Sunset Rose Cinema Construction Thread

*Edits*

After over a year of my incorrect equipment list sitting on the front page I decided I needed to update it with what I am actually using so any references to equipment in following posts should now read as follow:

Sanyo PLV-Z4 projector
Onkyo 606 Receiver
(2) Paradigm Monitor 7s
(1) Ascend CMT-340C
(4) Ascend HTM-200s for surrounds
(1) HSU VTF2 Mk3
Mount from Bestpricemounts.com
DIY anamorpic lense
Pfifer Sheerweave 2.35 AT screen (10' wide)
BR player (yet to be purchased but hopefully soon and not sure which yet)


As you can see on the floor plan I have decided to go with the room that is 11 x 21. I was originally going to use the room where the new model railroad is going to go now. All my AV equipment will go in the AV closet next to the bathroom which will double as a fake ticket office. I still have an area i the lower right of the plan that I am unsure of what to do with. I am thinking that is can be storage for DVDs and XBOX games.

I am ordering my PJ on Monday and will begin the framing next weekend. I still need to pull my permits since there is going to be a dedicated 100A subpanel for the basement in the model railroad room. There is a lot to frame since the only existing interior walls right now are the stair walls. I should be able to frame up all walls in 2 weekends and another 2 for all the soffit work max.

Once I get the electrical panel in and inspected I will start wiring the HT and once I get that inspected I will sheetrock the HT, hall and bathroom. I plan on using Lutron swithes for the HT lighting. If all goes well I will be complete (with the HT , hall and bath at least) prior to kickoff for the 1st pre-season game, although I plan on watching my Superbowl Champ Pittsburgh Steelers in Charlotte that day.

Here are a couple pictures of the existing view towards the screen and the view towards the back wall so you can see what it looks like now.

I am working on a rendering of the space in a couple minutes and should have a nice image to post tomorrow. Any comments on my plan are appreciated

The nook in the lower portion of the room is definitely big enough for an equipment rack but I would prefer to not have it in the room. I may end up placing it there but I have not decided yet.


I thought about waiting on the PJ but with the weather here in SC I can not justify not getting it and having some outdoor movies. My neighborhood has a lot of kids and both the wife and I want to start getting to meet some folks around here since we have not been here that long. I have some older AV equipment and speakers that I will use for all of that. And having some outdoor movies will most likely entice a couple of my neighbors to help

The 100A subpanel is for the entire basement, not just the HT. Since I am adding a washer and dryer downstairs I will need a 20/30A for that alone, 2ea 20A for the HT, a couple 20A for various areas, and 2 dedicated 20A for the model railroad. I have some spares in the main 200A panel but I would rather have everything in the basement from its own panel for ease of wiring.

Well I ordered my PJ (Sanyo PLV-Z4) last night. Got a pretty good deal on it. Should be here by Friday at the latest. I will spend an evening this week getting an outdoor screen together. I am hoping to have a movie night behind the house on Saturday and have some of my neightbors and their kids over if all goes as planned. Right now I will be using all of my old speakers and no sub (I have yet to get my speakers purchased) but I doubt that will make much of a difference outside anyway. I will have to go purchase a center speaker and a new progressive scan DVD player. Looks like a trip to BB is in order for this evening.

OK all,

You can pretty much ignore everything on this thread up until now because I have made a lot of changes to my initial plans, but it is now official. The construction of the Sunset Rose Cinema has begun. I have cleaned out the area for the HT and have begun framing it in. The floor plan for the area has changed a lot from the initial ideas. Attached is the newest version. thanks go out to several people, especially Art for his insight into seating arrangements. Initially I wanted to have seating for 6 people but the room is just too small for that many people. I settled on seating for 5 as you can see on the floor plan. I am using Berkline 099s with wedges on the ends and armless seats in the center (my 3 year old will occupy the center seat) I considered having armrests on the center seat but it just makes it too wide for my taste as I am afraid that the outer seat viewing angle will be too extreme. Right now seating will be a 1X the screen size for 2.35:1 material and more for 16:9 material should it should provide a pretty immersive experience. I had originally planned on looking down the long axis at the screen but turned it 90 degrees since the room is only 10'-9" wide.

