Budget pseudo build for a newbie

Hi everyone. Let me start by saying thank you to you all for your efforts in making this forum what it is:) I am much less productive at work since joining in January....here goes.

I have recently moved my family from the FL east coast to Central WI. After a year of renting, we have bought a house. Best thing between FL and WI....BASEMENTS!!! I have been a fan of movies for a long time and have set up my surround sound in the places I have lived. It has always been shoddy work to say the least:rolleyes: So with the new space we have, I have convinced my other half to buy in to the "fact" that this is for the family and not just me:) I call it the "pseudo" build because the area I will use is already finished out. I just have to configure it the way I want and do the fun stuff There is a caveat, as always, the budget for said space. Here is my deal with her:

---I will get the northwest side of the large finished basement for the theater area.
---She will keep the 14' square finished room on the other side of the basement for a craft room/office. It is already equipped with laminate floor and crafting cabinetry by previous owner.
---She gets a workout area on the southwest side of the basement with a TV mounted on the wall.
---BGUDGET - This will be a skeleton of a budget. I am determined to spend as little as possible to get what I want using any means I can. Most equipment will be from Craigslist (CL). Any purchase must be agreed upon by us both. You will see that I have done my best to stick to this one, but sort of threw it out the window when I got the PJ, ooops. My next post will contain a full gear list and price paid for new-to-me equipment

Other than this, I have free reign.

Dimensions of the HT area are approximately 18ft (screenwall) x 16ft. I do realize it would be better dimensions to turn it 90degrees. But there is an egress window on the east wall that prohibits this, WAF. The basement is finished with drop ceiling, nice new carpeting and pad, painted drywall. There were some existing speaker wires ran but it was not usable for anything. There are an abundance of power outlets on all walls.

Here is my obligatory screen wall with the proposed screen taped out. It is a 2.38 aspect ratio, 54.5 inch high CIH. The plan is to do a painted surface with just UPW1850 to start with. I have been consulting with Mississippi Man on this portion of the process. As you can see it is pretty close to the ceiling. I will lower it slightly to let the velvet trim rest on top of the electric outlet. There is a little light reaching the ceiling during playback but acceptable for the amount of work it will take to make it go away. Anyway...1 gallon of UPW, 4 yards of velvet (with 1/2 off coupon), 1/4 nap roller, sanding block and paper, MDF trim,



More pictures of the space:

Here is the seating. A sectional microfiber in light tan color. There are 4 recliners; only 3 can recline at a time because the two near the center are too close and the foot rests hit. Bad design but paid for:) You can also see the rack, from craigslist. is 66" tall and doubles as right surround speaker shelf. Has four shelves and drawer storage at bottom. You can also see the PJ mounted here. Its an Epson 8350. CL find from an HT installer, fellow soccer-dad, with an extra new bulb, (yes I stole it). Didnt consult wife about this, it was a total no-brainer and I did not care about the repercussions.



Screen to the seating. You can see it is turned to face the screen an sort of frames the space I am attempting to create. Beyond the seating is the aforementioned workout area. It is ceramic tiled. Also has a fridge, round metal high bar table with stools and cork dartboard. Also got a kegerator at a garage sale recently so now that is there too.



Here is the rest of the room looking from screen wall. Pool table messy tools everywhere and all the speakers moved for painting screen.



Speakers: I will update with all the specs of the speaker models in my next post. LCRs are B&W, surrounds are Polk Audio, Subs (2) are made by monster, they were another CL score my receiver and surrounds. Does anyone have any experience with them? They are called Eleganza, 250 powered 10" subs and were sold in pairs. Here's a pic of one.



I am running all wiring down exisitng wall and over drop ceiling. Yes this will not be acoustically perfect, but I am not going for perfection this time around. Just need a usable space with a good image quality big screen. And CHEAP. My goal is to spend about what most of you spend on drywall for my entire system. More details to come. Criticism, suggestions, advice, and all comments welcome. Thanks.

