# PTAaron's Movie Room/Game Room/Bar



## PTAaron

*PTAaron's Movie Room/Game Room/Bar - comments welcome!!*

Latest news as of May 2016:

*Major 2016 updates... Biggest changes start here: http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/home-theater-design-construction/55787-ptaaron-s-movie-room-game-room-bar-28.html*

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Original thread 
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I just thought it would be fun to start a thread here about my basement entertainment area. It isn't just a "home theater" - it is a whole basement project.

I been working on it since we moved in at the beginning of July 2010. My wife and I spent a LONG time trying to find the right house - we love to entertain and have a few other special needs so we had a few requirements: Had to have a bar, had to have a big deck (or space to build one), she wanted a "scrapbooking room" on the main floor since her mother is in a wheelchair and unable to go up/down stairs, I wanted space to build a home theater...

We eventually found this place - the day it was listed we made an offer and we got it! Main floor has a "den" so the wife got her scrapbook room. The basement had a wet bar, pool table, full bath, and another room that oddly had a full wall of mirrors... but I immediately knew it would be my movie room! Only thing keeping it from being the PERFECT entertaining house is the basement is not a walkout - so you have to go down some stairs to get from the grill to the pool table 

_EDIT: The first 3 pages are kind of a retrospective look at the project... and it is pretty "picture heavy" because I like to document what I'm doing _

*On to the space!*
I am going to keep the first and second posts updated with the newest pictures of the space - so this page will keep changing. The 3rd post and on will outline my journey to get where I am, and beyond 

*Equipment in the room:
Mitsubishi 73" DLP TV - 73740
Harman Kardon AVR 3600 (as a pre/pro)
Harman Kardon AVR-635 (as the amp)
Speakers: Pioneer SP-FS51-LR front towers, Pioneer SP-C21 Center, Emotiva ERD-1 surrounds, Dayton rears.
Subwoofer2: Elemental Designs A2-300 (x2)
HTPC running OpenELEC and Kodi
Sony BDP-BX58 (S580) Blu-ray Player and SACD Player
Motorola DCX-3200 Cable Box
AppleTV2 (1080p version)
PS4
PS3
PS2
Wii
System controlled with Harmony 1100 and RF extender
*

Old gear seen in the pictures include:
Toshiba 57h94 CRT RPTV
Harman Kardon AVR 635
Infinity TSS-450 5.1 speaker system

Here is the overall floor plan of my basement - I missed a couple of details like a door on the bathroom and sump room... but everything is to scale and you get the idea.










This was my original layout for the movie room when I first set it up:









...
Added second sub 6/11/16:









...
as of April 2016:


















... 
pic from 9/8/15:









Before painting the ceiling it looked like this (3/30/12):



















.... to be continued ...

Funny - can't edit the post I "reserved" for the bar area pictures... so I'll add this here:

April 2015 - we added a Kegerator to the bar area...


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## PTAaron

....Reserving for current pictures of the bar/game area...


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## PTAaron

Let me give you a little idea of the progression of the movie space (I will include full size pictures later when I put up my "work" pictures):

*1*








My initial setup is here - Harman Kardon 635 and Infinity satellite pictures can be seen in the front of the room with my Toshiba 57" RPTV. At this point the wall to the left was still bare mirrors, nothing on any of the other walls... I had wired my speakers through the drop ceiling to the front wall using monoprice in wall wire and a panel conveniently hidden behind the entertainment center piece on the left. System sounded "ok" - but I had upgraditis... Overhead lighting consisted of 2 large fluorescent fixtures controlled by a switch OUTSIDE the room. A real pain in the butt. All viewing is done with overhead lights off and a light on behind the TV.

*2*








Here I have upgraded the receiver to a Harman Kardon 3600, speakers are now the Pioneers in the front, and the sub is at the edge of the couch on the left - and it is a Elemental Designs A2-300. It was an expensive month... You can also see that I had to move the entertainment center pieces out - exposing my once carefully hidden wiring panel. I have also added black curtains to the left wall to cover the mirrors to get rid of the light reflections. Lights in the room are now controlled by a X10 switch so I can at least turn them off and on from in the room. 

*3*








In November 2011 I picked up a Mitsubishi 73740 for a steal at Paul's TV on a pre-Thanksgiving sale... notice the appealing milk crate center channel stand! Everything else is pretty much unchanged at this point - you can see the glare of the fluorescent light on the screen. 

*4*








Finally made some "real" progress in January... replaced the 2 fluorescent lights with 6 recessed can lights controlled by 3 Maestro IR switches IN THE ROOM. Also upgraded the surround speakers to Emotiva ERD-1 bipole/dipole speakers... and rewired the room completely moving the equipment to the "shelves" noted in the room diagram and getting rid of the entertainment center pieces.

*5*








Beginning of March 2012... front wall is "Mouse Ears" black, which was such a huge change! I have am also currently controlling everything via RF - and it is so nice not to have to point the remote at the screen while waiting for everything to turn on! I have even used a "macro work-around" to add in some features like lights dimming when I hit play/coming up slightly on pause/full on at stop...

*6*








End of March 2012... I have now painted the side walls "Sorcerer's Hat" blue, the trim in the room is now black as are the double entry doors. The mirrors have been removed from the left side wall, and the drywall has been patched with the help of my good friends Carrie and Mat. (Thanks guys!!) This is a dramatic improvement in both the look and the overall feel of the room. Next step is the ceiling - but before I tackle that I will be doing some work on the bar area.


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## PTAaron

Final post for the moment... I have to go do some cleaning before my wife gets home from her soccer game...

We jokingly refer to the house as the "English Way Cinema and Brewing Company" - because of the name of our street and the fact that we brew our own beer and wine... so I went ahead and made myself some movie intros with that in mind - enjoy!


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## Quijibo

I like your idea for custom intros. I may have to steal it.


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## PTAaron

Quijibo said:


> I like your idea for custom intros. I may have to steal it.


Feel free! I didn't come up with it 
Sad part is that I usually don't get to use them when we watch movies... but they are still fun to play with!


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## PTAaron

Let me start with some pictures of the space when we first bought it... these are actually shots from the previous owner with the way they had things set up:

This was the way the bar looked: 









And the pool table area:









... and this is a really short video I shot of the future movie room when we were checking out the house... I had taken some measurements and wanted a visual record of how things were laid out:





I'll post up some "progression" pictures a little later... I'm kind of slow at this because at the moment my computer is not hooked up - had to move it down into the movie room to run REW, and haven't moved it back up to my office yet.


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## PTAaron

A little video clip as I was moving stuff into the room. Nothing is hooked up yet in this - I had just moved the TV and a few other things into the room:





This is how the room originally looked after I started trying to set it up... there is a center channel speaker in that glare somewhere!


















The wall of mirrors...


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## PTAaron

at about that time we started decorating the bar area/game area as well... here are a few pictures from when we started that - these are from March 2011:
Looking in from the stairs - note the brewing/fermenting buckets from our wine making 









Looking into the larger area from the movie room doors:









Looking at the bar:









From bar looking at pool table and wall of my wife's "rock wall" of autographed 80's band stuff:









Looking toward the movie room from the couch by the pool table:


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## PTAaron

The movie room got some attention in March 2011 too when I picked up some curtains at IKEA and used them to hide the wall of mirrors... they look better in person, the camera flash really shines right through them:









The camera flash really shows the wall behind the curtain, but in normal light you can't really see it.

I also upgraded to slightly larger speakers and a new AVR:











...and a new subwoofer:










...and we added some movie decorations... you can see my Radio Shack SPL meter on the tripod from setting my new speakers


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## PTAaron

Alrighty... lets just move on through the retrospective view here... moving forward another month to April 2010...

I apologize that I only had taken cell phone pictures at the time - but here is what we did:

1) We put up some glass shelving behind the bar to display my Absinthe collection, our Tequila collection, and the various other unique items (Vince Neil wine, Mick Fleetwood autographed wine, etc):









Next we added shelving along the top of the "back wall" as a place to display our microbrew beer bottle collection:










Here is another shot of the bar area:


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## PTAaron

Moving through time to June 2010 - nothing else had changed - but we hit some garage sales in the area and got some great movie posters - spent less than $15for all of these (again sorry for the cell phone quality pictures):


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## PTAaron

Fast forward to November 2010... this was a big month for the basement!

First I ran some RG-6 over to the sump pump closet and built a little shelf in there for the cable box. In this picture you can see the old IR extender system I had set up - right now I have a smaller setup from Harman Kardon...









Then I mounted a little 19" LED Vizio behind the bar and re-arranged the bar signs:


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## PTAaron

Later in November I got some extra $ in the form of a vacation hour cash out at work - just in time to catch a great "Black Saturday" sale at Paul's TV... and picked up a little 73" DLP:









- test fitting it... notice the cat checking out the game collection in the "stand" - this used to be out in the game room area as storage. Just happened to be the right height for the TV.

A little later - I got a center channel stand for Christmas:









...... and a few more shots while playing Skyrim. Unfortunately I happened to choose scenes where the lighting was bluish for all of them, so you don't get a real good idea 

With the obnoxious overhead fluorescents on:









Normal viewing with room lights off and only the light behind the screen on:


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## PTAaron

Around mid-January my wife and I were sitting around discussing a plan to redo the bar... which is still going to happen but has been delayed... I came up with a plan to re-do the movie room. I drew up a BEAUTIFUL sketch at 2am:










The next I ordered a set of Emotiva ERD-1 surround speakers that showed up really quick - great company to deal with! Here they are being unboxed:


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## PTAaron

I started work on carrying out the glorious drawing near the end of January - and took way too many pictures:

Made a new shelf for the built in shelving area that is going to become the equipment rack... this should have been really easy, but it turns out the space is trapezoid shaped, so the shelf needed to be 1" more narrow at the back than the front - simple to fix, but irritating to find out! I assumed the shelf I had brought up to "make a copy of" had just been cut like that on accident.

Here is a shot of the (very cluttered) shelves where the equipment will be going:








AVR will be on the top shelf - I will be putting a fan in the wall on the right side to pull hot air away and into the utility room that is on the other side of the wall.

Then I took on the extremely simple job of installing the gang box for the future can lights. The previous owner had an electrical outlet and a switch that was labeled "neon" on the wall - so I decided to put my switches here. Problem is that they didn't space them out very well - here is the wall marked for a 3 gang box:









... not quite...

Here it is marked for a 4 gang box:









... still not quite... but lets try it anyway:








Nice gaps on either side...

Luckily the cover plate I picked up was "oversized" - so it worked out exactly perfectly!










Here is where that is in the room:









Notice the blank plate at an awkward angle up above the switches? They had a phone jack there... and did a great job of lining that hole up 
I will be patching that with the drywall I cut out installing the box - and a poster will be going there anyway so it doesn't matter if my patchwork sucks.

Right now the 2 switches on the right are Lutron IR switches that will control the lights over the door and couch, the space with nothing originally ended up housing an X10 switch before I later picked up a 3rd Maestro...

Just to show how the room looked then - here are a few more pictures...









*Left side*









*I already removed one of the "entertainment center" pieces... looks so unbalanced right now!*









*Right side*


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## PTAaron

The next weekend my father in-law came over and helped me install 6 can lights - each set of 2 on its own switch.

We got it done quickly with no issues. I haven't taken out the fluorescent panels yet in these pictures. 

Finishing up the switches...









MUCH better lighting!! It isn't blindingly bright anymore! ... watching Coolio cook on the cooking channel... 









Chessie came down to check out the new lights:










The switch panel as it was initially set up with an x10 switch to control the front of the room set of lights










I had originally intended to do Insteon for lighting control - but decided to save $250 and just buy one more Maestro switch instead.


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## PTAaron

A few days later I got a nice delivery of toys at work:










We have:
100ft of 14g in wall speaker wire
50ft of RG6 for the subwoofer
25ft high speed rated HDMI cable
3 speaker terminals for the wall (for front speakers)
7.2 "surround sound wall plate" 
RCA to "F" adapters
Passthrough plate for wall
...and a RCA keystone jack

All for under $100 shipped! Gotta love Monoprice!!

The next day a trip to Home Depot then Lowes this morning got me another big pile of stuff...
4 double gang low voltage rings
3 double gang decora wall plates
1 single gang low voltage ring
2 keystone wall plates (decora style centers come out)
1 "brush" wall plate (forgot to order 2 pass though plates from monoprice)
1 RCA to "F" keystone connector
...and another maestro IR dimmer switch!










Annoying part is that I could have saved money if I remembered the other plate from monoprice - and also if I had realized Lowes carried the plug I wanted. I usually just go to Home Depot since it is half a mile closer...
Oh well!


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## PTAaron

First thing I did was install the light switch - that made things look nicer (to my eye anyway!):








Note: also straightened out the box behind the blank plate above the switches so it doesn't look like (as much) anymore. It will be behind a poster when the room is done. 

I also decided to make use of the blank plate covering the old room light switch box:









Used some Velcro to attach a lutron remote outside the room ... just so when the wife wants to get to the cedar closet or storage area she can have light in the room before going in.


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## PTAaron

*More from the end of January:*
Looks like my equipment rack threw up all over the floor and the TV got smaller!










Speakers just hanging out...









Test fitting components before I cut any holes... 









Finished for that day:









Wires look like a gigantic rats nest... I had planned to carefully lay everything out so it wouldn't look like - but wife's cousin stopped by and took us out to dinner while I was laying things out. I ended up just rushing through just to make sure everything worked - and it did... just happened to pick up a nasty ground loop hum! :foottap:

Don't worry - I cleaned up the wires a little bit...

... and here is a shot of the front of the room from a few days later after I cleaned up the floor and took down the fluorescent fixture:









In case anyone is interested... these are the outlets I installed at the front of the room with speaker wire and subwoofer outlets - there are 2 sub outlets up front just in case... but only one is wired up now:









Behind the TV is this guy here:


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## PTAaron

The following weekend (first weekend of February) I decided to paint the front wall. I had been planning on doing a dark grey color - but in a shocking turn of events my wife (who has consistently complained that she doesn't want me to make the room TOO DARK) said "Shouldn't you just make it black?" I immediately went to Home Depot and bought a can of Mouse Ears black in eggshell finish!

I ended up spray painting the outlets with several coats of flat black paint after finding out that a brush does not cover them well...









I patched (poorly) the hole where my previous speaker distribution panel was, and gave the front wall the first coat of paint...









Lets just say that if you want BLACK - Mouse Ears is about as black as you can get! Holy ! LOL!

Note the white panel still on the wall - I got lazy... I didn't move the TV earlier when I had the spray paint out - so that panel didn't get painted. I decided to just paint around it. It will never be seen anyway - and if it ends up bothering me I can take some spray paint to it then.

...I ended up doing a second coat the next day because I was seeing quite a few small white specks showing through.

Quick shot of my spray painted outlet covers:









The room with the lights on full - looks dark because the camera set the exposure for the TV... but you get the idea:








You can see I also painted the door to the closet. 

Lights dimmed a bit...









.... note that my "behind the TV bias light" no longer illuminates the wall AT ALL... that Mouse Ears paint just sucks up all the light... so I ended up removing it from the setup.


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## PTAaron

I also did some playing around and made myself this little poster displaying the logos of all the equipment in the room: 









It now hangs above my light switch panel:









Here is a recent shot of the entire room:









...and that pretty much brings us up to date.

I now have everything controlled via RF using my Harmony 1100 - and I have used a little "work around" to make it so I can program macro-like functions... so here is just a little clip demonstrating how I have it set up:


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## PTAaron

Things left on the short term "To Do" list:

1) Remove the mirrors from the left wall of the movie room and patch or replace the drywall.
2) Paint the side walls of the movie room "Sorcerer's Hat" blue.
3) Start the project to rebuild the bar! 


I am looking at options to get the mirrors down - and I've come to the conclusion that I probably can't remove them without destroying either the mirrors, the drywall, or both. They are held in place with quite a bit of construction adhesive - so I thought I might be able to use a wire to saw through, but I can just see that going wrong in so many ways! I'm basically stalling on this part of the project and hoping a better idea comes to me. :huh:

The bar rebuild project is really exciting - and we should have had it done by now, but we had to take an "emergency" trip to Las Vegas and used the money we had set aside for the bar project. :duh:

The bar project consists of: Removing the current bar top and adding 6-7" to the top of the current bar with drawers on the back side. We will be making a new bar top that is shaped slightly differently to get rid of the extra "lip" that sticks out the right hand side. The bar top will be covered in wood flooring and a layer of clear epoxy with "bar rail" around the edges. The "front" is going to be re-faced with wood and we are debating exactly how that will be done. It may be done with flooring like the bartop, or it may be just plain wood with some molding pieces used to create a design.

Anyway - there you have it! Up to date... so lets hear some comments!!


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## Sphinx

Aaron,

I really like what you have done with you basement. It is really a big step up from what the previous owner left behind.

Out of the box suggestion 1 for the mirror wall: Chalkboard paint. As crazy as this sounds, you could paint over the mirror and create a flat black surface. The new wall would be customizable for artwork, menus, fun for children. You could still get some of the 3M smooth surface adhesive hooks and hank your framed posters. The paint is relatively cheap and if you don't like the results, you can cover it back up until you decide on a new path.

Out of the box suggestion 2 for the mirror wall: use the same construction adhesive to attach sheets of plywood or mdf or drywall or layers. You can then paint, frame columns or hang items. I am not sure how much space you are trying to maintain.

This suggestions maybe be crazy and infeasible, but might get your creative juices flowing.


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## PTAaron

Sphinx said:


> Aaron,
> 
> I really like what you have done with you basement. It is really a big step up from what the previous owner left behind.
> 
> Out of the box suggestion 1 for the mirror wall: Chalkboard paint. As crazy as this sounds, you could paint over the mirror and create a flat black surface. The new wall would be customizable for artwork, menus, fun for children. You could still get some of the 3M smooth surface adhesive hooks and hank your framed posters. The paint is relatively cheap and if you don't like the results, you can cover it back up until you decide on a new path.
> 
> Out of the box suggestion 2 for the mirror wall: use the same construction adhesive to attach sheets of plywood or mdf or drywall or layers. You can then paint, frame columns or hang items. I am not sure how much space you are trying to maintain.
> 
> This suggestions maybe be crazy and infeasible, but might get your creative juices flowing.


Thanks for the comments and ideas!

I like the second suggestion the best - that would hide the mirrors and still give me a flat wall that I could paint... hmm... onder:

The "safest" solution I have heard previously was cutting the drywall around the mirrors and trying to remove the mirror+drywall as one unit - but then that involves replacing whole sections of drywall... and I'm not sure I have the skill to do that well.


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## Sphinx

Another random thing I have seen in the past, if your wife buys in on it, is to use a firm roller and paint the ceiling tiles black. The firm roller does not all the paint to fill the textured areas of the tiles and creates an effect of stars in the sky. You could try it on an extra tile and see if you like it. This might be the way to go if you ever decide to use a projector and don't want the white or reflective surfaces of drop ceiling.


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## PTAaron

Sphinx said:


> Another random thing I have seen in the past, if your wife buys in on it, is to use a firm roller and paint the ceiling tiles black. The firm roller does not all the paint to fill the textured areas of the tiles and creates an effect of stars in the sky. You could try it on an extra tile and see if you like it. This might be the way to go if you ever decide to use a projector and don't want the white or reflective surfaces of drop ceiling.


I like that idea, I had considered painting the frame/rails of the drop ceiling black just because I think it would look pretty cool - and I had also considered blacking out the first 2 rows of tiles when I was still planning to use my bias light since it was annoying reflecting off the white tiles.

I have 2 spare cracked tiles sitting around, maybe I'll give that a try :T


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## ALMFamily

Aaron,

Amazing transformation - thanks for sharing all that! :T

As far as the mirrors, are they at first reflection points? Maybe what you could do is make custom acoustic panels, put furring strips around the mirrors and mount your panels over the top of the mirrors. This would solve your mirror problem as well as starting room treatment.

Just a thought.....


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## tcarcio

I agree, great progression. Nice........:T


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## PTAaron

ALMFamily said:


> Aaron,
> 
> Amazing transformation - thanks for sharing all that! :T
> 
> As far as the mirrors, are they at first reflection points? Maybe what you could do is make custom acoustic panels, put furring strips around the mirrors and mount your panels over the top of the mirrors. This would solve your mirror problem as well as starting room treatment.
> 
> Just a thought.....


Thank you very much!

That was another idea I had been tossing around... The mirrors are approximately 5' high and total 16' in length - so I'm sure that making them into a giant acoustic panel would definitely cover first reflection points on the left wall! 

I wasn't sure if that would throw things off since I won' t be able to duplicate it on the opposite wall?


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## PTAaron

tcarcio said:


> I agree, great progression. Nice........:T


Thank you very much! 
It is hard to remember how much it has changed until I go back and look at the old pictures... just because it happens so slowly. It was fun to post this up and see it again. 

For me the movie area finally looked like a "movie room" when I got all of the equipment out of the front of the room. Before that it just looked like a living room to me.
I'm really happy with the progress so far, and the reactions we get from friends and family when they come over always make me smile


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## ALMFamily

PTAaron said:


> Thank you very much!
> 
> That was another idea I had been tossing around... The mirrors are approximately 5' high and total 16' in length - so I'm sure that making them into a giant acoustic panel would definitely cover first reflection points on the left wall!
> 
> I wasn't sure if that would throw things off since I won' t be able to duplicate it on the opposite wall?


Hmmm.... it probably would if you were not able to maintain some level of symmetry - scrap that idea! :duh:

I will continue to stir the contents of my addled brain to see if I can come up with anything else..... onder:


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## PTAaron

ALMFamily said:


> Hmmm.... it probably would if you were not able to maintain some level of symmetry - scrap that idea! :duh:
> 
> I will continue to stir the contents of my addled brain to see if I can come up with anything else..... onder:


I appreciate the thoughts ideas!


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## ALMFamily

Aaron,

After a bit more stewing, here are my thoughts:

1. Covering them with MDF might be the same as putting up acoustic panels - wouldn't that throw off the room symmetry unless you cover the entire wall? I am assuming that you would not just cover the face - you would "box" them in. 

2. If you are able to get the mirrors off, are you going to be able to remove the adhesive well enough to paint over? I have noticed even with 2 sided tape that has been up awhile that painting that spot always looks different than the rest of the wall.

If it were mine, I think I would base my approach on my plans for how long I was staying in the house - barring unforseen circumstances of course. If I am planning a move in the next 5 years, I think I would continue to cover them as you have and live with it. If this was more of a long term stay, I would probably tackle completely removing the mirrors and drywall and patching it. 

Still thinking on this one - but that is what I have so far.......


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## PTAaron

ALMFamily said:


> Aaron,
> 
> After a bit more stewing, here are my thoughts:
> 
> 1. Covering them with MDF might be the same as putting up acoustic panels - wouldn't that throw off the room symmetry unless you cover the entire wall? I am assuming that you would not just cover the face - you would "box" them in.
> 
> 2. If you are able to get the mirrors off, are you going to be able to remove the adhesive well enough to paint over? I have noticed even with 2 sided tape that has been up awhile that painting that spot always looks different than the rest of the wall.
> 
> If it were mine, I think I would base my approach on my plans for how long I was staying in the house - barring unforseen circumstances of course. If I am planning a move in the next 5 years, I think I would continue to cover them as you have and live with it. If this was more of a long term stay, I would probably tackle completely removing the mirrors and drywall and patching it.
> 
> Still thinking on this one - but that is what I have so far.......


1) I was kind of thinking more in terms of acoustically symmetrical rather than visually. I'm barely a novice at understanding room acoustics, but my thought was doing panels on one side would make for some difficult to control sound? 
2) That is the big question I've had in my head... "how bad will it be?" Judging from the size of the blobs of construction adhesive that I can feel (by sliding a wire behind the mirror) - there will be some pretty significant damage to the wall. This is why I've been avoiding it  It was actually the first thing I wanted to do when we moved in - but then I realized how much work was going to be involved.
The plan right now is to stay in the house for "a while" - we just spent 4 years trying to sell a condo, and almost a year searching to find this place... so there is very little desire to move again unless we hit the lottery tonight 

The more I think about it the more it seems like just biting the bullet and replacing the drywall is the only good option to get the room to look like I want. I can't really afford to lose much width because we need a walkway on the right hand side to get to the closet/mechanical room. 

In the perfect world I would be able to move the entrance to those rooms to inside or next to the large closet near the door to the movie room - then I could put in a riser with 2 rows of theater seats, build a stage at the front, and eventually move to a front projection setup!

Long term plan for the movie space is to pull down all the drywall and reinstall it with double drywall and green glue with isolation clips for sound isolation, double drywall/green glue the ceiling with isolation clips, real home theater seating, projector/screen... basically make it a real dedicated room. Right now the whole house shakes when I watch movies :hsd: - so the isolation is definitely in the plans when I can devote more to the budget.


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## PTAaron

ALMFamily - just started reading through your build thread... I'm only on page 3, so I'm just getting started - looks like a pretty detailed write up so I'm sure it's going to be a good read!


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## ALMFamily

Aaron,

Sometimes, I think I went waaay overboard with detail.... :R Please feel free to comment / poke fun! :bigsmile:

If you have an opportunity, read raZorTT's (Simon) build thread. I warn you, it was over 80 pages as of last count, but it is well worth it. Another one I enjoyed was Moggie's on that other forum...  Both of those had some fantastic ideas......

By the way, I was thinking acoustically symmetrical as well - the idea suggested earlier was to cover the mirrors with MDF. I do not think that would work for the same reason as the acoustic panels idea. Hate to say it - but I think re-drywalling might be your best bet / result. :gulp:


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## PTAaron

I love all the detail you put into your thread, I feel like I learned a lot from reading through it! It makes me want to rip out the whole room and start from scratch - but I don't think the wife would go for that! Ha!

I tend to go overboard with pictures ... but I like having a thorough "picture" of my journey 

I guess I wasn't completely thinking through the idea of MDF causing a sound difference, but it makes sense that adding a layer of dense wood with an air gap would change the acoustics! 
I have zero experience hanging drywall and I am terrible at patching so I will have to really think this through... A good friend of mine is president/owner of one of the more well known home improvement companies around here - I may have to get some estimates!


----------



## PTAaron

No real updates... added a few new items to the bar area including a Corona neon wall clock...

Re-ran Harman/Kardon's room correction (EZSet/EQ) yesterday, and had some strange results... It is terrible at guessing the distances and even the sub size - but things sound decent. Much better than when I ran it last time. For some reason it set my sub level to -10... which didn't even register on my SPL meter when I manually double checked things. I ended up bringing that up to -4.

I hadn't been using it for the last year because it just didn't sound right...

Ran some sweeps in REW to see just what it was doing to the sound - and it seemed to even out a few of the dips. I don't know if I like it or not - makes music sound like something is missing... maybe I'm just used to hearing "messed up" sound.


----------



## PTAaron

Okay... The mirror situation is about to be taken care of!

I talked with my friend that owns the home improvement company to get a quote on having his guys remove the mirrors and replace the drywall - and instead he said "I'll come over this weekend and get the mirrors down and patch the drywall"!! So - looks like the mirrors will FINALLY be gone!!

I'll be picking up 2 gallons of "sorcerer's hat" blue paint too - so the room will be finally "done" for the time being!!


----------



## ALMFamily

PTAaron said:


> Okay... The mirror situation is about to be taken care of!
> 
> I talked with my friend that owns the home improvement company to get a quote on having his guys remove the mirrors and replace the drywall - and instead he said "I'll come over this weekend and get the mirrors down and patch the drywall"!! So - looks like the mirrors will FINALLY be gone!!
> 
> I'll be picking up 2 gallons of "sorcerer's hat" blue paint too - so the room will be finally "done" for the time being!!


Great news Aaron! Can't wait to see the pics! :bigsmile:


----------



## PTAaron

There will be plenty of pics for sure! 

Also just learned from my wife that we still have 2/3 of the bar build budget left after our "emergency Vegas trip" ... and she was asking when I planned to get that project done! 
I thought we had spent it all - so that is a nice surprise! I should be getting that project rolling pretty soon.


----------



## ALMFamily

Woohoo for extra project money! She must have hit one of those slot machines and won a bundle....


----------



## engtaz

Nice setup. Painting the wall black, really made your TV come to life. Thanks for sharing.


----------



## PTAaron

ALMFamily said:


> Woohoo for extra project money! She must have hit one of those slot machines and won a bundle....


Actually the couple we went with hit pretty big - won close to $4000 after hitting one big jackpot on a penny machine then hitting a few more payouts later in the night! Must be nice!
I wasn't keeping track of what we spent of the "build money" - turns out we were a lot better about it than we planned 



engtaz said:


> Nice setup. Painting the wall black, really made your TV come to life. Thanks for sharing.


Thank you very much! It definitely transformed the look of the room and I'm glad I did it


----------



## PTAaron

I'm looking forward to getting the side walls finally painted. I'm kind of second guessing myself on my choice to do the other walls blue - but I'm sure it will look great when it is done. 
I'm kind of modeling it after another theater I saw on another forum and see a picture of every time I load up my copy of "home theater demo disc 2" - so I know it SHOULD look great!


