The "I Want it Done" Build Thread - Page 3

It's called Room EQ Wizard, free, just google it. I am using a radio shack SPL meter, cost $50. I did not intentionally limit the sampling, I think there must be something wrong with the setup. I pulled all the OC703 off the walls and made no difference so something must be set wrong. Any suggestions appreciated.

After much further research, I found several calibration issues. After running some new tests though, I still have some issues and questions.

I'm trying to interpret these graphs, however I'm confused that there doesn't seem to be much difference between treated and untreated. The treated measurements had OC703 laid against the wall for about 2/3 the length of the room, so about 48" high, and poly batting above that. The original plan was to use these two on the walls and cover with GOM fabric. The challenge I'm having is that there is not much difference in the REW measurements that I can see. But, when I take out the treatments there is audible echo in the room.

Relevant REW setup:

- RadioShack SPL meter
- Bohringer UCA202 USB Soundcard
- Calibrated card and mic, used Mic calibration file from this site

Questions I'm struggling with:
- I understand REW is best for sub frequencies, does the lack of differentiation at the high frequencies have any meaning then? Not sure if the use of the SPL meter influences that.

- Why am I not seeing much difference in high frequencies between the two if I can hear echo without the treatments but not with the treatment?

- Does anything appear overly out of whack indicating I may have a calibration issue?

- Waterfalls show a problem around 30 and 45 as far as I can tell, am I reading that right?

- SPLs show a problem around 110 without treatment - this was the only noticable difference I could see in the REW results between treated and non treated.

- I have a 7.1 speaker set up, and my Onkyo receiver has the soundcard right output feeding in. The Onkyo is set to all channel stereo, sound is only coming from the right side speakers. Is this OK?

- The SPL meter was pointed almost vertically, at about a 20-30 degree angle toward my front speakers. Is this OK?

Thanks for any feedback.

Untreated





Treated

Thanks for the responses David. I re-ran, this time going up to 20k. I can see improvement in the 200hz to 1.5khz range and around 6-7 khz, but not sure how significant it is. I will say that when I have the OC up to ear level and the poly batting above that, it definitely does not echo in the room. Without treatment it echos badly while talking, especially my 4 year old's voice (obviously a higher pitch). I watched most of Dances with Wolves extended edition Blu-Ray this afternoon, chosen because it has lots of dialog but also some loud scenes (buffalo herd, battles, etc.). It sounded pretty darn good with the treatments, with clearly audible subtle sounds like fires crackling, twigs breaking, crickets chirping, etc.

I've included a shot of the treated room for a visual of what I did. There is 1" OC on the walls with what is supposed to be 1" poly batting, however I doubled it over because I don't think it will match up to the OC when the fabric goes on unless it's doubled up. You can see a bit of the screen wall treatment, which is 2" OC.

Untreated Waterfall


Treated waterfall


1" OC on the walls


2" OC on the back walls (ran out of 1")

Bad news... Onkyo TX-SR707 AVR has been acting up; upon power on there has been no audio until I unplug and re-plug it in. A little research on the owner's thread here for this unit showed that a whole bunch of people have this problem right around 2 years of age when the warranty runs out. It starts out like mine has and is correctable with a reboot but progresses to totally dead. I am about 45 days past warranty expiration, but the credit card I bought it with offers a 1 year extension free, so guess I'll be checking into that

Back at it after 6 month hiatus...

I have finally resumed work on the theater after a long slow down... New baby in December which diverted focus to finishing the baby room, adjusting to new routines, etc. Also many travels - since March I've gone to Tampa, New Orleans twice, Florida for a beach trip, Canada for a break with the extended family, Chicago for a wedding, and New York City for work. Now I'm trying to get things moving as football season starts next week and Saturdays will be devoted to tailgating at the Horseshoe for my Buckeyes.

The project has also shifted to include finishing the area adjacent to the theater. The original plan called for this, but it was to come later... well, later happened and the wife wanted it done, so I've spent alot of time working on that rather than the theater. I've completed demo of existing panel wall and drop ceiling, done some fairly involved remedial electrical work, wired power and A/V connections for 55" LCD, and installed recessed lighting. I will be installing drywall today - nothing fancy just putting up one half inch layer.


