The Orpheum Theater...the saga begins!

Hi All,

As many of you may have come to conclude, I have been studying with Mr. Dennis Erskine for some time now. The mentorship that Dennis provided to me was invaluable, and has been a fantastic experience...at least for me. I can't express my thanks to Dennis enough for taking me under his wing (although it took some convincing on my end that I would be a worthy student). We decided that the next assignment would be the last assignment. I elected to design my own theater, which ironically, ended up being the most challenging of the theaters I had to conceptualize and create due to the small space available in my basement. Well, the drawings have been completed, Dennis has approved them, and I picked them up at the blueprint shop today (all 17 of them! ). I thought I would share at least a couple of elevations (and I'll try and get a couple of others up soon) to see how things came out!







In addition, this will be the last drawing done under the Sound Advice banner. Any future drawings performed will be under the Erskine Group banner! I want to thank Dennis once again, and I want to thank you all as well, as without you and this board bringing us all together, I never would have had the opportunity! One more individual thank you goes out to RayJr. Although Ray doesn't frequent this thread too often, without him giving me good advice over many years, I would have never gotten this far.

Any comments, both positive and negative, are always welcome. Now, onto actually building this thing. We'll see how long it takes!

Oh, forgot to mention why I named this the Orpheum theater. I originally hail for Madison, WI, and there is an art deco theater on State Street (part of the vaudeville days) called the Orpheum Theater. It still exists today as a theater, and I have many fond memories of that theater growing up. It's the theater that I saw Star Wars and the Empire Strikes Back for the first time as well as many others. The architecture is unchanged, and the theater still has a balcony! I love those old art deco theaters! Any way, check it out here:

http://www.orpheumtheatre.net/

Thank you Brad! Dimensions are roughly 19' x 13' x 7.5'. So, you can see the challenge. I wish I had some of the dimensions to work with that many contributers to the board have. I added a few more elevations to see why it appears that there are two "front" speakers. The L/R speakers are forward of the screen and center channel. Oh, the screen is a 116" 2.35:1 (2.40:1 whichever is your poison) Stewart StudioTek 130 Microperf with electronic masking. Speakers are Triad Silver inwalls (I would love Procella's but I already have the Triad's and have for some time). Amps will likely be QSC, EQ's QSC. I am sticking with my Onkyo 885 Pre-pro for now (that thing is bullet proof..I swear), PJ will likely be the new Runco LS-10 with lens, Lumagen XE scaler, Oppo BDP-83, Onkyo HD-805 HD-DVD player, Denon 3930 DVD player, and front subs will be Procella P18 (although not depcited in the drawing). That's all I have figured out at this moment. The question will be, what to do with my Pioneer PDP-151? Can't give it to the wife...no appreciation, so I'll probably hang it outside the theater for standard viewing. I had thought about selling it once, as I did with the Denon 3930, but there has been nothing released that comes close to either components video quality.

As a tribute, and motivation to building the theater, I have vowed not to ever watch the original Star Wars movie until I can see it in this theater (I am a Star Wars nut so this will kill me). This was the first movie I saw at the Orpheum in 1977 (at least the first I can remember since I was 6 at the time), so I thought it would be fitting to see that film in this theater as the first run. Let the saving begin!

Behind the room is the hallway that leads into storage and an adjacent bedroom/office. Had to limit the size. DIY vs. Sub. I have given this some thought, and it is likely I'll have the Erskine crew do it, but still deciding that.

Nope, drywall to drywall; at least in the room interior.

Oh, there's a sub there, but it is back a bit further. It just isn't depcited in the elevation posted here.

Correct.

Speaker seperation is the reason among a few other things. Equal distances can be setup in the processor. However, if you think about it, you are actually sitting further away from the Left/Right speakers in "conventional" setups if the speakers are equidistant along the same wall. In actuality, if you want the speakers to be equidistant from the LP, they would be setup in an arc...like Dolby or other sites depict. Flat screen.

Also, designed a projector "room","doghouse" whatever you'd like to call it due to the limited ceiling height. Couldn't place a projector that large inside a room with only 7.5 feet to work with and over a riser. Would have had guests banging a lot of skulls.

Nope, I was seeing them at 3 am also. I know them by name. Thanks jamin!

Hey guys...not yet!! Hopefully soon! I am saving the pennies to have it professionally built.