----------



## ALMFamily

What shade of blue are you planning Aaron?


----------



## PTAaron

ALMFamily said:


> What shade of blue are you planning Aaron?


"Sorcerer's Hat" ... It is a Behr "Disney" color. 

Going for something similar to "the Scuba Tank" - as seen here:



















The color I'm looking at is deeper than the blue in those pictures... I'll try to get the sample can painted on the wall an post some pics


----------



## HTip

You're basement is amazing. Great bar, with pool table even.

I love your intro's. Gives a special touch when you start a demo :T And man what a TV! :yikes: I thought 60" was big, but with your TV you don't need a projector. The dark color of the screen wall really improves your picture quality.

Have fun in there, but somehow I don't think that will be a problem


----------



## PTAaron

HTip said:


> You're basement is amazing. Great bar, with pool table even.
> 
> I love your intro's. Gives a special touch when you start a demo :T And man what a TV! :yikes: I thought 60" was big, but with your TV you don't need a projector. The dark color of the screen wall really improves your picture quality.
> 
> Have fun in there, but somehow I don't think that will be a problem


Thank you so much! 
It has been a fun project do far, and I'm really looking forward to finishing "Movie Room v1.0" so I can focus on the bar :T

I'm not looking forward to emptying the room for Sunday though... With the sanding and patching that will be necessary, the room will probably be out of commission for more than a week - I will probably need to seek medical attention for Skyrim withdrawal! :bigsmile:


----------



## ALMFamily

My friends have been trying to talk me into getting into Skyrim - but, after my WoWcrack addiction, I swore off games until I get the HT done. 

I like that color - looking forward to seeing it on your walls!


----------



## HTip

It looks great at the moment already, but I know the feeling of longing to use and enjoy it. The first look I looked mainly at the pictures, but now I gave your thread a second look to read more.

You were wondering how to make the room acoustically symmetrical. The removal of the mirror wall is a good start. It is actually quite difficult to accomplish. My first question would be what you're experiencing? Do you feel the sound is out of balance? Can you make pictures with the curtains open?


----------



## PTAaron

ALMFamily said:


> My friends have been trying to talk me into getting into Skyrim - but, after my WoWcrack addiction, I swore off games until I get the HT done.
> 
> I like that color - looking forward to seeing it on your walls!


Skyrim is a lot of fun - I highly recommend it if you have the time. My dad is a WOWcrack addict as well - but he has been stuck in New Mexico without an internet connection and he is LOVING Skyrim.

I excited, and a bit nervous about getting it painted ... but mostly excited!



HTip said:


> It looks great at the moment already, but I know the feeling of longing to use and enjoy it. The first look I looked mainly at the pictures, but now I gave your thread a second look to read more.
> 
> You were wondering how to make the room acoustically symmetrical. The removal of the mirror wall is a good start. It is actually quite difficult to accomplish. My first question would be what you're experiencing? Do you feel the sound is out of balance? Can you make pictures with the curtains open?


Thanks for reading through 

Honestly right now it sounds "just fine" to me as far as balance... but I'm not sure if it is just a case of "I don't know how much I don't know" or if it really is "good enough". My comment about the balance was more in reference to the idea of covering the mirrors with acoustic panels - I was concerned that one side would be "dead" while the other side wouldn't match. With the current plan of removing the mirrors this coming Sunday - I can focus on putting acoustic treatments up just where needed, and I should be able to do them equally 

Actually - the sectional couch in there might make it a challenge still just because it covers part of the left wall. Once I get actual theater seating it will be a much easier (in theory) task.


----------



## PTAaron

Discovered a "restaurant supply warehouse" near our house, and took a trip up there today... Found a few great deals including a set of very comfortable bar stools for under $50 each:









Also got a few more odds and ends for the bar - but not worth putting up photos of 

Also started taking things out of the movie room to get ready for the mirror tear down... and in the process decided to see IF I had the space to do 2 rows with a riser. I mocked it up with pieces of my sectional couch using 4x4s and an old steel door:


















Turns out that the riser needs to be at least double that height - but there is plenty of space for it with a lot of room on either side. 

I also pulled down the curtains and got some photos:



























Looks like I will be patching a lot of small holes - since I had stapled the curtains to the wall... Oops!


----------



## ALMFamily

Aaron,

One thing to keep in mind when putting the 2nd row in - if you want to do some kind of recliner, you will probably need to put at least 5 feet between rows.

Also, I found a riser height calculator a while back - here it is - hope it helps!


----------



## PTAaron

ALMFamily said:


> Aaron,
> 
> One thing to keep in mind when putting the 2nd row in - if you want to do some kind of recliner, you will probably need to put at least 5 feet between rows.
> 
> Also, I found a riser height calculator a while back - here it is - hope it helps!


Thanks, that's a good tip. I'll check out that site too. I was just playing around since I had the stuff moved around anyway 
We may not end up doing it at all because we do like playing Wii and playstation move games, and we would lose our "playing space".


----------



## PTAaron

Few more pictures (I tend to over do it with pictures)...

Equipment shelves sealed off to protect from drywall dust:









Mirrors all taped up and floor covered in layer of thin plastic, old carpet, then 3.5mil plastic doubled over:









Posters draped in thin plastic for dust protection:









TV certainly looks bigger when it is out of the room:









Pool table looks like it got smaller or something...


----------



## PTAaron

Busy couple of hours... 
Mirrors ended up just popping off the wall very easily. Here is a very flattering shot of my friend Mat removing a mirror:









Once they came down we scraped off the construction adhesive and sanded down the damaged areas:









...and the first layer of mud was applied:









We have since gone back with a hair drier and dried those patches, sanded, and applied a second layer. That will be allowed to dry on its own, then I will sand it an apply a third layer of mud before we prime and paint. I'll get some pictures of the dried second layer tonight...


----------



## ALMFamily

Nice Aaron - glad to see the mirrors popped off easy - sure makes for less work!


----------



## MeatHanky

Do you have "before" measurements? It would be interesting to see the before and after effect...


----------



## PTAaron

ALMFamily said:


> Nice Aaron - glad to see the mirrors popped off easy - sure makes for less work!


Definitely makes life easier! Having my friend start the patching also helped - it will look A LOT better than if I had attempted it myself. 



MeatHanky said:


> Do you have "before" measurements? It would be interesting to see the before and after effect...


I did use REW to get readings with the sub in a few different positions "before" with it plugged directly into the sub, and also going through the AVR in one location both with EZSet/EQ off and on. I was only using my RS SPL meter as the mic though - so they may not be "accurate," but at least I can compare them with new measurements when I put the room back together.


----------



## PTAaron

Just got done sanding the second layer of mud - and I have to be honest, I don't think it needs a 3rd coat! 
There are a few very small spots that aren't flawless - but they are minor and really hard to see. All of the actual damaged spots are completely smooth now and should vanish once the paint goes on. 

I could include a picture of the sanded wall - but it really looks about the same as the unsanded wall 

Instead... I pulled up the plastic - I guess it got dusty in there!








Ugly carpet ... I know... Hope to change that in the future. The duct tape is to mark where the TV stand and speakers go...

...while squatting down to lift up the corner of the plastic, the front of my favorite pair of scrubs ripped 









Guess I should have changed when I got home... Oh well, trip to the scrub store this weekend!


----------



## ALMFamily

PTAaron said:


> Just got done sanding the second layer of mud - and I have to be honest, I don't think it needs a 3rd coat!
> There are a few very small spots that aren't flawless - but they are minor and really hard to see. All of the actual damaged spots are completely smooth now and should vanish once the paint goes on.
> 
> I could include a picture of the sanded wall - but it really looks about the same as the unsanded wall
> 
> Instead... I pulled up the plastic - I guess it got dusty in there!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ugly carpet ... I know... Hope to change that in the future. The duct tape is to mark where the TV stand and speakers go...
> 
> ...while squatting down to lift up the corner of the plastic, the front of my favorite pair of scrubs ripped
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Guess I should have changed when I got home... Oh well, trip to the scrub store this weekend!


Aren't you planning on doing some sound isolation in the future - where you would be taking down to the studs? If so, definitely don't waste the effort of a 3rd application. Glad to hear it is all going well!

And, did you just post a pic of your nether region?! :rubeyes: :rofl2: Sorry to hear about the scrubs - but I must admit that gave me my laugh for the day as I was trying to figure out what the picture was and then saw the shoes.... :R:rofl:


----------



## PTAaron

ALMFamily said:


> Aren't you planning on doing some sound isolation in the future - where you would be taking down to the studs? If so, definitely don't waste the effort of a 3rd application. Glad to hear it is all going well!


Yes, excellent point. I am pretty confident that it will look good once it is painted - and that I will be happy with it until I do my bigger remodel in the future. Also - my couch will be going back onto that wall and will cover the "iffy" areas... and the "iffy" areas still look 20x better than anything I've patched before!



ALMFamily said:


> And, did you just post a pic of your nether region?! :rubeyes: :rofl2: Sorry to hear about the scrubs - but I must admit that gave me my laugh for the day as I was trying to figure out what the picture was and then saw the shoes.... :R:rofl:


Indeed I did. :whistling::rofl:
Glad I could add some amusement to the day :R :blink:

Unrelated to this thread - but this is the second pair of "good scrub pants" that I've lost due to silly mistakes... the last pair was lost due to leaving a fish oil capsule in the pocket and putting them through the laundry. For reference: Don't do that, it is really disgusting!


----------



## HTip

Looks good. Well done! :T and you put a smile on my face too 

On the acoustics side, you will probably need some absorption/diffusion to counter the effect of the closet for your equipment. I still expect some unbalance in the sound in the front stage.


----------



## PTAaron

HTip said:


> Looks good. Well done! :T and you put a smile on my face too
> 
> On the acoustics side, you will probably need some absorption/diffusion to counter the effect of the closet for your equipment. I still expect some unbalance in the sound in the front stage.


Thanks! 

I was kicking around ideas for making a door of some type for the equipment area - as a way to both keep the equipment quieter in the room, and to allow me a place to put some sort of acoustic treatment. The simplest idea would be some sort of bifold door - but that would probably rattle badly. Making a "custom" door from some MDF and using some sort of magnetic closure is probably the best option - but we will have to wait and see.
Right now there is a curtain over the opening most of the time, and I will be installing cooling fans to pull air away from the AVR in the very near future.
The downside to completely closing it off with a real door would be not being able to see the volume display on the AVR anymore since I like to run it in "bypass" mode when watching movies (no onscreen volume display). The way around that of course is just setting the volume when I load the movie... but still :sarcastic:


----------



## HTip

Sounds like a good solution. You can solve the closed door problem with 2-way communication between the remote and the equipment. Requires quite some programming with RS232 commands, but it is possible.


----------



## PTAaron

HTip said:


> Sounds like a good solution. You can solve the closed door problem with 2-way communication between the remote and the equipment. Requires quite some programming with RS232 commands, but it is possible.


That is possible, thanks for the idea... not likely for the time being though - budget for this is very small 

EDIT: My old AVR had an RS232 hookup, current one doesn't.


----------



## PTAaron

No new updates - but I did find a "taker" for my mirrors... I'm donating them to one of our other clinics! Turns out they had been trying to get budget approved to get some wall mirrors - so I'm saving them a bunch of money


----------



## HTip

PTAaron said:


> No new updates - but I did find a "taker" for my mirrors... I'm donating them to one of our other clinics! Turns out they had been trying to get budget approved to get some wall mirrors - so I'm saving them a bunch of money


Nice gesture! :T


----------



## PTAaron

Another semi-pointless update:
Prepped the room (mostly) for painting...



























I've got 2 gallons of Sorcerer's Hat blue for the walls... The doors will be black... The trim is going to end up either blue or dark grey.
I'm really debating painting the ceiling tiles black - I don't think it will look right leaving them white once the walls are done. 

Our female cat (Daphne) is having surgery tomorrow ... So some friends are bringing us dinner in the evening - and they are going to help put down the first layer of blue. I should have some pictures tomorrow night.


----------



## HTip

No pointless update. Now we can see before and after pictures. Always nice!

It's also the first time I can see the ceiling this well. Are those tiles acoustically optimized? If not, you might be able to replace them and improve your acoustics big time.


----------



## PTAaron

HTip said:


> No pointless update. Now we can see before and after pictures. Always nice!
> 
> It's also the first time I can see the ceiling this well. Are those tiles acoustically optimized? If not, you might be able to replace them and improve your acoustics big time.


They came with the house, so I'm not sure. The basement was originally constructed in the mid 90's - so I'm sure they used whatever was the standard at the time. 
In those photos the tiles are all popped up just so I don't accidentally get paint on them - still need to tape off the drop ceiling frame tonight before we paint - at 1:30 I decided I should probably go to sleep


----------



## HTip

It's definitely worth looking into. My ceiling consists of fibre glass panels that absorb everything from 250Hz and up. That was due to the lack of ceiling height. I heard cases where the same tile started at 125Hz.

The tiles come in different colors, mine are black, which is favourable for the picture quality as well.


----------



## PTAaron

Thank you for the info! I'll have to look into that - like I mentioned before, the budget for the room is pretty small at the moment...

On another note - while discussing my plan with one of my co-workers I have settled on black for the color of the trim in the room... it makes the most sense.


----------



## PTAaron

PTAaron said:


> Our female cat (Daphne) is having surgery tomorrow ...











An updated on the off topic comment here: Daphne's surgeon just called me and let me know that she was done with the procedure and was awake. She had a growth on her neck that had been there for years, but recently had grown significantly and was starting to bother her. During the pre-surgical workup we found out she has some out of whack numbers in her blood work for her kidneys - so they were concerned about how she would handle the anesthesia... but it all went well. We just have to follow up on that in a few weeks after trying a special diet...

Anyway - back to our regularly scheduled program...


----------



## Prof.

It's very upsetting when one of the family members (and I'm referring to our animals) has a health problem..and we feel their pain just as if it was our own child..
It can be very costly to remedy the problem sometimes, and many people spend thousands on their pets to do just that!

My niece just recently spent $2000 to have two knee joints replaced in her cat!
Glad to hear that Daphne came through the operation ok..


----------



## PTAaron

Prof. said:


> It's very upsetting when one of the family members (and I'm referring to our animals) has a health problem..and we feel their pain just as if it was our own child..
> It can be very costly to remedy the problem sometimes, and many people spend thousands on their pets to do just that!
> 
> My niece just recently spent $2000 to have two knee joints replaced in her cat!
> Glad to hear that Daphne came through the operation ok..


Thank you Prof!
She is now home and acting just like herself ... although slightly annoyed to be confined to just one room! 

2 knee replacements... Wow!


----------



## PTAaron

First cost of paint laid down... Went up very quickly with 4 people painting 




























The parts that are drying already are a bit deeper and look great. The second coat will just make it look amazing. The color already "disappears" when I turn the lights down to "movie mode".


----------



## ALMFamily

Looks great Aaron!! :T I would go with the black for the ceiling tiles as well - take a look at HTip's before / after pics when he painted his (I think it was his.... lddude - it made a big difference in lighting reflections back onto the screen.

Glad to hear Daphne is doing ok! :clap:


----------



## PTAaron

ALMFamily said:


> Looks great Aaron!! :T I would go with the black for the ceiling tiles as well - take a look at HTip's before / after pics when he painted his (I think it was his.... lddude - it made a big difference in lighting reflections back onto the screen.
> 
> Glad to hear Daphne is doing ok! :clap:


Thanks! Definitely thinking I have to paint the tiles now. Luckily father inlaw had a spray gun... Should be the cheapest solution!

Sad to say that we are sitting at the animal ER right now - as Daphne managed to pull open her stitches when we brought her out to play with her. Looks like we will be heading back to the surgeon's office in the morning too... Gotta love pets!


----------



## HTip

I love your color scheme. Looks real good. And it is definitely a good idea to spray paint the tiles. Does wonders for your picture quality.

Good luck with Daphne...


----------



## Prof.

Looking good PTAaron! :T I wonder how close in colour your blue walls are to mine! Photos don't always show the true colour..


----------



## PTAaron

Thanks HTip!

Prof - thanks! The blue is basically the color of Mickey Mouse's sorcerer hat... I don't know I'd that helps 
So far I'm loving how it looks!

I got the second coat up tonight - took longer with just me working on it, but it got done quick enough 
I'm going to have to wait to see how it dries - hoping it won't need a third coat...

Plan for tomorrow, assuming I don't need a third coat, is to paint the entry doors black and get to work on painting the trim black. 
Only concern is ruining my great blue paint while painting the trim - I'm not sure if I'll be able to put painters tape on the blue so soon without messing it up. It will have about 14 hours to dry... So we'll see 

...and dang - I just realized I forgot to paint the outlet covers!


----------



## Prof.

PTAaron said:


> Prof - thanks! The blue is basically the color of Mickey Mouse's sorcerer hat... I don't know I'd that helps
> So far I'm loving how it looks!


I just had a look at MM's hat on Google, and it looks almost the same colour as my blue!..Perhaps slightly bluer..



> Only concern is ruining my great blue paint while painting the trim - I'm not sure if I'll be able to put painters tape on the blue so soon without messing it up. It will have about 14 hours to dry... So we'll see


If you use that "blue" masking tape (easy release) it should be fine..


----------



## PTAaron

Just went down to check on the drying progress... and I have to say - it looks incredible! There were only 2 spots that looked like they may need more paint - so I hit them with the rollers I had put into a ziplock bag that still had some paint on them. 
In the process I managed to drip blue paint on the ONLY spot of carpet not covered on plastic - but luckily the carpet cleaner we had nearby got it all out. 

Snapped a few shots - I think it looks a lot better than after the first coat!


----------



## PTAaron

Prof. said:


> I just had a look at MM's hat on Google, and it looks almost the same colour as my blue!..Perhaps slightly bluer..
> 
> If you use that "blue" masking tape (easy release) it should be fine..


Clearly you have excellent taste then! Haha!

Excellent - hoping the paint is dry enough


----------



## Prof.

The colour looks very nice!..I think it might be a bit bluer than mine..
Do you plan on painting the door frame the same colour?


----------



## PTAaron

Prof. said:


> The colour looks very nice!..I think it might be a bit bluer than mine..
> Do you plan on painting the door frame the same colour?


I was thinking of doing the doorframe in black ... but doing it wall color had crossed my mind too. Thoughts?


----------



## ALMFamily

Looks great Aaron! Hope Daphne is doing well.

Another suggestion for painting trim if you do not want to put tape up - get a piece of cardboard, use your off hand to angle it into the corner of your wall and trim, and just move it along as you paint. I used that method when I painted the wall up to the ceiling.

Alternatively, I think they sell a plastic appartus that does the same thing and it more solid than cardboard.


----------



## PTAaron

Picture-free update:
Just finished first coat of paint on the trim and doors - took a lot longer than planned because I had to pull down tape and retape everything. Due to my inability to control my paint roller - I ended up having to paint the door frame on the outside of the theater black as well - that did not make the wife too happy. 

Off to home depot for another quart of "mouse ears" just in case...

I did find a couple of spots where I had "overtaped" and ended up with some spots that didn't get blue... So I'll be doing a little more touch up there. 
Once I get him I think I'll start hanging stuff back on the walls while I wait for the black to dry enough for a second coat...


----------



## Prof.

PTAaron said:


> I was thinking of doing the doorframe in black ... but doing it wall color had crossed my mind too. Thoughts?


I did both my frame and door in the same colour as the walls..I wanted the door to blend in with the rest of the room..
Since your door is in contrast to the walls, it would probably look best with the door frame black as well..


----------



## Prof.

Ah..I was bit late in posting..I see you've already done that! :R


----------



## PTAaron

Prof. said:


> Ah..I was bit late in posting..I see you've already done that! :R



Thanks for the input though! 

Pictures coming in a few minutes...


----------



## PTAaron

I've decided (on my brilliant wife's suggestion) to give the room until tomorrow for the paint to fully dry before putting things back in the room. Definitely a good call - because I rushed after painting the black wall and bumping it took some of the "dry" paint off pretty easily. I spent a lot of time doing touch ups - but there are a few drips/runs that look pretty nasty on the door frame... oh well - project for later! Oh yeah - the outlets got swapped out for black outlets, and the covers are currently drying after being painted...

Here are some pics of the space as it looks now:

Coming into the room... Wife's firebird and delorean display case is to the right of the door. 









Inside...









You may notice the shelves are still white... Yup... I didn't feel like unloading the shelves to paint them now. They will eventually be black. I picked up new curtains to cover the area for now...




































There you have it!


----------



## ALMFamily

Very nice Aaron - bet you can't wait to get it back up and running! :bigsmile:


----------



## PTAaron

ALMFamily said:


> Very nice Aaron - bet you can't wait to get it back up and running! :bigsmile:


Thank you!

I'm really looking forward to seeing how it looks with my stuff back in there!


----------



## HTip

Looks great now the paint is dry. People will be really surprised when they come through those doors :T

Ceiling tiles are next?


----------



## PTAaron

HTip said:


> Looks great now the paint is dry. People will be really surprised when they come through those doors :T
> 
> Ceiling tiles are next?


Thanks!

I'm going to put the room back together and use it for a while before I do the ceiling. 

I want to get the "bar rebuild" taken care of before I do any more major changes to the movie room. That was actually the project that should have been done first, but we had to put it on hold. Now I want to get going on it so it will be ready for our next get together :bigsmile:


----------



## PTAaron

Wow... I just pulled this up on my computer to show someone at work - I apologize for how blurry they are! I must have had a thumbprint on my lens or something! I'll get better pictures once I get the room re-assembled.


----------



## HTip

PTAaron said:


> Thanks!
> 
> I'm going to put the room back together and use it for a while before I do the ceiling.
> 
> I want to get the "bar rebuild" taken care of before I do any more major changes to the movie room. That was actually the project that should have been done first, but we had to put it on hold. Now I want to get going on it so it will be ready for our next get together :bigsmile:


Good thinking. Not only work but also play


----------



## PTAaron

HTip said:


> Good thinking. Not only work but also play


Gotta play... :neener:

The ceiling should be fairly easy to do at any time... I just need to pop out the tiles, label them, take them to the father in-law to spray them with his paint gun - then re-install them.


----------



## Prof.

Looking very nice Aaron..:T
The black double doors look great and painting the entrance side black as well worked out fine..


----------



## PTAaron

Prof. said:


> Looking very nice Aaron..:T
> The black double doors look great and painting the entrance side black as well worked out fine..


Thank you!

In hindsight - I would have had to paint the "outside" of the doors black anyway - since when they are open that is the side that would be "in" the room! The room stays "open" most of the time, except when we are watching a movie in there. It is a fortunate mistake that I dripped paint and had to paint it!


----------



## PTAaron

Moved most of the stuff back into the room.

TV and speakers first...









Then everything else... Just a big mess of pictures:

New curtain looks good, but the light switches need to change color somehow...


















I need to figure out where on this wall the other 2 movie posters will go... Wife wants a bigger movie rack - so we'll see..









...and out the doors you can see the remaining posters and things... Also the red blanket that no longer matches


----------



## HTip

PTAaron said:


> The ceiling should be fairly easy to do at any time... I just need to pop out the tiles, label them, take them to the father in-law to spray them with his paint gun - then re-install them.


Don't forget about the rails since they are visible, but that's an easy paint job compared to what you've alread done.

One more thing. It looks like your speakers are a bit too high for a 7.1 setup. THX guideline is approximately 24" above ear level. It's just a guide line and depends a lot on the speaker used and if it sounds good to you don't change on my account


----------



## HTip

PTAaron said:


> Moved most of the stuff back into the room.
> 
> TV and speakers first...
> 
> Then everything else... Just a big mess of pictures:
> 
> New curtain looks good, but the light switches need to change color somehow...
> 
> I need to figure out where on this wall the other 2 movie posters will go... Wife wants a bigger movie rack - so we'll see..
> 
> ...and out the doors you can see the remaining posters and things... Also the red blanket that no longer matches


Looking good Aaron :T


----------



## PTAaron

HTip said:


> Don't forget about the rails since they are visible, but that's an easy paint job compared to what you've alread done.
> 
> One more thing. It looks like your speakers are a bit too high for a 7.1 setup. THX guideline is approximately 24" above ear level. It's just a guide line and depends a lot on the speaker used and if it sounds good to you don't change on my account


Yeah, the rails should be reasonably easy to it with a roller once the tiles are out - 2 coats of black should do it...
On the speakers - I did a fair amount of research when I got the Emotiva surrounds because I had the same concern. I came to the conclusion that it wasn't going to be too big of a deal having them up high as they are bipoles. I had considered moving them lower, but there were already holes predrilled where they were before - and it was much easier just to put them back 
They sound excellent from that position - at least to my ears. :bigsmile:



HTip said:


> Looking good Aaron :T


Thank you! I watched a little TV down there before going to bed - I like it! I've noticed a couple of spots that need touching up - like the baseboard inside the equipment shelf area that I can see under the curtain - but nothing major. 
Once the left wall has some stuff on it it will look more "complete".


----------



## Prof.

Wow!! That blue does standout! The black contrasts nicely with it..It's given the room a completely different look..Nice job. :T


----------



## PTAaron

Prof. said:


> Wow!! That blue does standout! The black contrasts nicely with it..It's given the room a completely different look..Nice job. :T


Thanks Prof! 
I'm still getting used to not only the blue, but having that left wall wide open! I've got my Dark Knight poster to place over there, and the national lampoons vacation poster is moving from the door to that wall... Indiana jones is going on the door. 
We will be finding a taller movie rack to fill that space a little bit....


----------



## PTAaron

No real update... but I spent a couple of hours in the room last night playing Skyrim and watching some TV... and I *LOVE IT* with the new paint job! The TV actually seems like it got brighter because the room is suddenly so much darker. I actually had to double check that I didn't accidentally switch it into "bright" mode! I will be redoing the calibration on it soon anyway as it gets more hours on it and the bulb "breaks in" or whatever the bulbs do at the beginning of their lifespan.
I ended up having to put tape over the power light on the PS3 Harmony adapter - because it was really lighting things up through the gap at the side of the new curtain. For reference - the old curtain was thumbtacked to the wall as a temporary "concept", so having an actual curtain rod and better quality curtain leaves a small gap where it stands out from the wall.


----------



## PTAaron

Tough decision time...
The white Lutron switches with their white wall plate are going to drive me insane very quickly. (it is a VERY short trip :coocoo
The way I see it is that I have 3 options:
1) Attempt to disassemble the Lutron switches and see if I can paint the plastic pieces black without destroying the switch - Cost: $0.00, unless I destroy a switch, since I already have the switches and a can of spraypaint.
2) Order 3 black Lutron Maestro IR switches and a black wall plate - Cost: $90 total.
3) Order 3 Insteon 2476DBK switches, 1 IR to Insteon convertor (2411R), 2 LED color change kits to make the lights blueT), and a black wall plate - Cost $271 from Smarthome.

Option 1 - advantage of course is that it will not cost me anything, the downside is I could potentially ruin a $30 switch, which will probably force me to go to option 2 or 3.

Option 2 - big advantage is that it will look better without the potential to ruin the switches I currently have. Disadvantage - I will still be limited to being only able to do "all on/bright" "all off/dim" or "preset mode" on the lights, can't control them individually.

Option 3 - Advantage is I can program numerous "scenes", I can control each switch individually, I can control the switches from anywhere in the house if I expand the Insteon setup, I can also control other rooms from the movie room if I expand the setup (like turning off/on the bar or bathroom lights for intermission or to annoy my friends when they are in the bathroom). Downside is that it is relatively very expensive!

What do you guys think?

I will be picking up an extra day at the hospital this weekend, so I _could maybe_ justify the Insteon setup... but I am kind of on the fence...

EDIT: Just found the Lutron Black Maestro IR switches for $26... makes it a lot harder to justify the Insteon when it is more than 3x the price...


----------



## HTip

I would try to go for option 1. You've got nothing to lose and if it goes wrong you can go to option 2. Personally option 3 is a bit too much for me, not only money-wise


----------



## PTAaron

Yeah, I'm not looking forward to relearning a new system if I switch to Insteon...
Now that I found the black switches for under $30 each, I'm thinking that is the way to go if I can't get the switches apart to paint.


----------



## PTAaron

Guess i didn't need to worry... The switches come apart VERY easily! Just 4 little tabs to lightly push on and it pops off:









Then the plastic comes apart into 2 pieces with 4 more little tabs:









I just need to tape across the IR sensor and I'll be spraying it black...


----------



## PTAaron

Even though it is almost midnight... I popped outside and sprayed a coat of flat black on the pieces...








We used one of my wife's scrapbooking cutter machines to make a little strip to go across the IR window - hope that works!

