Looks great! Thanks for sharing. 
J&M Theater (first theater build)
Forewarning, this is a little long, but I am excited to finally have my own “home theater”, no matter how “simple and basic” it is!
I’ve been wanting to build a home theater for years and would come to AVS to look, learn and dream about having my own home theater one day and finally, I was able to make that a reality this year! I’ve had a simple 5.1 setup for years and it’s been pretty great, honestly. It’s in a large-ish sized room, but still, watching movies and playing games sounded “good enough” and I was still happy with my setup. This year though, we decided to renovate our basement and ended up adding a wet bar and a theater room! The bar would end up going into a current space we just reconfigured, while the theater room (and adjacent media/AV room) would be a brand new area (previously part of our unfinished portion of the basement).
https://flic.kr/p/2m9CHbA https://flic.kr/p/2m9Gx4Y
Things I knew I wanted going into this was I wanted a Dolby Atmos setup (7.2.4), speakers behind the screen, Theater seats, where the projector would be and how it was mounted, a black front wall & ceiling and all the media/AV stuff to be not in the room. Everything else was based on what space we were going to have and how we were going to use the room overall.
First off, I knew I wasn’t going to go crazy with overall look of the room. I have seen a ton of awesome theaters on AVS, but knew I wouldn’t have the money for something like that, plus I kind of just wanted a simple room design, similar to a “regular” movie theater. And I can always update the look later, if I wanted. Plus, since this was my first time doing this, I really didn’t know how much we will use the room and how often we will have people over. I figured, at first, there will definitely be a lot of usage, both with just watching movies, but also with friends and family to show it off. But what about in 6 months? A year? No clue.
https://flic.kr/p/2m9LkVL https://flic.kr/p/2m9HA5c
I drew up several different plans on how I was going to use the space, which finally finished, is about 15’ x 17.5’ (including behind the screen), and approximately 15’ x 16’ with back wall to screen and the narrowest part of the room. I originally planned to do a 135” screen with 2 rows of seating, but quickly found out, that was not going to work well. So after several back and forth sessions, and trying again to figure out how we were going to use the room, we decided to go with a row of 4 seats as the main listening seating and a bar top in the back with 4 more seats, with room to add some more, if needed. I also broke one of the cardinal rules and bought the projector I wanted before we even really started, to see what I was dealing with as far as size of screen. I hung a sheet in the space, brought in a couple recliner chairs, put the projector up on some totes, all in about the spaces they’d end up and tried the 135” size. It was too big. We would have been doing the tennis match “side to side” thing that neither I, nor my wife wanted. So, I brought it down to 120” and that was the sweet spot. I even built a “screen” out of cardboard and a sheet, hung that, and we ended up watching a couple movies and decided that it was a good size!
https://flic.kr/p/2m9Ld6C https://flic.kr/p/2m9Gxgm https://flic.kr/p/2m9Ld86 https://flic.kr/p/2m9CHnC
Once we finalized the plans for the theater and the bar, we got a contractor and got to work! The contractor we found was great and willing to not only work with me and my crazy ideas that I wanted for the room, but let me run my own speaker cables and low voltage stuff (ie: HDMI, etc) when we got to that point. A lot of what we did in the theater room was a compromise and also deciding what was worth it and what wasn’t. Like, the walls are all textured, but that was because we wanted the room to match the rest of the house. I also thought about resale and what the room could be turned into if we ever sold it (and the new buyers didn’t want the theater room. Blasphemy, I know). We have no plans on selling anytime soon, and non of the decisions were highly influenced by that, but still was something I wanted to keep in mind.
