Where it all begins. New project in Maine.

4953 Views 56 Replies 17 Participants Last post by Max Lomax, Oct 9, 2007

Max Lomax

Discussion Starter · May 12, 2007

2

This is where it all actually starts, but we all know the moment the dreaming begins and you decide to do a theater in your house comes long before...

Like when you are building your house and you design your whole basement around the theater room...

Well, away we go. I've been dreaming of doing my own theater since the first time I sat in one almost 10 years ago. I've designed and installed many custom rooms for people, and each one almost made me cry with envy when it was finished and I had to leave it with the homeowner. Even the simple ones. The Dedicated Home Theater is indeed the Holy Grail of home entertainment.

Now I finally get to do one for myself, even though it will be fairly modest in design.

For this build I am going to focus on keeping within my budget of around $10-$15k for everything. I plan on building it all myself, and using every favor I've saved up and every dealer discount I can swing to get it done.

This is what I have decided on so far:

PSB CH-80 Front and Center

PSB CH-383 in the sides and rears columns, with PSB acoustic backboxes, or CH-40s if I can make them fit. (I don't want my columns sticking out into the room too far)

I'm pursuing designs that include four 12" or 15" woofers in a custom enclosure up front, 2-18" IB subs in the rear, some big Crown amps for the nuts and berries. Still working on my sub designs, but I'm guessing they'll either pucker some sphincters or cause them to let go completely when it's done.

NAD Master Series M15 and M25. The idea of running a multi-channel amp capable of 385w dynamic peaks with 4 ohm speakers intrigues me. Probably the last seperates I'll ever buy. At least until next year.

Holding off on making a decision on the HD-DVD or Blu-ray until I'm almost done.

Xbox 360 fo shizzle.

Epson Pro Cinema 1080p projector.

110" AT screen of some flavor. Might make my own.

Pronto Pro.

Middle Atlantic built in rack.

Homemade Acoustic panels. I don't have the time or budget to do full wall treatments, mabey someday.

Canare video wire. (I swear by the stuff)

Liberty THX 12 gauge speaker wire. As fancy as I'll get with speaker wire. If it's as big as a garden hose it must be good right?

Wish me luck! I'll post pictures as I progress. I know you guys like pictures.

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Tom Bley

· #2 · May 12, 2007

Sounds good Max. What will your finished room dimensions be H x W x D?

Max Lomax

Discussion Starter · #3 · May 12, 2007

Roughly 13W x 20L x 8H. Even though I designed the basement floorplan around the theater, I still had bearing walls that defined the overall width I could use.

drin

· #4 · May 12, 2007

Quote:
Originally Posted by Max Lomax /forum/post/0

Liberty THX 12 gauge speaker wire. As fancy as I'll get with speaker wire. If it's as big as a garden hose it must be good right?

Hi Max.

There are a number of threads on here related to speaker wire, and at least one link to a highly informative external document that analyzes various speaker brands and gauges. They're worth searching for.

The bottom line seems to be that buying bulk speaker wire from Home Depot for $0.41 per foot, or wire in bulk from Monoprice.com or similar sites will give you every bit as good a sound as expensive wire like Monster or Liberty. I'd recommend saving your speaker wire money and putting it to better use.

PS. I did a quick search on Liberty - the best price I found was $1.59 per foot. Seems worthwhile to me to use speaker wire that's 1/4 the price if it doesn't make any difference sound wise...

-drin

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Max Lomax

Discussion Starter · #5 · May 13, 2007

It was sort of tongue in cheek. I can buy wire on the cheap so I put in what I think is reasonable in price for the gauge, sheathing thickness and number of strands. It's not so bad really.

I agree 100% about speaker wire witchcraft though.

drin

· #6 · May 13, 2007

Quote:
Originally Posted by Max Lomax /forum/post/0

It was sort of tongue in cheek. I can buy wire on the cheap so I put in what I think is reasonable in price for the gauge, sheathing thickness and number of strands. It's not so bad really.

I agree 100% about speaker wire witchcraft though.

I understood you were joking about the 'garden hose thickness' of your wire. I meant that the Liberty probably wasn't necessary, given that cheaper wire will do just as good a job.

-drin

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hlomax

· #7 · May 14, 2007

Building a theater similar in size to yours..down my my basement...

Good luck and hope it turns out as good if not better than some of the ones you cried about leaving behind for other people.

will be checking back for sure!!

The Other

Max Lomax

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Max Lomax

Discussion Starter · #8 · May 14, 2007

Thanks!

Nice house btw.

hlomax

· #9 · May 16, 2007

Thanks ... cost wasnt too bad... hopefully the addition of the area downstairs will add to the enjoyment of the house as a whole for the wife and kids..

Max

Max Lomax

Discussion Starter · #10 · May 18, 2007

4

Framing my @ss off...hopefully someday I'll actually pull a wire in here.

It's going pretty quickly actually, Paslode cordless framing gun ftw. I think I've put about 10 tubes of construction adhesive into the room at this point.

Blurry..

Still have the front screenwall to build (still designing my subs so I can't do it yet) along with putting in tons of blocking and plywood around the room where I need backing for nailing up my acoustic panels and trim. This weekend I'm going to frame in for the Middle Atlantic rack in the rear of the room.

I plan on constructing the subs and giving them a good shakedown before I build the front screen wall on top of them.

At this point I would have to say full blown obsession has set in, and I am sleeping very little..