In case you were wondering... The switches work fine without the plastic on them - they just look a little scary:


----------



## HTip

Good job! Looks good and saves you money. I did the same with my ceiling lights


----------



## PTAaron

I'm surprised it only took a day of using the room before it drive me nuts - I put up with the mirrors on the wall for a year and a half :lol: 
I should look a lot better when I put it all back together. Going to spray on the second coat of paint before work so I can put it all back together tonight :bigsmile:


----------



## HTip

I'm not surprised. You're getting used to the beautiful picture with dark colors and now everything stands out much more than before. And now you know why I made almost everything black from the viewing position forward


----------



## ALMFamily

Hmmm..... shall we start a pool as to how long before Aaron paints the ceiling?  

Nice job Aaron - good thing you decided to pull them apart yourself. More money for upgrades! :whistling:


----------



## HTip

ALMFamily said:


> Hmmm..... shall we start a pool as to how long before Aaron paints the ceiling?


:heehee: I would go for this weekend


----------



## PTAaron

Haha!
I've had enough painting for a while 

I'm hoping to get a start on taking off the current bar top this weekend and hopefully picking up the wood to start working on the new top. 
That project is going to require a lot of help - I don't have the right tools, or skills to do carpentry!


----------



## PTAaron

Full shot of the room as it looks tonight:









Closer in shot of the "flat black spray painted Lutron dimmers":









They turned out pretty good - I need to do a little touch up on the wall plate in around the screw holes... but I'm pretty happy with it. I planned to do a couple layers of clearcoat just to make it more durable, but I didn't have time to get to the store, and I'm not very patient so I went ahead and installed them anyway!


----------



## PTAaron

For your amusement... I found pictures of my "second" home theater setup - the one I had in my condo. I had a setup in my apartment before this - but it only counts if you consider a 27" CRT TV with a surround sound receiver and no subwoofer a home theater.
Anyway - this was what I had prior to July 2010 when we moved - actually this was before my wife too...:




































EDIT: Oops... the auto-censor feature of the site edited the humorous title of the last picture from 2006, so I had to change it on the server... there ya go!


----------



## HTip

The black switches look way better now :T

Oh yeah, and your current setup looks way better than your second


----------



## ALMFamily

Agreed - looks great. Now, if someone would only paint those ceiling tiles - they are just so white! :heehee:


----------



## PTAaron

HTip said:


> The black switches look way better now :T
> 
> Oh yeah, and your current setup looks way better than your second


Thanks!
Yeah... the "second" setup wasn't great, but it got the job done for the time being :bigsmile:



ALMFamily said:


> Agreed - looks great. Now, if someone would only paint those ceiling tiles - they are just so white! :heehee:


Thanks...
If I do anything more in the movie area without finishing the bar, I will be dealing with a very irate wife 
On the plus side - the weather this weekend is going to stink, so I wouldn't be able to paint the tiles anyway!


----------



## ALMFamily

I should check mapquest to see how far Novi is from here - totally do a drive by theater gander! 

We are actually going through that way next week on our way to Niagara Falls......


----------



## PTAaron

ALMFamily said:


> I should check mapquest to see how far Novi is from here - totally do a drive by theater gander!
> 
> We are actually going through that way next week on our way to Niagara Falls......


Oh nice! Depending on how you plan to get into Canada you might go right past...

EDIT: No... I looked again... you'd have to be pretty lost to end up going past Novi  If you somehow ended up on 96 instead of 69 you'd still get to Detroit to cross over, and you'd go right by.


----------



## PTAaron

Ended up solving a little mystery that has been going on for the past 2 weeks... My PS3 had been randomly turning on and then not responding to commands from my Harmony remote. Last night I discovered that my Harmony PS3 adapter has died!
That stinks... I thought I picked it up for around $30 as a refurbished piece, but I can't find them for that cheap anywhere now!


----------



## HTip

Bummer! I found an auction on eBay (Germany) that is ongoing. Don't know if he is likely to deliver to the USA.
http://www.ebay.nl/itm/Logitech-PS3...pielzubehör&hash=item2c644d6c8f#ht_500wt_1156


----------



## PTAaron

Alright... so for my birthday yesterday I got 2 Amazon.com gift cards for a total of around $100, and another $100 in cash - and I'm trying to decide what to put the money towards. I am thinking of getting something for the theater room - but so far these are some of the options I have come up with:
1) Behringer DSP1124P - "Feedback Destroyer Pro" ordered through Amazon (just over $100), and use the other $ to get the US-144 MKII sound card, Dayton EMM-6 Mic, and the cables needed to use REW to setup the DSP1124P. I like this idea because it gives me flexibility to play more in the future, and if I do 2 subs in the future it will help me integrate them together more smoothly. Down side is that I don't know if I will actually use it to the full potential.

2) "Now Showing" sign with changeable letters that Stargate Cinema sells through Amazon plus the extra letter packs... spend the rest on movies or the new Assassin's Creed game coming out soon. Up side to this is that it looks cool, and will add to the "theater feel". Down side is I don't know that I would actually take the time to set it up often enough to make it worthwhile. 

3) APC G5BLK surge suppressor/power center from Amazon. Benefit is that it will clean up my cord mess a bit, potentially give me better protection for my equipment than what I currently have (cheap power strip surge protectors), and looks cool on the shelf. Down side is that it is pretty expensive for a surge suppressor, and I don't really buy into the "power conditioning" hype.

4) Kershaw Rake pocket knife. Positive: it is awesome, and who doesn't need another pocket knife? Down side: can't be used to enhance my movie theater experience.

5) Invicta Russian Diver Red Carbon Fiber Dial watch. Positive: Can never have enough Russian Diver watches. Negative - well... I have 5 other versions... so I guess I don't _NEED_ this one...

Anyway - just wanted to see what you guys thought would be a better option...


----------



## HTip

Congratulations on your birthday :birthday:

Great choice of gifts. I like the "Now Showing" sign. Very cool and great for in your bar. On the other hand it is just cosmetic, while the Behringer and APC improve your sound. It's a tough call.


----------



## PTAaron

Thanks! 
I was 100% sure I was going to buy the "now showing" sign... but the more I think about it, the less practical it seems. I'm not likely to sit down and change out the letters every time I show a movie - and frankly most of the people that come over to see a movie wouldn't care  My friends have virtually no interest in this hobby.

So I guess for the room it comes down to the Behringer or the APC... The Behringer will have extra costs with it for the mic/mini-amp/cables - but it will allow me to get some more accurate readings of the room (because of the extra purchases) and make corrective changes... The APC would be nice just to clean things up a bit and give me a bit more peace of mind.

Hmm...


----------



## PTAaron

Oh yeah... here are a couple of old REW plots of the room before the mirrors were removed with a signal sent directly to the subwoofer, using my RS SPL meter as the mic:


















Then with the sub positioned in the front left corner of the room... and also moved to under the TV between the TV stand and the left speaker:


















Sub in the front left corner REALLY gave me a big hole in the mid 40hz range - which was surprising, it didn't feel or sound like it lost anything. I checked later and found that I had gained about 4-5db because of the boundary gain! The graph doesn't show that gain, but I had adjusted the levels for the test to keep it consistent. 

I ran more tests later with REW going through the AVR with and without Harman Kardon's EZSet/EQ running - but I haven't uploaded those... I also haven't done any tests since the mirrors came down. I did run full sweeps before the mirrors came down so I could compare though. 
I'm wondering if I have small enough "issues" in the lower ranges that I could correct them with something as simple as the feedback destroyer... I know the big hole around 45hz may be too much to fix - but I don't know enough about acoustics to be sure.

Note: Yes I do see the big hole from 100hz on up - I'm not worrying about that with these tests since my sub crosses over at 80hz


----------



## PTAaron

Unfortunately the best looking graph for the sub in the front of the room was with the mic positioned 1 foot forward of my current listening position... unfortunately I can't really move the seating forward a foot: 









Also - oddly enough that puts the seating very close to the middle of the room - which theoretically should be one of the worst spots for bass response from the things I have read...

It looks like my first plot with the sub in the original position may be the winner - which is sad because I think the sub up front LOOKS a lot nicer.


----------



## ALMFamily

Aaron,

Hello from Kalamazoo! 

I would suggest looking for a used BFD - I see them for sale quite a bit for @$60-70. Also, I have seen several power conditioner / surge protection units used as well on Craigslist - might want to think about going that route as well. 

I always suggest getting the thing that you would use most often - so, unfortunately, this is one you have to decide.


----------



## PTAaron

Welcome to Michigan :T

The more I think it through the Behringer seems like the way to go...
I'm kind of limited to amazon.com for buying it to be able to call it a "birthday present" rather than just "spending more on the movie room"


----------



## PTAaron

No updates to report, but I thought I would check in. Since last Saturday I've driven 2,800 miles on a road trip... and have another 11 hour drive tomorrow to look forward to


----------



## ALMFamily

Blech! Drive safe and get home soon!


----------



## PTAaron

Thanks!
Just made it home... 3,470 miles later 

Awesome trip, even more awesome to be home! Lucky to have some great friends that watched the house and took care of the cats while we were away. I realized, as we were almost home, that I forgot to show them how to use the stuff in the movie room! OOPS!
Oh well... Nice to be home!


----------



## PTAaron

Looked at Craig's List for the first time yesterday - and discovered someone right down the street selling a pool table light for a great price. Soooo....









Looks like someone converted it to have a plug (plug is brown, wire is black) - but otherwise it is awesome and very solid... All metal. Colors fit the room perfectly


----------



## HTip

Welcome back. You've driven more miles than I do in a few months :yikes:

Congrats on your pool table :clap:


----------



## PTAaron

Yeah... that was a ridiculous amount of driving, but it was a great trip. We stopped at 9 Hard Rock Cafes (for our shot glass collection), 3 NASA facilities, and a saw a whole lot of other stuff!

The light should look really nice once I figure out how to mount it... I have a few ideas of how to hang it, but the drop ceiling over the pool table will make it a slight challenge.


----------



## PTAaron

New (to me) toy arrived today at work... 
Picked up a used DSP-1124P from another forum member, and used my Amazon gift cards to order a Dayton mic, USB soundcard/phantom amp, XLR cables, and a MIDI to USB cable - those should arrive this week.


----------



## ALMFamily

Nice - grats!

So, when are you coming over to run REW?


----------



## PTAaron

ALMFamily said:


> Nice - grats!
> 
> So, when are you coming over to run REW?


I'm no expert by any means... I don't even have a laptop to hook it up to, I have to haul my desktop downstairs to use it 
I'm easy though - I accept payment in the form of beer and steaks. :R


----------



## HTip

Well spend gift cards :T REW looks harder than it is. A laptop is a little more convenient, but needs an external sound card to work properly. The onboard audio is often of too little quality.

And questions in the REW board are answered quickly


----------



## HTip

I just noticed the REW graphs you already posted. The original position looks to be the best. Your last graph has a nice curve in the low range but a large and wide dip in a very audible area. Maybe you BFD can correct this.


----------



## ALMFamily

Aaron,

Are you planning on attending AKFest?


----------



## PTAaron

HTip said:


> I just noticed the REW graphs you already posted. The original position looks to be the best. Your last graph has a nice curve in the low range but a large and wide dip in a very audible area. Maybe you BFD can correct this.


Yeah, I wasn't concerned about anything over 80hz on those graphs - those were subwoofer only, so I was hoping to see that fill in when I did a full range test. Unfortunately I only had my SPL meter's microphone so I didn't trust the test results for anything outside of the "bass" range 

If those graphs are truly accurate - it kind of stinks because I really want to move the sub to the front of the room for aesthetic reasons. 




ALMFamily said:


> Aaron,
> 
> Are you planning on attending AKFest?


I'm not sure what or when that is?


----------



## PTAaron

New toy showed up today while I was at work;


















Looks like the USB to MIDI cable that cost me $.01 should be here next... and the XLR cable with the phantom power/external soundcard should be here Saturday or Monday...
Woohoo!


----------



## PTAaron

I just looked up AK Fest... That's less than 5 miles from my house... I may have to check it out.


----------



## ALMFamily

Let me know if you do - maybe I can drive over and meet you there depending on the baseball schedule......


----------



## PTAaron

Looking more into it - I'm not sure if I will go or not... I'm not a part of that forum, and I'm more of a "budget audio/home theater" type so it may be a bit out of my league


----------



## ALMFamily

Just found out I cannot swing it either - I was hoping to go to meet Bryan from GIK as well as goggle some higher end stuff.....


----------



## PTAaron

2 more things showed up today...


















I'm looking at what I have... and I notice that I seem to have forgotten about getting a cable to hook into my system  Oops!


----------



## ALMFamily

Aaron,

I am looking forward to your feedback on how your rig works for you - I am going to have to start getting gear together for running REW and need to create a shopping list as well. 

Joe


----------



## PTAaron

ALMFamily said:


> Aaron,
> 
> I am looking forward to your feedback on how your rig works for you - I am going to have to start getting gear together for running REW and need to create a shopping list as well.
> 
> Joe


I'm probably going to need to wait until next week to really use the new rig. I hooked it into my computer last night upstairs in my office to see if I could figure it out and realized that the pre-amp has a headphone output with a 1/8" jack so hooking into the system should be easy with the cables I already have. I forgot about needing a XLR to 1/4" TRS cable for calibrating the soundcard/preamp, and I still need 2 or 4 RCA to 1/4 TRS adapters to hook up the BFD - they are $0.30 from monoprice or $5 from radio shack. 

A couple of observations already: the EMM-6 is a great deal at $36 on amazon right now. It comes with its own calibration file that can be plugged right into REW - that is a nice touch. The ART pre-amp seems easy to use - but the purple writing on black background is hard to read on the back of it when it is powered on. The "power" light is very bright, so make sure you figure out what everything does ahead of time.


----------



## PTAaron

Add to the parts list a XLR male to 1/4" TRS cable for calibration and "loop back" that I picked up at guitar center today...

So that makes the shopping list for anyone that wants to do the same:
1 Dayton EMM-6 microphone 
1 ART USB Dual Preamp
1 XLR microphone cable (mic to preamp)
1 1/4" TRS to male XLR cable (preamp to preamp for calibration)
1 1/4" TRS mono to RCA adapter (to run output to AVR)
That should do it...


----------



## PTAaron

Started out the day with a goal: hang the pool table light and get it wired before I had to leave to meet friends for a Pistons game... So here is a nice long photo filled story of the day. 

Turned the pool table into a work bench and got a plan together with some help from my father in-law - got a late start as usual, so we only had a few hours to work with:









Plan was to run a 2x4 across some floor joists in the center of the table to mount some eye bolts into and to also use as a mounting platform for a box where an outlet would be installed in the ceiling. 

While I got to work cutting the 2x4 and measuring for placement Gary figured out how the "mystery switch" in the basement was getting power and how we were going to use it to get power to our new light:









Turns out the "mystery switch" once was apparently a 3rd switch tied into controlling the can lights in the room - it ended up being a 4 wire bundle running into this rat next of wire:








I know it is a bad picture - but there are 3 standard romex lines and 1 5 wire bundle coming together in there...

After a lot of tile removal, wire tracing, swearing at the person that wired things previously, 2 trips to home depot because we got the wrong length eye bolts, and one instance of cutting a wire that was still live (OOPS!) - we got the lights hung!









Then we ran off to the basketball game - I'm not a huge sports fan, but we were given tickets and had access to the VIP lounge with free food and drinks... So we had an AMAZING time! The game ended up being pretty exciting right up until the end where we won!









And finally - a few shots without the stuff on the table:








The can lights cast a bit of a shadow - but dimming them makes things look perfect!










While we worked on the light - my wife organized her vodka ... Can you tell she likes flavored vodka?








(this is less than half of the different vodkas we have... We need help drinking it!)

For comparison - my absinthe collection is much smaller ... Only half a shelf!


----------



## ALMFamily

I can't even begin to describe how helpful an experienced father / father-in-law is for this kind of work - my step-dad has been invaluable for my project. 

The light looks great there - excellent work. Hopefully, no one was seriously injured by the sparks flying - or the swearing. 

And, :yikes::yikes::yikes::yikes::yikes: - that's a lot of Vodka! Road trip to Michigan inc!


----------



## PTAaron

No doubt about it... without the help from my father in-law I wouldn't have been able to do a lot of the things I have been documenting here! He does heating and cooling work for a living, but has also been an electrical contractor, plumber, and sheet metal worker - plus my wife is an only child, so needless to say all she has to do is ask nicely and he shows up 20 minutes later :T

No one was injured - the breaker tripped immediately and Gary said "Well **** that wasn't supposed to happen!" What happened was that he had planned to disconnect the "hot" wire from the "rat nest" before we made our Home Depot run, but didn't. When we got back he picked up where he left off - which was about to splice our new light into the old wire... but forgot the important step of disconnecting the hot end!

Any time you're in town... the bar is open 

One other quick shot of the light by itself... you can see the outlet and eye bolts I put in...


----------



## ALMFamily

Wow - the outlet blends really well......


----------



## HTip

Very nicely done, Aaron! Great to have such a handy father(-in-law) :T

I didn't know there were so many types of wodka :yikes:


----------



## PTAaron

ALMFamily said:


> Wow - the outlet blends really well......


Thanks, I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. 



HTip said:


> Very nicely done, Aaron! Great to have such a handy father(-in-law) :T
> 
> I didn't know there were so many types of wodka :yikes:


Thanks!
Yeah, father in-law is a great guy and we get along really well so it is fun working on these projects with him. My dad is good with this stuff too - but he has so many hobbies and side projects, he just comes over to enjoy the finished product 

We have a LOT of vodka... we don't drink that much - but we like to keep a fully stocked bar with the option to make just about anything a guest might ask for :T


----------



## Dotball

Aaron,

Only suggestion I would make (although it's a tad late now) is to spread the jack chain parrallel with the light to reduce the chance of swing. And if you use four chains you can reduce horizontal swing as well.

As I said, bit late, but......................

Cheers,


----------



## PTAaron

Dotball said:


> Aaron,
> 
> Only suggestion I would make (although it's a tad late now) is to spread the jack chain parrallel with the light to reduce the chance of swing. And if you use four chains you can reduce horizontal swing as well.
> 
> As I said, bit late, but......................
> 
> Cheers,


Good tips. I had thought of that, but once we got started on it I totally forgot


----------



## PTAaron

Had a chance to really try out the pool table light tonight - I like it A LOT! I ended up just taking out the 2 can light bulbs that were over the table so we could have the rest of the area lit up without the annoying shadows on the table - that seemed to work out really well. I may look into running a separate switch for those 2 cans so I can have them on when we aren't playing and off when we are. Other thought was to get the directional "eyeball" fixtures and direct the light to the poker table and to the side wall... We'll see what ends up being a better option. 
In the meantime - here are a couple of low light cell phone pics of the table in use:









Friend taking a shot:


----------



## Infrasonic

Wow that's a lot of vodka -you are truly prepared for any kind of mix request!

The pool table setup looks great!


----------



## PTAaron

Infrasonic said:


> Wow that's a lot of vodka -you are truly prepared for any kind of mix request!
> 
> The pool table setup looks great!


Thanks! It is definitely a lot of vodka! Clearly we don't drink enough!!


----------



## PTAaron

I was playing with REW a bit using the graphs I got back in February (before the mirrors came down) to see how the filters worked.
I used the "sub under the TV" graphs for this example... my biggest hole in all the graphs appears to be at 47hz (when looking at subwoofer range of 15-80hz). I'm looking at whether it is worthwhile to boost up the 47hz area or if it is not worth the risk to my sub...


----------



## PTAaron

I picked up the one final piece I needed to have a truly useful REW setup last night: I got a laptop on eBay for $32! The laptop I own had been broken for the last 5 years - it fell off my lap and broke the power cable connection on the inside. The one I picked up last night it just missing a hard drive and operating system - conveniently I have that from my old computer!
It isn't anything special, but it should be easier than lugging my desktop from my second floor office down into the basement!


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## ALMFamily

Nice find!!!


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## PTAaron

ALMFamily said:


> Nice find!!!


Thanks! Right place at the right time..,


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## HTip

Although the curve is a lot smoother I wouldn't recommend boosting 47Hz. It is probably better to cut the other frequencies with a well chosen peak with a small Q-value, so that it effects a large area. I would try 30Hz, 63Hz and 80Hz.


----------



## PTAaron

HTip said:


> Although the curve is a lot smoother I wouldn't recommend boosting 47Hz. It is probably better to cut the other frequencies with a well chosen peak with a small Q-value, so that it effects a large area. I would try 30Hz, 63Hz and 80Hz.


Thanks for the input!
Right now in the example I showed there is some pretty significant cutting already happening in those areas - I'm concerned about cutting too much ... Won't that require me to boost the sub level quite a bit?


----------



## HTip

PTAaron said:


> Thanks for the input!
> Right now in the example I showed there is some pretty significant cutting already happening in those areas - I'm concerned about cutting too much ... Won't that require me to boost the sub level quite a bit?


You can't really cut too much. Boosting a single frequency is more harmful. And you're right that you might require to boost the sub level. That is also not a problem. You can raise the level on the sub or in the processor. Both are fine.


----------



## PTAaron

HTip said:


> You can't really cut too much. Boosting a single frequency is more harmful. And you're right that you might require to boost the sub level. That is also not a problem. You can raise the level on the sub or in the processor. Both are fine.


Thanks for the input.
My problem is that in my head I keep thinking "turning up the sub boost on the processor is going to damage the sub" - but I keep forgetting that I am cutting down the peaks... so in reality it is probably SAFER for the sub because the response will be more uniform through the frequency range. Before if I were to crank it up I would be slamming the sub with the peak frequencies while trying to get the rest of the range up to an appropriate level.

That makes me wonder if the front corner position may in fact be the best option - because I can smooth the peaks, and I get about a 6db boost just from being in the corner ... hmm... now that I have a laptop, I can easily do my tests - this should be fun! Too bad I will be in out of town this weekend so I won't get to do it for a while....


----------



## PTAaron

Was up until 3am getting the "new" laptop up and running... I had hoped to be able to just drop my old hard drive into it and go - unfortunately my old laptop had an AMD processor, the new one has an Intel processor and apparently that meant Windows needs to be reinstalled to work right. 
I won't get into details, but that didn't go smoothly for a variety of reasons... but now it is up and running! I have a wireless N USB card coming from Monoprice since the wireless card from the laptop was missing, but it works just fine with a cat-5 cable plugged into it 

In other basement news: my copy of the Lord of the Rings extended edition blu-ray set should be arriving tomorrow! I'm am really excited about it, and I'm planning a full day movie viewing event :T

My TV has hit around 220 hours - so it is just about time to re-calibrate it, so I'll be sure to do that before the viewing party


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## ALMFamily

Nice! And grats on the computer too I guess... The LOTR movies are the real good news there.....


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## HTip

LOTR EE in 1 day? :yikes: I saw the theatrical version trilogy (only 9 hours ) in a cinema with full service (food, drinks, etc.) inclusive. I was pretty beat the next day  When the BD came out we watched a movie every night. So we did it in 3 nights. Honestly we would like to do the marathon one day... 

Have fun and good luck with the 11-hour marathon! :TT


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## PTAaron

ALMFamily said:


> Nice! And grats on the computer too I guess... The LOTR movies are the real good news there.....


Thanks! 
The computer is worth the trouble - cheap, and it works 



HTip said:


> LOTR EE in 1 day? :yikes: I saw the theatrical version trilogy (only 9 hours ) in a cinema with full service (food, drinks, etc.) inclusive. I was pretty beat the next day  When the BD came out we watched a movie every night. So we did it in 3 nights. Honestly we would like to do the marathon one day...
> 
> Have fun and good luck with the 11-hour marathon! :TT


Yeah - its going to be a LONG day, but I have some friends that are pretty excited about it too :T


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## Owen Bartley

Good for you guys for taking on the full EE in one sitting! My wife and I went through them all recently, but I think we did one per day over a few Sundays. I do have fond memories though, of the time I spent 12 hours at the theatre and saw (most of) 6 movies. That was a great day.


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## PTAaron

Owen Bartley said:


> Good for you guys for taking on the full EE in one sitting! My wife and I went through them all recently, but I think we did one per day over a few Sundays. I do have fond memories though, of the time I spent 12 hours at the theatre and saw (most of) 6 movies. That was a great day.


Haha! Thanks... we'll see how it goes 
I've got 2 friends that are up for it... I'm not sure if we'll make it through all 3 or not. It will have to be a day that my wife is not home though - she can't stand the movies and won't like the upstairs of the house shaking :hsd: during the battle scenes if she is up there trying to do something else :rant:

When they were in the theaters I remember watching the DVD EE of the first 2 then going out to watch the 3rd - and it was a fun day!


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## PTAaron

Since I have no real updates... Look what came in the mail today!


















:TT


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## ALMFamily

Woot! Watch it now watch it now!!


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## PTAaron

ALMFamily said:


> Woot! Watch it now watch it now!!


Haha! No time!

Just got back from a weekend trip to Disney - did the Expedition Everest Challenge 5k race. Now I haven't run more than 100 yards since 2002, but my wife has recently become a runner - so I thought I would walk this while she ran it. That didn't work - I ended up running it too! That was Saturday night - still sore today! I guess that is why people train for these things 

Hope to get some movie watching done this weekend between mother's day bbqs and working Sunday.


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## ALMFamily

Welcome back! And good for you! I would not have made it 100 feet..... :R


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## PTAaron

ALMFamily said:


> Welcome back! And good for you! I would not have made it 100 feet..... :R


I'm shocked I made it more than 100 feet myself... LOL!








Proof that I ran :flex:

-----------------------

In regards to the basement: every time I turn on the lights in the movie area I look at that white ceiling and think "That just looks unfinished!" I have a feeling I will be painting it sooner than planned...:spend::rolleyesno:


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## ALMFamily

:yikes: - those are some fine runners legs! :bigsmile:

And, as far as the ceiling,......... we called it!


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## PTAaron

LOL! Yeah... A little white and hard to miss 

Yeah - you guys definitely called it!


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## HTip

Great picture of a great performance Aaron! :T

And what can I say about the ceiling...? :whistling: :heehee:


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## PTAaron

Haha! Yeah yeah... 
I'm looking into my options... I've read that painting these tiles can be a real PITA, so I was looking at what else might be out there in the "cheap" price range.


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## PTAaron

Okay, I had a chance to run REW using my new setup. 
My previous measurements were done using my desktop computer with my Radio Shack SPL meter as the microphone - plugging directly into the computer's soundcard which I had calibrated using REW. These were also done when one of the walls was covered completely in mirrors. The measurements were also taken with the signal sent directly to the sub. Those measurements were posted earlier in the thread.

Current measurements were taken today using a Dayton EMM-6 mic, ART USB Dual Pre soundcard/preamp, and my under $40 eBay purchased laptop. This time the signal goes into the analog front port of my Harman Kardon AVR3600 with it set to 2 channel stereo mode and the crossover for the sub set to 80Hz. For the purposes of what I am doing here - I only care about measurements from about 20-80hz, but I am posting up graphs that run up to 200hz.
I found that the current graphs do not look quite the same as the old graphs, I am not sure if I should attribute that to the new equipment, or the slight changes in the room.

Anyway - SPL graphs first:

Sub in the "original" location - found a shockingly large hole around 70hz that wasn't there before, and the previous hole at 40 hz is not there.









Sub moved to the front left corner of the room - which is the position I like the most aesthetically speaking... looks like something that can be EQ'd pretty easily using my Feedback Destroyer Pro:









Sub moved to a position under the edge of the TV - between the left front speaker and the TV, which I kind of like because it gives me the freedom to spread the right/left speakers out a bit more. Surprisingly looks almost exactly the same as the front corner graph did:









Based on the above - it seems like I should be just fine putting the sub in the front left corner, then using my Feedback Destroyer to cut down some peaks.

Here are waterfalls of the above:


----------



## PTAaron

Some pictures of my testing setup:









Mic taped to the SPL to make sure that the SPL readings were accurate where the mic was placed:









ART USB dual pre:


----------



## PTAaron

Hooked my BFD into the signal chain tonight just to import a test filter set and see what it did... 
It took me a while because for some reason my DSP 1224 wasn't saving the filter settings when I tried importing them via MIDI. I ended up manually inputting all of the filters - it was pretty simple. 
I just need to rerun my speaker level settings and then redo some sweeps to see how it looks ... And of course see how it sounds when it isn't 2am with my wife asleep upstairs! 

Only negative comment is that the lights one the DSP 1224p are bright and annoying. They are very visible through the curtain that is over the front of my equipment shelves.


----------



## ALMFamily

I saw your pre BFD measurements - really interested to see the ones after EQing.......


----------



## PTAaron

ALMFamily said:


> I saw your pre BFD measurements - really interested to see the ones after EQing.......


Me too! I won't be able to do them tonight - we have friends coming over for dinner, drinks, and pool, so hopefully Wednesday night I can run some sweeps. Honestly it doesn't take long to do the actual testing, setting everything up takes up the most time!

I'm hoping there is a way to turn off the filter indicator lights on the BFD - I don't want to have to use electrical tape over them! :sneeky:


----------



## ALMFamily

What about sewing a piece of black velvet to the inside of the curtain where it would cover that spot? Just in case you can't get them off at the BFD. Just a thought.......