https://flic.kr/p/2m9Hs4n
Construction went pretty quick. The guy the contractor used for framing was not only good, but fast! I threw specific numbers at him that I needed for my projector space, for the front stage area, and how wide that had to be to both be able to cover the space with the screen, but also maximize the space for the speakers I wanted to use. He nailed all of them. I was then able to run all my speaker wire to the places I needed. I even have some wire going to behind the couch, since I’ll probably add some seat shakers at some point. I had to compromise a little with the rear Atmos ceiling speakers as the spot I wanted to put them, one of them was right were the AC duct was for a return air register upstairs. It’s still fine, just not “ideal”. I also was able to use the metal beam that runs the width of our house (and from the front to back of the theater room) as a channel for the HDMI conduit that I ran. So basically, it’s a straight shot from the back of the room to the A/V room and down the wall. Worked great!
https://flic.kr/p/2m9CHd4 https://flic.kr/p/2m9Gx6b https://flic.kr/p/2m9MF3h
After sheet rock, texturing and then painting, it was the moment of truth. I had marked where all my speaker locations were on the ground, so in theory I knew where I needed to cut my holes for the speakers. Luckily, I nailed each one! I love it when a plan comes together! I painted the ceiling light cans and speakers a satin black and you can’t even see them, which is awesome cause unless we tell people there are speakers up there, they can’t tell. The side/back speakers were a little trickier, as I was able to paint the surrounds the same as the wall, but the grilles, I didn’t want paint getting stuck in them, so I used a couple different colors of spray paint and got “close enough”. In the pictures, they stand out a little, but in the room, they’re just slightly darker and look great!
https://flic.kr/p/2m9MF75 https://flic.kr/p/2m9Gxbb
After we got all the paint/speakers/trim and little stuff done, we arranged for the carpet to be installed and ordered the seats. The carpet turned out great, but the couch experience turned out to be a frustrating experience. I ordered it so that it should have showed up right after carpet install! But instead, it got stuck at the local distributor for like 2.5 weeks. But when I finally got it in, it was awesome! Again, not super fancy, compared to some I have seen, but definitely gave it more of a “theater” feel! And they’re pretty comfy!
https://flic.kr/p/2m9Gxbm https://flic.kr/p/2m9Ld3m https://flic.kr/p/2m9Hs8F
Finally, time to mount the screen! The screen had been done and leaning against the front wall for a few weeks, and as we showed off the space to friends and family, they were only ever able to see about half the image. But, I wanted the seats first, so that we knew what the lowest we could mount it before feet from reclining would be in the way. We had that issue with our TV in the other room, before I mounted it, and didn’t want that to be an issue in this room! It was great to see a full image again! Man, it’s awesome!
https://flic.kr/p/2m9GxdA
The last little bit before we were done. So, one side in the back has a door-sized hole in the wall to access the sump pump and water controls for the house (as well as a window that we blacked out). We thought of all sorts of different ways to cover it, but in the end, we decided to make matching sound panels, made out of a velvet that was in the same color family as the paint we chose. One panel would cover the hole and the other would match it on the other side, just for symmetry. We also had our countertop installed by our framer, which is just MDF and we added a “sticker” that made it look like a stone top. We thought about doing an actual stone top, but then we figured, it’s not going to get a lot of use anyway, so why spend the extra money on something we’ll rarely use? We can always swap it out for stone later if we do end up using it more than we thought.
https://flic.kr/p/2m9MFc5
The last part, before final calibration, was to add a “speaker grille” to the space below the screen. I had designed the space to be basically like a closet, so there was wall on 3 of the 4 sides, but the bottom needed to be finished and acoustically transparent, like the screen. So I built a “speaker grille” out of some wood and speaker mesh to fit in that space. For a first time doing anything like this, I think it came out well!
https://flic.kr/p/2m9GxdR
Calibration time! I had calibrated the speakers when I got them all originally hooked up, but it was a quick calibration and I only had 1 of the 2 subs installed at the time (and we didn’t have any coverings, or the seats yet), so I needed to do a full calibration now that I had everything in place. I don’t have any meters or tools to check anything, but to my ears, it sounds amazing! Is it perfect, no. But for my humble little theater, it pretty great! And definitely an awesome space I plan to use a LOT!
