RaZorTT's Theatre Build

**raZorTT** · **09-09-09, 12:33 AM**

Sorry about the lack of updates guys.

The framing, MDF and ultratel should be delivered this friday

, so with any luck things might actually start to happen. My builder's (dad) footy season has finished up so hopefully he'll be available a lot more over the remainder of the year.

The plan is:

Frame up the soffits
Frame up the screen wall
Build some steps down from the riser
Build a few star ceiling panels
Build the light tray

Cheers,
Simon

**Prof.** · **09-09-09, 07:05 PM**

Not much to do at all really...

**raZorTT** · **09-09-09, 08:15 PM**

Hey Prof,

I can't wait to kick things off. The room has been in the same state for way too long!

Cheers,
Simon

**jasonmac** · **09-09-09, 11:53 PM**

Remember... hammer in one hand and camera in the other

**raZorTT** · **09-11-09, 07:17 AM**

Delivery, hooooray!

Framing
Insulation

4 packs of Ultratel and 1 pack of ultratel with acoustituff

I also got a few sheets of MDF for the star ceiling

Cheers,
Simon

**Prof.** · **09-11-09, 07:09 PM**

Now there's no excuse..get cracking!.

**raZorTT** · **09-14-09, 01:07 AM**

One quick pic of the ultratel with the acoustituff facing.

acoustituff

**Prof.** · **09-14-09, 07:14 PM**

Is that a dark colour facing..or is it just the lighting in the shot?

**bpape** · **09-14-09, 07:17 PM**

Looks like standard FSK silver facing.

Bryan

**raZorTT** · **09-14-09, 07:24 PM**

Quote:

Prof. wrote:

Is that a dark colour facing..or is it just the lighting in the shot?

Hey Prof,

It's a silver facing, the photo makes it look darker.

Quote:

bpape wrote:

Looks like standard FSK silver facing.

Hi Bryan,

It's probably exactly the same, they probably just give it a fancy name so they can charge more.

Cheers,
Simon

**raZorTT** · **10-03-09, 01:45 AM**

I got a delivery yesterday afternoon

The Guillford of Maine fabric I ordered.

Huge thanks to bpape for organising things at his end and shipping 2 HUGE cartons down under. I would recommend anyone that might be considering fabrics for walls or treatments to get in touch with Bryan, he was a pleasure to deal with. Oh and it's a good exchange rate for us Aussie's atm

GOM opened
Burgandy roll
Burgandy closeup
Black closeup

I wish I could get cracking on construction.. Hopefully in 2 or 3 weeks! This real life stuff is really a HT speed hump

Cheers,
Simon

**bpape** · **10-03-09, 10:33 AM**

Yeah! Finally got there.

Have fun and keep us posted with pics.

Bryan

**Prof.** · **10-03-09, 07:20 PM**

That's good news Simon..
The GOM looks to be quite a lot thicker than I imagined and very similar to a material called "Front Runner"..that's used on moveable office partitions..
Do you know the material I'm speaking about?

**raZorTT** · **10-03-09, 08:59 PM**

Hey Prof,

I have certainly come across my fair share of office partitions covered in fabric

, but as yet haven't come across a fabric that is similar to GOM.

I just did a quick google for front runner and that's the stuff they are using on the cubicles in my current job. I'd say the front runner would be twice as think, if not more than the GOM.

Cheers,
Simon

**Jason IB** · **10-21-09, 05:24 PM**

Hey Simon! The GOM looks great. But looks much better in person. I can't wait to get started on my screen wall. Looking forward to your next update.

**raZorTT** · **10-25-09, 06:02 PM**

Hi guys,

Here are a couple of photos of my Grafik Eye QS that I just got back from the electrician. He wired it up with plug bases so we could test out different types of lights quickly.

GE with plug packs

Zones and power wired up

Another wiring angle

Let there be light!

Zones:

1 - Downlight that is wired up to an iron core (MLV) transformer.
2 - Standard rope light.
3 - Star ceiling.

I'm going to use MLV (magnetic) transformers on any low voltage lights as opposed to an ELV (electronic) transformer. ELV requires an extra lutron interface on each zone which could become expensive very quickly.

Zones 1 and 2 are both setup to dim and do a really smooth job of it. The 3rd zone is setup to be an on or off zone.

It's amazing how long you can just sit there dimming lights

Cheers,
Simon

**Prof.** · **10-25-09, 06:21 PM**

Nice one Simon..

Are those power sockets off the unit going to remain as shown..or were they just for testing purposes.?

**raZorTT** · **10-25-09, 06:31 PM**

Thanks Prof.

He will hard wire all the downlight zones when I'm ready to have the downlights installed (after building the soffits). I will need to keep two or three zones with plugs or power points on the ends for the Star ceiling, light tray and step rope light

Cheers,
Simon

**raZorTT** · **11-11-09, 10:20 PM**

I am trying to decide if I want to buy an AT screen and have my speakers behind or buy a normal screen and place the speakers beside and/or below.

I was wondering if anyone can recommend some good movies/scenes to test out the sound stage with speakers in various positions.

I have looked at the dolby recommendations for speaker placement and they recommend the L+R between 22 and 30 degrees from your listening position. The THX viewing angle recommendations (for scope) start at about 18 degrees (36 in total). So that would suggest to me that perhaps on the side of the screen would be better.

On the other hand a lot of people have said having the speakers behind the screen locates the sound better and gives it more impact with what is happening on the screen.

So I guess I need to test it out at various angles to see if I can notice the difference.

Any suggestions or experiences appreciated.

Cheers,
Simon

**bpape** · **11-12-09, 06:32 AM**

The 36 degree included viewing angle is the absolute least they want to see. How big you actually go depends on what the PJ will do and if you're a front, middle, or rear of the theater watcher in a commercial cinema.

Bryan

**raZorTT** · **11-12-09, 04:16 PM**

Thanks Bryan,

I usually find my way to the second or third row in the second tier of commercial cinemas. So I guess that's probably right around the middle? So maybe in the 36-40degree range?

What I was thinking was making the second row right around the 36 degree mark, which with my room dimensions would put the front row at around 44-45. Is that too large?

Cheers,
Simon

**Prof.** · **11-12-09, 05:41 PM**

Quote:

raZorTT wrote:

On the other hand a lot of people have said having the speakers behind the screen locates the sound better and gives it more impact with what is happening on the screen.

That's the way I would go Simon..particularly if you make your own AT screen..

I recently contacted Chris at AVSeymour and it worked out, including delivery, about the same cost as buying a sheet of Designer White laminate here!!

People who have AT screens, do say as you mentioned that they get a much better and more realistic sound stage..

**bbieger** · **11-12-09, 08:04 PM**

I'm in the same debate right now in terms of AT screen or not. It seems to me that the false wall and AT Screen is a great solution to a lot of problems. It will give you much more room to move your speakers around and you don't have to worry about making your acoustic treatments look nice. Lastly, With the screen framed in, you could fairly easily just buy some nice screen fabric, install it, then frame the screen (and the rest of the wall) with AT cloth. I recently saw some nice looking AT cloth Cinematic? on the internet. Looked a whole lot nicer than the standard "burlap" looking fabric.

Lastly, you could always put a light back there and turn it on before or after the movie for that "how cool is that effect" when all your audio equipment shows up through the screen.

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