# Steve's New Theatre



## Steve Williamson (May 11, 2006)

As I stated in my introduction message, I am about to start building a house on the Gold Coast and have attached the plan of what will be the main theatre.

My plans for equipment at present include a Z4 projector, main media centre PC to output directly to projector, external storage using 4 x 500Gb Drives in raid 1, background media centre server to hold movie database and stream media to 5 XBox 360's around house. Need ideas on speakers (7.1) and amplification for the room roughly 19' 10" by 14' 8".

I checked these dimensions with the spreadsheet for room dynamics and I cannot find the file at the moment, but it showed only 4 problem frequencies spread equally throughout the full range. Although that did not take into account the small increase in width near the door, I am hoping acoustic panels will sort that out!

All the equipment is in the Electrical Room next to the media room, with cabling entering from the space under the stairs. Soundcheck plasterboard is used throughout the media room and an external firedoor is being used for the entrance to the theatre.

I have opted for cable strung lighting to minimise holes in the room and plan to fill the rear riser with glass fibre insulation, allowing a small access panel for power sockets for two rows of 4 seater powered recliners, one on the raised section and one in front of it.

I will use a fixed projector screen of around 100" 16:9 with felt or similar frame covering.

Colour will be dark tan or brown with dark ceiling.

Media centre will utilise the home automation add in for lighting control.

Any advice on equipment selection, and all the things I have surely missed out, would be extremely welcome.

I would prefer wall mount rear and side effect speakers and would like to buil in the LCR speakers and sub(s) to a fixture around the screen, would building in the subs affect their perfomance?

Thanks

Steve


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

Sounds like it's gonna be nice.

What kind of money have you budgeted for speakers and amplification?

The only drawback to flush mounting the sub is you will be pretty much stuck with the location of it and it's hard to test it before hand. It's not like you can go around cutting a bunch of holes in the wall to test it in different locations. It also limits you to a forward facing sub... no downfiring. Of course you could do an IB if you could work it out either in the Store room or Electrical room on that side of your HT room.... or the attic. 

Good selection on the Z4 :T


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## Steve Williamson (May 11, 2006)

I was hoping for decent speakers to around A$5000, and about the same for amplifiers, equalisers etc.

Whats IB?

Store would be great location, no room in electrical room and this theatre is on the ground floor with my library above it so no attic!

I chose the Z4 after reading the reviews, I still have to test one in a demo room but they look good for the price, and they are easy to get over here in Aus, so service etc is easy.

Also, does anyone know who will set up the projector once it is fitted in Australia, my Epson took ages by eye and I am still not happy with it.

Nice to be involved with a forum from near its beginnings, keep up the good work, you certainly know what you are talking about, I still have to learn about house curves etc :dontknow:


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

Thanks on the forum Steve... we are gonna do our best. We have some fine fella's helping us moderate.

If the currency converter is working right that 5000AUD is about 3900US.

So you will spend as much as 10,000AUD or 7800US for speakers and amplification? You can do a lot with that.

Educate me a little... can you order about anything that's available in the US over in Australia and/or can you order from the US or are you wanting to stay in Australia?


IB=Infinite Baffle - I'm not that up to date on it but basically your speaker box volume is infinite to the extent of the size of your ajacent room where the rear of the speaker is open to. There are a lot of subs made for this. I can't remember who had them but someone posted a pic of two IB subs offset into the wall and firing at each other. Of course you can get really creative. If you are interested in IB then you might post in Speakers and ask for recommendations for IB subs and design... you can point the back to here if you want, but at least you got two threads going to help you get more attention.


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## Steve Williamson (May 11, 2006)

Sonnie, I would prefer to buy equipment sold in Australia as I have come across to many (japan especially) territorial warranties where you have to send the item back to the country you purchased it from.

Freight is expensive to here, it costs about $60 to receive a 15" LCD TV from Japan.

We can get most makes but items like SV Subwoofers, I think can only be imported from the states.

Our CE stores like Harvey Norman etc are useless as they prefer to sell HT in a box items, not so much seperates like amplifiers or speakers.

I wanted surround speakers to be multi spacial (if thats a word) as the speaker will be placed in between the two rows of seats.