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## PTAaron

ALMFamily said:


> What about sewing a piece of black velvet to the inside of the curtain where it would cover that spot? Just in case you can't get them off at the BFD. Just a thought.......


Good idea!
I could just get heavier curtains, but I like that I can still send ir commands through the curtains if I want to get into the menus on my AVR.


----------



## PTAaron

Alright... I had some confusing results when I got my BFD installed and ran some filters. It appeared that I had a really strange peak after the point where I had expected my AVR to be crossing the sub over. Turns out it wasn't crossing it over at 80hz like it was supposed to... and I had put in a "crossover" filter at 80hz with the BFD. Turns out I should have been having the BFD do filters up to 100hz. I have decided to just disconnect the BFD for the time being until I can redo the filters.

Here is a set of measurements taken 1 foot in front of the sub that shows that my AVR crosses the sub at 100hz regardless of where the speaker crossovers are set, and the other line shows where the BFD attempted to assist the 80hz crossover.


----------



## PTAaron

Haven't done anything new with the basement in a while ... Too much other stuff going on 

I have talked with my father in-law and we may be using his spray-gun setup to paint my ceiling tiles in the near future...


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## PTAaron

Still no progress... Bar re-do is slated to be the next project. 

The only thing we've done recently was go to the shooting range and make some "theft deterrent" wallpaper for our garage:


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## ALMFamily

:rofl2: - Nice!!


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## Infrasonic

Nice grouping! You need to remember to hit the zombies in the head though


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## PTAaron

ALMFamily said:


> :rofl2: - Nice!!


Thanks! 



Infrasonic said:


> Nice grouping! You need to remember to hit the zombies in the head though


Good point! That was my wife's target from her 2nd time ever firing a gun, we will have to do more zombie drills in the future


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## PTAaron

Continuing my trend of not doing anything with the basement... I feel bad, I haven't even been down in my room to watch a movie or play Skyrim in about 2 weeks! We've had the TV on while playing pool, but that isn't the same. I picked up Girl with the Dragon Tattoo on blu-ray a while back, and I need to make some time to watch it!

We've been really busy lately - and the free time we have we have been spending at the shooting range getting used to our new toys.

Here is on example from my last trip - I was practicing for the zombie apocalypse









Hope to have an "on topic" picture or 2 to share soon!


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## ALMFamily

Nice shootin' Tex! :bigsmile:

I hear ya on the progress - summer brings a number of projects all it's own for us Northerners - as the saying goes - "gotta make hay before the snows flies!" (or something like that)


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## PTAaron

ALMFamily said:


> Nice shootin' Tex! :bigsmile:
> 
> I hear ya on the progress - summer brings a number of projects all it's own for us Northerners - as the saying goes - "gotta make hay before the snows flies!" (or something like that)


Thanks 

Yeah... Have to take advantage of the 2 months of warm weather 

---

Finally got some use out of the movie room:









Makes a nice staging area for loading up our dive boxes! 
Taking the father in-law scuba diving in Ohio in the morning - movie room is perfectly located between the 2 spots we store our scuba gear.


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## jgourlie

Wow everything looks top notch


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## PTAaron

jgourlie said:


> Wow everything looks top notch


Thank you!


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## PTAaron

Just my monthly check-in to say I haven't done anything...
Still haven't even finished hanging up the movie posters that I meant to put up once the paint dried!

I have acquired a few more decorations for the bar area, but those are just leaning up against the wall behind the bar


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## ALMFamily

At this pace, mine will be done before yours! :rofl:


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## MarAgt

Looking very good! You'll have a great time with them both when your done'


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## PTAaron

Just another quick update... 
Been picking up some decorations for the bar area, but still have not worked on redoing the bar top. It seems that all of my spare time is taken up with a dozen things!

Quick couple of photos...

Panoramic shot using my iphone's new panorama feature:









A couple of the newest bar sign additions - the large mirror and the Valentine Vodka poster:


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## HTip

Welcome back Aaron :T You've got some nice decorations there. Reminds me that I still have to take some pictures of the "Now Playing" stand :sweat:


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## ALMFamily

He lives!  Glad to see you back - we were missing your updates. 

Great panoramic picture - just love the look of the room. By the way, did you end up painting the ceiling tiles?


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## PTAaron

HTip said:


> Welcome back Aaron :T You've got some nice decorations there. Reminds me that I still have to take some pictures of the "Now Playing" stand :sweat:


Thanks! 




ALMFamily said:


> He lives!  Glad to see you back - we were missing your updates.
> 
> Great panoramic picture - just love the look of the room. By the way, did you end up painting the ceiling tiles?


Yup... still alive! I have barely had any time to use my movie room lately, so I definitely haven't had time to do any more work on it. Ceiling tiles are still white - and every time I look in there I say "I really need to paint those!" :sneeky:

I need to take a peek at every else's threads and see what you guys have been up to. :T


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## Prof.

A very nice collection..above and below! :T


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## PTAaron

Hey everyone! I'm still alive over here... I've just been avoiding spending too much time on here because it was costing me too much money! 

I haven't really made any more headway on replacing my bartop or with finally painting those ceiling tiles - but I hope to do the bar soon. I had a friend come look at it this past weekend, I'm hoping to talk him into helping out soon. 

I need to take a look around and see what everyone has been up to while I've been gone! I'll check out your projects this afternoon


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## HTip

Welcome back again Aaron!

I don't know if you're still interested, but I have made some pictures of the "Now Playing" stand. I have to search for them, but that's no problem...


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## ALMFamily

Great to hear from you Aaron! Hope everything is going well.

Looking forward to continuing to follow your HT work - have you guys been enjoying the room? :bigsmile:


----------



## PTAaron

HTip said:


> Welcome back again Aaron!
> 
> I don't know if you're still interested, but I have made some pictures of the "Now Playing" stand. I have to search for them, but that's no problem...


Thanks, but I think I'm OK without it for now - I've been just putting the movie case in the charger base for my Harmony 1100 - it props it up at just the right angle so you can see what movie is being shown 


ALMFamily said:


> Great to hear from you Aaron! Hope everything is going well.
> 
> Looking forward to continuing to follow your HT work - have you guys been enjoying the room? :bigsmile:


Thanks! I've been enjoying the room quite a bit, we've had a few ridiculous movie marathons - and have another planned for the next few weeks. Going to attempt to get through Return of the King extended cut, the first Hobbit movie, then go to the theater and see the new Hobbit movie.


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## PTAaron

Last month we picked up a few new bar decorations - most importantly we managed to locate a awesome Bada** Lager (apparently I can't say the name of the beer without it being censored) flag that we got for $20 instead of the $100 we have usually seen them going for... so I shot a few pics of the bar/pool table area that I wanted to share with you guys:










We picked up a board for displaying the "drink specials" at our bar - here it is with the Halloween Specials still listed:










... and here is a panoramic of the bar and the back wall that has the bar decorations... As you can see we haven't redone the bar yet, but we did temporarily add in some LED lights under the bar.


----------



## PTAaron

Also shot a quick video for a friend to show him my theater room... thought I would share it here too. It should have a HD version - but there is a bit in there where the camera focused on a funny spot. I'm an amateur, so what do you expect


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## bamabum

cool game room. cant wait until I am at the pool table stage.


----------



## PTAaron

Hey everyone!
I'm still alive, but it seems that the "home theater bug" has gone into remission... which is kind of sad but also a really good thing for my wallet.
I haven't done much with my room(s) lately aside from adding to the bar decor, adding movies to my collection, and upgrading to the 1080p version of AppleTV. 

I still love my room - but it kind of stinks that right now all of my friends are in the "we've got kids so we can't think about grown up toys" stage of life, so they don't really share my excitement. Oh well, it makes me happy! 

Anyway - that's where I'm at! Take care everyone!


----------



## PTAaron

Wow it has been a long time since I've logged on here... I just have too many forums and hobbies right now. Got some motivation recently to get to work on the bar area - actually my wife decided we needed a Kegerator, and bought all of the parts for it then said "build this for me". So I did!

I documented the process fairly well with pictures because I wanted to finally post some progress over here!

Anyway - we started with a Danby refrigerator (I don't know the model number but it is the one commonly used for this purpose), a couple of old Pepsi ball lock 5 gallon kegs, a nice stainless tap tower with stainless taps, and a 5lb CO2 tank. Sorry I can't provide better descriptions of the parts - but this was literally 100% my wife's project, I just did the labor.

Anyway - first step was to remove the can holders and other things from the door. I tackled that by first going around the perimeter with my Dremel, thinking it was going to be hollow and just pop off:

















When I went to pull it off I realized the entire structure was filled with foam - I guess I should have expected that from a nice quality refrigerator! DOH!! I ended up going back with a hack saw and a large cake cutting knife to slice through the foam and make it nice and level:


















We needed to find a surface layer for the door to prevent moisture from getting into the foam and to protect it... we spotted a plastic diffuser for a fluorescent light while walking at Home Depot and decided that would be perfect. I cut it to size with a plexiglass cutting tool - and it looked like this:









Used some tub sealing adhesive meant for bonding plastic to plastic to run a bead around the outside to seal it up good - and stuck it all together:









Put the seal back on the door... and it looks like it was made that way :

















Next I turned my attention to the main body of the fridge. The top of the fridge has a plastic plate on it that was easily removed with 6 screws - the underside had a little hollow space right where the tap tower was going to be attached. 









One of the instructional videos I watched advised filling in that space with a piece of ¼” plywood. So I cut a piece of plywood, slathered it with Liquid Nails, and slapped the pieces together with some weights to hold it as it dried:









Now it was time for the scary part - drilling a hole in a brand new really nice refrigerator! On the inside I located the center line by lining up with the rear screw of the light fixture - I measured about 1 inch closer to the rear… and drilled a hole up from the inside to mark the center of where my tower would sit. At this point I took off the plastic/wood top piece again to make things easier… I took my 1.5” hole saw and made a hole down from the top down… I knew there weren’t any coolant lines in that area, but it was still stressful for a second or two.









I taped up the hole with some heating duct tape to seal out any moisture from getting in and making things moldy:









I made a matching hole in the wood/plastic cover and after re-installing that I lined that hole with more tape to make sure it was really well sealed up. The rest was pretty easy - set the tower on top, get it centered, drill some pilot holes for some short screws, screw the tower into the plywood… and take more pictures!

















We picked up a Bada** Beer tap handle while at the homebrew store picking up some additional fittings for the air hookup - because… well why not?









Hooked up the CO2 and a keg full of Bada** Lager:



























First Pour:


















… decided to rearrange some of the signs - seemed more appropriate to have the kegerator labeled as the “Cold Beer Testing Station”









Bada** Lager sign looks better behind the bar. (I did center it better, but that picture turned out blurry):









Anyway... there it is!

I am going to put in a recessed light over the kegerator location and tie it in with the bar lighting... otherwise: Project Done!

EDIT: The location of the Kegerator is pretty convenient - we were going to put it behind the bar originally, but we ended up putting it just off the end of the bar on the wall right next to one of the couches located there. The location lets people see it when the walk into the room, and it makes it easy for people to get their own refills.


----------



## PTAaron

I've finally had some free time on the weekends, so I managed to actually use the home theater a bit! Woohoo! I remember why I was so obsessed with this hobby now! 

This was the scene 2 weekends ago:









...and this was the scene this morning:









I had to laugh a little bit at myself... I put the blu-ray in the player and then sat there in front of the menu screen picking out the letters to put in the sign... even though I was the only one home that would even see it! :laugh:


In other news - a co-worker that is into wood working has been making some amazing tap handles for our kegerator, and we brewed an excellent clone of Oberon that is currently on tap.


----------



## PTAaron

Last Friday I had a chance to check out my neighbor's billiard room - he has a really nice room in a partially finished section of his basement, the key thing is that he rented a sprayer and painted the ceiling and one of the walls black. It looked amazing, and inspired me to FINALLY finish my ceiling.

Saturday I went out to Home depot and checked out the black paint options - I ended up picking up a can of brand name $3.50/can paint and a can of $.97/can paint to do a side by side comparison on a spare ceiling tile. After letting both dry (the expensive one dried in 15 minutes, cheap one took an hour) it was nearly impossible to tell the difference. Actually the cheap one looked more "flat" than the expensive one even though both were "flat black" - so I went back and bought a case of the cheap stuff.

I have 65 2'x2' tiles in the movie room... so this project is going to be bigger than I realized :blink:

I spent Saturday setting up a little paint booth area in my garage and working on the front section and the little side section (35 tiles)... 

















I wasn't thinking very clearly - possibly as a result of all of the paint fumes I was inhaling as a result of not using a proper respirator, but I installed the tiles once they were dry. Seems like a good idea but I didn't paint the track holding the tiles yet!! DOH!! Here is a photo of the almost completed front area:









At that point I realized 2 things: I needed a proper respirator and I needed to remove all of the rest of the tiles and not put them back until I painted the tracks... so Sunday night I made this beautiful pile of 30 tiles and various recessed lighting parts that needed to be painted:









Here is the room with the tiles missing... I really should have moved everything out when I started this project, but I kind of started it on a whim and didn't really think about the mess I was going to make. Room is going to need a thorough cleaning after I finish.









The one big problem I ran into is that my "touch up" can of Mouse Ears Black that I used for all of the black in my room when I painted it in 2012 had turned into a congealed chunk of black latex floating in a can of clear liquid! Luckily Home Depot was able to scan the label and recreate the paint for me (since they no longer carry Disney colors). While I'm painting the tracks I will be doing some other touch up work where I have accidentally bumped the black trim and scuffed it. I didn't check my can of Sorcerer's Hat Blue - but I am guessing it is probably equally bad - so I will have to get some of that to touch up the side walls while I'm at it.

Anyway - as of this afternoon this is where I am: 









22 more tiles and some random parts left to do - unfortunately the rain messed up my chance to work out in the garage last night, but hopefully tonight I can knock out at least half of the tiles and the other pieces before bedtime.

If anyone is following - what do you think?


----------



## NBPk402

Looks great... We rented a sprayer to paint our HT flat black it only took an hour or so with 2 coats. Much less work in my opinion than spraying with spray cans, but there was the rental and cleanup of the paint gun afterwards. In the end the finish looks great either way.


----------



## PTAaron

ellisr63 said:


> Looks great... We rented a sprayer to paint our HT flat black it only took an hour or so with 2 coats. Much less work in my opinion than spraying with spray cans, but there was the rental and cleanup of the paint gun afterwards. In the end the finish looks great either way.


I had considered that... somehow in my mind it was "easier" to take down all of the tiles, carry them all upstairs and out to the garage, spray them with paint cans where I had to get a new can every 2.5-3 tiles, then paint the track, then reinstall all of the tiles VS taping off and covering everything that didn't need to be black, spraying it all in place, then cleaning up.
Yeah... good thinking Aaron! :sneeky:

Primary motivator I guess was that this way was cheaper - and I'm all about saving money these days :bigsmile:


----------



## PTAaron

Had a productive evening... knocked out another 13 tiles, 4 recessed light cans and rings, and the HVAC register in about an hour.


















Have 9 tiles and 3.5 cans of paint left... might have _JUST_ enough paint to finish up tomorrow night then paint the rails Sunday. I will probably pick up another can or 2 just to be safe though


----------



## PTAaron

Got a lot done today. Finished painting the tiles, and went to work on the frame in the room - again with excessive photo documentation: 
Room all cleared out in the afternoon: 









All done for the night:








I rushed things a bit and ended up having to do a lot of touch ups on the track and on the tiles as I was installing them... but all in all it looks pretty decent. Looks perfect at movie viewing levels of light  
I ran into a minor issue in that blue painter tape is hard to see on my blue walls - so I had to keep a wet rag handy to clean up when I accidentally painted where the tape wasn't! opssign: 









In case anyone was wondering - the paint I used on the tiles was this: 









The trigger attachment made a world of difference. On average I was getting 3 2'x2' tiles out of one can of paint - just running out as I was finishing the edges on the 3rd tile each time. At $.97 per can it was very affordable. :spend: I'll get some actual "after" pictures once I move the equipment back in... but for now - there ya have it.


----------



## PTAaron

Today it was time to put the room back together!

Started out by removing my tape and plastic - to discover to my horror that the "easy release" tape removed a whole line of blue paint when it came off one section of wall!!!! :yikes::yikes::yikes:










I ran out to the garage to grab my leftover paint from when we painted the room originally... to discover that it, like the can of Mouse Ears Black paint, had turned into a useless chunk. :rolleyesno: Luckily the "formula" is still mostly visible on top of the can, so there is a good chance Home Depot can make me a new batch. Still - this was not good news!

I proceeded with moving everything back into the room anyway - in the end it turned out looking pretty good! 










I just have to do some touch up with blue paint - and the room will be complete again.

In retrospect I should probably have gone with "flat" paint for the rails/tracks in the ceiling - but I went with "eggshell" so that I could use the paint to patch up a few areas that were painted black originally. For some reason back then I had done the black in an eggshell finish. The only reason it is a minor issue is that I had touched up a few tiles with the "mouse ears" paint, and those areas are slightly noticeable because they aren't "flat black" but have a slight sheen. I'm not worried about it though - most people will never notice.


----------



## PTAaron

Home Depot saved the day for me... they were able to look up the paint code under "Competitors" and recreate the Sorcerer's Hat color for me! The lady at the paint counter let me know that the "new people" working there would have tried to just scan and color match it, which would have been hit or miss... so if anyone is looking for a discontinued color have them search under competitor's paints and they should be able to hook you up.

Anyway - as expected it took very little effort to paint over the damaged area, then use a small brush to cover any remaining little lines of white that I found. Room is now complete, and looks excellent. I will be giving it a "real" test run Sunday morning when I finally watch Battle of the Five Armies. Can't wait!!

Future plans for the space:
1) _(most likely to happen)_ Finally redo the bar to have a nice wood bartop that is at proper bar height instead of "countertop" height
2) Continue to consider going to a projector/screen setup.
3) Eventually move to 4K when the prices are reasonable and there is enough content out there to justify it.
4) Purchase the new version of AppleTV for this room, move my 1080p version to the living room, and move the "old" version to the bedroom.
5) Consider an AVR that supports the newer surround sound protocols - although this will be less likely because it will mean I need to buy more speakers as well.


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## PTAaron

Just watched The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies... and while the movie was a bit of a long drawn out let down, the new black ceiling made the room feel like a real movie theater! It really made it easy to just get lost in the screen and forget anything else was around.


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## Lumen

Impressive work! The kegerator is magnificent, though the mechanics and execution are over my head. :T


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## PTAaron

Lumen said:


> Impressive work! The kegerator is magnificent, though the mechanics and execution are over my head. :T


Thank you! I have to give a lot of the credit to my wife... she found the plans on line, bought all the parts, and said "since you're not busy... can you build me this?" :bigsmile::T
I'm just a monkey with a hammer (or in this case a dremel and a drill) doing what I'm told!


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## PTAaron

Next project is going to be fairly simple:

My subwoofer is from Elemental Designs... I've had it for quite a while now with no problems and I really like it. Indoor know if anyone followed the drama that happened with Elemental Designs, but the company no longer exists and they basically ripped off a lot of people. At some point they started using poor quality drivers that eventually cause the amps to burn up leaving owners with a big heavy box that doesn't make sound. 
The guy that was doing the repair work for eD has been helping out owners and he has suggested swapping out the driver with one from Infinity. The swap should keep the amp alive and keep the subwoofer running for years. A side bonus is that apparently it will also improve the low end range, so that's pretty cool. 

The point of all of that is that I will be ordering the driver for my subwoofer later this week. I'll post photos of it while I'm working on it and I will post up some before/after REW graphs if I can remember how to use the program


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## PTAaron

No major new updates to the movie room - but we have a whole lot of new beer brewing equipment... my wife went on a big buying spree at the local homebrew shop. Been doing quite a bit of brewing in the last few weeks instead of working on that subwoofer project I mentioned.

A friend loaned me his PS4 for a week as well - now I am going to HAVE to get one of them! Graphics are amazing and the games I played made amazing use of the 7.1 surround sound. That is going to be (hopefully) my Christmas present from my family...


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## PTAaron

Finally had a chance to order the new driver for my subwoofer... and OnlineCaStereo . com screwed my order up. I ordered an Infinity Reference 1260W and for some reason on the Packing Slip someone added a handwritten "2" - and sent me a 1262W! Unfortunately that is not usable for my purpose, they have not responded to my emails, and their phone system only gives the option to select the last name of a person to talk to... so we'll see how this goes. I remembered after the fact that they screwed up the speaker order for my Jeep back in February - only sent me one pair of speakers instead of the 2 I ordered and I had a hard time getting them to complete the order. Keeping my fingers crossed that this gets resolved soon and I don't have to file a PayPal claim.


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## PTAaron

On a more positive note:
We just tapped a keg of a Chocolate Stout that we brewed a few weeks ago... the other tap is a hard cider that my wife made last month.


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## Todd Anderson

Great thread --- keep the updates coming! ;-). Curious to hear how the sub turns out!


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## PTAaron

Thanks Todd!
I know it isn't as impressive as the big budget rooms, but I'm very happy with how it has turned out so far 

On the sub front - after calling customer service 3 times I finally got someone on the phone and I was told that "within 24 hours" a manager would be contacting me to send me a return shipping label and that they would get the correct driver out to me ASAP.

I should have some time this afternoon to post up a few pictures of some recent minor changes to the room - replaced my rear surround speakers, and added a new star wars themed decoration...


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## PTAaron

Watched first 3/4 of How to Train Your Dragon 2 in 3D last night - great movie up to the point I had to turn it off to go get some food for my wife (she just got home from a soccer game and we had nothing to eat at home! DOH!)

Also ordered a PS4 Sunday morning - so the movie room will be getting a big upgrade there


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## PTAaron

PTAaron said:


> Thanks Todd!
> On the sub front - after calling customer service 3 times I finally got someone on the phone and I was told that "within 24 hours" a manager would be contacting me to send me a return shipping label and that they would get the correct driver out to me ASAP.


So they failed big time here... never got back to me, I tried calling Monday - after 6 calls I wasn't able to get through their voicemail tree to talk to an actual person so I filed a dispute on PayPal. As of 4:15 Wednesday I haven't heard anything back yet... so the "allow 48 hours before escalating the dispute" timeframe has passed. This is ridiculous...


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## PTAaron

On a positive note - my PS4 with Star Wars Battlefront arrived yesterday! Have it hooked up to the "little" TV in the living room right now just to get the game downloaded and installed, but I'll be moving it to the theater tonight now that it is ready to play!

I'll add pics of my most recent updates soon...


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## PTAaron

Big updates coming this week:
An upgraded subwoofer driver will be arriving today. Ended up buying one from a different company - Online Car Stereo is making me ship the "wrong item" they sent me back to them at my expense for them to refund my money. Crazy to have to pay for their mistake, but at least they finally got back to me after PayPal made them.

Tomorrow the Great Northern Popcorn Machine I ordered will be arriving... that is going to be awesome!


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## Lumen

PTAaron said:


> Tomorrow the Great Northern Popcorn Machine I ordered will be arriving... that is going to be awesome!


Now _that_ is just too cool


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## MeatHanky

Beer on tap, popcorn machine - life is good!


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## PTAaron

Lumen said:


> Now that is just too cool


Tomorrow can't get here quick enough!



MeatHanky said:


> Beer on tap, popcorn machine - life is good!


Definitely!! Just need time to actually use it all


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## PTAaron

Couple of photos of the new subwoofer driver that arrived yesterday:


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## PTAaron

Popcorn machine arrived... Immediately unpacked it, cleaned it, set it up on our bar and popped some popcorn to eat while watching Return of the Jedi:



















After the movie I unpacked the rest of the box and assembled the cart:










That isn't the final location... Once I get the basement rearranged I'll post some final photos.


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## PTAaron

Mmmmmmmmmm!!
New delivery from Amazon!
Can't wait to try it out Sunday!


----------



## luisv

PTAaron said:


>


Great thread, thanks for sharing your journey and I especially like the kegerator. Looks like I need to do some additional research. :T


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## PTAaron

luisv said:


> Great thread, thanks for sharing your journey and I especially like the kegerator. Looks like I need to do some additional research. :T


Thanks for stopping by!
The kegerator is such a great addition! I don't know why I resisted at first when my wife wanted to add it - it is just so nice to have cold beer on tap whenever you need it 
Also great for parties because you can just pour a pitcher to take outside.


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## luisv

Totally agreed, it must be great to pour a fresh brew, especially if you're into home brewing as it makes it that more convenient. I will be do some additional reading for sure and hope to tackle the project after the holidays.


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## NBPk402

How long will a keg last once you start it (shelf life)?


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## PTAaron

luisv said:


> Totally agreed, it must be great to pour a fresh brew, especially if you're into home brewing as it makes it that more convenient. I will be do some additional reading for sure and hope to tackle the project after the holidays.


It was my wife's project, but I can get you more info on the parts we used if you are interested.



ellisr63 said:


> How long will a keg last once you start it (shelf life)?


I'm sure there is a shelf life to it - but we had our clone of Bell's Oberon on tap for a little over 2 months and it still tasted the same as when we kegged it. It is sealed in an oxygen free container and kept between 30-40 degrees so in theory it should be as good (as far as storage time) as if it was stored in a can or bottle.


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## PTAaron

Alrighty...finally swapped out the driver on my subwoofer, and I know subjective evaluation is kind of meaningless - but it sounded great. I played a bunch of scenes on my Home Theater Demo disc and there were a few times where I could "feel the bass" where I wasn't really "feeling it" before. I don't know enough about subs to know if it is possible to get better lower end from a sub just be changing out the speaker, but my pantlegs were vibrating with some scenes and that didn't happen before. I also played the fireworks scene from Ironman 2 because I used to get a sound like the sub was bottoming out before - didn't happen with the Infinity driver.

=====


Anyway - on to the swap... it was really easy. 

"Before"









I removed the screws from the driver, but it was pretty well stuck in place - so I decided to take off the amp, which was also stuck in place pretty well. A little prying with a screwdriver and it popped off - and I remembered that I had filled the sub with polyfill a while back... don't know how I forgot about that! In the process I chipped the paint in the corner - the folded piece of cardboard I was using to protect the finish slipped.









There was a lot of polyfill!









Had to pry the driver loose too - doubled up on the protective cardboard this time  It popped loose pretty quickly - apparently there was a gasket in place that was holding it on.
I put on the gasket that came with the 1260 - I put a little extra on to cover some screw holes that weren't in line.









Dropped the 1260W in place so that the screw holes were off center from the original screw holes which was kind of unnecessary because the 1260W frame seems wider - it actually fills in the whole hole, unlike the eD driver. I predrilled the holes and tightened the screws down like I was tightening up a wheel on a car - in a criss cross pattern.


















I crimped on a couple of connectors, stuffed the polyfill back in, put the amp back on - and it sounded awesome.

EDIT: forgot the picture of the connectors:









A few comparison photos:

















I'll get some readings with REW later - didn't have time to do it tonight because I got to busy watching movie clips.


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## PTAaron

Rearranged the basement a bit - and got the popcorn machine into its new home. 

Just need to add a sign or 2 to label it as the refreshment counter: 









Did add a little table after taking the first photo... Just something temporary - my wife is actually really liking the idea of a snack area so we might get a little display cabinet or something. 









...and of course had to make a batch of popcorn... this time I used this stuff - and it was GREAT! 









Ended up with way too much - hopefully my coworkers want popcorn tomorrow


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## albe

Thanks for sharing! What a journey and without knowing you from Adam, I have to say you have to be one of the nicest people around.
:highfive:


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## PTAaron

albe said:


> Thanks for sharing! What a journey and without knowing you from Adam, I have to say you have to be one of the nicest people around.
> :highfive:


Haha! Thanks. 
Is that because I'm bringing popcorn to my coworkers?


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## PTAaron

Spent some time today relearning how to use REW and my measurement equipment so I could see if the new driver in my subwoofer made any actual differences.

My fancy setup... 









Here is an old graph from 2012 when I was working on getting a Feedback Destroyer integrated into my system:









Graph from today - I wanted to clean it up a bit but REW crashed and I didn't get to save the file. I tested at listening position and slightly in front of it - both with and without the polyfill stuffing in the sub:









Then I decided to plug up the port and run another test to see what happens:









Interesting to see a 5db boost as low as 10hz that turns into a drop after 15hz... not sure that the information means anything useful - but it was neat to try.

In case anyone was curious - this is my rats nest of an equipment rack as it looks currently:


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## PTAaron

Stopped by Detroit Popcorn Company yesterday and picked up some goodies:









Set up a little Concession area:


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## PTAaron

I don't think I ever shared the photos of some of the smaller changes I made in the room last month...

Kind of hard to get a good photo of this one because the room isnt very bright - but you get the idea:


















I thought it was a cool addition - looks a lot better in person than in the pictures









I also replaced my rear surround speakers... I had been using a pair of random KLH speaker that I had laying around when I first set up the room, so I decided to get something a little better without spending much money. I decided on this set from Dayton because they were roughly the same size and had decent enough looking stats.


















