The RanchHT

**MacBuster** · **07-26-09, 04:07 PM**

I've been working on my theater for the past six months, and thought I might start a thread here to chronicle the build to date. I have had a thread for some time over at the other forum but I wouldn't mind seeing how things are over here, also.

*** I decided to a a "current progress" picture to my first post ***

So, here we go. I'm not sure the wife knows what I've gotten her into, but she will soon.

I'd absolutely welcome any comments and unsolicited advice for this project as I've never come close to anything of the scope. I've done plenty of reading here for a number of years but I think until you get your hands dirty it's hard to really visualize the process.

Notes:

1. I plan on doing as much soundproofing as possible: GG, DD, RSIC on the ceiling.

2. Component so far:

- Paradigm Studio 60, Studio CC, Studio ADPs, Studio 40's (rears).
- Onkyo 805
- EasyButton IXL 18", Behringer EP2500, Behringer EQ
- PS3, XBOX360, HTPC
- No Projector selected yet
- Screen will be an AT one in the false wall. Originally I had planned a laminate DIY screen, but I think I am switching this.

I'll add some pictures soon, but I'm hoping that the experts here can help me with some questions before I go to HD tomorrow to take advntage of a sale:

1. Is it easy to frame a double drywall style wall under a beam and amongst the beam support posts?

2. If I am doing DD/GG and weaving the insulation in between the studs, how do I decide what width of insulation I use? My understanding is that Roxul Safe n Sound is the best way to go here?

3. I will framing over the storage area, so do I need a DD/GG wall all along that length? (The North Wall).

4. Should I just get a standard 6'8" door? I have a full eight feet under the joists and 7'3" under the beam in which I might integrate the on the south side of the theater area.

5. Any reason to not use Dri Core? I'm willing to give up the 7/8" for a comfortable floor.

I'm sure I'll have a ton more questions!

**MacBuster** · **07-26-09, 04:08 PM**

Screen Wall:

From entrance area looking NW to the storage area.

The HVAC and water lines I will have to figure a way to frame around:

Possible area for an external equipment rack. I like hte location because heat will not build up in an enclosed space.

Some ceiling hot air supplies I will need to switch to flexduct:

**MacBuster** · **07-26-09, 04:08 PM**

Well, framing is done. It was relatively easy since the room is a giant box with almost nothing in it.

The 8" supply manifold that was in front of the stairs was moved without complication in order to get the main partition wall framed. That's my father-in-law up in the joist space. He built custom homes for 30 years, so this is all child's play for him. He's convinced I'm crazy with all of the soundproofing and wacky things I am doing...but I think he gets it now.

We had to put blocking on top of the top plate in order to get the DC-04 clips to make contact with the joist. The vertical orientation of the DC-04 did not work becacuse the clip's screw holes were above the joist flange. On the opposite wall we put the blocking in the joist webbing to provide screw holes for the DC-04, but found it to be more work.

Here's a view from below:

My buddy and my father-in-law installing DC-04 clips. I was taking a break from doing the insulation.

And here's the one end of the finished framing. We have decided on a final plan for the window, but it will likely get a plug of some kind to ensure it is sealed. I don't need access to it, except for emergency and/or re-sale.

Here's the view from outside of the theater looking in. You can see the framing for the storage area in the opposite corner. When I finish the rest of the basement, I will be framing in a wall between the teleposts. It will create an air gap between the theater and the rest of the basement that is ~10" between walls. I suspect that will aid in increased noise reduction.

**MacBuster** · **07-26-09, 04:09 PM**

I've decided to modify my HVAC to make things simpler.

Instead of running duct everywhere, I've decided to move the take-off locations of one supply and the return.

This will get me two 5" supplies at the front of the theater...and an 8" return at the back.

**MacBuster** · **07-26-09, 04:10 PM**

I thought I'd throw an update up here, as we've made some good progress. I had collected materials over the last couple of weeks and my father in law is in tow for an extended trip to help me contrsuct the theater. He's a real pro...building custom homes for 30 years, so he knows what he is doing.

Which also allows him to know that I am crazy.

anyhoo...

Obligatory Green Glue shot:

And normal materials. This is 5/8 drywall. And this is actually what's left after we did two walls. I had a drywall pizza party and some friends chipped in.

The plumbing problem was solved by using slightly longer (Pliteq Genie) isolation clips that allowed for the top of the drywall to be UNDER the gas and water lines. Not ideal, as I would have liked to have had the clips into the joists to maintain ceiling height...but the difference would have been about 1.5" in the end, and for me, it wasn't worth the cost/effort, etc to gain 1.5" of height.

We built some silencers out of standard 8" square ducting, and ML board. I built two for the two supplies into the room.

Ultimately they will likely be redundant as I will be attaching flex duct to them for the final entry into the theater. But I like building projects. And if I ever get a sniper rifle with an 8" barrel, I will know how to silence them. Here is one in situ.

I ran piles of conduit, but rarely used it for signal. Instead I just zip tied my cables to the conduit, and I will cut the drywall to access in the future, if needed.

