The Grove Theater and Basement Build - Page 28

Thanks Delta. Everyone has their own budget and skill level. Just have to know what yours is and stick to it.

Have you considered starting your own build thread? It's a good way to get advice and let people see what you are working on. It doesn't matter to what degree you are building your room. I'm sure there are plenty of people on this forum who would stop by and check out your work. It also creates kind of a scrap book for your project. I have enjoyed going back in mine sometimes to see how far I've come. Something to think about.

Received the last of my LED light strips last night. I really want to get some of these up to see what they will look like in the room. Might get to fool around with some tonight after I put the last of the paint on the speaker cabinets.

Maybe some teaser pics before the big reveal this weekend. Of course that's assuming I can find enough time to work down there.

Yes, these will be going behind the columns. They will also be going under the riser nosing (full length), in the soffit, and down each side of the IB to highlight it behind the future fabric panel (I hope it works but need to test how the light shows through the FR701). I also need to find some uplights for behind the screen wall that will highlight the 4Pi's. May need to check out a Guitar Center (or equivalent) to see what they have to offer in a cheap spot light (preferably in a blue color).

Sounds like a good idea. I would think most rope lights are going to give you enough light to see what's going on behind that large screen. Too bad you have been waiting on them for so long. But if that is the only thing that keeps you from being 100% complete then that's not too bad.

Well, the speaker cabinets received their last bit of black paint last night. I am going to try and get the internals in one tonight to see if everything is working properly. Fingers crossed everything will work so that I can start finishing the other two crossovers.

I also started installing the LEDs on the riser. I was able to complete the lower step and should be able to finish it tonight. I hope I dont jinx myself by saying this but so far everything is fitting up really well. The gap ended up being perfect. The strip easily fits in and the carpet actually helps hold it in place along with the adhesive backing. The light it provides looks really uniform and doesn't appear to be too much. One thing I did notice crawling around on the floor was that my painting of the underside of the lip left something to be desired. I will have some touch-up to do.

Hopefully pics of lights and a speaker tomorrow morning!

Now that is doing a thorough job! I'm sure at some point I will have someone down there trying to see how the lights are installed and I would rather them not see me cutting corners. Yes, 99.9% of the time it would be just fine but it's that 0.1%. Knowing that someone will eventually see that is enough for me to go back and correct it. Plus, if I had a contractor do that I would most definitely have them fix it. I shouldn't feel any different because I am doing the work.

You and me both! The cabinets look pretty good for just flat black paint. The part I'm most worried about are the crossovers. I think I have everything laid out correctly. Not sure what my next step would be if they don't work.

Thanks Vik! You and me both! I tested it when the room was a hollow shell and with sub par listening material and it was pretty boomy. I'm hoping that with the room treated, some better material to listen to, and a little eq that it will accomplish everything I wanted it to from the beginning. I probably won't push it like you will yours but it will be nice to have a little headroom should the need arise.

Finally.... Pictures!!

I was able to accomplish everything I wanted to get done last night (although it made for a late night). Started the night with the goal of completing one speaker and the lighting on the riser. I began the evening with the speaker. With everything painted I was now ready to install the good stuff. The first thing to go in was the horn/cd. I had cut a gasket for each horn out of shower pan liner and that was up first.





What I didn't show was my attachment method. I marked my holes for the horn and drilled them out large enough to fit a 10-24 Tee nut in on the back side and will be using 10-24 x 1 1/4 machine screws with them. All hardware heads will need to get a touch of black paint since they are silver currently. I did not do this step last night.

Then it was in with the horn.





It sits just below the surface. I could bring it up a little with another gasket or two but I think it looks pretty good as is. And these will be hiding behind an AT screen so looks aren't paramount.

Next up were the speaker wire connectors. I found some nice matte silver ones from Parts Express and they went in without issue.



Time for the crossovers. This was the step that most worried me. Did I make all my wires the right length to reach each component. Do I remember where each wire needs to go. Turns out I did. So in to the bottom they go.





The boards are held in place with some clear silicone under each one. It was at this point that I had to hook it up to see if I actually got sound out of it or if it was going to be really heavy paper weight. So I hauled in my old receiver and DVD player and hook it up. Sound! It wasn't very good obviously since the woofer was sitting beside the box and there was no insulation in there yet either. Time to continue on.