https://flic.kr/p/2m9MFcq https://flic.kr/p/2m9LcTU
So far, since I just finished, I don’t have many regrets. I knew going in I was going to be doing a “budget” theater and my expectations were set accordingly. I know my setup isn’t for everyone and I know I probably could have done some things better/differently, but I really do love how it turned out! I even have a few family members and friends that have “joked” about moving into the room! I’m sure I’ll be tweaking stuff here and there and I’ll be upgrading equipment over time (definitely want to get a better receiver and an actual amp at some point), but for the time being, I am going to enjoy the heck out of my new theater!
https://flic.kr/p/2m9Gxec
And because I am extra, I made a logo for our theater and a video intro (as well as made a playlist with some Dolby theater trailers) that I can play before the movie plays, just to show off the system/room a little. Just adds that little extra to help make it feel like a theater experience! The logo and video I made are below (the video is "sponsored by" our bar we added during the remodel, which I also did a logo for):
https://flic.kr/p/2m9Nb86
Version 2 of our logo, which I am sad I didn't think of before:
https://flic.kr/p/2nqKw8t
Equipment:
A/V ROOM:
A/V RACK: Echogear 20U
POWER: Rackmount CyberPower CPS Surge Protector
COOLING: Rackmount AC Infinity Cloudplate T2
MAIN RECEIVER: DENON AVR-X4300H, SECONDARY RECEIVER (AMP): DENON AVR-2309CI
BLU RAY PLAYER: LG UBK90
MEDIA PLAYER: Apple TV 4K
CD PLAYER: Kenwood CD-404
PROJECTOR: Epson Home Cinema 4010
SCREEN: Elite Screen Sable Frame 120” Acoustic Transparent
SPEAKERS:
L/R/C: Polk Monitor 70 (x3)
SURROUND SPEAKERS: Polk RC85i (x4)
ATMOS SPEAKERS: Polk RC80i (x4)
SUBS: Dayton Sub-1200 (x2)
REMOTE: Harmony Companion w/Hub
SEATS: Seatcraft Sienna 4-seat couch with Loveseat
I’ve been wanting to build a home theater for years and would come to AVS to look, learn and dream about having my own home theater one day and finally, I was able to make that a reality this year! I’ve had a simple 5.1 setup for years and it’s been pretty great, honestly. It’s in a large-ish sized room, but still, watching movies and playing games sounded “good enough” and I was still happy with my setup. This year though, we decided to renovate our basement and ended up adding a wet bar and a theater room! The bar would end up going into a current space we just reconfigured, while the theater room (and adjacent media/AV room) would be a brand new area (previously part of our unfinished portion of the basement).
https://flic.kr/p/2m9CHbA https://flic.kr/p/2m9Gx4Y
Things I knew I wanted going into this was I wanted a Dolby Atmos setup (7.2.4), speakers behind the screen, Theater seats, where the projector would be and how it was mounted, a black front wall & ceiling and all the media/AV stuff to be not in the room. Everything else was based on what space we were going to have and how we were going to use the room overall.
First off, I knew I wasn’t going to go crazy with overall look of the room. I have seen a ton of awesome theaters on AVS, but knew I wouldn’t have the money for something like that, plus I kind of just wanted a simple room design, similar to a “regular” movie theater. And I can always update the look later, if I wanted. Plus, since this was my first time doing this, I really didn’t know how much we will use the room and how often we will have people over. I figured, at first, there will definitely be a lot of usage, both with just watching movies, but also with friends and family to show it off. But what about in 6 months? A year? No clue.