Looked into IB Subs, they say the only draw back is lack of damping being in free air and resulting loss of detail, have you come across that?


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## Guest (May 12, 2006)

Hi Steve,

Very nice looking room - 4 and a bit by 6 and a bit? "Avical" do projector calibrations, he's ISF certified and does a very nice job and flies all around Australia for it. I can put you onto someone closer to home if you're interested.

SVS are now in Australia as well. You can purchase/order from here: http://www.deephzaudio.com/index.html

Many of the IB users are from Australia. You can get good drivers from WES whom I believe are in Queensland? They sell the likes of Peerless.

Cheers


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

Unfortunately Steve, I'm not all that familiar with the detail of IB, but I know some very critical folks who use them, so I would think they could be build for the most demanding person.

Mabye some of our IB guys will chime in.

Of course if you are gonna buy then SVS is hard to pass up IMO. I wanna say all of their subs are downfiring though... which might make it tricky for flush mounting of somekind. The cylinders might be an option... they could pass for nice decor in the corners.

As far as mains and surrounds... whew, there is just so many to choose from. I like PSB and was extremely pleased with their Image line. They have a Platinum series that's awesome. Then I know a lot of people who love their Klipsch... I really enjoyed my Forte's back in the day and I think their Reference line is supposedly better. Of course some folks don't like the horns. They own, or merged with Aragon I think... who makes fabulous amps. I own VMPS RM30's and they have a department in Europe... check out their surrounds... wicked ribbons! 

On amps... I'd check out the Earthquake Cinenova Grande 7. It's a big daddy and will do all you need most likely. Excellent reviews! If you wanna get more critical with music you might consider NuForce.

Those are a few I can throw at you, but as I said... there are literally thousands.


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## Steve Williamson (May 11, 2006)

Thankis for the advice, when I start building I wil start a new thread to document what is going on.

The equipment you have stated looks great, I might have to increase my budget 3 or 4 fold though, the Earthquake Cinenova Grande 7 looks nice, but is the 600 watts RMS or total?.

Thanks RodN for the link for SVS gear, I wil have to seriously consider their subs and have two cylindrical in each corner if that works out OK. Trying not to cut holes in walls for soundproofing reasons so I will have to have free standing subs.

I will look at Klipsch speakers as they have a good presence in Aus.

By the way, how loud do you play your systems, I am always worried about the neighbours where I am presently, no soundproofing and several large single glazed windows. I don't think I have maxed out the pioneer thats rated at 5 x 120W RMS + 100W sub


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## JCD (Apr 20, 2006)

I did a quick look on Ebay's Australia website to see what's available in Australia.. another speaker brand I think you should take a look at is Paradigm. It's the brand I bought when I went through my research process. 
I found something online here in Australia.

I also saw that they sell speakers from Monitor, Wharfedale, Tannoy and Polk. All brands that I've heard good things from.

I don't know what small hi-fi shops you might have near you, but I'd take a look in your phone book for some of the small to medium sized stores. Go to as many as you can and audition whatever they have. Speakers are a personal choice, so pick what sounds best to you.

Avoid the big box chains -- they generally don't carry anything in the price range you're looking at.

Also, I may or may not be in the minority with this opinion, but I think your budget ratio between speakers and electronics is off. I'd be inclined to spend more on the speakers than the electronics -- maybe to the tune of 65/35. To me, speakers are the most important part of your sound system, so I'd spend my $$ accordingly.

As for IB subs -- have to admit that I've yet to hear one in person. That being said, every one I've talked to/typed at that's heard an IB sub has always preferred the IB to a traditional box sub. There is more involved with an IB, but they are suppoed sound amazing across the board -- deeper, cleaner, tigher, louder bass. I've drunk the spiked Kool-Aid and will be installing one in my listening room when I start construction. I wish I had more information to give you, but I'm a noob regarding IB's as well. If you haven't been here, I'd give their FAQ a look. Like I said, more involved, and sometimes can't be done, but the end result is supposed to be awesome.

