Small DIY dedicated Theatre - Post Build and retrospective - Page 3

Attached with drywall screws.

Matt

Thanks! And as far as the popcorn machine goes it was for sale at Costco. And it was really inexpensive. It's being used continuously and works great!!

Matt

It's in the closet of the next room.

I would not have it any other way. Having the equipment in a separate room/closet retains the simple elegance of the room. Most visitors don't even ask about my equipment. They are just impressed with the room. Everything is controlled via IR repeater. "Pay no attentions to the man behind the curtain."

I bought the fabric at a local fabric store. Price was reasonable as I can remember. A few bucks a yard. It's speaker fabric. Acoustically transparent and stretchy. Check out my build thread via the link in the first post of this thread for all the play by plays!

Time to post an update. As we all know, our theaters are never EVER "done"

During the past few months I've taken advantage of some end of year sales, open box blowouts etc. to upgrade some of my equipment. My biggest purchase is my new OPPO-103 .... wow what a machine...I've also purchased an open box Pioneer VSX-1326 (Elite-VSX 53).



I upgraded my 3 front speakers going from HTD level 2 Towers and center to 3 identical Klipsch Reference towers (RF800B).

I've moved everything behind my screen... and as anyone who's looked at my initial build thread (http://www.avsforum.com/t/1387961/small-diy-dedicated-theatre) can attest was my original plan all along!

I really love the clean look of having everything behind the screen. My theater is relatively small so any space gained by moving those big towers behind the screen makes a huge difference.







There have also been a few lobby upgrades with some new posters and new colors.

Bottom of screen to floor is 16 1/2" ... that's 6 inches for the stage and another 10 1/2" from the stage to the bottom of the screen. That doesn't include the frame of the screen. That's 16 and a half from the white to the floor. My riser is 12 inches high. If I sit bolt upright in my chair in the back row I have no issues... but that rarely happens in those INCREDIBLE Paliser chairs... you just want to sink into them they are soooo comfy. So yes, if we are watching a 16:9 image, I will get a bit of the person's head in the way and if I'm really laying down in my chair the front row chairs can interfere... but to tell you the truth, 70% of what we watch is widescreen so it's a non-issue for me. If I was building it again, I would probably add an inch to the riser and raise my screen 2 inches or so also. As for my ceiling tiles, you can look at my build threat to get more details but basically I used construction adhesive to glue them to the drywall.


The reason I had hesitated placing my speakers behind the screen was my thinking that it would make my front sound stage too narrow (and I had just spent a heck load of money on speakers and wanted to see them!!). I must say that I am not an audiophile by any stretch of the imagination, but I have gotten good at calibrating and fine tuning my theater in the last 9 months and have become attuned to its sound. I am in awe of it's current performance and am able to say without a doubt that matching my three front channels as well as replacing that "smallish" center with a full size tower has improved the experience by a lot. I will share an experience I had watching episode 3 of the second season of Game of Thrones bluray. It is a scene in which Petyr Baelish is quietly speaking to one of his female "employees" and he is whispering to her. The clarity and presence of his voice was so clear and distinct I became so enthralled I missed everything he actually said! I remember always noticing the "center channel"... I was always able to tell that the voice or center action was coming from that particular speaker and it bugged me even if my friends and family thought I was nuts! This is no more as the front sound stage is now very well blended. And I won't even talk about the rib shaking bass I am able to produce with those two 12 inch Klipch subs.

Thanks to both of you for the kind words!
Medi0gre: Good luck with yours and post updates of your progress!
David: I love your theater and often looked at it for inspiration while building mine!