https://flic.kr/p/2m9LkVL https://flic.kr/p/2m9HA5c
I drew up several different plans on how I was going to use the space, which finally finished, is about 15’ x 17.5’ (including behind the screen), and approximately 15’ x 16’ with back wall to screen and the narrowest part of the room. I originally planned to do a 135” screen with 2 rows of seating, but quickly found out, that was not going to work well. So after several back and forth sessions, and trying again to figure out how we were going to use the room, we decided to go with a row of 4 seats as the main listening seating and a bar top in the back with 4 more seats, with room to add some more, if needed. I also broke one of the cardinal rules and bought the projector I wanted before we even really started, to see what I was dealing with as far as size of screen. I hung a sheet in the space, brought in a couple recliner chairs, put the projector up on some totes, all in about the spaces they’d end up and tried the 135” size. It was too big. We would have been doing the tennis match “side to side” thing that neither I, nor my wife wanted. So, I brought it down to 120” and that was the sweet spot. I even built a “screen” out of cardboard and a sheet, hung that, and we ended up watching a couple movies and decided that it was a good size!
https://flic.kr/p/2m9Ld6C https://flic.kr/p/2m9Gxgm https://flic.kr/p/2m9Ld86 https://flic.kr/p/2m9CHnC
Once we finalized the plans for the theater and the bar, we got a contractor and got to work! The contractor we found was great and willing to not only work with me and my crazy ideas that I wanted for the room, but let me run my own speaker cables and low voltage stuff (ie: HDMI, etc) when we got to that point. A lot of what we did in the theater room was a compromise and also deciding what was worth it and what wasn’t. Like, the walls are all textured, but that was because we wanted the room to match the rest of the house. I also thought about resale and what the room could be turned into if we ever sold it (and the new buyers didn’t want the theater room. Blasphemy, I know). We have no plans on selling anytime soon, and non of the decisions were highly influenced by that, but still was something I wanted to keep in mind.
https://flic.kr/p/2m9Hs4n
Construction went pretty quick. The guy the contractor used for framing was not only good, but fast! I threw specific numbers at him that I needed for my projector space, for the front stage area, and how wide that had to be to both be able to cover the space with the screen, but also maximize the space for the speakers I wanted to use. He nailed all of them. I was then able to run all my speaker wire to the places I needed. I even have some wire going to behind the couch, since I’ll probably add some seat shakers at some point. I had to compromise a little with the rear Atmos ceiling speakers as the spot I wanted to put them, one of them was right were the AC duct was for a return air register upstairs. It’s still fine, just not “ideal”. I also was able to use the metal beam that runs the width of our house (and from the front to back of the theater room) as a channel for the HDMI conduit that I ran. So basically, it’s a straight shot from the back of the room to the A/V room and down the wall. Worked great!
https://flic.kr/p/2m9CHd4 https://flic.kr/p/2m9Gx6b https://flic.kr/p/2m9MF3h
After sheet rock, texturing and then painting, it was the moment of truth. I had marked where all my speaker locations were on the ground, so in theory I knew where I needed to cut my holes for the speakers. Luckily, I nailed each one! I love it when a plan comes together! I painted the ceiling light cans and speakers a satin black and you can’t even see them, which is awesome cause unless we tell people there are speakers up there, they can’t tell. The side/back speakers were a little trickier, as I was able to paint the surrounds the same as the wall, but the grilles, I didn’t want paint getting stuck in them, so I used a couple different colors of spray paint and got “close enough”. In the pictures, they stand out a little, but in the room, they’re just slightly darker and look great!
https://flic.kr/p/2m9MF75 https://flic.kr/p/2m9Gxbb
After we got all the paint/speakers/trim and little stuff done, we arranged for the carpet to be installed and ordered the seats. The carpet turned out great, but the couch experience turned out to be a frustrating experience. I ordered it so that it should have showed up right after carpet install! But instead, it got stuck at the local distributor for like 2.5 weeks. But when I finally got it in, it was awesome! Again, not super fancy, compared to some I have seen, but definitely gave it more of a “theater” feel! And they’re pretty comfy!
https://flic.kr/p/2m9Gxbm https://flic.kr/p/2m9Ld3m https://flic.kr/p/2m9Hs8F
Finally, time to mount the screen! The screen had been done and leaning against the front wall for a few weeks, and as we showed off the space to friends and family, they were only ever able to see about half the image. But, I wanted the seats first, so that we knew what the lowest we could mount it before feet from reclining would be in the way. We had that issue with our TV in the other room, before I mounted it, and didn’t want that to be an issue in this room! It was great to see a full image again! Man, it’s awesome!