JCD


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

Steve Williamson said:


> The equipment you have stated looks great, I might have to increase my budget 3 or 4 fold though, the Earthquake Cinenova Grande 7 looks nice, but is the 600 watts RMS or total?.



600 watts per channel into 4 ohms, which my RM30's are 4 ohms.


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## Steve Williamson (May 11, 2006)

Hooray, the house we have been waiting to sell has gone unconditional so we are now waiting for the first week of June to start the construction process.

This has lifted a large weight of our chests.

The RM30's look interesting, but I am looking at JB Labs or Teufel that provide dipole surrounds to produce THX certification on 7.? systems.

Does anyone think THX is important in a home theatre?


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## toecheese (May 3, 2006)

Steve Williamson said:


> Looked into IB Subs, they say the only draw back is lack of damping being in free air and resulting loss of detail, have you come across that?


Huh?! IB Subs are for detail explicity. Damping *distorts* sound.


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## JCD (Apr 20, 2006)

Steve Williamson said:


> Hooray, the house we have been waiting to sell has gone unconditional so we are now waiting for the first week of June to start the construction process.
> 
> This has lifted a large weight of our chests.
> 
> ...


Congratulations on selling your house! I've been there, I know what a huge relief it can be.

As for THX certification, I don't put much stock in it. It guarantees a minimum standard, but not much else. I ignore it almost completely. 

Dipole surrounds -- there are some that like them and some that don't. I have them, and if I had to do it all over again, I'd probably NOT get the dipoles. But, that's just me.
They cost more and they seem to be more "picky" about where you put them. 

JCD


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## Steve Williamson (May 11, 2006)

> Huh?! IB Subs are for detail explicity. Damping *distorts* sound.


I thought that the reason you used multiple subs in an IB was because of the non damping issue and heat, also, don't most newer boxed subs have some form of mechnical damping system as well to produce a tighter cleaner bass sound?

I thought this system was the same as having gas struts on a car.


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## JCD (Apr 20, 2006)

I'll admit that I'm not sure about the damping issue, but the reason for multiple subs in an IB subwoofer system is that they're not as efficient as a traditional box sub. You usually need to get something like 2 (or more?) drivers in an IB to get the same SPL as a single driver in a regular box sub. 

What you're supposed to gain is cleaner, better bass. :sn: 

JCD


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

Steve Williamson said:


> Hooray, the house we have been waiting to sell has gone unconditional so we are now waiting for the first week of June to start the construction process.
> 
> This has lifted a large weight of our chests.
> 
> The RM30's look interesting, but I am looking at JB Labs or Teufel that provide dipole surrounds to produce THX certification on 7.? systems.


Congrats on the house being sold.... construction is always fun. We've built two houses and loved every minute of it.

These are the VMPS Dipole surrounds I was referring too:











And here's the center:












And you might as well go ahead and have them crate up a couple of these for ya:











Or ****... go for the gusto:


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## toecheese (May 3, 2006)

Steve Williamson said:


> I thought that the reason you used multiple subs in an IB was because of the non damping issue and heat, also, don't most newer boxed subs have some form of mechnical damping system as well to produce a tighter cleaner bass sound?


Nope, the reason is not that they're less efficient- they're more efficient mechanically. It's that we're ignoring half the energy of the speaker- we 'throw away' the derived sound wave.

So, to make up for it, we add in more subs to get our SPL to where we want (I'm still searching for a definitive guide to how much this is). 

As far as new box designs, yes, they're using passive radiators to trade off airflow for more sound. Read up on it here: http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/speaker10.htm

But any of those are just tradeoffs- even though passive radiators put out more sound- that sound is ~180 out of phase and doesn't help clarity.


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## JCD (Apr 20, 2006)

toecheese said:


> Nope, the reason is not that they're less efficient- they're more efficient mechanically. It's that we're ignoring half the energy of the speaker- we 'throw away' the derived sound wave.
> 
> So, to make up for it, we add in more subs to get our SPL to where we want (I'm still searching for a definitive guide to how much this is).


Toecheese is right -- he said what I meant to say much more clearly. :T 

JCD


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## Steve Williamson (May 11, 2006)

I would love an IB but i don't want to start having to sound proof extra rooms.