The screen is set off the front wall about 9" to allow for the fronts and center to be behind the screen since it is going to be microperf. The ceiling will be soffited with recessed lighting above the stage and screen, 4 sconces on the walls and a starfield ceiling in the ceiling recess with a light tray below. Then plan is to have 3 zones of lighting (Sconces and recessed, Starfield, and Light tray) with different scenes (entry/exit, movie intro, and main feature).

My equipment list, although minimal compared to some, is as follows:

PJ: Sanyo PLV-Z4 with a prismasonic anamorphic lense (already have/LOVE IT!!!!)
Reciever: Harman Kardon (HK) AVR 635 or similar
DVD Player: HK DVD 47 w/HDMI out or similar
Video Scaler: DVDO IScan VP20
XBOX 360
HD Cable Box
Philip Pronto Pro remote or similar
Monster Power HTS 2600 MK II Power Center
10' 2.35:1 SMX screen once I get it with a recessed pull down 16:9 Da-lite as well
Ascend 340s for front and center with Ascend 170s for surrounds, Ascend sub

All my AV equipment will go in the AV closet next to the bathroom which will double as a fake ticket office. I have pulled my permits since there is going to be a new 100A subpanel for the basement in the model railroad room. I have most of the wall framing done and up but still need to anchor it down. I will take some pictures tonight of what has been framed so far.

Here are a couple pictures of the existing view towards the screen and the view towards the back wall so you can see what it looks like now. The moisture probelm you see on the one wall has been taken care of already. I had a broken sprinkler pipe right next to the foundation wall.

I am also rendering up the space to get a feel for the lighting and materials so once those are done I will post them as well

Here is my initial attempt at the front screen wall for the room. 9'-6" SMX AT screen shown with 3" velvet frame. Recesses on left and right will have sconces in them. Accoustical treaments have not been determined yet and anyone who wants to take a crack at modifying this image to show how you would place sconces and accoustical treaments feel free to modify it as you see fit. Speakers will be behind screen.

Well I made some more progress today. I got all the soffits up in the HT. Got all 4 done with only minor work left on them to even out the fronts. My builder di not do the best job framing the stairwell so the soffit by the stair on the right undulates a bit so I need to chakline and cut them all even which I will probably do on all of the soffits just to be safe. The A/C duct in the backgound will be relocated into the soffit soon. Front of soffit will be trimmed and house a rope light on the tray portion.

Looking onto the HT. Screen will be on right


Corner framing detail. Minor trimming left to do here


Looking out from HT. Full bath in the background. Once all the soffits, lights and electrical in the HT is done I will frame the ceiling for the hall and bath.



A/C duct to be relocated



Tommorow I will get the soffits all trimmed nice and even and start putting in outlet boxes and lights and start to pull wiring. I need to work out what I am going to do about the lights. I framed the soffits at 16" centers but on the sides so the nice 4" recessed cans will not fit between them. I may have to return them and go with remodel cans instead of new construction or figure out a way to trim the slides so I can compress them enough to fit in between. Anyone tried that yet?

John

Mike,

Thanks and I will post more as I take them. You should have some more tomorrow to look at.

Bud,

Thanks. I look forward to mine looking as good as yours does.

Miltimj,

I need to update the floor plan. That door will no longer be there as I will be adding a door in the hall just past the bathroom entrance for that very reason. I will only have a curtain in that opening if anything. The door to the sump area will actually be just an access panel without a door (this is the fake ticket booth position. Model railroads are a passion for me and once the rest of the basement is complete and I pay it off I will start on the railroad, which will probably be about 1 year from now.

Reaper,

I am using Autocad and Viz 2007 to model and V-Ray Advanced for my renderer. I have about 2 total hours in it so far and am trying to find the time to do some more work on it. They are just a couple basic materials but once I find the time I will make some really high quality stuff. I am much more proficient at exteriors and am working on my interiors. My interiors do not compare to yours yet. I need to model the chairs soon so I can get a sense of space. Here is an exterior of a local church facility I have been working on here. The original image was about 4000x300 pixels. I also have a much more realistic street level view but only at work since I forgot to bring it home



My problem with interior is the rendering time. V-Ray is one of the most accurate renders out there and is capable of true photorealistic renderings but they can take a while for that kind of quality.

