Hello everyone.
I've been a member of AVS for about three years now, posting here and there but mostly just reading . I thought it was about time I showcased my theater, a work in progress.
Some background; I bought my first LCD projector as a way of projecting my drawings onto canvas to speed the painting process (I'm an artist and an art teacher). So I'm sitting in my studio looking at the inputs on the projector, looking at my DVD player, looking at a large, blank, white canvas....then a lightbulb goes off, lol. A few days later we had a primitive home theater. After a few months of tweaking, we had a pretty nice little basement theater.
Not long after, we bought our first house and it turned out to be an old one-room school house that had been renovated. It's quiet, has about an acre of land, and has very dark skies for my telescope. One night, during a walk, we saw a boloid meteor that took about five seconds to burn up. It was beautiful
My first project, of course, was the home theater. This basement room was a gym for the previous owners. The floor was okay, if a little worn. We have concrete covered with a vapor barrier, covered with foil backed insulation sheathing, covered with 3/4" playwood, all topped with a low shag carpeting. The wall at the end (screen wall) was a half wall so I framed and drywalled the rest, making a storage room behind accessed from the utility room.
I painted it with a flat Moca brown, ran all new wiring for the projector, sconces, etc. and put up a piece of masonite painted flat black for the screen backing. In hindsight I would reconsider the flat paint for the walls. It makes for good screenings but all one need do is run a finger across it to leave a mark. And touch-ups don't blend very well. Next time satin or eggshell.
I should mention here that the thing I am most proud of is that this theater is made completely from recycled, garage-saled, or repaired items and equipment.
1. The screen is 84" diag. and was built just as I would build a stretcher for a painting. My first screen was canvas with an experimental paint job including pearlescent components. I eventually settled on plain ol' black-out cloth.
2. My projector is an Infocus Screenplay 4805 which I bought on ebay with the collapsing light tube. This was easily fixed and the bulb only had 300 hours on it. I would like to mention here that I think it best to let this particular projector fan-cool after use. I read a FAQ a couple years ago that claimed that it would increase your bulbs longevity if you just powered down without fan-cooling, it was more natural. It is my belief that this hot-soak is why so many light tubes fail.
3. My surround amp is a JVC Pro Logic II which I got at a yard sale for $10! I told the gal that it was worth much more and she told me it belonged to her X-husband and to get it out of her sight. Ummm....okay
I brought it home and there wasn't a darn thing wrong with it.
4. The large speakers are Kenwood stereo speakers I also got at a yard sale for $2. The cones needed a little tender loving care but sound great now.
5. The center and surround speakers are also Kenwood that I got from a pawn shop. I fixed a few DVD players for him and he gave them to me.
6. The Sony subs were acquired in the same manner. One is powered and the other is driven by the large amp on the right of the cabinet.
7. Sony DVD player (bought new actually).
8. The cabinet was cobbled together from an old laundry room, hanging-type cabinet and hand built components. I may eventually replace this with an equipment closet and build one of those cool stages everyone seems to like.
9. The surround speaker mounts were hand made. I will include photos later.
10. PS2 purchased at yet another yard sale for $10. I'm not a gamer (although I'd like to be) so I don't know if this was a good deal.
11. The chairs are from Barnes & Noble and are really quite comfortable but will soon be replaced with a couple of faux leather rocker recliners. I want to build a small riser for them as well.
Now for some questions:The furnace ducting is obviously an issue. I looked into moving it but options are few and not very feasable. When I do the ceiling (another obvious issue) I could easily build a soffit. But that would make for a somewhat strange shape to the room. I could lose the window and make another soffit on the right for the purpose of symetry. I could even use that soffit as storage I suppose.
The back of the room has a table (also from Barnes & Nobel) for playing games and such and is (for now anyway) my wife's sewing area. However, the room is pretty dark. Originaly I was going to paint this area to match the rest of the theater but that would make it even darker. I've considered painting the ceiling white just above the table and adding a light fixture that shines up rather than down. I don't mean to say that I';d like my wife to be able to sew while we watch a movie. The two activities can be independant of each other. Any thoughts?
I will post more detail pics with my next post.
All comments and suggestions welcome.
