basementdweller1's "subbin' it out" basement theater & more build - Page 4

A few last details...

The Lutron Grafik Eye is up and running controlling 5 zones, it works great and I have two wall mounted remotes to control it from around the space. Of course I will later do a bunch of custom programming and usually control it from the Harmony 1100 but I won't bother with that until paint and flooring is done so I can see how the lighting really appears.

The rope lighting for the bar island is the wrong color (it is a blue/white light now, not what I wanted) and is in a temporary spot in my picture, it will be a yellow light and quite a bit brighter in the final version but I am not going to bother correcting that until the bar is fully stained.

You can see the power bridge in the ceiling for the PJ which runs to the AV closet where it will plug into my power conditioner.

Current timeline is paint/stain all next week then wood flooring goes in the following week hopefully around the bar area and the entire fitness room. Then I have to get some quotes and setup a time to carpet the rest of the space. Somewhere in there I will have my plumber come out to hook up the vanity, toilet, shower/tub fixtures and bar sink. Once all of that is complete (including flooring/carpet) I'll start to hook up all the electronics and mount a screen, but I am scared frankly to mess around with it sooner because of dust in the basement, I really want all the paint/flooring complete before I bring down the sensitive stuff even though I can't wait.

Hopefully but early to mid-May I will be fully ready for the FUN stuff and be 100% working on the theater itself.

Staining and paint is done. Final plumbing is complete and wood floors are laid. Just waiting on carpet to go in on May 19 and I'll have everything ready to install electronics (don't want to before due to dust.) I did cut and test fit the three front in wall Def Tech main speakers and took final measurements before ordering the screen which will cover them a 110 wide, 127 diagonal 16:9 (with magnetic masks for 2.40) Seymour AV AT screen. I hope to have the theater up and running on May 20ish with tuning and furniture taking several more weeks.

Here is the cut screen wall...

Ordered an Epik Legend sub and will pick it up in the next couple of days. The Empire would be a better fit for my size space but the reality was two fold: the budget of the basement is already past what I wanted to do and it has gotten too easy to say "it's only a couple hundred more" to everything and second I am coming from a family where loud bass isn't really appreciated and my existing subs are 8 inch best buy special's so the Legend will already smoke 'em without needing something even larger. If things change and I want to upgrade I know in a future year I can always put the Legend in the upstairs family room 5.1 setup and put a bigger sub like the Empire into the theater space.

That completes some key details of the theater:

Screen: Seymour AV framed 16:9 127" diagonal Center Stage XD screen with masking borders to allow for 2.40 conversion.

Projector: Epson 8700 UB

Front L/C/R: Def Tech UIW RLS II
Sides, Rears: Orb Audio Mod 1
Sub: Epik Legend

AV Receiver: Onkyo TX-NR809
Blu-Ray player: Panasonic BDT-220
Power Conditioner: Belkin PureAV PF60
Apple TV: Third gen 1080p version
Gaming: Xbox 360
Music: Sonos Connect
Television: Comcast Motorola DCX3400

Lots of other misc stuff hook into the rack including Cat6 switches, HDMI splitters, 2 TVs (Toshiba 46L5200U models) etc.

Can't wait to put this all together.

That's dead center of the screen and will be ear height for 2nd row. Because of the length of the speakers I would have to skew them to the very bottom of the screen to get nearly at ear level for front row and then the masking panels to convert the screen from 16:9 would have to use an acoustically transparent material that isnt a match for the existing frame. Hopefully it will sound alright...

The main listening position is meant to be the 2nd row. The front row is a bit close for the size screen and screen material (although still fine, I suspect it will be the kids row). The second row is in the THX recommended angles and sweet spot to see no weaving on the AT material screen.

Second row is 14 inches higher BTW and seating position height will put your head dead on with the speakers.

Yep, ordered the 110 wide (127 diag) screen 16:9 straight from Seymour AV and the masking panels to make it 2.40:1

I should have it next week and as soon as carpet goes in I will be putting the screen up.

Picked up the Epik Legend tonight, the owner Chad was really flexible in being available to get it from their shop. Its staying in the box until the 20th, can't wait to get everything running.

ok some pics... just a quick note, the bar and wood flooring is very, very dusty... in reality the bar is very glossy and rich looking but it needs a good cleaning after a bunch of dust got on it while installing the flooring, but at least you will have the idea in regards to paint & stain. the ceiling is yep, white, and the walls are a medium color but that is a trade off for a space that suits the whole family and is open to several other rooms...









Fitness room (Flat screen on the wall is coming and will also be controlled from AV closet):



The rack, getting filled the 20th!

It's Pergo XP. I set out to use real engineered wood but was stunned by how good the high end Pergo now looks (distressed, high variation from board to board) and how super strong it now is. My upstairs hardwood shows every dropped toy and track marks where the treadmill slipped off some cardboard ... With this I could roll across with the treadmill on two tiny wheel without a mark. It ate the saw blades for lunch during install though. Really pleased so far, this is clearly not regular laminate.

The bar is fairly inexpensive pine, which is of course pretty soft and takes stain unevenly. The carpenter who made it usually heavily distresses his bars out of pine to complement the look but I asked him not to and we will just let it build character over time. It was a single coat of miniwax dark walnut (i didn't want it any darker) and 3 coats of semi-gloss varnish. once i clean up it will really shine.

Painting the frames of the L/C/R speakers so they don't reflect behind the screen. First TV up in fitness room. Chief RPA and PJ installed but not yet powered! This weekend? Carpet, all 7.1 speakers, all AV equipment installed AND SCREEN.