John

Got some more work done today adding the riser at the rear of the room.

Entry into the room with steps up in both direction to main riser



Looking at riser from screen wall



There will be steps down from the riser on both sides along the front chairs. Tomorrow I will get the rest of the steps completed and the stage framed out. I will also add an outlet box for buttkickers if I ever decide to get them.

The small door at the right of the 2nd picture is access under the front entry porch stair. Why it is there I have no idea because there is nothing in there other than dirt. I am still going to make sure I can access it in the future if needed.

John

I updated my HT floor plan to use the long axis of the room instead of the wide axis. After mocking up the screen I was not happy with the view as I was too close and the outer chairs had too much angle for viewing. Here is the new floor plan



I can seat 5 using Berkline 88s. I am still using a pref screen from SMX to be purchased in the next month if all goes well. I am also still having a scrapbook area for my wife, a small counter and cabinets, a gaming table area. TV viewing area, and rec room.

This weekend I am planning on getting a LOT done. I plan on hanging all the ceiling joists in the remainder of the basement. I am lowering the ceiling to give me room for ductwork and to save money on sheetrock. Once that is done I can start installing lights and getting the electrical installed so I can get my rough-in inspection completed.

Oh if I could only follow through on my posts LOL As an update, since Oct 31st I have only done half the ceiling joists in the remainder of the basement. With 2 boys playing football (which is over now after 3 nights a week (7th, JV and Varsity) I have not had time to do anything. Now that I think I can start focusing on the basement Thanksgiving is coming and we are heading down to FL to see my mom and hit Sea World while we are there (my 4yo little girl will love that). Then as soon as I get back from FL I head to Vegas for a week long convention at the Venetian (man I hate my job LOL)

I am not sure how so many of you find the time to put in so much work. I think what I need to do is to start budgeting an hour a night to do something in the basement. I clean things up after I finish so things are always ready to go, I just need to find the time. Once I am back from Vegas I will have free time again since wrestling (both boys again) will not be as time consuming, except for the intial tournaments. The wife and daughter are out of town this week so I have nights free for at least this week so I think I can get moving and get some stuff done.

My focus right now is getting all my ceiling joists in so I can start hanging light cans and installing some temporary lights. I only have 2 60W bulbs in the 1400SF space right now so it is pretty dark. Once the joists are up I have a large fluorescent light I can use and a couple ceiling lights until I finish my rough in inspectimn and then I can start using the cans.

I'll post some pics tonight when I get home on where I stand.

John

Bryan/Vorlon,

I know what you mean. It is a long process but it will definitely be worth it in about 3 months. The framing and rough-in stage is the longest for me since I need to get it done before I can get my first inspection. Everything else will go smoothly and quickly for sure. I like finish work but really hate framing.

On a positive note though, I did budget an hour last night to ge some stuff done, working on hanging some ceiling joists. Tonight I will do the same and probably more. A couple more nights and I will have the ceiling joists completed everywhere except the hallway and bathroom. The HT soffits are already framed. Then I can hang lights and run my electrical circuits. If all goes well I can schedule my rough-in inspection in 2 weeks.

I did forgot to take some pictures last night so I will try this evening to remember so look for some updates tonight.

John

Well I thought I should post some updates to my progress on the HT thus far. I have not been very productive in the last few months in the HT but have done a lot in the main basement area. Got almost all my ceiling framing up and the majority of the recessed lighting. Also got quite a bit of the electrical run. I will take some photos tonight and post them.

Spent a little time this morning doing up a quick rendering of the front of the HT. Still in the planning stages but you can get an idea of what it will look like, although it will change some from this.



I am going to add the sound treatments today and start adding the baseboards and other fine detailing (to the rendering and not the real HT). I still have not decided on the carpet yet so the color you see may not be what I go with. I will be using Ascend 340s on stands for my fronts with my center behind the screen (not sure which I will use there yet).