Not high end stuff by any means... but they work for me


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## PTAaron

Latest project has been installing an ethernet network in the house - until now all of the internet connections in the theater room have been via wifi. The main wireless router is upstairs in my wife's office, so I installed a bridge in the furnace room next to the theater. 
Last weekend I decided I wanted a hard line to my PS4 since I've been online with it quite a bit playing Star Wars Battlefront - so I cut a hole in the wall in my wife's office and ran some Cat5e down into the basement and along the ceiling tiles to plug into the PS4. 





































After noticing the huge improvement in speed (network test indicated that the speed was doubled!!) I decided I wanted to hook up everything else to hard lines.

I grabbed an old wireless router that I had laying around and put that into the mix to get everything else networked as a short term solution:










After getting some great advice in the Networking section on AVS I decided to redo the way the internet gets distributed in my house - so I ordered an ethernet switch and bought another router.

Last night I had all of my parts together and got to work! 

First step was building a shelf to hold everything - luckily I had a scrap shelf piece laying around... bundled up my cables to make things look nicer... redid the distribution of my cable/internet service where it comes into the house... moved the cable modem, "phone service" modem, a wireless router, and a TP-Link 8 port switch onto the new shelf.










Ran out of time to run the cat 5e line up to the second floor - so that will be something to do tomorrow.


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## PTAaron

I've been busy with the "network connection room"...
First thing I did was add a couple of outlets under my "network shelf" so I could get rid of the power strip and make it look less like it was set up by a child:


















Not super exciting, but there you have it 

Around the same time I was doing that I saw some nice looking fairly cheap speaker cables on Monoprice - figured it would save me the trouble of making my own "fancy" speaker cables so I had to order them:


























...I think I need to dust my wall...

So that was about 3 weeks ago.


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## PTAaron

I started talking with a friend of mine about trying to distribute some video over the network - and he decided it was time I finally got a Home Theater Computer, so he built me one!

It is an older HP 6460b laptop running Kodi on OpenELEC connected to my AVR via Display Port to HDMI cable.
I used a metal shelf I had laying around that we originally bought for our smoker (turned out to be for the wrong model) to make a computer shelf:









I picked up a 6TB desktop harddrive at Costco for storing media on... Ended up looking like this:









I also ran a Cat6 cable to a panel in the theater room so I could plug in for a faster connection - didn't bother taking pictures because I'm sure you guys know what a Cat6 plug looks like...


"Network shelf" looks like this now:









I just ordered an 8 port cable TV booster/distribution block so I will be bringing my cable connection into the and setting that up this coming weekend. We've got a few too many splitters in the system right now and we're having issues with our upstairs TVs, hopefully this plan will help.

Anyway - that's where we are right now...


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## PTAaron

Been doing a lot lately... I got some new HT seating, redid the way my cable TV is distributed to fix a few problems, re-purposed my old AVR as an amp, and have some major renovation plans including building a wall, moving a door, and building a riser.

If anyone is following along I'd be happy to post up pictures and give some descriptions of what I've been doing, just let me know.

I will be starting a "v1.5" thread once I start working on the wall/riser/door stuff because it is actually construction


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## PTAaron

I thought about doing a new build thread, but I'll just keep it in here...
So a few weekends ago I found an amazing deal at Costco on some top grain leather electric recline home theater seats and picked up 3:










Putting these in the room required my sectional couch to be moved out, obviously. This allowed me to move my front speakers out wider, which wasn't an option before due to the location of the couch.









Of course this setup makes me wish I had a second subwoofer - but that's jus tnot in the budget right now.

The obvious problem here is that I went from having seating for 5-6 people to having seating for 3 people. I pulled in the dual recliner section from my sectional as a "back row" just to check spacing and realized there is plenty of room:


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## PTAaron

After ignoring the fact that I needed a better solution for a little bit my wife finally said "Why don't you build a riser or something?" 
I wanted to do that - but once she asked I new I had to come up with a plan ASAP! 

The plan I came up with involved removing the double doors to the room and building a wall in their place, cutting a hole in the wall next to the double doors to make a new door, and building an 8' wide riser. I had to agree that I would put a TV on the new wall so that my wife could still have something to watch when she was on the treadmill as the only caveat to the plan. No problem!

I drew up my initial set of plans basing it on an 8' wide riser that was 6'6" deep (to allow for a reclining rear row), 12" high (riser calculations said I needed 10.7" so why not round up?). This was the original set of plans:








-








-

__
Sensitive content, not recommended for those under 18
Show Content










After some discussion with someone who had built many home theaters I decided to make the step deeper - went with 36"... and when I sketched it up I realized that an 8' wide riser is just too small given the amount of space I was going to have available. The back of my room is 12'8" wide, so I opted for a 9' wide riser instead to leave room for a walkway. 
This is the layout I came up with (the door in this drawing is opening right instead of left as it will be in the real thing - I forgot to flip it):


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## PTAaron

I started on this project Sunday 3/19/16... after many delays I made very little progress. 

This is how it looked Sunday morning when I started:









Home Depot's selection of 2"x12"x10' boards was just horrendous and Lowes wasn't much better but I managed to find some board that weren't destroyed.

Got my "DIY Riser and Wall Kit" (without the OSB, drywall, or insulation) home after 2 and a half hours of picking things out:









First problem I ran into was the wire running through the spot where the new door was to be placed. I knew the wire would be there because the switch for the movie room used to be located outside the room on the wall - and when we rewired to switches in the room we kept the wire there for the outlet. Problem was that I thought power went TO the outlet, it turns out the power was coming FROM the outlet so my plan to simply eliminate it wasn't going to work.









Around that time I decided I should probably tape out the riser on the floor to figure out exactly where I wanted the door to go:









Ripped out some more drywall...









Right around that time my sister stopped by with my 18 month old niece, so I stopped working for about an hour. Went back down to get back to work on figuring out a plan for moving the electrical that was in the way of the door. As I was unhooking everything my friend showed up to bring me a new HTPC setup - so naturally work stopped again so we could set it up and test it out.

Eventually I got back to work and discovered that by a perfect stroke of luck the space between the double studs from the old door and another set of double studs to the right of the "new door location" were spaced exactly 33 3/4" apart - just about the right spacing for the 32" door I had planned for the new wall!

My father in-law stopped by a little later and with his help I rerouted the electrical around the door instead of across it. I ended Sunday night with ZERO new construction completed, but a nice new hole in the wall.


----------



## PTAaron

Monday I didn't get anything done in the room... too much other stuff going on.
Tuesday morning I picked up my door - nothing fancy because my budget is very small, just a 6 panel 32" door from Menards that was on sale. My room is not isolated or soundproofed at all at this time - maybe version 3.0 will get that treatment, but a regular door will work fine for now.

Tuesday night I got home around 9:30pm and immediately got to work cutting out the boards for my wall because I was determined to actually build something before going to bed. This was my first ever attempt at building a wall, so I measured everything 5 times so I could cut just once 










It popped right into place... and by "popped right into place" I mean I fought with it for about 15 minutes before realizing a carpet tack strip that I thought was "clear" was in the way and was wedging the wall from moving. 









I also set the door up in it's space to see how that would look - it doesn't fit yet because I have to trim what are going to be the top cripple studs down a bit more and put in the board that will be across the top.









Here is the bad news... As I was trying to get things lined up I realized there were 2 problems: 1) the first stud in my new wall that is on the left side appears to bow a little bit so when the top plate and bottom plate are lined up the center of it is not lined up with the stud it is up against. I think I can correct this as I nail it into place. 2) the bigger issue is that 3 of the 6 boards are about 1/16" off from being centered at the top! Apparently assembling it on carpet gave me the illusion things were lined up perfectly when I popped the nails into the frame when they were actually sitting a bit low.  I am going to have to pop the wall back out, pull out the nails, and redo them. Could be worse, but it still sucks.

I almost forgot to mention the funny part about last night's work:
I told myself "before you put in the wall, be sure to put all of the seats back into the room" - I figured it would be a lot easier with a 6' wide door instead of a 32" wide door. So I got the wall knocked into place, stepped back to admire my work, and looked to my left:









DOH! LOL!

Luckily I have to fix those misaligned boards - hope I remember tonight.


----------



## PTAaron

I'll just keep copying and pasting my progress over here just in case anyone is paying attention:

New plan now is to make the riser 9'6" wide - I double checked everything and that still leaves 3-4 inches between the edge of the riser and the door frame - and it leaves me 3'2" of "walkway" space.

Last night I adjusted the studs to be flush - turns out a big hammer and a block of wood is more efficient than pulling nails and renailing. Got the new wall lined up, level, and plumb and nailed it into place and secured the bottom with Tapcon screws. Did another test fit with the door and everything looks good - just need to do a little more trimming of the "cripple" studs above the door to get the top board in. Didn't bother last night because it was late when I was working on it and I wasn't going to be able to cut any boards out in the garage.

I did a little testing to see where exactly I want to put the TV in the pool table/bar area - turns out my Dark Knight poster is the same size as a typical 40" flatscreen. Determined the "best" spot with my wife's input since this is for her, and attached my gang boxes. There is a double box for behind the TV that is an outlet on one side and a low voltage open box on the other side, for the lines to the TV. TV will have one input from a cable box that it will share with the TV over the bar (bar TV will use the component outputs, new TV will use the HDMI) and another input that will come from the AVR via a splitter. Also decided to add 2 outlets on the "bar" side of the wall instead of 1 at floor level, and I will also be adding 2 on the back wall on the "theater" side of the wall. I'd rather have the outlets and never need them, than want them and not have a way to add them.

Plan for tonight is to wire up the outlets and bring the wiring over to where it will connect into an existing circuit that is not the same as the one I had to move on Sunday (but not connecting it), cut and assemble the riser frame, cut and install the header in the door opening. If there is time I am going to start cutting holes in the riser for outlets/lights. 

Photo of last night's fun:


----------



## PTAaron

Thursday night was once again extremely unproductive! The big problem is I get home late so if anything comes up I can't get out into the garage to cut boards without being "that neighbor"... and my neighbors were very patient with me when I redid my deck so I don't want to push my luck. 
I managed to get the wall mostly wired. Father in-law is dropping off some 14-3 wire tomorrow so I can do the run from the switch into the riser for the riser lights and outlets. Just need to run the power into the wall and that part is done. 








The orange coil is the cat 6 line that will run to the front of the riser. 

I also adjusted my tape version of the riser to make sure I really want to go 9'6" wide - and I am sure I do. I payed out the boxes for my riser lights - and I think I'm going to need less than I planned. I have 2 now and 2 more on the way - but it looks like 2 on the steps and 1 before the steps should be enough. 









So that's the poor progress update for Thursday!

I'm just going to go ahead and plan on Friday being useless as well but maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised and finally get the riser frame built.


----------



## PTAaron

*tap tap* This thing on?

Lots of progress this past weekend:

Saturday I got my OSB:









3/4" OSB is heavy when you're putting it up on your roof by yourself! 

Picked up some 5/8" drywall - also very heavy when you're putting it on your roof... Especially when you get home and realize you actually needed 1/2" drywall and have to go back to return it!

Got to work and the drywall went up fast:


















Started putting the riser together and realized I forgot to add more joists to the plan when I increased the riser size! Doh! I realized i needed 2 more 2x6s to get things finished. :duh:

Anyway here is where the riser was when I went to bed Saturday: 









Sunday morning before the family Easter get together I managed to get the framing finished and added a couple of 2x4s across the bottom for stability since the 2x12s were a little warped.









Very productive Easter evening...
Got the cut my OSB, wired the riser, stuffed the riser with insulation, put on the first layer of OSB, and then decided I didn't feel like messing with roofing felt at midnight 




























This morning before work I was able to get all of my outlets and the switch for the riser lights connected, but I had to stop and get ready for work before I was able to connect it all to power.

Won't have any time to work on it tonight until after my wife is asleep - so no power tools... I will be laying out the roofing felt on top of the first layer of OSB and positioning the second layer of OSB on top so I can screw it down in the morning. I will also be finishing up the electric and turning on the breaker to see how I did. :sweat:


----------



## PTAaron

Last night I ended up having less time than I expected... only got the outlets all finished (remembered I hadn't hooked up the double gang box's outlets yet), the riser lights installed, and the romex pulled and connected to get power to the new wall and riser.
The Lutron Maestro switch works really well for the riser lights and I like that I can set it to always turn on at a specific level and double tap the switch to get full brightness. I have my 3 sets of can lights wired up with IR Maestro switches and set to slowly dim on and off to make the transition easier when watching movies 

Tonight I might not have much time either - but I need to get the roofing felt and top layer on and fastened, cut the boards for the step and install them, and hang the door.


----------



## willis7469

*Re: PTAaron's Movie Room/Game Room/Bar - comments welcome!!*

Man you've been busy. It's coming along nicely! 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## PTAaron

willis7469 said:


> Man you've been busy. It's coming along nicely! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Thanks! Having a deadline where the basement needs to be back together before a bunch of people comes over is good motivation!


----------



## PTAaron

Quick updates now last night's progress:
Started out the evening by falling down the stairs into the basement. I don't recommend it. Watched the 2 hour season premiere of Deadliest Catch while wondering if I was going to work on the room or not. 
Made a decision:

Roofing felt layer down









Second layer of 3/4" OSB









Used part of my old sectional couch for row 2 until I find a good deal on a better option



















I like this view a lot









Riser lights work!









You may be saying: "hey Aaron - we've been following along and you have minimal skills and clearly are operating on a budget smaller than most of us spend on drywall alone... How did you get professional carpet installed?"
Well... I can understand that - looks like it cost thousands of dollars... but all it took was some carpet scrap and some drywall screws! Obviously that isn't the final carpet - but the room needs to be "people ready" by Saturday for my birthday, so it will do!

Tomorrow (depending on how I feel from my fall down the stairs) I will hang the door in the morning, trim and tack down the carpet on the other side of the wall using proper carpet installation techniques and clear away all the tools and scrap!


----------



## PTAaron

This morning I got the door installed - real simple with the EZ Hang kit, but I'm not convinced of how secure it will be in the long run. I will probably run some screws into the jamb just for peace of mind. 

















Ignore the orange Cat 6 line... it was nicely coiled up but fell down just before I took the picture.


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## Infrasonic

Impressive work Aaron! I hope you have a great Birthday


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## PTAaron

Double


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## PTAaron

Infrasonic said:


> Impressive work Aaron! I hope you have a great Birthday


Thanks! It's been fun and even at 80% complete it is worth all the work it took!


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## PTAaron

Having company over tomorrow so I had to put things back together as much as I could with the wall still not quite done:









The DVD/Blu Ray racks will be going away once I get everything ripped onto my media server. 









Same as an earlier shot but without the tools all over the floor.


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## Prof.

Looks like a very comfy room!..Well done..:T


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## NBPk402

Looks great! Be careful what you do before your company arrives. I don't know how many times i have been working on the system, and Murphys Laws kicked in, and I had to work all night trying to get something working again.


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## PTAaron

[img][/img]


Prof. said:


> Looks like a very comfy room!..Well done..:T


Thanks! I'm very happy with how it is turning out. It is turning into the room I always wanted to build but didn't think I would ever get to.



ellisr63 said:


> Looks great! Be careful what you do before your company arrives. I don't know how many times i have been working on the system, and Murphys Laws kicked in, and I had to work all night trying to get something working again.


I thought I replied to this on Saturday... doh! 
I was very careful about what I did, and I tested everything beforehand just to be sure! :neener:

The "pre-grand opening" went well. I ran some demo clips for my friends - it turns out the back row is a lot more fun for movies because of the extra bass along the back wall and the riser giving the seats a bit of rumble. Makes me really want to do butt shakers on the front row. Friends seemed to really like it. 
Gave a brief demo of the HTPC/Kodi setup running CinemaVision a little later in the night and it ran perfectly! Overall it was a good showing.

I'm a little disappointed in the bass at the main listening position right now - I am going to run REW and see just what things actually look like.


----------



## NBPk402

PTAaron said:


> [img][/img]
> Thanks! I'm very happy with how it is turning out. It is turning into the room I always wanted to build but didn't think I would ever get to.
> 
> 
> I thought I replied to this on Saturday... doh!
> I was very careful about what I did, and I tested everything beforehand just to be sure! :neener:
> 
> The "pre-grand opening" went well. I ran some demo clips for my friends - it turns out the back row is a lot more fun for movies because of the extra bass along the back wall and the riser giving the seats a bit of rumble. Makes me really want to do butt shakers on the front row. Friends seemed to really like it.
> Gave a brief demo of the HTPC/Kodi setup running CinemaVision a little later in the night and it ran perfectly! Overall it was a good showing.
> 
> I'm a little disappointed in the bass at the main listening position right now - I am going to run REW and see just what things actually look like.


You have the same problem I have...great bass in the 2nd row, with minimal bass in the front row.


----------



## willis7469

ellisr63 said:


> You have the same problem I have...great bass in the 2nd row, with minimal bass in the front row.



First row(world) problems...lol


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## PTAaron

ellisr63 said:


> You have the same problem I have...great bass in the 2nd row, with minimal bass in the front row.


It's a bit irritating... but I'm thinking its more a matter of perspective. I thought the bass was good in my only row of seats before, and it was slightly better about a foot forward of that position, which is where my front row is now!
There is just "more boom" in the back - not sure if that is good from the audiophile perspective or not, but like it from the "guy who likes to feel explosions" perspective!
Everything else is better in the front row though - even my little 73" screen looks bigger in this setup!



willis7469 said:


> First row(world) problems...lol Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Haha! Yeah, feel a little silly complaining that "the second row of my home theater has better bass than the first row" - but this is the place to do it and actually get sympathy/empathy! LOL!


----------



## NBPk402

PTAaron said:


> It's a bit irritating... but I'm thinking its more a matter of perspective. I thought the bass was good in my only row of seats before, and it was slightly better about a foot forward of that position, which is where my front row is now!
> There is just "more boom" in the back - not sure if that is good from the audiophile perspective or not, but like it from the "guy who likes to feel explosions" perspective!
> Everything else is better in the front row though - even my little 73" screen looks bigger in this setup!
> 
> 
> Haha! Yeah, feel a little silly complaining that "the second row of my home theater has better bass than the first row" - but this is the place to do it and actually get sympathy/empathy! LOL!


I have been contemplating moving my sub platform to under the front row, and removing the platform in the rear...replacing it with a bar, and chairs. I would then add one more seat to the front row, and it would have the best sound including the bass.


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## Lumen

willis7469 said:


> First row(world) problems...lol
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Okay, all you have your laughing! I'm Relegated to no-row problems. 
Very nice setup just the same - enjoy!!


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## willis7469

Lumen said:


> Okay, all you have your laughing! I'm Relegated to no-row problems.
> Very nice setup just the same - enjoy!!



Me too Lou. One seat wonder...
Best one in tha hoowwse!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## PTAaron

You guys are funny. 

Last night I had a chance to watch a full movie at "proper volume" and I have to say that the bass problem seemed to go away! The main listening position was shaking plenty when I cranked it up to -15 for the first time while using the AVR-635 as an amp with the 3600 acting as a processor. 

Today some friends came over and I was trying to show them how easy Kodi is to use and how they need to set up a HTPC for themselves... Of course the first 3 movie files I tried to show them wouldn't play!! Somehow Back to the Future 1-3 were all unplayable!! I ripped them myself 3 weeks ago and they worked fine when I tested them. 
Wasn't exactly a ringing endorsement for the setup!


----------



## NBPk402

PTAaron said:


> You guys are funny.
> 
> Last night I had a chance to watch a full movie at "proper volume" and I have to say that the bass problem seemed to go away! The main listening position was shaking plenty when I cranked it up to -15 for the first time while using the AVR-635 as an amp with the 3600 acting as a processor.
> 
> Today some friends came over and I was trying to show them how easy Kodi is to use and how they need to set up a HTPC for themselves... Of course the first 3 movie files I tried to show them wouldn't play!! Somehow Back to the Future 1-3 were all unplayable!! I ripped them myself 3 weeks ago and they worked fine when I tested them.
> Wasn't exactly a ringing endorsement for the setup!


I hate it when that happens.


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## PTAaron

ellisr63 said:


> I hate it when that happens.


 I figured out the problem though - I had tweaked a setting in the CinemaVision add-on to try to compensate for the delay my receiver has in locking onto the audio signal... Apparently it was making the "Feature presentation" play incorrectly. Anyway - easy fix once I thought through what the only options were that I had messed with recently. 
Turns out the files were not corrupted. 


Watched "Funny Farm" today with my parents over and sat in the back row to see how it was "got real" - and it was really enjoyable  Not exactly a "demonstration quality" piece of cinema, but my parents picked it. Planning on finishing the drywall next month - just want to enjoy it for a little while.


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## PTAaron

Some HT goodies showed up from Amazon last night: a new scooper for the popcorn machine that has holes to stop old maids from getting scooped up, some new metal thumbsticks for my PS4 controller, a FLIRC module for the HTPC, and a 10' long USB extension cable to connect the FLIRC to the computer from the equipment rack where the IR blasters from my remote are.

The FLIRC is an AWESOME addition! I was having fun controlling the HTPC from my phone and tablet, which is still better for picking a movie, but it is really nice to have the ability to go through menus and control the movie from my Harmony 1100.

I am going to play around a little and see if I can get the "macro workaround" to work with this so I can have the lights go down on play, come up on pause, and go full bright on stop like they do with blu-rays. Only part that is slightly tricky is that I will have to set up my old Harmony 880 to control Kodi too so I can send the proper command sequences to record on the 1100.


----------



## PTAaron

Working on the drywall this weekend... I'm not good at this at all! LOL!
I feel like the whole wall will be mud by the time I'm done trying to make it even.


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## PTAaron

As of last night we were on coat 3 of mud... and it was looking good until it dried and I ended up with a bunch of bubbles! Coat 4 will be going on tonight - VERY thin... hoping to be done. To keep myself from trying to rush it I haven't bought the paint yet, so hopefully that plan works.

I had done the front black wall with an eggshell finish - I think I'll be doing the back wall with a flat finish, then also applying another coat of paint to the front wall with the flat paint. The black trim in the room will continue to be eggshell.
I'm also debating how to finish the entry door - I kind of want to do something "different" with the door trim but I'm not 100% sure what.


----------



## PTAaron

Summary of the last week and a half for you guys - as of last night I've got the "new" wall painted on both sides - 2 coats of white on the "pool hall and bar" side of the wall and 2 coats of Mouse Ears flat black on the inside of the theater. Door casings installed and painted mouse ears flat black - outside of the door has "fancy pants" casing with fluted trim and corner blocks at the top, inside is just standard trim. Door has been painted with 2 coats of Mouse Ears on both sides - funny story is that I learned that the door was warped after I pulled the pins on the hinges and popped it off! Makes it REALLY hard to put it back on the hinges the same way!! Fun.

Some pictures showing the progress up to last night (door was still drying in a few spots):

Painted "outside" wall:









Door:









Rest of the space is a bit of a mess still... so that's all ya get for the moment.

The biggest hurdle I've run into is that I can't seem to find anywhere selling base molding that matches what I currently have in the rest of the basement! I thought it would be REALLY easy to find plain boring squared off trim like this:








Apparently I am wrong! I did find some MDF that is the 3.5" wide and primed, but it is about twice the thickness of regular trim... so I'm not sure how well that is going to work out. I'll give it a try and see what happens. 

Short term to do list for the inside of the room:

Finish base molding
Reinstall outlet plates
Put seats back in place on riser
Hang movie posters

Short term to do list for the bar area side of the wall:
Install base molding
Buy and install TV
Figure out how to run cable to new TV so it will display the same as the bar TV
Figure out exactly how I want the "concession area" to look and get it set up
Figure out where the blu-ray/DVD storage is going to end up
Figure out the cable setup to make the new TV mirror the theater


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## Owen Bartley

The little things tend to add up, but your list isn't too bad! The room is looking really good. Keep up the great work,and keep posting updates for us too. We tend to enjoy the minutiae.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using HT Shack


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## willis7469

*Re: PTAaron's Movie Room/Game Room/Bar - comments welcome!!*

Looking good. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## PTAaron

*Re: PTAaron's Movie Room/Game Room/Bar - comments welcome!!*



Owen Bartley said:


> The little things tend to add up, but your list isn't too bad! The room is looking really good. Keep up the great work,and keep posting updates for us too. We tend to enjoy the minutiae.
> 
> Sent from my Nexus 7 using HT Shack





willis7469 said:


> Looking good.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Thanks guys!


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## PTAaron

Finished up Wednesday night with all of the construction related items. 
Ended up using the slightly thicker MDF for the "bar side" of the wall - it matched up nicely with the plinth blocks of the door casing. 









Inside the room the MDF did not match up well with the door trim - much too thick. I ended up cheating and just using a short piece of the original base molding at the edge so that it looks complete before the back row seats hide the fact the rest of it is missing. This will let me at least make it look done for the scheduled "grand opening" as I search for proper matching molding. 









I will be rearranging the posters -turns out the original "3 posters on the back wall" plan won't work, but I have a solution. Not worth describing I'll just post a picture when I'm done. 

As far as the entry door - for now I went with just the "Now Showing" sign over the door. Im looking a lighted custom sign or something along those lines in the future. 









Oh yeah - I got a new door knob for the room - thought it was pretty cool so here it is: (EDIT - didn't realize this pic was blurry... I'll try to get a better one tonight)


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## albe

Aaron, what a great thread...it's like a TV series where I find myself wondering what the *bleep* is next!  
Your energy on this project is outstanding, thanks again for sharing!!


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## PTAaron

albe said:


> Aaron, what a great thread...it's like a TV series where I find myself wondering what the *bleep* is next!  Your energy on this project is outstanding, thanks again for sharing!!


LOL! Thank you for following along!
The funny part is the biggest transformation - what I've done this year - wasn't something I had been planning on just yet. The screaming deal on the theater seats is really what made it all happen. 

The next "big changes" won't be as dramatic and might take a little bit to actually happen


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## PTAaron

Last night some friends of ours came over with their daughter who is in her mid 20s. She hadn't been over before - I think her exact words while walking into the theater were "Holy ! This is in your house?!?" LOL!
That was pretty cool.


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## PTAaron

Stopped at Best Buy today to check out the options for 40" TVs for the wall... Ended up finding a 24" Vizio 1080p smart tv as an open box deal - picked it up for over our bar to replace the old 720p 19 incher. 

Right now I the new TV is just "hanging out" where the 40" will go once I pick one out - that way my wife can have something to watch when she's running on the treadmill


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## PTAaron

Unexpectedly picked up a TCL 40" smart tv at Costco this afternoon. Hadn't picked up my wall mount yet so I just did a temporary setup to figure out how I was going to do the wiring:









Realized that I forgot to feed a pull rope though to the low voltage box I installed in my new wall when I was building it and had easy access... So that made pulling the HDMI cable extra fun. I did pull a piece of rope along with the cable though - so when I run the cables to mirror the theater screen I won't have to waste as much time. 

I relocated the bar cable box to the display case near the 40" TV. I will be running a really long set of component cables over to the bar so both TVs will show the same thing. 

Here is a quick picture of me testing out my plan to make sure the cable box would actually show the same thing over HDMI and component.


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## NBPk402

If you need to run more cable in the wall...in the past i have removed the trim and ran the wire behind it until you get to where it needs to be in the wall. Then i have drilled a hole in the wall behind the trim, and where I want the wire to go to. This makes it easy to run wires after the fact.


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## PTAaron

ellisr63 said:


> If you need to run more cable in the wall...in the past i have removed the trim and ran the wire behind it until you get to where it needs to be in the wall. Then i have drilled a hole in the wall behind the trim, and where I want the wire to go to. This makes it easy to run wires after the fact.


Good tip!
Luckily I have drop ceilings in the basement, and the person that finished the basement left a little gap in the drywall at the top of the wall that is hidden by the tiles - makes life easy


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## PTAaron

I guess I should mention what my future plans are, in the order of likelihood of being completed:

*1) Build a "ticket booth"* - after seeing the simple ticket booth someone posted over on AVS I have decided that I am going to do something similar. Shockingly my wife is 100% on board with the idea... so that is most likely going to be the next project.

*2) Redo the bar top* (I know I mentioned this about 7 pages and 4 years back... but I have a source for fairly inexpensive bowling alley lane sections, and I would like to make that into a bar top. After building the wall and the riser I'm a lot more confident that I could build a new bar that won't fall apart. Current bar is too low - it is counter top height not bar height - and that is something we've been wanting to fix since we moved in.

*3) Build a front stage* - This needs to be decided on and either done or not done before I can get the carpet replaced in the theater. I really want to do it - I'm just conflicted about how it should look. I know this will be easy and inexpensive to build (ignoring the part about filling it with sand of course) - but it makes me the most nervous for some reason.

*4) New carpet for the theater* - This one is the least effort on my part, but probably the most expensive which is why it is not one of the first projects. I've more than blown my "fun money" budget already with the new chairs, riser, wall, and TVs... so we'll see.

