...must...create...ReedZone...Theater...thread - Page 4

Update on the Gel Stain - this is definitely the way to go. I haven't got the right color yet (forgot to bring a chunk of veneer to the paint store so had to go off the "stir stick"), but I can tell already its a winner. If you're doing any tight-grained woods like Cherry, Gel Stain works great. Nice even color and no blotching. Bob Flexner is my hero:

http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-.../dp/0762101911

Great advice (as usual). Thanks Bryan.

Taking some vacation this week to try and finish this puppy off.

Today I MDF'd and veneered the stage. I'm going to put Cherry nosing around the stage and I may put a step detail on each side but haven't decided yet.

Tomorrow the goal is the finish the acoustic treatments and get the proscenium framed.

Managed to get the staining / finish done last week. I also finished all the acoustic treatments. Next step is to paint the ceiling then put up the fabric!

Here are some shots of the finished wood veneer. Stain is Minwax Red Mahogany and the finish coat is Minwax Wipe-on Poly (beautiful stuff).

I built a custom nosing for the stage out of MDF. I did it pretty much the same as the light tray - its 3/4" MDF rounded over on the front edge. I have 2 layers of MDF on the lip to give it some depth.





I ended up putting my rear channels in the light tray - a bit of a compromise due to where the doors are, but I'm happy with the result.



I got the lights up over the screen as well and put in the GOM:




I also mounted the base cabinets to the wall in the lobby area so its ready for granite

Oh, and THIS arrived

(B&K Reference 200.7 Amp)

Hi Stu,
Stain is "Minwax Red Mahogany" and finish coat is "Minwax Wipe-on Poly - Clear Satin". The finish coat is (IMHO) the make-or-break for a professional looking job.

Sanding bare wood:
Step 1: 150 grit (I didn't do this with the veneer since its pretty smooth to start with, but I will be using it on my trim pieces)
Step 2: 220 grit

Stain: 2 coats (note: I didn't let is sit for very long on the wood as that tended to lead to blotching - I wiped it off pretty quickly)

Finish:
Step 1: 1 coat Wipe-on Poly (let this dry overnight at minimum despite what it says on the can)
Step 2: sand with 220 grit
Step 3: 2nd coat Wipe-on Poly (again, let it dry thoroughly)
Step 4: sand with 320 grit
Step 5: 3rd coat Wipe-on Poly
Step 6 (optional but I did it): sand (very) lightly with 400 grit
Step 7: final coat of Poly (thin)

Its definitely time consuming but it really does look nice when its done - at least it does to me


Nice! I can't wait to get it fired up!! My speakers are still sitting in my family room "breaking in"

Craig

Thanks Stu. I used a stain applicator pad - its a palm-sized foam pad you can get at Home Depot. Works really well - particularly on the Poly.

Try using the Minwax pre-stain wood conditioner on the poplar. If memory serves Poplar takes stain unevenly - not such a big issue with veneer (as I found out through my trials and tribulations earlier in the thread) but on solid wood it should make a pretty big difference.

Thanks! I'll be posted some more pictures soon. Stay tuned.

Craig.

Hey Stu, must have missed your post somehow. Anyway, good to hear things are working out. I decided on Satin more to reduce reflections from the screen. But you're right, it does look really nice when wet.

Interesting on the wood conditioner. Maybe experiment with how long you leave it on. Bob Flexner in his book, "Understanding Wood Finishing" says that the label is wrong and it should be left overnight.

Thanks! don't hesitate to ask - I think I've made every mistake in the book and a few more that weren't in the book, so happy to help others avoid them

Well folks, this is taking WAYYYYYYYYYY longer than I thought it would. That point hit home when I was talking to my son's GR1 teacher. Apparently when asked what his daddy did, my son's reply was, "works in the basement"

Anyway, here are some more pics.

I painted the ceiling and finished putting up the fabric behind the screen. You can see the reflection of the FRK insulation at the top left and right of the screen wall. I'm going to have to double up there I think (I doubled in the middle which is why you don't see the reflection there).


finished the speaker column fabric. You can see the Monitor Audio Gold Ref FX's lurking back there (funny how much the flash shows).


I also did the speaker fabric along the underside of the soffits. I had to do some head-scratching to figure out how to hide the rear-channel in-walls. I ended wrapping an MDF frame and using magnetic door catches to hold it in place. Works really well actually



I also finished all of the acoustic treatments along the sidewalls and rear wall - its all ready for fabric!

Speaking of fabric, here is the first piece up - I wanted to make sure my idea for hiding staples would work and see how it would look. I'm pretty happy with it. Below the fabric will be cherry wood "wainscoting" that will be finished like the bottom of the columns - the inside of the wainscoting frames will be black GOM





This is the carpet that will be going in - colors look funny in this picture. It actually matches the wood/wall fabric really well.


I've decided to go ahead and build the riser now - I was originally going to wait but didn't think I could stomach doing it once the room was done. So that is this weekends project. You can see the layout on the floor. Riser will be ~9.5"

this is one of the reasons things are taking so long - the "rest of the basement". A little OT, but here is the bathroom tile finished. We're making it into a steam shower. Only problem is power. I never thought to look and see how much power the steam unit needs - the one I need for my application takes 40 amps!! My sub-panel that I was going to feed it from is only 60 amp so that's not going to work. So now I have to figure out how to get another line from my main panel (across the finished ceiling)

nope, I meant it. I learned so much here, hopefully I can give a little in return.

Yes, you are correct. I have double doors on the back wall of my theater which eat up most of the available wall space. There was no other way to put them in symmetrically without using the soffit. In retrospect, I probably should have put them more away from the sidewalls. But the in-walls I went with were too big to put in the the "main" part of the soffit. If I had it to do again, I would have made my soffit wider to make sure I could accomodate the speakers more toward the middle of the back wall. Now all of that said, they sound really good and I'm very pleased with the results. Bottom line is that the rear should be a non-directional soundfield anyway, so I don't think it hurts much if at all. It certainly sounds good to my ear.

I went with Monitor Audio Gold Reference CP in-walls. They have a built-in back-box so I think they are a bit better than your average in-walls. Triads are nice too.

Thanks! In the home stretch now. I'm hoping to be done in the next few weeks.

Question guys: What would you consider the minimum "walkway" width between the seats and the wall? Is 22" too narrow?

Thanks calv1n, that certainly makes me feel a bit better. It does feel a bit tight. I guess I could "cheat" one side over a couple of inches to give 24" for the main walkway.

Anyone else??