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Ambrosio's Unaplex II: Room within a Room Build

82K views 250 replies 22 participants last post by  tjambro 
#1 · (Edited)
Here begins the tale of Ambrosio's Unaplex II...

Yes, this is my second theater build. My first build was in a single level ranch with the biggest room becoming my dedicated theater. Unfortunately, when the HT wasn't being used, the house became very small. Also at the time of my build, my budget did not allow for any real sound isolation. At first my wife could tolerate my movie parties but when I added two large 18" DIY subs behind the AT screen, I must admit, it was pretty loud and rattled the entire house. My neighbor said I actually rattled a picture frame off HER wall.

So, we sold the house and now I have a full basement. My wife has given up rights to the right half (and portion of the left) of the basement for my "man cave". The only stipulation was that she had to have unfettered access to the laundry room and storage rooms in the back of the basement. You see, in the last house, I killed the pantry, hall closet and the family room. So her request was not unreasonable to me. :D The basement was completely finished before I got my grubby paws on it.

**Note**: This basement layout has changed. Look below for the latest layout...or click here
Here is my current vision:



Note that the red walls and hot water heater are to be removed. The blue walls, hot water heater, and separate HVAC are to be added. The yellow circles are my lolicolumns.

If that's too much color, here's the same layout with just the finished "blue" items: Ambrosio's Unaplex 2 layout

I have made initial contact with BPape and he will be on board to hopefully stop me from making any major snafus. I am planning a room within a room with the theater's new ceiling joists nestled in between the current joists. I am going with 3 layers of 5/8" DW with GG. I plan on building an IB chamber ala Cathan and the walls will be finished with fabric frames ala GPowers. I already have my dricore but I cannot put it down until I convert my finished basement into an unfinished basement.

Here's what the room looked like prior to me picking up a hammer and pry bar:

The walls with X's on them is the bedroom wall that will be removed. The IB chamber and AT screen will be back here. The room does look a bit long in the layout and can be adjusted somewhat by making the IB chamber bigger if necessary.

The door by the CO detector is the only entrance to the back rooms and I will be sealing it off as it is on the left wall of the theater not far from where the screen will be.

To make this happen, the water heater in the laundry/sump room was moved near the mechanical room and a new door is to go directly from the lobby/arcade to the laundry room and other back rooms.

To my surprise, here's what I found when I removed the paneling to make way for the new door:


Looks like I'm not the only one who thought a door should go there...

One more before shot:


This is the future lobby/arcade. The back closets will be removed and note the "blue" doorway by the popcorn machine. That is roughly where the new entrance will go. That 200amp electrical panel you see on the closet wall is now gone...thanks Dad! It's not the original panel either. The house was built in '65 and had 100A service. The original box is in the room under the stairs which is just a couple of feet to the left of the panel. It is currently just a junction box and was fed by the new 200A panel. Why they didn't put the new panel in the room under the stairs is beyond me. There was plenty of room to do so. Fortunately, when they removed the old 100A aerial service to the house and installed 200A underground service they spent a few extra bucks and installed a 200A breaker below the power company's meter so we could disconnect the house from the grid and move the 200A panel back under the stairs. This allows me to take the rest of that closet wall out and the driving Xbox 360 cabinet that is mostly finished can be located closer to the wall. The driving cabinet is a blast and will provide stress relief to me when I get burnt out from theater planning/building. If you look close, my previous theater's HTPC is sticking out the front of the cabinet...and do you see the cat6 cable going to it? Yep, that driving cabinet is also a personal hi-def (.mkv files stored on a Unraid server) theater... Yes, I have my own "Drive In Theater" complete with DD/DTS 5.1 surround. A little sub sits behind the 2005 Neon seat. :p

And here is the room as of now looking toward the IB chamber:

You can see my old sub boxes standing upright behind the 2x4 wall. I killed myself getting these things down the basement (no walkout) and now I am just going to pitch them in favor of an IB chamber...it's Cathan's fault! ;) If anyone near Evansville IN wants them, they're yours...
 
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#2 ·
Looks like it's going to be quite a project..
Your finished room dimensions look to be 12'4"x 26'..That's almost identical to my first theatre size..
I found that size to be almost like a hallway, and not particularly good acoustically..
Unless you're planning on having three rows of seating, I would suggest making it slightly shorter..say 23' long and increase the size of the IB room..
I think both rooms would benefit with the changes in dimensions..
 