I have decided on the attached plan as the way ahead, we move into rented accomodation next week so everything is on plan.

Any comments or suggestions are very welcome.


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## toecheese (May 3, 2006)

Looks like an IB sub would be perfect into the electrical room... (provided it is sealed)


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## Josuah (Apr 26, 2006)

I don't think sealing up the electrical room would be a good idea. And yeah, unless your infinite baffle went to the outside, you would have to sound-proof (a lot, since bass waves penetrate a lot) the other side of that room and decouple the wall that is acting as your baffle or else the rest of your house is shaking.


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## Steve Williamson (May 11, 2006)

The electrical room will house all the servers, components, cabling etc, the only spare room is next to that under the stairs. 

I am using cinemazone plasterboard and off centre spaced joists to try and soundproof the theatre well, I have chosen trapeze lighting to reduce the amount of holes in the ceiling and walls.

The riser will be 4 x 8 sheets of 1/2" marine ply, with a second layer at right angles to cover any joints screwed down. Probably use glass fibre insulation to pack the riser rather than sand.

Should I board the entire floor or leave concrete with underlay and carpet?


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## JCD (Apr 20, 2006)

> Should I board the entire floor or leave concrete with underlay and carpet?


I probably shouldn't even answer this one (I'm a paper pusher after all ), but I can't see why you'd need to board the main floor. 

JCD


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## Steve Williamson (May 11, 2006)

Quoting http://hometheatermag.com/bootcamp/140/index1.html



> An additional benefit of a raised wood subfloor is that it absorbs some low frequencies, which is good. Otherwise, these frequencies just reflect off of the original concrete floor. A wood floor also vibrates with low frequencies, to some extent, creating a more-tactile experience. A raised floor that has at least a 3- or 4-inch air space under it will vibrate even more. This technique is used in the screening rooms at Lucasfilm and Dolby Labs. Anthony's and Russ' clients like the added low-frequency feeling as the subwoofer's bass energy transfers through the floor.


This has always stuck in my ind since reading the article several months ago.


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## Josuah (Apr 26, 2006)

If you placed something inside the floor, like insulation, then I suspect you can get the same low-frequency benefits from the raised floor as you would from a panel trap. The panel trap I have on my back wall makes a noticeable difference. I followed Ethan Winer's design and so it is a sandwich of drywall (the real back wall), air, semi-rigid fiberglass, air, and plywood in a sealed enclosure.

There are also some rubbery things or something that people sell for acoustical decoupling of the floorboards you put down on top of the 2"x6" supports.

You should also consider what you will put inside the riser. I have my riser filled halfway with sand. This prevents sound from being a problem inside the hollow cavity and since the sand can move around it will quickly absorb a lot of acoustic and kinetic energy.

A raised floor will vibrate more due to acoustical energy. In comparison, a concrete floor will transfer kinetic energy much more easily. So how tightly coupled your speaker enclosures are to the floor will result in a different experience with the two floor types.


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## Guest (May 31, 2006)

I have a Sony Vaio running Media Center 2005 and would love to figure out how to have it or the 360 serve all my dvd content, control the lights etc.... etc....


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## Josuah (Apr 26, 2006)

X10 products will take care of the lights and other household things. But I'm not sure if they have something that will send discrete codes out over IR, if your home theater gear doesn't have RS232 inputs.

As for serving DVD content off your computer or XBOX 360, it is illegal for you to take a regular movie DVD and store it on your computer for that purpose.


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## Guest (May 31, 2006)

I don't wanna serve the content to other people, other places. I wanna serve to my home theater, just like I serve my music from this one computer to all the other computers in my home.


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## Steve Williamson (May 11, 2006)

There is a commercially available DVD Storeage system that is using the premise that you can store your DVD's for personal use - Same as DVD Shrink users use.

The problem is you have to convert the ifo's to a wmv file to stream to XBox extenders as they do not permit plain dvd files being streamed.

Software like HAI control for media centre and homeseer will let you control X10 and ther similar technologies from with in the MCE interface.

I think that HIA has a product that can use standard remote codes to other equipment.


