Drake's Theater Build

**mdrake** · **02-24-09, 12:40 AM**

The building of my home theater!!!!!!!!!!!!
My life long dream is coming true.

Building the wall between the dinning room and the home theater.

Completed wall between the dinning room and the home theater.

One of our pictures for the home theater and our popcorn maker. You can't have a HT without the popcorn maker.

Building the front stage area and a view of the neighbors house.

My buddy Robert using his height to his advantage.

The top and bottom front stage frames completed.

Me holding the frame.

Robert screwing the frames together.

These wood frames will be stained and the center will be covered in fabric to match the walls.<br />

Time to eat homemade pizza!!

The Epson 6100 in his new home.

A font shot of the new toy.

A cool view of the POWER TOOLS. Half the fun of construction is the POWER TOOLS.

Picture of the sheet with the screen samples. A Carada 114 inch 1:78 to 1 screen is on order. Let the fun begin.

**Sonnie** · **02-24-09, 12:45 AM**

Forget the build... I want some of that pizza...

So what's the size going to be and what all equipment are you going to have in there?

**mdrake** · **02-24-09, 12:51 AM**

Building the equipment closet

Drywall fun.

The almost finished closet. Just need to put in the gear.

**mdrake** · **02-24-09, 01:00 AM**

Quote:

Forget the build... I want some of that pizza...

A man after my own heart.

Home theater equipment and furniture
Projector = Epson 6100
Screen = Carada BW 114 inch on order
Receiver = Onkyo 805
Sub Amp = Parts Express 1000 watt
Blu-ray = Sony PS3
CD/DVD = Yamaha DVD A and SACD compatible
Speakers = Magnepan MC1's and MMGW's
Sub = 12" GR Research will be replace with a quality 18" soon
Seats = Berkline row of 4 on order
Remote = Harmony
Popcorn Machine = Costco black full size

**mdrake** · **02-24-09, 01:08 AM**

Work completed this weekend. Routed the panels, built the sofit frames and built the screen wall.

Routing the panels

Completed panels waiting for sanding and stain.

My buddy Wayne working on the sofit frames.

Screen wall waiting for black fabric which just arrived at the fabric store, so it will be black soon.

**bpape** · **02-24-09, 07:59 AM**

Looking good. Make sure all of those solid-sided soffits are filled with insulation to keep them from resonating.

Keep the pics coming.

Bryan

**mdrake** · **02-24-09, 09:31 AM**

THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! for the tip! I was going to attach .5 inch sound board to the sofit. Do you think that will be enough to keep them from resonating? This board is great! I posted this on AVS and in one week one user commented and over here it has been 10 hrs and two have commented. Thanks guys.

Matt

**bpape** · **02-24-09, 10:04 AM**

Unfortunately not. The cavity in the soffit will just act like a drum but be tuned lower due to the extra mass. You'll still need to damp the cavity.

Bryan

**mdrake** · **02-24-09, 11:07 AM**

Thanks! I was going to put lights in the softit but I am wondering now if I should use rope lights instead and fill the sofit with something. What do you suggest filling the sofit with? Something that I could lay rope lights on top of.

Matt

**bpape** · **02-24-09, 11:09 AM**

There's no problem having a little 'tray' on the front of the soffiting to hold the rope lighting - that's done all the time to very nice effect. It's the 'hollow box' part like you're showing where the PJ is that I'm concerned about.

Bryan

**mdrake** · **02-24-09, 11:15 AM**

I installed the rack shelves into the rack last night and wired up all the gear.

I still have to make a box out of sound board and wrap it around the top shelves were the Blu-rays are but it is almost done. Thanks for looking.

**mdrake** · **02-24-09, 11:20 AM**

Thanks Bryan for the help! You have not idea how much I appreciate it!!!!!!! Should I stuff the box full of insulation will that help or should I redesign it? The sofit's on the side are hollow as well, so what do you suggest I do with those? I was going to use them to aim indirect light up and the ceiling but I can live with it.