Thanks for the reply Nick. Since the above pictures were taken, I have sanded the screen wall, twice; put on two coats of UPW1850; and installed velvet wrapped MDF trim around the screen. I had to remove the top and right piece of trim because the right side was a touch off plumb and it made the top piece a hair too long.

I am picking up some paint for the screen wall and right side wall tonight. My pool table is a dark walnut type finish with "wine" colored Simonis cloth. The color for the paint is going to be a redish/purple to match as best as I can. I would really like to paint the drop ceiling mouse ears black but only painting half the ceiling in that room ain't gonna fly




I plan on taking stock of what I have bought and put together the final cost of my HT area.

Negotiations - FYI wife pissed this morning when she goes down to work out and the TV has no sound hooked up So I have to get it in gear and knock this out. And also remind her that it is "not a TV, honey" I did not have the cajones to say that this morning:)

I have compiled a gear list:

I have had the LCR speakers since 2005 so I don't factor in their cost here...they are B&W
Left and right: DM601-S3
Center. : LCR 60

PJ: Epson power lite 8350...got this used...Craigslist $600
Screen: DIY Painted drywall. CIH 2.38 aspect ratio 130 inch wide. Black velvet covered trim...have about $170 in it.

AVR is an Onkyo TX-SR508
Subs: (2) M-designs Eleganza 10in powered 250W
Surrounds: set of Polk Audio bookshelves...AVR, subs, surrounds purchased for $400 total using Craigslist.

BD player: Samsung BD-EM57C bought new at SAMs Club about $100
Xbox 360: owned for a few years.
Dish HD

Had about $100 order at mono price for some 14/2 speaker wire, banana plugs, wire management, etc...

TOTAL COST: $1370

Got some paint around the screen wall tonight. Finishing tomorrow and pics to follow.

No time, no time.... HOPEing to get second coat of paint on my surrounding screen wall tonight. Red paint sucks and I knew it, knew it, knew it....but couldn't help it!!! Once this coat, or two is done, I can get speakers plugged back in and run Audyssey(i don't think that is spelled correctly). Then on to calibrating the PJ. Although I have no idea how to go about doing this.

Found something I could not pass up. This was posted on craigslist last week and I used a half day of my vacation to go grab it immediately...I also used $200, it was posted for $250, well under what I have found it to be worth.



I had to give it a good cleaning but it is in great shape. Hope to get to use it next weekend.

Does anyone have anything to say about the subwoofer I referenced in Post #1??? I read something about them getting pretty hot. I will watch for this.

Painted second coat of RED around the screen this weekend. I will be moving all the speakers and front cabinet back into place, plugging in speakers, and such tonight. The screen wall looks great. I played a game with my son last night when it was dry, FIFA 2012 on Xbox 360. The difference the darker painted wall makes is phenomenal. I can see where the black ceiling would be HUGE!!! Just can't do it for now. The screen looks like it is floating like Cheshire Cat's eyes

I am thinking about transducers...butt kicker's or the like for my couch. Anyone have advice for or against? can I run them from my current AVR? I have a Marantz AVR and an OLD Pioneer AVR that I could use if I had to. How do I hook it up. If you look at the pics above, I have a framed-in support directly behind the couch. I could use this for the wiring.

Things are shaping up and I can see the light. I would like to do a pre-screening this coming weekend. Any movie suggestions? Is Avatar shown in 2.38, or similar? I could not find a cinematic version of it, or maybe I had no idea what exactly I was looking for?

Pictures will follow......stay tuned.

jasoraso - thank you, and I agree... Pictures are a pain though. I take them with my Ipad, but cant upload them with said device. So then i email them to my work computer to post them while I am supposed to be making the world a better place. I will do better.

Prometheus....I have not seen it nor do I own it, YET!!! I shall take your advice and make it happen. Picked up Wanted on BD at wally world for $7.50 last night. Came with digital copy as well

Life got in the way of progress last night, actually I we had our softball team meeting at a bar:cool: I am close, just a little follow through required.

