The "E-A-G-L-E-S Nest" Construction has begun!

In dedication to our departed Soldier, a Warrior, a Gladiator, a true Spartan by the name of "Jeremiah Trotter", the construction of the EAGLES Nest has begun. Truly one of the very best Linebackers to ball in the City of Brotherly Love.




Like many others, I have been roaming these AVSforums for a few years. Admiring the great looking Home Theaters of those who allowed us to get a peak inside of their homes. So here is my chance to share and seek the wisdom and knowledge of the many Home Theater enthusiasts that roam these forums.

This will not be a Dedicated Home Theater. More like a General Home Theater and Media/Game Room. But I know the hardcore enthusiast hangs out here (and in the other forums also) and I wanted get some feedback from the you all. As I said before this will not be a Dedicated Theater but I would definitely like to have some sound isolation. Mainly avoid sound traveling to the 2nd and 3rd floor of the house. So I will not be doing and DD or GG in this construction. Maybe in the future. I am just getting my feet wet. Enough rambling.

Here is the scope of the project. I am remodeling a 19' x 32' x7' basement. One half of the room will be the Media Room which 10' x 19'. The other half will serve as a Game Room/Laundry Room/Home Office. I always see request for pictures so there will be a few pics to follow so you can see the layout.

The Equipment:
Display Source:
• Mitsubishi HD1000 or Optoma HD70 Front Projector and Samsung 50” 1080P Slim-Depth DLP HDTV
• 2 x 15” LCD Monitors in the Game Room mirroring whatever is playing in the Media Room

Source Component:
• Motorola HD Cable Box
• HTPC possibly w/ Dual Cable Card Tuner
• 2 - 3TB Windows Home Server
• Xbox 360 w/ HD DVD Addon
• Bravo D1 Upconverting DVD Player
• Xbox (original w/ XBMC)
• Playstation 2 (possibly PS3 in future for Blu Ray)

Audio Source:
• Onkyo TX-SR605 or Yamaha RX-V661
• Athena Audition Series (I own a 5.1 set of these already. 2 x AS-F1, 1 x AS-C1,
2 x AS-B1. I may add a pair of AS-R1 to the mix)

Here are some pics of what it looks like now and renderings of the finished project.

Floor Plan:



Back wall of Media Room:






Screen wall of Media Room



Screen up:


92" or wider Screen down:



Future location of Pool Table:








Well thats enough for the photos. I am open to suggestions on equipment and layout. Looking at the framing that was probably put up 20 to 30 years ago, should I take this down and put up 2 x 4s' framing around the basement or leave it as is? Most of the current framing is on every 16th. Any suggestions on sound isolation. I would like to keep the sound in the basement and not traveling throughout the house.

I am on a very tight budget of $5,000.00 for the construction portion. Most of the work I will do myself. I am having a HVAC guy run some duct work and some more returns in the Media Room. And an electrician to do some rewiring. I will handle most of the Low Voltage wiring. I already have runs of 2-Cat5e and 2-RG6 running through 6 rooms throughout the house. Everything will home run into a closet in the basement. I will run Conduit to the projector location and the Screen wall while everything is open.

In the future I would like to do some Home Automation throughout the house. Add things over time:
Whole house Audio: NuVo Concerto
Lighting: Zwave or Insteon
Security: Elk M1

Please chime in!

Curtis

Sorry about the pics not showing up but they should be fixed now. Thanks for info Bud. I had a feeling there was a reason most people were using Photobucket and not Flickr.

Kroooog, glad to see another Philadelphian on the forum. I live in South Philly so we are probably not to far from each other.

Some more pics and renderings:

The Laundry area







Demolition started 3 hours later - Down with the Wood Paneling:

Caesar1:

I have to see how I can squeeze the Onkyo 705 into the tight budget. The extra umphhh and features would be welcomed. What kind of Surround Speakers you have on the wall in you Theater? They look like Athena AS-R1's. Your setup looks great. I would love to see some more pics.

Plasma George:

Great advice!! This is probably the WORST time of the year to start some construction project, Especially with Football season 2 weeks away. But the demolition has begun and the process is in motion. I always wonder how many people from this area was trolling around these forums.

I really need some suggestions whether or not to tear down the existing Framing or leave as is. There are pics of the existing framing posted at the beginning of the thread.

Well I plan to spend the weekend rewiring. Hopefully I will get the recessed ligts in. I purchased 6 x 6" Halo IC Airtight cans from HD. I am thinking of putting 3 - 4" cans in a 12 x 12 soffit running along the back wall and the screen wall. Can anyone suggest a motorized screen, anywhere from 92" on up (given the size of the room)?

I used Sketchup. You can get it free now from Google. I just started using it about 2 months ago but purchased it a year or two ago. I got inspired when I seen some of the renderings that Raptor was posting on the forum. Just recently got around to trying it out. Not hard to learn. also there is a Video podcast that does tutorial on using sketchup

Thanks for the compliment but showing up with a Cowboys jersey would definitely not be a good idea. You heard what happen to Santa well take that and multiply by ten. LOL

The room is still down to studs. I am doing work whenever I can. Working two jobs right now so I don't have much time but I get in there when I can. The wood is not wet but probably have been up there for a good 20-30 years. My GF bought the house 10 years ago and I think the house is 40 years old (someone wrote a date on the wall Feb. 1966). The basement has not many problems with water that I know of and stays pretty dry. I am going to try and go with the existing framing.
Update:
I picked up 30 sheets of 5/8" 4 x 8 drywall this weekend from HD. I have managed to put up the recessed lighting but have not wired them. I plan to spend the weekend running Low Voltage wiring. I am considering putting a soffit on one wall so I can use 2" PVC for conduit instead of the 3/4" flex Conduit I purchased from HD this weekend.
I have an electrician coming to rewire a few things on Friday. After taking down the horrific Wood Paneling we found 2 big cracks in the wall that ran from the ceiling to the floor which may have come from the house settling/shifting. So I have a Masonry guy who is going to work on that next week. Then on Sept. 15th I have a HVAC guy coming to run some duct work along the wall where the stools and table are. He will be installing to 2 hits in the Media Room and the same in the Game Room. After that it will be left up to me to finish the rest with some help of course.

I have already planned on going with the same color scheme. Burgundy is one of my favorite colors. I can't wait to get to point where I am painting. Wowwwww!

Here is a pic of the soffit I am planning to build to run Low Voltage wire through. It will home run into the closet opposite of the Washer and Dryer. Currently I have a pair of Cat5e and RG6 ran to 6 different rooms throughout the house. I am adding 5 more runs of RG6 to each room and wiring for Projector and Speakers for the Media Room.



Also some pics of the duct work that is going to be added:



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Here is what I like my screen wall to look like:



This pic was taken from bb_bones thread:

My Apartment LCD/Projector Setup

Man I would have love a SWEET setup like that in college. I am Green with Envy. Very clean setup. I love that A/V cabinet but can not convince myself it is worth the money. I believe it is made by BDI.

Here is an update. This has been almost exactly 1 year in the making. Kind of tough demoing and remodeling a basement while working 2 full time jobs. About 1 month from completion. I have to carpet the media room and finish up the tiling on the other half. Not including new furniture.