Tommy's HT In-Progress

**Tommy** · **08-13-06, 12:38 PM**

Seating remains boxed up and sitting in the garage for the moment till the room is ready for them. There will be 3 seats in the front row in a straight config and 4 seats in the second row on the riser in a curved config. The seats are Berkeline and provided by Roman who advertises here at Home Theater Shack if anyone is interested.

**Tommy** · **08-13-06, 12:38 PM**

**Tommy** · **08-13-06, 12:39 PM**

**08-14-06, 11:08 AM**

Good looking room Tommy!

I tried to get caught up on the 10 pages of posts, so I may have missed something, let me know if I have.

As for the trim, someone mentioned the difference between baseboard, casing and crown. That is really personal preference. As for when to install it, most of the time the trim goes in first, and carpeting is last. Once again, some people do it differently. In my basement we did trim, and still have yet to do carpeting. We also painted the trim before carpet as well, helps to alleviate the potential for paint ruining your carpet. Yes, the guys installing the carpet will scuff/scratch the baseboard with the carpet kicker, but it is much easier to touch up baseboard after carpet is in, then paint it completely after carpet.

Your equipment cabinet, has a rear door on it, are you putting a front door on it at all? With an open faced equipment cabinet, there is the introduction of noise and heat into the theater, especially with a closed back cabinet. Someone had mentioned fans and cooling back on page 6 I think. You can use a hole saw and cut a couple of 4" holes in the top of the cabinet and install some fans, if the fans aren't very quiet, you can run some of the flexible dryer ducting and remote the fans a few feet away to help with fan noise. Also, if you install fans directly on the enclosure, you can use some rubber feet in-between the fan and wood to cut down on vibration.

Trying to recall if there were any other questions you had. Did you get the screen and projector mounting issues worked out? The dropdown of the projector in relation to the screen, I don't know what the Benq vertical offset is. Does the mount you have use standard 1.5" NPT pipe thread or is it a proprietary pole?

Good work, and look forward to the updates!

**Tommy** · **08-14-06, 12:01 PM**

I havent decided on a front door yet or not. There will be a midatlantic shelving inside the cabinet so I can add a door to it if neccessary. I'll wait and see how it all works first.

Mounting issues were worked out and tested fine before I took it all back down to sheetrock. I would like to hang it higher to the ceiling though (already bumped my head on it a couple times) but not sure if offsetting it more (even if it is capable of it) produces any disadvantages.

Mount manual suggested ordering there extension pole for it but I used a regular 1.5" pipe I got at Home Depot.

**Sonnie** · **08-14-06, 12:57 PM**

Well it's looking like you at least got the mud work done and get on with things now.

My thinking is once you get the seating in there you won't be able to bump your head any more since the seating will most likely be in the way of walking or standing up directly under the projector, unless I've got the distances off.

Nice looking piece of furniture.

**Tommy** · **08-22-06, 09:12 AM**

Progress Update:

The sheet rock guy showed most of last week, he was supposed to work thru the weekend on Fri and Saturday but pulled a no-show on both of those days again. He did show back up on Monday night though. According to him I should be able to start painting the HT room next weekend now. Guess I’ll hold my breath and see though. He’s was still spackling in there again yesterday. The trim still needs to be put in and the door re-hung, plus the sanding.

My electrician friend showed on Sunday and we got all the lights and outlets installed and working in the HT room. So that was a big plus in progress. The recessed lights came out nice, shining right on the areas where I wanted them too. The sconces look great too but I took them back down in order to paint them.

Installed were 4 wall sconces ( one on each of the columns ) , 8 recessed lights ( 2 on front wall, 2 on each side wall in between the columns to shine on posters and 2 on the back wall), plus the rope lights.

Since I will be using in-wall speakers, the side surround speakers are acting as the access panel for wiring of the rope lights. So I cut the wholes in the side walls for these two speakers, we wired the rope light and then installed the 2 speakers which I taped and covered with plastic afterwards.

4 dimmer switches were used, one will control the wall sconces, one for the 4 recessed lights on the side walls, one for the front and back wall and one for the rope lights.

We ordered a carpet last night, one of those HT themed carpets but the carpet place only had it in a bright color we didn’t want so there gonna check today to see if they can get the black background one. If not we may just go with a different carpet altogether.