I would like an answer or advice, "Bueller" on the subwoofers I have purchased. Maybe I will pose my question on the speaker thread???? Thanks.

WOW 1 week and i get bumped to the second page. Also 338 views and 2 or 3 comments. Cmon fellas!!! Updates are as follows:
1. Second coat of red paint absolutely did it. My late night efforts to get things done resulted in buying Glidden paint at wal-mart. MISTAKE!!! Do not do this. However, painting the wall with the tinted paint/primer from wal mart showed me the vast difference in paint quality versus the Depot. The Depot Behr paint/primer was silky smooth going on the wall, but just as thin as Wal mart's Glidden. I had the Behr tinted same as the first batch Deep Garnet. It is a perfect match for the tool table felt. I am pleased. Scary though at first...paint looks a sick color of fuschia:)

2. Screen trim is back up and speakers are back to their final locations.

3. Moved the popcorn machine to its resting place beside the kegerator.

We had an initial screening and popcorn trial on Saturday last weekend. I went to a local popcorn shop (yes they do exist) called Valley Popcorn in Oshkosh, WI. I told them about my machine recently picked up from CL and the owner there offered me $750 for it without me cleaning it. I have scored big-time with this one. However, I bought a sample box of pre-measured popcorn/oil/salt/flavoring. The sampler has different kinds of corn mixed with various oil and flavoring combos. Then you can pick the one you like best and get a case of it. We popped small white corn with butter flavored oil and salt. My kids (2 and 5) were litterally jumping and singing to the popper when the corn started to fall from the kettle. One 5.5 oz serving made a jumbo container plus a small one. Simply awesome!!! Transformed my basement to a "Cinema". I did not notice the aroma until I went upstairs to get my phone. When I came back down the scent of popcorn instantly reminded me of the theater experience:) Microwave stuff does not make that smell...

The movie was really satisfying, Cars 1. My 2yold boy screamed and cried at the beginning when lightning blows his tires. Then jumped up and down at the finish. My 5yold is having her first sleepover with 4 friends this Friday for Cars 2. I think daddy is more excited for it than she is. I am proud.

I ran the Audyssey, I never spell that correctly, on my audio yesterday. It set my subs at 40hz. That seems low. I need to research it a bit more and maybe make a change after I hear it. It is a 5.2 system and took only 5-10 minutes or so.

I have realized my Blu ray/DVD/game storage is inadequate. That is on the horizon.

Here is the screen wall. Screen is 2.38-2.39 CIH 54.5 inches high. Equates to a 130 wide, 141 diag. I could not get the center channel wire fished behind it. I think there is a horizontal frame piece in that wall. My top piece of MDF screen frame is slightly off-kilter on the right side. It is due to my inefficiency at wrapping the velvet trim on the right vertical piece. Must have been the first one I did and it is a little thick at the top edge...throwing off the length of the section. Damn....but passable and not worth re0doing at this point. Maybe if I ever go to the SILVER or MAXXXMUD paint mixture.


Here is my cheapy rack and components. The right surround lives on top as well.


This is the lower left screen corner matched up nicely. Before setting the nails and coloring with a sharpie. VELVET is BLACK in a major way. It is awesome how light is absorbed by this stuff.


After setting nails


Little better photo of screen wall


Screen from workout area behind seating. You can see the aquarium here and some odds and ends that need to find their place. Also the wood framed support that I reference above to use as a conduit for wiring transducers.


Screen from the side with pool table.


Ahem....accessories. Sam Adams tap handle courtesy of a co-worker. Picking up a 1/4 barrel of Leinies Creamy Dark today. Woooo Hooooo, "burp"


Seating. I am thinking of some bigass beanbags for the kids in the floor. Save the couch from popcorn fingers!!!


This is the workout area behind the seating. That is sump pump box in the left corner.


Thats all the pics for now.

