Pittman Theatre Construction Thread - Page 3

Ryan,

Sounds like you gain in some areas and lose in others but over all I think your gaining more then your losing. The DVD space can be made up in other areas and other ways so you should be ok.

Once I get my screen and AV closet finished I'll have to swing by and check it out.

If your interested I'll give you a call when I'm doing my screen frame and install if you want to swing over to the house and see how I'm doing it (and most likely help out )
Don't think I'm getting around to doing my screen till likely the weekend of April 21, 22nd but let me know what you think. I think I PM'd you my cell # already but if not PM me yours and I'll give you a shout before I get started.
Cheers
Calvin

Hey Ryan,

Things are sure coming along for you now. I wish I was at that stage, However I think my wife and I have started a search. Trying to find an acreage just outside Sherwood Park. Trying to find a nice big bungalow (big basement) perfect for a HT room. I guess we will see what happens. Good thing she sprung the idea on me before I started the build. I wouldn't have gotten much started anyway. I still have a lot of landscaping to finish this year in our current house.

Best of luck on the build. I am jealous!!

Greg

I was looking at solid angle iron I was worried about the HSS possibly twisting or warping with the welding (heat) but I can send you a basic layout of the design I was looking at (its based pretty closely on a thread on SMX that a fellow did with aluminum - maybe I'll just send you the link as he has pics of how he did it which is likely better then my sketch up)

I was just going to use steel for added durability and strength as I'm doing a larger screen and I'm prone to "overkill"
Cheers

Ryan,

Here is the basic outline I used (and I'm sure many do) there are a few different camps the DD (what I did) THX, and many more but DD and THX seem to be the most widely used.

Here is Dolby 7.1 - Delivers 7 audio channels and 1 LFE channel from an 8 channel source:

For movie surround, the front speakers should be placed at the edges of the screen, toed in to face the central listening location, and the tweeters should be ear height. The center speaker should be placed behind the screen (when using projection) or over or under a TV, and as close to ear high as possible. Side channel speakers should be placed high on side walls, to the left and right of the listening position, equidistant from the front speakers and the rear speakers. Rear channel speakers should be placed high on side walls, slightly behind the listening position, and should have a normal high-quality monopolar construction.

For THX.

This is the recommendation you can visit the thx-com website for a lot more in depth info. (they have a lot of fancy flash on their site so I hope you have high speed - cool site but out here in the sticks my internet can't keep up )

Three speakers across the front with two or four surrounds and one to four subs:

1. The left and right (LR) speakers should be 45 degrees apart as seen from the middle seat, and a little bit closer to the screen if the screen is relatively small. The center channel speaker should be centered behind [an acoustically transparent] screen (best), above (usually better) or maybe below it.

2. The LCR front speakers should be placed at about ear level with nothing between them and the listener that can block or distort the sound.
3. LR Surrounds should be placed to the side or slightly behind the main seats. All surround speakers go two feet or more above the listener's ear height. The Back Surrounds (if present) go behind the listeners spread about 30 degrees referenced to the main seat or actually touching side-by-side if you use the THX ASA feature on Ultra2 or Select2 products.

4. If you have four subs, they should be located in a cross pattern in the middle of each wall. If you have two, put them in the middle of opposing walls. And if you only have one, place it in the middle of the front wall. It's usually best to avoid putting a sub in the corner.

Hope that helps. You might have to break out your measuring tape but I'm sure you will be able to just sketch it out using the software you've used to do your room so far.

Cheers
Calvin

Ryan,

Recessed will be fine. The lengths of the wires doesn't matter as to the science of why just head over to audioholics they have a write up from this month explaining in detail why this is a myth for 99.9% of real world set ups.

Cheers
Calvin

Ryan,

Your using standard cabinet style speakers right? If so the gap around the side and back won't matter (if I'm wrong someone will jump in and tell me why I'm sure). I know I used to have cabinet speakers when I was living on campus and I put them in a book shelf and messed around with pulling them out, leaving them in and also moving the larger hard cover books closer and farther away from the speakers in the book case. It was my experience it didn't make any difference I would think the principles would be the same with your recessed speakers and the gap in the drywall "coves" or spaces your planning on building. The gap in front of the speaker however will likely matter depending on how far the speaker is placed back from the actual room your hoping to project sound into. If its to far back your speaker will have the sound hitting the 1st reflection spot in the "cove" and I don't think you want to do that. My suggestion is you leave the front of the speaker near to flush with the outside wall your recessing the cabinet into (hope that makes sense)

Cheers
Calvin

If you're using speakers that are not designed to be mounted in a wall, you'll change their tonal character by recessing them. Most good speakers have a baffle step compensation designed in to account for the baffle width. Mounting them flush makes the baffle in effect the whole wall width.

If you must recess them, build them in tight and use absorbtion on the wall around the speaker face.

Bryan

Recessing them is tricky. I have been talking to a HT designer in the US, and his statement to me regarding recessing freestanding speakers, is to seal them from the cavity behind. Also you need to make sure the recessed cabinet you build them into is soundproofed from the backside as well, otherwise the sound will just leak through your wall into adjoining rooms.

Sweet! Can't wait to see how it all turns out!

Well I'm by no means an authority but my gut feeling says that an outlet would make it much easier and "finished" - especially when you want to upgrade your speakers later on. I figure if you're going through the trouble of building a dedicated theatre then why skimp on a few outlets?

But that's just my uneducated not-yet-built-a theatre opinion

Ryan,

I have some extra wall plates I didn't use in my build you can have cheap if your interested.

Cheers
Calvin

I think I have a couple larger 5.1 & 7.1 plates and then a few of the smaller 2 jack wall plates for individual speaker locations. I'll pm you when I'm back in town in a little over a week with a pic or two and the prices (I'll let them go cheap I don't need them)
Cheers

I ran mine to the speaker locations and left enough extra that I could move them 2' in any direction if I wanted to.

Looking good Ryan. You have made a lot of progress and the room is starting to take shape. Stage looks great!

Ahhh! There's the pics! Thx Ryan

Also, nice to see the Rona bag on your windowsill....I have the full collection! Progress is coming along great, and I love the stage! I'm sure your helpers will be planning a small skit or two for it when you're done.

Did you place anything underneath it, or is it resting on bare concrete? Are you planning on lugging 50 bags of playsand in there, or going to go with fibreglass? I gotta know!

Ryan,

Stage is looking good. The sub can be run any number of ways but I have mine set up to run off seperate amps for more control and power. You could set it in the riser if you wanted I'm not sure how well that works yet until I get mine up and running and then I'll let you know if I think its worth it.

Cheers