Great to see more progress @beerhound34 .

What is your plan for the front wall of the theater? I am assuming that you are not going with Sheetrock since you've lined it with landscaping fabric? I am planning to finish my front wall (5/8" DD+GG) which will be a few feet behind the false wall. I am keeping all of my options open so I was just curious what your line of thinking is there.

Absolutely LOVE your columns. I noticed that the backs are open in each of them. I am sure you are planning to line them with Rockwool but are you concerned about the noise flanking up through the stud bays? If I am able to finagle columns in my build, I was planning to build them completely inside the room which will consist of decoupled walls/ceilings.

Also, have you started on your DIYSG speaker build yet or are you saving that for last?

[QUOTE=Ladeback;58565388]Question for anyone reading this with experience, I am using a silver ticket 120" screen, do I need to hang the projector first and build the screen after the projector is shining or can I follow within the shifting parameters and put the screen up first? I am installing one of the new BenQ 3550 so I have plenty of throw distance to work with.

I don't know much about the the BenQ 3550, but what I see online it only has vertical lens shift and keystone. I think you would be ok mounting the screen first then the projector. That's how I have done most of mine, but of course I figure out my throw distance first. I take it you have a set location already built in the ceiling? I still haven't mounted my current Epson 2040, just have it sitting on a table in my theater and still trying to get a contractor to give an estimate on finishing the theater and basement. I get people to come out, but no one gives me an estimate. Guess I will be doing it myself. I have a few HVAC and plumbing estimates I may just go with and get it going soon.


Thank you for the insight!!! This is my first projector so I am not sure how much wiggle room there is with these things. From what I understand, the vertical shift for this model is 10%. With my screen height of 69", that means I have 6.9" of shift. So if the top of the screen is 6" from the center of the lens I would be ok with a little less than an inch to work with. If that's cutting it too close maybe I will just hang the projector first. I was hoping to follow everyone's advice of waiting until the very end to hang the projector so that I won't get side tracked even more by feeling the need to sample a bunch of movies lol!

Thanks brother! I am planning to leave the back wall open. It's the poured concrete with the insulation blanket, then framing filled with roxul and then I am going to cover the landscaping fabric with the foam wedges. That should give me a bunch of absorption for the front wall. The screen wall will hide everything.

The backs were left open on the two side columns that will house the side surrounds. You are correct in that those will be packed with roxul. One side of the columns is an exterior concrete wall, so I am not too worried about the other side of the opening. The other opening is to the stairwell going upstairs. I had to keep those open though to allow enough depth for my surrounds. I am hoping packing enough roxul in them helps with any absorption needs.

The speakers will be started soon. I had several orders for cornhole boards that are taking up space in my shop right now. Once I get those out of the way I can start on the speakers. I also figured I would hold off on doing those until I get done with all the staining and painting. I am getting tired of painting and staining so I better grind it out or it will never get done....

[quote=beerhound34;58570518] I haven't mounted my Epson 2040 yet and it only has Keystone, no lens shift, but I have mounted older projectors with little to no way to adjustments. What I did was try and mount the projector lens at the top of the screen and close to middle of the throw. I could then adjust the projector with an adjustable mount and the lens zoom on the projector. 11'-2" is right in the middle for throw on a 120" 16:9 screen.

Not sure you have looked at this.

https://www.projectorcentral.com/Ben...ulator-pro.htm

[quote=Ladeback;58570660] I never thought of just adjusting the height of the mount in case the screen is an inch or so too low or too high.... That's such an easy fix I didn't think of.
So I used the link and it was showing a lens shift of 3 inches and says there is an additional 5 inches of lens shift. If that's the case I should have plenty of room for what I am planning. Thank you Ladeback for easing my mind and helping me overcome a duh moment!!!

[quote=beerhound34;58570744] Amazon has telescoping mounts that will work if you dont have one. Mine has one and I am going to make my room wider so my screen will be under a beam so I will probably be using mine. Good luck in mounting it. I suggest having help and someone hold it while you get it all set up.