Future plans:

I picked up Prometheus BD, as instructed in a post above. After reading the review on the forum home page I am excited for that. Also got several $2 BDs at yard sales this weekend. Hangover 2, Cars 2, et al... Also visiting someone in green bay saturday with 70-80 BDs all for sale at $8. And trading my Atari 2600 system for a few of them. Also bringing some unused AV gear to try and trade for BDs.

I installed the dart board, measured for the oche and put a new "flight deck" one in place and shot a few rounds of cricket. Need lighting there badly. Thinking of a circumluminator if I get the funds and WAF. I have also decided that the backerboard for the dart board is too plain jane. We can do better than that and totally have some fun with it. Anyone have some crazy ideas for a dart backer??? Currently is just a black felt wrapped particle board framed with cheap wood. I bought it like this. Imagination is the limit here.

I put the subs in the right corner of the screen wall, very near to the wall. I pulled the wire from the AVR to this location so one of them needs to go there. Here is what they look like.


I am done with this for now. Duty calls. Looking forward to comments Gents!!! Salute!

Had a couple movie nights with the kids. The DIY roller-painted screen is performing quite nicely. I am thoroughly enjoying the "feel" of our space. Avengers was simply awesome on the audio level. These subs rock the entire house. When they were using the laser thingy to open the portal, it sounded like a jet engine was in my basement, except the sound was crisp. I am new to the subwoofer experience and must say that I am fully addicted. I understand the idea of IB sub builds that feature 4 or more 18" drivers more than ever. Simply astounding how it feels. I did notice that it is much different in other parts of my room and other parts of the house. I am assuming "nodes" are generated from the sound waves. I am so new to this it is going to take hours of reading to get it. But damn its fun

I made a poster for our HT room highlighting the gear we use. Mheadroom on the theater accessories forum is a damn genius!!!! I made this poster at postermywall.com, I hope its ok to post that. I am in no way affiliated with them. I literally typed in google "how do I make a photo collage poster?" They were the 1st site that came up. It is pretty sweet....have a look.



I am sure it is not new to you veterans, but just another piece of low-hanging-fruit that I could knock out for $30. I will use foam backing and mount it in a frame covered in leftover velvet. Ill post pics when i finish

Thanks Joe. Congrats on new house. I will look for your build thread....

Purbeast:

I see you initially had a setup with just the white wall with the tape around it - did you ever project onto that actual white wall? If so, were you seeing a lot of reflection? The reason I ask is I got my first projector last night and don't have a screen yet. I was projecting onto a lighter colored yellow wall with white ceiling and lighter colored carpet. I noticed A LOT of light reflection off of the wall, and I want to now paint the wall dark before I get my screen.
I did get ALOT of reflection on just the unpainted wall. Well...the wall was painted and it is a very light tan color, not white. My drop ceiling is all white, and carpet is light colored as well. I wanted as big a screen as I could muster so it is a bit closer to the ceiling than I would like. To be honest, my room is large and open. It just does not bother me all that much...this is my first HT experience and I just got rid of the last 19" tube TV. I am sure that others here with dedicated rooms are more concerned with reflection...but they paint their ceiling black and that is not an option for me at this point. I am pretty happy with the overall performance. I will however be adding the down rod to the PJ mount. That should minimize the overspill to the ceiling. And I don't think any heads will hit it:)

I also noticed in your final image you have the black border around the screen with the red wall.
I was just wondering if you saw a significant reflection difference of your image being projected onto the white screen with the black border and red wall.
Absolutely!!! The dark wall made the entire image seem brighter. The frame performs perfectly and no screen creep is observed. I would highly recommend the velvet wrapped trim to any DIYer painted screen. The contrast and finished appearance of this provides is totally worth the effort involved. Just make sure you find a coupon for the velvet. I added to Mississippi Mans thread on the DIY screen forum. Check it out.