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## Tommy (Apr 20, 2006)

Check out the reviews for the BenQ PE8720 projector. When on another board I know someone else mentioned how good the BenQ customer service was in Australia. He said they came right out to the house to update the firmware on the projector.


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## Steve Williamson (May 11, 2006)

Well I own it now, and the plans are through the local body corporate so here is the first pic of the soon to be theatre :R 

Hoping for a smooth 6 months :hail:


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## khellandros66 (Jun 7, 2006)

Steve IMO i would try to "hide" the speakers especially if this room is to be for mostly for HT use. Using Definitive UIW RLS2 inwall speakers are great because they use a sealed backplate enclosure and eliminate issues with "sound crawl". If you budget is roughly $5000USD you can easily afford four of these for mounting as rear channels, plus I would use the Power Monitor 900s for the front channels behind the screen. This will give you 250w RMS 10in subs in each of the front speakers and let you set them to large so that they can handily recreate full range audio. 

I feel that the best thing for LFE money can buy is an Infinite Baffle system. See The Infinitely Baffled. Right now TC-Sounds has the TC-3000 15in at $400 and four of these mounted properly and powered by the Behringer EP2500 could easly tromp most high dollar prebuilt subs.

This kind of setup can be used for both movies and music and will give you mountains of dynamics for a reasonable value. 

EDIT: Oh and why hide em you ask? well to make the experience have pull like gravity, letting you forget why and how but just enjoying it

~Bob


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## Steve Williamson (May 11, 2006)

Unfortunately there is no dealer in Oz for these, they look good though for in-walls, ruled out IB due to lack of room/soundproofing issues so will probably resort to Jamo D6 7.2 system, should fit my budget and they are quite inconspicous when wall mounted.

I'm going to use only HTPC for HT, running through seperate amplification, the soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS 7.1 has THX certification so if I stay with THX certified amplifiers I should have a cheap THX certified Theatre


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## khellandros66 (Jun 7, 2006)

That Jamo system looks mighty impressive. Good design too makes it easy to wall mount.

~Bob


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## Guest (Jun 29, 2006)

If you are looking for a subfloor solution that won't steal a lot of height and will also provide a moisture barrier, you could consider Dricore or a similar product. Easy to install but not cheap. Here is the URL:

http://www.dricore.com/en/eindex.htm

I used this in my basement and installed hardwoods over it! 2 years and counting on the hardwoods and (knock wood - pun intended) no problems. The home theater area will have carpeting and the installer/owner of where I am getting my carpet actually took a piece with him to show other clients an alternative solution.


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## Steve Williamson (May 11, 2006)

Things looked like they where about to start last Thursday, but the digger was reqired somewhere else and now its raining.

Should have the slab down by end of next week.

I consoled my self by ordering the two rows of theatre chairs when I found these at Amart, salesman gave me 10% off even though the sale was on floorstock only and not ordered goods. They will be delivered end of September, just have to find somewhere to store them.

Full leather, 4 seater with storage and cup holders in the arm rests for AU$2250 a piece. Had to sacrifice the electric recliners as they added AU$2550 a row.


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## Josuah (Apr 26, 2006)

rlogle said:


> I don't wanna serve the content to other people, other places. I wanna serve to my home theater...


And that's illegal for you to do, with DVDs. The Kaledescape(sp?) is a product that was made to do that, supposedly with permission from the right people. But now they're getting sued anyway.


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## Steve Williamson (May 11, 2006)

It is illegal to store a taped tv program on a VHS cassette in Australia, but they haven't banned the use of them. We have a huge movement requesting fair use to be introduced in to digital content provisions over here at the moment.

How can products like the MAX Multimedia Server, Media Centre PC's or any of the DVR's out there be allowed to exist when they are only used for the storage of copyrighted content.

There is always someone that can only keep chirping about it is illegal to copy your own DVD's, that may be so, but the time is already changing that it is legal to store a copy of the original if it is not in the same format, eg ripping CD's to MP3, or DVD's to WMV, why do you think Microsoft won't allow the XBox 360 to play DVD's from the server, but it will allow WMV versions to play or Itunes allows you to convert your CD's.


