KnoxVegas "Bang for the Buck" Theater - Page 4

I have been told that too. I did A LOT of reading on the subject and decided to give it a shot. couple of articles on the topic.

http://www.audioholics.com/education/loudspeaker-basics/comb-filtering
http://www.audioholics.com/education/loudspeaker-basics/vertical-vs-horizontal-speaker-designs

One thing I was considering is the distance between the speakers (height) in one of the articles it mentioned Acoustical Interference and the distance between the drivers.
I am just experimenting with them to see is I can get a more diffused/wider sound-field in the LF and RF channels. Kinda looking at them in the way many vertical speakers have multiple drivers mounted vertically. EX:



Nice thing about the setup in the false wall, is the speaker shelves are adjustable. If I need to move them closer together or further apart, no problems.

I am just playing with them right now. Have not even hooked them up yet. One thing to note. The JBL S38's (copper color drivers) are on their own separate amp. Worst case scenario, I have them switched to 'Speaker B" on my receiver and use them when I jam music in Stereo mode.

The WHOLE family is bummed that the Theater is not done yet....

(yes.. sadly this actually IS one of our cats...)


I did get the projector mount installed.



Used the ISOLATE IT! 2-piece bushings. 2 3" screws are into the joist, and 2 2" coarse screws into the 5/8" drywall in the ceiling to level the base plate. With the bushings installed, it actually feels like it is floating when you grab the metal post and give it a nudge. Very nice, simple and fairly inexpensive way to isolate the projector from the room.


Got the projector up to have a look-see on throw. Did not want to get too far, but still have some room to go a bit wider if I go to a DIY Spandex screen.

Now that I have established final distance to the screen. I need access to the attic to move and install a new HDMI cable (on order) and a receptacle in the ceiling (clean up the crude "cut-a-hole-in-the-ceiling" system I currently have)


I even went ahead and plugged in the Darblet. Very cool, can't wait to get everything all hooked back up, calibrated (audio and visual) and REALLY take the Darblett out for a spin. But my initial impression... awesome! There is definitely an improvement in clarity, detail and depth.

Pulled my back.... things like that can slow ya down a bit. Especially when the next step need the use of my back....

By the way... I HATE insulation...



My projector HAS been sitting approx 20" closer than it currently is located. In the past I just punched a hole in the ceiling and ran the power and HDMI cable through the center of the mount and to the back of the projector. Change of plans. Installing a dual recessed box behind the projector.
Only bad part of this BRILLIANT idea, it requires me to get into the attic to access my cables:



Once up there, I located the original HDMI and power cables. Taped the new HDMI cable and fished it up to be drug over to the new location... Oh yeah, all the insulation that I trampled doing this, I moved the insulation to the left and right then added the roll of R-30 (1st picture) to replace it on my way out....



Have everything figured out.... back to the H.T. to cut some holes (and TRY to keep from making a hot mess)

Where the projector has been ( dangling cord )
Getting the cables fed through
Tada...

Getting everything ready to back into "showtime" mode..
Replacing and upgrading the bulb on the projector. The replacement bulb is actually compatible with the newer version of my projector (the Sanyo PLV-Z4000). The newer projector A bit more performance tweaks, this also means tweaks of the bulb = better bulb.
New one on the left


There had been some dust in the backside of the lens, it could be seen when looking (off center) into the lens when the projector was on. I downloaded a repair manual and CAREFULLY dismantled the projector until I could get to the parts I needed to clean.
I do NOT encourage tackling a job like this unless you have sensitive electronics experience or have the money laying around to pay for a repair technician, or just a whole new projector...


Got the projector hung back up and plugged in the power and HDMI with the DARBLET. It fired right up and the new bulb...WOW I'm sure it was time to get a new one, but I never remember the picture being so SOLID. I'll try to get some pictures of the projector in action once I get the final setup and I'm doing the calibrations.

Have a roll of Linacoustic 1", MAY still use it. But decided to try the acoustic panels I had already made and had been using.

Panels, decided to use the small ones to line the top of the False Wall (before/after)




Installed a black, stretchy cloth in the left and right corners. Wrapped it around enough to cover all 4 sides. This is where the ROXUL will go for the BASS TRAPS then cover them and enclose the stuff..



Slice and dice then stuff it into the corners... I used plastic pipe strap in an 'X' shape to hold the ROXUL in the upper Left and Right corners.



Pulled the material around and under and stapled it up...

Another "goof" around picture....

OMG... and here I thought my project was getting close to an end.... I OBVIOUSLY have a loooooong way to go. Guess I'm off to bid on eBay....

Progress?!? Maybe! LOL!