Thanks for looking,
-Mac

I've been a member of AVS for about three years now, posting here and there but mostly just reading . I thought it was about time I showcased my theater, a work in progress.
Some background; I bought my first LCD projector as a way of projecting my drawings onto canvas to speed the painting process (I'm an artist and an art teacher). So I'm sitting in my studio looking at the inputs on the projector, looking at my DVD player, looking at a large, blank, white canvas....then a lightbulb goes off, lol. A few days later we had a primitive home theater. After a few months of tweaking, we had a pretty nice little basement theater.
Not long after, we bought our first house and it turned out to be an old one-room school house that had been renovated. It's quiet, has about an acre of land, and has very dark skies for my telescope. One night, during a walk, we saw a boloid meteor that took about five seconds to burn up. It was beautiful
My first project, of course, was the home theater. This basement room was a gym for the previous owners. The floor was okay, if a little worn. We have concrete covered with a vapor barrier, covered with foil backed insulation sheathing, covered with 3/4" playwood, all topped with a low shag carpeting. The wall at the end (screen wall) was a half wall so I framed and drywalled the rest, making a storage room behind accessed from the utility room.
I painted it with a flat Moca brown, ran all new wiring for the projector, sconces, etc. and put up a piece of masonite painted flat black for the screen backing. In hindsight I would reconsider the flat paint for the walls. It makes for good screenings but all one need do is run a finger across it to leave a mark. And touch-ups don't blend very well. Next time satin or eggshell.
I should mention here that the thing I am most proud of is that this theater is made completely from recycled, garage-saled, or repaired items and equipment.
1. The screen is 84" diag. and was built just as I would build a stretcher for a painting. My first screen was canvas with an experimental paint job including pearlescent components. I eventually settled on plain ol' black-out cloth.
2. My projector is an Infocus Screenplay 4805 which I bought on ebay with the collapsing light tube. This was easily fixed and the bulb only had 300 hours on it. I would like to mention here that I think it best to let this particular projector fan-cool after use. I read a FAQ a couple years ago that claimed that it would increase your bulbs longevity if you just powered down without fan-cooling, it was more natural. It is my belief that this hot-soak is why so many light tubes fail.
3. My surround amp is a JVC Pro Logic II which I got at a yard sale for $10! I told the gal that it was worth much more and she told me it belonged to her X-husband and to get it out of her sight. Ummm....okay

4. The large speakers are Kenwood stereo speakers I also got at a yard sale for $2. The cones needed a little tender loving care but sound great now.
5. The center and surround speakers are also Kenwood that I got from a pawn shop. I fixed a few DVD players for him and he gave them to me.
6. The Sony subs were acquired in the same manner. One is powered and the other is driven by the large amp on the right of the cabinet.
7. Sony DVD player (bought new actually).
8. The cabinet was cobbled together from an old laundry room, hanging-type cabinet and hand built components. I may eventually replace this with an equipment closet and build one of those cool stages everyone seems to like.
9. The surround speaker mounts were hand made. I will include photos later.
10. PS2 purchased at yet another yard sale for $10. I'm not a gamer (although I'd like to be) so I don't know if this was a good deal.
11. The chairs are from Barnes & Noble and are really quite comfortable but will soon be replaced with a couple of faux leather rocker recliners. I want to build a small riser for them as well.
Now for some questions:The furnace ducting is obviously an issue. I looked into moving it but options are few and not very feasable. When I do the ceiling (another obvious issue) I could easily build a soffit. But that would make for a somewhat strange shape to the room. I could lose the window and make another soffit on the right for the purpose of symetry. I could even use that soffit as storage I suppose.
The back of the room has a table (also from Barnes & Nobel) for playing games and such and is (for now anyway) my wife's sewing area. However, the room is pretty dark. Originaly I was going to paint this area to match the rest of the theater but that would make it even darker. I've considered painting the ceiling white just above the table and adding a light fixture that shines up rather than down. I don't mean to say that I';d like my wife to be able to sew while we watch a movie. The two activities can be independant of each other. Any thoughts?
I will post more detail pics with my next post.
All comments and suggestions welcome.
Thanks for looking,
-Mac