#3 ·
Yes, I am a little worried about the dimensions. It looks long and skinny in the diagram doesn't it? It doesn't look as bad in person but I know sound waves don't care what I think it looks like. :R I am planning on 3 rows of real theater rockers but I still think I could maybe increase the IB chamber or perhaps the sound lock room. Things are still fairly flexible, thanks for your comments.

-Tom A.
 
#7 ·
Looks like a great project. Are you leaving the paneling up or replacing it with some material that is more acoustically friendly? Looking forward to seeing your progress.:T
 
#8 ·
Yeah - Unfortunately, that breaks a couple of 'rules' about design. Length will be more than 3x the height. Length will be almost exactly double the length.

If we could shorten it a bit, give you more IB space, and shift to 2 rows of 3 seats, I think that might work out a bit better for you acoustically. It would also give you better viewing angles for both rows. Doing 3 rows makes it harder to get a good field of view included angle for all of them without either the back being kinda small and/or the front being really big.

Bryan
 
#10 ·
Seems like you have a good grip on what to do and the consequences of compromises.
Personally I don't have much against 3 rows. I guess optimising sound and view for 3 rows is difficult, but if you need the seats, I guess you need it. :bigsmile:

Are you going for a totally black bat cave, or will the cloth be a somewhat lighter color?
 
#13 ·
Are you going for a totally black bat cave, or will the cloth be a somewhat lighter color?
No, not totally but there will be no light colored walls. I will probably go with a medium to dark blue cloth for the walls, the columns and total screenwall will be black. The soffits will also most likely be black. If I do a star ceiling it will be....yep....black, but if I don't do the star ceiling, I'll probably paint it midnight blue or something like that.

-Tom A.
 
#11 ·
It's more a video thing with the 3 rows.

Also, with a finished height of 7'8", getting the 2nd riser in there for proper viewing angles will end up with a head height (assuming 10-12" risers) of approx 5'6-5'8".

2 rows of 3 allows more realistic ceiling heights over the last row and also gives better video field of view and an easier time optimizing the lower room mode interaction of the length dimension.

Bryan
 
#15 ·
It's more a video thing with the 3 rows.

Also, with a finished height of 7'8", getting the 2nd riser in there for proper viewing angles will end up with a head height (assuming 10-12" risers) of approx 5'6-5'8".

Bryan
Actually it's worse than that. The 7'8" is not finished height, it is the height from my tile floor to the bottom of the new ceiling joists I plan on installing assuming I place the joists 1" below the current joists. I still need to add dri-core and 3 layers of 5/8" drywall.

-Tom A.
 
#14 ·
Ok, ok, you guys have convinced me to go with 2 rows of 3 instead of 3x3. I knew the back row would cause potential problems with height but to be honest I really didn't consider viewing angles all that much. In my previous room, I had a 8'6" ceiling which isn't high by any means but dropping another foot would make a difference. You guys also convinced me to shorten the room length also. I knew the diagram did look odd and I had a hunch this wouldn't be good acoustically but I was hoping it could be worked out. But now only going with 2 rows due to height, there's really no reason to make the room that long anyway. So more space will go to the IB chamber and some to the soundlock room also. I'll update the diagram and post a few more pictures of the construction mayhem in a couple of days.


-Tom A.
 
#16 ·
Well this weekend was not a very good week for room deconstruction. I was loading up the ******* Ranger (see post below) Friday nite and I was getting very, very weak so I went to bed early. I woke up in the night with the shivers and my wife said I was burning up. So, the room was put on hold and I pretty much slept all weekend. I did manage to make it to the dump but that was it.

-Tom A.
 
#17 ·
******* Ranger **CONTEST**

Some people track how much money they spend on their room. Some track trips to HD/Lowes. I'm gonna track pounds taken to the dump....er Sanitary Landfill...

To kick things off, I am starting a contest. Below you will find a picture of "The ******* Ranger" all loaded up to go to the dump. Since my "Sanitary Landfill" uses a scale to determine how much to charge, I know exactly how much was dumped each time I go.

One and only one "Major Award" will be given to the poster who comes closest to the weight loaded up on the ******* Ranger in the photo below. The Major Award will be given on Dec. 22nd (just in time for Christmas) and may be delivered to you personally in the back of the ******* Ranger...

Good Luck!



There are no tricks here. There are not 3 tons of lead hidden under the wood you can see. The contents of the ******* Ranger are typical of basement remodels including wood paneling (using the most exquisite exotic veneers possible), drywall and 2x4s. Nothing more, nothing less.

On a side note, I bought the ******* Ranger a few years back while living in my previous house with the intention of using it to haul sand and gravel for a large brick patio I built and sell it after I was done. It ran so good (much better than it looks!) I decided to keep it. Glad I did!