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As I am getting deeper into the build and starting to get into the fun stuff I will try to do my best to provide better updates.
Was able to get a few hours of work in on Sunday. I got all the crown done around the bottom of the soffit and around the columns. Started laying out some of the base last night. I am building a custom baseboard system that will be similar to what was done in the Saltmine build in which LED strip lights will be incorporated into the trim. I will try to get plenty of pictures and details of what I am doing in case someone else decides to do something similar at a later time.

I do have a question for anyone out there that can help, what is a good height for the side and rear surrounds? I felt like I have searched and searched on this forum and still do not feel like there is a good consensus on a proper height. Is that because there isn't one? I'm leaning towards 42" for the sides but that be kind of low on the right rear which would then have one of the theater seats on the rear row blocking it from the front row. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Here's the weekend progress pics:
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I was planning to set the center of my speakers right around the 42" mark originally (based on "the standard" of ear height while sitting down) but when you physically hold a speaker on the wall at that height, it looks low IMO. I am likely going with these Triads for surrounds and rears and I was planning on mounting them with the bottom of the speaker at 42" (and top at 54"). My second row is bar height seating so I needed to split the height difference between the two.

Yeah I'm in the same boat in that the 42" seems low. I have read I feel like a million posts on this and there seems to be a bunch of different theories. Some say the tweeter should be at ear height other threads an write ups I have read say 2' - 3' above ear height. The second row will be just a hair lower than bar height seating but not by much. I guess the nice thing about my sides and rears being in the columns is that I can start low and always just move them up if needed.

The crown molding looks great! Room is really starting to come together

I am stealing the Saltmine base as well in fact I just worked up a quick design over the weekend LOL



I am pondering the same questions on surround heights unfortunately with my design I have to make a decision that will be permanent. Is it just the tweeter that should be above the rear seat or the whole speaker? Right now I am looking at 42" up from the riser to the bottom of the speaker which will put the tweeter at about 49", figure I'll drop the sides about 6" down from that. Ultimately I agree opinions seem to be all over the map on this one.

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Very similar base moulding idea as to what I am doing!! I am using 3/4" maple ply for most of mine though since I will eventually have fabric frames covering up the edges of the plywood strips. I will probably have a couple pics tonight of all the pieces cut and LED strips attached. Just like yours I am doing a 4 piece base with the LED's going on a piece that has a 45* angle pointing towards the floor.

I believe the 42" was for tweeter height. I honestly don't know. I just finished reading through one thread where 2016 standards were argued with 2018 standards and it went back and forth between ear level, 2' - 3' above ear level, not higher than the halfway point of the room height, within 1.25 of ear level and then rears higher than sides but no more than 1.25 higher. One statement that does seem to be holding true in all these posts though is to be sure your speakers can be seen from any seated position and that no couches or big ol' heads are blocking the speakers when one is seated.

I look forward to seeing the pics and stealing what I can

Re speaker height I have fallen to the point of the last sentence just have them high enough so that nothing blocks them. Thanks!

Glad you guys are hashing out the speaker height, because I'm in the same boat in my planning

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Here’s the logic I am using for my side surrounds. My ear height in the 1st row will be 42” sitting in a Fusion Jive. My ear height in the 2nd row will be 58” sitting in my bar-height stool. The midway point between those two ear heights is 50” if I split the difference. The total height of my Triad Bronze surround speaker is 12” so one would think I should have the top of the speaker at 56”H with bottom of the speaker at 44”H, right? No. The center of my dipole tweeters are about 3” up from the bottom of the speaker so I need to adjust for that. If I install the bottom of my speaker at 47” and top at 59”, that would put my tweeters at the midway point of both of my ear heights - 50”H. So in Row 1, the tweeters would be 8” above my ear level. In Row 2, the tweeters would be 8” below my ear level. Not that it matters that much, but if I do go with that height it would put the center of the 4” driver about 55” off the floor.

Since I have a bar/ledge/stools between the 1st row of seating and the rear surrounds, I may opt to mount the rear surrounds an inch or two higher to ensure that the sound carries through to the front. I’ll have to make that a game time decision though.