https://flic.kr/p/2m9GxdA
The last little bit before we were done. So, one side in the back has a door-sized hole in the wall to access the sump pump and water controls for the house (as well as a window that we blacked out). We thought of all sorts of different ways to cover it, but in the end, we decided to make matching sound panels, made out of a velvet that was in the same color family as the paint we chose. One panel would cover the hole and the other would match it on the other side, just for symmetry. We also had our countertop installed by our framer, which is just MDF and we added a “sticker” that made it look like a stone top. We thought about doing an actual stone top, but then we figured, it’s not going to get a lot of use anyway, so why spend the extra money on something we’ll rarely use? We can always swap it out for stone later if we do end up using it more than we thought.
https://flic.kr/p/2m9MFc5
The last part, before final calibration, was to add a “speaker grille” to the space below the screen. I had designed the space to be basically like a closet, so there was wall on 3 of the 4 sides, but the bottom needed to be finished and acoustically transparent, like the screen. So I built a “speaker grille” out of some wood and speaker mesh to fit in that space. For a first time doing anything like this, I think it came out well!
https://flic.kr/p/2m9GxdR
Calibration time! I had calibrated the speakers when I got them all originally hooked up, but it was a quick calibration and I only had 1 of the 2 subs installed at the time (and we didn’t have any coverings, or the seats yet), so I needed to do a full calibration now that I had everything in place. I don’t have any meters or tools to check anything, but to my ears, it sounds amazing! Is it perfect, no. But for my humble little theater, it pretty great! And definitely an awesome space I plan to use a LOT!
https://flic.kr/p/2m9MFcq https://flic.kr/p/2m9LcTU
So far, since I just finished, I don’t have many regrets. I knew going in I was going to be doing a “budget” theater and my expectations were set accordingly. I know my setup isn’t for everyone and I know I probably could have done some things better/differently, but I really do love how it turned out! I even have a few family members and friends that have “joked” about moving into the room! I’m sure I’ll be tweaking stuff here and there and I’ll be upgrading equipment over time (definitely want to get a better receiver and an actual amp at some point), but for the time being, I am going to enjoy the heck out of my new theater!
https://flic.kr/p/2m9Gxec
And because I am extra, I made a logo for our theater and a video intro (as well as made a playlist with some Dolby theater trailers) that I can play before the movie plays, just to show off the system/room a little. Just adds that little extra to help make it feel like a theater experience! The logo and video I made are below (the video is "sponsored by" our bar we added during the remodel, which I also did a logo for):
https://flic.kr/p/2m9Nb86
Version 2 of our logo, which I am sad I didn't think of before:
https://flic.kr/p/2nqKw8t
Equipment:
A/V ROOM:
A/V RACK: Echogear 20U
POWER: Rackmount CyberPower CPS Surge Protector
COOLING: Rackmount AC Infinity Cloudplate T2
MAIN RECEIVER: DENON AVR-X4300H, SECONDARY RECEIVER (AMP): DENON AVR-2309CI
BLU RAY PLAYER: LG UBK90
MEDIA PLAYER: Apple TV 4K
CD PLAYER: Kenwood CD-404
PROJECTOR: Epson Home Cinema 4010
SCREEN: Elite Screen Sable Frame 120” Acoustic Transparent
SPEAKERS:
L/R/C: Polk Monitor 70 (x3)
SURROUND SPEAKERS: Polk RC85i (x4)
ATMOS SPEAKERS: Polk RC80i (x4)
SUBS: Dayton Sub-1200 (x2)
REMOTE: Harmony Companion w/Hub
SEATS: Seatcraft Sienna 4-seat couch with Loveseat
1 - 12 of 12 Posts
The seating area in the rear will block the rear speakers sound dispersment. They need to be higher and angled down.Forewarning, this is a little long, but I am excited to finally have my own “home theater”, no matter how “simple and basic” it is!
