SWithey Home Theater Construction - Page 3

Ruben,

When I re-made my (4) side surround columns and made the (2) new front columns, I DID use lots of wood glue 2nd time around. That was something that I did forget about the 1st time (and glad I thought of it the 2nd time). They're all solid as a rock now! However, thanks for the tip.

As far as your room analysis from Bryan, all you need to do is ask (as I did and as Bryan stated above). He is very flexible to work with -- but I'm sure anyone that has worked with him in the past already knows that

Ruben,

I am with you on that. I am a very detailed oriented guy and want to know everything about everything when it comes how my HT is built and how it will perform. However, on the room absorbtion/RT60 time, I have handed that over to the expert (bpape) It's just one less thing to worry about -- because you know (probably more than me) that there are plenty of other things that need to be done

hvn4179,

Thanks for the offer. Honestly, I've done a lot of woodworking before but nothing of this scale -- so it's a learning experience for me too. Maybe I should hire Sandman's helper to give me some assistance since he's done such a great job

There might be a weight issue with your subfloor anyway. I'd just stuff it tight with R19 insulation (like 2 layers in a 6" cavity). That should take care of any resonance issues

Mini-Update..

..
Yes, the Blue Tape now lives in my room. I was feeling a bit bummed on the room and needed a motivator. Putting the tape on the wall and seeing the big screen did the trick. I'm ready to get this baby done!

If you have not already noticed, I make pics of just about everything so I can "change my mind" on paper many times before the actual build. This is a shot of the Front Entertainment Center with the lower section framing exposed.

NOTE: I have to move a few wall lights -- they don't do much good behind the screen



Here are (2) top-down shots of the Front Entertainment center. Top pic is the recessed shadow boxed screen with R13 insulation behind it. The lower section will house my sub and center channel. Notice the 2" OC703 in the back and along the 15deg angled sides to help control bass under the screen. The top and front of the lower section will be covered with GOM fabric.

I guess I deserved that comment. Touché my friend


Making the pics has made it SO much easier to show the wife what I'm talking about. My wife is also a very visual person and most of the design decisions for the theater would have been impossible to make without the use of these pics. Getting my wife to sit down, look at the pics and make a decision is limited (because of her "MOM" schedule), so I want to make those meetings are short and to the point. I think I have "decision" meetings down to about 5 minutes now

Yesterday was a good day. I took the day off to work on the HT and feel I made some good progress. I managed to finally get built the top and bottom skeletons of the Front Entertainment Center. Yldesyde/David came over to give me a hand. Thanks again David.


Click HERE to Enlarge Pic

Here is the pic of the finished product. It's actually (4) pieces resting against each other. The front columns will eventually have holes cut in them for speakers - but I plan to do that after they are veneered. The bottom section will have black-out Commando cloth on the top and GOM on the front. The top section will have the same black-out cloth on the bottom and maple on the front. If you have not already realized, I will have the screen set back a foot or so to create a dramatic shadow-box effect. The inside edges of each of the columns will have the blackout cloth (to reduce reflections from the screen and add to the shadow-box effect). I must make this entire thing in pieces since I'm building it in the garage and will need to move it all upstairs to the Media Room once complete. At that point, I'll affix them to the wall and each other with glue and screws.




Here is the pic of the lower section on the left side. I have a 15deg angle on each side to help keep bass from collecting in the corners. These things took some thinking (2 hours to be exact) to get right, but I am very happy with the final outcome.


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Here is a rendering of the final product. The crown molding will angle out 22.5deg (angle not shown in this pic). The thin slivery lines are ½ metal inlays I plan to sink into the maple columns. The end result will look like the next pic.


Next I plan to tackle the custom speaker holes in the (2) side surround columns.

Thanks everyone for the kind words.

I'm actually making some minor changes to the room design. I'll have more info and some pics once I get the kinks worked out.

Okay, I finally got the pics completed to show you guys what I'm changing. It's a long story but WAF came into play here -- so that's all I'm going to say

In a nutshell, I decided to flip the room 180deg and put the screenwall against what was the rear wall. The main benefit to this is that 22" deep front columns that stuck out further visually that I had thought are not tamed to 6.5" deep. I can now utilize the rear false wall to house the front, center and sub. I think it will give the room a larger feel and make things look less massive. So, onto the V2 pics...


Top View V2



Rear Seated View V2 from the bar stools


This is something I planned to do behind the rear wall but now will be exposed inside the room. The top part is a barrel diffuser to scatter sound horizontally and vertically around the space. The horizontal slats/shelves in the middle of the barrel diffuser will be the part that works the vertical axis. These shelves will only stick out ½ in the center and grow to about 6 on the sides (because of the curved nature of the barrel). The lower section is a tuned bass trap to smooth out a specific lower frequency range (Range is TBD by bpape).

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Left and Right sides of the room. I do plan to put panels over the (2) door on the right wall because one is a reflection point.


What needs to be done:
- Cut down existing front columns (depth wise)
- Cut down lower section below screen

Should be fun

I'll have some pics after the carnage.

Ruben,

Already handled My walls will be covered with a dark coffee brown GOM fabric. The speakers will be covered with a lighter wheat colored fabric (to blend in with the wood and the leather on the seating a bit). I could not use the wall fabric in front of the speakers because it is not as acoustically transparent as the one I selected. Below are my exact fabric choices:


Left to Right:
- GOM Anchorage 2335 (2016 Onyx): cover ceiling absorbers
- GOM Vertical Surface Solids 2402 (278 Camel): cover column mounted speakers
- GOM Anchorage 2335 (2083 Coffee Bean): cover all wall panels
- Natuzzi Montecarlo: leather selection for the Natuzzi chairs

I wish it was something that exciting. Oh well, onto making more saw dust

OKay guys, now that I don't need to house the sub below the screen, I was able to make the lower section shorter. With this change, I have some options for a slightly different look. The screen will be shadow-boxed back 2-4 inches from the front. The top and bottom sections will be set back about 1" from the columns on each side. However, I'm having a hard decision figuring out the "new" look.

Which one(s) do you guys like best?? I'm also open to suggestions.

NOTE: I cannot use the dark brown GOM fabric (that I am using on the walls) in front of the speakers because it is not acoustically transparent enough for speakers. The fabric I've chosen for the speakers does not come in a dark brown color or I would have gone that direction.

Option #1


Option #2


Option #3


Option #4


Option #5


Option #6


Option #7