Not much time the past week to "tackle" a lot of projects, but I did mount and connect speakers... Did a "MINOR" calibration to the sound, only because I am getting ready to finish my acoustic wall treatments and the sound should change dramatically following them.
The exit sign is fun... scrap from a job site and I removed the bulbs and wires, replaced with Glow in the Dark craft sheet... no electricity needed !
Jamo Dipole and JBL L820 make up the L and R Surround (same channel) I know some will have the concern of the comb filtering, but I will say... I thought it sounded GREAT. Diffused (dipole speaker, and the bass and highs are being delivered by the JBL's just behing the seating position. the surround field is very wide....


Cleaned up some wiring around the projector and moved the Darblet into the equipment closet...



Set up the 'ole Harmony 1100...



Hung my homemade "Raiders of the Lost Ark" marquis in the hallway...

LED strip (not rope) lights added to the top outside of the sign to light up the "now showing" sign...


Got the 5TB worth of Hard Drive space connected to the WD TV Live Streaming, and watched a couple of movies... Halo 4, Brave, Total Recall (2012), Kung Fu Panda to name a few


Which brings me to a question:
Can anyone help me with how to take good pictures of the screen? Every picture I take turns out looking like crap, and I want to capture some pics of the Darbee Darblet in action. Watching Kung Fu Panda with the Darblet was AWESOME! I kept turning the Darblet on and off to make sure my eyes were not lying to me.. BIG difference!

Had some time on Sunday to start working on my acoustic wall treatments and wood strips for the false wall....

Wife is pissed the garage is being used as a staging area... AGAIN!


Ripped 2 boards to make the false wall fabric frames and for the fabric frame for the door





Panels for the wall acoustic treatments. Keeping with the concept set out in the beginning of the project, if we sell the house and the next owners do not want a theater, everything can come out and leave a minimal about of patch up work. All the track will be attached to these plywood panels and then the entire panel will be hung on the wall with a hand full of screws, vs a million holes to patch by installing the track directly to the drywall.

Panels need to be wider than a 4' wide piece of plywood, also need to keep the thickness down to a min, decided to "tongue and groove" or "biscuit cut" a 3/8" pieces of plywood....





Spliced plywood and Fabricmate track ready for "fixin'"
Edited by Johnny14o - 11/19/12 at 7:04am

Fabric....

Ok... I got fabric samples from Guilford of Maine
- Looked at the FR701 line
- Looked at the Anchorage line

I liked the look of the Anchorage line better than the FR701 line. Less of a burlap "look". I stress "LOOK" because it is no where near a burlap, just coarser than the Anchorage line.

Looked locally for comparable fabrics.... no luck


Found another line of fabrics online and got some samples...
DMD line from Acoustimac



I went with this line for a few reasons:

• Appear to be well made, plenty thick to be attached in the Fabricmate track with no slipping out of the track.
• Just enough stretch (but not too much) to make a nice install.
• Colors were very solid
• Subtle pattern in it will look very nice, in line of the pattern in the GOM Anchorage line
• PRICE... 1/2 the price of the GOM line...

I would encourage anyone looking for fabric to at least CONSIDER this line.

I will have the fabric by this Wednesday and should have the false wall and wall panels up after Thanksgiving, so maybe it will give a better look at it...

Oh by the way, when I requested samples. They sent me a sample of EVERY LINE they have! I was only interested in the DMD line, but they have some other neat options. Some are acoustic fabrics, but not the acoustically transparent kind.

Anyway here is a pic of the samples they sent.
Edited by Johnny14o - 11/19/12 at 9:50am

Did you have to pay for these samples? if so how much where they?[/quote]

If you go to the end website, there is an option to purchase some samples. $3-4.00 or something, just to cover shipping. I actually called them to ask some specific questions on how their line differs from the GOM line. The guy I talked to sent me the massive envelope with the samples for FREE! I'm not saying that this is the norm, but I would suggest giving them a buzz

Started goofing around with taking pictures of the screen.... just can't get a good picture that shows the true color, detail, etc......grrrr

Anyway showing the difference:

(Left) Darbee Darblet OFF ; (Right) Darblet ON


The detail of the feathers on the face were substantially increased. The Darblet is set around 85% here.... still fiddling around with the settings

The Darbee Darblet is an inline video processor. It goes inline on you HDMI cable. You will need a short "patch" cable to hook it up.

Best suggestion is to check out their website Darbee Better description than I can provide. But I will say, it is nice!

No problem, I hope you find what you need.

I honestly did not think in the beginning of this project, that finding the right fabric would be such a challenge!

Hope it helps!

Lol! Eerie is the perfect description of the experience for me as well, of course it doesn't help that they played previews for Sinister, paranormal activity 4, and Silent Hill... I also noticed that speaker size in proportion to the size of the room. The screen I saw Dread was a smaller room than the others, but the speakers were the same. Made me realize that a smaller home theater could easily be overwhelmed by using BIG speakers.

I fear the same about the best times for movie theaters are behind us. But obviously people still love a great movie experience, or they wouldn't drive themselves nutz (like myself) building a Home Theater. There is a thread here in the forums about "Has home theaters killed movie theaters" interesting debates and points.