I’ve been wanting to build a home theater for years and would come to AVS to look, learn and dream about having my own home theater one day and finally, I was able to make that a reality this year! I’ve had a simple 5.1 setup for years and it’s been pretty great, honestly. It’s in a large-ish sized room, but still, watching movies and playing games sounded “good enough” and I was still happy with my setup. This year though, we decided to renovate our basement and ended up adding a wet bar and a theater room! The bar would end up going into a current space we just reconfigured, while the theater room (and adjacent media/AV room) would be a brand new area (previously part of our unfinished portion of the basement).
https://flic.kr/p/2m9CHbA https://flic.kr/p/2m9Gx4Y
Things I knew I wanted going into this was I wanted a Dolby Atmos setup (7.2.4), speakers behind the screen, Theater seats, where the projector would be and how it was mounted, a black front wall & ceiling and all the media/AV stuff to be not in the room. Everything else was based on what space we were going to have and how we were going to use the room overall.
First off, I knew I wasn’t going to go crazy with overall look of the room. I have seen a ton of awesome theaters on AVS, but knew I wouldn’t have the money for something like that, plus I kind of just wanted a simple room design, similar to a “regular” movie theater. And I can always update the look later, if I wanted. Plus, since this was my first time doing this, I really didn’t know how much we will use the room and how often we will have people over. I figured, at first, there will definitely be a lot of usage, both with just watching movies, but also with friends and family to show it off. But what about in 6 months? A year? No clue.
https://flic.kr/p/2m9LkVL https://flic.kr/p/2m9HA5c
I drew up several different plans on how I was going to use the space, which finally finished, is about 15’ x 17.5’ (including behind the screen), and approximately 15’ x 16’ with back wall to screen and the narrowest part of the room. I originally planned to do a 135” screen with 2 rows of seating, but quickly found out, that was not going to work well. So after several back and forth sessions, and trying again to figure out how we were going to use the room, we decided to go with a row of 4 seats as the main listening seating and a bar top in the back with 4 more seats, with room to add some more, if needed. I also broke one of the cardinal rules and bought the projector I wanted before we even really started, to see what I was dealing with as far as size of screen. I hung a sheet in the space, brought in a couple recliner chairs, put the projector up on some totes, all in about the spaces they’d end up and tried the 135” size. It was too big. We would have been doing the tennis match “side to side” thing that neither I, nor my wife wanted. So, I brought it down to 120” and that was the sweet spot. I even built a “screen” out of cardboard and a sheet, hung that, and we ended up watching a couple movies and decided that it was a good size!
https://flic.kr/p/2m9Ld6C https://flic.kr/p/2m9Gxgm https://flic.kr/p/2m9Ld86 https://flic.kr/p/2m9CHnC
Once we finalized the plans for the theater and the bar, we got a contractor and got to work! The contractor we found was great and willing to not only work with me and my crazy ideas that I wanted for the room, but let me run my own speaker cables and low voltage stuff (ie: HDMI, etc) when we got to that point. A lot of what we did in the theater room was a compromise and also deciding what was worth it and what wasn’t. Like, the walls are all textured, but that was because we wanted the room to match the rest of the house. I also thought about resale and what the room could be turned into if we ever sold it (and the new buyers didn’t want the theater room. Blasphemy, I know). We have no plans on selling anytime soon, and non of the decisions were highly influenced by that, but still was something I wanted to keep in mind.
https://flic.kr/p/2m9Hs4n
Construction went pretty quick. The guy the contractor used for framing was not only good, but fast! I threw specific numbers at him that I needed for my projector space, for the front stage area, and how wide that had to be to both be able to cover the space with the screen, but also maximize the space for the speakers I wanted to use. He nailed all of them. I was then able to run all my speaker wire to the places I needed. I even have some wire going to behind the couch, since I’ll probably add some seat shakers at some point. I had to compromise a little with the rear Atmos ceiling speakers as the spot I wanted to put them, one of them was right were the AC duct was for a return air register upstairs. It’s still fine, just not “ideal”. I also was able to use the metal beam that runs the width of our house (and from the front to back of the theater room) as a channel for the HDMI conduit that I ran. So basically, it’s a straight shot from the back of the room to the A/V room and down the wall. Worked great!
