Tennessean Cinema build

Well I am finally ready to start my build. I have been reading many build threads and learning from every one, so hopefully I can avoid a lot of mistakes in mine. Plus, I have Dennis's design so if I can keep from messing it up, this should turn out really well! By the way, Dennis has been awesome to work with. I would bet he has answered, literally, 150+ emails from me over the past couple of months. Highly recommended... but I dont need to tell you guys that!

I am not what I would call much of a handyman type of person, but I do plan to attempt to do as much of this build myself as possible, with the help of a contractor friend for more major items that I dont have tools for. As I said, I have been reading and learning so hopefully I can duplicate much of what I have seen in other threads.

On to the theater...

The original room was about 16'10"W x 27.5L x 9'H. The back of the room has a stairwell coming down into it and no back right wall, so I am turning the stairs, building a wall, and creating a true rectangle.


I am in the midst of the initial demolition of the existing room, and while removing the drywall I discovered that much of this room is already a double stud wall I believe. Since its a basement and the front, left, and part of the right wall is shared with the outside, it looks like the previous homeowner built new studs on the inside to keep from having to attach anything directly to the brick block skirt and to insulate... so that is a good starting point. And like I mentioned the ceiling is a separate joist system already with plenty of room above it. I did see that he connected the ceiling joists with the floor joists above, so that needs to go, but overall good "bones" to build from I think.

The equipment: (purchased or will be purchased)
Quest acoustical treatments
3 Seaton Catalyst 12s for the front three speakers in a baffle wall
4 Triad Bronze L/C/R in ceiling surrounds installed in soffits

4 Subs:
1 Seaton F2 sub in that baffle wall (replacing the Submersive HP that I have so that I can put the sub in the baffle)
1 Seaton F2 in the rear in a wall cavity under the stair landing that is behind the theater.

1 Seaton F2 in a cutout on the right side wall

1 Seaton F2 on the left side  in an alcove.

Sony VW1000 projector
Enlightor 4k 160" width 2:37 AT screen
Oppo 93
Marantz AV8801 Processor

Emotiva 200wpc amps for surround speakers
Rtheaters Fusion Escape seating.. set of three  in front, set of 4  for rear

Starting picture after a bit of drywall demolition:

Edited by hifiaudio2 - 2/5/13 at 1:58pm

I have been racking my brain to come up with some unique visual element to add to the design, but nothing is coming to mind. I REALLY like the look of the Desert Sunset theater, but my design doesn't call for columns. Dennis said I could substitute them, so its a possibility. I do have a neat acoustical element, in that a bay window cutout ( to support the bay window in the kitchen above) is going to be used as a giant custom designed unseen bass trap. The riser is also a bass trap. I don't think I can share the plans, but I will try to post some sort of basic sketch of the room.

I like the color combo in Koach's theater here: If I dont make columns or use elements from the Sunset thread, I may make my wood and trim black like this and use a dark tan for the rest. I have attached a small file to show the layout of my theater. I dont want to attach anything larger since the design is Dennis's and I want to respect his intellectual property, but I also do want the general layout to be known as I move this thread forward.


I need to get some ideas on how to hide the fact that the treatments will stick out 2" off the walls without doing a lot of wood trim to fur out the walls to meet it. I have seen a few of Dennis's designs that incorporate elements of mine, but most have TONS of expensive wood trim that, while nice looking, isnt really my style. So I need another good way of hiding those treatments instead of just having them covered individually with fabric and meeting the drywall.

Im in Nashville.

Cool, thanks.

Ordered my clips, green glue, and door seals!

The friendly folks at the soundproofing company were super helpful! Thanks!

I got most of the drywall off and hauled away, and construction on turning the stairwell that comes down into the back of the room has started. We are turning it 180 degrees and building a wall along the back. We ran into a headroom issue with that new stairwell, so unfortunately that means I will have to move the back wall of the theater in a few inches to give enough room for an adequately sized landing on that stairwell. But the room should still be around 27' long (a little less after clips and DD). Dennis says the length reduction should not affect my acoustic plan nor will the slight size reduction of the riser affect the bass trap riser.

I will also be adding a new LVL to the ceiling so I can decouple it from the floor joists above. Currently the ceiling is 2x6 and has multiple 2x4's coupled to the above floor joists for support.

Even then though, we MAY have to install 2x8s for the ceiling due to the span. Its about 15.5 feet and the feeling is that that may be too long for 2x6 joists.

Hopefully all these items will be finished at the end of this week.

