The "I hope this works" Home Theater - Page 12

Sorry Brian....just noticed I never responded to your question. I have a 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee with 191,000 miles on it. Just cleaned out the interior last night so I feel proud of it once again. It gets pretty messy with kids!

BTW - Love the BAR! Looks like an awesome place to unwind!

Crazy last month but I finally pulled the trigger on some Axiom Audio speakers. Went with the Epic 60 - 500 (7.1) in Cherry. After talking with those guys I may need an additional 500 sub because of my open concept but we are going to try it out with one for now and see how it works. Couldn't go with the larger 600 sub because I really didn't have a place to put it. Can't wait to get them, since I have been using 2 Bose tin cans for the past 6 months.

Not sure where the last 5 months went. I made a post and next thing I knew summer came and went, fall arrived and I have done nothing in the HT. A wise man (or a bunch of wise men) once told me, NEVER HANG YOUR PROJECTOR UNTIL YOU HAVE FINISHED EVERYTHING. Well I hung it and everything came to a complete stop. Mind you, it is not like I have spent the entire last 5 months watching movies and eating popcorn (although my waistline looks like I did). Nope I still have the Iron Man 2 DVD I got from NetFlix in April. I just haven't been around. Oh I have had the best of intentions to sit and watch all the movies I have been holding off watching (yes including Braveheart), but I never found the time. On a side note: Do you know how frustrating it is to listen to people talk about great movies and then sound like an idiot when you tell them that you are holding out on watching Braveheart until your HT is finished?

With that said, I have found the time to watch a few things downstairs. I have caught a couple Lions away games and I also have been watching The Walking Dead on AMC every Sunday night. So what is done you ask? Well I will tell you:
1) Screen is hung
2) Speakers are hooked up
3) Seats are in
4) Projector is hung

What isn't done?

1) Everything else.

Screen trim, screen wall covering, star ceiling, speaker stands, calibration (video and audio), wall panels, and the 200 other little things that need to be done.

So I am going to make a big push to complete as much as possible before Christmas although I am pretty sure I am not even going to sniff the Star Ceiling until the New Year.

Over the next couple days I will post pictures of where I am at with everything. Then I will solidify my to-do list and get started on making sh*t happen.

Did I say a couple of days??? I clearly remember saying "A couple of days when I am free and not lazy and finding excuses not to work on my room". Ok maybe I didn't say that. My couple of days tend to turn into couple of months awfully fast.

Tonight is the night! I will be back around 10pm (Coaching my daughters Softball team) and then it is nothing but uploading and updating progress.

Randy, Always looking for another Macomb Resident to keep me on my game!

I finally returned Iron Man 2 on DVD from NetFlix last week. Never watched it. I had that DVD for almost a year and NEVER put it in. I feel like NetFlix is wasted on me. I love the idea of it but I don't like to be forced to watch a DVD just because it arrived in the mail. There is a good chance that I never watched Iron Man 2 just for spite. I think it is just better for me if I buy the movies I want to watch so that I don't feel so much pressure. It is too much.

Updates and Pictures!
Look, I am going to be really honest. I have completely wasted the last year and a half doing absolutely nothing in the basement. Oh sure I have grand plans...by now I was supposed to have my start field up and running as well as all my sound absorption. I have done a little, very little:

Ordered some Toys
Here is a picture of my bounty. I really enjoy unwrapping toys.


Hung a Makeshift Screen
It was a sheet, and they weren't even the same color but I wanted to watch Christmas Vacation and the they didn't have any pee stains so I figured it was ok.

Oh Clark


Built a Real Screen
The first thing I ever purchased for the Theater was a roll of screen fabric from SMX before it was SMX. It took me 5 years before I actually opened the package. For all I know it could have been a flagpole in there but it wasn't. It was glorious screen fabric.

I am an awesome frame builder. I am pretty sure it is my only real talent.

Ok I had some help, My daughter painted but it wasn't good enough so I grabbed some gaffer's tape and really did it right.



I think you are supposed to turn it 12 degrees, I actually measured it with a protractor, it was 11 so I fixed it. I am pretty sure it didn't matter but I liked the look on my wife's face when I did it.

Panel Clips

Hung the screen and watched something (no, I didn't pick that movie, I wanted Showgirls but it was 3 against 1)


Thank you for noticing that I haven't totally blocked out the window behind the screen yet. It is on my list.

More tomorrow......

Thanks. It's a marathon, not a sprint....at least I keep telling myself that so I feel better about myself!

Thanks. It was much easier than I thought. I was dreading building it because I had enough fabric for one shot. I had promised myself before I started this project that Christmas Vacation would be the first thing shown from my projector, unfortunately it was on ghetto style, bedsheet screen. What a difference a good screen makes.

...and it was so. Around March of 2011 the seats rolled up. 6 chairs from my buddy Roman. I went with the Berkline 12013 (or at least that is what I think the model is, I haven't double checked yet.) 2 rows of 3 with Leather and Power Recline.

The kind delivery gentleman helped me get them in my garage. I was going to leave them there until my buddy got home from work but of course it was like sitting in front of presents on Christmas morning and being told you can't open them. I lasted 10 minutes before I started unpacking and trying to get them down the stairs without killing myself. The chair backs came down without any problems. Easy to carry. The bottom sections were another story. I kept them partially in their cardboard box and used that to help get them down the stairs. I slid them down, with me in front bracing them to stop them from shooting down like Summit Plummet at Blizzard Beach. I was half temped to ride them down but thought better of it because I didn't have a cowboy hat and someone to take pictures. Something like that deserves a cowboy hat and pictures.

Anyway I got them downstairs and it turned out like this....


From the side...


With the screen and sconces installed...


Very comfortable and I only fell asleep in them 2 of the first 3 nights!

Next stop....Speaker City....

Two sets of clubs walk into a bar, one set says to the other "I need a drink, this guys has had his hands on my shaft all day and still can't get it in the hole".

or the clubs say "Why does this guy even bother, Friday he missed a 2 foot putt for par" - ok maybe that isn't a joke and might be true.

Go ahead and steal my design, god knows I stole it from someone else. I struggled with how to finish the riser for the longest time and then a light bulb went off in my head "Veneer". It worked great and looks pretty good unless you get up close and really inspect it, but hey, that is my entire basement. Don't look too close and it is fine. I am amazed at the attention to detail some of these guys have here. I wish I had their craftsmanship skills.

Thanks Brian. Can't believe how nice the rock wall turned out in your bar. I am jealous.