My Theater's Construction Has Begun

Been working pretty much non-stop (9am-9pm) days since Friday.

I can very seriously understand why some theaters have been under construction for weeks, months, and even years....

First off, I'd like to THANK everyone here in this forum. I have gotten so much information and ideas from this forum plus the people are extremely nice in answering any questions.

Well, actually so far, so good. Haven't ran into too many problems, knock on wood.



Here are some pictures of what is going on:

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/100_0092.jpg
-looking from back of theater room towards screen (front) wall in orginal room before any work

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/100_0093.jpg
-looking from the screen back into the back of room, and into rec room before any work. Theater room will stop where the wall kicks out on the right. Other room will be finished area also.

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/103_0343.jpg
-looking @ PVC water/sewer pipe before relocation

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/103_0345.jpg
-another view of water line before relocation

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/103_0356.jpg
-view of room after partial water line relocation

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/103_0363.jpg
-view of front stage, treated lumber, liquid nails, triple masonite front radius

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/103_0368.jpg
-front stage sand and insulation

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/103_0370.jpg
-starting the front wall proscenium

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/103_0375.jpg
-more front wall/screen, center speaker stand/platform

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/103_0377.jpg
-100" diagonal screen framed with 1x3s and L/T brackets
-can also see the start of the equipment rack frame in the background

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/103_0380.jpg
-current status (as of 3/7) of theater

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/103_0383.jpg
-view of equipment rack from the theater room

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/103_0384.jpg
-view of the equipment rack from unfinished storage room to side of theater

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/103_0385.jpg
-wiring supplies

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/103_0388.jpg
-some electrical wire and boxes at the front

Probably will take a break for awhile and start back up next week/weekend. I'm really dreading the fabric installation on the walls when I get to that point. Seems like this is going to be really complicated.

Any comments/questions/critiques feel free to post here in this thread, or private message me here @ AVS, or email me.

Time for some rest...

R_Willis

Uploading as we speak......

I got a little excited, had them all resized in Adobe, but forgot to FTP them up to the site. Heh.

Thanks though.

My father and myself moved the pipe. Didn't really want to mess with it, but really didn't want to lose all that ceiling height either.

I had a few plumbers out for estimates. :0

Where I moved it, they quoted around ~$800-$1000.

They all wanted to move it from a place further down so they didn't have to deal with much, just turn and go. They still wanted $400-$600.

Thanks for all the compliments, was busy working today. Planned on taking a break, but pulled electrical and speaker wire along with finishing up the equipment rack. More pictures added to original thread.

Here are some replies.....

Larry Fine: Yeah, the soffit was an idea. I am actually still going to have to make one to hide the rest of the pipe I didn't relocate (couldn't without major changes) and the HVAC run. Not sure if I'm going to make a dumby soffit for the other side or not to balance it all out, as that is where my seating riser will be under. Ceiling height is only 7'9" or so already.

MikeA: Yeah, sand on the right corner of the stage is where the sub will go. The entire rest of the stage has insulation stuffed in it. Stage was built with screws & liquid nails adhesive. Took about four 50lb bags to do just those little sections with sand.

DeaconDan: 24' L x 14'5" W x 7'9" H (rough dimensions) and yes I will have my equipment facing into the room on the one side wall without the windows. The room the back of equipment will be facing into is a planned unfinished storage area room where all the mechanicals (HVAC/water heater/etc) are.


Equipment includes (item with asteriks may change):
Sony HS20 HDTV Projector on DIY Mount System
100" Diagonal DIY Blackout Cloth Screen on 1x3 frame
Sony 1000ES Receiver**
Sony HD300 HDTV Receiver**
Sony DVP-NS975V DVD/SACD Player**
Kustom 6640 Whole House Audio Distribution System
Ascend Acoustics 170 (fronts), 340c (center), 200 (surrounds), VTF-2 (sub)
Lutron Spacer Dimmers
4 Aura Bass Shakers w/ 250watt Parts Express Plate Amp
Theater Sound Signage & Theater Entry Tile by skyman00 (member here)
Carol 12 guage in-wall 2 conductor speaker cable
Quad-Shield RG6 for all directv runs

MikeA: so far I love the Sony HS20. Can't say I've ran it much, and in no where near ideal conditions... I've played a few DVDs, watched some Directv, and played a little PS2. No complaints as of yet.