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## Josuah (Apr 26, 2006)

I'm not debating the technical capabilties, but rlogle's response seemed to indicate he didn't know ripping DVDs for personal use is illegal because it bypasses CSS. Making copies of or storing copyrighted material for personal use isn't what is illegal, it's bypassing CSS that is. That's why you can't use Windows XP Media Center to rip a DVD movie; it has to be in the drive to play (as far as I can tell).

I just thought he should be aware of this. His Media Center PC is not going to be able to serve all his DVD content the way he wants, unless he hacks something together and is willing to do so illegally. If he is, that's fine. I'm not trying to be the copyright police. The MAX Multimedia Server exists in the same way the Kaledescape exists, but that doesn't mean that company isn't going to get sued too.


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## Steve Williamson (May 11, 2006)

> That's why you can't use Windows XP Media Center to rip a DVD movie; it has to be in the drive to play (as far as I can tell).


The XBox 360 requires the DVD to be in the drive, MCE will alow you to rip the DVD to any format, including copying ifo's and it will play them.


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## Josuah (Apr 26, 2006)

That's nice to know. I didn't find any information indicating you could do that online.


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## Steve Williamson (May 11, 2006)

I know it is not a home builders forum but we are one step closer to our home theatre.

The foundations are set and the frame should be up soon. We have Boral cinema zone for the sound insulation which should be interesting as it goes up. Will keep you posted


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

Well your home theater is going in there somewhere huh? 

Pretty interesting to see the before and after pics.

I have never seen blocks like those before. They look maybe a little narrower than regular ole concrete block, but maybe taller.


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## Steve Williamson (May 11, 2006)

Framework has started to go up and the theatre is looking better. I have attached pics of the door, inside the theatre and the small electrical room that will house all the AV and computer gear.

Calling around daily now to see the progress.

One side note, the other half went into a store the other day and wanted to buy pictures with abstract saxophone and other instruments on them, I mentioned this is a theatre and not an audiophile listening setup. Now I have to shop for turntable, amp, speakers etc for a dedicated two channel setup side by side with the theatre :R 

Should have the electrican and cabler round in the next couple of weeks. Everything is on target for Christmas.


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

At least you got things moving along with the framing anyway. 

Hard to tell a lot in those shots... why so small?


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## Steve Williamson (May 11, 2006)

These two may be better.


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

Those are worth being inline...

cool!


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## Steve Williamson (May 11, 2006)

Finally drafted the design for the theatre theme, trying to keep it uncluttered and contemporary










Also, found a couple of figures for the alcoves either side of the screen.


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

Those are pretty neat... where did you find those at?


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## Steve Williamson (May 11, 2006)

The local Bar Shop, sells everything to do with your home bar and sports merchandise.


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## khellandros66 (Jun 7, 2006)

Wow that is gonna look sweet. I hope with all this you are gonna go witha 2.35:1 screen and Panamorph lense. Also the new panny AE1000 will be out shortly after your are done with the build process. If it has similar functions to the 900 you should have proper zoom to use the 2.35:1 rig.

~Bob


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## Steve Williamson (May 11, 2006)

Not sure about screen real estate loss for 2.35:1, but definately saving for new AE1000 or Z5HD projector though. Can't wait for 1080P on 120" screen.


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## Steve Williamson (May 11, 2006)

Went through the house with the cabler yesterday, he is absolutely horrified with the amount of cables :bigsmile: 

Have decided to bi wire 7 channel speaker locations, 2 rca's to subwoofer locations at front, HDMI, Component to projector location, power and control cable to all windows and front screen for automated curtains, Component - HDMI - Optical and Audio RCA to under riser location to plug in external gaming console. All points to racks in electrical room. 

Let me know if I have missed anything, the externals are being bricked this week and the house will be lock up in three weeks.


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

I might would run an extra RCA to the rear of the room... just in case. You never know when you might be tempted to try out a dual sub config and one be in the rear. I swore I never would, but did and it's the best setup I've had yet. Never thought it would be, but it is. Good thing is, I can do it, cause it's the home theater room and not a shared room with the great room.