Another big hold up has been issues with the main support beam of the house not being level. This was known when I bought it and I had it looked at closely by several people who knew what they were doing. It was considered fixable, and given the deal we got on the house worth the hassle. Over the course of 4 months, we slowly jacked up the house and put up support posts. We moved it up by a little over 1". Since the wife wanted the living room side done and that required dry wall, getting this leveling done was a must have before putting up drywall. Didn't want to install it then create gaps and cracks everywhere. The upstairs floors are now noticeably more level, but I have had several cracks appear in the walls upstairs, some tiles in the kitchen have come loose, and a few doors no longer will close. Will save fixing that for later

Once the drywall is up in the living room side, we'll be ready for cabinets to go in the back of the theater, which are on order along with a granite counter top. We went with KraftMaid Montclair Maple in Onyx black, which should match my Ceilume Stratford black ceiling tiles nicely. The carpet, Shaw "At the Beach" in manor gray is picked out and scheduled to install right after the cabinets.

Hopefully today will be a banner day for drywall installation! Will post an update on how it goes!



Here is the room before & current and some pics of the stuff that's going to go in it...



Current status with lighting installed and ready for drywall after I get the HVAC line out of the way this morning



The floor jack up project:





Carpet:


Cabinet doors:

Hung drywall all weekend, haven't started taping & mudding yet - this will be the absolute most miserable part of the entire build. Dust in your eyes, nose, mouth, all over everything. Might get a start this week, goal will be to get at least 2 coats on during the long weekend. Saturday will be tailgating and Buckeye football so need to get it all done Sunday & Labor Day Monday.

Thanks to some outstanding help from my brother, things have started to move quickly since the drywall went up on the family room side. Finished sanding last week and painting went through this past weekend, which got me to the point of being ready to install the base cabinets for the back of the theater side. Those went in on Sunday thanks to my Dad, which got me ready for carpet that was installed yesterday and today. Also put in the can light trim tonight. I am very happy with how it is coming together overall, but have a number of issues to resolve in the finish work:

1. Several spots I need to touch up on the walls
2. Need to straighten out some of the electrical outlets that are crooked
3. The cabinets had drawers and doors with dings on them, KitchenCraft customer service was great and are shipping me out replacements ASAP
4. The EdgeStar under counter fridge I bought seems to cycle on & off ALOT. Not sure if it's burning in, but will give it 24 hrs of run time before getting too worried.
5. Drywall dust is everywhere and needs constantly cleaned up. It doesn't like the black cabinets and ceiling tiles at all.

Next major steps:
1. Move theater seats back in and re-install projector and screen
2. Paint speaker stands for front/center speakers
3. Finalize color of GOM for walls. Considering Anchorage greys, but can't quite make up my mind.
4. Family room furniture arrives next Wednesday - couch, chair and table. Praying the wife likes the colors she special ordered including the RED couch (crossing my fingers).
5. Build prototype acoustic panel to cover theater side walls
6. Pick out granite slab for counter top which will be installed in 3-4 weeks.

Overall, I should be operational again for the Ohio State/Michigan State game this weekend, with nice plush carpet under my feet now and the hardest part of the build behind me

Family room side carpeting and finished walls


Riser carpeting being enjoyed by the boys. The paneling in the background will all be covered by acoustic panels.


View looking from front of theater side to back showing riser, cabinets and beverage fridge. Again, unfinished drywall will be covered by acoustic panels. I took the drywall on around behind the cabinets to future proof due to the granite counter top. If I ever want to complete the drywall job, I can go on around the room but didn't want to have to worry about retrofitting behind the cabinets/granite if that ever happens.

Chairs, projector and screen back up.... starting to look really good now.

Furniture arrived this week! We're pretty happy with it, the chaise/coffee table was not the exact color we thought but it will work. Also my GOM arrived - FR701 for screen wall and Anchorage Asteroid for walls.

I also put built the first acoustic panel this morning. It took about 1.5 hrs to get it measured, cut, biscuits jointed, and glued. It will probably be another 30 mins for fabric wrap to get to 2 hours. I have a total of 12 to build so it is going to take me at least a few weeks to get all of them done if not longer.

Counter top for bar gets installed Monday, and I need to get the LCD mounted in the family room. Other than that, it's mostly minor touch up stuff that will probably go on forever.

Here are some pics:

Family room (looking in from theater)


Family room (looking in from near bottom of stairs, looking towards theater)


Close up of bar fridge (little dirty, need to clean)


GOM (FR701 and Anchorage Asteroid)


Screen Wall Panel Frame

Got 3 big things done this week and things are really shaping up.