Omudrick: yeah, got all that up there accomplished in about 4-5 days of continuous work. My father is really good with all trades (electrical, wood, etc) and we are making good progress. The front two walls that are angled will hold speakers and a subwoofer, which will be covered with acoustically transparent fabric.


Now for the new update, DIY projector mount for my Sony HS20:

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/103_0390.jpg
-two heavy duty L brackets mounted up in the floor/ceiling joists

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/103_0393.jpg
-another view of bracket

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/103_0394.jpg
-view of HS20 on the mount, 10-12 ply board (VERY strong) and a sheet of polycarbonate (stronger then plexi-glass) along with four threaded rods

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/103_0395.jpg
-another view of mount, white plate on bottom side of polycarbonate for extra support, three M5 30mm screws with an 80 thread pitch mount the polycarbonate plate to the projector

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/103_0396.jpg
-close up of the previous

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/103_0397.jpg
-close up of the polycarbonate piece and the room for air to circulate under

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/103_0398.jpg
-test run of the mount, easy to adjust in all three axis
1.) slide board left right to align with screen
2.) adjust nuts on the four threaded rods for height
3.) fine adjustments using the 30mm screws going into the projector

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/103_0399.jpg
-another view of the test run on the mount


That's all for now, not much getting done here lately.

3/30/04 Update

Since I'm finishing my entire basement (well 75% of it) as I work on home-theater, I have to work on projects for both rooms.

Built my sofitt for the entire lenght of the rooms. The HVAC, propane pipe, copper water lines, sewer white PVC pipe and what not run under the joists down the entire length of the hometheater room and the living/rec/multi-purpose room.

Takes a lot of time to make them nice and straight and all aligned. Lots of checks and level use. Thank god for chaulk lines and laser levels. Spending time here will hopefully make the drywall go easy.

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/104_0401.jpg
-looking outta the theater room down into the rec/pool table/living room

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/104_0402.jpg
-same as above, can also see the work area for construction

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/104_0403.jpg
-looking from rec/pool table room down into the theater room (there will be a wall seperating the two)

Waiting on my doors to arrive to build the back wall. They should be here any day now....

Well, not my actual theater room specific work going on still.....

Went out and bought myself a Channel Plus MDS-6 Whole-House Audio system. It is a six-source six-zone system. Takes a lot of time to wire for this, especially when your house (upstairs) is finished. Installed speakers (in-walls) in the 1.)kitchen/breakfast 2.)master bed 3.)master bath 4.)garage 5.)basement rec room and (in-ceilings) 6.)front porch patio

Tons of drywall cutting with the Craftsman rotozip saw. No mistakes, and no holes drilled into any floors or areas where the drill wasn't supposed to go.

Also, while doing this, I installed some RG6(QS) and CAT5e runs to different rooms and terminated them in LEVITON quickplates with snap in terminals and dropped all runs at the back of the equipment rack. Also ran the RG6 up to the attic and mounted the Channel Plus antenna. Also had to run a set of wires to the doorbell to the equipment rack for the MDS-6, as it can ring the doorbell over the speakers.

All said and done with wire I think:
~500-750' of 14/2 (basement wiring)

~750-1000' of 12ga Carol In-Wall Speaker Wiring (theater room and whole house audio system)

~75' of doorbell wire

~500' of CAT5e 350mhz Enhanced Cable

~500' of Carol RG6 Quad-Shield

along with some 12/2 and 14/3 wire also in the basement....

We added it up, something like 3000 feet of wire/cable pulled these last few weeks.

Most importantly I would like to THANK my father for all his help on this project!

I'll add some pictures to this post later.

DaveInBerlin: apologize for the late reply, but the shelving is MDF board from Lowes. Will need painted after all is said and done. Actually the entire equipment rack is white MDF. The sides already had 3 sets of holes drilled up the entire height too. Made it nice.