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## Steve Williamson (May 11, 2006)

Thanks Sonny, I'll do it as it is easy as all cables will run under riser to the rear. Decided today to build a bulkhead along the rear wall to mount the projector in, rather than mount it on a normal PJ ceiling mount, also helps with cabling protruding from the ceiling to the rear of the PJ.

Read an article in electronic house ezine about someone using theatre glass to hide the PJ behind to cut down on any noise, anyone heard of this?

Good news, one of my suppliers can source the Panny PT-AE1000 at a reasonable price (demo) :bigsmile: That will produce the 3 mtr picture from the 6.1 mtr bulkhead position


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

That Panny oughta be super quiet anyway.


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## Steve Williamson (May 11, 2006)

External walls are now wrapped ready for brickwork on Monday, electrican started on Friday and we have all powerpoints and light fittings marked out, as well as cable runs and air con decided upon.

We start cabling on Wednesday and the electrician will be finished fit out by Thursday. Need to sort out rack system in electrical room top house all the AV gear plus 3 EP1500 amps for theatre, I have 4 dedciated outlets for AV gear as well as a dedicated circuit to subs and projector location.

Now I have decided upon a bulkhead at the rear to house the projector, it means I can hide the transformers for the trapeze lighting runs in there as well.

When the cabling is finshed the sheetrock company is installing the soundcheck system, so plenty of photos soon.


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## Steve Williamson (May 11, 2006)

More photos uploaded to My Gallery, have to fly up to the NT for a week, hopefully everything is different when I get back, sheetrocking will be done the week after I return so I can check all the cabling.


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## norpus (Oct 11, 2006)

khellandros66 said:


> Wow that is gonna look sweet. I hope with all this you are gonna go witha 2.35:1 screen and Panamorph lense. Also the new panny AE1000 will be out shortly after your are done with the build process. If it has similar functions to the 900 you should have proper zoom to use the 2.35:1 rig.
> 
> ~Bob


Steve, this 2.37 idea is very valid for a dedicated HT room
There is a guy locally to you who has just started building good panamorphic lens that would fit to any standard digi projector like you are considering. The Aussiemorphic lens
I bought one recently and it is excellent. But you need to consider it now before you site your pj (as it needs to go a bit closer to the screen than usual). It allows you to use all your pjs pixels for a cinemascope dvd - hence improving resolution and brightness. Also likely want a wider 2.37 fixed screen if you haven't purchased already - they are available in Aus
Here's the link to Mark at CAVX

http://cavx.blogspot.com/2006/09/marks-home-theatre-projects.html

Inexpensive and versatile for $200 - I just bought one to satisfy my curiosity


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## Steve Williamson (May 11, 2006)

My wall that the screen will be hung on really dictates a 100" 16:9 screen, my restriction is on both height and width, width as the seating would be too close if it was wider, and height as any lower and the viewers heads would be too close to the bottom of the picture if they stood up.

If I kept the screen width and used a 2.37:1 screen, the picture would be too small for 16:9 films. Also not enamoured about $200 aftermarket lenses with $6000 projectors.

I arrived back from the NT on Friday and am glad that the cablers got on with the work correctly, just some minor alterations to framing positions and the rest of the brickwork to go up on Monday and the house will be ready for sheetrock. I've been through the house 4 times this weekend to make sure I haven't forgotten anything. Making it difficult to sleep knowing that the cables will be hidden soon.

I can start installing the automation system and AV mounts etc when the garage door goes on and everything is secure. Will it ever end :dumbcrazy:


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## Steve Williamson (May 11, 2006)

Last decision before sheetrock on Friday, I have decided on the Jamo D6 7.2 system and need to position the LCR speakers.

In the picture, I cannot decide on the L and R speaker, should it be in position A or B, A has the right distance between them (4mtrs) and it is 4mtrs from the front listening position, but they seem slightly to close to the right wall.

Position B is the recommended >1 mtr from the wall but they are only 2.5mtrs apart.

Which is the best placement?


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## Steve Williamson (May 11, 2006)

Just received the plasma lift for the bedroom ceiling, decided to DIY with a linear actuator and custom cabinet in loft. Couldn't face the price of commercial lifts. The up/down button will interface with the touchscreens to enable a watch TV button.


