Howdy all,
The thread has been pretty quiet lately because we reached a point in the theater construction where we need to get the cabinet maker to build the big bookcase up front, and also all of the custom baseboard and other millwork (which are all being made from a beautiful African wood called Sapele from the local eco lumber house). But, the cabinet makers are busy with the kitchen cabinetry, the bathroom cabinetry, the office cabinetry, the bedroom cabinetry.... Sigh.
So, the theater is basically in a holding pattern for a bit longer until he frees up and can build those shelves. I guess the good news is that I'll have a chance to check out the reviews on the latest crop of projectors before I make a final decision. At least the screen is on order, though! It's a Screen Research ClearPix 2 with top masking. I will supply the side masking custom.
Although there's not a lot to report, I do have a few pictures of some of the prep work for the wall acoustics. As a refresher, the exterior walls are insulated with spray foam, and all the walls are sheathed with 1/2" plywood, covered with 5/8" drywall with staggered seams and acoustical sealant at all of the edges.
Stretched fabric walls will hide all of the acoustics and speakers, so there needs to be a framework to support that fabric. We decided to build that framework out of MDF, so in the pictures that follow, you can see the MDF framework surrounding the door and window openings. We actually put in the MDF, then did the drywall afterwards. This allowed us to attach the MDF to the plywood panels for strength, and then bring the drywall up to the MDF and seal the edges with acoustical caulk. Here's a shot of the framework on the back wall, before the drywall:
The baseboard area is built out as a box which gives solid structure to attach the fabric and the baseboard, and also gives a chase to install the electrical outlets without having them poke through the fabric.
Our acoustical materials, as well as the side and rear surround speakers and one of the Velodyne subwoofers, will all attach to the walls. Once the drywall was installed and painted flat black, the contractors used KYDG's acoustics plan to lay out all the various treatments with red lines on the walls. This will make it really easy to install them when the time comes, and since we have the plywood on the walls behind the drywall, we can just screw into anyplace we need to.
The former fireplace will house one of the Seaton SubMersive HP subs. To prep for the Seaton, the fireplace flue was sealed up with cement board and fire caulking (just in case of any embers somehow making it back down the chimney from the upstairs fireplace, even though that's really unlikely since they don't share a flue). Then, the space was wrapped in MDF to give a nice uniform cavity.
Here are a couple of photos showing some of the acoustical treatments as they were being sprayed black. You can see diffusers of various types, and these are all made of polystyrene. They're natively white, thus the paint job.
The roll-down screen obviously goes up in the ceiling in front of the room. Here are a few shots of its future home. The shape is irregular because this cavity will also house the custom side masking system, as well as circuit breakers for all the low voltage wiring. In the third picture, you can see the duct chase that carries the HVAC ductwork into the front left corner of the room.
For good measure, I'll throw in a shot of me working on the wiring closet awhile back. That was a fun evening.
...and here's a shot of the cartons that have all the acoustics for the walls, plus the surround speakers and the Velodyne amps.
Finally, just a couple of overview shots showing pretty much the current state of things, and showing off the recessed lighting, which is now working!
The thread has been pretty quiet lately because we reached a point in the theater construction where we need to get the cabinet maker to build the big bookcase up front, and also all of the custom baseboard and other millwork (which are all being made from a beautiful African wood called Sapele from the local eco lumber house). But, the cabinet makers are busy with the kitchen cabinetry, the bathroom cabinetry, the office cabinetry, the bedroom cabinetry.... Sigh.
So, the theater is basically in a holding pattern for a bit longer until he frees up and can build those shelves. I guess the good news is that I'll have a chance to check out the reviews on the latest crop of projectors before I make a final decision. At least the screen is on order, though! It's a Screen Research ClearPix 2 with top masking. I will supply the side masking custom.
Although there's not a lot to report, I do have a few pictures of some of the prep work for the wall acoustics. As a refresher, the exterior walls are insulated with spray foam, and all the walls are sheathed with 1/2" plywood, covered with 5/8" drywall with staggered seams and acoustical sealant at all of the edges.
Stretched fabric walls will hide all of the acoustics and speakers, so there needs to be a framework to support that fabric. We decided to build that framework out of MDF, so in the pictures that follow, you can see the MDF framework surrounding the door and window openings. We actually put in the MDF, then did the drywall afterwards. This allowed us to attach the MDF to the plywood panels for strength, and then bring the drywall up to the MDF and seal the edges with acoustical caulk. Here's a shot of the framework on the back wall, before the drywall:
The baseboard area is built out as a box which gives solid structure to attach the fabric and the baseboard, and also gives a chase to install the electrical outlets without having them poke through the fabric.
Our acoustical materials, as well as the side and rear surround speakers and one of the Velodyne subwoofers, will all attach to the walls. Once the drywall was installed and painted flat black, the contractors used KYDG's acoustics plan to lay out all the various treatments with red lines on the walls. This will make it really easy to install them when the time comes, and since we have the plywood on the walls behind the drywall, we can just screw into anyplace we need to.
The former fireplace will house one of the Seaton SubMersive HP subs. To prep for the Seaton, the fireplace flue was sealed up with cement board and fire caulking (just in case of any embers somehow making it back down the chimney from the upstairs fireplace, even though that's really unlikely since they don't share a flue). Then, the space was wrapped in MDF to give a nice uniform cavity.
Here are a couple of photos showing some of the acoustical treatments as they were being sprayed black. You can see diffusers of various types, and these are all made of polystyrene. They're natively white, thus the paint job.
The roll-down screen obviously goes up in the ceiling in front of the room. Here are a few shots of its future home. The shape is irregular because this cavity will also house the custom side masking system, as well as circuit breakers for all the low voltage wiring. In the third picture, you can see the duct chase that carries the HVAC ductwork into the front left corner of the room.
For good measure, I'll throw in a shot of me working on the wiring closet awhile back. That was a fun evening.
...and here's a shot of the cartons that have all the acoustics for the walls, plus the surround speakers and the Velodyne amps.
Finally, just a couple of overview shots showing pretty much the current state of things, and showing off the recessed lighting, which is now working!
)