Then we got on to drywalling.

Here we are nearly finished the ceiling drywall. I was doing the insulating as FIL and my buddy Pierre were putting up the panels.

And more. You can see the flex duct coming out of holes cut to size. There will be a matching duct on the other side of the room. This is the screen wall.

Shot of the end of the drywall, without insulation. You can see the drywall is hanging from the isolated hat track. We had to end there because I needed to run the two 12 gauge wires through this joist to the equipment room for my dual 20 amp circuits.

**MacBuster** · **07-26-09, 04:11 PM**

My obligatory GG pics from our marathon drywalling sessions last weekend. We put up all the drywall in three days.

The carnage:

The leftovers:

**MacBuster** · **07-26-09, 04:12 PM**

I used 8" end-caps, cut out a 5" hole from them and used a 5" take-off to create the transitions.

The square sections use standard 8" square ducting with 1" of duct board on each side, to reduce the the inside diamter to 5" per side.

Here's a close-up and crop of the ends, note the one on the left, you can see how I lined the ends of the duct board with foil tape to prevent floaties.

Here's one unassembled:

**MacBuster** · **07-26-09, 04:12 PM**

Since 48 is not divisible by 19.25 you have to add more than the recommended number of clips, or find a way to get a clip between the joists.

For my room, I managed to get clips on a lot of the joists (I was a little loose with the 48" spec..), but for about 3 clips per track, I needed to use blocking in the joist.

Since my joists are manufactured I-beams, they have a lower flange/stringer that has a lip on top of it. That provides a great way to span with a 2x4. I then laminated another 2x4 to that with 4 framing nails toed in and some construction adhesive. This ensure that the clip was going into a piece of wood that was even with the lower edge of the joists where the other clips were. I then used a long screw on the clips that went through both 2x4's providing even more strength.

You can see it in this pic. The top 2x4 is resting across the tops of the flanges, and the bottom 2x4 is laminated to it. The shot of my conduit is just a bonus :P

**MacBuster** · **07-26-09, 04:13 PM**

Not as much progress as I would like, lately. In fact, after our drywall session, I dropped the tools and left everything sitting right there. I was beat. So spent today picking up the carnage that six cases of Green Glue getting dispensed in 24 hours causes.

Then I moved on to building a min-wall that will be the window plug.

I decided to go with 2x6's, since the wall is framed 2x4 and the addition of 2 x 5/8" drywall makes the depth of a 2x6 almost perfect. It doest hang over the back edge of the framing but does not contact and decouple the wall. I was originally going to build the plug, drywall it, and then move it into place. I've since decided to put it into place and then drywall it. I'll put some handles on after so if I need to move it or there is an emergency, I can yank it out. Otherwise, I want to leave it there semi-permanent.

To do it again, I would have left the window framed as is, put additional2x4's into the window opening and drywalled over the whole thing. Oh well, I'm not about to change it now!

Anybody have any ideas about how to get it in there (other than a friction fit...which is the current choice).

And this arrived today:

Fun!

It's an Emotiva MPS-1. It's a 7 channel amp, with separate "monoblock" blades for each channel.

Now I just need a theater to let loose with the 200wpc ClassH. :P

**MacBuster** · **07-26-09, 04:13 PM**

Well, it's time for some updates. I've only had time to sneak into the basement to do small projects in the past couple of months. It turns out work actually wants me to...you know...work.

I constructed some "baffle boxes" out of 1" mdf to minimize the sound transmission straight out of the hole int he ceiling through which my flex duct comes. It both extends the distance that the flex duct travels without creating a long box. I hope it also barricades some sound from exiting straight out of the room up into the room upstairs.

My round commercial-grade diffusers from EH Price. Directional ones were $200 and special order. I grabbed these out of the bin for $20 each. They are solid and big, and quiet when installed. Unfortunately, they also throw air in 360 degrees. The EH Price guy was great and told me how the HVAC contractors cheat to prevent air from being thrown against a wall. It probably increases noise and reduces flow...but I'm good with the compromise.

Spent all last week working on soffits, and finishing the HVAC ducting/ baffle boxes.

There are two baffle boxes on either side of the room with 5" supplies through each.

Pics of the boxes integrated into the soffits:

I also built a simpler one for the cold air return. I will be installing a dead vent on the outside of the room to further reduce sound transmission.

**MacBuster** · **07-26-09, 04:14 PM**

I had to notch out the soffit at the back of the room, as I wanted to retain the window as an easy retrofit in the future. I put a substantial window plug into it...which is framed exactly like the rest of the basement.

I built a mini-soffit above where the false wall will be for my screen. It has three can lights to provide screen washing. Overall, I have six 50w four inch can lights running down each side and back of the theater. With the addition of the three screen lights, that totals 15 50w can lights. I think that should be enough.

Dri-core pile halfway down. It's sitting in what will be the home office eventually.

