not thickening it further since I have the foyer and another door within 5'.

Regarding the screen aspect, it turns out I don't have as much room to the left/right of the screen as I thought. I had forgotten about the crown moulding at the top.

I built my first fabric frame last night and started the 2nd.

I also wrapped the fabric around the patch panel door frame. If I had to do it over again and didn't have to rework the wall, I would have made the whole red fabric panel swing open instead of the two separate pieces. Would have been a cool hidden door too.

I didn't document the first frame I built, but did the 2nd that I started.
I primed the visible side of the 1x2 select pine with some dark gray primer.


Then glued and screwed together using the Kreg pocket jig.


Before assembly, I made sure to use the width of one of my right angle rulers. It's about an 1/8" wide. This makes sure the fabric will fit in to frame.

A test fit before applying the fabric. I found out that I won't be able to remove the fabric panels once the side column trim goes up. So I'll just need to make sure I install them before I get to that step of the project.


I used 1/2" 18 ga staples to attach the fabric with my Porter Cable gun. I ordered a Porter Cable Upholstery Stapler US58 but the staples hadn't arrived yet. The 18 ga I think is too risky on the edge of MDF, but seemed to work fine going into both Pine and Maple.

Here's the two fabric panels I finished.




The patch panel frame didn't work like I expected as far as wrapping the inside rectangle cutout. I'm thinking because I pulled the fabric tight to the frame, it didn't allow me to get the fabric bank into the inside corners. So you can see some of the exposed wood. I'll have to pick up some 3/4" outside corner to cover it up.

I was planning to use 3/4" oak for the threshold into the theater so the automatic door bottom can seal the room. This will match the bullnose and steps. Given it will be on concrete, do I just put down black roofing felt?

Yeah - I don't think it would be a good idea to put the wood directly on the concrete.

Perhaps use PL Premium on the roofing felt to the concrete. Then PL Premium again on the wood to the roofing felt.

Humidity and moisture will vary from one basement to the next. So that may be why yours was unaffected. I'll probably go with the roofing felt against the concrete since it can't hurt.

Another option would be matching granite from my back bar.

Not yet. I'll be putting recycled denim behind them. Im just building the panels now. I want to finish as much of the cutting as I can before primer. The saw comes out permanently just before primer.

Thanks e39mofo,

I'll probably use some brad nails long enough to sink through the first layer of drywall. Most of them fit pretty tightly but because some boards are bowed a little, they don't always sit flush. I believe if you angle them towards the floor when shooting the brad nail it will hold pretty good. I don't think it will take very many. Maybe just one in each corner and then anywhere it's bowing out.

Worked on the fabric frames again last night.

Quick tip. Pick up one of those pizza roller cutters from the fabric store. I used a ripped piece of MDF as my underside cutting board and drape the fabric over it. Then use a large clamping straight edge to get a nice clean cut.

Here's my temporary fabric center...using two six foot tables. A shot after being stapled. I divided the frame so I could easily squeeze remnant denim into the space. I have some smaller 16" areas...so the remaining leftovers, get used here. And then the left over from this piece then gets used in another frame. It worked out that I use pretty much all the material with little waste.


And then on the wall:



For the sconce wall, I've seen where people just attach mdf/wood around the fixture. But in my case, I wanted the entire frame and cutout to be removable so I don't have to do any stapling later and just attach the frame.

Here's the backside:


Then on the wall:


After stapling the fabric:


I then traced the fixture box with a pencil:


Then I got to break in the new Porter Cable upholstery stapler. I stapled just outside the pencil lines where I knew the backing was:


Next, I used scissors to make a star pattern cutout inside the pencil outline:


As you can see...complete removable now until painting is complete:

I would have liked to make them removable...just in case...but once my side column mouldings go up...I think it will be physically impossible to get them out.

Yeah - it really creates a nice effect. I think I'm just so used to seeing drywall on the walls. It just makes the fabric that much more impressive.

They are friction fit at this point but I still need to brad nail them to suck them into the wall in places where the wood is bowed. It was challenging to get the large one out after it went in. I had to use a putty knife.

It helped also in the way that I mounted the columns. There's a little flex to the MDF near the middle of the columns and fabric frames since I mounted the 2x2's inside the columns up high and in the lower portion. So it helps to flex with the frame to ensure a tight fit.

I'm using denim instead of OC703.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet as far as placing denim all the way around on the upper half.

Given that the ceiling is completely reflective and the lower half of the walls are too, I might just do all denim on the top half. I won't have an opportunity to take the panels down and tweak later like I had hoped.

According to Otoole's book, I thought it recommended alternating or staggering the sound treatments on each side from left to right. I guess the only way for me to find out is to put the denim up as a test before committing.

I haven't gotten into this area as much as I would have liked to since the build is occupying any free time. I'm open to suggestions.

Like I mentioned earlier...I was thining of adding 6" thick of OC703 in the column lower portions too. I can even add some above and below the speakers in the columns.

Thanks.

I never ended up tucking them under. I ran a 3/4" pine board right to the base of the crown. The fabric panels then butt up to this. The fabric panels are just a hair thicker so you won't see the furring board...only the crown.