Matt

**bpape** · **02-24-09, 11:26 AM**

It really depends on what you want to use it for. If you want it to double as broadband bass control, it can be just a skeleton frame filled with insulation and covered with cloth. Then, you can just use crown moulding attached to the bottom of the side face of that and lay the rope light in there. You'll get the same effect and get some bottom end control in the deal. You might need to space the crown out an inch or so to keep the hot lights away from the cloth unless you use GOM FR701 wich is fire rated.

Bryan

**mdrake** · **02-24-09, 11:48 AM**

Ok I am starting to understand. Rather than make the frame out of the large panels I used I should make the sides more of a skeleton frame "very little panels" then I can fill them with installation. Can I cover it with soundboard wrapped fabric? Is it ok to have the shelf that the projector sits on still, if I make the front the skeleton frame?

I am a little worried about the corner where the popcorn maker is sitting in the first set of pictures. Do you think it will be a problem? If so, would one of the GIK corner differs work?

Matt

Wanted this kind of a look for the soffit.

**bpape** · **02-24-09, 12:11 PM**

You can still do that. Just fill it with insulation and have a little rail or something above the insulation that will keep the rope off of it.

Bryan

**salvasol** · **02-24-09, 06:37 PM**

Quote:

mdrake wrote:

My buddy Robert using his height to his advantage.

And perhaps a little help from the stage frame???

Is looking good...I'm sure you'll have a nice HT, keep the pictures coming

P.S.: Bryan is the expert on acoustic, maybe he can confirm if is okay to use at least the pink insulation to fill the cavities, OC703/705 will be better...but if $$$$$ is tight....

**bpape** · **02-24-09, 08:35 PM**

For a larger cavity like that, using standard 'pink stuff' to fill the cavities is just fine. All we're looking for is damping - and as thickness increases, density matters less.

Bryan

**mdrake** · **02-25-09, 11:13 AM**

Quote:

And perhaps a little help from the stage frame???

Maybe a little.

Thanks for looking at the pics!

Matt

**mdrake** · **02-25-09, 11:20 AM**

The 114" Brilliant White Carada Precision Screen came yesterday package REALLY well. It was easy to assemble and the quality of both the frame and the screen is amazing! Here are some screen shots. This is my first try at screen shots and they do not do the picture quality justice. I will take some better shots this weekend hopefully. The picture from the Epson 6100 and Carada screen is AWESOME!!!!!!!! It is better than any LCD I have ever seen.

**mdrake** · **02-25-09, 12:54 PM**

I am not sure why people say the Epson 6100 is lacking on blacks? To me the blacks look black. Some times the sky looks gray but if you look at other elements in the film that are black they look black. Maybe the Carada screen is helping the blacks? The screen shots above are in theater mode and they still have TONS of pop.

Matt

**scyce** · **02-26-09, 09:46 PM**

Looks good!!!

What is the dimensions of your HT room?

**mdrake** · **02-27-09, 11:19 AM**

Thanks, the room is 13 feet wide by 16 feet long. It has 10ft coffered ceiling which makes the room look MUCH larger than it really is. The 10 foot ceilings seem to really help with the 70hz bass problem. I took today off work to work on the room. So now with a 3 day weekend I hope to get a LOT done.

Matt

**speedklz** · **02-27-09, 12:12 PM**

Looking good!

**mdrake** · **03-03-09, 12:37 AM**

Thanks guys for the kind words.

I am in a state of shock and amazement!! I knew a home theater would be cool but tonight was unreal. I watched the Eagles live in concert DVD and it was like nothing I have ever experienced. I have been into audio my whole life and have never experienced music like this. Between the room, the Maggies and the projector it was breathtaking. It was so moving it almost brought me to tears. It is a shame that not everyone has a dedicated HT room. Everyone should experience this at least once in there lifetime. Thanks guys for all the help and if anyone lives in the central CA area I would love to share the experience.

Fabric wall panels are half way done. I will post pics tomorrow. I have a new respect for all you who have built a dedicated HT room! This is a lot of work but oh so worth it.

Matt

**Sonnie** · **03-03-09, 12:57 AM**

Eagles in Melbourne? Of course any Eagles is good...

You are moving on quite nicely with this... in comparison to my slow pokin' self.

I like the lighted soffit idea... those look pretty cool. I would like to see how yours will turn out.

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