Had a good week of work. We didnt end up having to shorten the room, which was great. Got the new wall built and the stairs turned with the new landing. Ceiling is prepped to install new 2x10 joists spanning the 17 foot width of the room. Very excited to see some progress.

Door question... what do I go buy? Just ask for a solid wood door of appropriate size? Not a door with something inside, like gypsum, correct? It should be 100% solid wood? ( then I will add GG +MDF + GG+MDF).

Under the area in the new landing in the picture will be one of the Seaton F2 subs. Other is in the front baffle. The "hole" for the landing sub will be just large enough for the sub ( horizontally) and will also get clips, channel, DD + GG.

Attachment 247643



Attachment 247644

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I have not been posting the progress as there hasn't been a whole lot to see, but things are moving along. New ceiling framing was completed and wiring has been 90% run. Still need to run a few pieces of conduit and finish off a couple of Romex runs but basically good to go on wiring. Foam insulation will be put in this week (mainly in the "outer wall" 2x6 cavity. Drywall will be completed a few days after insulation (hiring out the drywall install).


Here are a few pics of the "sub boxes" I am building for the Seaton F2 subs that will be recessed into the wall. They aren't quite finished, but the boxes will ultimately be 4 layers. The outermost layer is 3/4" MDF, then 5/8" drywall, then another 3/4" MDF. Green glue between all layers. The first layer of drywall in the room will be run right up against the inner MDF layer that sticks out past the outer layers. Then, the second layer of drywall will "wrap" around and into the inner box. I expect this to provide a pretty sound proof box, even for the power of the Seatons!

The rear sub will be horizontal and will just barely clear my riser. The taller box will have a vertical sub on a sturdy stand. Any remaining areas in the boxes will get fiberglass filler just to cut out any resonance the box could have.

There will be one more of these boxes on the left side of the room, and the fourth sub is in the front baffle.


Edited by hifiaudio2 - 7/13/12 at 9:17pm

Little update.. foam insulation is in! Drywall starts next Monday. Still have to get my clips and channel on the walls and ceiling. Lots to do!

You can see my two projector mounts in the picture. These are mounted to separate joists so they arent affected by bass in the room as they *could* be if mounted to the drywall/hatchannel layer. I have two mounts so that I have a little flexibility later on if my projector changes enough to need a closer mount than my Sony does. Also both mounts have about 8" or so of travel side to side so if I get a projector later on that doesnt have a centered lens and doesnt have lens shift, I can just push the mount over through the hole that is there, cut a new hole, and stick a threaded pipe through to the new location. Much better than cutting out a lot of double drywall and GG to put a whole new mount in the ceiling. Doing this means I will have to leave the mount a little loose in its track, but that doesnt seem to hurt its load holding capability at all. Just have to be sure it doesnt move before or when the drywallers are making a hole for it.

Thanks!

The green glue damps, though... not decouples. Same when you use it with drywall... you still screw the layers of drywall (GG is not a construction adhesive, even though its sticky). Its pretty hard to truly decouple these boxes from the room without leaving an equally problematic crack or space. So I went with making them massive. They sit by themselves on the floor, but the last layer of room drywall will be "wrapped" into them. So ultimately they have 4 layers of material.

The other option was to simply butt both layers of drywall up to the side of the box and put acoustic caulk around the seam. But even then the box is coupled by the caulk.

The subs dont touch the boxes either. They will be on their own stand inside the box only touching the floor.

Drywall is going up as I type! I will post some pics tonight after the dust settles. In the meantime, here are some pictures of the final hatchannel install. Hatchannel and drywall was delivered Friday and between installing the remaining clips and measuring, cutting, splicing, and hanging hatchannel I worked Friday until 2am, the all day Saturday until midnight Sunday, and then all day Sunday until 2am Monday. But its done! Now I need to sleep.


Edited by hifiaudio2 - 7/23/12 at 2:56pm

First layer is on the walls and second layer on ceiling started.

Yep, thats just a "future, possible, but probably wont need it" conduit for projector cabling for my "future, possible, but probably wont need it" projector mount.

In reality, with some effort, I could likely get cables to that spot from an access hatch that gets me above the ceiling from outside the room, but it cost almost nothing to put in the conduit, so I figured why not.

If I ever put a projector there I would likely just extend the hushbox from the rear of the room and run the power cord from the new projector to the existing surface outlet that will be in the current hushbox.

Not too interesting to look at bare walls, but the drywall layers are completed. The finisher comes today. I am going to have him fully finish the ceiling, but only tape and mud the walls. No one will ever see them. Plus, being able to see the screws clearly will easily show me where all my channels are when I am attaching soffits, chair rails, etc.