New Theater Build...Pictorial Essay...What Do You Think...

I am 15 days into the build of a new home theater that will be in a dedicated room that is 20' 10" long by 11' 11" wide (all measurements being drywall to drywall) inclusive of:

-- a separate equipment room (not included in the above dimensions)

-- a sound proof door

-- acoustic fabric wrapping on the all walls and ceiling

-- acoustic paneling/treatment on all walls and ceiling

-- engineered room in that the build / construction methods have been engineered/designed to keep all outside sounds from coming in and all sound from escaping...even gone as far as redoing the HVAC inclusive of the the use of "mufflers" for both the return and supply

-- Stewart AT FireHawk 90" x 51" constant width screen with masking (although I watch movies in total darkness I do often have friends over to watch sports with low level lighting thus the decision to go with the FireHawk material and CIW)

-- Too many other things to mention now but can / will be listed later

That said, to the extent that there is interest I thought I would post some pictures every days noting that this first batch of pictures is from yesterday which was DAY 15 of the build...

With that, I hope that you enjoy the pictures and let me know what you think...




The above image shows the construction method for this wall includes Roxul sound proofing which will then have installed on it using isolation clips to make the wall resilient a layer of engineered plywood, a layer of green glue and then a layer of engineered drywall





The above image shows the top right front corner/soffit which follows a familiar pattern for the rest of the room (i.e. other than the above wall) in that every nook and cranny is filled with Roxul which is then covered with drywall, a layer of green glue and a layer of drywall...
















The above image looks from the front of the room into the back of the room...what you see is the framing for the back wall of the theater room as well as the roxul filled back wall of the equipment room...the HVAC is still being worked on and you can see in the bottom left corner the custom made return which is treated with acoustic material inside...what is not shown is the muffler that is part of this system...

The above images show the construction of the 1 wall of the theater that is shared with another room..what you see is the detailed construction which i) has Roxul in the frame ii) resilent clips attached to the frame to de-couple the wall iii) a sheet of engineered plywood iv) a layer of green glue and v) finally, a layer of engineered drywall (i.e. quiet rock).






The above image shows the back wall inclusive of the two acoustically lined returns and the projection window...this wall is simply two layers of drywall with green glue in between...whoops, forget that there is of course 4" of Roxul within the wall frame...




The above image shows the balance of the wall which has to be covered with engineered plywood, green glue and then engineered drywall (i.e. quiet rock)...


Can not wait to see what tomorrow brings...

Yes, but I am cheating in that I am having the room built as opposed to building it myself ad I would never find the time to get it done myself...

To be clear...

1. Only one wall -- the wall posted on Day 16 -- gets the roxul + resilient clips + engineered plywood (which has a metal sheet running through it) + green glue + quiet rock...the reason being that this wall is a shared wall with the other side containing the furnace room...

2. The front wall and the right wall are outside walls...they have 10" of poured concrete + drywall + 4" of roxul + drywall + green glue + drywall...

3. The back wall and the ceiling are not outside walls...the back wall will be common/shared with the equipment room...these two surfaces have 4" of roxul + drywall + green glue + drywall

I hope that clarifies things...

Chris, good to see you on this side of the world...thanks for the compliment...




I would very much like to see the photos of your build as well...please let me know when and where they are posted....

Chris, I will NOT get on my soap box here but that was something that I absolutely decided I would NEVER get trapped into doing again and, as you know, I have sold all of my Meridian equipment...

Bill:

Appreciate the feedback and the suggestions...

In terms of room treatments I will try to post pictures of what is being planned but that may be a little difficult...I can tell you that virtually every inch of wall and ceiling will have some form of acoustic treatment...

Regarding room correction the plan is to use an Ashly ne24.24M ( see http://www.ashly.com/neprocessor.html ) which will be professional calibrated / setup...

Thanks for the advice and keep it coming...

Nothing much to show today other than....





This image shows the membrane that has been installed between the floor and the quiet rock to decouple the wall from the floor...no detail is too small to avoid...