At least it finally starting to feel closer to complete with having walls and lights up. The Mrs. is getting excited and the wheels are spinning as far as decorating goes. She’s already suggesting a popcorn machine and one of those custom intro dvd’s, themed pillows, blankets, wall hangings etc… ( I left one of those HT Market catalogs around ). She’s really getting into all that themed stuff.

She’s used to the HD DVD player being hooked up in the living room now, don’t know if I’m gonna be able to get it back for the HT room. May have to go and buy a second one.

I’m anxious to get the seating placed down there just to see if everything fits ok but will wait till the work is done, hopefully there wont be any lapse time as far as getting the carpet in.

**Sonnie** · **08-22-06, 12:06 PM**

Cool... glad things are moving along.

I guess you already know Roman has popcorn machines and he's probably cheaper than anyone else.

**Tommy** · **08-23-06, 08:48 AM**

Really, I'll have to check that out...

Wonder why I'm not receiving an email when someone has responded to this thread

**Sonnie** · **08-24-06, 01:24 AM**

Did you unsubscribe to it by chance? Check the Thread Tools at the top part of the page just above the first post. Check your junk mail too.... maybe it got canned. I'm getting notifications fine.

**Tommy** · **08-24-06, 07:25 AM**

I'm subscribed, and this is a web mail account with no junk filter. I did however get a notice for your last post but it does seem to skip sending some of the notices.

Anyway, maybe this will help push the sheetrock guy along into finishing... I went down and put the first coat of primer on in the room last night. He still has to put up the baseboard, trim, & door for the room.

Do you think the dust from completing the rest of the basement will mess up the HT room if I paint in there before the whole basement is done?

Carpet place called, they couldnt get the black HT themed carpet we wanted. So were back to looking for carpets again

**Sonnie** · **08-24-06, 08:33 AM**

If the room is sealed off good then there shouldn't be any way for dust to get in there.

**Tommy** · **08-28-06, 09:00 AM**

Progress Update:

Ok another week went by shafted by the sheet rock guy...

Supposedly the room was supposed to be done last week including trim & door. I was told I put up one coat of primer and then he would re-sand any spots that needed it and I would be able to paint the room by the weekend.

He showed up on Monday & Tuesday last week. I put up the first coat of primer on Wed but the guy has been a no-show for the rest of the week again... I'm really regretting the fact that I already paid him most of the money for the project

**Tommy** · **09-05-06, 08:44 AM**

Progress Update:

Friday:

Sheetrock guy was a no-show again

Saturday:

Sheetrock guy showed up for about 20 minutes and then we had a black-out and he left

Sunday:

He no-showed yet again. All he has left in the HT room is to put the trim and baseboard in. He was supposed to fix & sand some rough spots but never did. I would have been better off doing all the work myself. Anyway I decided to start progressing on the project myself and if I need to re-do any of the walls later, I'll worry about that later, I want the **** thing finished now.

I cut the holes in the walls and installed all the remaining in-wall speakers. All 7 in-wall speakers are in now. I covered all the speakers with plastic and taped them up. Also taped the room so I could start painting.

Monday:

We put up 2 coats of maroon paint on the sides and rear wall. It looked great but I'll wait till later to decide if we should do a 3rd coat or not. Will let that dry for a day or two and then get ready to paint the ceiling, front wall, columns and trim work black. I took some pictures while it was being painted, I'll try to post them later.

Still searching for a carpet. Unfortunatly we havent been able to find any local carpet place that has any of the themed carpets in the colors we selected from online.

Its starting to wrap up, but my up coming Army reserve schedule may have me away for the next 2-3 weeks. Although I'm trying hard to get out of it all and have my doctor notes ready...

Ordered a bunch of posters for the room too. I still have to go and get the poster frames though.

Other then that I found some one line that is local and has a ISF certification so I'm discussing with him now what it would cost to have him calibrate the HT room and my living room plasma when its all done.

**Sonnie** · **09-06-06, 01:00 AM**

Sounds like you are getting really close...

**bobgpsr** · **09-08-06, 10:42 PM**

Quote:

Tommy wrote:

...Ordered a bunch of posters for the room too. I still have to go and get the poster frames though...

Have you considered possibly making those posters into room treatments? I've read that treating first reflection points can really help the acoustics and get more of a level/flat middle to high frequency response.

Already you have a very impressive theater. Congratulations.

Bob

**Tommy** · **09-11-06, 08:59 AM**

Hmm, I never got an email of your responses... sorry for not responding.

