LEVEL 4: Center for Entertainment build - Page 2

Nice to see another local theater being built, your design looks awesome! Keep up the great work Steve!

Oh, that's a good idea. I'm currently stapling up the 12/2 Romex to the inside of my soffits the same way you did. I was planning to free-run the speaker wiring in the soffits but I think I'll dress it up with zip ties like you did.


Do I understand correctly that you're using a receiver for your system and you want to be able to plug headphones into an aux plate at the front of the room? Doesn't the receiver mute the speakers when you plug headphones in? If so then you could just extend the mic jack to the aux plate. I must be missing something.

I don't know, man. Just hang the projector and call it a day! Just kidding... I set up a pair of speakers on my stage after I built it and did the exact same thing. LOL!

Hey, great work on the ducting. I know that was hard.

Were you able to test the headphone thing? I have been thinking about that and had another suggestion: just hook up a dedicated headphone amp to a tape-out on your receiver and turn down the speakers when you're not using them. That would sound better and work more the way you want. I'm not sure how well or if at all the receiver could mux the HDMI audio down to analog though. You'd have to test that out.

I must have listened to the first ten minutes of the Dark Knight, audio only, about 50 times, before I had my projector in. Then when I finally watched that same scene at a friend's HT, still before I had the projector, I was like "ohhh, so that's why the dialog sounds kind of muffled" (they're wearing masks).

Its nice to have some music running while you're working on the build going forward too.

At times I feel like my SHO-10 center sounds a little boxy too - but only on certain material, on other movies, it sounds fine. Not sure what to make of it, I guess I should compare the same material on another system (run into the house and try the same scene in the living room). Could just be the mix?

Do you guys both have the older waveguide, or the new 90X90 version? I don't know if that's significant in this case, just looking for details before I commit to them for my build.

Good looking progress.

I know you're looking to do an AT screen, but if you are doing this in phases, you may want to look at starting out with a Wilsonart DW laminate screen for starters with 3 and 6 yr old boys. The toughness and stain resistance is second to none as far as screens are concerned and it will only run you about $100 for the screen so it isn't too expensive as a temporary stop along the upgrade path.

Although my 4 and 2 yr olds have been well educated in staying off the stage, I still get piece of mind in having a resilient screen, at least for the next couple years.

-Suntan

One other thing. For anyone looking to put a theater into a multi-level house, I've got one word for you:

Balcony!

-Suntan

I was talking with my wife, a while back, about what I would do if the 'ol Powerball came through for us and I mentioned that the next house would have a theater with a balcony. ...For some reason she looked at me like I was nuts.

-Suntan

Four inches is about the bare minimum IMHO, you'll get better light spread with more distance; you can compensate somewhat for lack of distance to the ceiling by mounting the rope light back in the recess of the cove, i.e. toward the wall.

@Fred - I have the original SHO-10 for center, and original PRO-10s for everything else.

Don't forget that it is against the electrical code to run low voltage (under 30V) with high voltage (standard 110V) lines. The two types of wiring have to be run physically seperate from each other.

What do you mean by "with" above? Does that mean that they can't run through the same holes, have to be spaced a certain distance from each other, can't be in the same j-box, etc.?

I totally understand WHY but I'm wondering about the specific rules.

Excellent work! I bet it feels great to get that cabinet in there.

Great build, I love the ceiling! After seeing yours I went down to my space to see if I could incorporate it. Turns out my joists run at a slight angle compared to the side walls. That would turn into smaller boxes and thicker spacing.

I confess that I saw your question about soffits yesterday and thought "I hope someone answers this!" because I was wondering that myself.

FWIW I'm planning to cram my soffits full of R30 pink fluffy, drywall them, and move on with life.

>> Do I need to put some insulation into my soffits to prevent adding boominess to the room?

I would - not sure about boominess, but to deal with any potential resonances (hit 50 Hz, and the soffit starts droning - don't want that) - pinky fluffy with no FRK, a little overstuffed).

>>When building my stage, do I put down a layer of roofing felt first?

I've seen many do so, and between plywood/osb layers on top, to avoid squeaks. Mine is PT lumber over concrete, and liquid nails between top layers, no issues.

>>This is an odd question, but a friend of mine swears that he changed someone's ceiling from black to dark brown, and the surface was less reflective.

My ceiling is brown - I like it - not sure if its more or less reflective than black though, I guess if both had a little sheen, not totally flat, the reflected light off black could look like more contrast than off brown? I first did mine with Valspar flat, but it wasn't flat enough - went over it with a couple coats of Behr, and it worked better, more flat.

>>Is it standard to hook up the sub and test for rattles before putting up sheetrock?

Doesn't hurt - I did to make sure there were no buzzes from lighting fixtures, before I closed up the soffit in the front of the room. Much easier to deal with then, before fabric was up.

>>I'm considering building a velvet panel for the underside of my soffit that's over the screen. The curved section in the front... Do you think it's worth the extra effort?

I did fabric there, personally I think its worth the effort - I still see a little reflection off the ceiling, but its much further from the screen, so not at all distracting. More important if your screen is very close to the ceiling.