Blazing Ridge Cinema construction has begun! - Page 43

Tank,

I've heard you can use 3/4 inch without a problem. The linacoustic will compress some. I was originally going to use 2X lumber and rip them down to 1" furring strips, but found 5/4 (five quarter) lumber at Home Depot in the hardwood section. It's actual width is 1". I think its about 4-5 inches wide and 9 feet long. I just ripped/beveled them in half for the middle of the wall seams, but used them full width around the areas that I'll install the molding over. I didn't plan on a chair rail to hide the seams. Depending on how it comes out, I can also go back and add it to break it up some.

The GOM is pretty tough. I tried to pull it off a spot where I put a staple in it and it took a good yank. Its got some stretch to it, but not that much. Sagging and stretching should not be a problem if it's secured properly. It does cut pretty easily though, so sharp objects are a no-no.

On the batting, I think people think they need to put something behind the GOM to fill the void. There is some acoustic properties for highs with batting as well. I originally was going to Linacoustic the soffits, but decided not to do so after speaking with Bryan about it. I was then stuck with a void behind the soffit GOM of 1", but you'd never tell. It's pretty tight. I have the batting in the other room. Bryan's analysis doesn't call for it, so I'm not putting it up.

Bud

I like to have the spare stuff for when/if any sections burn out. I can replace it in no time flat. I only need about 40 feet, so that's enough to replace it two times. I also have it for those other occasions when I need it.

My 35W PARs arrived for my 4" cans today. I needed five, but you have to buy by the case. So, I ended up with 15! Not a problem, I'll have neough for the next 10 years. They're much cheaper to buy online, even if you have to get a case. I bought these through PECLamp.com and they were less than 3.00 each.

I also bought a case of 65W BR30 Sylvanias for the rest of the larger floods. 30 to a case, I think I neeed 21. The case was 46.50 plus shipping. I little cheaper than 7.00 a bulb at Home Depot. I got these through Goodmart.com.

When I ordered my trims and baffles, I also picked up 5 of the socket extenders for the 4" cans. Since I had to build the frames around the cans to staples the GOM to and though I'd be doing linacoustic under the soffits, I picked them up. Turns out I ended up needing them. Kinda pricey for what they are, but does the trick. Here a shot of the bulb and extender.


Although I still need to make the rings for the trims, I went ahead and installed them and the bulbs. Here's what it looks like with the third bulb and the trim now.


Flash on from the side:


Flash off from the side:


The middle buld looks a little yellowish from the picture, but in person, not a hint of yellow with me looking at it.

Bud

Brad,

No problem.

Bud

Mike,

I used Halo for the 6" cans, purchased from Home Depot by the box of 6. They were model number H7ICTs. The 4" cans were also Halos, model H99ICT from Lighting Fixtures & Ceiling Fans. I bought the trims and baffles for all my cans through them as well.

As far as your room dimensions are concerned, I would think so. The four cans I have is plenty for general lighting for my sized room (in addition to the accent lighting). In my other room in the basement, I used four cans per 16 foot x 12 foot section. Now if it was a kitchen, I'd say maybe not because you need task lighting. It also depends on how high your ceilings are. Lower ceiling will tend to reduce the circle of light put out by the cans (say my father-in-law).

Here's a good guide I refer to and point people to when the question comes up, hope it helps.

How to lay out recessed cans

BTW, people moan about Halo quality and rattles. I wrapped the arms of the cans with electrical tape as a precaution and have not heard a sound.

Bud

OK, here's an update to my light controller situation. I did talk to a person from Smarthome the other day about the Insteon controller. She was pretty knowledgeable with their products and after going back and forth with some ideas, she recommended a Powerlinc Controller (Model 1132CU). I was a little skeptical, but understood what she was thinking. I went ahead and ordered it and it arrived yesterday.

The PowerLinc Controller is a "stand-alone home automation interface for controlling lights, appliances, heating/air conditioning systems and alarm systems" that you set up using your computer via a USB connection. It comes with software for setup, although its limited functionality because its a free version. I installed the software and plugged the unit in and away I went.

It works as advertised. I spent all this cash on an Omni Pro home automation system when the house was built and I'm amazed that you can spend 70.00 and get a lot of the same functionality.

I was able to setup scenes based on triggers for "premovie", "movietime" and "pause" pretty quickly. Basically, I have six X10 dimmers I want to control in the theater room and concession area. My controller (SMST6) that I have on the wall is fine for for controller the dimmers from the door, but for me to use it with a remote, I have to point at it (does not receive X10 signals, only transmits). Enter the PowerLinc. I set up a dummy X10 housecode (B8) for movietime and pause. When I sent the B8 address "ON", it triggers all the dimmers to the settings I want. (Rope light at 20%, riser light 20%, all other switches off). When I hit pause on the Harmony 880, it sends the signal "OFF" to the address, which triggers the "pause scene" and raises certain lights. Of course you need an IR543 to convert the IR signals from the H880 to X10 to do the scenes, but I had that already.

So far so good. I need some more time with it, but it seems to work as I want it to. You can apparently do much more with it as well. It's a decent alternative. I'll post more when I can about the setup. After programming it, I just stuck it in an outlet in my equipment closet and off we went.

Bud

I just got back to my desk. I guess I hit a chord here with the controller. Besides the posts, I got a phone call from Jason shortly after he read the post.....

Bud

Jon

You can assigned X10 addresses to Insteon devices. Check out the Smarthome link.

http://www.smarthome.com/whatisinsteon.html

I was going to orginally use the Insteon controller to control my X10 dimmer scenes. I think that would still have worked. Since the Insteon controller I was looking at could receive and transmit, I think that would have worked. I may buy one just to play around with it.

Steve is correct, you just need the IR543 to convert IR to X10.

Bud

Thanks for that. I'll take a look when I can. I have the Omni Pro software, which really sucks. I know a lot of people use Homeseer with the Omni Pro, so will have to check for compatibility.

Bud

Jon,

Yeah, that's the controller. but X10 stuff can receive, transmit or both. The Insteon controller is two way (receives commands), which is why I was thinking about it.

Actually, with the H880, you have activities and devices. Activities are like "Watch a DVD". Devices are your components, IR543, projector, etc. You can assign devices to a specific activity. Example. Watch a DVD requires turning on the projector, making sure its on HDMI, turning on the Receiver, changing it to the DVD setting, turning on the DVD player, starting the movie, sending a command to the IR543 (in my case B8 "on" which then activities the scene on the Powelinc I defined with my PC). I've got that working fine.

I'm playing around with the Pause functionality still. You can customize the buttons/actions for a given command. So when you hit pause on the H880, it can send separate commands to all the devices. Even though you mean "Pause the DVD player", you can customize it to do something with that same push of the pause button to all the devices defined under "Watch a DVD". In my case, because of the way the IR543 works, the last X10 command should be "B8 ON". I should be able to define the pause button for IR543 command "OFF" (meaning "B8 OFF" since it remembers the last address sent to the IR543 unless you change it). Soooo, when I hit pause on the H880 it sends a signal to the DVD player to actually pause and sends the IR543 "OFF". I have the "OFF" scene defined to raise the rope light to 50%, concession are 75%, step light 100%, stage light 35%. I just need to test that part. It should work for the "play' button, it just reissues the "ON" command back to B8. Make sense?

I'll play with it and post those results.

Bud

My GOM arrived for the walls! I also ordered 10 extra feet of the track and that came as well.



Bud