[Sevker]

It has been a long time coming but we have finally made the initial steps to having our very own private home theater. As everyone here can relate once you start the ball rolling in this hobby it quickly evolves into a full blown addiction. I've been lurking these forums for months! And I must thank all of you for contributing the boundless knowledge contained here withen these forums.


We recently purchased a home, and in it was a workable basement. I say workable because when we moved in it was definitely not 'livable' and it has been a process to bring it up to speed. I suppose the biggest contribution to the theater is when I bought the projector first (I wanted to wait on this, but couldn't... damn this addiction) off eBay. So there my IN72 sat, in it's box... taunting us. We knew we wouldn't last long before we had this baby ceiling mounted and pointing at whatever clean surface we could find. Presto chango 1 month later and we have constructed a theater. It ain't complete by any means but it is secluded in the basement with fresh paint and new carpet.


We started with the furniture. We began looking for a rear couch to put atop a riser, when we spotted these smaller front row overflow seats low enough to use a couch without a riser. Here is a pic of the seating, we purchased 3 of these.

I then was off to figure out what to shine this imagery upon when I stumbled upon a simple solution. I knew I was always going to use a DIY paint... Which one I haven't made a choice on... Primarily leaning the GOO way but anyway.. We needed a screen. I purchased a 4X8 sheet of drywall and affixed it to a pine frame I made out of 1X4's. A few layers of flat white and masking off the sides to create the right aspect (96" 16:9) and we where good to go.. It actually produces a fairly good image.. I could live with it for awhile.

And here is an early screenshot taken from Superman Returns HD-DVD (Still learning my camera, the image in real life is far better defined)

Equipment

Receiver- Yamaha RXV1200

DVD/HD-DVD- Xbox 360 Combo

Projector - Infocus IN72 (480p)

Speakers- Polk Audio 6900RMS

Subs - Polk Audio 12" and Older Yamaha something or other.

(Edit)

Room is 16 foot long 11.5 wide and only 6.5 ceilings.

 

[Sevker]

The future plans of MFC are to build a proper false wall. I've been researching the methods but it will be awhile until the funds are available for such a project. But plotting it out don't cost anything!


I plan to do away with my DIY screen once I begin with the false wall. The plan would be to build an A.T. SMX screen. The reason? I'd like to have the A.T. because of the boost in immersion. I love the idea of stealthing away all the bulky equipment behind the screen so that the viewer can just enjoy the movie. Keeping in mind my budget, (or lack thereof) I would likely extend the screen wall back 2-3 feet, while keeping my screen wall (false wall) in approx the same position.


My basement however is far from ideal. I have somewhat of a slope to the middle for a drain. And the ceiling on average is about 6'1/2 feet high. I'm 6'2 and constantly have to bob and weave to avoid the exposed light bulbs and ducting throughout the basement. The theater side however had an old drop-ceiling, which is about 6 foot 4 inches off the ground. So, this has compromised many of my dream plans... A fiber optic ceiling is pretty much out of the question, being that close to the cealing it probably wouldn't have the same impact as say some of the nicer theaters in these forums have.


Here is a quick shot of what I started with.... Do note the shagadelic-ness of it

Ick... 70's paneling and the carpet to match. The first order of business once I hung the screen was to do something about the ceiling. The fluorescent lighting while efficient were not contributing to the look and feel of a theater. They had to go. A quick trip to Menard's and around 50 bucks later I was installing my own recessed lighting. Not too bad for my first time, got zapped once....Not my fault. I connected a dimmer to them and bam! I have house lighting! Since the ceiling was so low I was getting some incredible glow off the projector it was literally illuminating the room. The ceiling had to go black. I carefully removed the 40 year old ceiling and rolled on the flat black. I decided to roll over the panelling to see if it became any more bearable. It did! It actually don't look noticeably bad when painted flat black. The real plan is to put in some drywall and properly insulate the room but for now we think the jet black looks great!


Currently the back wall is a set of curtains we ripped down from the living room again 70's green. We decided to dye them black, and hang them as a temporary wall behind the theater. And for now they can stay however the real plan is to put in place a proper wall with a door. I also have a portion of the east wall that has an open-angle to it... It's hard to explain (See picture) but I'll need to stud off this opening and seal it up when I put the false screen wall in play.

The theme if any at this point is "Bang for your Buck!" We are on a very tight budget and we are trying to get the most out of our money.


At this point however I think one of the more important things would be to put in some insulation, however I'm not very sure. Is there something I should do now, before any real heavy work goes back into the theater, or should I say any finishing strokes? Is there a key element that I'm forgetting?

Criticism and Suggestions welcome!