As always comments are appreciated.

John

Here is another image showing one idea for acoustic treatments along the side walls. Basically a wood trimmed frame with inset chamfered panels covered in GOM in a couple different colors



Please let me know if this would work OK. The entire front wall will be treated with linacoustic with bass traps in the rear corners of the room and corners behind the screen wall.

John

Another view with the soffit rope lighting off and the starfield ceiling on. I may not do a starfield ceiling but I wanted to at least show the wife what it would look like if we do.



I am running another rendering showing the side and rear speaker placement. And I still need to work on how I want to frame the bass traps in the rear corners. Also, the wife does not like the 2 color look for the acoustical treatments so I will be doing a single color. The next rendering will show coloration based on GOM materials.

John

Here is another view towards the rear of the room showing speaker locations (Ascend 170s planned)



You may notice colors changing from render to render as I see what different color combinations look like. I still need to add the bass traps at the rear and frame in the cased opening.

John

Well, I have finaly made some progress since the 14th of Nov. In the last 3 weekends I have managed to get all my ceiling joists done, several electrical circuits completed, all my recessed lights in the main basement area up, my riser 90% complete, my stage almost completed, and a sewage lift station in and partially connected. Here are some photos of my progress

Looking into my future model railroad room



Looking from railroad room toward main TV area. TV area between windows will be framed out as a built in


New storage room that still needs ceiling joists



Riser almost completed with new bathroom in the background. Riser still needs steps down and nosing



New stage for the HT. Still need to trim the plastic sheeting. Took 750 lbs of sand to fill it



New sewage lift station. Still need to connect the vent and add the gaskets. This opening is through the future equipment closet and will be vented to this space



Wife's future scrapbooking area. 8' long with lower and upper cabinetry planned



New 100A subpanel. Still lots of space left in this.


Still so much to do. Tomorrow I plan on having all the electrical in the HT done and wired to the panel. I also plan on hanging the recessed lighting in the hall by the bath and the bathroom, plus the bath exhaust fan.

This week I am ordering the stuff to zone off the basement and 1st floor HVAC. If all goes well I will get that all in by next weekend and completed. If I can I will be ready for my rough-in inspection in about 2 weeks.

As always comment are always appreciated.

John

I actually think that is pretty good but could be better if it includes the cost of sand for the stage and insulation to fill the voids in the riser and soffits

Glad you enjoyed the thread so far. I started it way too long ago and never made many updates due to lack of progress. Since my kids are done with sports until next school year I can accomplish a LOT more than I previously could. 2 more weekends and I should be ready for my rough-in inspection.

Yesterday I got all the riser steps completed, and the lights and fan installed in the bathroom. Cutting through my exterior siding was a bit on the nerve wracking side since I did not want to make a mistake. Came out good though. I had to stop early to work on a church rendering for a client. Tonight I will not be doing anything (well maybe just a little bit of wiring) since 24 is on LOL

John

Well, I got all my zone dampers and equipment ordered last night so hopefully it will com in by the weekend and I can begin getting all my HVAC going. If it is not here yet i will still be able to start wiring the HT, equipment closet, bath and wet bar, sewer pump. Tonight I sit down and figure out all my cabling needs and get that ordered as well. Let's see. I think I will need the following:

From equipment closet to PJ (Sanyo PLV-Z4):

- 2 each component
- 1 each HDMI
- 1 each VGA computer connection

From DVD player to receiver (Oppo DV-970HD and Harman Kardon AVR-445)

- 1 each HDMI
- 1 each component
- 1 each optical audio
- 1 each digital audio

From HD cable box to receiver

- 1 each HDMI
- 1 each component
- 1 each digital audio

From receiver to speakers

- 1 each L/C/R
- 1 each LS and RS
- 1 each LRS and RRS
- 1 each out to sub (do I split this for multiple locations?)

Misc to equipment closet

- IR extender
- Coax in to HD cable box

Well I think that is it. I do not have a desire to add a data connection so i am not sure I need anything else. If anyone thinks i missed something let me know. I cam clueless about audio components and connections.

John