*5) Projector and screen* - This needs to happen. This will happen. I just don't have even a rough time frame on when. This will require a lot more research on my part too. I know that I want to do a non-AT screen, I want a fabric screen not a painted on screen, and I know I want 1080p with 3D - no 4K for me. I also have a rough idea of how wide the screen can be... I'm not sure if I want to go scope or not. If I go scope, the 16:9 screen size (going constant image height) wouldn't be much larger than my 73" TV. If I go with the biggest 16:9 I can fit I think I'll be happier in the end.

So anyway - that's what the future holds.


----------



## NBPk402

PTAaron said:


> *5) Projector and screen* - This needs to happen. This will happen. I just don't have even a rough time frame on when. This will require a lot more research on my part too. I know that I want to do a non-AT screen, I want a fabric screen not a painted on screen, and I know I want 1080p with 3D - no 4K for me. I also have a rough idea of how wide the screen can be... I'm not sure if I want to go scope or not. If I go scope, the 16:9 screen size (going constant image height) wouldn't be much larger than my 73" TV. If I go with the biggest 16:9 I can fit I think I'll be happier in the end.
> 
> So anyway - that's what the future holds.


What do you watch more of...TV or movies? I have to say that if you go 16x9 and watch some of the new movies that are even wider than scope... I think you will be very disappointed. One of the newer movies we recently watched had around 1' bars top and bottom on a 6' tall scope screen!

We originally went for a scope screen, and just zoomed in for Scope movies. This way you have a large 16x9 image, but when you want to watch a movie we would hit the switch, and it is now scope. This worked fine, but I eventually just picked up a used Anamorphic lens, which I like better, but it would be even better if we had a curved screen. The reason for this is we have a bow top and bottom, since we don't have a curved screen. The solution for now was to zoom in a bit more to eliminate the bow.


----------



## PTAaron

ellisr63 said:


> What do you watch more of...TV or movies? I have to say that if you go 16x9 and watch some of the new movies that are even wider than scope... I think you will be very disappointed. One of the newer movies we recently watched had around 1' bars top and bottom on a 6' tall scope screen!
> 
> We originally went for a scope screen, and just zoomed in for Scope movies. This way you have a large 16x9 image, but when you want to watch a movie we would hit the switch, and it is now scope. This worked fine, but I eventually just picked up a used Anamorphic lens, which I like better, but it would be even better if we had a curved screen. The reason for this is we have a bow top and bottom, since we don't have a curved screen. The solution for now was to zoom in a bit more to eliminate the bow.


Movies and PS4 games probably 50/50.
My biggest concern with going scope is that for the space I have I wouldn't gain much with my 16:9 content. I can't go with an AT screen because there isn't enough space at the front of the room due to the cedar closet door that leaves me with only 16" of depth. That isn't enough to hide my speakers and sub behind any kind of false wall.

I suppose I could make my own Frankenstein screen that is scope width but tall enough for a big 16:9 and then come up with a clever masking system...


----------



## PTAaron

Here's how I'm seeing it: 
I can have a screen that is 8' to 8.5' wide. If I go with a 16:9 screen 96" wide puts me at a 110" diagonal that is 54" tall. Mathing that out means that watching a 2.39:1 movie will give me a 40" high x 96" wide image that is 104" diagonal.
My intention would be to set up a masking system for top and bottom.

That would work, right?


----------



## NBPk402

PTAaron said:


> Here's how I'm seeing it:
> I can have a screen that is 8' to 8.5' wide. If I go with a 16:9 screen 96" wide puts me at a 110" diagonal that is 54" tall. Mathing that out means that watching a 2.39:1 movie will give me a 40" high x 96" wide image that is 104" diagonal.
> My intention would be to set up a masking system for top and bottom.
> 
> That would work, right?


Yes that should work out fine. The movie I had a problem with was...I think a 2.75 movie. 

What about a pull down screen?


----------



## thrillcat

PTAaron said:


> Here's how I'm seeing it:
> I can have a screen that is 8' to 8.5' wide. If I go with a 16:9 screen 96" wide puts me at a 110" diagonal that is 54" tall. Mathing that out means that watching a 2.39:1 movie will give me a 40" high x 96" wide image that is 104" diagonal.
> My intention would be to set up a masking system for top and bottom.
> 
> That would work, right?


What I've done, and it's far from common, is kind of a hybrid...

I originally went with a 115" 16x9 screen. It's wall to wall, so I can't go wider, but I always wished I had a scope screen. I thought about masking systems, but never bothered.

I had some leftover black velvet from when I built my frame, and decided to try something. I bought another 1x8, cut it to pressure fit into the bottom of my frame, and wrapped it with the velvet. By putting that in, I now have a 100" wide 2:1 screen. I crop a few inches off the top and bottom of 16x9 content and have minimized the letterboxing on scope films to only a couple inches on top and bottom.

I don't do gaming, however, you probably wouldn't want to crop that at all in 16x9.

Just a thought though. I really, really enjoy using this. Makes my 16x9 content feel more cinematic and makes the black bars on scope a lot less noticeable.


----------



## PTAaron

thrillcat said:


> What I've done, and it's far from common, is kind of a hybrid...
> 
> I originally went with a 115" 16x9 screen. It's wall to wall, so I can't go wider, but I always wished I had a scope screen. I thought about masking systems, but never bothered.
> 
> I had some leftover black velvet from when I built my frame, and decided to try something. I bought another 1x8, cut it to pressure fit into the bottom of my frame, and wrapped it with the velvet. By putting that in, I now have a 100" wide 2:1 screen. I crop a few inches off the top and bottom of 16x9 content and have minimized the letterboxing on scope films to only a couple inches on top and bottom.
> 
> I don't do gaming, however, you probably wouldn't want to crop that at all in 16x9.
> 
> Just a thought though. I really, really enjoy using this. Makes my 16x9 content feel more cinematic and makes the black bars on scope a lot less noticeable.


Thanks for the suggestion! If it wasn't for the gaming that would be a great solution.

I found a thread where someone made some panels using foamboard panels and magnets that was easily adjustable from scope to 16:9 - similar to your idea but adjustable. I've got time to consider options though - won't be happening for at least 6 months if that soon.


----------



## PTAaron

ellisr63 said:


> Yes that should work out fine. The movie I had a problem with was...I think a 2.75 movie.
> 
> What about a pull down screen?


2.75? What is wrong with just keeping things simple for us home theater types! :coocoo:

I hadn't considered a pulldown screen. Hmmm...

I honestly haven't really looked into what the "optimal" size would be for my viewing distance (around 11' if the screen is mounted on the wall) at this point either.


----------



## NBPk402

PTAaron said:


> 2.75? What is wrong with just keeping things simple for us home theater types! :coocoo:
> 
> I hadn't considered a pulldown screen. Hmmm...
> 
> I honestly haven't really looked into what the "optimal" size would be for my viewing distance (around 11' if the screen is mounted on the wall) at this point either.


I agree, and i was not pleased when I saw this either.
Our front row is at 12' with a 195" scope screen. As far as a pulldown if it is not an AT screen it should be pretty inexpensive. I do prefer a fixed screen, but in your situation it might be better for a pulldown. Have you tried looking at a HT setup with the screen 11' away? Another way to decide is just get the projector, and then test out the distances for the first row and see what you are happiest with. :T


----------



## PTAaron

ellisr63 said:


> I agree, and i was not pleased when I saw this either.
> Our front row is at 12' with a 195" scope screen. As far as a pulldown if it is not an AT screen it should be pretty inexpensive. I do prefer a fixed screen, but in your situation it might be better for a pulldown. Have you tried looking at a HT setup with the screen 11' away? Another way to decide is just get the projector, and then test out the distances for the first row and see what you are happiest with. :T


What would the main advantage be with a pulldown? I was thinking AT would allow me to pull it down in front of the speakers to go wider, but it would also bring the screen 14-16" closer to the seating - potentially negating the benefit of the wider screen.

I can't imagine 12' away from a screen that big! I have looked over your build thread in the past and holy crapoli that screen huge!

I have not sat in any home theaters aside from my wife's uncle's - but its been about 10 years since I was then and it was basically a regular couch in front of a white wall.


----------



## PTAaron

Forgot to share this here: 

Mounted the TV last night. Also ran the component video and audio cables over to the bar TV...









Set up the treadmill to make sure it will work as expected for my wife. 









The movie racks are only temporary... Still putting the movies onto my server, once that is done everything is going into storage somewhere. 

Also tested out an alternate use for the TV:


----------



## NBPk402

PTAaron said:


> What would the main advantage be with a pulldown? I was thinking AT would allow me to pull it down in front of the speakers to go wider, but it would also bring the screen 14-16" closer to the seating - potentially negating the benefit of the wider screen.
> 
> I can't imagine 12' away from a screen that big! I have looked over your build thread in the past and holy crapoli that screen huge!
> 
> I have not sat in any home theaters aside from my wife's uncle's - but its been about 10 years since I was then and it was basically a regular couch in front of a white wall.


I was thinking a pulldown AT screen would eliminate the access problem to the closet (I think that is what you said was the problem), but it would put the screen closer too. Do you by chance have a Frys Electronics in your area...I say this because the one by our house has a theater, and it would be easy to see how the picture will look at different distances. If not are there any Home Theater Stores that you could look at the picture to see what distance you like best? If you can see a Theater setup that has a large screen, and be able to move closer and farther away you could get a real good idea as to how big you would like in your room before you buy a screen. Just my 2 cents.


----------



## PTAaron

No Frys around here unfortunately... but there is a home theater shop near where I work. I may have to check out what they have in their show room. 

Here is what the room looks like: 









This shows the "screen wall":









This is the layout of the basement from when we moved in - shows where the door goes


----------



## PTAaron

Played around a little in SweetHome3D...
First 2 are 16:9 96" x 54"
Second are scope 96" x 40"
Views from between rows and also main listening position.


----------



## PTAaron

Interesting comparison here...
This is with my 73" TV added back into the rendering... obviously the 16:9 screen is a massive upgrade. The scope screen is also a big upgrade from what scope on the 73" screen looks like. You can see in the last picture that while using CIH the 16:9 image would barely be bigger than my current image! I would find it really hard to justify the expense of a projector and screen for such a small gain.


----------



## thrillcat

PTAaron said:


> Thanks for the suggestion! If it wasn't for the gaming that would be a great solution.
> 
> I found a thread where someone made some panels using foamboard panels and magnets that was easily adjustable from scope to 16:9 - similar to your idea but adjustable. I've got time to consider options though - won't be happening for at least 6 months if that soon.


Before I did this, I thought about simply getting a couple extra chunks of velvet that were long enough to wrap just around the edges of my frame, hemming up the sides and sewing a couple pieces of elastic to the ends to make basically a pair of velvet socks that I could keep hidden on the top and bottom pieces of the 16x9 frame, then just slide them down into position when needed, slide them out when not. I still think it would absolutely work, but I'm also pretty happy with the 2:1 frame and not having to switch out.


----------



## PTAaron

I found this kind of interesting - I finally decided to check on recommended viewing distances for the screen size I'm looking at... not that I'm all that concerned about meeting THX guidelines, but I thought it might be helpful to see what they have to say.

For a 96" wide 16:9 screen it looks like the THX minimum distance (36 degree angle) is 12.3' and the maximum (26 degree angle) is 17.3'. That puts my back row right at the maximum and my front row about a foot too close (calculator says 38.4 degree viewing angle) which is probably not significant.

I might be able to go a little wider if I tuck the speakers right into the corners but I'm not sure how that will affect the sound... Glad I don't have to make a decision for along time :grin2:


----------



## NBPk402

PTAaron said:


> I found this kind of interesting - I finally decided to check on recommended viewing distances for the screen size I'm looking at... not that I'm all that concerned about meeting THX guidelines, but I thought it might be helpful to see what they have to say.
> 
> For a 96" wide 16:9 screen it looks like the THX minimum distance (36 degree angle) is 12.3' and the maximum (26 degree angle) is 17.3'. That puts my back row right at the maximum and my front row about a foot too close (calculator says 38.4 degree viewing angle) which is probably not significant.
> 
> I might be able to go a little wider if I tuck the speakers right into the corners but I'm not sure how that will affect the sound... Glad I don't have to make a decision for along time :grin2:


Yeah, I have seen those specs too, and I disagree with them... I say decide for yourself which you prefer.


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## PTAaron

My only concern with regards to how big and how close to sit is that I don't want to be able to differentiate pixels. With my eyesight lately - probably won't be a problem, but I want to to remain not a problem when I finally go see a doctor and get myself some glasses. :laugh2::nerd2:

On the construction front: I am slightly closer to thinking about starting the next project - the ticket booth. I visited my parents this afternoon to take my mom out for early Mother's Day dinner and came home with my dad's miter saw. 

I will be building a simple frame, skinning it with probably plywood, and using some various trim pieces and plexiglass to create something that looks like this: 








(_image from www.stargatecinema.com_)

Someone over on AVS built something similar using an old door - but unfortunately I had just given away my old doors before I decided to do this project. DOH!

I have also come up with a solution for the movie racks... I am going to keep one rack on the outside wall under the 40" TV - it will hold the 3D movies, blu-ray movies, and PS3/PS4/Wii video games. The DVDs and other video games will end up on shelves I am going to install between the studs in the mechanical room next to the theater. That way they are still accessible, but are out of sight. My thinking is that my HTPC won't do 3D, so I'll need the actual discs for 3D, I'll need easy access to the video game discs, and I might as well keep the other blu-rays out in the open in case anyone wants to "check out out of the library".


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## PTAaron

Finishing touch inside the room:

















For the outside of the room this is what I decided on for the time being until I come up with a concession stand plan. I've moved all of the DVDs into my furnace room where I am building shelves, and one of the old racks got a fresh coat of black paint and is now holding my blu rays and PS3/PS4 games. The smaller rack is a makeshift candy rack:









These are the DVD shelves I'm working on - the cases that are backwards are movies that still need to be ripped into my system.


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## PTAaron

Official "opening night" of the upgraded theater will be this coming Sunday...
I made tickets for my friends that will be coming to the first official movie showing


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## B- one

Looking great,hope opening night goes smoothly,love the ticket!


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## PTAaron

B- one said:


> Looking great,hope opening night goes smoothly,love the ticket!


Thanks!

The "ticket" also makes a good marquee on the 40" TV outside the theater:


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## PTAaron

Saturday was the big "Grand Opening"... Naturally 2 hours before people were set to arrive I discovered that my remote was not controlling Kodi properly, and couldn't figure out how to fix it! Luckily it was just the hard buttons so the touchscreen could still control play/pause/stop functions so my macros for the lights still worked. 
I had texted out tickets as invites to the movie - one of my friends actually printed it out and handed it to me as he came in... That was pretty cool! 









Hung up the concessions sign for the occasion:









Movie was even better the second time around - friends had a great time. 

Only problem I found was my subwoofer sounded like it was maybe bottoming out a couple of times... That was pretty surprising and annoying.


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## Tonto

That stairwell looks like a great place for stuffing with insulation & stapling some screen or fabric to hold it up.


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## Todd Anderson

Really great thread... glad this one continues to grow!


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## PTAaron

Snapped a few pics of what the bar/game area looks like these days:





































As you can see the bar still needs to be redone... I really need to get motivated to work on that...


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## Anthony Chavez

Really enjoyed the pics from your room.


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## PTAaron

Anthony Chavez said:


> Really enjoyed the pics from your room.


Thanks for checking it out!


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## PTAaron

Over the weekend I had a little free time and decided to start on one of the projects on my list... I took stock of all the scrap boards I have from the riser build and the leftovers from the deck I refinished and I have enough 2x6s and pieces of 3/4" OSB to build my front stage - I only need to buy a sheet of plywood for the curve. That seemed like an ambitious project to start without drawing up plans first. 
I decided to use some other scrap pieces I had laying around to start on a "ticket booth" - just going from a plan in my head. I figured that if it didn't turn out I could just try again - unlike the front stage 

The plan I came up with has a 36" high x 31" wide x 6" deep lower portion that will have a door so it can be used for storage and also to allow for access to mount it to the wall. There will be a "counter" that is 8" deep so it will stick out 2", and above that I will build the "window" part that will be 43-45" high. The top portion will have a wood frames plexiglass ticket window - the frame will be held in place with magnets so I can pop it off to change what is behind it easily - and also to allow access for mounting it. 
The whole thing will be one unit - I just mention it in pieces because I'm building the sections separately and then attaching them once both are complete and in the basement. 

Anyway - here is the basic frame of the lower portion made out of the studs I ripped out of my basement wall when I put in the new door and some spare shelves:
















The design will make more sense soon... The gap at the bottom will be filled with 3.5" MDF with some casing as decorative trim. Strange choice - but it was the only way to get the height I wanted. 
The front panel will be a large piece of MDF that used to cover my fuse box and sprinkler control valves in the basement - it already has a full length piano hinge and is the exact size I need, so that works out well. 
Anyway - that's as far as I got because my wife got home and I had to do real housework. LOL!


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## PTAaron

Been busy power washing 1100 sq ft of deck to get ready for staining... So no further progress in the ticket booth. 

I thought I would post up a picture of the temporary "concession stand" though:









Still planning on replacing that with a larger cabinet with glass front that the popcorn machine will sit on. I've sent messages to a few people with promising options on Craig's List but have had zero replies for some reason.


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## PTAaron

Let me update my to do list for inside the room:



base molding along the riser - haven't decided if I'm going to use the MDF that I picked up or if I'm going to keep searching for the proper molding... Pretty sure I'll be going with the MDF option outside the theater but inside it won't match up right with the casing so I am not 100% sure - temp plan is in place, once I do the front stage I'll do the final plan which is to take the base molding from the front wall and move it to the back wall.
hang posters - done
Decide if I'm going to build a front stage now or wait until I get a projector - I have decided... I am building one before I get the projector. I have enough scrap 2x6 boards and 3/4" OSB to make the stage without having to buy anything but deck screws.
Pick out carpet - and get it installed after I build the stage. - Have looked at options, not happening any time soon due to budget suddenly vanishing.
Get a projector and build a spandex screen - not happening any time soon.


To do outside the room:



Install and paint base molding - will be using the MDF for this because it won't really be obvious that it is thicker. - DONE.
Decide what I'm doing over the door - not sure if I'm going to build it out and make it into a fancy theater style entrance or just hanging the Now Showing sign - DONE - went with Now Showing sign.
buy a 40" TV to mount on the wall so my wife has something to watch while walking on the treadmill - DONE.
wire everything up to allow the new TV to mirror the theater screen and to allow the new TV and the bar TV to run off the same cable box - halfway done... cable box portion is done, theater mirroring will require more parts that will have to wait until the I have a budget to work with again.
Figure out something for a concession stand... need some sort of display case - DONE.


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## ajinfla

Candy and beer. Nice place :smile:


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## PTAaron

ajinfla said:


> Candy and beer. Nice place :smile:


Haha! Thanks!


----------



## PTAaron

Had some time this weekend to work on my "ticket booth" - I'm not really following a plan so the design changed a few more times this weekend. Hopefully the idea will be a little more clear by the end of this post...

I actually ended up flipping the base over because it made more sense that way. Added 2x4s:









This gives an interesting look at what happens when you build using just scraps - the "2x4" boards that make up the sides are not actually 2x4s - they are the leftover from ripping a 2x10 down to 2x6 size... so they are just slightly bigger than a standard 2x4. Oh well - this will all be hidden under the "counter":









Test fit the "counter" and added some pins to make it easier to line it back up once I got the top half started - plan was to build the frame for the top and attach it to the "counter" then attach it all to the base:









At this point I realized I didn't have enough "scrap" to finish the top part so I had to actually buy some boards.. doh!










The portion above the counter is 48" - the top 12" will be a flat area for a logo lights... I haven't decided yet.









Faced the sides with MDF trim...









The front of the lower section will have a frame of 3.5" wide MDF, there will be a door with a magnetic lock to access the lower half. The top half will have a 24" x 35" ticket window that will be held in place with magnets so I can easily make changes to the display.

Anyway - there it is for now.


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## NBPk402

Looks like you will have a great addition to your HT! I wanted to have a ticket booth too, but I ran out of room.  I will follow your progress to see how you do yours...maybe I will find a way to integrate one into our HT too.


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## PTAaron

ellisr63 said:


> Looks like you will have a great addition to your HT! I wanted to have a ticket booth too, but I ran out of room.  I will follow your progress to see how you do yours...maybe I will find a way to integrate one into our HT too.


I had decided against it at one point because the basement wall space is pretty well taken up, but my wife thought it would be cool  - so of course I jumped at the idea 

The space I will be placing it has an electrical outlet that will be covered - so I'm keeping options open to do some lights inside or above... or some sort of lighted sign. I found a motion activated plug/switch that I can use to control all of that, or I have an X10 plug adapter that I can use to tie it into my "all on" command I use for the bar signs and pool table light.

I just ordered a piece of 24"x36"x1/8" piece of plexiglass from Amazon - cheaper than Lowes or Home Depot... I just have to figure out how to safely cut out the "ticket slot" at the bottom without breaking it. Don't want to throw away $25!


----------



## PTAaron

I should also mention that my wife now wants us to build an arcade machine after seeing a friend's build using Hyperspin as the front end. Turns out one of her uncles is REALLY into the home arcade machines, so he's going to hopefully be able to help her with that!


----------



## NBPk402

PTAaron said:


> I should also mention that my wife now wants us to build an arcade machine after seeing a friend's build using Hyperspin as the front end. Turns out one of her uncles is REALLY into the home arcade machines, so he's going to hopefully be able to help her with that!


A couple of months ago my wife told me she wanted a claw machine. I found one on CL for her, and we got the seller to deliver it to us. She loves it. I went to a friends shop, and he showed me his Electronic Pinball machine he built. I am thinking I might make one later to put upstairs over the pond for gaming.


----------



## PTAaron

ellisr63 said:


> A couple of months ago my wife told me she wanted a claw machine. I found one on CL for her, and we got the seller to deliver it to us. She loves it. I went to a friends shop, and he showed me his Electronic Pinball machine he built. I am thinking I might make one later to put upstairs over the pond for gaming.


Nice, you talking about the pinball with the video screen instead of the mechanicals? My friend with the hyperspin setup was telling me about a machine that uses a screen but also has bumpers and things inside the box to make it feel like a real pinball machine too. The idea sounded really cool.
Don't mention claw machines... I'm sure my wife would want one of those too! :R


----------



## NBPk402

PTAaron said:


> Nice, you talking about the pinball with the video screen instead of the mechanicals? My friend with the hyperspin setup was telling me about a machine that uses a screen but also has bumpers and things inside the box to make it feel like a real pinball machine too. The idea sounded really cool.
> Don't mention claw machines... I'm sure my wife would want one of those too! :R


My friend bought 2 FPs for the playing field, and display, built a case, and uses a PC hidden inside the machine. He has all the flippers, tilt, etc on it so it looks like a regular pinball machine except for everything is animated. Do it, and post up a build! :T


----------



## PTAaron

ellisr63 said:


> My friend bought 2 FPs for the playing field, and display, built a case, and uses a PC hidden inside the machine. He has all the flippers, tilt, etc on it so it looks like a regular pinball machine except for everything is animated. Do it, and post up a build! :T


Yeah... don't have the room for the pinball setup, but it sounds awesome!
Wife is definitely doing the Hyperspin arcade setup - she's already got the spot where it will go picked out... was the spot where my ticket booth was originally going to be, but that's no big deal 

On a side note it looks like I may be getting a second A2-300. I know I said the theater budget was gone - but I managed to pull together the funds to make this happen since it basically fell into my lap. Should help with the null I seem to have in the front row. :hsd:


----------



## NBPk402

PTAaron said:


> Yeah... don't have the room for the pinball setup, but it sounds awesome!
> Wife is definitely doing the Hyperspin arcade setup - she's already got the spot where it will go picked out... was the spot where my ticket booth was originally going to be, but that's no big deal
> 
> On a side note it looks like I may be getting a second A2-300. I know I said the theater budget was gone - but I managed to pull together the funds to make this happen since it basically fell into my lap. Should help with the null I seem to have in the front row. :hsd:


I have a null in my front row too. I am thinking later this year of removing my back row, and sub. I will then lower the floor down to the same as the front row, and put the sub on it's side facing the front row. Next would be to build a bar around the sub and put some bench stools behind it. My only other option would be to find 2 more DTS-10 subs and put them on the side walls firing at the front row.


Where is your current sub, and where will you put the new sub?


----------



## PTAaron

ellisr63 said:


> I have a null in my front row too. I am thinking later this year of removing my back row, and sub. I will then lower the floor down to the same as the front row, and put the sub on it's side facing the front row. Next would be to build a bar around the sub and put some bench stools behind it. My only other option would be to find 2 more DTS-10 subs and put them on the side walls firing at the front row. Where is your current sub, and where will you put the new sub?


That sounds like a big project, but a back row bar would be cool. I'll keep an eye on your thread  My first sub is at the front of the room about 1/4 of the way along the front wall. That was the second best spot from my sub crawl - best spot was front corner at that time. 

(See attached image that I thought I could insert here) 

Second sub will be on the other side of the TV at first since that's is where I have the pre wired wall outlet installed  I'll play around with REW and some other options to see what I can come up with. 

Other option would be subs in each corner with the speakers on top. I don't really have a "back of the room" option unfortunately.


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## NBPk402

Did you do blue fabric walls, or is that paint?


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## PTAaron

ellisr63 said:


> Did you do blue fabric walls, or is that paint?


My walls are just painted drywall. *hangs head in shame*
Mostly a budget related decision. 
I do have plans to do some panels now that I don't have a sectional couch serving as an absorber along the left wall anymore.


----------



## NBPk402

PTAaron said:


> My walls are just painted drywall. *hangs head in shame*
> Mostly a budget related decision.
> I do have plans to do some panels now that I don't have a sectional couch serving as an absorber along the left wall anymore.


I really like the blue walls...paint is not a lesser IMO. My whole theater was a budget build...it's just that a year later the budget expanded.


----------



## PTAaron

ellisr63 said:


> I really like the blue walls...paint is not a lesser IMO. My whole theater was a budget build...it's just that a year later the budget expanded.


Thanks  I was inspired by a "The Scuba Tank Theater" over on AVS when I was getting started on the room and basically copied the color scheme. I do plan on adding some panels on the walls - didn't do that right off the bat because the sectional didn't leave enough open wall space.


----------



## PTAaron

Picked up the second A2-300 on Saturday...



























The forum member that sold me the sub also included the platform that he had made for it - unfortunately I couldn't fit the sub with the platform into the available space. That is probably a good thing since one of our cats decided to make it his new bed!









I got everything calibrated... it was interesting to see that my original A2-300 with the updated Infinity drive in it was quite a bit louder at the same level setting on the receiver. Makes me think I should invest in another Infinity driver for the new sub eventually  Was also interesting to see a 7db gain when both were running! I ended up setting the subs 4db hot and ran some test clips - I have to say the improvement was incredible! 


*This was going to be a longer post but apparently I fell asleep writing it (twice now... sheesh), so I'll add more tomorrow night


----------



## PTAaron

I had a little time on Sunday to work on the ticket booth... 

First thing was to add some blocks to attach the facing to the lower half... these will keep the blocks lined up properly and also add some reinforcement for the fairly heavy door... 


















Added a few more blocks that I didn't get pictures of... ended up with this:









The lower half is almost done... The opening will be covered by the door once I get it cut down to size. All gaps will be filled with wood putty and sanded down.
I have all of the boards for the top portion ... so that shouldn't take much time.
Plexiglass arrives tomorrow - I have a plan for the frame, so we'll see if it works









Also - wow my garage is messy! LOL!


----------



## PTAaron

Spent the weekend staining my deck... 1 hour Friday night, 4-5 hours Saturday, 10 hours Sunday! Only the last 2-3 hours were spent actually staining the flat deck surface - the rest of the time was spent doing the railings and stairs! A bit of advice: Don't do wood railing on your deck! LOL!










Anyway - I ended up with an unexpected day off work today - so I spent a few hours on the ticket booth.
A few weeks ago I bought a 12" board for the top section... it was wrapped in plastic and I didn't open it up until today. Discovered a minor issue with it once I opened it:








I can see straight through it!! Luckily I was going to be drilling holes anyway - so it should be ok. I would have exchanged it, but I have no idea where the receipt was and I didn't want to waste any more time.

Added some 2x2s so that I could run some screws from behind and not have any visible screws from the front - save me some time later:









Drilled dome holes in the frame so I could run wiring up to the top portion:









Here we are with the facing on the upper portion... 









Test fit of the plexiglass:









Cut the pieces for the frame for the window - this will be held in place with magnets so I can pop it open to change things out as needed. Friend will be cutting a 1/2" deep groove into the frame for me for the glass. 









I was getting ready to cut the piece to make the "door" on the lower portion and decided I needed a better way to do things. I was going to use a spare piece of MDF that already had a piano hinge on it - but I realized it was going to be too heavy and not look very good. Talked with a friend of mine that builds cabinets about options - and he is going to make me a door! So that is kind of cool. 

