Building a Dinner Theater w/ DIY Speakers, Subs, etc... - Page 12

I have 34 can lights that like to vibrate (audible rattle) when the bass hits certain frequencies at certain SPL levels. Is there a tried and true practice to prevent this from happening? No sheetrock yet, so I have full access to the entire can light.

They are all IC rated. I wonder if I should just have the spray foam guys spray around each can light to hold them snug?

An update on my cable runs for video to the projector...

Upon further research, I have decided to use only one cat6 cable in conjunction with an HDBase-T HDMI to Cat6 Extender for my 60' run to the projector (seen below for $208.50 from monoprice), and the 100' run to the tasting room's LED HDTV. I will also run a second cat6 to the projector that won't be used, and will just be there to help "future-proof" things for unknown, possibly obscene resolutions they may come out with in the future that might require the use of two cat6 cables.

Spoke with our electrician. He said "IC means rated for direct contact with insulation. Insulation means any type of insulation, even foam." Further research reveals that while many electricians are wary about spray foam coming into contact with their can lights, pretty much all spray foam contractors have no problem with it. One pointed out that the Spray foam is not supposed to come into contact with anything that reaches 200 degrees. These are Juno IC22 with Airloc (which means the can is supposedly sealed). I turned 15 of them on with an assortment of of incandescent and compact florescent bulbs and a few hours later touched the sides and top of the cans.

The CFL bulbs had very little affect on the exterior temp of the can light, being luke warm at best. The cans with incandescent bulbs were warmer, but still under 100 degrees. This confirms for me that there should be no issues spray foaming around the cans in order to keep them from rattling when loud bass is playing. Unless anyone can point out a down side to doing this, I am going to proceed with having the spray foam contractor do it next week.

Thanks max...I just glad some of you are still watching the thread considering the snails pace we seem to be going. I began building the speakers for this project almost exactly one year ago. The good news is that we will have the electrical inspection of the main level and tower tomorrow, followed by the spray foam guys finishing their work on the walls next week, followed by the sheetrock guys the week after that. That will definitely be a milestone. I just hope I am not looking at the longest yard lol.

Maybe I should take roll call lol.

Just a quick update: The electrical has passed inspection and the remaining spray foam has been applied. The place is truly airtight now. Sheetrocking will be done in a couple of weeks and then painting. We opted to only sheetrock small sections of the ceiling where lights are to be installed. The rest of the ceiling in the ballroom and balcony will be left open to the rafters which, along with the sprayfoam, will be painted black with a fire rated paint.

I am really looking forward to installing the remaining 12 OnePi surround speakers and begin testing 7.1 content. There was 22" of open air behind the baffle wall that has also been filled with open cell sprayfoam. We are also having a 20kW standby generator (natural gas) installed to ensure any entertainment events we happen to be hosting go uninterrupted during a power outage. However, there is about an 8 second delay in power. Can anyone suggest a battery backup that can fill the 8 second gap in power? I have an APC backup for my home office computer that can keep it and three monitors running for about 30 minutes. I wonder if that would be enough to keep 5,000 Watts running for at least 15 or so seconds?

And couple of fairly recent photos of the outside. The difference between these and the one on page 8 from March is the addition of new concrete staircase and a new wheelchair ramp. The sign is also stoned.

A few more updates for those of you still with us...

1. All of the spray foam is finished, and they did not go light. There are some areas that are as much as 10" thick in the rafters. All of the walls are a full 5 1/2" thick.

2. The spray foam in the rafters in the ballroom/balcony have been painted with a black fire rated paint.

3. All wiring (electrical, video, audio, security, fire, etc) is complete for the main level and tower. I ended up running two Cat6 cables from the server rack on the stage to both the projector's location and that of the TV location in the tasting room. No HDMI cables were ran. Instead, HDBaseT will be used to convert the Cat6 to HDMI on each end.

4. Spray foam was blown in above the can lights in the balcony floor (bistro ceiling) in order to ensure they do not rattle during times of strong bass.

5. The sheetrock crew will rock & mud the main level and tower this week. It should be ready to paint as early as Saturday!

I am not sure what GTG is short for, but I do think it would be fun to have a sort of "demo day" for those who are interested, though I am not sure what that would look like.

Below are some images from this past weekend.

The railing between the newel posts will also be oak with wrought iron ballasters that match that which was used for the wheel chair ramp.

The part of the ceiling that is parallel to the ground will have 10' x 4' sections sheetrocked with 10' x 4' areas in between that are open to the rafters and the open cell spray foam. The angled rafters above the balcony will be sheetrocked 1/2 way up, while the angled rafters of the theater room will be completely left open to the painted spray foam. I am certain the addition of sheetrock will change the accoustical properties of the theater room and balcony, but right now it is largely accoustailly dead with the 5" open cell spray foam in between the studs.

The final image below shows most of the wiring for the dinner theater. Everything is going to be sheetrocked over the next few days. This will certainly be a milestone for our project!!! We hope to open the main level and tower to the public before the end of fall. The lower level (where the wine making operation takes place) will probably not be open to the public for tours until after the first of the year.

Well, in that case I think it is a great idea. I think my project would have looked much different if it were not for the help of many that have been giving their $0.02 now and again over the past 18 months or so. I am open to ideas. We could call it the "Everyone with fancy EQ equipment come help EQ the dinner theater - Party".