Weekly Progress Update:

Sheet rock guy no-showed most of the week again... I think he showed up on Monday & Tuesday last week and I havent seen him since. I'd fire him if I didnt pay him so much money already but at this point it just aint worth it.

As far as him and the HT room, he only has to put up the trim around the equipment rack and the dvd rack and thats it, so I'm surprised he's still no-showing rather then just finishing. Not sure if he has more sanding and plastering to do or not in the rest of the basement, plus he still has my garage to sheet rock.

What he did do for the room for the week though was re-hung the door and put the baseboard around the room.

Anyway back to the HT room, he messed up a bit of the one wall that I already painted but it shouldnt be to bad to sand and re-paint. The back wall has a big spackle spot thats sticking out though that wasnt apparent when I primered the wall and only become noticeably visibile after we painted. Not sure if we should sand the whole thing down and start over or not.

On Saturday, I re-taped the room to put up the next bit of paint. I put up one coat of black paint on the ceiling, columns and front wall. Plan on adding a second coat this week and possibly a third if needed after that. After which I will put up the third coat of maroon on the walls.

So basically 1 more coat of paint for the room and the painting should be done. Gonna go try and order a carpet tonight. We picked a plain one from Lowes since we couldnt find a themed one in the area in the darker background colors. The capet we picked is mostly black with some colors blended into it. Not thrilled with it but for lack of finding something else that is more impressive it looks like were gonna get it.

Other then that not much was done for the week. The posters I ordered came in. Wife was mad that I didnt let her help pick the posters but oh well. Gonna go to Michaels and pick up some frames for them still. Bob, what do you mean about making them into room treatments?

My HD DVD collection is still growing. I'm up to 36 movies including titles I have pre-ordered. I'd have at least another half dozen on order if Amazon ever fixed there site and actually offered some of the movies that about to be released, like Troy for tomorrow. Guess I will try and pick it up at a store tomorrow instead.

**JCD** · **09-11-06, 12:26 PM**

Quote:

Tommy wrote:

The posters I ordered came in. Wife was mad that I didnt let her help pick the posters but oh well. Gonna go to Michaels and pick up some frames for them still. Bob, what do you mean about making them into room treatments?

So what movies did you pick? And what movies would she have picked?

Regarding the room treatment thing, he's referring to accoustical treatments -- which I think we discussed earlier in this thread. If not, THE authority on the subject is Ethan Winer. He may go a bit far, but he does have some good information.

Unless I misunderstood bobgpsr's suggestion, I'd have to disagree about using the posters in conjuction with treatments. Too much sound is going to bounce off the glass or even paper before it gets down to the absorption material to be effective. However, if he meant to stagger the treatments with the posters (i.e., one poster, one treatment, one poster, etc), that could work for both aethestic and functional reasons.

In any case, you must be pretty excited that it's coming together finally -- despite the best/worst efforts of your sheet rocker.

JCD

**Tommy** · **09-11-06, 01:02 PM**

Ya, I'm anxious to get the HT room done now but at the same time, since the rest of the basement is still a construction mess, worried about finishing the HT room and getting any dust from the rest of the basement into the HT room.

Did you mean movies or posters? She was mad about the posters. ::shrugs:: I figured she could care less what posters I got but I guess she just wanted to have her say. Its not like I got any big bossomed actress posters (because I couldnt find any...). Anyway the posters I got were King Kong, LOTR, Harry Potter, Master & Commander & Braveheart. Need one more, more or a rectangular one though then tradional size. I dont think she wanted anything specific, just wanted to be part of it. (the nerve of her)

If you were talking about the actual movies, I guess I can list the HD DVD ones I got so far.

1. Last Samurai, The
2. Million Dollar Baby
3. Serenity
4. Apollo 13
5. Swordfish
6. Jarhead
7. Training Day
8. Full Metal Jacket
9. Unforgiven
10. Bourne Supremacy, The
11. Chronicles Of Riddick, The: Unrated Director's Cut
12. U-571
13. Van Helsing
14. Constantine
15. Perfect Storm, The
16. Rundown, The
17. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (DVD Combo)
18. Dukes of Hazzard, The (Unrated)
19. Friday Night Lights
20. Pitch Black (Unrated)
21. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
22. Four Brothers
23. We Were Soldiers
24. Aeon Flux
25. Italian Job, The
26. Bone Collector, The
27. Spy Game
28. Lethal Weapon 2
29. Backdraft (Anniversary Edition)
30. 2 Fast 2 Furious
31. Fast And The Furious, The
32. Dirty Dozen, The
33. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
34. Army of Darkness
35. Mission Impossible: Ultimate Missions Collection
36. Poseidon

Still need to find some info on Popcorn machines, I would like to order one but would like to find a recommend good one. Sonnie, you said Romain sells them? I dont see anything on the site about it. I also wrote on one of his threads requesting info but didnt get any reply

By the way, Sonnie - how is your HD collection coming along?