Granite counter top went in on Monday and turned out great. I was worried since they had to cut the slab to get it down into my basement, but the seam is invisible unless you are trying to find it, and even then you really have to try hard. Very happy with how the bar area is turning out. I have to get the hardware installed, and since a few practice mounts went awry, I'm putting this task off.

Mounted the LCD TV in the living room side using a VideoSecure Tilt mount, it was easy to use and I'm happy with it.

Finished the first acoustic panel installed to the right of the screen. Fabric wrapping was pretty easy, glad I borrowed electric stapler it makes the job infinitely easier. I am very very happy with how it looks - even with just one side done it makes a huge difference by blocking out light around the screen and hiding the speakers/mess behind it that I've been looking at for a year now.

The primary remaining activity is to finish the acoustic panels - that is going to take alot of dedicated time to build the remaining 11 or so. Several are going to be complicated as they have electrical outlets or other special factors that need worked around, so they're not just simple rectangles.







This picture doesn't do it justice - the lights aren't bright. That white mark must be on the camera lens as it's not on the panel at all.

Progress has slowed the last 2 months, but have completed the Screen wall panels and 2 of the wall panels. The wall panels have 1" OC703 up to 48". Need to touch up the drop ceiling rails with black paint as you can see in the 2nd photo. I have about 10 more panels to build for the walls, a few with complications like light switch/power outlets, so not looking forward to those.

The biggest news is that my wonderful wife bought me a Denon 3313CI receiver for our anniversary! This is really cool because 1) old Onkyo was dying a slow death with the HDMI issue; 2) the Denon supports 2 zone HDMI switching, meaning the LCD in the family room can watch a different input from the theater; and 3) the Denon has Audyssey MultiEQ XT, which should give me alot better room correction.








Edited by kelton325 - 12/15/12 at 7:15pm

I used butt joints with Liquid Nails and biscuits on the screen wall panels, and while they worked nicely, I found that it took an exceedingly long time and required lots of clamping to ensure a tight fit as the glue dried. This also meant that I had to wait hours before I could move on to the next panel. For the walls, I switched to 3.5 inch screws, using 2 at each butt joint with Liquid Nails. This worked just as well as the biscuits without all the clamping and glue drying time. I found it took me about half as long using this method not counting the dry time. A tool that I randomly found that was awesome in building this was the Irwin Corner clamp - I bought one but it would be worth it to buy 4 to hold the whole thing together (pic below).

The cross support was placed at 48" above the bottom rail to fit the OC703 1". You can see that in the first pic (it is FRK backed, only kind I could find around here).

I'm using friction and a little velco to hold them on the walls. I had considered other methods of hanging the fabric that may have been quicker, but with 2 small kids I have to consider the eventual certainty of a little hand going right through one of the panels and needing replacement. This method will make that situation easier to deal with rather than re-doing a whole wall.

Here's some pics:

I live off of Clark Dr, what about you? I am definitely getting a lot done since College football is over, but my 2 little guys still get most of my energy. My original goal of finishing by last year's bowl game was missed by a year+!

Great progress yesterday making panels. I ran out of OC703 so will have to take about half of them back down once I can buy some more. I also need to do some stretching on a few; will do that when they come back down. I still have 1 panel left to build, and that is the one that goes where the 3 gang light switch is. That one will be a challenge.

Good ideas guys thanks. Part of the issue is that the finish of the drawers is black and scratches easily, I think I need to use a soft measuring tape or a soft wood ruler. I've tried the templates that home depot sells but no good on the size of hardware I have. I guess there is no quick easy answer so will need to just carefully measure it out and just do it.

Tbraden - wow, we've been posting on the same forums on here and live 5 mins apart! Did you go to CHS? I was class '96.

It is an Edgestar 80 can. It is definitely audible and kicks on and off constantly. The reviews on Amazon are dead on, an I knew what I was getting into. It does look great and the price is decent compared to some very expensive alternatives. The blue backlight is very cool and it has a power off button so you can shut it off without pulling it out of the cabinetery. There aren't many options at the size I wanted in a glass front so I got this one knowing about the noise. With my projector running, I do not notice it in my front row but I do notice it in the back row. I dont sit there so that isn't a problem; I get most annoyed when I'm on the red couch in the living room side. It bugs me when I'm there. Overall I would rate it 3 of 5 stars, which again isn't a surprise given the reviews I read before. If you can find one that is a 5 star for less than 1,500 I'll be surprised.