https://flic.kr/p/2m9CHd4 https://flic.kr/p/2m9Gx6b https://flic.kr/p/2m9MF3h
After sheet rock, texturing and then painting, it was the moment of truth. I had marked where all my speaker locations were on the ground, so in theory I knew where I needed to cut my holes for the speakers. Luckily, I nailed each one! I love it when a plan comes together! I painted the ceiling light cans and speakers a satin black and you can’t even see them, which is awesome cause unless we tell people there are speakers up there, they can’t tell. The side/back speakers were a little trickier, as I was able to paint the surrounds the same as the wall, but the grilles, I didn’t want paint getting stuck in them, so I used a couple different colors of spray paint and got “close enough”. In the pictures, they stand out a little, but in the room, they’re just slightly darker and look great!
https://flic.kr/p/2m9MF75 https://flic.kr/p/2m9Gxbb
After we got all the paint/speakers/trim and little stuff done, we arranged for the carpet to be installed and ordered the seats. The carpet turned out great, but the couch experience turned out to be a frustrating experience. I ordered it so that it should have showed up right after carpet install! But instead, it got stuck at the local distributor for like 2.5 weeks. But when I finally got it in, it was awesome! Again, not super fancy, compared to some I have seen, but definitely gave it more of a “theater” feel! And they’re pretty comfy!
https://flic.kr/p/2m9Gxbm https://flic.kr/p/2m9Ld3m https://flic.kr/p/2m9Hs8F
Finally, time to mount the screen! The screen had been done and leaning against the front wall for a few weeks, and as we showed off the space to friends and family, they were only ever able to see about half the image. But, I wanted the seats first, so that we knew what the lowest we could mount it before feet from reclining would be in the way. We had that issue with our TV in the other room, before I mounted it, and didn’t want that to be an issue in this room! It was great to see a full image again! Man, it’s awesome!
https://flic.kr/p/2m9GxdA
The last little bit before we were done. So, one side in the back has a door-sized hole in the wall to access the sump pump and water controls for the house (as well as a window that we blacked out). We thought of all sorts of different ways to cover it, but in the end, we decided to make matching sound panels, made out of a velvet that was in the same color family as the paint we chose. One panel would cover the hole and the other would match it on the other side, just for symmetry. We also had our countertop installed by our framer, which is just MDF and we added a “sticker” that made it look like a stone top. We thought about doing an actual stone top, but then we figured, it’s not going to get a lot of use anyway, so why spend the extra money on something we’ll rarely use? We can always swap it out for stone later if we do end up using it more than we thought.
https://flic.kr/p/2m9MFc5
The last part, before final calibration, was to add a “speaker grille” to the space below the screen. I had designed the space to be basically like a closet, so there was wall on 3 of the 4 sides, but the bottom needed to be finished and acoustically transparent, like the screen. So I built a “speaker grille” out of some wood and speaker mesh to fit in that space. For a first time doing anything like this, I think it came out well!
https://flic.kr/p/2m9GxdR
Calibration time! I had calibrated the speakers when I got them all originally hooked up, but it was a quick calibration and I only had 1 of the 2 subs installed at the time (and we didn’t have any coverings, or the seats yet), so I needed to do a full calibration now that I had everything in place. I don’t have any meters or tools to check anything, but to my ears, it sounds amazing! Is it perfect, no. But for my humble little theater, it pretty great! And definitely an awesome space I plan to use a LOT!