Iwas able to start diving into the world of LED strip lights late last week and yesterday. I tried to do an extensive amount of research before diving into this part of the project but still felt like I came up a little short in the knowledge department. I am using the Korjo Dream Color LED strips with the wifi controller to allow Alexa control. These LED's are 3 wire or contact point LED's where as it seems most others are 4 wire or pin strip lights.
I decided to just jump right in last week and start cutting away at strips to create custom lengths. I ordered about $25 worth of different types of quick connects. 3 different types and all 3 were less than stellar in performance. While I was hoping to avoid having to solder (just because I never really had soldered much before), I went ahead and jumped right in. My first mistake was trying to use a basic soldering iron and solder I grabbed from a big box store. The tip and solder diameter were way to big for these LED's. It was almost as frustrating as trying the quick connects.

Luckily a good friend of mine brought me over his soldering equipment. I nice solder iron with a small tip along with thread sized solder made these LED's a breeze. Like they say, proper tool for the job!!! For anyone out there unfamiliar with LED's or soldering like me, stay away from the quick connects. Use your money towards buying a good soldering iron.

Since LED's are becoming more popular in home theaters I thought I would go a little more in depth with what I am doing. I am not doing any amplifiers or large power supplies. I am just doing the 5v power packs in line after every couple of rolls. The baseboards of my theater will incorporate LED lighting. There is about 60 feet worth of strip lighting just in the baseboard. I will doing more in the ceiling cove as well. One controller is handling all of the lights it has a Y that sends signal to two different runs. One run is only about 15" before it terminates. The other run continues all the way around most of the theater and has two additional 5v power supplies spaced out. The test runs worked perfect with no apparent signal drop or dimming of colors at the end of the run.

For the soldering, I used two different types of methods. For some of the sections I connected two sections of LED's directly with wire (pics below). In other sections I soldered additional male and female plugs to match the factory plugs. These work much better than messing with quick connects. It did take me a little while to figure out how to get the silicone peeled off the tops of these. I bought the waterproof LED's thinking they would hold up to dust better. The silicon is pretty thick on the top so hopefully this holds up to be true.

The soldering was really easy (once using the right tools). I just tinned the wires, then put a small solder bead on each of the three contact points. I then held the tinned wire in place over its correct contact spot, gave the solder iron a quick press over the wire and contact spot and wolla!!

Some pics of the soldering of the LED's:
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Here's all the lights hooked up before I started installing it as a part of the baseboards.

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I will have more pictures of the trim and how it came out with the LED's installed into the trim here soon!!

Good info thanks for sharing! I am getting ready to start mine as well. The room is looking great!

I was able to get all the LED's for the base trim installed last night. I just have to go through tonight and finish installing the rest of the pieces. That should go pretty quick and be pretty easy.

I started with maple plywood in which I ripped a bunch of 1 1/2" pieces with the bottom cut at a 45 degree angle. The angle is pointing out and that is what I attached the LED's to. I must say, the adhesive backing on these lights is pretty darn sticky. I still added some loctite supper glue to give it a little extra bonding power. Tonight I will add a piece of 1" x 3" maple ply underneath the top piece, place silver duct tape on the top of that 1" x 3" and have it make an "L" from the top of the piece to the wall under the LED's. I will then top that piece with a 1"x 4 1/2" piece of maple ply that will be the face of the trim. The small top piece that is holding the LED's will have a piece of top cap moulding over it. I am hoping this will help to hide the LED's actually being visible. Tomorrow's pictures should help to paint a better understanding!!!

Last night's progress with the LED's:
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That is going to look spectacular @beerhound34 . So if a section of LED light goes bad at any point, will you have to remove all of the trim to get to it? Perhaps the final pics will give me a better understanding of how it all comes together. I have never been a fan of LED lights in a theater room but, I have to say, this look might be swaying me a bit. I especially like how it lights up the steps on the riser as well. If I decide to go down the LED road at any point, I'll hit you up for the info on the lights...

