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DigitalMan's Upstairs Theater (2015 Update + ATMOS)

8K views 45 replies 8 participants last post by  digitlman 
#1 · (Edited)
Otherwise know as Digitalman's low budget, mediocre quality, half-a$$ed version of jelloslugs amazing upstairs theater...

UPDATE: July 2015 So we have basically gutted the theater and started over finally. After lots of thought and 1600sq ft of wood flooring project installed in the rest of the house we are back to 100% dedication to finishing the theater and loft area. I will try to make changes here to catch things up. I have new autocad renderings to replace the old theories and I have all different audio gear now, B&W nautilus speakers, 2 rows of seating, no bar in the back. we are going to do LED strip cove lighting with molding, a back-lit Nebulae on the ceiling in the center, ATMOS 7.1.4, and a few other new ideas. .

Typical story, been lurking around here for years waiting to build a new house that i can have a dedicated theater room in. I am on my 3rd projector now, have had a projector in all our other houses we have rented throughout the years. projecting on walls or my electric screen in the family room in most of them. Finally in December 2009 we moved into our new home we had built.I was able to customize it and remove a wall between two rooms upstairs and make it one large 22x16 room for our theater.

It's been 7 months since moving in and still no progress on the room. I have spent countless hours researching and planning on how to do everything. I have had the best of intentions and wanted to do some mediocre sound isolation and Green Glue double drywall the walls and floor. However at this point we have realized we just can't afford to do all the things we want right now. As opposed to the room sitting empty for another year we really want to do whatever we can to get the room up and functional now. I figure there is nothing stopping us from doing the GG/DD later when we can afford it. The walls would be easy enough, the only issue would be the floor which will have a riser.

I have a lot of ideas and plans for some things that i would certainly like some tips and advice on.

I did a quick and dirty google sketch-up of the basic room layout and a friend threw it together in autocad also and did some rendering tests but then he moved away
Hopefully he will chime in here and help me with this project again.

Some of the room basics will be a double french door entryway in the left rear corner. oversight in the house design as right where the door needs to go the builder put the attic access. My attic is a myriad of crossbeams with almost no open storage area up there so i decided i don't need an attic staircase and i am just going to shorten the opening in half and seal up the rest and that leaves room for the doorway to be installed. The room has 2 windows which will be plugged similar to Jelloslugs method. There is a closet in the front let corner on the left wall. That will serve as the equipment room and i am going to cut out the wall to the left of the door for the equipment rack to be exposed there with full access to the rear from inside the closet. I plan to put an exhaust fan in the top of the closet that will suck out hot air to the other side of the wall which is at the top of our stairwell. This leads directly to the loft where our A/C intake is which i think will function well. I am also going to experiment with a whole new route for my video server equipment which will dramatically reduce the amount of heat in that closet anyways. I will be building a riser in the floor. There will be three rows of seating (if we ever can afford it) 1st row on floor, 2nd on riser and 3rd will be a bar in the back. As of right now we like row 1 to be a paired seat in the middle with a chaise lounge on each side. 2nd row will most likely be 2 paired seats and 3rd row will probably be 6 stools at the bar. I want to build a box for my projector and duct the hot air out into the attic and am looking for some advice on the best way to do this. I live in Florida and keeping the room cool is a priority. I don't know what to do about a stage, do i need one or not? My other dilemma is my riser, in that i don't know what furniture i am going to have so i don't know the dimensions and placement of my riser. I may just have to guess at it and hope it works out. what are the guidelines in building it, what height? how far from the far wall should it be? i dont want to walk around that side, should it go flush against the wall then? i don't want a space for stuff to fall in or someones foot to get caught in.

My screen is a Wilsonart Designer White 5x12 laminate, I just built my frame and have the laminate hanging from the top row of screws for now to let it settle. I am getting black velvet from joann's fabric for the frame. I have two hangman mounts for the wall.

I plan to run it full size cinemascope and use my projectors lens memory function to switch aspect ratio. it will shrink width for 16:9 to match the full height. Cinemascope will stretch to the full height and width of the screen with the black bars projecting off the screen. This is a huge dilemma of mine and i don't really know how well this is going to work out. My ceiling is only 8 feet high so i want my screen to almost touch the ceiling. I want plenty of room at the bottom for my center channel and subs. I have painted the ceiling and front wall already with BEHR Mouse Ears flat black. I wont know how it is going to reflect the bars until i bring the projector up and try it . The other 3 walls are painted with BEHR "Polished Leather" (Dark Red)

I will also need to create a masking system for the sides when i am in 16:9 mode.

Equipment: (UPDATED AUGUST 2015)

Projector: Panasonic AE-3000
Receiver: Marantz AV7702
Krell KAV-2250
B&K Reference 200.5
B&K Reference 7250 Series II
B&W Nautilus 802 Mains
B&W Nautilus HTM1 Center
B&W Nautilus SCM1 Surrounds
B&W ASW4000 Subwoofer
Yamaha NS-IW280C Ceiling
Directv HR-21 Satellite
Popcornhour C-200
Xbox 360

Well my brain is about to melt, time to post some pix, the wife is almost done with painting.

