AT Screen top & bottom filler?

Since the primary focus is going to be centered around a DIY Screen, your in 'xactly the right place.



The standard and most practical design is to make a upper and lower Panel of Black or very dark Grey Spandex on a Frame. Such a removable lower Frame would easily accommodate the eventual Sub Woofer. The upper Panel can be more permanently fixed in place, yet still be removable by detaching screws from behind.

The Screen itself can be screwed into place...and removable from behind as well. I do suggest that the Top Panel' slower edge be flush with the bottom edge of the left side Fur Down.

To me the bigger concern is those white room surfaces. Dey gotta go....!
(...the Carpet looks brand new....so I guess we have to live with that. )


Would you like a diagrammed proposal?

This is new basement construction and my wife was insistent on bright white everything so that it didn't feel like a dungeon. I'm hopeful that once things start coming together, that we can find a reasonable compromise. There have been some deep, rich navy blues that have caught my eye.

Good idea to just make two panels that slot into those openings. That would be simple enough. I'm also considering putting the subs on the bottom and using them for speaker stands, then just leaving it exposed and not covered up. Like this:



Is the 130" size choice OK? Seating (sofa) would be ~9 ft'. Using your instructions for making the frames, I was thinking of just attaching it at the four corners since it'll span that opening. Would it need any additional support?

Buddylee123 said:

Honestly if your wife is set on keeping the room that light I would look at using an ALR screen to deal with the reflections. I have a smaller room like you and even with my ceiling being black and my carpet being dark brown I had a lot of reflections that washed out my image.

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*chuckle*
I just realized some "cardinal rule" questions haven't even been posed, nor the info supplied as of yet. Just got a bit focused on the buildpart, and a bit depressed about the "Paint" part.


Moving on.....:



What with the Size screen he's doing, and if he's going with White /Black Spandex....and if he's using an appropriately powered PJ (...again, those unknowns...) then the Spandex will do nicely in what would be called "Controlled Lighting"...appropriately directed and muted Room lighting, (incl. Windows) and at least a bit of damped Ambient Light Reflections. Why so? Because of it's Low Gain, the screen itself does not output much more light than it's surface reflections that are left after light absorption. It has a modicum of ALR properties....but only in and of the reasoning it does better than a solid Matte White.



Considering the fact that the top of the screen will be down at least about 10-11" from the Ceiling, and the Side Walls look to be at least 24" on the right and 30" on the left, screen induced reflections will be minimal.


......but not non existent.


But if he shields that window and controls room lighting, he's going to be happy with that AT Screen.






PS...the only worthy AT Screen that is truly ALR in nature costs $1000s, so unless I've read @SccttS and the Wifey wrong, that's not a plausible consideration.

Slight reduction of Screen size to allow for the Flush insertion of Screen Frame between side walls of Recessed opening

Wow, that's a great diagram! Thank you for putting that together!


First a quick comment - they're actually HT-12s, so 18"W x 25"H, x 9.5"D.

Now silly questions time:

1. Is it typical to elevate the center slightly compared to L&R? Thought I wanted all tweeters to be level.
2. Once the screen is wrapped, am I screwing it in from the sides? This means I need to be in the cavity behind it to do this. Maybe a hangar solution instead? Or am I not understanding where the screws would go?
3. Dual fabric screen correct? Using these: White: https://spandexworld.com/c3/catalog/product/795 & Black: https://spandexworld.com/c3/catalog/product/796

Love the diagram and ideas!

SccttS said:

Wow, that's a great diagram! Thank you for putting that together!


First a quick comment - they're actually HT-12s, so 18"W x 25"H, x 9.5"D.

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I had to guess, and the cabinets didn't look all that big.

Now silly questions time:

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I like to say, the only silly questions are the ones you should have asked...but didn't.

Is it typical to elevate the center slightly compared to L&R? Thought I wanted all tweeters to be level.

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The Right & Left must be elevated so as to fall behind the Screen. They don't need to be positioned centered in the Screen area, but Center Channel always is best Centered. I made the diagram to the ideals that I feel are valid....and while some might take umbrage, they'd have a hard time making a case that there would be anything less than an ideal placement for the Center. Just the same, your raising the Right & Left wouldn't do any harm either.

Once the screen is wrapped, am I screwing it in from the sides? This means I need to be in the cavity behind it to do this. Maybe a hangar solution instead? Or am I not understanding where the screws would go?

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Access to the Rear would be through the Bottom Panel (Sub opening at center). Right & Left speakers are shallow in depth, so any Shelf/Cradle that is built would allow for the Speakers to be pushed back and access to the sides of the Screen could be from behind had for attaching those areas with Screws. Top edge as well. The Bottom of the Screen Frame is a "bridge"between both sides, and receives it's support via the inserted Lower Panel.


My Diagram creates a Flush assembly across the opening. That would look the best.....



There are variation on the theme to consider. A Wood French Cleat suspended between the two Central uprights, but set forward to a point where the Screen Frame is slightly larger than the opening and does something similar to your original Image/Sketch is workable, but the Bottom panel still needs to be removable unless you plan on lowering down a very heavy Sub Woofer (Mini Marty?) behind it.



Another consideration being that the outside edges of the Screen must be very neatly stretched over the Frame and around to the back where it is stapled. A 64"High Viewing surface Screen will require you pulling the maximum allowable amount of stretch across the Top & Bottom. Recently I have done that myself with no issue, but you must be exacting in you equalizing the amount of stretch each direction out from center. That is why I took the liberty of slightly reducing the Screen size so that it would fit between the Walls.

Dual fabric screen correct? Using these: White: https://spandexworld.com/c3/catalog/product/795 & Black: https://spandexworld.com/c3/catalog/product/796

Click to expand...

Yes.....3 yards of each

Love the diagram and ideas!

Click to expand...

Well thank you..... I don't use CAD or Sketch-up. My diagrams are hand made in MS-Pub. I think they are easier for the Layman to comprehend...not so intimidating. I do my best work under pressure, and the clock was ticking on my commitment to get it to you before today...and I almost made it but at 11:57 pm I had to go back and redraw a few things and change measurements and so I missed my self-imposed 12 am. deadline



I went to bed then....disgusted with myself.

Here we are 11 months later and I've finally made some progress. The wall is built (I'll be adding some laminate flooring over the plywood):




The screen frame is also built and ready:



The spandex has arrived today. It came folded up in a box. Do I need to attempt to iron out the wrinkles? Will the stretching take care of it?

Thank you!

Actually I just threw caution to the wind and threw the spandex on the frame. Looks good to me! Though, how do I know if it's stretched too tightly?

@MississippiMan - Thanks a ton for your input. This is another successful DIY spandex creation! This particular one is 132".