When I was talking to him I did a little sketching on my phone to show him what I needed - thought I would share it here:









Trying to decide on what to do for letters... Michaels has lighted letters on sale for 60% off that look like an option, but they are powered by individual batteries so I'm not sure how to make that work off a switch. They also have regular wooden letters - but that's kind of boring.

EDIT: Wow... that "drawing" looks awful! It didn't look that bad on my phone... LOL!


----------



## PTAaron

My friend sent me some pictures this morning - he already built me a door before I even had a chance to buy the wood for him to use!










He even put it on "soft close" hinges! 









Hopefully I can get it from him soon... I'd love to get this thing painted and into the basement!

Have to decide on colors...


----------



## PTAaron

Picked up the door this morning and dropped off the boards for my window frame on my way to work... got a text message about 20 minutes later that it was all done! LOL! Must be nice to have all the right tools for a job

Hopefully I can pick up the frame on my way home from work and get everything assembled this weekend.

Just need to do a lot of filling in with wood putty, a bunch of sanding... then I can prime it and start looking at options for colors. Black seems like the easy way to go... but since this will be out in the main area of the basement I'm not sure that is the best way to go.


----------



## NBPk402

PTAaron said:


> Picked up the door this morning and dropped off the boards for my window frame on my way to work... got a text message about 20 minutes later that it was all done! LOL! Must be nice to have all the right tools for a job
> 
> Hopefully I can pick up the frame on my way home from work and get everything assembled this weekend.
> 
> Just need to do a lot of filling in with wood putty, a bunch of sanding... then I can prime it and start looking at options for colors. Black seems like the easy way to go... but since this will be out in the main area of the basement I'm not sure that is the best way to go.


Black Satin Stain would look nice, IMO, and it would show off the wood grain (if you want to see the wood grain).


----------



## PTAaron

ellisr63 said:


> Black Satin Stain would look nice, IMO, and it would show off the wood grain (if you want to see the wood grain).


That would look really nice - unfortunately some of the boards are painted MDF that I will be sanding and priming, so that kills the wood grain option 
That's the big downside to building using scraps.


----------



## PTAaron

> ellisr63 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Black Satin Stain would look nice, IMO, and it would show off the wood grain (if you want to see the wood grain).
> 
> 
> 
> That would look really nice - unfortunately some of the boards are painted MDF that I will be sanding and priming, so that kills the wood grain option
> That's the big downside to building using scraps.
Click to expand...

I was strongly considering pulling off the white MDF boards on the lower portion and replacing it with 1x4 pine... partly to make it easier to install the cabinet door that my friend built, partly because I had been considering staining. The sides and counter are still going to be MDF and that can't be changed.
The problem would be that the MDF facing is glued, screwed, and brad nailed into place.


----------



## NBPk402

PTAaron said:


> I was strongly considering pulling off the white MDF boards on the lower portion and replacing it with 1x4 pine... partly to make it easier to install the cabinet door that my friend built, partly because I had been considering staining. The sides and counter are still going to be MDF and that can't be changed.
> The problem would be that the MDF facing is glued, screwed, and brad nailed into place.


Well sometimes you just have to work with what you have.  :T


----------



## NBPk402

PTAaron said:


> Spent the weekend staining my deck... 1 hour Friday night, 4-5 hours Saturday, 10 hours Sunday! Only the last 2-3 hours were spent actually staining the flat deck surface - the rest of the time was spent doing the railings and stairs! A bit of advice: Don't do wood railing on your deck! LOL!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Anyway - I ended up with an unexpected day off work today - so I spent a few hours on the ticket booth.
> A few weeks ago I bought a 12" board for the top section... it was wrapped in plastic and I didn't open it up until today. Discovered a minor issue with it once I opened it:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I can see straight through it!! Luckily I was going to be drilling holes anyway - so it should be ok. I would have exchanged it, but I have no idea where the receipt was and I didn't want to waste any more time.
> 
> Added some 2x2s so that I could run some screws from behind and not have any visible screws from the front - save me some time later:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Drilled dome holes in the frame so I could run wiring up to the top portion:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here we are with the facing on the upper portion...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Test fit of the plexiglass:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cut the pieces for the frame for the window - this will be held in place with magnets so I can pop it open to change things out as needed. Friend will be cutting a 1/2" deep groove into the frame for me for the glass.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I was getting ready to cut the piece to make the "door" on the lower portion and decided I needed a better way to do things. I was going to use a spare piece of MDF that already had a piano hinge on it - but I realized it was going to be too heavy and not look very good. Talked with a friend of mine that builds cabinets about options - and he is going to make me a door! So that is kind of cool.
> 
> When I was talking to him I did a little sketching on my phone to show him what I needed - thought I would share it here:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Trying to decide on what to do for letters... Michaels has lighted letters on sale for 60% off that look like an option, but they are powered by individual batteries so I'm not sure how to make that work off a switch. They also have regular wooden letters - but that's kind of boring.
> 
> EDIT: Wow... that "drawing" looks awful! It didn't look that bad on my phone... LOL!



Are the letter routed through the wood? If so you could get a piece of plexi for the back side of the door, and light it from the rear...maybe LED rope lights going around the whole word "TICKETS"? It appears you have enough space that you could make it into a lightbox with LED light bulbs if you wanted to use several and be brighter. You could even get some that would flash if you wanted.


----------



## PTAaron

ellisr63 said:


> Are the letter routed through the wood? If so you could get a piece of plexi for the back side of the door, and light it from the rear...maybe LED rope lights going around the whole word "TICKETS"? It appears you have enough space that you could make it into a lightbox with LED light bulbs if you wanted to use several and be brighter. You could even get some that would flash if you wanted.


So far the letters aren't there... that was just a really really poorly done edit on a photo using an app on my phone and drawing with my finger 

I am planning on getting some wood letters from Michaels or maybe some of the lighted letters that they have on sale this week - haven't decided.


----------



## Tonto

Boy, it's too early in the morning! I like your design so far! Can you use some small gauge wire & maybe solder to the leads of the lighted letters. Then drill a small hole where the letter will be & pull/run the wire through to a accessible location. They are most likely 1.5 volts, you could probably use a potentiometer 
http://www.tedss.com/RV4LAYSA152A/?gclid=CjwKEAjwtLO7BRDax4-I4_6G71USJAA6FjN1HwoZQCFh7o_SzZgvFAb9n4AYOW301FHwDCEto_vaHxoC3wfw_wcB
to step current down & use a 6 volt battery or reasonable facsimile. Put in an inline toggle switch when you wanted them on/off.

I bet Talley would know exactly how to pull this off. You could PM him.


----------



## PTAaron

Tonto said:


> Boy, it's too early in the morning! I like your design so far! Can you use some small gauge wire & maybe solder to the leads of the lighted letters. Then drill a small hole where the letter will be & pull/run the wire through to a accessible location. They are most likely 1.5 volts, you could probably use a potentiometer
> http://www.tedss.com/RV4LAYSA152A/?gclid=CjwKEAjwtLO7BRDax4-I4_6G71USJAA6FjN1HwoZQCFh7o_SzZgvFAb9n4AYOW301FHwDCEto_vaHxoC3wfw_wcB
> to step current down & use a 6 volt battery or reasonable facsimile. Put in an inline toggle switch when you wanted them on/off.
> 
> I bet Talley would know exactly how to pull this off. You could PM him.


That's something I was really curious about how to do... I hope they are still on sale Saturday - at 60% off they are only about $4 more expensive than the plain wood letters 

Thanks for the input on that, and I will definitely be sending a PM if I go that route!


----------



## PTAaron

Just called up my father in-law and mentioned the idea of wiring the lights together - and he listed off exactly what I would need to make a little board so I could run them off a wall wart plug which could be added into the X-10 controller I use for my bar and pool table area lighted signs! Seems like an easy project - I'll be stopping by tomorrow morning to pick them up because it looks like the sale is still on


----------



## Tonto

Would love to see how you do it. Pics?


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## PTAaron

Huge bummer... Went up to the store yesterday to get the letters and discovered that they are way too wide to use for this project. I have 31" to work with - and when I laid them out at the store they needed at least 36" to fit if they were crammed together.


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## NBPk402

PTAaron said:


> Huge bummer... Went up to the store yesterday to get the letters and discovered that they are way too wide to use for this project. I have 31" to work with - and when I laid them out at the store they needed at least 36" to fit if they were crammed together.


Why not get a template, and route them into the wood?


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## PTAaron

Spent a little time on the booth today...
Filled in some holes and seams with wood putty, sanded it down, installed the door, took the door back off, and painted the "inside" black with some spray paint to save the trouble of trying to get it with a brush later 
Also picked up a can of primer - but it was just too hot and humid to work on it in the garage.


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## PTAaron

ellisr63 said:


> Why not get a template, and route them into the wood?


Good idea, but unfortunately I don't own a router


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## NBPk402

PTAaron said:


> Good idea, but unfortunately I don't own a router


No friends that could route it out for you?


----------



## NBPk402

PTAaron said:


> Spent a little time on the booth today...
> Filled in some holes and seams with wood putty, sanded it down, installed the door, took the door back off, and painted the "inside" black with some spray paint to save the trouble of trying to get it with a brush later
> Also picked up a can of primer - but it was just too hot and humid to work on it in the garage.


It is coming along great! I hear you on the hot weather putting a damper on working on the projects.


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## PTAaron

ellisr63 said:


> No friends that could route it out for you?


My friend that made the cabinet door and the "window frame" has any tool you could imagine - the piece is not removable anymore... so getting him out to the house with tools is the challenge. I'm leaning more towards doing a line of marquee lights (just the bulbs) and some text that either says "Box Office" or "Tickets" below the lights. That leaves me an option for the future to put up a scrolling LED sign or something cooler. 



ellisr63 said:


> It is coming along great! I hear you on the hot weather putting a damper on working on the projects.


Thanks! I really need to move it into the house to prime and paint it to get it to a more stable temperature and humidity level. I'm not sure exactly how I'm going to do that though :dontknow:
It is 7 ft tall and is really heavy. I was hoping my father in-law was going to stop by over the weekend because he is a gorilla and we would have no trouble - but no such luck. May call up my neighbor tonight and see if his broken leg has healed enough to help  Originally I had planned to keep the top half separated until I brought it into the house - but I got on a roll and ended up putting a bunch of decks screws and a whole lot of gorilla glue in there so it isn't coming apart without breaking something.

I am going to wait until it is painted and in place before I do the crown molding - partly because I don't want it breaking off in transit and partly because I am not sure how high I can go with it.


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## NBPk402

This is what you need...






or this
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Leadleds-P5...f537578&pid=100005&rk=2&rkt=6&sd=201567066311


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## PTAaron

Yeah that second link is one that I was looking at a little while ago... 
I started looking at the other ideas just because of the cost - but it really isn't that bad even for the 26" size.


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## PTAaron

Update for the day: friend brought my "window frame" into work for me today.
Won't get to work on it tonight because we have company coming over, but I plan to work on it Wednesday night - going to secure the plexi in the frame by putting a couple of screws in through the back so it will be removable. At first I'm not going to actually cut the speaker hole or the "ticket slot" in the plexi - but my wife is going to make me a silver vinyl decal for the speaker and a black decal for the ticket slot. I'm paranoid about ruining the plexi sheet if I try cutting it, so I'd like to have it around for a bit before I take any risks. Dumb, but oh well!
I mentioned it before... but the frame will be held in place with 4 pairs of neodynium magnets. I will be drilling very small locating holes from the back into the frame and insetting the magnets into the frame and the face of the booth.


----------



## NBPk402

PTAaron said:


> Update for the day: friend brought my "window frame" into work for me today.
> Won't get to work on it tonight because we have company coming over, but I plan to work on it Wednesday night - going to secure the plexi in the frame by putting a couple of screws in through the back so it will be removable. At first I'm not going to actually cut the speaker hole or the "ticket slot" in the plexi - but my wife is going to make me a silver vinyl decal for the speaker and a black decal for the ticket slot. I'm paranoid about ruining the plexi sheet if I try cutting it, so I'd like to have it around for a bit before I take any risks. Dumb, but oh well!
> I mentioned it before... but the frame will be held in place with 4 pairs of neodynium magnets. I will be drilling very small locating holes from the back into the frame and insetting the magnets into the frame and the face of the booth.


A plus of NOT cutting a hole is you will get more dust behind the plexi with a hole than without.


----------



## PTAaron

Very true!

So this was the bummer of the evening last night: The groove my friend put into the frame is 1/8" ... the plexiglass is 1/8"... apparently one of those 1/8" measurements is less precise than the other and I can't get the glass into the frame! Dang it, I was REALLY hoping to have this thing painted and in the basement this weekend.
My friend is off work today - so I'll be able to pass it back to him tomorrow and hopefully have it back Friday, so it might still happen.


----------



## PTAaron

Frame is back in the hands of my friend that is making the groove a little wider... I forgot to bring it in on Thursday - we got very sad news that my wife's grandfather had passed away early Thursday morning so my mind wasn't on my ticket booth.
Might get some work done on it this weekend, but probably not - we are doing what we can for the family right now, and we have a few holiday related plans...
If I can find time to pick up the frame I can at least get everything primed and start on painting the parts that will be black. I am thinking of doing some trim pieces in a dark gray rather than the silver I had been planning on... and there will be a blue curtain to carry the colors of the theater out into the main "lobby" area.


----------



## Tonto

Sorry to hear about your loss. My prayers are with you & your family.

On a side note, consider that paint takes up space, so you might want to figure that into how wide he is going to re-router the grooves. The wood will also absorb some of the paints moisture & swell some.


----------



## PTAaron

Tonto said:


> Sorry to hear about your loss. My prayers are with you & your family.
> 
> On a side note, consider that paint takes up space, so you might want to figure that into how wide he is going to re-router the grooves. The wood will also absorb some of the paints moisture & swell some.


Thank you.
Thanks for the tip. I hadn't considered that, but it certainly makes sense.


----------



## PTAaron

I stopped by Hobby Lobby today to see what options they had for letters... 
I double checked my space and with the trim around the top taking up 2.5" and the window frame taking up 2" at the bottom I am left with 7.5" for letter height.

This is what I came up with:

5" tall letters:









3" tall letters (meant to stand, so the rounded letters have flat bottoms:









another 3" option:









Or there is this option - which will mean not adding the trim around the top and require some more filling for the screws that were intended to be hidden by the trim. It will also stick out above the top a bit because the window frame does take up 2" underneath it ( I positioned it to show what it will be like with the frame in place):









There was the option of a scrolling LED sign - but I'm thinking if I am getting one of those I will be putting it above the entrance to the theater rather than on the booth.


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## NBPk402

I still prefer the scrolling LED sign, but then again it is easy for me to prefer something when I am not paying for it.


----------



## PTAaron

ellisr63 said:


> I still prefer the scrolling LED sign, but then again it is easy for me to prefer something when I am not paying for it.


Isn't that the truth! :rofl2:

A friend was building a system and I kept suggesting he get a pair of Orbit Shifter subs... for some reason he didn't go that route :coocoo:

I was really considering it... but I feel like if I were going to go that route it would be better over the actual theater door - add more of a "commercial theater" touch. I'm really torn on which way to go. I know that if I do the letters and just brad nail them into place it will be really easy to change out for something "cooler" in the future.
The "top" of the booth needs some work though if I am going to go with the "now showing" sign option - the top trim was supposed to hide a minor alignment flaw in the top 2x4 board - it somehow twisted when the glue was still drying and I didn't notice it. Nothing a planer can't fix, but I would rather just cover it up


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## PTAaron

Oh I also picked up a 16" diameter film reel to put on the "door" on the lower portion.


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## PTAaron

Partial decision made... It won't be the now showing sign 










Had a few minutes to kill so I cut up some trim board and test fit it... It looked too good not to keep. 

Wife is leaning towards "Box Office" with the 3" letters.


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## NBPk402

I just found this...not lit, but nice IMO. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Primitive-S...280188?hash=item51b0d7bf3c:g:OTkAAOxyirJSE~fT

Or how about this sign? They can do a custom one for you too.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/120075-Box-...811079?hash=item464bc373c7:g:QFcAAOSwJQdXAhQ9

You could even have this done locally (I bet) on the top of the plexi, and have a black boarder for the separation of the rest of the window.

Another option...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/20-HOME-CIN...424406?hash=item3f54d8a756:g:88EAAOSwQYZWxneJ


You see i can spend your money very easily.


----------



## Hank Perkins

I really like your Now Showing Deadpool sign.

I would build a box for the back of it and install a small fluorescent bulb and back light it. I would use that somewhere. Above the entrance into the theater room, on your box office, even on the wall in the hall leading into the theater.

The light box can be made of cheap plywood you could even set it into a wall and light it.


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## Tonto

Can you find those letters in clear, plastic? You could mount them on a thin board, trace them, router out the letters, frame the thin board so there is a gap between it & the surface. Make the gap wide enough so the letters are almost flush with the outside surface of thin board & glue them to the back surface. Then run some rope light around the inside of the frame & the letters would light up.

There I go thinking out loud again!


----------



## PTAaron

[Q


ellisr63 said:


> I just found this...not lit, but nice IMO. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Primitive-S...280188?hash=item51b0d7bf3c:g:OTkAAOxyirJSE~fT
> 
> Or how about this sign? They can do a custom one for you too.
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/120075-Box-...811079?hash=item464bc373c7:g:QFcAAOSwJQdXAhQ9
> 
> You could even have this done locally (I bet) on the top of the plexi, and have a black boarder for the separation of the rest of the window.
> 
> Another option...
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/20-HOME-CIN...424406?hash=item3f54d8a756:g:88EAAOSwQYZWxneJ
> 
> 
> You see i can spend your money very easily.


You're good at that 
The first one is something my wife could probably make, she has 2 cutting machines so she could do lettering that way... I prefer the raised letter options though.
Second one - I have 2 similar signs for other things in the basement - they look great in the dark.
Third option - I had looked at their stuff for over the theater door... 



Hank Perkins said:


> I really like your Now Showing Deadpool sign.
> 
> I would build a box for the back of it and install a small fluorescent bulb and back light it. I would use that somewhere. Above the entrance into the theater room, on your box office, even on the wall in the hall leading into the theater.
> 
> The light box can be made of cheap plywood you could even set it into a wall and light it.


I usually have it hanging over the theater door - I hadn't considered a light box behind it though! Nice idea!




Tonto said:


> Can you find those letter in clear, plastic? You could mount them on a thin board, trace them, router out the letters, frame the thin board so there is a gap between it & the surface. Make the gap wide enough so the letters are almost flush with the outside surface of thin board & glue them to the back surface. Then run some rope light around the inside of the frame & the letters would light up.
> 
> There I go thinking out loud again!


That's an interesting thought too. I'm sure someone sells plexiglass letters in the right size and maybe bribe my friend to build the rest of it 

Thanks for all of the input guys! I appreciate the ideas.

I think for right now I'm going with one of the "boring" options, but they will only be attached with brad nails so I can swap them out for something cooler in the future when the budget allows.


----------



## Hank Perkins

If you do the light box, use a light source that does not generate heat.


----------



## Tonto

You could put different colors of rope lighting inside & wire them through a switch. That way you could change the color of the letters as needed.


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## PTAaron

Some updates...

Got my window frame with the new enlarged groove - the plexi slid into place almost perfectly. Had to trim the top corners to clear the screws that hold the frame together - nice easy fix with my Dremel 









Test fit everything - looks good if you ask me 









Drilled some small holes from the backside to mark where the magnets are going to go... used a 3/4" Forstner bit to recess the magnets into the frame:









Used some epoxy and glued the magnets in place... you may notice that there are only 3 sets... there WERE 4 but while I was labeling them the 4th set decided to snap themselves together and shattered both magnets! Quick trip to Home Depot tomorrow morning should fix it right up


----------



## PTAaron

Progress! Primed and applied first coat of paint on ticket booth yesterday. Went with eggshell Mouse Ears Black since I had a quart of it sitting in my basement. The "window frame" was actually spray painted with a satin black that I had picked up for something else. I will probably do a coat of mouse ears on the front and outside edges of the frame tonight.:




























I also picked up some grey spray paint thinking I would do the letters and maybe the window frame with it... turned out it was lighter and more "blue" than I wanted. I ended up painting the frame black as well (as seen in the photo above). My wife reminded me that we had 6 different really dark grey paint samples from when we redid our kitchen in April, so I may try something different but this is what the letters look like now:










EDIT: Yes... I water my lawn... isn't helping since we haven't had much rain...


----------



## NBPk402

Looks great! 

I have to ask...what is under the car cover?


----------



## PTAaron

ellisr63 said:


> Looks great!
> 
> I have to ask...what is under the car cover?


Thanks!

That's my wife's Firebird - it's her baby


----------



## PTAaron

Finished up the second coat of "mouse ears" on everything and decided to hit the letters with some "dark steel metallic" spray paint I had sitting around to see how it would look. Hard to say at the moment - we'll see once it is dry 










Final step now is getting some help to carry this monstrosity into the basement so I can put the door back on, tack on the letters, add the curtains, and finally see how it looks!


----------



## PTAaron

Quick shot of the back side... you can see how overly reinforced things are - and also how I didn't paint the back very thoroughly :laugh2:


----------



## PTAaron

Pointless update... didn't get the booth moved into place - but here are a couple of photos:

The booth is going to go where the "National Lampoons" poster is hanging:









Just to show where that is relative to the theater... my wife's treadmill usually sits on the other side of the closet doors when it isn't being used which explains the line of shoes 









Put the glass into the frame... too bad it is clear so you can't see it! LOL!


----------



## PTAaron

I managed to drag it downstairs tonight!









Curtain arrived today - it is a single panel "blackout panel" that I need to transform into 2 smaller curtains later... but I put it in place just to see what it was going to look like:


















Mock up of the letters - they are just sitting on top of the window frame now... I think I like the "dark steel metallic" color:









Inside the lower portion is an outlet so I can do whatever upgrades I want in the future:









I'll be adding one of those hidden magnetic child locks to the door later - just for fun.

Anyway ... that's where we are now! I'm very happy with how it has turned out so far!


----------



## NBPk402

Looks great!


----------



## Lumen

Agreed - sharp work! Be proud :grin2:


----------



## PTAaron

ellisr63 said:


> Looks great!





Lumen said:


> Agreed - sharp work! Be proud :grin2:


Thanks guys! 
It turned out a lot better than I ever expected when I started the project.


----------



## NBPk402

Looks as good, if not better than one you would buy for considerably more money!


----------



## PTAaron

ellisr63 said:


> Looks as good, if not better than one you would buy for considerably more money!


Thanks!
I can't believe what they charge for the prebuilt booths online... This one would probably have been $150 to build from scratch, with using scrap pieces I spent maybe $70 including the plexiglass, curtain, letters, glue, and a ton of screws to overbuild it


----------



## Tonto

Looks great! It does look a little dark up their though. I can see why you wanted the letters to light up. That will be a classy upgrade if you ever decide to do it. Have you considered a built-in ticket dispenser? Push a button & a ticket pops out! That would be cool! Boy, this hobby can get so involved/expensive! Just me thinking out loud again. Great job!


----------



## PTAaron

Tonto said:


> Looks great! It does look a little dark up their though. I can see why you wanted the letters to light up. That will be a classy upgrade if you ever decide to do it. Have you considered a built-in ticket dispenser? Push a button & a ticket pops out! That would be cool! Boy, this hobby can get so involved/expensive! Just me thinking out loud again. Great job!


Thanks!

After having it in place I've been looking at rope lighting ideas... I was thinking I could run it up one side of the window inset so you don't see the rope, have it run through the structure and come out a hole above the letters to run across the front and go back into a hole and down along the other side of the window. I have holes drilled in the frame that would make that easy to do - I just don't know how it would look.

I'd like to do the marquee lights across the top - I just have to really pick an option and run with it I guess!

Haha... no ticket machine... but I do have a program for making tickets, and they look really good when I display the image on the TV next to the theater entrance 

I did put a digital photo frame inside the window area and it looks pretty good running movie poster images on it - I might move that to one side and keep it in there in the end. It has a remote control so that makes things easy. I can also make that display the ticket for "movie night" too I suppose


----------



## PTAaron

Forgot to post this over here...
I was at home depot Sunday looking for options for the "speak through" on my ticket window and ran across this for $2:









Brass color had to go - so I painted it:









I like it because I won't have to actually drill a 3" hole to mount it... just 4 smaller holes for the tabs to slide into. 

Also - the best part of getting the booth into the basement: I get my garage back!!


----------



## PTAaron

So I still haven't decided on the "finishing touches" for the booth... letters are still in a stack on the poker table...

Here is a picture of what it looks like right now:









Next project in the basement will be FINALLY redoing the bar. I talked about it back at the beginning of this thread - and it just never happened. Now I am MUCH more confident in my ability to build a bar - which is really not hard AT ALL, I was just over thinking it before. 
This will be the next project that has to happen in the basement before I'm going to be able to justify the projector/screen.

Still have to keep most basement things on hold though until we replace 2 sliding doors and get new concrete poured for our front porch that has decided to start falling apart. :rant:


----------



## PTAaron

Alright - I'm trying to get my plan together for the upcoming upgrade to a projector and screen. Projector will be a BenQ HT2050, screen will be a DIY spandex AT screen. Up until this past weekend my plan had been for the screen to go on the wall with speakers around it - now I am changing my mind.

First row of seating will be about 9.5' from the screen wall, planned screen will be a 16:9 117" diagonal - my available space allows 102" width for the screen.
Projector will be mounted at 10.5-11' from the screen. This allows me to take advantage of the height difference between the back half of the room and the front of the room (7'10" tall in the back half).

I have a few issues to deal with - main issue being that the false wall can only have 16" of depth behind it, and my subwoofers stick out 26" from the actual back wall... but I have a plan for that.

So let me start out by showing you guys what I'm starting with and what my plan is... and hopefully get some feedback.

So this is what the front of the room looks like now - that door on the right is the reason I can only have 16" of depth:

















Plan is to build a 6" tall stage that will bow out from the edge of the door out to about 32" from the back wall - that will make it deep enough for the subs at the right point. I plan to build a false wall with fabric panels held on by velcro or magnets for the front "wall" that will go around the subs and give a place to mount the screen. Here is a SweetHome3D rendering of what it might look like:

















I'm not sure exactly where to put the speakers - maybe on a platform just above the subwoofers that would let me put them out at the edges of the screen - if that seems like a reasonable width.
I'm not sure how close they can be to the wall - I'm just using the Andrew Jones Pioneer speakers right now and they are rear ported. For the moment I won't be upgrading speakers so these will have to work - not sure what the best practice is here other than reading they should be "at least a port width" away from a wall. Worst case scenario I could cut into the actual front wall - to create more space, but I would rather not if I can help it.

Plus side to this idea is that I can do some linacoustic or some other form of bass absorption behind the false wall and around the speakers - can I do that around rear ported speakers?

Does this idea look like it makes sense?


----------



## Owen Bartley

Aaron, nice plan to deal with the false wall. I have a similar "funny" front wall idea, although mine isn't limited by the doorway like yours is. I wanted to keep as much depth as I could for screen distance, but the subs and equipment rack will need 2' of space. My plan is to build a lower section out 2' deep to accommodate them, and then push back the upper screen section to 1' deep. This will allow the main speakers to sit behind still, but give me a little more room for viewing distance in my tight room.


----------



## NBPk402

A friend of mine put ported subs by a treated wall, and had to put wood in front of the treated wall to get the bass back. Not sure how it will effect non sub frequencies though.


----------



## PTAaron

Owen Bartley said:


> Aaron, nice plan to deal with the false wall. I have a similar "funny" front wall idea, although mine isn't limited by the doorway like yours is. I wanted to keep as much depth as I could for screen distance, but the subs and equipment rack will need 2' of space. My plan is to build a lower section out 2' deep to accommodate them, and then push back the upper screen section to 1' deep. This will allow the main speakers to sit behind still, but give me a little more room for viewing distance in my tight room.


Yeah I had considered doing something along those lines and building the lower portion out to hide the subs, but I would have to angle or curve it back in for the door and I wasn't sure how that would look. I suppose if I didn't actually build the stage I could do a fabric front wall around the subs...



ellisr63 said:


> A friend of mine put ported subs by a treated wall, and had to put wood in front of the treated wall to get the bass back. Not sure how it will effect non sub frequencies though.


Good to know. I guess I'll just have to give it a try and see... I know people do recommend acoustic panels behind the speakers so I don't know that it would be much different? Maybe?


----------



## PTAaron

double


----------



## PTAaron

I did a few mock-ups of stage free versions after some discussion over on AVS... I had one idea that involved rotating the subs 90 degrees and building out the wall to hide them. In my head it sounded great, but after seeing the rendering it doesn't look so good.

So here is my "hide the subwoofers" idea ... I don't think this one will work. It brings the screen to a position where the first row is only 9' from the screen. (Used grey for the walls so they would show up... in real life all would be black)

















Bringing it all back in to 16" depth on the screen wall - subwoofers rotated with the ports facing to the side walls. This layout would let me go wider on the screen than the other option would.