Let the beatings commence...
 
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#7 ·
Looks nice.


Does anyone else think that 21 feet is not quite enough for two rows of seating AND a bar?
 
#8 ·
My finished space is just about 21 feet. I was considering a bar but once I started building I realized that I did not have near enough room for it. Other than that you plan looks solid!
 
#12 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by digitlman /forum/post/19032980


well the bar doesn't take up as much room as a normal row of recliners, so i think it will be ok. it's just a matter of how close the first row is to the screen. we wanted to do a wetbar in the back as i have access to plumbing through the wall with a bathroom on the other side. however at this point that idea is on hold also.

I would leave the wetbar. Also, if you are looking for a nice, compact sink that won't take up much counter space I can point you toward the one I bought.
 
#13 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by premiertrussman /forum/post/19032995


youd probably have plenty of room if you just want the wetbar without the extra seating.


Btw i woulnd't call this half assed....lol...jelloslug is just a mad man...yours is maybe...3/4 assed

:d
 
#14 ·
Found your build thread, digman! Where are you located? Let me know when you want to come by and hear the THT.


My room will be 19 feet long and putting two rows in will require some compromises. Two extra feet would be great for me, but not allow bar seating. I don't think you are supposed to put seating at 50% of the room, correct? Something about room modes/nodes...?



Looks like you are making good progress!
 
#16 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by digitlman /forum/post/19034351


Our seating for the first two rows are most likely going to be standard home furniture type reclining loveseats. they wont take up as much room as say a berkline style full reclining theater seat. And we wont really require any space between the 2nd row and the bar.

You might want to verify that. There is nothing different mechanically between most home theater seats and their love seat/recliner counterparts.
 
#17 ·
I certainly think you can fit all three rows in, but you will be making compromises. I don't think there is anything wrong with that...and you might not even notice them.


The general rule is not to have any seating within 3 feet of the wall or speaker. My specific rule is not to have MY seat within 3 feet of the wall or speaker.
 
#18 · (Edited)
BEHR Mouse Ears is a really nice black, worked great



trimming the side color



of course i couldnt resist throwing the projector up on a ladder and testing it at 1am!





It truly looked amazing! i have had the projector for a long time and finally get to see it in all it's glory! a nice dark room with no white walls reflecting and washing out the screen. Looks WAY better than the pix.
 
#19 ·
You have gone and done it now. This weekend you will put the speakers in "just to test them" and some milk crates to sit on and that will be the end of the construction.....
 
#20 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by jelloslug /forum/post/19043122


You have gone and done it now. This weekend you will put the speakers in "just to test them" and some milk crates to sit on and that will be the end of the construction.....

Weekend? are you kidding?? it's still friday! i'm dragging the audio stuff upstairs when i get home tonight!


And we are way more classy than milk crates... Lawnchairs FTW!


actually i really need to see how loud it will be for the neighbors and find out if the GG ommision was a terrible mistake or not.
 
#21 ·
well after doing some audio tests i am content with the soundproofing. although i can hear it outside it certainly isn't disturbing the neighbors and they definitely cant hear it inside their houses (until i build my new subs!)


anyways i do need some advice on a few things. i assume my riser should be built with 2x12's and 1" plywood?


I need to build a U shaped shelf hanging from the ceiling to sit my projector on. I really would like to duct the heat exhaust from the front of my Panasonic AE3000 projector through a tube up into the attic. looking for any advice or tips on doing this.


I also need to cover my screen frame with black velvet. what is the best way to attach it?


thanks
 
#22 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by digitlman /forum/post/19061031


well after doing some audio tests i am content with the soundproofing. although i can hear it outside it certainly isn't disturbing the neighbors and they definitely cant hear it inside their houses (until i build my new subs!)


anyways i do need some advice on a few things. i assume my riser should be built with 2x12's and 1" plywood?


I need to build a U shaped shelf hanging from the ceiling to sit my projector on. I really would like to duct the heat exhaust from the front of my Panasonic AE3000 projector through a tube up into the attic. looking for any advice or tips on doing this.


I also need to cover my screen frame with black velvet. what is the best way to attach it?


thanks

On the riser it all depends on how high you want it but 2x12 will work. I ended up stacking 2x6 and 2x8 for mine and then 2 layers of 3/4 plywood with something in between. My wife ridiculed me for doing this but after I did she was like
WOW that is awesome as far as how much it deadens the sound. I've read some that use 3 layers.


So many options for the mount but need more specific of a question to answer.


I used 3M spray adhesive on my velvet trim to the wood frame and it works great and has been holding for some time. The trick is to apply it to both sides and then when tacky stick together.
 
#23 ·
I have been thinking a lot about my riser lately and also the fact that i am going to build 1 or 2 folded horn subs and now i am considering building a folded horn into my riser. any thoughts on that? I am going to build it out of 2x10x10 main runs spaced about 1 foot apart for a 13 foot width. 4x8 sheets of 23/32" sub flooring from lowes.


What about using two seperate sections each with an 8" driver in them?
 
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