# 27's Humble HT



## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

_****This is an old thread showing my first stab at a theater room... the new version of the room can be found by clicking here****
_

Thought I would share some picts of my HT! It's a relatively small room... about 13'X17'X8 1/2'... It's a spare room in our basement. No door, unfortunately, however we purchased these pretty cool string curtains from a person in Japan. They actually provide a nice barrier and warm the HT up a bit! :T It's been fun to put the room together over the years... the next item on my wish list is a larger flat screen. I believe the largest my set-up can accommodate would be 70". Ahhh... maybe someday!:innocent: In the meantime, here's a link to my gear.


----------



## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

Nice clean space- well done mate! :T


----------



## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

Thanks! Appreciate that!


----------



## mizedog (Feb 12, 2010)

27dnast said:


> I believe the largest my set-up can accommodate would be 70". gear.
> 
> Love it! I really like the consistancy of you use of wood.
> 
> You room is similar in size to mine and I've got a projector throwing a 98" screen. The first row is at 11' from the screen. It works great but I'd really like to get a little more screen size in there. As creative as you are, I bet you'll make something happen.


----------



## Spock (Jan 1, 2012)

AWESOME! Love the bean bags and acoustic panels! SOOOOOO many great ideas to steal from you!


----------



## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

Thanks for the compliments! It's really neat to see how everyone makes different use of their HT spaces... What they fill them with.... How much fun is this hobby???


----------



## Prof. (Oct 20, 2006)

I don't know how I missed your photos..
Some very interesting and unique features in your theatre, making it a different room and special..
Well done! :T


----------



## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

Anyone looking for a different kind of theater furniture... Lovesac is definitely worth checking out. The couch type pieces all come apart and can be reconfigured. And the bean bags come in all different sizes... Those bean bags in my Picts comfortably fit 1 adult or 2 kids but the sell ones that can hold up to 3 adults! All of the seating is really - really - comfortable.


----------



## HTip (Oct 10, 2011)

You call your HT humble? Someone who has a dedicated room like you with acoustic optimization (absorbers and diffusers) and everything can feel very proud. Well done! :T


----------



## sparkymt (May 19, 2010)

Very unique. Well done.


----------



## bawward (Feb 2, 2012)

Those bean bags look amazing... not to mention everything else, very nice job. The rack for the Polk Audio center speaker wasn't home made, was it?


----------



## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

The center speaker is mounted on an av rack...

http://store.videomountstore.com/saavcowamovm.html

I fashioned a wood mounting point that I affixed the wall and added an extra stud on the other side of the wall (to assure stability)... Filled the av rack tubes with sand, and then attached it to the wood mounting point. Incredibly stable. The back of my center channel has baffles outside of the port holes. I took a couple of black zip ties and tied them from the baffles to the av rack. Works like a charm.


----------



## bawward (Feb 2, 2012)

Very cool. The idea about filling the tubes with stands, very smart!


----------



## Diskohouse (Jun 2, 2011)

Really nice theater!! Did you do any before and after measurements with REW and the acoustic panels? How thick are your acoustic panels and how many are you using?


----------



## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

I did do before and after measurements for low frequencies. Note, I don't claim to be an expert by any means and I did rely on the use of REW with a RadioShack SPL (using the correction file). For the early reflection points, I followed the general "mirror guidelines". I know some folks say this is the absolute wrong way to go while others say it's a decent general rule of thumb. I went the rule of thumb route.

The biggest issue in my room is a nasty peak around 35-40Hz...followed by a null. Just has to do with the geometry of the room. Unfortunately, I couldn't do much treatment-wise (with the panels) to effect it. They had some effect, but I ended up adding a BFD into my system and that manages the peak fairly well at the primary listening position... Also, I added a second subwoofer (which a run at a lower volume) that fires across the front of the room. The addition of that sub eliminates the null pretty much by itself. Why --- I'm not exactly sure, but someone along the way suggested I try and it worked. From about 70Hz and up, the acoustic panels had a nice smoothing effect.

The biggest change, really, is how it sounds. Measurements out the window --- the sound in the room came to life. Really opened up the sound stage... in particular my center channel. Prior to the treatments, the center channel sounded small -- very nasally -- and had a focused sound that was extremely directional. Once all the panels were installed that speaker opened up to the point that the sound from the center channel is no longer (as) directional and has the appearance of coming from all over the screen. It's almost as if the dialog went from coming directly from the speaker (before) to magically being raised up into the air (after). I'm assuming that the biggest impact on the center channel comes from the modified slat diffusor that I built - I had a lot of help designing it from an Acoustician over in Belgrade who goes by "Boggy" on gearslutz.com. 