----------



## PTAaron

Only current update is that my father in-law came over this weekend to take a look at the HVAC situation in my room, he does heating and cooling professionally. Currently there is one vent into the room that is located just in front of my back row of seats and no return in the room. In fact there isn't a return in the entire basement - apparently all of the air gets returned by going under the door to the upstairs - at least that's how my father in-law explained it. Problem is the movie room is pretty pretty sealed up now so the air in there isn't being pulled out when the door is closed.

What I wanted to do was either move the incoming vent to the center of the front of the room, or split it into 2 and put them closer to the side walls in the front of the room and add a return along the back wall of the room.
Main reason I wanted to do this was that it gets pretty stuffy in the room with 4-6 people watching a movie.

It turns out that won't be possible without some major work. The duct to the vent is running in a joist space and it is only a 6" duct so no splitting it. Unfortunately there isn't enough room between the drop ceiling in the back half of the room and the joists to turn it and run it to the front of the room, and the main trunk running near the front half of the room already has enough branches off of it that my FIL didn't think it would be good to add another because we would potentially lose to much airflow to the upstairs.

I may look into rerouting the 6" duct in the furnace room to bring it into the front of the room, but that looks extremely labor intensive as it will have to route around quite a few pipes and other ducts.

I will be putting in a return at the front of the room though - FIL suggested just putting an intake vent on the main trunk of the furnace and opening up a hole (with a grate on it) into the theater room in the area of my equipment rack. I will probably end up doing either that or running a duct to the front of the room off to one side (probably above the closet door).


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## NBPk402

When we were doing our HVAC setup... the installer said that we could get by without one due to the size of the room. What i do have though is a filter on a HVAC hose behind our AT screen that dumps into the closet in the next room. We do have sound leakage to the rest of the house though because of it, and you def will know if the fan is on when you try to close the closet door. LOL


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## thrillcat

If you're doing an acoustically transparent screen (which is absolutely the way to go, in my opinion), I very much recommend spending just a bit more for the material than spandex. If you contact SeymourAV, they'll sell you just their material and you can use it in your DIY frame just as you would spandex. It really is affordable, and you're getting a big step up using material that was engineered to project an image on and not affect the sound passing through, as opposed to a material that was engineered to be worn by 80's rockers and aerobics instructors. 

I built my 115" DIY screen with Seymour's material, velvet, and the wood for under $400.


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## PTAaron

thrillcat said:


> If you're doing an acoustically transparent screen (which is absolutely the way to go, in my opinion), I very much recommend spending just a bit more for the material than spandex. If you contact SeymourAV, they'll sell you just their material and you can use it in your DIY frame just as you would spandex. It really is affordable, and you're getting a big step up using material that was engineered to project an image on and not affect the sound passing through, as opposed to a material that was engineered to be worn by 80's rockers and aerobics instructors.
> 
> I built my 115" DIY screen with Seymour's material, velvet, and the wood for under $400.


Thanks for the input, I do understand what you're saying - unfortunately $400 is a whole lot more than I can spend on a screen.
Maybe in the future... at the moment the $50-70 it will cost to build the spandex screen fits my budget much better


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## PTAaron

Okay - so I as working out how I wanted to build the false wall in the front of the room I realized my renderings had the ceiling height wrong. I adjusted the rendering - which makes it pretty clear than I can't go any bigger than a 102" wide screen because I'll run out of room height-wise. At 102" wide it will be 57" tall and leave me 5" of space between the ceiling and the top of the screen. 
I'll have an additional 6" of height in the back part of the room where the projector will mount, so there is plenty of room there.

Anyway - this is what it will look like with 26" under the screen as needed for the rear row to be able to see the whole screen:










I did an old school drawing for the false wall framing since I still can't figure out how to use SketchUp... 
I figured that the opening should allow for 2" of overhang of the screen in all directions so I am making it 4" shorter and narrower than the screen will be. 
Do I need that much overhang?










I will be overbuilding this - as I always seem to do, so there will be another frame against the front wall, the frame pictured above will be 16" off the front wall to give enough depth for the speakers to sit behind the screen.
The front wall will be skinned in fabric - velvet is looking like the best option right now... I can get it locally at Joann Fabric with a coupon, and I won't need to figure out how to make a frame around the screen 

I'm going to pick up some corner bass traps from the Foam Factory (it is local for me) for the front corners since it is a whole lot cheaper than anywhere else: http://www.usafoam.com/acousticfoam/bassbroad.html









I plan on doing some sort of insulation on the whole front wall - Linacoustic is a bit on the expensive side, but maybe in the future. 
So anyway - that's what I'm planning so far.


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## PTAaron

I've done literally nothing as far as progress with the room... Not really much point at the moment since I don't have the projector 

I've been spending my spare time working on tracking down some problems on my wife's SUV, and after getting new tires on my Jeep Saturday I found out that I need to replace both control arms on mine! Setting aside funds for the projector/mount/screen/etc is becoming more difficult than I expected!

On the plus side I've watched a few movies and played some PS4 games in the room, so it isn't being completely neglected


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## PTAaron

Been 2 months in the making, but I have a huge update: I just ordered my projector!! I just got an early Christmas amazon gift card from my parents, and the price on the projector dropped by $130, so I had to put the order in! It will be here Sunday along with a mount. 
I'm actually feeling more nervous than excited about this for some reason, and I know that is probably ridiculous... but what can you do?

I have the screen material in a box waiting for a frame to be built - a really generous local AVS member gave it to me because he didn't need it for his build anymore. VERY cool! Thanks Brian - even though I don't think you're on this forum. Screen will be white over black spandex.

Screen will be built with fingerjoined pine boards - 8'7" wide and however tall it works out to be when you divide that by 1.77 
I was going to do 8'6" wide, but I discovered that the FJ pine boards came in either 12' or 8' lengths and didn't want to waste a bunch of wood... so I'll be doing 8' crossbars on the top with 1x4s on either end to bring it up to 8'7". 

Thus far I have done nothing in the way of building my new front wall - simply no time or money to put towards it. All I've done is pick up a couple of FJ 1x3" boards to test out the fit for the uprights of my minimalist screenwall. 

I have a "guys movie day" planned for the 18th where we will be watching Suicide Squad extended cut - don't anticipate having the screen up for that.


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## NBPk402

Be careful...once you start watching movies in the new room, you will be lucky if you do any more work on it. I didn't heed to others that said this and 3 years later my HT is still not completed.


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## PTAaron

ellisr63 said:


> Be careful...once you start watching movies in the new room, you will be lucky if you do any more work on it. I didn't heed to others that said this and 3 years later my HT is still not completed.


Haha! Yeah... I'm going to build a "minimalist" screen wall with velvet panels, I am going to build in just the uprights to hang the screen at first. My fear is I will never get the velvet panels built :rofl:

I'm thinking the screen build and installation of the uprights and rigging a way to hang the screen shouldn't take too much more than a day of work. I do also have to build a stand for the center speaker - I think I'll be just standing the right and lefts on top of the subs instead of building the large shelf I had been planning on.


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## PTAaron

Projector arrived today... didn't get much time to play with it but I did throw a sheet up in my living room and fire it up. Watched a bit of Pitch Perfect 2 through my computer - it just happened to be what was on the web app from my cable provider at the time, don't judge!

I was pretty impressed with how it looked on an unevenly hung sheet in a room with the lights on - so I can't wait to see how it looks on a proper screen in a light controlled theater room!


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## PTAaron

We've officially moved into Version 3.0 of the English Way Cinema...

First I had to mount the projector and figure out how to mount the outlet for power and an outlet for the HDMI... being that I had a drop ceiling to deal with I wanted to deal with and wanted everything mounted "correctly". 
I just happened to have a piece of 2x12 leftover from my riser build that just happened to be the exact size to replace part of a ceiling tile...









On the 24th I had a little time so I got to work trying to get things figured out...

Pulled out the Kreg pocket hole gizmo that I have never used before and drilled myself a few holes...









A friend that does a lot of woodworking suggested getting the Kreg specialized clamp for keeping things in place - and it worked like a charm!

















You may notice that the 2x4 pieces are different lengths and you may wonder if there is a reason... the answer is "yes". The reason is that I had 2 pieces of 2x4 laying around that were different lengths and I didn't want to fire up the saw at midnight. LOL!

Ended up looking like this:









Took a lot of fiddling but I got the mount attached to the projector - this was the first attempt, turned out it needed to be shifted over a bit to get the lens in the middle of the room. 









Test fit looked like this:









I'll have to pull it back down to make the hole for the outlet - and while it is down I'll get it painted flat black to match the rest of the ceiling.


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## PTAaron

Monday I had a little time... and decided to get to work on my screen!

Started out by putting the Kreg pocket hole jig to good use - note the creative solution to the low ceiling 

















I also put the router I got from my wife's grandpa to good use to put some grooves in 1x2 boards for the "frame stiffeners":

















You can see that I did 2 passes with a 3/8" bit to get the 3/4" I needed... it's made a lot of sawdust! Clearly hooking the shop vac to the router didn't do much! LOL!









It was at this point that I realized I had made a big mistake. I drilled the pocket holes in the 1x3s without actually measuring them to see if they were actually 8' long! When I checked - it turned out they were both too long, but not the same amount of too long. Since the holes were already drilled there was only a fraction of an inch I could trim off on either end - and to make it better one of the 2 remaining boards had a nasty lateral curve to it so I couldn't use it for the frame!
Thankfully the other spare board was good and also a good length. Very long story slightly shorter: the long boards are 1/4" longer than originally planned. 

Next bummer was that the special pocket hole clamp I used earlier wouldn't work for this frame 
Luckily I had a solution:









End result was this beauty:









Before I could get the "stiffener trim" installed I had to stop... my plan for the day also included changing a wheel bearing on my wife's car - and that took way too long to get back to the screen build.


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## PTAaron

Still left to do on the screen build is attach the stiffener boards, attach the Screen Tight strips, add a cross beam between the center uprights for the French cleat to attach to... and then stretch the 2 layers of spandex onto it. Not too bad...
Of course then I have to build the front wall framing that it will attach to... then build the panels that will be covered in velvet and fill in the area around the screen... and then add the corner bass traps... and ... and ... and ... Okay there is a lot still to do.


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## PTAaron

Had a little time to kill between getting home from work and getting ready to go out for New Years...

















Got the "stiffener boards" all attached! 
The one clamp is holding down one of the small pieces I had to add since I only bought 8' pieces of 1x2... decided it could use a little glue since I couldn't get 2 screws into it like on the other long side. 

Started messing around with the screen tight but realized that I probably can't get the corners right without doing mitred corners. I wasn't sure how to cut plastic for a nice mitre - so I decided to wait until tomorrow and give my dremel a try. I'm 99% sure I won't be able to do perfect corners, but they'll all be hidden anyway so who cares!

Played around with positioning the screen tight - I am probably going to go right in the middle instead of either tight against the center edge or tight against the stiffener board. 

Also - apparently when I was planning the cross bar I had been planning on putting it on the back side of the uprights to space it off the wall. I didn't remember doing it that way - but the board I measured and cut is clearly not meant to go between the uprights . LOL!









Side note: the final screen width came out the exactly 102" along one long board, and 102 1/8" along the other. I don't think that difference will be noticeable so I'm not about to take things apart just to shave a blade width off a board. If it was more than that I would take it apart, my limit was going to be 3/16".


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## PTAaron

Update from 1/2/17:

Here is the short version:

Figured out a way to cut nice 45 degree angles on the Screen Tight track - just needed 2 clamps, a square, and a hacksaw:









1/2" #8 pan head sheet metal screws every 6 inches worked great for holding the track in place, corners came out OK. 









Building the "hanger" for the screen was a pain. I did some calculations to figure out how to get it so the back of the screen would be 16" from the wall - somehow I got it right. The joists overhead were of course not in the right places so the uprights aren't centered, so it is a bit ugly - luckily no one will see it once I'm done. The store bought French Cleat was easy to use and the built in bubble level was great! 









I was starting to get close to the time company was coming over to watch the Lions game on the "new screen" so I started rushing to get the fabric stretched and installed. What a pain! It only took on short side worth of rolling for me to start wishing I had just decided to use staples. I managed to get 3 sides of the black fabric installed before I was about out of time, so I just used thumbtacks to get the white fabric up and usable. 









After getting the projector level and square i realized that the projector had ended up 1.5-2" too low for the screen height I planned. Looks like I will be raising the 2x12 up so I can get the image up above the screen, then use the vertical lens shift to bring it down. 

Anyway a we watched the Lions game on the mostly done screen and it my friends were blown away - I'm very happy with the size of the screen, just need to get get it actually done 

EDIT: Forgot this picture:


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## PTAaron

Sunday 1/8/17 update:

Plan for today was to get the screen mount fixed, redo the screen fabric, raise the projector up 1.5", install the ceiling outlet, run the wiring, install the screen wall uprights, paint everything black, and reinstall the projector. I got a lot of that done... so here is an excessively long post about today:

First thing I did was build some "spacers" for the projector mount. In case you missed it - earlier I noticed my screen was about 1" further out from the wall on the left side than the right. When I measured the mount it was 1/2" different due things shifting up at the top attachment point even through each one had 4 screws holding it in place... I used my Kreg jig to make a some boards to space things out from the wall the exact distance I needed it. They are "L" shaped so I can attach them to the studs in the wall and tie them into either end of the screen mount:
Screen build Jan 8 by PTAaron, on Flickr
Screen build Jan 8 by PTAaron, on Flickr
Screen build Jan 8 by PTAaron, on Flickr

Worked out great - mount spaced out 15.5" from the wall, back of screen ended up at 16", front of screen 17.5" from the wall all according to plan 

Next up was modifying the 2x12 - if you recall I discovered that the projector was hanging too low and was not hitting the top of the screen. I didn't want to tilt it and have to use keystone correction to compensate, so I decided I was going to put a hole in the 2x12 and stick the mount through it to get the extra height. I originally planned to use a jigsaw, but I noticed how close I was going to be to the edge of the wall... so I decided to go with one of these instead!
Screen build Jan 8 by PTAaron, on Flickr
Screen build Jan 8 by PTAaron, on Flickr
Screen build Jan 8 by PTAaron, on Flickr

Moved on to using the jigsaw to cut out the opening for the outlet... everything looked great, I popped the outlet in and something awful happened - the part I was worried about breaking fell off!! Apparently cutting out the other hole bounced it around too much 
Screen build Jan 8 by PTAaron, on Flickr

I was able to glue and clamp the parts back together.
Screen build Jan 8 by PTAaron, on Flickr

Gave the glue a while to dry and decided to get to work on the screen. I decided not to pull the black layer off and I just finished attaching the final long side, and adjusted one short side - and it evened out nicely. Still had a few creases that didn't come out with the stretching, but it won't be seen so I didn't care. When I went to add the white layer I decided to be smarter this time and follow the same stretching pattern that is recommended for stapling - as you can see here I stretched each side and fastened each one down in the center. 
Screen build Jan 8 by PTAaron, on Flickr

Once the fabric was all stretched I did a test fit fit with the projector to make sure it hit the right spot - it hit just above the screen (after leveling the projector) so I could shift it down onto the screen as planned  Test pattern confirms I somehow got it lined up properly.
Screen build Jan 8 by PTAaron, on Flickr

As an added bonus I can now stand under the projector!
Screen build Jan 8 by PTAaron, on Flickr

Next up was a quick coat of matte Mouse Ears! Painted the mount, 2x12, and the boards that will be the uprights for the front wall.
Screen build Jan 8 by PTAaron, on Flickr
Screen build Jan 8 by PTAaron, on Flickr

Installed the outlets (the power outlet doesn't have wires run to it yet, HDMI does):
Screen build Jan 8 by PTAaron, on Flickr

Screen build Jan 8 by PTAaron, on Flickr

Fired up a couple of movies - first screenshot was run through Kodi, other is from a demo blu-ray... I couldn't figure out why it was not going full screen, but I just now realized I forgot to adjust the screen borders... oops.
Screen build Jan 8 by PTAaron, on Flickr

Screen build Jan 8 by PTAaron, on Flickr

Only problem is there are a few wrinkles that didn't come out of the white layer... I decided to let it sit for a bit and see if they work themselves out. Just in case I also picked up a steamer - I'll give the steamer a try if it doesn't work itself out in a few days 
Screen build Jan 8 by PTAaron, on Flickrmselves out. Just in case I also picked up a steamer - I'll give the steamer a try if it doesn't work itself out in a few days
Screen build Jan 8 by PTAaron, on Flickr


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## PTAaron

Productive couple of days since my last post... in case anyone is interested 

I had come up with a plan earlier in the day for exactly how I wanted to construct the uprights for the wall - plan was to attach the uprights to the ceiling joists, add some "stand offs" from the wall to prevent the upright board from bowing, and that was about it.

I picked up a few goodies at Home Depot on the way home - cut the boards down to size and pulled out the trusty Kreg jig again. That jig is getting a lot of use!





Attached the "difficult side" first where the joist and stud in the wall didn't line up with the upright location, but ran into a problem with things not lining up quite right even though everything was cut properly and measured right... but I think I got it all straightened out.


Upper attachment at the floor joists:


I kept dropping the spacer board I was using to make sure I was keeping things consistent distance from the side wall - that wasn't so good for the paint or drywall on the wall. Luckily this will all be behind velvet panels when I'm done.


The left side lined up with the floor joist and wall stud - so it was much less hassle:




Did some ceiling tile cutting and got everything back in place - here is a quick pic before I painted the supports for the uprights


Unfortunate discovery when I went to hook the center channel back up... the plug had broken in the wall outlet! I'll be emailing Monoprice in the morning to see if they have any thoughts. Luckily I had a couple of spare Monster plugs laying around with some wire, so I just made a new cable to use for now. Since the connectors are Monster brand now, I'm sure the sound will be 500% better.  LOL!


Next day I had a few minutes to work on running the electric. My plan was to put an inlet in the room nextdoor with wiring from that to the outlet at the projector. The UPS in the furnace room connects to the "inlet" with an extension cord.

Final result in the furnace room/network distribution room:


















UPS in its temporary location on top of the water heater - excuse the wire mess, switching to U-verse caused a lot of cables to get moved around and I haven't fixed it up yet 









Oh... what do you call someone that starts drilling holes in overhead joists while standing directly under them? Around here we call that dumbass Aaron!









...any true metro-Detroiter should already be singing the jingle that goes with the company logo on my sweatshirt without seeing the company name 

I've realized I need a MUCH shorter power cord and a shorter HDMI cable - but for now some cable ties and some tucking in get the job done.


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## PTAaron

I cleaned up the room yesterday... took a couple pics. Currently only missing the velvet panels, still have touch up work to do on the tiles... my spray paint work isn't very durable:









Comparison before and after shots:


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## NBPk402

Looks AWESOME!!!


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## PTAaron

ellisr63 said:


> Looks AWESOME!!!


Thank you!!
I'm very happy with how it turned out :smile:

Only thing I would change is that I would go back in time and do matte Sorcerer's Hat paint on the walls instead of eggshell. I'd like a little less reflection off the wall when watching a movie.


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## NBPk402

PTAaron said:


> Thank you!!
> I'm very happy with how it turned out :smile:
> 
> Only thing I would change is that I would go back in time and do matte Sorcerer's Hat paint on the walls instead of eggshell. I'd like a little less reflection off the wall when watching a movie.


Your blue on the walls looks like about the same color as my GOM panels.


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## Savjac

This is a great build thread, thank you for sharing. I guess I need to get back to work on mine. :gulp:


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## PTAaron

ellisr63 said:


> Your blue on the walls looks like about the same color as my GOM panels.


Yeah, I noticed that in the past  We both have great taste apparently!



Savjac said:


> This is a great build thread, thank you for sharing. I guess I need to get back to work on mine. :gulp:


Thanks for checking it out!


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## PTAaron

I had some free time over the weekend so I tackled my screen wall... I had picked up 6 yards of Royalty 3 velvet earlier in the week, so it was time get to work.

LOVE the Kreg jig - one of the best purchases I've made in a while! 


Took a while to drill the pocket holes for all of the supports... but everything went together nice and easy


Miscalculated how much 1x2 scrap I was going to have - so the top panel has 2 supports that are 1x3 - no big deal, you guys are the only ones that will know 


Wrapping with velvet should have been really easy - but as you can see my stapler has seen better days... good tip is never to drop an electric stapler onto concrete from the top of a ladder. LOL! It took literally 3-4x as long as it should have because it kept jamming, not restting, or firing too light but I didn't want to buy a new one 


I put some blocks on the side walls and then attached velcro for the side panels... the center panels press fit between them very tightly so they aren't going anywhere. Funny how much more "black" velvet is than Mouse Ears black paint!


This was as far as I got Saturday - but I had to figure out what to do with the part around the subs and cabinet since my wife had decided that we needed to keep the cabinet.


I had a few ideas, but I decided to make it complicated when I got back to work on Sunday. 
I also picked up a manual stapler to replace my busted electric stapler.













































There are a few ripples but you know what? I don't care! LOL!!

The part I wasn't sure about was how to cover the area between the subs - but my wife said "why not just make it a curtain?" ... so that's what I'm going to do. I just need 1 more yard of velvet to make the curtain 

I'm also thinking of getting a yard of black GOM to cover the subs but I don't know if that will work - those ports move a lot of air.


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## PTAaron

Got my 4 bass traps today - a friend picked them up for me from a local foam shop that is only open while I'm at work... 4 12"x12"x24" corner traps are a lot bigger in person than they sound! LOL! Not a bad deal for $45 though!
I'm going to run REW... then install the traps and then run it again to see what difference they make 
After that I'm going to consider finally cutting the openings in my riser that I planned on doing months ago to use it as a broadband bass trap


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## Lumen

Good job - Great room - Love the pics! I'm such the noob: is there a reason you pointed the subwoofer ports into the room rather than the drivers?


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## PTAaron

Lumen said:


> Good job - Great room - Love the pics! I'm such the noob: is there a reason you pointed the subwoofer ports into the room rather than the drivers?


Thank you!
They are down firing subwoofers... the ports are on the front


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## PTAaron

While the wife was away this morning I had some time to do a little work before our evening plans start...

Picked up some more velvet, some heat activated fabric bonding strips (since I don't have a sewing machine), a piece of pex pipe, a metal rod that fits inside the pipe, and some super strong magnets. 

I made an appropriately sized "curtain" for the space between the subs and used the heat activated stuff to make a sleeve along the bottom edge - the stables are holding the heat activated stuff in place, the adhesive on it was garbage:









Then I used a carpet tack strip tack side down the make make sure things hung down evenly... used some screws to hold it in place:









Test fit... had to make some adjustments and add some industrial Velcro to fix a spot where the heat stuff came apart - I was really worried about getting the velvet too hot and ruining it, so I probably didn't get it heated evenly. On a test piece I found that there was a very fine line between "just enough" and ruining the fabric. 









After adjustments - there is still one little spot that isn't quite right that I will adjust when I add the subwoofer fabric..: but I'm really happy with it. I didn't add the magnets yet - that should make it a little tighter. Right now you can tell it isn't a "panel", but when the lights are low it's invisible. 









This is with the rear 4 lights at about 40% and the door open - just to show that the subwoofer poets are visible and shiny. The screen looks much more washed out in the picture than in real life... and yeah the clock on my HTPC is off by an hour


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## Owen Bartley

*Re: PTAaron's Movie Room/Game Room/Bar - comments welcome!!*

It looks so clean with the new fabric panel in. That's a great idea, I'll have to remember that for my (probably?) similar setup. 

Sent from my LG-H812 using Tapatalk


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## NBPk402

PTAaron said:


> I had some free time over the weekend so I tackled my screen wall... I had picked up 6 yards of Royalty 3 velvet earlier in the week, so it was time get to work.
> 
> LOVE the Kreg jig - one of the best purchases I've made in a while!
> 
> 
> Took a while to drill the pocket holes for all of the supports... but everything went together nice and easy
> 
> 
> Miscalculated how much 1x2 scrap I was going to have - so the top panel has 2 supports that are 1x3 - no big deal, you guys are the only ones that will know
> 
> 
> Wrapping with velvet should have been really easy - but as you can see my stapler has seen better days... good tip is never to drop an electric stapler onto concrete from the top of a ladder. LOL! It took literally 3-4x as long as it should have because it kept jamming, not restting, or firing too light but I didn't want to buy a new one
> 
> 
> I put some blocks on the side walls and then attached velcro for the side panels... the center panels press fit between them very tightly so they aren't going anywhere. Funny how much more "black" velvet is than Mouse Ears black paint!
> 
> 
> This was as far as I got Saturday - but I had to figure out what to do with the part around the subs and cabinet since my wife had decided that we needed to keep the cabinet.
> 
> 
> I had a few ideas, but I decided to make it complicated when I got back to work on Sunday.
> I also picked up a manual stapler to replace my busted electric stapler.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There are a few ripples but you know what? I don't care! LOL!!
> 
> The part I wasn't sure about was how to cover the area between the subs - but my wife said "why not just make it a curtain?" ... so that's what I'm going to do. I just need 1 more yard of velvet to make the curtain
> 
> I'm also thinking of getting a yard of black GOM to cover the subs but I don't know if that will work - those ports move a lot of air.


How do you access behind the screen? Did you hinge it, and use struts by any chance? I ask this because i just hinged mine, and I am not sure what struts to get or how to set them up.


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## PTAaron

ellisr63 said:


> How do you access behind the screen? Did you hinge it, and use struts by any chance? I ask this because i just hinged mine, and I am not sure what struts to get or how to set them up.


I did it the boring way - just a french cleat. 
Basically it goes like this: grab the screen, lift it up, accidentally smack the ceiling with the upper right corner of the screen (every dang time), slowly turn and try not to smack the screen into the walls... set screen down. Simple. LOL!


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## PTAaron

*Re: PTAaron's Movie Room/Game Room/Bar - comments welcome!!*



Owen Bartley said:


> It looks so clean with the new fabric panel in. That's a great idea, I'll have to remember that for my (probably?) similar setup.
> 
> Sent from my LG-H812 using Tapatalk


Thank you!


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## PTAaron

I'm a bit behind on updating things here... I ended up just going with a "curtain" for the area between the subs - just used a piece of velvet with a sleeve at the bottom. I put a piece of pex pipe with a steel rod in it (for weight) in the sleeve to keep it in place. Ended up looking like this:









I got ahold of a bit of GOM to make covers for the subs - and they looked amazing... but when the subs hit low notes the GOM fabric made some nasty flapping noises against the ports so I went back to the "exposed subs" look.

I installed 4 corner bass traps in the front of the room behind the screen - and did some before/after REW testing. Disappointingly there was literally no change in the frequency response... So that was a disappointing waste of $50.









I also cut holes in the riser and added 7 of the planned 11 vents so the riser could function as a bass trap:








Try not to notice the missing baseboard trim... I forgot that I never finished it... LOL! Also - yes the temporary carpet is still there... 

The results of REW testing were less than impressive.


Spectrograms of the room before, after corner traps, and after adding rear vents:




If I'm looking at the spectrograms right - it looks like there is a little bit of improvement there... I guess?


I used a MiniDSP to apply some filters... 


I also picked up an Insteon 2245-222 hub along with 3 switches to replace my Lutron Maestro IR switches and a micro dimmer module that I installed in the box for my riser light switch. That allowed me to do a couple of cool things - first I set my riser light switch to be a "controller" for the other switches so now I can turn on all the room lights by flipping one switch by the door! Previously I had to either use a remote control or walk halfway through the room to get to the switches  The other REALLY cool thing is that it let me create some files to add into CinemaVision (a Kodi add-on that I use on my HTPC) that allow it to control the lights as it goes through the movie sequence. 
Here is a little video that shows how it works (watch it in HD or it will look like garbage):





Anyway... so that's where we are now!


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## PTAaron

Had a little time today and after much debating about what to do with the package of Safe 'n' Sound I decided to go with the original plan and put it on the front wall.



First step was to make some fasteners to hold the stuff on the wall... I had picked up some nails with plastic rings on them that were 3" because 4" weren't available locally - and I also picked up some 4" drywall screws. A little bit of effort and I had some fasteners that would hold the 3" Roxul on and have enough length to screw into a stud.


It went up pretty easily... worst part was wearing a mask, safety glasses, and gloves! I ended up going back after screwing into studs on each panel and added some extra nails in the middle to keep the panels from sagging.


While I had things apart I used my old main speaker stands combined with my center channel stand to raise the center up a bit - tweeter is at the appropriate level now...


Hung speaker fabric over the Roxul to keep it from flying around and to make it black behind the screen again... 


Ended up with one and a half extra panels... so I cut some triangles (width of the panels) and ended up with a 2 foot tall corner trap! I just have to make some sort of frame to support it. Right now I just used trash bags to cover them and stuffed it into the back corner on the riser.


Didn't listen to it yet... got busy playing around with creating scenes in the room on insteon and controlling them with an Echo Dot... I'm not expecting any kind of dramatic change, I just wanted to get that package of Roxul out of the way


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