Finally I've made enough progress on the theater to start the thread. This theater has been in planning for as long the house has, but of course the house had to come first!
I'm not married/no kids, and the horses are perfectly happy for me to watch movies instead of riding them. The dog likes movies. So I can pretty much do what I want!
Still, this is a theater on a budget. I'm going for a futuristic look. I'm not going for perfect, audio-philic sound, although I'm certainly going to get as close as I can with what I have. Here's the equipment list:
-Panasonic PT-AX200U Projector
-Mac Mini 1.8ghz w/ 2TB storage for DVD rips and videos, and physical DVD's, running Leopard and OSXBMC media player (now called "Plex").
-Dish HD VIP622 DVR
-Kenwood 7.1 THX Ultra Receiver
-Athena 7.1 speaker system with active subwoofer
-Pronto Pro color remote
-8 black leather "Argonaut" theater seats with buttshakers and cupholders
-(Planned) Buttshaker amp (UPDATE: Purchased and installed)
-(Planned) XBox 360 (UPDATE: Purchased and installed)
Here's a snapshot from a Google Sketch-Up model I did of the theater:
Attachment 148355
Here's the reason why it's called the Log Cabin Theater:
Attachment 148356
When I had the house built, I had them build the theater part of the basement with 10-foot ceilings. The dimensions of the room are 16'x24'x10'. Just outside are a half-bath and foyer area where the stairs come down. The foyer will be turned into the concession stand/soda fountain, with a sliding pocket door (using an automatic door slider called a DoorMate). But first, the theater!
Here's a pic of the foundation before the house was built, so you can see where the outside entrance to the theater is:
Attachment 148357
And here's a pic of the basement before anything was done to it, taken from the outside door and facing the screen wall:
Attachment 148358
And after the floor was poured:
Attachment 148359
I didn't get pictures right after the risers were built and carpet installed (bad me!) but here's a couple pictures with the seats in:
Here's a pic of the projector image on the wall before the screen material was put up:
And with the screen material hung and shadow-box framed in:
The center speaker will be moved to dead-center as soon as I remove those two center posts in the framing so they don't block the sound.
Next step is to finish the shadowbox, and install the ceiling, which will be black Armstrong ceiling panels on a black direct-mount frame (mounts directly to the joists so you get an accessible ceiling but don't lose 6-10" like a traditional suspended ceiling. Then the columns (blue acrylic trapezoids) and their lights will be installed.
The wall panels will be 1" thick rigid-foam rectangles covered with black and purple cloth.
I'm doing almost all of this work myself with the help of a couple carpenter friends. The electrical is being done by the electrician who did the house wiring...no sense electrocuting myself or burning the place down!
So if, as I go along, you see anything I might do more efficiently or have any suggestions, please post!
More pics in about 10 days when I get home.
-Equusz

I'm not married/no kids, and the horses are perfectly happy for me to watch movies instead of riding them. The dog likes movies. So I can pretty much do what I want!
Still, this is a theater on a budget. I'm going for a futuristic look. I'm not going for perfect, audio-philic sound, although I'm certainly going to get as close as I can with what I have. Here's the equipment list:
-Panasonic PT-AX200U Projector
-Mac Mini 1.8ghz w/ 2TB storage for DVD rips and videos, and physical DVD's, running Leopard and OSXBMC media player (now called "Plex").
-Dish HD VIP622 DVR
-Kenwood 7.1 THX Ultra Receiver
-Athena 7.1 speaker system with active subwoofer
-Pronto Pro color remote
-8 black leather "Argonaut" theater seats with buttshakers and cupholders
-(Planned) Buttshaker amp (UPDATE: Purchased and installed)
-(Planned) XBox 360 (UPDATE: Purchased and installed)
Here's a snapshot from a Google Sketch-Up model I did of the theater:
Attachment 148355
Here's the reason why it's called the Log Cabin Theater:
Attachment 148356
When I had the house built, I had them build the theater part of the basement with 10-foot ceilings. The dimensions of the room are 16'x24'x10'. Just outside are a half-bath and foyer area where the stairs come down. The foyer will be turned into the concession stand/soda fountain, with a sliding pocket door (using an automatic door slider called a DoorMate). But first, the theater!
Here's a pic of the foundation before the house was built, so you can see where the outside entrance to the theater is:
Attachment 148357
And here's a pic of the basement before anything was done to it, taken from the outside door and facing the screen wall:
Attachment 148358
And after the floor was poured:
Attachment 148359
I didn't get pictures right after the risers were built and carpet installed (bad me!) but here's a couple pictures with the seats in:


Here's a pic of the projector image on the wall before the screen material was put up:

And with the screen material hung and shadow-box framed in:

The center speaker will be moved to dead-center as soon as I remove those two center posts in the framing so they don't block the sound.
Next step is to finish the shadowbox, and install the ceiling, which will be black Armstrong ceiling panels on a black direct-mount frame (mounts directly to the joists so you get an accessible ceiling but don't lose 6-10" like a traditional suspended ceiling. Then the columns (blue acrylic trapezoids) and their lights will be installed.
The wall panels will be 1" thick rigid-foam rectangles covered with black and purple cloth.
I'm doing almost all of this work myself with the help of a couple carpenter friends. The electrical is being done by the electrician who did the house wiring...no sense electrocuting myself or burning the place down!
So if, as I go along, you see anything I might do more efficiently or have any suggestions, please post!
More pics in about 10 days when I get home.
-Equusz