Next up was the insulation. Some R13 on the back, port side, bottom, and across the mid support (copying BIG on this part).





(Don't mind the extra woofer mounting holes in the above picture. I started drilling holes befoe I realized that the crossbrace was going to foul up one of my holes. Rotate the woofer and drill the new holes)

And finally it was time for the woofer to go in.





After going through the install once I will probably change around the order of which the parts go in to help with ease of installation.

First impressions are good but I know I need to break it in a little more to get an accurate feel. It was at this point that I started wondering... am I hearing what I should be hearing? I know my crossovers worked to allow me to get sound out but are they giving me the sound that the designer intended for me to hear? How would I know? I may have to jump on the Pi speaker forum and shoot Wayne some of my crossover pics and see if he can't look them over for me. I'm sure I could try measuring the response and see if it matches up with others that have posted. Unfortunately I don't have any measuring equipment yet. It's on the list of things to get but I just haven't.

And a lonely shot of it almost in it's new home. These will be sitting on short stands to get them to the right height.



So with the speaker complete it was now time to finish the riser step lighting. I already had the step portion done so I just had to finish the long run across the top. I don't have any under the lip shots but I could try to get some if someone would like to see it. My camera isn't the best so most of the shots look fake. Trust me when I say that it looks great in person.









And for the close-ups! Lights on...





And lights off...







Overall I'm very happy with the way the lights turned out. I'm really excited to get the rest of them in. So it was a good nights worth of work. Next on the schedule are the other two crossovers so that I can finish the front speakers and then screen and projector this weekend.
Edited by vanice - 12/20/12 at 6:10am

Thanks Damelon! The speaker build has been informative and really hasn't been too difficult. There are quite a few steps to get from sheets of MDF to completed speakers but dare I say that if someone where only working on the speakers that it could be done pretty quickly.

I guess it's a good thing my build has run long because my original plan was to put in a step light similar to yours. Then Cinemar put in the nosing and LEDs and I was sold. Luckily I was still at a point where I could change my plan without any extra work or expense. I think his still looks a little better because he has the wood face on the steps where mine is carpeted (because of the holes I cut for the riser trap) but I am completely satisfied with how mine turned out.


Thanks BIG! I did see the note on painting the insulation enough to help hide it. I wasn't sure how easy it would be to spray it without getting paint all over the port. Oh well, function over aesthetics. I have some flat spray paint so I will try and hit it with a light coating once I get the other speakers ready. How did you go about getting your measurements? This is something that I have never done. What equipment would I need?

That would be a tough one. Not sure how easily it could be cut to fit. I didn't watch the guys install mine so I don't know exactly how they did it. I would think that a professional could make it look good though. It definitely does a good job of highlighting the step area. I'm also hoping that it casts a cool glow up the back of the front row furniture if we can ever afford to get some.

It's never 100% complete right?? I may try and get my soffit lights done this weekend too but I am putting the screen and projector at the front of the priority list.

I was sweating the carpet choice. It is so hard to take a small sample and imagine it on a large scale. We nearly had the same issue when we were picking out colors and styles for the exterior of our house. Luckily for the house we found a look we both really liked and just copied it. As far as the carpet, it definitely helped to get a sample in the room so that I could see it in the actual theater lighting. That made a big difference.

Thanks aaustin! They definitely add a wow factor to the room. And being the first "component" installed in the room I am very excited about the rest going forward. I too am interested to see what the columns will look like now that I have seen the step lights in person. Should be a fun toy to play with.


Thanks cuzed! The woofer is a 15" Eminence Omega Pro15-A. Much more budget friendly than the JBL 2226H woofers that I could have used. Leaves me an upgrade path should the woofers come down in price.

They are sharp in person and a lot of fun to play with color changes. After having good luck with the splicing and such to make these step lights work I am far more confident now with my ability to finish the columns and make the lights work the way I hope they will. Just have to find time to finish wrapping columns so I can get them in.

Vik did a great job with his use of LED lighting. I hope that I can compete in the same league with his lighting because he blows me away on the audio side. Now if we can both just get them done so we can relax for awhile.

I will have to check that out. I think Mario had a list of items that he bought in his thread. I have looked at the REW thread before but I guess I need to bone up a little more.

This is very noob but what is RTA?