Unfortunately yes, if a section goes out, I will have to remove the top pieces of the trim to fix it. I did put a bunch of quick disconnects in to help break it out a little easier should I have to fix sections.
My main goal of this was to just have the underside of the riser lit instead of step lights. Being a fan of LED lights (the DJ side of me), I decided why stop at just the riser. Actually when I saw the Saltmine theater I knew right away that I wanted LED's in the trim.
I still have about 9 more rolls of LED's to install in the soffits of both the theater and the main basement as well as LED's under the bar, as a part of the flag wall and as accents for the back bar and cabinet. I am hoping to at least win honorable mention for Most LED strips used in a build thread!!! . I think I have 265' of LED's that are going into this basement.....

beerhound, this is going to look great. Good for you for diving right in and getting your hands dirty. LEDs can be overwhelming to research and plan, but it looks like you chose well. Looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

Thanks OJ!!! I took a look through your HTM build thread, great posts!!! I am hoping to start on my HTM 10's and Volt 6's this weekend. I have been reading up as many posts as I can on the build. Once again it's a task that involves soldering so I am a little hesitant on messing something up.

This will be the last post regarding the LED trim build, I promise. I just wanted to show the last parts of the process for anyone interested in how I'm doing it.

Last night I was able to add the bulk of the remaining pieces. I still have to do a lot of the cap moulding to most of it, but that's something I should be able to knock out quickly this evening.

I guess this is step 2 or 3 or 4....... I attached 1" x 4" maple ply strips underneath of the top LED support.
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I then put a piece of foil tape to fill the gap between the 1" x 4" and LED support. This actually reflected too much in my opinion so I didn't use the foil for the rest of the pieces. It does give a cool looking 3D depth to it, but you can easily see the individual LED's and it doesn't seem to washout as well.
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Next steps were to aply the appearance 1" x 4 1/2" base piece and the cap moulding.
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On the other side is where I did my first test build without the foil tape and felt the colors washed much better. I guess it's a personal preference as to how much reflection you want. Like I said, I still have a good bit of the cap moulding to put on, but you get a good idea of how it will look with all the other pieces applied.
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Looks great!

@beerhound34 if you get an opportunity can you please take a closer shot of your base molding going up the steps under the bar window? I like the way you angled it, been noodling through how to do mine. Thanks!

I will get some close ups of it this evening!

@beerhound34 - I like the construction method of the base molding and LED 'lane' . Seems like it was a much easier construction method, allot less material used overall.
Congrats getting this far on the build. Looks like it's coming together very nicely.
Been watching the build and have enjoyed seeing the progress.
Getting down to the homestretch. Keep up the good work!

I finally got on the computer to check out your thread since the pics don't show up on the tapatalk app. This looks awesome! I'm glad you're doing the led lighting the way you are because that's how I wanted to do my future space as well. Your pics and tutorial will be helpful. Cant wait to see how the rest of the project and that flag wall turns out. Stay safe!

I have no clue why the pictures only show up on the computer and not the app. Maybe it's how I am coding the pictures?? I am using Imgur for my photo hosting. Maybe someone out there who is a subject matter expert can weigh in. I am using the BBCode, maybe I should be using a different code??

This was a pretty easy method when it came to building the base. Cost wasn't bad at all either considering most of it is made out of a single piece of maple plywood. I am getting ready to head down to the basement now to do a whole lot of caulking and nail filling and hopefully start painting this afternoon, we will see how it looks after a coat of paint!

@PiKINNEB sorry on the delay but here is a couple pictures of the base moulding where the step is for the riser.

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I figured since this is the Three Dane Theater I might as well sneak in an obligatory dog pic of one of our Great Danes that the theater's name is derived from. This is Ovi. He is our 14 mo old pup. He has been my shadow for the past couple weeks in the basement. He likes to constantly bring me his kongs while I try to work, and last night he decided he liked blue painters tape and wanted to try and pull up all the tape I was placing around the base. I will try to get a good pic of him with our other Dane in the near future, she isn't as big of a fan of the basement as he is. I guess he understands the man cave aspect of it while Zoey rather hang upstairs on her fancy couches.

AVS Forum meet Ovi The Great Dane

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