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Guarnaccia Mancave 3.0

28K views 159 replies 17 participants last post by  slansing 
#1 ·
I thought I'd start a home theater construction thread here to get thoughts and ideas for my new theater build. We recently bought 20 acres and an older house that is going to needs a fair bit of renovation, and as a part of that process, I plan to build another dedicated theater. This house has a full basement, and I'm quite excited to get some serious room gain from the concrete walls for once. (mavcave 2.0 had almost no gain)

Here is the general layout I've spec'd so far:



I plan to do a screenwall, and place the speakers and front subs behind the screen. I'm also planning on doing superchunk bass traps in the corners.

The front wall will have 4 inches of OC703 or something like that as well. The side walls will have something like Linacoustic up to about 42 inches. Not sure what I want to do on the back wall yet. Open to suggestions there.

I plan to do a 2 tier platform with raised seating. It was also suggested I do a hemholtz resonator into the risers so I'm looking into that.

I plan to do stagger stud contruction on the side walls and isolation clips in the ceiling. Double sheetrock with greenglue on both sidewalls and ceiling as well. Would love recommendations on isolation clips that don't cost a fortune. I'm currently thinking greenglue clips or the RSIC-V clips, which are half as much as the RSIC-1's and Whisper clips.

Here is a few renderings of the room:




I plan to hide the Sho10's in the columns. Need to figure out light fixtures but currently thinking sconces on the columns.

In terms of HVAC, I'm thinking of not having any heat down there, but not sure yet. I'm worried about sound transmission. Need to research muffling techniques there.


What else should I be thinking about? Please feel free to point anything I'm about to do that is collosally dumb :)



I've been modelling it. The room is long, giving me the ability to build a stage this time to hide the speakers behind the screenwall. I think I'll also been a baffle wall behind the screen as well.

Here is a view from the front of the room:



I'll be able to have 3 rows of 3 this time. Equipment rack will be along the back wall in the mechanical room behind the theater.

Here is a shot from the rear:



I'll be going with an accoustically transparent screen that can support 4k. Waiting for the next gen projectors to hit the market at a reasonable price, but want to have everything ready for when they do.

I'll be double sheetrocking with green glue to cut down on noise outside the room. I also plan to put sand in the platforms to damp them.

A few things I'm trying to decide is how much accoustical treatment to put on the walls. I'll put corner wedges in teh front 2 corners. above the subs. I'm trying with making the entire room fabric lined with OC703 behind it, but I don't want to overdamp the room either. The faux columns will hide the sho10's. Wondering if I should make those fabric wrapped and make them out of OC705 as well.

Also trying to decide what to do with lighting as well. Do I go with Can lights or sconces? What does everyone think?

I should be getting started in the next few weeks, and will update you all as I get going...
__________________
LCR: Gedlee Abbeys for LR and Nathan for Center Surround & rear 4 x Sho10's
Subs: SS18.2 & SS18.T
Electronics: Marantz SR7002, Acurus 200x3 (LCR), PS3, HTPC, CDP300, Mits HC1500, Elite 106" Cinewhite
 
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#91 ·
Curved columns look nice but are a lot of work to build yourself!
If you know anyone in the construction business, you might want to take a look at tube formers..
They come in different size diameters and could be cut in half to form two curved columns..
It would certainly make things a lot easier than fabricating them yourself..
 
#92 ·
I like the round tubes also... I would just make sure they are not blocking your side channels (with any column for that matter). You could use Sonotubes for your columns if you want round and fill with dampening material.
 
#93 ·
I did think of sonotubes. The ones in the picture were made from 2 1/4 circles bonded together. Did seem like a bit of work, Sonotubes would be easier for sure unless I can source wood 1/2 circle curve shapes locally. Will have to research both options. The side surrounds would go inside the column, so I'd need at least a 12" deep column, which means it would need to be 24" wide, which might be a bit too much. My original plan was to do 12"x14" columns but I think curves would be cool if I could pull it off...
 
#97 ·
Been doing some research while I fight Jetlag, and came up with a few vendors to source the half rounds from...

These are the once I've been able to find so far that sell curved/bent plywood half rounds:

http://www.aitwood.com/StoreFront.Asp?ItemID=5600&wdesc=Half Cylinders (180 degrees)

http://www.tapeease.com/2rounds.htm

http://columbiaforestproducts.com/Content/Documents/Radius.pdf

I'm going to try to source some of this locally to avoid shipping, but so far it looks pretty doable to do this. I'm thinking of doing 20" diameter columns, built on a 2" frame to fur it out to give me added clearance and allow for future sidewall treatments if I decide I need them.

Will let you know what I find, but so far it looks pretty reasonable going with the 60" version of the 20" diameter 1/2 rounds.
 
#98 ·
DG, the facing on the stage looks great, well done. Nice to see you've found some options for the round columns as well. They'll set you apart from a lot of other projects, and give your room a nice unique feel. There should be some acoustic benefits too (I think) so I'm interested to see how it turns out.
 
#99 ·
Nice plan to have curved columns. Not easy to build, but with a little help from those wood companies...

Whether curved columns have a positive effect on acoustics I don't know. I do know that bendable surfaces act as absorbers, especially filled up with rock/glass wool. So if the material is not sturdy the columns might have an effect.

By the way, my columns are hollow to prevent absorbing too much.
 
#103 ·
Thanks! I'm still hearing a lot of echo slap/ringing even with all the furniture in. It's definitely too lively still, I'm thinking I'll need to treat the sidewalls but I'll do some measuring first.

Here are some of the shots of the finished sceenwall and chairs installed:

Here is the screen hung before the fabric was mounted:



Here is the finished screenwall:



Here's a shot of the risers with chairs:


Next steps is to get the back wall covered with fabric and then start to build the columns
 
#107 ·
I've read in the past to place you screen so your main seating position lands at 25% up from the bottom off the screen. In this case, I went a little higher, by about 5 inches, so that probably puts me closer to 35%.
I can see the screen with room to spare from all seats when they are fully upright. Might have to adjust when I get the 2.35 screen, which is a bit larger. I have a 106 inch 16:9, and I'll be upgrading to a 158 inch 2.35:1 AT screen soon which is about 9 inches taller.
 
#109 ·
I think if you have good visibility from all seats then you're in good shape. Some people are happier optimizing for the "prime" location and sacrificing a bit for the other rows, but it just comes down to what you prefer. It sounds like you have room to play with, so maybe when the new screen arrives you can position it temporarily and see how it is for visibility, neck strain, etc.
 
#111 ·
I'm about to pull the trigger on the Elite Cinema 235 158" screen with the AcousticPro4k material (R158WH1W-A4k). Anyone heard any issues with these screens? From what I've read, they are getting good reviews from some of the professional reviewers, and the AT fabric seems to have a nice consistent FR across the spectrum over about 1db. Gain is listed at 1.1, which is better than several of the other AT screens.

Here is a link to the screen itself: http://elitescreens.com/index.php?option=com_content&id=35&lang=en

Anyone heard anything else about these screens?
 
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