It's finished, just watched our first full movie (the family movie, We Bought A Zoo, a solid B-) and of course demoed things like Avatar and Transformers.... Only thing theater related left is really properly sorting out the Harmony 1100 remote. I will take formal pics today and have them posted by tonight. Never in my wildest did I think it would turn out this nice.

Alright, here are some of the first photos. I have to say taking photos that accurately reflect what lighting really looks like is darn difficult. The photos run from blown out to losing all detail in the shadows. For example the cabinetry under the screen looks way different in real life, a dark chocolate brown tone with grain that appears easily to the eye when under the screen highlighting while in the photos it comes out almost black and hard to make out the door detail. I will continue to work on better photos and I will add photos of the AV rack, I also will have tons of questions on some integration issues I am having...

This first image shows the theater under full lighting and does the best I could do to get the real look of the cabinetry under the screen. The screen is a Seymour AV fixed screen 110" wide, 127" diagonal with Center Stage XD material. Building it could NOT have been simpler and the quality of the frame was worth every single penny in my opinion. The screen hides my 3 in wall Def Tech speakers and I did have an issue. The speakers just barely, barely stick out of the surface of the drywall and another poster had no issue with their screen (and home made frame) over them but with Seymour AV's I was stunned to see that the screen material was just barely touching two small areas on each speaker that had a bit of a flange sticking out for attaching grills that of course I had left off. That was unacceptable and I was luckily able to remove the plastic flange detail with a Dremel MultiMax tool and no damage to the actual speakers. The screen now clears the speakers well and to my ears they sound great. Pics of the speakers and the repair to come tomorrow... Here is the first overview pic...




This next picture shows the theater space from the other side and gives you a sense of how it opens up to the bar area. The ceiling mounted side and rear speakers are Orb Audio Mod1's and they really put out a ton of volume for such a small speaker. They don't have much of any low end but the sub is doing a nice job filling in. I ended up using a single gang plate with a coaxial cable hole to feed the speaker wire through what were more ragged holes in the ceiling. The look is "ok" and I wish I could have found smaller plates but this is certainly better nothing. The riser is clearly shown and I love the look of carpet on top surfaces with bar matching stained wood on the sides. More on the seats in a minute...



This next picture shows the 6 seats under full lighting. They are from Roman at Ultimate Home Entertainment (highly recommended here at AVSforum by other members) and his new Fusion line. These are the Lagoon and all are real Leather and full power. I couldn't be happier with them, the price was outstanding compared to some Pallisers I was looking at I got them shipped on a Tuesday and white glove delivered on that Friday from NJ to Chicago! They are moderately firm (leather is super soft though) but when reclined they feel amazing. Very, very happy and customer service from Roman was all they said it would be... outstanding experience.



Finally here is a photo with most of the overhead lighting off, some sconce and bar lighting dimmed, and the screen highlighted. You can see the cabinets a bit more in this pic but they came out dark in the photo. They float about 7 inches above the floor being mounted directly to the wall and give the screen wall an unreal "custom" look that to my eye is one of the nicest details in the whole build. I quick note about Seymour AV and the screen... I love this screen, even from 9 ft (the front row) I don't see the weave and again the frame and felt is beyond high end to my eye. The website did imply a week to ship it from when I ordered and so did Chris at Seymour but there were delays and I only really would find out about them when I contacted him. At a week when it didn't ship I called and was told that there was a slight delay making the masks I ordered (yep, more on those tomorrow with pics) so it would be delayed by a few days. A few days became the end of a week, which became early the next week, and finally mid week. All in all it took just shy of 3 weeks to get my screen. While I would do it again in a heartbeat just be aware that shipping times were not really the "about a week" the website and Chris claimed and I had to be proactive personally to find out that there were delays vs. being notified. I wish I had ordered it sooner as I was ready for it sooner but I sure am happy with the finished product...



Tons more pics coming tomorrow along with some issues I have had and questions, but I have watched my first movie in the theater and wow, just wow.

Alright here is my setup...

Blu-Ray, Apple TV, Xbox 360 all connected via HDMI to the 809.
A Cable box connected via Component Video and an optical cable for audio to the 809.

HDMI Out (Main) -> Epson Projector
HDMI Out (Sub) -> 2x HDMI 3D splitter -> two identical Toshiba 46L5200U LED tvs.

I "assumed" (oops) that the HDMI out would carry sound from the Onkyo 809, but it appears more complicated. My goal is to be able to send video/audio to either the projector w/speakers powered by the Onkyo (this works fine) OR have the option of sending video and audio to the flat panel tvs to be played via their internal speakers. Best of all is if I could get all 3 video devices (projector AND 2 tvs) to play video / audio all at the same time.

If I select HDMI Out to either "Both" or "Both(Main) or Both(Sub)" I get video on all devices, which are all 1080p. I don't get sound on the TVs though, only via the wall speakers in the theater room. If I turn on HDMI RIHD which I think is control via HDMI, sometimes called HDMI CEC, then I get sound on the tvs when using the blu-ray player, Apple TV, and Xbox but NOT when using the cable box. Is there something about the fact my cable box is hooked up via component video and optical audio that prevents HDMI out from carrying audio? I can't hook up the cable box via HDMI because it is a Motorola DCX3400 with Comcast and it refuses to handshake with more than one video device at a time via HDMI (thanks Comcast!) and I get a green screen if I try to have more than one tv on at a time.

PS: Selecting "Audio Out TV: On" actually kills sound to everything, not sure what that is supposed to do.

Can anyone help me see if I am doing something wrong with the setup. I pre-wired my newly constructed basement so I have very limited options for running more cables to the flat panel TVs, I was certain that an AV receiver would simply send audio data over HDMI out to an video source at the same time as it played audio through speakers. Am I dead in the water?

Thanks!