Finishing the install in the theater:

Stairs are always fun to drywall! At least I didn't do the taping on any of it:

Equipment closet/ storage room. You can see the HDMI coming from in the ceiling behind the beam. I've also got a hole drilled for the speaker wire and various conduit running in behind the beam. The yellow is the 12awg Romex. I will have 2x 20amp circuits, ad 15 amp for general use into the storage room, and jsut below the main 20 amp outlets is the back-end of the projectors power extender for for the UPS to plug into.

I just finished painting the ceiling, so I'll get some pics up of that. I went with Behr "Dark Cavern" which is like a very dark walnut. It's de-saturated, so almost looks like a charcoal, with some brown in it. It's exactly what I was looking for in the ceiling color.

**MacBuster** · **07-26-09, 04:14 PM**

I spent some time looking at carpets today, and I think I settled on a Kraus Nylon model called Geologic.

It looks like this:

but instead of green, I will be going with a brown tone, called Tobacco.

My stage top cut and getting the mini-joists properly angled.

This pallet of sand taunted me for 2 days. Most of it is down now (1870 lbs of the 2640lbs total). Pics of that to follow. Not fun.

**MacBuster** · **07-26-09, 04:15 PM**

I am nearly finished "sanding" the stage. What a PITA. > 2000lbs of sand.

I didn't carry it into the basement, I built a ramp out of one of the stage-top sections. I carried the sand to the window, then jumped in the window well and fired the bags down the ramp.

My acoustically transparent screen arrived from SeymourAV today!

It's big, at 98" wide, but it will allow me to do a slight tilt to the fabric to avoid moire, on my screen (127" , 16:9).

**MacBuster** · **07-26-09, 04:16 PM**

All the sand in....what a mess. I tried to keep the sand contained, but it was an hour with the shop vac over the entire room this evening.

After cleanup!

My ready-to-install stage tops (there are four sheets of 4x8 for two layers of 3/4"):

**MacBuster** · **07-26-09, 04:16 PM**

The riser was completed last night:

Just before getting sealed up! I always like to see insulation disappear.

It's been a couple of months since I messed around with GG. I forget how sticky and goppy it is, and it gets everywhere. It's great stuff, but no fun to work with.

Second layer on and an old chair to test out the height. I rigged up a 42" head-height visual barrier to simulate a front row.

Different angle, with my now-completed stage in the background.

Lot's of progress lately. The baby is coming and I'm getting freaked out. It makes me work in the basement.

Carpet went in last week. I've spent the last week doing electrical (the two 20 amp circuits are in the equipment room, as is the power extender for the projector.

Hanging doors has been a real PITA, but that's done now too. Tomorrow will be the crown and rope light...which will be fantastic...moving along!

(My "helper" made it into some of these pics." In fact he's a retired customer home builder and I've been far more of his helper, than anything. Although he think 90% of the ideas that come from this forum are bananas.)

**MacBuster** · **07-26-09, 04:17 PM**

I spent most of the day doing baseboards in the rest of the basement.

On thing I did get almost finished, is the backer box for the the power to the projector and the hdmi conduit.

And the prop to put pressure on the adhesive.

I am finishing up with the wiring of the equipment rack location. Speaker wire is almost in, projector wiring is complete. I have to run a CAT5e and coax to the equipment room through conduit.

The two 20amp circuits are wired up...now I just need to find a 4 gang cover plate...which are rare it seems.

**Ted White** · **07-26-09, 04:21 PM**

I'm absolutely out of breath!

Surely one of the nicer jobs around.

**MacBuster** · **07-26-09, 04:26 PM**

Thanks Ted!

I didn't know you hand bpape were mods over here. I think I maybe should have joined over here sooner.

bpape is doing my acoustic design, and has been awesome.

Looking at all the old pictures from way-back-when makes me shudder!

**bpape** · **07-26-09, 04:47 PM**

Yeah- it's always fun to do the look back and remember when you wondered if you'd ever get to this point. Hang in there. You're doing a great job. You'll be in there before you know it.

Bryan

**MacBuster** · **07-26-09, 04:52 PM**

Thanks Bryan!

While you're here....

I just finished one side of my corner bass traps behind the false wall. I realized after I finished the one corner that I cut my bass traps to 24"x24x34, rather than the more common 17"x17x24.

Should I leave the bigger ones or cut them all in half for the smaller size?

**MacBuster** · **07-26-09, 05:02 PM**

Here's some pics if the corner traps.

I want to finalize the size before I start on the other corner, obviously!

**ScruffyHT** · **07-26-09, 05:08 PM**

And after all that he is coming over to help me finish mine

**bpape** · **07-26-09, 05:22 PM**

If you leave them bigger, you'll obviously need to buy more material. They'll reach deeper into the bass this way. If you can swing the budget, I'd leave them bigger.

Just also make sure there is no interference with speaker locations.

Bryan

**MacBuster** · **07-26-09, 05:32 PM**

I think you've got my Studio 60's around 43" in from the wall (on center), so that should leave plenty of rooms for the fronts.

I think I'll just go pick up a couple more bundles of 2" OFI-48.

**bpape** · **07-26-09, 05:45 PM**

Should be fine.

Bryan

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