***Working Man's DIY Dedicated Home Theater***

I have thought of this, and I agree space is limited there. However EMP does not have dipole surrounds or in walls that match the rest of my speakers properly. Not to mention budget(whats that) I'v already invested a considerable amount in the 9 channels of matching EMPs. Guess I'll just have to make them work.


There are no matching in walls for my EMPs. I have in walls in the living room and their sonic quality has turned me off to them for my theater. As I mentioned before I already bought the EMP matching surrounds and they are rear firing ports so shelf mounting is kinda out the question as the shelf would have to protrude ~16". I'm only using 2 seats wide X2 so hopefully it'll be ok.

Its good to hear from someone who's worked with a space like this, really starts to shrink when you start putting equipment etc up there doesn't it.

Did some work with the rack, still needs stop molding around back door and rackmount flange in the front to mount face plates, rack mount stuff etc.

Almost ready to cut hole and pop this baby in......

Back:


Front:

Yeah, my local store carried 20" wire shelving, which was plenty deep for all my components. What did you need 24" depth for? You got some King Kong amps?

Been absent here since nothing to report, I cut out and installed the rack last night. I'll post some pics tonight when I get a chance.

The rack was 3/4 mdf.

The shelves:
2x2s to make square frame with 20" wire shelving mounted to it. I used cable fasteners to mount it to the frame like this: http://www.summitsource.com/images/products/COGPSW.jpg
They wrapped the bigger metal bars perfectly

Side brackets:
Adjustable pilaster brackets from lowes, kinda like these http://www.knapeandvogt.com/255_Seri...ge=details.129

Outlets will be:
1 general pass through for HDMI etc.
1 20A circuit electrical outlet
11.2 audio connects

Cooling:
I plan to run 6 120mm silent case fans pulling air out middle and top of the rack venting into the room. The rack will eventually have face plates attached for a flush look so they will be necessary. If this "chimney" cooling approach does not work, I will try the crossflow or through cooling method and mount the fans in the back door and pull the air through vents in the front and out into the attic. I dislike the crossflow because it means an opening(fan openings) to the attic and because I can visually confirm fan operation with the fans facing the room.

A couple tips:

1. Man this thing was heavy. Me and my brother are fairly fit over 6' 200, and this was a chore to snake through the house and up the stairs. Moving around the garage did not give a good idea of its mass.
2. Allow more than a 1/4" for clearance of rack to inside stud dimensions. I allowed a 1/4" and one of the studs was bowed so needless to say it was a tight fit. 1/2" would have been much better.

Thanks for the props I'll try to get some pics up tonight.....

Here's the hole cut out with my nephew vacuuming up the Sheetrock dust....

Mounted the rack in the wall. The molding needs paint and I had to trim the shelves a bit since the rack got squeezed in by about 1/8". So my close fitting shelves turned into a no fit situation, Drat! Serves me right trying to be so tight with the fit.

While doing this I realized that the attic access hole to the left of the rack would serve for an excellent medial shelf built into the wall. So back to the garage to cut and make the in wall shelf. Four shelves deep enough for 2 discs should hold >250 discs. I can also take it out if I need to get in the attic.

More work on av rack

More work on rack....



DVD/br shelf



Av rack.... Still needs face plates, paint, and equipment.....



This I'd starting to be like work.....

Thanks Todd!

Chris,

Thanks, thats a big compliment from a MA Guru!!!

So my next question is with speaker layout/placement/number.....

I went with a 9channel receiver with the intent on using 9 channels but I'm a little concerned because I'm short on space. The heights really don't work as the ceiling is 8' in the highest part and since its a bonus room the far sides are tapered to approx 5'9" where they meet the wall.

The wides are really close to spec with 50 degrees from primary seating which is 10 degrees less than the recommended 60 for DSX wides. This would place them pretty close to the walls and I would have to toe them in pretty strong.

Should I use the DSX wides since they are within the +/- 10degrees recommended by Audyssey or scrap 9 channels and stick with a 7 channel setup for my space.

Also I already have matching speaks for 9 channels so they're really going to waste if i don't use them.....

Just ordered 6-120mm case fans and the powersupply, wiring, and rpm adjuster to get the cooling wired in on the Rack!!!! Cooling is expensive!!!!

I have the needed studs in the garage painted black for the screen wall, not sure on its design yet but I might get a wild hair and stick it together. I have speaker grill cloth to cover the wall, but prob won't do that until I decide on screen size.....

OK, so I'm rethinking my seating design now.... I was going to use a row of 3 and a row of 2. The room is 21ft long so with both rows reclining it puts the front row of 3 right at about 12.5ft. I know that the middle of the room is the worst place for cancellation and I don't wan't for most of the seating to be in the worst acoustic place. Would sufficient acoustic treatments and multiple subs mitigate some of this effect?

The other option is to use a single row of 4 probably curved. I would have to offset these seats to one side to allow enough room to get by the side only on one side and obviously puts the outside people considerably to the right and left of center screen.

Another problem with the two rows of seating is the viewing distance of row 1 would be about 10ft and I'm planning on using about 130" 2.35 which puts it pretty close for the first row....

Should I just bite the bullet and compromise with the row of 4 seats?

Did some work with the rack, cut some face plates and installed AVR, Amp, Line conditioner, and sub EQ. Not sure how the rest of the top is going to get setup probably gonna wait until I get the BR player(Oppo 93?).

Do you think this is enough air flow?

With all six running at half throttle they are slient with my ear up to them at full throttle they are barely audible standing right in front of the rack and silent at the seating position.

Thanks!!!

I think most people use it to eq their sub(s), at least that's what I use it for....

Look here: hometheatershack.com

Looking for some advice on height/wide choice. Here is a sketch of the room:



The wides would get pretty close to the specs, I think minus 3degrees or so. The heights would be nowhere close to the recommended specs, but would allow optimum seperation of my mains. The heights would have to be way lower than spec and closer to the center.

Q1- Would wides put my mains too close for adequate seperation?

Q2- Are the heights too far out of spec to be useful?

Q3- Should I stay with a 7 channel setup in this room?