***Working Man's DIY Dedicated Home Theater*** - Page 2

After an exchange with Chris K from Audyssey, I plan on running DSX wides on the front stage. The wides will be closer than recommended but its the closest I can accomodate without bringing the wides out from behind the wall.

Finished construction of the wall, just need to install speaker cloth and put all the speakers and subs behind the wall.

I also masked out the screen size to get a feel for it. 120" is the maximum I can fit to accomodate projector mounting throw distance and brightness requirements.



It is sooooo hard to get a good picture in this room. With all 6 can lights running its DAAAARRK in there!

Made some progress on the screen wall. I installed the Speaker cloth on the two sides..... The middle is going to have removable panels so I can get back there... I'm thinking about putting automotive shocks on the screen so or will tilt itself up out the way when I need to get behind the screen.



Wood for screen and frame


Now I got lots of work to do......

Ok, your right sorry. This space is really hard to photo the black walls and such even with the lights on it's DAAARK.

I've got lots of work to do this weekend I'll try to get some "real" pics including the a/v rack which I'm real proud of...........

Pic of the cooling fans mounted on face plate, I actually had to reverse them after this they were backwards! doh! I actually like the way they look better backwards since you don't have to look at those stickers and wires, but it turned out good after all.



Pic of the completed rack actually missing the PS3 and Xbox 360 up top but I'll move them once its up and running.


A little better shot of the space...

I used 5/16 tempered hardboard and painted them black. Quick note though.... when painting something this thin, paint both sides. When the paint cured on the front, it caused the board to bow, so I painted the other side and it straightened out.

LOTS of man hours, but not much $. Hey what else am I gonna do with my time? Less than $100 in the rack alone. Less than $100 in the cooling including an adjustable knob which slows or speeds up the fans. Sounds like a lot for cooling, but I priced cooling options none of which had 120mm fans or could move the air this can, and they were too rich for a "working man's theater"

Did lots of work on the screen today. I went with a hybrid design of other designs I've seen. The frame that tensions and holds the screen is 1x4s. On top of that will mount the 15degree frame which will eventually be covered in felt.....





Here's the 15 degree box frame over the tension frame......







More to come......

Cut the frame mask I was wondering how it would turn out woke up last night a couple times thinking about it....









Felt should be here this week for the outside frame then I Gotta cough up the dinero for the screen material.

Disassembled screen and moved upstairs and reassembled. Prob gonna run cable corner to corner with a turnbuckle on each to fine tune the square of the frame and make sure it doesn't warp.

Looks big in this room....



Got a good start on the front DSX wides speaker stands to get the bookshelf tweeters at the same level as the mains. Now I want to redo the surround stands!




Hopefully I can order the screen material from Seymour this week

Some bass traps acoustic panels I made a long time ago...... Prob gonna redo them not sure how yet.....









The wrinkles went away after I ironed them.....

Not yet I have been delayed on purchasing the screen material, v-day, my girlfriends b-day, and booked a vacation 8 weeks from now, my wallets kinda thin right now.......

I halfway hoped nobody would notice
The lack if progress.... Kinda stuck before the purchasing of the screen material. Vacation, and a boat got in the way.....


Pretty much all that is
Left is the screen material and the seats.....

I have a conservative plan to debut for the star wars release in November...... Anyone local I've got about four seats
Unoccupied........lol!

I've been kinda dragging my feet on the screen and screen wall. one of my problems was that I wanted the wall to be minimal, sturdy, and accessible. I could have had any two of the three easily but all three required some thought.

my solution, was to screen tight the speaker cloth onto the side panels which kinda makes them inaccessible. the center panel is where the magic happens.

The screen is mounted to the screen wall with a piano hinge. This will allow my screen to be tilted up kinda like a hood to a car. On top and bottom of the screen I plan to make removable frames with speaker cloth just like speaker covers.

This way if I need to get back there, I can swing the screen out, snap off the bottom panel, and walk right behind there....











I finally finished up the speaker stands for my DSX wides. The wides are same familiy as the mains but as you can see they are MTM and the mains are *TMMW* so I made the stands larger to align the tweeters......








The screen looks enormous in here!!!!!

updated pic if the rack.....


popping the "hood" so to speak.....

thanks! yeah it's slow the most frustrating part is that all the pieces are there I just won't allow myself to piece it together until I can get it RIGHT!

yeah made those "face plates" out of 5/16 tempered hardboard painted black.

welcome aboard!

Have been focusing on buttoning up the screen wall so that once the screen material is installed I won't have to go back there any more.......


Re-did the bass traps, made them 45degrees to sit flat against the wall. Went from 4- 4"x2'x4' in each corner to 3-4" floor to ceiling. The corner with the equipment rack is too crowded for a bass trap..... I can say a considerable improvent in room acoustics based on highly scientific clap testing....






Hung existing bass traps/broadband absorbers behind where mains go, and filled window cavity with insulation to deaden behind the center channel. Front wall is pretty dead well see if I need to add any more later......

Also, built the speaker cover like panels
to cover the center section of
the screen wall, looks really good with the center section raised about 1" gives the wall some character.



my current project is building some risers for my main towers, they ended up with the bottom woofer firing right into the screen frame..... Really no way around it calculating projection angles and makin it all work is a lesson in compromises.





These risers are going to be 12"cubes 3/4 MDF filled with sand with speaker spikes on bottom to make sure it all mates rigid.....

I'll post some pics tonight, just had a minute while the wood filler sets
on the risers......

Couple more pics....

Thanks Robert!

Sorry for the lack of progress were going on vacation next week so theater funds have been diverted to things like passports, tickets, and sunscreen....

I should be able to get the screen material soon after I return.

Seating I'm a little stumped now that Berkline OS out the picture, probably Palliser.

on a positive note I did finish the speaker risers, put the mains, center, and sub behind the screen.

Does anyone know if there is a problem firing the subs opposed to each other towards the front corners instead of at the viewing position? This will give me better access to the knobs on back and they fit better......