-Tom A.
 
#18 ·
Smaller Room

It's official...the compromises have begun...

Here's the new smaller room:



It would have been nice to have the longer room to have 3 rows of 3 chairs but due to width and height constraints I will go with 2 rows of 3 instead.

In addition to the smaller theater area you will notice the IB chamber got bigger :devil: as well as the soundlock area. The soundlock area will be a bit funny shaped due to the fact that I want to enclose that lollicolumn (yellow circle) within the wall structure. I think the funky nook may be a good place to put my equipment rack, no?

Also, bpape suggested that I move the communicating doors to the soundlock entrance instead of by the theater entrance which at first seemed counter intuitive but actually does make sense so that's what I will do. Also, since I was planning on temporarily removing the bathroom vanity and closet to add 2 more layers of drywall to the existing layer, I will now put the closet on the other side of the vanity and seal off the current bathroom door and replace it with a new door that connects directly to the lobby/arcade area. This will keep the laundry/sump pump room off limits to guests. The vanity drain pipe currently runs through the wall where the new door will go so that will have to be relocated to the wall where the current door is. This will create a bit of extra work but I think it will be worth it in the end. I plan on having a bathroom sign on the new door and a "Employees Only" sign for the door that leads to the laundry room.

Yesterday I removed several 6" flex lines that supplied the half of the basement that the theater will occupy. I capped the ends and now I need to start working on removing all the metal 6" lines that feed the main floor and replace them with flex. Bpape suggested that no tin should be above the theater area even though there will be 3 layers of drywall.

-Tom A.
 
#20 ·
I am not sure what your plans are for a front screen wall/stage/enclosure for speakers/such but if it were me I would get at least 24' length out of your room. You want to avoid as much as you can the possibility of a square room. There is a link or document somewhere that talks about "ideal" room dimensions to avoid certain room "mods"

Maybe bpape can chime in here and disuse it with you, beings though you are in the beginning stages you can maybe avoid the issues that others have encountered with room dimensions.
 
#24 ·
Thanks for your input. My original theater (previous house) was also 21' long with 18" behind the screen making for about 19' of "visible" area. I planned on going with 26' (24' visible) this time but due to width and height restrictions bpape and others have talked me out of a room that long. I had Berkliners in my other HT (room was 14' wide) and while they were extremely comfortable, I was planning on real theater seats this go round even before I knew I would have only 12-12.5' of width to work with.

There's no theater layout detail in my drawing but I will have an AT screen in front of my IB chamber, probably 2' from the IB wall. This should allow ample room for my speakers.

-Tom A.
 
#26 ·
Major Award Winner!

Well folks, it's time to announce the winner of the "Major Award" for guessing the weight in the back of the ******* Ranger.

First off, I want to thank the two of you for participating.

And the winner is: Space. He guessed the actual weight of 1100 pounds...

And as promised, the ******* Ranger will deliver this Major Award to Space:


Thanks for participating and Merry Christmas!

-Tom A.
 
#27 ·
Door slabs

Here's a picture of the custom door slabs I ordered from Lowes. I had them only route one side of each door because I will be adding mdf to the slab to beef the door up more. I plan on using (5) 4" spring loaded hinges on each slab. I also had Lowes not cut a hole for a door knob as I will be using a push plate/pull handle on each door. The idea is that the doors cannot accidentally be left open. You will go through the door and it will close itself. If the spring loaded hinges are not enough to do the job, I will buy commercial swing arms or whatever they are called. Lowes was supposed to make the doors 1 7/8" thick but they made them the standard 1 3/8" thick. No real problem since I will be adding mdf anyway.

While I like 4 or 6 panel interior doors for the rest of the house, I was pleased with this design as it just says "theater" to me:



-Tom A.
 
#35 ·
Re: Door slabs

While I like 4 or 6 panel interior doors for the rest of the house, I was pleased with this design as it just says "theater" to me:.
I see what you mean when you say the door says "Theater"..
It straight away reminded me of the double doors that used to be the entrance doors to my local cinema, when I was just a boy!..Good choice..:T
 
#28 ·
Enterprise

Here's a before and now picture of the future theater space:

BEFORE:



What makes this funny, is that my wife saw this and said it looked like a scene from the bridge of Star Trek when the Enterprise was about to be destroyed. She is right on! The hanging 6" flex has been removed and the supply lines capped as the theater will have all new flex.

