The Cinemar Home Theater Construction Thread - Page 74

The LED strip lights came out great, Mario. Do you have yours set up to dim? I see that they are dimmable, but it's not clear whether they can dim from a standard 120V dimmer switch or if you need to introduce one of their dimmer accessories to make things work.

The carpet looks good and the led lighting looks awesome. I am not sure how or why you are using black lights with the led, but it really looks amazing!

The carpet turned out amazing! You really have put your blood, sweat, and tears into this meticulous build. The first movie is right around the corner.. Speaking of, have you decided what the first movie will be?

He plans to use Jeff from Night Sky Murals at some point to paint a star ceiling in the coffered area. It uses a high-tech paint that charges and fluoresces with UV black lights. You can either "charge" the paint and let the stars glow for about 6 hours per charge or you can keep the black lights on so they are constantly at their brightest.

Here's his website: http://www.nightskymurals.com/

This is a direct link to one of his cooler installs IMHO (black lights obviously on): http://www.nightskymurals.com/portfolio/california-home-theater/gallery/gallery/

And this discussion forum started by Jeff explains all the nuances of this type of star system vs. fiber optics: http://www.avsforum.com/t/1260948/star-ceilings-painted-or-fiber-optics

I have followed your build almost from the beginning; back when it seemed as if your talent was restricted to graphic rendering. That thought has certainly been proven wrong. Not to wax too poetic but your theater is a masterpiece, guided by artistic vision and implemented with excruciating attention to detail. That last picture, with the carpet installed...Wow! Pinnacle of the 'do-it-yourself' art. Congratulations on a spectacular theater almost complete.

The aspect ratio on my copy is 1.78:1. Even if it was 4:3, it would be worth buying. I mean it's Anthrax, Megadeth, Slayer and Metallica in DTS-HD. It doesn't get much better than that.

Okay. That makes sense. Obviously I missed that post. That will look amazing. But what has not looked amazing in this build?

Holy crap. That's all.

Simply breathtaking!

Amazing work!

I've been following this thread since the beginning, you are an inspiration for us all!

John

This is a really superb theater!

Awesome work and great look!

What's nice about it is that the cohesive design work Mario put in up front allows all the details - the paint, the trim, the lights, the fabric and carpet all to work together to create texture and pattern that don't distract, but complement the purpose. Amazingly, none of the sub-structures or dual-purpose designs show themselves as compromises or ill-fitting. At first glance, a casual observer might just think, "Oh, that's a nice color of red, and I like the carpet." but after they look they'll see the miles of trim with no visible fasteners and the seamless fabrics, and the way the lighting is even and just the right brightness. They'll never really appreciate the complexity of the construction techniques that were required, but that's the point.

If the performance is half as good as the looks, your family and guests are in for a real treat!

Wow! Awesome job Mario, as usual. PLEASE tell me that you at least took a little time out to watch at least one movie this weekend!!!

One question - did you go with Seymour's XD material or the newer 4K screen material? I didn't see the info in the first post. I have samples of both that Chris sent me and I am admittedly having a tough time choosing as it seems with the Acoustically Transparent 4K material I would have to bolster the high frequency settings since the weave is more dense than the XD.

I have quite a bit of TechFlex braided sleeving left over if you would like to sleeve (i.e. hide and group together) all of the wires leading into your projector. I even have some leftover heat shrink. PM me your address if you would like me to mail off enough to handle your projector wires if you would like as my very small contribution.

I still can't believe how much your original renders match the actual pictures. I have completely lost track of which is which.

Fabulous work! One of the best builds I have ever seen.

+1

Gorgeous, Mario!

Mario,

Do you have a link to the door you purchased. I know it was a plain slab you dressed up but was curious if you show the exact product

I bought the 4K material. According to this http://accucalhd.com/documents/accucal_front_projection_screen_report.pdf
"Enlightor 4k - This material was mostly color neutral. It is the finest weave tested in an acoustically transparent screen.. It does have a slight tex-ture from the weave used to pass the audio through the screen. At 8 feet it was slightly visible. This material would be best for 9 foot or greater viewing distance. At ten feet this material looked very good. The material does add a slight sheen to the image. Treble was 2.5 db down at 20 kHz compared to the level at 2 kHz. The black backing added another 1 db loss at 20 kHz. The audio response effect was a relatively smooth loss from 3kHz to 20kHz. This material is only recommended from 8 to 9 feet because of light loss and color errors."

The XD
"Center Stage XD - This material was mostly color neutral. It does have a strong texture from the weave used to pass the audio through the screen. The weave used with this material is unusually irregular making moiré more uncommon with it. At 9 feet it was slightly visible. This material would be best for eleven foot or greater viewing distance. At eleven feet this material looked very good. Treble was 2 db down at 20 kHz com-pared to the level at 2 kHz. The black backing added another 1 db loss at 20 kHz. The audio response effect was a relatively smooth loss from 3kHz to 20kHz. This material is recommended from 11 foot and greater viewing distances."

Doesn't seem like too big of a difference. I guess the black backing with the EN4K and without the black backing on the XD might be a bit more sizable.

Neophyte question alert. What is the black backing material and what does it do for the screen? I'm assuming that is something you guys add, or is that done by the manufacturer?

I did the low-tech "remove-your-center-channel-speaker-grill-cover-and-hang-each-screen-material-6-inches-in-front-of-the-tweeter" method and to my ears the XD sounded slightly muted whereas the 4K sounded a bit more muted. But I guess it doesn't matter as any acoustically transparent screen will require some re-EQ to deliver flat response.

The XD is definitely a much thicker material with a visibly open weave. The 4K is thin to the point of semi-transparency that if you place it on a page of a book you can still read the text through the material. The weave is significantly more dense and stretches on the 45 degree fabric bias in each direction which is probably where they develop the "holes" in the material.
Edited by TMcG - 8/8/12 at 3:56am

I'm really interested on your TV movie poster setup! Could you share more info as to how to do it? As you said, I could get a 40" LED TV for the price of roughly the same as a lightbox movie poster!

Thanks in advance!

Awesome build BTW!

Man...

Lost track of what's real and what's rendered!

When I'll travel to the US, can you sell me some tickets to watch a movie on your HT?

Just brilliant!

Congrats (from Portugal )

Amazing work. Totally blown away. Thanks for the photos, looks fantastic!

Mario - I think I'm using similar RGB strips / controllers, and I'm finding that they are amazingly unselective when it comes to receiving commands. Mine will also start flashing various colors (ie. go into a different mode) when I fire up the HT with the universal remote. I think it's the command for turning on the receiver, but that probably doesn't matter which component it is. I've had to just tape off the LED controllers' IR receivers for now. As you've probably already concluded, having them only receive selective IR signals, if you can do that with your system, would be ideal.

Bryan

I've said it a few times in this thread, and it has been some time since I said it, so I will say it again....

You suck!


Signed,
Mr. Sour Grapes a.k.a. Mr. Jealous Pouty Pants

Very nice. Mario.