The Theater Which Mercy Built - Page 3

My brother-in-law has a BenQ, and it just didn't do it for me. He actually doesn't love it either, and is looking to swap it out.



Yeah, they must be great screens -- but the price increase is hefty!



The design is now veering back to free-standing speakers and the Klipsch are high on the list. I will need to look into the M&K.

Cool...I already checked it out...you're moving along. My father-in-law's engineering firm has a plant in Scranton actually.

Soundproofing questions

I spoke with bpape this week, and he seemed to think that the "dead space" was not a problem as long as there was not drywall on the inside of the cavity. But, it brought up a question in my mind regarding the decoupling of the dead space.



The reason I have the niche for the doorway is because the interior wall of theater has to be south of the metal pipe and i-beam; also, because I want the theater to be symmetrical -- thus bring the walls in to create the dead space. However, I was wondering if those walls are truly decoupled because they are connected by the north-south running studs (red arrows in above picture).

If they are not truly decoupled, how would I fix that?

HVAC question

Trying to figure out how to run the HVAC supply. There are two ducts coming off the main trunk just to the north of the theater. My thought is to run both of these above the decoupled ceiling between the joists and then down to a soffit muffler on the south wall. Is it ok to cross the two flex ducts (green and blue) within the soffit so that the runs have enough length to deaden the sound transmission?



Still have to figure out what do with the lights. The LED option looks good, but I don't think the Grafik Eye 3000 is compatible with LED lights, which is a pity.

Rack will be opposite the entrance door, with the back open to the unfinished basement. That way, I can vent into the unfinished area and have it enclosed so my son can't get at the backs of the components.

OK, maybe I can answer my own question (maybe not). Would decoupling the north-south connecting walls from the east west outer hall wall using horizontally installed DC04 clips be of any use? Does it even matter?

Moggie, I assume you mean like this:



New walls drawn in grey. My only issue with this is the loss of symmetry when looking at the screen wall from the seating area. I assume that if I were to frame up the area outlined in red to maintain symmetry, then I would be getting into the dreaded "triple-leaf effect". Any suggestions on what do with that corner?

I don't think so...I am planning to have a door on it, but hopefully the soundproofing efforts in the theater proper will block out any added noise from the rack.

I do like this idea, and played around with having the screen on the righthand end for a while! But I think getting it passed through the Committee for Domestic Affairs (if you know who I mean) might be difficult. Thanks though, that really is a cool idea!

Well that makes a helluva lot more sense. I need to start wearing around a necklace that says "WWMD". If I don't go with Tedd's excellent concept, then this will definitely take care of the issue. Thanks!!!!

Tedd, unfortunately the committee voted unanimously to reject your plan, despite my best efforts to plead your case. The committee further suggested that I should save up my capital for future decisions.

OK, finally back at it after a long hiatus. Got an updated preliminary plan from bpape:



My dilemma of the day: what screen size for this layout? My heart says 120" (2.40:1 screen). The front row is at about 10' (may end up being a little below actually). This would put the front row viewing angle at 53-55 degrees. A 110" screen makes the viewing angle 49 degrees - not a huge difference. But the difference in 16:9 viewing (which is probably a greater number of viewing hours) is 8" horizontal. I'm strongly leaning to the 120" -- mistake?

Dilemma #2: what kind of subwoofers? I have to confess that I am not interested in bone-rattling low frequency. Good, tight, accurate bass is what I gravitate towards. In the current design, subs will be at the front of the room behind AT fabric -- any recommendations as to size and brands for this layout?

I haven't purchased any equipment, but my current frontrunners are:

Klipsch KL-650 for fronts
Klipsch KS-7800 for sides/rears
Marantz AV7005 surround processor
Outlaw 7700 7 ch amplifier
Oppo BD93
JVC RS45
SMX 120" Promask CIH
Grafik Eye 3000
iRule with Global Cache for control
Seatcraft Excalibur recliners (7)

It is 19'7" from wall to wall, so about 17'7" from back wall to screen. I'm torn but I see a lot of builds on here with similar viewing distances. And since I do watch a lot of 16:9 material (mostly sports), a bigger 16:9 viewing area is important to me.

Got an updated plan from Bryan last week:



Based on this I should be able to get a firm estimate from my contractor and hopefully get framing started within a month. I put together some drawings in sketchup based on Bryan's plan in order to try to figure out the HVAC situation. Light blue walls are existing, dark blue are to be constructed, dark grey are foundation:



Would appreciate thoughts on this. Since the supply duct would be in the joists above the theater I had thought this does not necessarily need to be soundproofed - is this correct? I would still have over 15 feet of duct in the soffit muffler with a five 90 degree bends. I am more concerned about the return - if I put a dead vent there with a fan, will I be creating a conduit for sound into the theater? The HVAC unit and water heater are quite loud, and would be located right next to the dead vent - is there a better location for it?

Also have done some work on figuring out the style of the theater. With apologies to Mario, I'm going to borrow heavily from the Cinemar build. However, I would like to use two inch thick acoustic panels in between the columns instead of column-to-column GOM covering. The panels will be framed and mounted above chair rail. As of now, they will be a deep navy blue to match the navy blue drywall, with the moulding and chair rail providing the contrast. Bryan's plan calls for 2' x 4' panels, but I am worried that might look too busy. I have mocked up the side wall for both 2' x 4' and 4' x 4' panels:





Any opinions as to which is aesthetically better? Also, any thoughts as to the navy-on-navy look of the panels? Should I build the columns as stained wood veneer -- other option would be to paint them navy as well. Keep in mind that the recliners will be a beachwood brown color


Also mocked up the rear wall, which will be OC703 covered in fabric to match the dry wall at the sides:



The two panels at the sides would not be real panels, but rather just moulding to mirror the framed panels on the side panels. Is there a good way to mount the mouldings on top of the fabric, or would I have to work the fabric in around the trim pieces?

Finally, here is a diagram of the soffit and lighting. I really like what Mario did with his ceilling, so I am essentially going to copy it (sorry!). But I am going to keep the wood light tray a stained wood color, and have it go all the way up to the ceiling, where it will be attached with crown.



Question here is: is that enough lighting for the room (assuming 50 W halogens)? Thanks in advance for any comments/suggestions/queries/criticisms!

I hadn't thought of that, but it would fairly easy to do I think. I'm assuming you mean the supply, not the return.

Thanks jim! I think I like the bottom one with 4' x 4' panels better too. I can't wait to start framing!

1) Undecided on subs. Possibly getting the Klipsch THX Ultra 2 subs from AVS store (Mike Garrett has been very helpful!) to match the KL 650s and KS-7800s. Had also thought about getting a single Seaton Submersive HP. Any thoughts?

2) Yeah, not enough room to have another column on the door-wall and still fit the acoustic treatments in, so that column will be by itself.

3) Rear speakers will go in the columns