Small DIY dedicated theatre - Page 2

@DavidK442

Your not too late. I've gone back and forth a few times on my screen. I even emailed back and forth with Chris at Seymore AV. After some more research, I decided to go with the 106" Accuscreen AT from Costco. It has gotten very good reviews and I think it will be quite pleased with it. The price is right and it saves me the bother of DIYing the frame and whatnot. While I was ordering my screen, I also ordered this little beauty:

http://www.costco.ca/Browse/Product....e=BCCA&topnav=

@Pain Infliction

Thank you for your comment!

Finished putting up the fiberboard behind my screen wall. It's 5/8th board. I know some of you may say it's a bit thin, but I'm fighting for every inch here.

I know what your saying. It has been a concern of mine too. I don't think I am quite ready to "modify" my brand new towers though! I am going to separate them as best as I can for now and see how it works out. I will re-evaluate at that time. Like I said in my first post. My father is a cabinet maker and is very skilled at this sort of woood work. So I do have that option.

hmmmmm.... I did get the high contrast grey. My room will have complete light control. Is the grey screen a mistake for my room and my projector (BenQ W6000)?

David, I just read through your build thread. Very NICE! I hope I can achieve that same "high end" look with low budget spending. Good work! Your room is inspiring.

Small update! Hung my door! Doesn't seem like much. But for whoever that has ever hung a "virgin" door, they know it's a heck of a lot of work to get it just right! Anyway, big psychological boost to have that heavy sucker click just perfect when you close it.

Lot's of progress! I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel (projector light?). Some pics of my work during the last two weeks.

My wife's hands helping me build my acoustic panels. They are hard fiber boards covered with speaker cloth.


First row of ceiling panels installed. I will be covering the entire ceiling with these panels.


Second row on the ceiling is up. You can see where I have started to place the black fabric under the soffit. You can also notice that I have done a pretty rough job of the tape/plaster. There will be no visible wall space in this room. Everything will be covered by collumns and acoustic panels. I sprayed the room flat black as a base, but in reality, I don't think I would have even needed to do that.


My "collumns" and some trim laid out for staining in the garage. First coat is on. The color is a cherry satin stain. The collums will be direcly on the walls and will have the in-wall speakers and sconces on them.

The door to the theatre. The acoustic panel on the left is more aesthetics then anything. There will be cherry stained trim on the right side and on the other side of the acoustic panel. There will also be a sign on the top with a stylised "Now Playing".


Door to the theatre open. I have started the electrical work. There hadn't been power to this room since early January!


Interior pics. The under soffit lights are all positioned over the 4 surround in wall speakers. There will be a cherry column at those spots with the speakers cut into the columns.






And finally my screen wall. The under soffit lights here are controlled by a separate dim switch. The blue lights are behind the wall and will also be controlled by an independent switch. I hope to be able to shine them on my speakers and get a "ghosting" effect through the AT screen (like I saw on seymore's screen website)... we'll see how that works out!

Here are my in wall HTD speakers. I am debating whether or not to paint the boarders black or leave them white.


Here is a pic of my screen still in the box. This room is the equipment staging area! You can see my new popcorn machine, my PJ and my towers and other stuff!


So that's where I'm at as of now. Next up is attaching my columns. I have 3 coats of stain on them now and they look nice! (no pic yet). Then I will make the cut outs for my surrounds. I still have a lot of acoustic panels to build and attach. And of course, I still need to build my equipment closet!

We are leaving for San Francisco this Sunday, so no work for about a week and a half! The break will surely do me good and help motivate me for a strong finish!!

Thanks! I have a vision of what I want it to look like! Let's hope that it comes out like that. And yes it's a solid fibreglass board like OC703. Just way cheaper!

As I work on the theatre, I have internal debates on what my first movie will be. I have a couple of contenders:

(All Bluray of course)
Star Wars IV
Black Hawk Down
Lord of the Rings extended cut (not sure which one)
Gladiator
Master and Commander (the audio in this movie is insane)
Braveheart

I tend to listen to movie soundtracks as I work (the Braveheart and Gladiator soundtracks are excellent). It is a powerful motivator to keep going and do it right.

I love Return of the King. I remember when it was first released. Some friends and I got together and watched the Extended Fellowship and Towers then went to the Theatre and watched King... what a loooong day but AWESOME!

As far as the panels. They are acoustic panels from USG (http://www.usg.com/ceilings/acoustical-panels.html) If you scroll up you can see a package of them holding up my columns for staining

They sell them at Home Depot! The USG site as all the acoustical ratings for each type.

Last update before California! Attached the columns. Cut outs for in wall speakers are done. Just need to finish the cut into the drywall. The other columns will have my sconces. Also attached the trim. Next will be adding the black acoustic panels between the columns flush to the wood. There will be no visible drywall. I'm really loving the look and feel that is starting to come together as I add more and more pieces to the puzzle!

Pretty big update. Everything is pretty much done. We are waiting for the carpet installers next Wednesday, 18th. Our chairs should be coming soon. We bought Paliser Pacifico in dark brown leather, row of 3 for the rear/riser and Dolphin Star theatre seats in dark brown leather, row of three for the front row. I've done basic audio and video test to confirm everything works... And it does!

Once carpet and chairs are in place I will tweak the audio/video as best I can before getting the tech/calibrator in at 90 bucks an hour to get it perfect.

Wait until you see it with the black carpet! Seriously though, the photos don't really give a true impression. It's not that dark. I really like the look and feeling of the room. Can't wait for the carpet!

Thanks Todd! I'm actually all done! You can check out my finished room at http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1409425

As for my theatre seats, I ordered them from Len at midwesttheatreseating.com I am extremely pleased with the quality of the seats. They are commercial grade. The price was fantastic and delivery was fast. Communication with Len was great and the transaction was easy. So you can see I would highly recommend these guys for your seats!

So check out my post build thread and let me know what you think!