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BritInVA

· #11 · May 18, 2007

Max,

Looking good......I used the Paslode cordless framing gun on my HT build - was a bit heavier but having no trailing hose was great.

Keep updates and pics coming - I need my fix untill I'm allowed to look a t upgrades

Cheers,

Mark

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Max Lomax

Discussion Starter · #12 · May 21, 2007

2

Time to start horrifying my checkbook.

Ordered my PSB speakers and acoustic chambers today. Should have them by the end of the week. I doubt I'll be able to resist trying them out upstairs, the CH 80s at least. Finalized my sub design I just need to build and test it. Projectors coming soon. This should keep me plenty motivated and busy.

3 of these 72lb beasts:

4 of these with backboxes:

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hlomax

· #13 · May 21, 2007

Hey Max,

Is that a riser in that pic or part of the screen stage?

Was wondering for my own theater, when is the best time to build the theater risers and the stage...

after a complete build of the wall (drywall taped and mudded), or while in the framing processes of the walls.. just as long as the riser and stage aren't connected to the walls?

Would love to know what is considered the best method?

Max

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drin

· #14 · May 21, 2007

Quote:
Originally Posted by hlomax /forum/post/0

Would love to know what is considered the best method?

Finish the walls (mud and tape), then build the riser/stage/screenwall.

-drin

Max Lomax

Discussion Starter · #15 · May 21, 2007

Thats my rear riser. Since I'm doing all the construction on this one, I prefer to build everything at once before I drywall. You would build the screenwall etc after so you don't compromise the sound isolation of the room that the layer(s) of drywall behind it provides. I only have concrete behind my screenwall, so my concern back there is having ample absorbtion rather than isolation.

On one side the riser connects to the existing structural 2x6 wall, and the other side and rear walls are built on top of it. I have radiant so I wanted to minimize the number of nails I shot into the floor, especially in the middle of the room. Building the riser first and then building the side and rear walls on top was an easy way to do this without sweating ramset bullets.. The riser is attached to the concrete wall on the side as well. It's not going anywhere. Construction adhesive is very strong.

Overall I'm more concerned with building everything as solidly as possible and getting the room to pressurize to some extent, and much less concerned with having it be soundproof. Sound isolation and in-room acoustics are really two seperate things, each involving seperate techniques and goals. I don't have the budget to do much of either on a great scale, but I'll do the best I can.

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McCall

· #16 · May 21, 2007

Your riser and your stage should not be attached there should be a 1/4" gap between them and the walls and the riser should have isolation under it between it and floor and both should be insulation filled unless you want to do the sand fill with the stage. Both of these can be solidly built without the compromise in sound that attaching them is going to give you. I hope you have also considered the HVAC situation for the room and fresh air exhange.

Max Lomax

Discussion Starter · #17 · May 21, 2007

I have a layer of 1/4" sill seal between my riser framing and the floor, along with everywhere the walls and columns meet the riser and vice versa. I explained why I wanted the riser to go down first. It's not a true floating riser but I'm ok with it. If you pound on the riser with a hammer, you get only the slightest vibration in the walls so I know it works.

The riser is packed with insulation, plus 2 layers of advantech glued and screwed.

If there is a compromise in there somewhere then oh well, it beats the risk of having to chip up my floor and patch a radiant tube.

drin

· #18 · May 21, 2007

Quote:
Originally Posted by Max Lomax /forum/post/0

If you pound on the riser with a hammer, you get only the slightest vibration in the walls so I know it works.

I understand your reasons for attaching the riser, but a hammer and a subwoofer are two very different animals. Wall vibration from a hammer blow doesn't tell you what sort of sound you're going to hear outside the the theater when a movie's in full swing. Once the riser starts to rumble the flanking path will allow sound to travel right through your walls and to the floor above. How much the walls vibrate when you hit the riser with a hammer has nothing to do with it.

The bottom line is that it is of course your choice, but I don't think you'll find *ANYONE* on here who'll tell you that attaching your riser is a good idea.

-drin

McCall

· #19 · May 21, 2007

I don't understand your comments on chipping your floor or patching a radiant tube, If the stage and riser are separate structures not fastened to the walls or floor so how do they chip or puncture anything?

Max Lomax

Discussion Starter · #20 · May 22, 2007

In order to build the room and drywall it before installing the riser as suggested I would have had to build the rear wall first, no?

I would then need to fasten the bottom of said wall to the floor somehow, especially since I'll have roughly 300lbs of equipment hanging from it. Building my rear wall and a portion of the right side walls on top of the riser (which is only fastened on the sides) allowed me to not have to penetrate my concrete floor where I know there is heating tubes (I put them there), which was the whole idea. Not having to do this eliminates the chance of me hitting a radiant tube with my ramset, which would derail the whole project. Since I'm not terribly concerned with sound leaving the room, I decided it was an acceptable compromise, and an opportunity to try and do it little bit differently.

Regardless, anywhere anything top or bottom comes in contact with the riser there is a layer of foam in between.

The only reason I made any attempt at isolating and insulating the riser was because of how in-room sound problems can manifest themselves there.

Obviously a hammer isn't the same as a theater speaker system. What it does do is give me a quick impression of how vibrations (which some call sound) travel from the riser into the rest of the room structure when I pound on the floor next to the wall. And in this case it worked suprisingly good.

We'll see how it pans out, although I probably won't put alot more thought into it tbh.

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