Also, you mentioned a little bit about the paint you used but I was a little bit confused. Could you elaborate a little bit more on the paint used and how many total coatings and stuff you used? I do like the tone of red and I was thinking of going a dark red myself, so it definitely interests me.
I am very pleased with the red paint. It is difficult to see but it is really dark tint of red/purple and is almost dead-nuts-on with my pool table cloth. I bought Glidden paint at wal-mart during a late night work session. I did not realize, but should have known, wal mart paints are not the same quality as their identically numbered counterparts at HD and Lowes. If you have not painted red before, know that it is thin. I takes lots of pigment to tint the base and it makes it really thin. When the paint tech puts the little dab on the top of the container, you can see the writing through it. Not so with a paint tinted yellow, for example.....check it out for yourself. I bought one gallon of paint from Wal mart. The first coat looked HORRIBLE on the wall. it was splotchy you could see ALL the roller marks and such. I consider myself to be decent at painting. I follow the rules and my painting jobs normally come out nice. But this was bad. I decided to get paint from HD instead. I got the same tint in the BEHR paint there. Both paints were paint + primer. I am sure it was a combination of the "primed" wall with the walmart paint and the better quality of the HD paint but the next coat went on much better and the finish is flawless. So one coat of Walmart paint+primer and 1 coat of HD paint +primer is on the wall now.

PioManiac - I have posed the question of any information available on these subs several time now. Noone seems to have any information, or want to comment. This review you link is the reason I ask. I have not observed any out of control temps or unusual behavior from these yet. I even fired up some old school "Nemesis - munchies for your bass" on them and it was intense and no notice of temp fluctuations. I think that guy might be a bit off his rocker, or just got mad at monster:) That is the one and only review, good or bad, I could find on them. If anyone has anything else to add, please comment. PS...i got the on the cheap and could not pass up so if they catch fire, we will roast marshmallows

Pio - I read your thread. Put down the toys and get working on finishing that room...pronto!!!! Damn dude, I play a breedlove studio cutaway, and hang an Ibanez dreadnaught (my first guitar). I started playing at 35. Your collection is impressive. If you ever want to unload anything, send me a PM. Very nice set you have going on there. What are the speakers sitting on top of the towers? I feel like my screen is too large for the small B&W bookshelves I use (12" diag in 2.38). Are they wired for front highs? My Onkyo has inputs for front high/side surround. My current set-up does not support 7.1 with side surrounds, no place for the left side to go since room is open. So I may end up popping a couple on the walls just above listening height to add to the space. I am also finding my center to be lacking. Maybe tax time?!!! It will be the first upgrade I do when I get WAF. I also have a VTX! I love it but am trying to barter for a quad or UTV. Mines the 2005 1300C, pearl white.



Purbeast - Good for you bro. Get to painting and make it happen. You have no idea what it will do for the look of the room. It also jacks up your motivation to get moving on projects.

Thanks.
gsp

Thank you gentlemen for the enlightenment! I have not made it into the programming component of my AVR/remote (Harmony One)/video calibration as of yet. I had not heard of this feature previously. I don't know if my current AVR will have these advanced functions, but I hope to get into it this weekend though. Since I do have extra channels on the AVR, may as well get some speaker to plug in there:)

I am going to work on capturing some screen shots this weekend too. We have Hunger Games and Prometheus to view.

I got busy programming the Harmony One last night. It was a breeze to get all the components into it. The Dish receiver is not quite done yet. I did not have as much time as I would like to fiddle around with it though. Within ten minutes I had it controlling everything else. I still need to make "activities" but foresee no problems. It appears to be quite easy to use.

13 year old birthday party tonight + The Amazing Spiderman BD for $19 at Walmart = SHOWOFF time for daddy tonight. I will try and get some decent screenies for all.

I also got my DIY equipment poster in the mail, Post #11. It came out pretty sweet. Thinking about a rope light, lightbox for it. I am so not a carpenter, so this should be interesting!!!!!! "I HAVE CUT IT THREE TIMES AND ITS STILL TOO SHORT!"

Wish me luck. Great weekend to all!

