Stitch's Great Escape! (Theater Build)

Hello to anyone that would like to follow along as I build my first completely dedicated theater. Now this is not my first theater but it is however the first I have ever built from the ground up. Meaning I have a movie room currently that was an extra room that I added all the equipment and furniture to make it feel like a theater. It's around 18' x 12.5' give or take and consist of an Epson 8500 Projector, 110" diagonal 16x9 Elite screen, Denon 2809 Receiver, SVSound SCS Speakers and PB12 NSD Subwoofer. I am not planning on using any of this equipment in this new theater. This info is more for reference of where I am coming from.

Edit: I will add a few pictures of my current room later.

The new room is part of the unfinished side of my basement. I have only started studding it this week and from stud to stud is 19' in length. I will be lossing up to 2' for a false wall with an acoustically transparent screen. The width I need to check again but I believe is right at 16.5'

Room before we began the project.


"Cleaned" out.


Most of the studs in place. The window will be behind my screen.


I still have a lot of work left to do on the studs. Like frame in that window, figure my false wall and put up the rest of the studs. I also need to build a soffit. I have some ideas of how I plan on building it and where but will need to take some more pictures to help illustrate whats going on.

Please let me know of any suggestions or questions you may have. I should be updating this thread pretty regularly.

Thanks,
Edited by stitch1 - 11/4/12 at 10:45am

Some goals for this room... seating for 10. Two rows of 4 theater seats with the rear row on a riser then two single chairs. 130" wide 2.35 to 1 AT screen. Clean reference level sound.

Equipment I am looking into.
Panasonic and JVC projectors.
Seymour and SMX screens
Onkyo and Denon receivers
Chase, ED, and JTR speakers
Panasonic, Sony, and Oppo Blu-Ray players

The only thing I'm pretty sure about is I really want the JTR S2 subwoofer.

Remotes!!! I could use some pointers on remotes. I use a logictech harmony 720 now but will be wanting something with at lease RF if not wifi.

I am open to discussion and have played with and seen in person just about everything I am looking into other then a few of them. Most notably the Panasonic 8000 projector. If anyone knows where I can view one in the Kansas City area please let me know.
Edited by stitch1 - 12/10/12 at 9:41am

Hi aaustin,

Yeah, I am working on a sketch now. I have drawn a few of them but now that I have really started a few of my plans have changed. I should be able to get it finished and on the thread tomorrow.

As for sound proofing I do think I am going to go ahead and do as much as I can. However I only know the basics and will have to research it a lot more.

I do plan to put up fabric covered treatments. I also want to keep this room about as dark as posible (while still looking good) so I will be using very dark fabric to soak up some light as well.

I 100% agree about equipment. However I do like to talk about tech and toys and I like researching. But i do agree that all of that will come later. There is always something better and cheaper just around the corner and I don't need any of it until the room is finished.

Thanks for your post, I really appreciate it.
Edited by stitch1 - 11/4/12 at 8:41am

Ok the project is on hold. I tried to call the soundproofing company but no one is available. Being a Sunday I kinda figured they would be closed. So today I am cleaning up because it has become quite a mess with tools and wood scraps all over the place. I am also drawing out the floor plan and taking some more pictures.

Pictures galore!

Here is a look of the screen wall from me sitting at the distance of my back row.
The tool box is there to give an idea of how far out my AT screen wall will be. Also the yellow tops of the saw horses are 130 inches apart. This is the distance of the screen.


This is from the front row.


From beside the tool box looking back. You can also see where I need to frame in the theater room from the HVAC system.


Better view of the HVAC area. I originally was thinking about building in my equipment rack in this area. I like the idea of giving this area as much room as possible so if I ever need to replace these items. There is a lot of room on the other side as well.


He are the two trunks that will be covered by a soffit.


Side view. Yes its a complete mess. Sorry. If you can look past all the mess and see the window; that is going to become a bar area. The wall to the right of the window will be cut down. The room on the other side of it is my current theater. As the dark area on the far left will become a workshop area.


A good side view of the theater area. On the far side wall it goes in 10 inches. The next photo will show it better.


I am thinking about making this into a hidden shelf (closet) for movies. I am not sure how I want to make doors for this. I want it to be flush with rest of the wall and have treatments on it.


Thats probably enough for now. Let me know any thoughts.

Thanks,

You are correct the beam makes up the right wall if you were to be sitting were the seats will go. The HVAC trunks are in the room but are also running along the right side wall. If I can balance the room correctly I plan on matching the soffit on the left side as well. Giving it that raised ceiling look.

Correct again JTR all the way for me.

Yes, we don't plan on this being our forever home. However we do plan on being here for quite a few years. So I am doing a bit of a balancing act on how much I want to put into the room its self versus equipment that I can always sell/take with me. I plan on treating the room quite a bit and will probably add the channels, green glue, and double drywall. I'm still debating that last part. I'm much more worried about about sound going out then sound coming in. I know it will help both. But is it really worth it to me is the question. It's only the two of us and we mostly watch everything together. The other part of me is thinking... If we do have kid(s) their room(s) would be above the theater. So I do need to take that into consideration.

We made some progress this weekend. The window has been framed, back wall has been fully framed, we bought the frame for the door and figured out where it's going to go. We did some work in the bathroom but thats a different conversation.

We also decided to tear out our ceder closet. It can be seen in the messy picture up above. This will give us a lot more room for both our bar/kitchen area as well as the storage/workshop area.

Some other decisions were made. We picked where and how we are building our equipment rack. It will be on the right side just passed the suport beam. It will be built into the wall allowing rear access from the storage room. I have a pretty good idea of how I am going to build the door for the closet where I'm putting my movies. This well depend on the stage and screen wall. We are going to be doing some sound proofing. But more on that later.

Once I get the rest of the ceder closet ripped out and cleaned up I'll post up some photos.

We got some work done this evening. We took the rest of the ceder closet out. We had to rewire a few things. We cleaned up a bit and started planing out the kitchen area. Tomorrow we plan to frame in the door for the theater, complete the bathroom, and start the soffit. If time allows I would like to frame my racks closet.

Some photos of my progress. I feel I should apologize in advance. I have a different phone and I'm not sure the camera is as good.

This side is now much bigger due to taking the closet out. We placed the table where we feel the wall should go.


Heres just the area behind the table. This will become a work shop of sorts. This area will not be finished.


Looking the other way. Gives you an idea where the kitchen will be added. That wall/door will not be there once we are done. We want to open this area up to the rest of the basement.


Here is a shot from the new theater looking out tords the kitchen area.


And heres the other direction showing where we're at with the theater. Hopefully the door will be framed in tomorrow.


So what do you guys think?

Yes, we are super excited to see any progress. I'm not 100% sure what the total size is but I think its in the ball park of 1400sq ft. From what you can see in the photos there is also an office, bathroom, and my current movie room. They are also works in progress just like everything in this house.lol The bathroom should be done today. The office just needs the desk built. The current movie room really just needs baseboards and some touch up paint but will probably stay the way it is till we are done with this side.

Of course you can come over and see any of the stages of the build. I'll give you a heads up when we get the the false wall.

I can't wait to hear your room with all three noesis! That's really going to be an awesome setup.

Well its time to head back down for some more work. I'll update again tonight.

A little update. My dad came by and helped my figure out my door. The frame is only temporary we need to make a few changes and get some more wood. But heres a few pics.



We also installed a ceder closet in his car. LOL

Nope, that's pretty much just a work horse. We would take the much newer and nicer one.