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Edwards Cinema is FINALLY Born!

post #1 of 45
7/22/07 at 8:05pm
Thread Starter 
Well I have been an electronics/theater fan since I was about 10. I am 29 now and my wife and I bought a 4 bedroom house about 6 weeks ago. I was in a 1 bedroom condo before we purchased the house. I have always wanted a theater and was thrilled to finally start it after almost 20 years of it being a dream. The room is 13x16. I had a projector set up in my condo and am using the same screen and projector that I had (100 inch DIY screen and Mits HD1000 projector). I used AVS for ideas on the laminate DIY screen. Pics of my old set up can be found here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...&&#post9187330

Anyway, I drew everything up last week and went to home depot and bought the wood. Yesterday I made all the cuts and tonight I started the front wall. It isn't much compared to some of the stuff on here, but once I get it finished it will be enough to satisfy me. Here are some pictures of the room and progress I have made over the past 2 days.

Here is the entrance to the theater.











I got most of the framing for the front wall done tonight. I am use Dazian fabric to cover the wall. I ordered several samples and should have them this week.

Thanks for all the help on this forum. I will be using several ideas in the room (DIY Laminate screen, DIY marquee, plus all the other little things I never would have know about like the Dazian fabric).
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post #2 of 45
7/23/07 at 4:17am
Hey, good deal. Welcome to the fun! It's very satisfying to DIY a room and then enjoy it when you're dong. Looks like the space offers the potential to turn out very well.

If I might make one suggestion... I'd resist the temptation to have the screen surround stained like that. It looks really nice don't get me wrong. It's just that it's going to ruin that 'picture jumping out of a black background' effect.

Bryan
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post #3 of 45
7/23/07 at 9:23am
Thread Starter 
Hey I am open to suggestions by all means. I appreciate all the feedback I can get. It is kind of hard to describe, but you are only going to actually see abou 2" of the wood stain on the background. The screen has 4" black velvet border frame around it. Looking at the pictures now, t looks pretty crappy, but the finished product will be nice. I have alot of nice touches I am going to add. I didnt want to post pictures until I was finished, but I have gotten so much enjoyment by reading peoples complete build threads on here. Again, I appreciate all feedback. Thanks!
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post #4 of 45
7/27/07 at 7:05pm
Thread Starter 
Yesterday and tonight I have pretty much finished the component rack. It will be on casters so I can pull it out if I nned to. Hopefully this weekend I can get more done. I should have my fabric from Dazian (Celtic) sometime next week so I can finish off the front false wall. I am happy with the way things are going. I enjoy woodworking and am having a great time with the build. Here are some pics of the progress if anyone cares



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post #5 of 45
7/27/07 at 8:05pm
I am looking to do something similar as I am building a 2000 sq ft garage/workshop with a upstairs theater like yours. My problem is that the second floor (frog space as they say here in NC) might be 12' wide at the floor and I am not sure how much I will have on the 8' height ceiling width. So is your HT running 16 long and 13 wide? Are you putting the theater chairs side by side? How is the head space to get to the chairs? What is your knee wall height? I am trying to work with what I have and I cannot make the upstairs any wider due to the 24' attic style 10/12 trusses I am using. It looks like you are doing a 7.1 and I was worried about my 7.1 due to the limited head height and passage area to the seating. What size screen are you using for this room? Thanks and good luck!
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post #6 of 45
7/27/07 at 9:08pm
Thread Starter 
I will take better pics of the room tomorrow to give you an idea of the layout. The room is 13 feet wide on the front stage and 16 feet deep. I am only using 1 row of 3 chairs in the room. The wall starts to slope at about the 5 foot mark. They are 8 foot ceilings. I am doing 7.1 also. The rear surrounds will be very close to each other, but I have no other choice. I am mounting dipoles on the side walls. The back cubby area where the back window is is 30x30 and that is where the rear surrounds will go. Luckly the dormer is centered in the room so the surrounds will be centered also. I am going to frame in that area with Dazian fabric and make a hush box hole for the projector. I will continue to update and post pics of the project. It might not look like much now, but once things come together it will be great!
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post #7 of 45
7/28/07 at 10:09am
Thanks! For what its worth ... your "It may not look like much now, but once things come together it will be great!" is my model to try to build mine. I am in a similar boat but I am not fortunate enough to have any dormers. The only positive (I think) about my project is that it is not yet constructed and I have the option of no end window (but that is a permanent decision that I need to think about) as of yet. I may opt for a window and put some blinds on it, seal it for light but then I would need a false wall. I was also toying with the idea of building a false wall to house the depth of the speakers I have as to not have any speakers on the floor for optomized space or it could be a vertical wall in the center for the screen and leaving it open on the sides for the speaker placement. Do you have any idea of your L + W of your screen? Diagonals never do much for me because it does not tell the actual ratio or shape. I am also having a problem deciding on the screen format. I have movies in 3 aspects and if I mount the projector from the ceiling I am not sure how to adjust the zoom when necessary. I wished we would get to a final format and stay there.