It's hard to see in this photo but in the ceiling joists there were 4 all metal 6" supply lines to the house above. All these lines were going to be above the new ceiling but I decided to replace them with flex. I didn't want to use the old flex so I bought new shiny flex...look in the "now" picture below. You can also see 1 stack (of 3) of dricore - at the bottom right of the photo with the pliers on top - that still needs to go down.

NOW:



Both of these photos were taken from the sound lock wall looking toward the IB chamber at the far end of the basement.

-Tom A.
 
#31 ·
Sad Day...

Yesterday was a sad day:



This is one of the two sub boxes I had behind my screen in the old house. That opening is for a 18" driver. These boxes are the reason I am going room within a room...that and my wife and neighbors would kill me if I make any more rattles. :R I killed myself getting these boxes into the basement and I could not get them out without hacking them up. Oh, well...

-Tom A.
 
#32 ·
Drywall arrives!

My drywall has arrived!



All the 4x8 drywall on this truck is now in my basement. Two young and foolish guys unloaded 150 sheets of 5/8" into my basement. When they saw the 90 degree turn they had to make to get down the basement they did not look pleased. They turned out to be nice guys and even though they were in shape they were extremely wore out at the end. I am usually pretty cheap but I gave them $20 each when it was all over because they more then earned it. They said business was slow and if it wasn't for my job, they would have went home today with no pay. They were here 3 1/2 hours.

I get a kick out of this photo:



Does anyone see what's so interesting about this photo...anyone....Buehler? That orange fork-lift thingie is not from the local drywall supplier but Home Depot! That's right, I scheduled lumber and drywall deliveries from 2 different companies for today. I was supposed to be the first run for the drywall but their regular crew didn't show up (probably 'cause they knew how hard the job would be) and I had to wait for the backup crew from Owensboro (about 50 miles from Evansville) to get here. Well, it turns out the drywall company didn't have any fork lifts or even carts to assist in the drywall delivery so the drywall guy asked the Home Depot guy to run the last couple of loads into the garage. The orange lift would not quite make it but he dropped it just inside the door with the idea that we could at least close the garage door since it was 10F outside. Of course things never go as planned and the light sensors were blocked so the door wouldn't go down. But at least it was closer for the two fellas. While this was all taking place I was wondering what the local drywall shop and HD lawyers would think if they knew this was going on. They would have liability nightmares. :R

And here's what 10,854 lbs of 5/8" drywall looks like in my lobby:



Don't worry, there is still just enough room to get to the driving cabinet/Personal Drive-In-Theater. :bigsmile:

-Tom A.
 
#33 ·
Compromise #3

First off, some of you folks might be wondering why I had drywall delivered when I don't even have my subfloor down yet. Good question. Answer: I don't have to work this week so scheduling is easier and my father is coming down for a week in January for the major building blitz. We don't know how far we will get but we're hoping to get framing and at least some of the drywall done. Time will tell.

Now that the major deliveries are here, I guess I should continue getting the room ready for the building blitz.

Let's add to the Compromise List...

Compromise #1 was Room Size: Make the room smaller in length for acoustical reasons
Compromise #2 was Seating: Only have 2 rows of 3 instead of 3 rows of 3 due to height issues

Compromise #3 is Ceiling Height:



I planned on removing all these joist blocks and turning them on their sides to allow the new joists to go further up into the ceiling. After trying to remove one I decided it was too much work to remove them all. Besides, if you look close in the photo, you can see that there are some 2x's that run parallel with the joists. These are where the builders goofed and couldn't get the plywood subfloor to line up with the joists so they added these cheater blocks. If I remove these then I would have to screw the rotated block back while trying to catch just the subfloor above and not go through the hardwood floors above. I'm sure it could be done but I didn't feel it was worth the effort. On the plus side, my air gap between the floor above and the theater ceiling will be larger so I should have better sound isolation, no?

Note: To the right of the photo you can see some of the 6" flex that replaces the old metal 6" supply lines for the house above.

-Tom A.
 
#34 ·
******* Ranger Rides Again

Ok folks, last post for the day...I promise. :whistling:

The ******* Ranger is loaded up once again:



I was originally thinking this would be my lightest load so far but I'm not so sure, it may be my heaviest. I was planning on getting to the dump today but could not due to deliveries. I'm leaving town tomorrow for Christmas so you are looking at one Lonely Ranger....sorry, couldn't resist.

If anyone cares to guess the weight in the back, that's fine but there will be no "Major Awards" this time around....if anyone is keeping score, the ******* Ranger has carried 2240 pounds to the dump in two trips. Stay tuned for the new tallies in a few days! :R

Merry Christmas to all!

-Tom A.
 
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