# Another New Construction Theater/Family room



## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

OK I just finished my basement including a theater room. I have my thread here http://www.hometheatershack.com/for...uction-theater-family-room.html#axzz2JyLGInje

Anyhow. I am so happy to be done that My brother and I are gonna start on another one. This one is gonna be my brothers. He lives a block away and he is gonna pay to have the sheetrock done done done so this will be super simple. We have already wired the rest of his basement so we only have the theater room to do. 


The room will be 17.5' long by 14 wide. On the left of the room will have a 6' opening in the center of the room that will be open into the rest of the basement. We are gonna probly get an Epson 3020 projector and we are looking hard at 5 Chase m1's along with 2 SS18.1 w/sub1 amp. I am open to suggestions but I am excited to hear the m1's and the subs from chase that every one has been talking about.

OK the ceilings are 8' but we need a fireplace under the screen and then the center channel above the FP.

Not ideal but doable
There is a window that will be in the back of the room
Here are some pre construction pics


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## Tonto (Jun 30, 2007)

Are you going to leave access to that pluming/electric panel? I would hate to see you cut that wall later when you need to repair something or reset a breaker.


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

Yep we sure are. There is a door that will be outside of the room pictured that will have access to the mechanical room.


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

Yay for another build thread! :yay: :jiggy:

Subscribed!


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

The brother and wife are gonna look at and hopefully get a fireplace on Sat. Then we can start to frame up around it and get a real good idea of the space that is left for a screen. Hopefully it will be around 100". The viewing distance will be around 12-14'.


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

OK we may have jumped the gun but we bought a Epson 3010 refurb for 950 directly from Visual Apex. They are a sponsor and I sold my brother my Denon 2112CI for a good price so He only needs to buy speakers and THE system will be complete. Just need to build the room :heehee:


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

OK we built an archway between the theater room and the rest of the basement to seperate the rooms somewhat. I know that without pictures it didn't happen but we are waiting for a fireplace to be picked out so we can frame out the front wall. Then we can wire it all up.


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

Oh yeah forgot to add that we are leaving this cold state of South Dakota and gonna spend a week in Hawaii. No kids just the adults. Should be alot of fun, but when we return we will get cracking on this build


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## Wardsweb (Apr 2, 2010)

orion said:


> Oh yeah forgot to add that we are leaving this cold state of South Dakota and gonna spend a week in Hawaii. No kids just the adults. Should be alot of fun, but when we return we will get cracking on this build


Now this is the way to build a home theater; work, play, work. Congratulations on all fronts. Have fun and then back to work and don't forget the pictures.


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

Wardsweb said:


> Now this is the way to build a home theater; work, play, work.


No kidding - sounds like a great way to go! Have a great time in Hawaii Bud!


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## Tooley (Jan 2, 2011)

Looks like you forgot some insulation.


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

OK back from Vacation. They had a fireplace installer come by yesterday to see if they can put a fireplace where they want to. Looks like its a go. I am talking to them about an AT screen above the fireplace and the speakers behind that. The Seymour screen looks to be a good bet. Maybe diy the frame. I have only begun to look into it. Also they want to hide the subs, any ideas on that. Not sure where to hide them.


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

Can we hide the subs behind the AT screen? Not sure if it will vibrate the screen or wall for that matter if they are back there.


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

orion said:


> Can we hide the subs behind the AT screen? Not sure if it will vibrate the screen or wall for that matter if they are back there.


Provided you have the room, you sure can. Prof just recently built a horn sub and horn L/C/R and has them all in behind his screen - makes for a nice, clean look on the screen wall.


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## Prof. (Oct 20, 2006)

orion said:


> Can we hide the subs behind the AT screen? Not sure if it will vibrate the screen or wall for that matter if they are back there.


Actually the sub won't be behind the screen, unless your screen sits on the floor! The space below the screen is where the sub will sit, so you won't have any movement in the screen material..

My horn sub stands 5' tall which puts the mouth about three quarters the way up the screen ( the sound is projected upwards) and the mouth opening is very close to the screen.. I don't get any movement in the AT screen material..


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

Well the nook for the speakers will be around 36" off the ground. There will be a Fireplace below the nook. So no rooom on the floor there. i am afraid the Fireplace will rattle with the subs directly above.


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

Pictures will come soon. We have the Fireplace rough opening done. So we have to frame in the nook above it to hide the speakers. After that we have to finish wiring and after inspections it should be time to call the drywallers.


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

Still waiting on the Fireplace installer :hissyfit: He also has to move a heater vent that is in the way of where the projector will be. I havent been over there to take pictures but the waiting is getting old.