After looking at your original photos again I can see that you are in the opposite direction that I think I have to go in my HT. My building is 24x60 downstairs with a 10/12 or 12/12 pitch roof with the attic space (knee walls) and I was told that the floor in the upstairs (attic) is about 12' wide. So I have a second floor area measuring 12x60 but remember that the roof will angle in on the long sides as yours does. I am not sure as of yet what width for a screen I will actually have. Your HT seems to have a much wider truss than mine. This is why I have a hard time imagining a HT in a 12' wide room with the ceiling angling in at 45? or so. At the 8' height I am not sure if I will have 4 -6 feet of continious 8' ceiling before the angle to the knee wall.

I really like the fact that the dormer is in the perfect place for you and adds usable but hidden depth to your HT.
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post #8 of 45
7/31/07 at 6:07pm
Thread Starter 
Well the fabric came in today so looks like I will be bust over the next few days I finished all the frames for the fabric yesterday and tonight. I have to say, so far that has been the worst/time consuming part. I was amazed at how much spray paint I have gone through. I have used at least 10 cans lol.

Anyway, here are some pics of the progress over the last few days.


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post #9 of 45
7/31/07 at 10:47pm
very nice job on the framing... keep posting pics as you go...

i wish i had a garage like yours! cleaaaaaaaan! lol
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post #10 of 45
8/1/07 at 6:39am
I was just thinking the same thing about the garage! That's the cleanest garage floor I've ever seen!
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post #11 of 45
8/1/07 at 7:45am
Thread Starter 
Thanks guys. Painting the garage floor was the first thing I did when me and my wife bought the house 2 months ago. I wish you could have seen it before lol.
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post #12 of 45
8/1/07 at 12:05pm
Are you going to keep the equipment rack open and visible during the show or are you using some type of tinted glass, sheer or something else to lessen the light from the equipment rack? I really like the color choice ... nice touch.
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post #13 of 45
8/7/07 at 7:24pm
Thread Starter 
Well I have been working pretty hard every night over the past week and have a lot of it finished. I covered the window on the side of the room with dazian fabric and it is pitch BLACK all the time in there now. I also built a screen in the rear dormer so it looks like 1 back wall. It hides the projector and surrounds. I still am going to hang 2 poster lightboxes on the side wall and I have to run all the wires through the ceiling. I also have to build the subs. I am using (8) MJ-18's in 2 sealed 16 cubic feet boxes. I have not hooked anything up yet, just placed the components in the rack and hung the projector. Things are coming along nicely, but I still have a lot to go. Oh and I get my HD-A2 tomorrow, woohoo!!! I can't wait to watch 300 on HDDVD!

The seats will be pushed back about 3 feet. I still have to get back there to hang the side surrounds and run wire in the walls and in the attic.

I installed some rope light in the inside frame of the rack. I routered a 1/2 dovetail in the inside frame so the rope light is recessed and can not be seen from the side. It is hard to tell from these pics, but it is very bright when turned on. There is also rope lighting behind the screen frame. Both a on a x10 plug so I can control them with my harmony 880. My lightboxes are also going to be on dimmers.

Here are some updated pics.







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post #14 of 45
8/7/07 at 9:54pm
I really like the lighting effect between the screen and the cabinet and in the equipment rack. Probably too distracting to have on during a movie, but good for pre-show entertainment.
I have illuminated stars in my speaker stands that get dimmed during the main feature. Sometimes the little things add a lot to the overall experience.
Well done!!

Regards,
Michael.
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post #15 of 45
8/7/07 at 10:16pm
The lighting is amazing.