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## alan monro (May 9, 2006)

Steve. I am constructing my home theatre at the moment . I have listened to a lot of speakers over the years and suggest that you check out the Klipsch .I have purched 3,RC25's for the front. Yes , I am using the RC25,s for the L,R,and Centre. 4, RS25,s (dipolar) for the surrounds and made my sub.I could not suggest a ready made sub ,but ,I can highly reccomend Klipsch for the others,They are not too expensive in Aus.Down in Melbourne Encel ,Bridge rd Ritchmond sells them at a fair price.They are the type of spkrs that you would keep for 30 years. kind reguards , alan.


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## Steve Williamson (May 11, 2006)

Sort of stuck on using the Jamo's for now, I have heard good reports of the D6 and its larger brother D7.

The room has been plasterboarded and square set ready for painting. We have two layers of 13mm acustic sheeting, furring channel, 90mm studs filled with R2.5 accoustic batting and 10mm board on the living area side. Ordering the perimeter seals for the solid core door built to match the other internal doors.










As soon as the painting is carried out, I can install the new AV cabinetry in the electrical room and cut out the areas for the wiring enclosures for the automation cabling.










Seating should arrive very soon. No where to put it though.


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

I musta missed your post back in October. It appears you went with position B on the speakers. If this was recommended I would probably do the same.

Won't be long... :R


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## Steve Williamson (May 11, 2006)

I can still go with either position, the speaker cables come out behind the fake wall that the alcoves will be built into, will the 2.5mtr distance between the LR speakers give a suitable soundstage?

I was more leaning to speaker A position and have the two subs where the power cables are exiting the walls.


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

I think it would depend on how far back you are going to be sitting. Personally I'd suggest whichever placement would give you closer to an even triangular setup. However, with in-walls it may be different. Did the recommendation take into account your main listening position?


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## Steve Williamson (May 11, 2006)

The speakers are on wall Jamo D6LCR's, the first seating position is 4 metres back and the second seating position is 6 metres back, this is why I thought the 4 metres distance as per position A would be more suitable than the 2.5 metres as per position B.


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

Yeah... I'd think that A would be better in that case.


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## Steve Williamson (May 11, 2006)

Wow, what a drag building a home can seem, only just got to the point of installing the riser and skirting in the theatre, still waiting for the dado to be installed on the walls and ceiling. Painters start next monday so after them, the fun part of fitting off happens. Will post some pics tomorrow.


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

Wow.... it's like you hit a lull. The same thing is happening with our new office building... the slab has been sitting there for weeks, all by itself.


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## Steve Williamson (May 11, 2006)

Well here's the progress so far:

Area for mural has been framed, painters will be paiting the flat areas next week









Riser installed and dado around the room so we can seperate the two colors being used. Can't install steps until I know how wide to make them when seats arrive.


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## Steve Williamson (May 11, 2006)

Nearly there, we have installed the framework and plaster around the curtain, the speakers arrive monday and the panny AE1000 is sitting in the bulkhead waiting to shine.

Will post more pics next week when everything is installed.

Still using my phone to take pictures unfortunately


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

Not to bad for a camera phone... and it's beginning to shape up.


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## RayJr (Jan 14, 2007)

Steve,
I think your ground up theater is looking great......from the looks of the floor plans you really took your time to lay things out..very well done.
Can't wait for a few more pictures

Later
RayJr


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## Sir Terrence (Jun 8, 2006)

Steve Williamson said:


> Hooray, the house we have been waiting to sell has gone unconditional so we are now waiting for the first week of June to start the construction process.
> 
> This has lifted a large weight of our chests.
> 
> ...


If you only plan to look at movies in this room, dipoles make work okay. However just buying the dipoles with not meet the spec. The dipoles themselves have to be THX certified, as well as the rest of the speaker package and amps as well. THX used to mean something, before it began certifying just about everything(can somebody say VCR's). Where THX is highly useful is their acoustical advice for hometheaters. In this area they have raised the bar on hometheater acoustics, which is what they used to do with equipment before they used their certification as a income stream.


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