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

Fireplace guy(brother in law) is gonna come over tomorrow hopefully to finish up the fireplace and move vents around and then we should make good progress next week. WOOOT


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

Also we are looking to buy some speakers from CHT. I wanna buy 5 M1's for sound duty and 2 SS18.1's with the new MQ600 amp. I am hesitant only because my brother may not want so much bass, he is kinda that way. Maybe a lesser sub would fit him fine and save him 1k.


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

OK OK OK I have some pictures. The Brother in law got the fireplace installed yesterday and we will be framing up some walls tomorrow. The nook for the speakers will be all around where the vent is. We are gonna frame around the vent and sheetrock it. Then the speakers are gonna be around there hopefully centered. 




























You can kind of see the arch we made going into the room


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

After we get this done we are gonna start on a hush box for the projector. We are lucky here because the projector can be against the back wall so we are gonna build a box down from the ceiling that the projector can sit in.


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

:yay: for pictures! 

Looking good mate - anxious to see how the arch turns out.....


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## phillihp23 (Mar 14, 2012)

Coming along good. Yippeee


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

Yeah I know I want to see how it turns out too. Maybe the drywaller will come and just redo it. I wouldn't doubt it, but I think it framed out pretty well


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

We framed in a hush box for the projector. Is is common practice to leave the top open into the ceiling to dissipate heat. Or just sheetrock all of it.


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## MrAngles (May 1, 2012)

I'm not sure if there is a "common practice" with hush boxes yet, I don't see that many online and they all seem different.


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

The ones I have seen have an in line fan that pulls the air out and vents it to a different room.


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## sga2 (Nov 14, 2009)

ALMFamily said:


> The ones I have seen have an in line fan that pulls the air out and vents it to a different room.


Don't forget that you need an air _intake_, also. If possible, I would do this without a fan. Fans make noise and ultimately, eventually, fail.

Do you mind posting a pic of what you've framed?

Regards,
sga2


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

OK I just ordered some millskin matte silver and black spandex for our AT screen. I am excited/nervous as to how this stuff will work out. Should be a learning experience if nothing else


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## bamabum (Dec 7, 2012)

Exciting


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

OK I bought screen frame material 

I found 1x3x12' MDF primed white wood. Im thinking this is gonna be the straightest wood. No twisting etc. I included some pictures of the room and the hush box.


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

I also ordered the speakers today from Chase home theater. 5 M1's and 2 SS18.1's with the Mq600 amp. I will get to compare the subs against my MFW15's.


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## vekselmanpeter (Apr 25, 2013)

Hello everyone!

I'm Peter, and I'm one of the newest members, I think. 

Anyway, what a great thread! I have always been interested in designing my home theater/family room.

Will read through the discussion, and if I have some questions, I'll be posting them.

Looking forward to learning a lot of DIY intructions soon.

Peter Vekselman


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

Welcome Peter. I hope you enjoy your build.

My brother and I built the screen today. We used light silver over black millskin from spandex world and 3" primed MDF for the supports (Very straight)



Here is the back side of the frame. We painted the other side black.



First layer of black millskin



Here is the finished screen. It turned out well. It took about 3 hours from start to finish, It is 102" diagonal.


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## bamabum (Dec 7, 2012)

Looks very sturdy. Are u using cleats to secure?

How do you envision ur Velcro border?


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

I think we will use french cleates to secure it to the wall. This is gonna be a borderless screen. So as you see it is how its gonna be. We only had 51.5" height wise to deal with and we didn't want to use a border which would have made a smaller screen. Gotta call the electrical inspector on Monday and hopefully get going on the sheetrocking soon


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

Turned out great Bud - looking forward to seeing some pictures of it in use...


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

Looks great! Well done!


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

Is there a way to set the projector (Epson3010) in the hush box right side up or do I have to hang it.


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## MrAngles (May 1, 2012)

orion said:


> Is there a way to set the projector (Epson3010) in the hush box right side up or do I have to hang it.


Depends on the configuration of your hush box I suppose, but generally I would say it would be a lot easier to just set it in there rather than hanging it.


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

I received the M1's and 2 SS18.1's and a MQ600 amp.

I have gotta say the M1's are suprising. I have Polk R400's towers and for music they sound similiar with plenty of output.

They SS18.1's are sweet. I though they were downfiring but they are not. They are front firing. They sound very good. LOTS of output and you can tell that they need some more time to get broken in. Compared to my MFW15's the sound is so much cleaner, with more output. I still haven't ran audyssey with my Onkyo 709 so I wont comment on movies but with music I like the sound of them.