Very nice work there.
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post #16 of 45
8/8/07 at 6:48am
That turned out great. Love the woodwork and the lighting.

Great engineering on the rack. How difficult is it to maneuver the rack in and out on the carpet and pad?
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post #17 of 45
8/8/07 at 7:04am
Thread Starter 
Thanks guys, I appreciate the comments. I bought 3" casters so they are pretty large. It isn't very difficult to get out if I need to. I made the panel to the right detachable with velcro so I can also get back there that way if I need to. I probably wont ever need to completely pull the rack out for anything, but the casters are there if I do.

I was a little worried about the room size being too small, but it actually has a nice compact feel. The only reason I would want a bigger room would be to add a second row of chairs. Everything fits in there perfect and I have about 12 feet from eyes to screen with about 15 feet of throw for the projector. Next up, building the lightboxes and building the HUGE sub boxes
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post #18 of 45
8/8/07 at 7:19am
Looking good! The wood looks great.
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post #19 of 45
8/21/07 at 5:45pm
Thread Starter 
Well I am pretty much finished with the room except for hanging the light boxes and building the subs. I am going to have to install 2 outlets in the wall so the wires do not show on the lightboxes. The hardest part was getting the custom built in closet DVD rack up my stairs! I am going to put in 4 MJ18s behind the screen next week.

The room sounds AMAZING even without subs. I had for the most part the same set up in a 10x12 apartment and it is MUCH better now. I made the lightboxes from the DIY on here, the "Edwards Cinema" sign above the rack, the DIY laminate screen, the rope lighting around the screen, and the sound panel were all also "borrowed" from threads here. Not to mention the 30+ demos DVDs from here. Thanks for all the ideas on AVS it was much easier. Thanks SO much to everyone. The lightboxes do not look very bright in the pics but they are much brighter in person.

Here are some updated pics.








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post #20 of 45
8/21/07 at 5:45pm
Thread Starter 


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post #21 of 45
8/22/07 at 7:56am
Wow, you have some unique ideas that really personalize your theater, which is best part of all this.
I wish I had the room to create a front wall....I like the wood trim around the screen !

Can you detail the sound panels you have ? (materials, building)
My wfie and I agree we have too much echoing, and I need to treat the walls around the seating area, and your seem to be doing the same thing.
How well do they work ?.
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post #22 of 45
8/22/07 at 8:41am
Wow, that looks fantastic. I really like the framing and color combo.

Now come up to Birmingham, and build my theater. War Eagle!
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post #23 of 45
8/22/07 at 8:08pm
Looks Great! Geaux Tigers!
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post #24 of 45
11/8/07 at 7:07pm
What type of material is your screen made out of?
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post #25 of 45
11/8/07 at 7:30pm
Sweet setup is all I can say!
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post #26 of 45
12/9/07 at 3:28pm
Thread Starter 
I figured I would update my thread. I am doing some DIY subs for the room. I am building (2) 40x24x20 boxes with (2) MJ18's in each box. Each box is roughly 8.5 cubic feet. I am using 3/4" MDF and doubling up the front baffle. All 4 subs are going to be powered with a EP2500 bridged for 600 watts per driver. The room is about 1600 square feet with no openings. I am also adding (4)ED EHQS 12's in the rear of the room.

I still have to round over the baffles and sand the cabinet on the MJ18 boxes. I am not going to do any kind of finish because it will be behind my front stage and not seen. I also finished my cabinet for my (4) EHQS 12's. It is going behind my seats and will also be hidden behind my rear wall. I still have to install the plate amp. It is suppose to be delivered tomorrow. This stuff is fun! I wish I had more space for more! Here are some updated pics.







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post #27 of 45
12/9/07 at 3:50pm
That is a beautiful setup. I love the equipment rack and the way all the wiring is hidden!

Awesome through and through!

Victor
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post #28 of 45
6/10/08 at 6:56am
Awesome setup! Let me ask you though, how big is the room?
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post #29 of 45
6/10/08 at 7:40am
Quote:


The room is 13x16

It's in the first post. (I only subscride for the articles, not the pictures)
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post #30 of 45
11/25/08 at 3:15pm
Thread Starter 
I figured I would posts pictures of the updated theater. I just got a new Onkyo 905 and am using it as a preamp, 4 ficar 18's in an IB, a new "lobby" area, and a few other new toys. Here are the pictures.

























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