Rockbridge Cinema (AKA Big Frank's Basement Theater) - Page 3

Things have been very busy, but here is an update on the theater.
The stage and riser are in, Sconce lights are up and the electrical is in.
Here are some shots:

The whole room (from the back)


The stage at the front of the room


the riser at the back of the room

The Room is a bit dim though. I will be putting up a 5th sconce on the back wall center.

Pretty soon I'm going to start the screen wall. I've decided that I'm going to use BigMouthInDC's "minimalist approach" and do the whole goal-post thing.
I was originally going to build a stud wall and then staple GOM to it, but Moving subwoofers into the back area (or out of) would be a hassle. I love
his approach.

OK I have to order the carpet now.

I am planning on ordering this:


http://cinemashop.com/images/carpet/theater-themed/walk-of-fame-1667/walk-of-fame-black-550sq.jpg

its 26oz and it seems nice... but carpet always feels cheap to me when I'm holding a small piece of it...
Anyone have any experience with these carpets? I think they are made by Joy Carpets & Co. - item 1667

So things are progressing well and I'm in the final stretch.

This weekend I routed the front lip of the riser with a 1/2" roundover,

Built the screen wall (using BigMouthInDC's Minimalist screen wall technique) and paitned it black:



We filled in the expansion joint on the concrete floor and then cleaned up everything and got ready for carpetting. This is the back of the room after I added the last scoce light.

Thanks. I bought my Oppo from Oppo directly (it was a refurb unit). Th 93 is very nice, but unless Cinavia is a big deal to you theres no reason not to get a 103.

My original design called for full front wall treatment (including super chunk bass traps) along with all walls being treated and covered with fabric. however, I later decided to first get the theater up and running and then determining the level of acoustic treatment I deem necessary after that.

I did a sound check last week - I temporarily set up all the speakers and did some listening and I was quite happy with the sound quality so it may be a while before I do the treatments, but treating the front will probably be my first to-do at some point in the future, followed by side wall treatments. I've never had a dedicated listening room, but my last setup sounded really good IMO. This sounds better. It will be fun being able to tweak it over the coming years and see step-wise improvements.

From a soundproofing standpoint the room is awesome so far. I can listen at "startlingly loud" levels and upstairs nothing is heard (though the heavy LFE can be felt on the first floor). My wife described this as eerie - and it is. Its like the feeling that an earthquake is happening. Its not really bothersome though and you can actually watch TV in the room above at low volume and not be disturbed at all. I was actually planning on doing a few more things from a soundproofing aspect, but have now decided that its "good enough". I feel that every dollar I spent on soundproofing: DD, GG, Clips, Channel, Acoustic Caulk etc. was all worth it and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Couldnt have done it without you Ted!

They are just screwed into the drywall -- which is screwed to clips. But the screws are not going into clips. The theory is that the ceiling isnt taking the weight of the structure, just keeping it from tilting. The posts are screwed into the stage floor and there are shims between the top plates and the ceiling. BigMouthInDC screwed his into the drywall and says his have been fine for 6 years now. If its good enough for him, its good enough for me!

A runway for the girls huh? Sounds like a fun double-duty for the stage!

So I wish I had better answers for your question -- I tapped some shims into the space between my riser and ceiling, but I didn't consider what effect that might have on the damping of the ceiling... Now you have me slightly worried! :-)
My posts could handle "light leaning" from children, but I would discourage it if you could. They shouldn't go anywhere (they feel quite solid actually) but I wouldn't want to risk pulling out the screws going through the drywall. After all, this design is purpose built for holding up a screen - anything more is coincidental. If you hit the channel you'd probably not have to worry about that but again, I'm not sure what that would do to your sound damping effects. As to a rubber mat? that would probably be a good idea instead of shims.

Good luck with your stage! I'd like to see pictures when it's done!

The theater is carpeted! Yay! And it looks AWESOME.

Here are some images my carpet guy sent me yesterday of the theater while working on it:

This one is from inside the theater room looking out to the foyer of the theater. I think he was standing on the stage as thats the black thing in the picture's foreground. You can see the LED under-step lighting on the riser. They are set pretty bright in these pictures, but will be set much dimmer during use.


And this one is looking into the theater from the foyer.


I realize its a bit of a tease, but I haven't had a chance to get down there and take pictures. Will try and get screen assembled and mounted this weekend and hang the projector.
I am also currently waiting for my theater seating (purchased from Roman over at Ultimate Home Entertainment).

I am a little nervous about hanging the projector. I hope the contractors did a good job with the clip layout under the plywood/drywall where the projector will be hung. I'm pretty sure the weight of the projector will be supported just fine, but I cant help but be a little nervous at this stage so close to the finish and all.

I was going to have a hard threshold (since I was planning on using an Automatic door seal from the soundproofing company), but after testing the soundproofing I decided I didn't need it. The current joining of the two carpets looks real good though (IMO).

I said I would upload some better pictures of the room, so here they are:

This is the a picture of the front of the room after carpet installed:


And finally a shot looking at the back of the room.


Those LEDs look a bit bright in that picture. They can be dimmed quite a bit for every day use.

Tonight, my wife and I assembled and tensioned the screen (which I bought from Jamestown HT). It went really well, though there seems to be a slight twist in the frame as the bottom left corner wants to lift off of the "wall" (the column) by about 3/4". I hope I can fix this by adjusting the screws -- if not I'll have to fasten the screen against the column at that point.
getting the screen properly tensioned was easier than I thought it would be.

Here's a shot of the screen after being tensioned and hung. You can see we haven't yet cut off the extra screen material.


The next step is to hang the projector. Don't know why I'm so nervous about that step....

And I still haven't heard from the freight company about when my chairs will be delivered. When I checked the state of the shipment it claimed to be in Rochester already...

My theater seating is set to be delivered today! I got 3 Fusion Lagoons and 2 Escapes from Roman over at Ultimate Home Entertainment.
I cant wait to get them set up. I might actually watch a movie in my theater this weekend!

Yeah I saw a post of yours in another thread mentioning that you were in the area.
There are a couple of us around, but I've never heard of a GTG or meet up.

You're in Rochester area too? I saw your build thread in the past but it didnt click. Very cool.

me too! ;-)

Yes I got the Centerstage XD material. I have high hopes for it - but I doubt I will be disappointed as this is my first projector and so far I've been watching it projected on a yellowish wall! :-)

As of yesterday, I have carried down and set up the theater seating I bought from Roman over at Ultimate Home Entertainment, I've moved all the speakers back in (temporarily on tv tray stands), ran Audyssey and hung the projector! Luckily none of the in-wall wiring seems to be damaged and everything seems to be in good working order. Last night my family officially watched our first movie in the theater (Star Wars ANH) and loved it.
The sound and picture is as good or better than I hoped!!! I'm in home theater heaven right now. There are some minor issues with my screen (which i'll get into in a later post) and one of my chairs has a bad motor in it but Roman is already on it sending me a new one via UPS. I cant tell you how amazing it is to have this whole thing finally pretty much come together as I've designed it. Its sooooo cool.

I am not "done" with the theater yet -- but it is as "done" as its going to be for a while - until I get my shop back up and running so I can build the speaker shelves and the black GOM covered frames that make up the reset of the faux speaker wall. This will probably not be for at least a week or so - I need help getting all my equipment down into the workshop and its quite an ordeal (some of the tools weigh 350-500 lbs). At any rate I dont mind because even in the state its in now it looks sounds and feels incredible!

I will post some photos later today - right now the little ones are in there with their mother watching "Fern Gully" -- Kind of an inauspicious choice for a second movie - but I have to satisfy the wife's movie needs too! ;-)