The Mq600 amp is the real deal. At $500 it is a steal. The amp weighs around 50lb very solid.


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

orion said:


> I received the M1's and 2 SS18.1's and a MQ600 amp.
> 
> I have gotta say the M1's are suprising. I have Polk R400's towers and for music they sound similiar with plenty of output.
> 
> ...


Great to hear Bud - thanks for posting some impressions!


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

OK I ran audyssey and watched Jack Reacher. The thing that stood out was the gunshots. They sounded and felt so real. I am so impressed.


We got the wiring inpection done and the drywaller will be coming next monday and he will be done with the basement in a week. We are super stoked. So we have a week to look over everything and see if we forgot anything.


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

So sheetrock guys are coming on Mon or Tue. They are gonna use 14' sheets. I dont know how those guys do it. I have nothing but respect for them. My brothers wife wants to do all the painting herself so that should be the week after. We are gonna paint the wall behind the screen black


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

OK Sheetrockers are done. They finished the entire basement in a day. I am impressed. The taper is coming this morning and he should be done in a few days. 

Here are some pics. 

Outside looking in



Looking Out




Front Wall. The Subs are gonna be in the built ins beside the Fireplace



Back Wall


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## mcascio (Dec 5, 2010)

Looking good. Sheet rock is always the most exciting part of the project since it feels like the most progress is made in just a day or two. The space is really shaping up nicely. Keep up the great work!


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

mcascio said:


> Looking good. Sheet rock is always the most exciting part of the project since it feels like the most progress is made in just a day or two. The space is really shaping up nicely. Keep up the great work!


Completely agree - when the drywall was up, I had my first experience for what the room would look like when everything was done. A really great feeling....


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

Taper should be done by the end of the week. My brothers wife wants to paint the entire basement by herself so we may have to wait a bit before that is done so we can get everything else set up.


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## Owen Bartley (Oct 18, 2006)

Basement is looking good, Bud. I like the arch a lot, it gives some detail and character to the space. 

Hmmm, I wonder if you could port the subs into the fireplace to give a nice flamethrower effect during the explosions on screen!


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## mojogoes (Feb 11, 2008)

Very very niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice and neat installation:sn:


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

Here is the screen 



The entire basement is primed and they will be painting for the next few days. Then we can plug in all the outlets and hopefully everything will work


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## GPM (Jan 14, 2007)

orion said:


> We used light silver over black millskin from spandex world..........


Nice build! Went to Spandex World, but couldn't find millskin [mill skin] in a search there or just Googling, so wondering what its official product name is.

TIA,

GM


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

I went to the regular spandex tab on the left and then selected mill skin there. They have all the different colors there. I may end up building another screen for a friend of mine in the near future also. May try a different color combo.


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## GPM (Jan 14, 2007)

Thanks, I thought it was a different material than a basic Spandex. It would be interesting to compare it to Dr. Earl Geddes's choice. 

After some research years ago now, he concluded that for a low gain acoustically 'transparent' screen that the cheapest 100 thread ct. white bed sheets performed PQ, SQ wise at least as good as what was available commercially if tightly stretched to take out fold creases/open up the weave a bit. Apparently, the starch in them gave just the right amount of low gain.

By today's standards, the only real downsides seems to be that max screen width would be too limited for some folks and maybe resolution also if > 1080p. No clue if screen design visibly affects 3D presentation either. 

Unfortunately, back then, DIYers generally weren't willing/able to go the 'extra mile' to build front projector HTs nor hide from view their expensive furniture quality speaker systems, so don't recall anyone actually trying it.

GM


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## bamabum (Dec 7, 2012)

grey
http://spandexworld.com/c3/catalog/product/10921

white
http://spandexworld.com/c3/catalog/product/795

black
http://spandexworld.com/c3/catalog/product/796

Make sure to get matte. 

The regular stuff is sparkly for dance and aerobics outfits. The sparkles even if small will show up and make the picture "cloudy".


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

OK the painting is just about all done. Edging to go. I put all the outlets in and after I got them ALL in I realized they were not TR. WHY do they sell these


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## GPM (Jan 14, 2007)

orion said:


> i put all the outlets in and after i got them all in i realized they were not tr. Why do they sell these


'tr' ?

Gm


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

It means tamper resistant. Its won't allow kids to stick a fork or a knife into the outlets. Seems like a good idea but I am not sure if anybody has ever been hurt by an outlet. I do have young children who have stuffed all sorts of things in outlets when we weren't looking but they never got shocked. Better safe than sorry though.