Some more updates (after a lot of downtime) coming soon. Insulation going in walls, and drywall is going up in a few days.

Woohoo..

LONG OVERDUE UPDATE

As you recall, I'm finishing most of my basement at the same time I'm building my theater, so sometimes progress is slow. You can see there hasn't been any updates for quite awhile, however slowly work has been progressing and now we are back in the full swing of things.

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/104_0407.jpg
-looking at back of equipment rack into the theater with some drywall

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/104_0409.jpg
-conduit running in ceiling from projector to equipment rack, currently has RGB, DVI, Sony Multi-Cable, HDMI to be added

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/104_0410.jpg
-back wall of theater framed, looking from rec room towards theater

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/104_0412.jpg
-another view of above, can see entrance to planned unfinished storage

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/104_0414.jpg
-looking from front of theater to back framed wall of theater

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/104_0417.jpg
-covered steal I-BEAM support with wood

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/105_0537.jpg
-tons of insulation ready for use

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/105_0538.jpg
-one big stack of drywall

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/105_0541.jpg
-lots of molding, bought it in contractor packs

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/105_0542.jpg
-lots of cables terminate @ the rear of equipment rack [speaker, rg6, cat5e, etc)

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/105_0560.jpg
-can lights being installed in rec-room and theater

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/105_0561.jpg
-can lights and ceiling insulated in theater

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/105_0562.jpg
-tons of insulation in the rec-room ceiling as well

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/105_0563.jpg
-another view of theater ceiling insulated, also can see projector mount & power

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/105_0565.jpg
-theater side wall insulated

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/105_0566.jpg
-rec-room drywall going on, fun cutting out can light holes!

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/105_0570.jpg
-rec-room soffit insulation/drywall progress

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/105_0588.jpg
-some theater drywall going up

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/105_0589.jpg
-rec-room drywall in the corner

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/105_0590.jpg
-looking towards theater entrance from rec-room, drywall getting close to done

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/107_0707.jpg
-drywall continues on the soffit

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/107_0714.jpg
-doors up to theater and unfinished storage room, looking from recroom

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/107_0716.jpg
-drywall stack almost gone, support beam drywalled (rec), my buddy the cat

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/107_0717.jpg
-theater rear riser started

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/107_0718.jpg
-theater rear riser other side started (Irwin Marquees from Kustom Kens)
-also see the fun drywall work with soffit and HVAC vent

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/107_0719.jpg
-looking @ both risers at rear of theater, they are 6 3/4" off of the ground and will have bass shakers (AURA) installed

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/107_0720.jpg
-equipment rack now with drywall around it from inside theater

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/107_0721.jpg
-3/4" MDF ready for 4 columns to be built to house Ascend Acoustic HTM-200 surround speakers on sides and rear of theater


I was off to such a great start, then things slowled dramatically, guess I'm back on track with everyone else....

Thanks for the kind words and compliments all.

adaseng: the 12ga CAROL is from Parts Express which just happens to be 15min from my house, which makes it nice. As far as linacoustic, at first I was going to go thru the whole-nine yards with the furring strips and linacoustic (bottom half wall) and batting (top half wall), but I've decided to just go with GOM, fabric, carpet, or whatever I choose directly over the drywall. All the interior walls and ceilings are heavily insulated though.

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/107_0726.JPG
-Aura Bass shakers attached tightly to 2x6 bridge to be mounted in rear seat platform, one on each platform

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/107_0727.JPG
-another view of Aura bass shakers mounted on bridge piece

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/107_0728.JPG
-MDF pieces for side column ready to go together, hole cut-out for Ascend Acoustic HTM-200 speakers

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/107_0729.JPG
-close up of cut-out for speaker

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/107_0731.JPG
-back of column where speaker will be, weatherstripping will be used around it for a good tight fit and seal

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/107_0733.JPG
-column up on wall for a test fit check

http://www.30th-ta.org/hometheater/107_0735.JPG
-Ascend Acoustic HTM-200 sneaks in for test fit also, notice the top of the line Magnavox DVD player in rack


.....more to come soon.....