I am slacking on any HT work lately. Trying to get garage back to normal before winter snow hits us. The amazing spiderman was fun as hell. Had 7 12 year olds over for my boys birthday. My kid is pretty popular now to say the least. And this is what its all about I sat quietly in the rear of the HT on a barstool with in arms reach of the kegerator. The boys had an extended viewing of spidey with two intermissions for bathroom and popcorn refills. Popcorn machines rule and is the #1 accessory that was a complete oversight on my part. I did not know how much of a necessity they actually turn out to be. We ate three kettles worth, or about $3.50 in cost for the product. Two of the kids were totally infatuated with the popcorn machine asking how much they cost and where they get them!!! Christmas ideas!!! I was told numerous times "this is much better than the theater!"

Afterwards, there was Xbox 360 MW3 battles and FIFA 13 tourneys. I staggered to bed at 3am. They all played until 5am. I am proud. Thanks to you all for the help with this fine idea!

Just for anyone's idea of why we do this BESIDES its so much friggin fun:

My wife and I went to see The Flight (Denzel Washington) our first movie theater experience in several years with no kids:

$19.50 in tickets + $15.00 (1 soda, raisinettes, pretzels and cheese) = $34.50

Now my kids party:

$19.00 Blu Ray + about $3.50 in popcorn + $2.50 in soda = $25.00 This is 9 CHILDREN and myself, and there was room for several more adults at the bar table and plenty of room on the floor for more kids.

TO DO list:
Make a light box for my new gear poster.
Find some bass transducers on craigslist, and install.
Finish off design of bar area behind HT.
Get a job with a fat signing bonus to upgrade all equipment immediately

My to do list is getting shorter!!! Updated:

Make a light box for my new gear poster ---> I settled on a regular old frame from Wally's on Black Friday, $20 and its on the wall already. Pics to come and looks pretty schnazzzy

Find some bass transducers on craigslist, and install

---

> FAIL, can't find them, yet...but I will.

Finish off design of bar area behind HT

---

> Picked up a dark stained heavy-ass hutch with glass doors in the top. Is planned to be make-shift bar area/popcorn gear storage. Cleaned it up and it is in-service and in its final resting place. Moved dartboard away from rear of HT area. and rearranged to allow for more room for table and barstools. Hutch was $25 at yard sale.

Get a job with a fat signing bonus to upgrade all equipment immediately ----> UPGRADITIS is hitting me hard! I am feeling the smallness of my B&W LCR in this large room. It is a strain to hear whispers sometimes and the center channel is lacking. However, I ran across a CL post for a set of Klipsch LCR subs and surrounds. List is as follows ---> asking price is $1800 I have him talked down to $1300 and I pick up an hour away.

KF-28 PAIR fronts; KC-25 center; KS-14 surround PAIR, SW-450 subs PAIR



What do y'all think of these Klipsch speakers?

Thanks

Happy damn new year everybody!!! It has been over a month and some new stuff is installed.

I put up the new equipment poster just after Turkey Day, it is now broken into about 3 pieces thanks to a nicely struck soccer ball kick from my 5 year old girl Should be an easy glue fix and it'll be back in service soon.

I broke down and got the Klipsch speakers...I have pics and screenies but can't upload just yet. Get to them later.

I ran Cat5 from the router upstairs to the HT area so that we could hook up the Xbox Live that my son received for Xmas. COD Black Ops 2 is more fun than a barrel of drunk monkeys, i must say...hit me up at gamer tag paperbackzebra3.

Seriously though, the immersion of the big screen and wonderful sounding, rich, deep LFE produced by the Klipsch subs is more than I could imagine. I had it cranked up a bit for the first tryout...when a grenade was close, you feel it!!! My boy jumped a little and he is 13. I have done my job. Now just need to tie up a few more loose ends; which begs the question, is there any end to the "loose ends"?

Now I need to sell the old system for a little re-coup cash and it's all good.

Watch for pics.