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

BTW you can use non tr outlets if the outlet is higher than 5.5 ft off the ground or in some commercial applications. Not including medical buildings. Don't quote me but the NEC rule is something like that.


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## GPM (Jan 14, 2007)

Ah! My kids were raised before such was available, though IIRC the little plastic cover plugs came along while our first born was young. Never used them though. 

The only folks I've seen hurt by outlets were ignorant teens, adults. 

GM


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s446/bud84ro/IMG_20130624_072430_116_zps0edaf846.jpg

More pics of the screen. We need to fish out some wires for the speakers and the projector so we can make sure everything works.

We are doing the bathroom floor now and then we can do doors and trim and then the Builtins for the theater room and bar. Everything takes too long


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

Dang. My brother wanted to do landscaping this week instead of working on the basement. I guess he wants grass. So not much progress has been made. Hopefully Monday we can hang the doors. Then I am going on vacation for a week. Builtins are coming next Monday. Gotta get this done.


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

orion said:


> Dang. My brother wanted to do landscaping this week instead of working on the basement. I guess he wants grass. So not much progress has been made. Hopefully Monday we can hang the doors. Then I am going on vacation for a week. Builtins are coming next Monday. Gotta get this done.


Summer is the single biggest HT progress killer. Between outside projects and kids sports, there is little time for anything else! :bigsmile:


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## CompressionFed (Jul 2, 2013)

ALMFamily said:


> Summer is the single biggest HT progress killer. Between outside projects and kids sports, there is little time for anything else! :bigsmile:


I can relate to that! Katie and I have way too many projects going on at once.


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

The built ins came in last monday. A bunch of stuff was wrong that will have to be redone. The cabinets next to the fireplace wasn't deep enough. The cabinet gal came out two times to measure and still got it wrong by 2 inches. The subs wont fit in the space as is so they have to go back and be redone. Upsetting but I probably would have been off by more than 2 inches.....


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

OK we got the new builtins for beside the fireplace and now they are an inch and a half too deep, and they were made with a lip around the side which is not supposed to be there. Getting a bit testy today. Waiting on this to get done.


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

Are you having that work done?


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

Yep we are having a cabinet maker doing the builtins and also a bar in another area of the basement. Everything else fit nice but these two next to the fireplace are giving them troubles.


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## mcascio (Dec 5, 2010)

orion said:


> Yep we are having a cabinet maker doing the builtins and also a bar in another area of the basement. Everything else fit nice but these two next to the fireplace are giving them troubles.


Measure twice (with the same measuring tape), cut once I always say.

The good thing is they have to do the rework and not you. 

Make sure to allow enough space in the cabinets for any cords and connections too from the back of the subs?


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## phillihp23 (Mar 14, 2012)

I hope they are giving you a discount for your troubles with these builtins.


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

Yeah that was the problem with the first set they made. They were only 1 inch too short so the subs wouldnt have fit. So close but close doesn't cut.it. pun intended


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

Discount would be nice


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

I hooked JP the projector tonight and I may have made a boo boo. The projector is right side up in a hush box and I bought an Epson 3010 and it doesn't have lens shift so the image is on the ceiling. Do I need lens shift? I am gonna try to put it upside down in the hush box. Not sure how that's gonna work out.


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## Mike Edwards (Mar 10, 2011)

orion said:


> I hooked JP the projector tonight and I may have made a boo boo. The projector is right side up in a hush box and I bought an Epson 3010 and it doesn't have lens shift so the image is on the ceiling. Do I need lens shift? I am gonna try to put it upside down in the hush box. Not sure how that's gonna work out.


most projector's have an upward shooting picture (up and out so to speak). usually if you're hanging it upside down you want to hang it just about the top of the screen. if you're having it right side up you want it around the very bottom of the screen's height


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

Yup I messed up there. I assumed and I was wrong. We will probly just have it resting on its top upside down and shim it to fill the screen.


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

PICTURES!!!






These are the built ins that they have been having trouble making to the right size. They came thru today and we got them in there. We are gonna have a sub in each cabinet and the receiver and bluray on the left above the sub and the sub amp in the left cabinet above the sub.

Also note the M1's in the cubby behind the screen


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

The facing between the fireplace and the builtins and the screen will be some sort of rock. Never done it before so it should be interesting.


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## Anacrusis (Dec 25, 2011)

Your room is coming together very nicely. I am excited to see how this turns out. Once my theater room is finished we will being doing another room at my brothers home. Its amazing on how you learn and think of new ideas you wish you could of applied in your own build. :blink:


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