The Darbee Darblet , nifty gizmo for sure. Having a projector that is couple years old, and reading about the technology in the newer models, and made me wonder if I should plan on upgrading. I am so satisfied with the Darblet results, no upgrades for me.

Agreed that the Studio series is not see often. JBL discontinued the original Studio series in the '90's. I got a cherry colored pair of S38's (still have them) and a S Center back then. They revamped the line and launched the Studio L series, which makes up the majority of my current speaker usage. Nice thing about the S and L series, they use the same drivers. Voice matching is a non issue. The only difference, the L series has a "super tweeter" that the # series does not. Again, not an issue because you do not have conflicting "super tweeters", also the S38 have some deeper bass (8" woofer vs 6" in the L series) than the L820's.

Too much Turkey!

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving!

Funny how you can have an extra long weekend, and get ABSOLUTELY noting accomplished (except eat!)


Worked on my second wall panel... Track from Fabricmate may be here on Monday... just wanted to be ready for it!



Worked on the speaker covers for the false wall... (for you folks with MAD wood working skills.. you may want to look away! ) Notched with a router, ripped oak biscuits, and glue (lots of glue).



Made a frame for the door...



Covered the frame with DMD acoustic material and filled the inside of the frame with a GP Fiberboard for sound deadening....




I also (but forgot to take pictures) took my "layered" door apart back down to the MLV.

Left the MLV on the door, trimmed the underlayment (drawn out in yellow, with a break in the middle) to form a "gasket" around the perimeter and a "break" in the middle..

Then put a tube of QuietGlue Pro in the center places I trimmed and removed, then put the panel back on.

Did another sound check last night. Using my HIGH TECH app on my Droid Bionic. Inside the room the dB average was 89dB. outside the door I was reading an average of 38dB. The same measurement taken in the bathroom which is the common wall to the theater, a measurement of 27dB.

I am struggling to get the sound reduced at the door. I am not sure, but it seems the door frame or the door itself are "resonating" sound a bit. I can't be sure, but considering how I had to "wedge" the custom door frame into the original rough opening, there is no decoupling from the wall and the door frame like there would have been if there was a gap. Not sure if this is part of my problem or not. But HEY, the wife confirmed that she could not hear anything at the other end of the hall.... "WINNER, WINNER, chicken dinner!"

High-Tech theater stand....

OK. So I have this awesome gizmo I used to use in my company cars. I got a new vehicle and the sheet metal is like a beer can. So I can't use it in the car.......but..........




It's called a JottoDesk and it is SUPPOSED to be a computer mount for you vehicle. It has articulating arms, so it can be positioned however needed... All I need now it a cupholder installed!

Heading into the weekend and HOPEFULLY the final stretch... or at least I can reclaim my garage before my wife kills me....

Miss calculated my materials for the fabricmate track and had to order more. It arrived Monday and I began working on the side wall panels to mount them.


Lay out of where the track will be mounted. Difficult to see, but the horizontal line at the bottom and below will be the same carpet as the riser (going to cut holes for the receptacles). Above will be perimeter track and intermediate track making up the "ziggity-zag" pattern..



Began working on the track, and stopped. The angles are not the traditional angles that are found in the installation manual from Fabricmate. Decided to reach out the them for advice before I tried this and wasted some track on something that may/may not work..
Sent them the angles I am dealing with...


The good folks at Fabricmate went above and beyond. Lloyd actually went out to the shop and cut some track to help figure my angles and verify that it will work. Lloyd even admitted that he had to get the 'ole calculator out to help out with this little non-traditional angle. This is what he sent back...



So, I gave it a shot....
TA-DA Looks like I'm in business. Seven more of these corners and 4 cuts in the middle should get it!

I can't say enough about the help from Ed and Lloyd at Fabricmate. They have been MORE than supportive in my little project and I encourage anyone that is interested in the floating fabric panel system to hook up with them to see what you do!

Ed Blumenstock
Architectural Sales
866-622-2996 x1439
805-290-1439-direct
805-642-3154-fax
www.fabricmate.com

Lloyd Perroncel
Sales and Support
D: (805) 620-7695
P: (805) 642-7470 x7695
F: (805) 642-3154
www.fabricmate.com

Piddled around with some other random projects.

Got the MLV on my equipment door. I decided not to swap out doors to a solid door for a couple of reasons:
1. LAZY - Yup... I said it. LAZY! Really did not feel like fooling with another door at the moment
2. Not really sure I could find a solid core door in a 24". Which would mean I would have to make one... (see reason #1)


The MLV will add some density to a hollow door. I am putting 2 layers of drywall on top of the MLV with the last tube of QuiteGlue Pro (way to work the materials!) and then paint it the same color as the brown in the room.




Also worked on the lighting of my homemade marquis...
Opened to show the led lighting around the perimeter. Holes were drilled with a drill press to ensure consistency. small wires soldered at each corner to connect the strips...


This is a shot of the top where an additional strip of led lights light up the "Now Showing" sign...