**Tommy** · **09-11-06, 01:08 PM**

Oh I did forget one thing, I found an ISF calibrator online that is local to me and discussed him coming out and calibrating everything.

He estimated around $700 for video calibration & full audio calibration with HD sources (player & cable box) for the HT room plus video calibration for my plasma tv in the family room.

This seem like a good/fair deal? Also is there anything else I should be asking him to do?

**JCD** · **09-11-06, 01:13 PM**

I feel your pain regarding the wife -- same thing happens to me all the time.

Also, that's quite a collection of movies you've got there. Have you watched them all already?

As for the popcorn machine, can't help you much there either, but is somethign like this what you're looking for? or this?

JCD

**Tommy** · **09-11-06, 05:13 PM**

Quote:

JCD wrote:

I feel your pain regarding the wife -- same thing happens to me all the time.

Also, that's quite a collection of movies you've got there. Have you watched them all already?

As for the popcorn machine, can't help you much there either, but is somethign like this what you're looking for? or this?

JCD

As far as the HD format goes, its a start. Watched most of them as they came in. Theres a couple I havent seen yet though and the ones that are still on pre-order. Wasnt planning buying to many of them till I see which format wins the war but the pile keeps growing...

As for the popcorn machine, yes that what Im looking forward but wanted to make sure I get a good one that someone recommends.

Oh well, I'm home and guess what no sheet-rock guy...

Waiting for the wife to get home and then were supposed to go and possibly order the carpet tonight. Between tonight and tomorrow hopefully I'll get some more of the painting done too.

**bobgpsr** · **09-11-06, 08:00 PM**

Quote:

JCD wrote:

...Unless I misunderstood bobgpsr's suggestion, I'd have to disagree about using the posters in conjuction with treatments. Too much sound is going to bounce off the glass or even paper before it gets down to the absorption material to be effective...

I was thinking of Tommy having a place do a transfer of the print from the poster to soft loose weave muslim which IIRC others have done. Then have the printed muslim serve as the cover for semi-rigid fiberglass insulation per Ethan Winer's recommendations. I'm thinking that one of those places that take photos and print t-shirts might be able to do it. That would be the only way I could sneak room treatments in and pass WAF. Agreed that the paper of a poster covering the fiberglass insulation would reflect too much of the sound. I need to get off my rear end and do something like that someday for more treatments to my upstairs system's room.

I do have a big 2' x 4' framed krull embroidery piece that works as a treatment.

Bob

**Sonnie** · **09-11-06, 08:53 PM**

Quote:

Tommy wrote:

Still need to find some info on Popcorn machines, I would like to order one but would like to find a recommend good one. Sonnie, you said Romain sells them? I dont see anything on the site about it. I also wrote on one of his threads requesting info but didnt get any reply

He's got them up on his site now. He is also about to do a power buy here pretty soon. We'll post that in his section shortly. I don't think you'll beat his prices.

Quote:

Tommy wrote:

By the way, Sonnie - how is your HD collection coming along?

Slowly... but it's coming. I don't have near as many as you, but I'm only getting the must haves for now and later when they hopefully put some of those on sale, I'll pick up a few more.

**Tommy** · **09-12-06, 05:53 AM**

Quote:

Sonnie wrote:

He's got them up on his site now. He is also about to do a power buy here pretty soon. We'll post that in his section shortly. I don't think you'll beat his prices..

Found it. Ya he did reply to that thread, I just never received an email that he replied...

Something is weird with that, I'm not getting all the emails I should for thread replies. Anyway the prices did look good and I picked out one I like, just gotta show it to the wife now.

Quote:

Sonnie wrote:

Slowly... but it's coming. I don't have near as many as you, but I'm only getting the must haves for now and later when they hopefully put some of those on sale, I'll pick up a few more.

I wasnt planning on so many but with amazons pre-orders the prices are a bit lower, plus the 10% off discount for a year, plus free shipping adds up to a whole bunch of $20 movies...

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