https://flic.kr/p/2m9MFcq https://flic.kr/p/2m9LcTU
So far, since I just finished, I don’t have many regrets. I knew going in I was going to be doing a “budget” theater and my expectations were set accordingly. I know my setup isn’t for everyone and I know I probably could have done some things better/differently, but I really do love how it turned out! I even have a few family members and friends that have “joked” about moving into the room! I’m sure I’ll be tweaking stuff here and there and I’ll be upgrading equipment over time (definitely want to get a better receiver and an actual amp at some point), but for the time being, I am going to enjoy the heck out of my new theater!
https://flic.kr/p/2m9Gxec
And because I am extra, I made a logo for our theater and a video intro (as well as made a playlist with some Dolby theater trailers) that I can play before the movie plays, just to show off the system/room a little. Just adds that little extra to help make it feel like a theater experience! I tried uploading the video to YouTube, but it's not liking it for some reason. If I can figure that out, I'll update this post...
https://flic.kr/p/2m9Nb86
Equipment:
A/V ROOM:
A/V RACK: Echogear 20U
POWER: Rackmount CyberPower CPS Surge Protector
COOLING: Rackmount AC Infinity Cloudplate T2
MAIN RECEIVER: DENON AVR-X4300H, SECONDARY RECEIVER (AMP): DENON AVR-2309CI
BLU RAY PLAYER: LG UBK90
MEDIA PLAYER: Apple TV 4K
CD PLAYER: Kenwood CD-404
PROJECTOR: Epson Home Cinema 4010
SCREEN: Elite Screen Sable Frame 120” Acoustic Transparent
SPEAKERS:
L/R/C: Polk Monitor 70 (x3)
SURROUND SPEAKERS: Polk RC85i (x4)
ATMOS SPEAKERS: Polk RC80i (x4)
SUBS: Dayton Sub-1200 (x2)
REMOTE: Harmony Companion w/Hub
SEATS: Seatcraft Sienna 4-seat couch with Loveseat
Thanks!Looks great! Thanks for sharing.
They do block the sound a little, but it's not bad overall. I thought about moving them up higher, but ultimately decided against it. People sitting in those back seats will also really only happen a few times a year... IF it annoys me down the road (hasn't yet after the handful of movies I've watched), I can always make changes later...The seating area in the rear will block the rear speakers sound dispersment. They need to be higher and angled down.
The room looks great. Love the fork and screen bench in the rear.
Great room, very clean. Looks like an awesome place to kick back and spend some time.
Thanks!The room looks great. Love the fork and screen bench in the rear.
Thanks! I have been enjoying the heck out of it so far!Great room, very clean. Looks like an awesome place to kick back and spend some time.
I finally was able to upload our video... Not sure what the problem was, but it seems to work now... 🤷♂️
I added it to the main post, but also here:
Our theater is "sponsored by" our bar that we added during the remodel (corporate synergy! LOL!). Hopefully that'll be fully done in the next month or two!
I added it to the main post, but also here:
Our theater is "sponsored by" our bar that we added during the remodel (corporate synergy! LOL!). Hopefully that'll be fully done in the next month or two!
Thanks for tip about contrasting paint on another thread today. Do you get any of the bluish paint color impacting the image at all? Your room looks great. A complete transformation.
Thanks!
I haven't noticed any impact at all. Since the main wall and ceiling are black, they are setting the neutral tone for the screen. The only time I even notice the color on the walls at all (black or teal) are during really bright scenes... The color we chose is cool cause against the black, it's pretty dark looking. When the lights are on, it brightens up a bit, but during movie playbacks, it's pretty dark overall.
I haven't noticed any impact at all. Since the main wall and ceiling are black, they are setting the neutral tone for the screen. The only time I even notice the color on the walls at all (black or teal) are during really bright scenes... The color we chose is cool cause against the black, it's pretty dark looking. When the lights are on, it brightens up a bit, but during movie playbacks, it's pretty dark overall.
Great job. What's your plan for acoustical treatments?
I have my panels in the back, and I have thought about adding foam behind the main stage, but so far, everything sounds great, so I haven’t needed to make any changes…
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