This image shows one of the two silencers that will be used to ensure than the HVAC is dead silent...one will be used for the return while one will be used for the return.








This image shows the left soffit which has now been completed with -- you guessed it -- roxul + engineered plywood + green glue + quite rock.
















These three images show the various parts of the room where the screws and the "drywall gaps" have received their first layer of mud / tap...these will be sanded, smoothed and redone but no other sanding / treatment of the drywalll will occur...

Why...the next steps is to paint every inch of the ceiling and walls black in preparation for the acoustic material furrings and tracks and, of course, the acoustic panels...

More, much more, to come....

Chris:

I am using a company called Kinetics Acoustics to fabric wrap my room and, as you said, not an inexpensive option but I think that the clean lines and the look are all well worth it...there URL is http://www.kineticshometheater.com/

Hope that this helps...

The answer is "not very"...the room has been engineered from the ground by a sound engineering / home theater theater firm...with measurements taken before construction they then designed the room and factored in the effect/impact of their build on the design and then proposed the necessary / proper treatments...

To change the sound treatment would involve removing the fabric wrapping, remove the current acoustic treatment, install the new acoustic treatment and then reinstall the fabric wrap...

Right you are, the smell of glue must be getting to me...and, as you pint out, one is being used for the return while the other is being used for the supply...

So what happened today you ask....from the images below you can see that they have started to install the furring/framework against which the tracking for the acoustic material will be go..

A little more detail / information...the wood is installed a little over 4" in depth against the wall to allow for installation of the acoustic panels as well as the in-wall SR/RR/RL/SL speakers...once that is installed the acoustic fabric will be installed...

As far as next steps are concerned they are i) finish installing the furring/framework ii) paint the entire theater black and iii) install the tracks for the acoustic fabric...









Notice, in the above two images, the cut out / shaping for the riser...

The 4 1/2" drops are to allow for acoustic paneling of the ceiling while the boxes are, as you surmised, for can lighting...on the subject of lighting there will also be sconces on the back and sides walls as well as LED lighting...

Hope that helps...

So what happened today you ask...well the rest of the furrings that will hold the track for the acoustically transparent material went up today and, as you can see from the below images, the room was painted a very dark and very flat today...why you ask, so that none of the stray light, not that should be any, will NOT be reflected off of the walls...

The room is so dark that when you enter room and sit there for 5 minutes that you can literally not see 6 inches in front of your self; that is, I could not see my hand at all...very creepy!

You an also see where holes were cut into the boxes so that the cans will fit...one more thing, I have no idea what type of paint was used but the smell is overwhelming as it is INCREDIBLY strong...




















While all of the above is good news there is some bad news...the costs increases / over runs continue to mount as a result of the need to make some last minute changes...this is somewhat disappointing in that I did my very best and thought all the details were addresses but, in the end, seems that the advice that I got was less than perfect and, not wanting to be penny wise and pound foolish, I have decided to, within reason, address the shortcoming so that I do NOT regret it down the road...the cost over runs are expected to be in the order of 15% to 20% of the initial agreed to build cost...

With that, tomorrow is another day which means more progress and one closer to actually watching a movie...very very excited about this!

Chris, in no particular order:

-- amplifiers and DSP engine initially specified were not optimal which will require yet another change...the main cost here is the more expensive DSP engine.


-- hvac design misread the blueprints meaning it had to be reworked...this was a significant challenge for my contractor.

-- projector window positioning may be too low...this may require re doing the back wall which, because it is finished, will involve ripping part of it down and redoing it.

-- subwoofers initially specified do not go as low as needed which will require changing subwoofers (at least 2 of the 4) and possibly redesigning the front of the room...the main cost here are the more expensive subwoofers as the front of the woom is not yet built.

-- wall placement, did I neglect to mention that the designer misread the blue prints which meant that I had to tear down and move a wall that I did not plan on tearing down...the major issue here is cost which has not left me happy as the designer claims this is my fault noting that I fail to see how.

and a few other goodies that it is too late to mention...