Sparing you the ugly details here, I did write-up a build thread on gearslutz.com so that others who are thinking about building panels could learn from what I did (or... and I'm not afraid to admit it... didn't do! :dontknow. 

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/bass-traps-acoustic-panels-foam-etc/661237-my-diy-bass-traps-diy-made-up-slat-diffuser.html

At the end of the day, I'm happy with way it all worked out... even if I had some stumbling and swinging in the dark! :T


----------



## Owen Bartley (Oct 18, 2006)

That's a really classy looking room. I like how you integrated the acoustic panels along the sides with similar sized posters, and the slat diffuser in the back looks fantastic. I'd love to have something like that as a feature on my rear wall eventually. Was it tough to come up with the sequence?


----------



## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

Nope. I used a binary sequence... If you click on the build thread I included on my last post and scroll down to the discussion on the diffuser, you'll see a link to the sequence. If you run out of numbers, a simple coin flip does the trick.

If you have a lot space (5-6+ feet) between your rear seat and your rear wall, you could build a full blown slat diffuser or a QRD diffuser that would be more effective than my design. I just didn't have enough distance between my seating and my rear wall... That website (gearslutz.com) has quite a few build threads for diffusers and there are a lot of engineer type folks there that know what they're doing.


----------



## Owen Bartley (Oct 18, 2006)

Thanks dnast. I've read around a little bit about acoustics at gearslutz, there is a fair bit of information available there. I think when I get my room built it's going to be a pretty tight fit, and unfortunately my rear seats will have to be practically right on the rear wall, but I was hoping to be able to include some sort of diffusion (BAD, slat, QRD, skyline, etc.) to open up the sound a bit.


----------



## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

I hear you, it would be great to have that extra space, but the ideal - for a lot if us - isn't always there. I wish my space was about 4 ft wider and 6 ft longer ... But it's not! So, we make the best of what we have and move on ;-)

While I've never heard it for myself, my understanding is that sitting too close to a skyline or binary diffuser with wells isn't a good thing. Hence the reason I went the path that I did...

The owner of real traps, Ethan Winer, posts a lot on gearslutz... I tried asking him some questions but he deferred saying he wasn't an expert on diffusion -- that's where "Boggy" stepped in and really helped me out. At any rate, Ethan has a very interesting video on his real traps website about diffusion.... If you haven't watched it, you may want to. It gives you a good idea of sound next to different diffusers.

http://www.realtraps.com/video_diffusors.htm

I'm on my iPhone, and the video is in flash so I can't play it... But I'm pretty sure the link above will get you to that video.

At any rate, I'm no expert, but if you decide to try and build a modified slat diffuser and you want to follow my plans, I'd be more than happy to answer any questions you may have along the way. It wasn't that difficult to build... Also, I used a local lumber yard that sold me wood (such as the lattice) at about 1/3rd of the cost of big box stores... So it was reasonably priced to build.


----------



## fanuminski (Apr 11, 2008)

Dnast - like your room. Interesting video on the diffusers/traps etc...
I found that I liked the absorbtion least of all -followed by the bare wall.
(I hope he wasn't playing his guitar "louder" during the qrd diffuser demo -lol) 
thanks for sharing -
M


----------



## Owen Bartley (Oct 18, 2006)

27dnast said:


> I wish my space was about 4 ft wider and 6 ft longer ... But it's not!


Aahhh, you know if you had that extra space you'd fill it and be looking for another 3 feet in no time. 

Thanks for the info, I have watched Ethan's videos before and found them very helpful. As much as you can't get a true feel for the changes without being in a treated room, this is the next best thing and I think a great resource for people who haven't experienced it in person (like me).

I appreciate the offer for help, and I may just take you up on that. It seems a slat may be the best route for me. I wonder if I can gain a few inches for the depth by making it partially "built in" to the wall.


----------



## mi2cv (Feb 14, 2012)

Nice setup! the Love Sacs look super comfy


----------



## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

Owen Bartley said:


> I appreciate the offer for help, and I may just take you up on that. It seems a slat may be the best route for me. I wonder if I can gain a few inches for the depth by making it partially "built in" to the wall.


Totally! That would be awesome! I would have tried something like that, but have windows in the way...


----------



## dsully444 (Apr 10, 2008)

That is one nice looking home theater. The bean bags look amazing, for some reason it is easier for me to get comfotable laying on the floor on a bean bag than sinking in a couch. I am going to look into getting some of those ASAP. Well done with the space that you have.


----------



## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

The bean bags are the "movie Lounger" size... Which is about as small as I recommend going for an adult... They come a lot bigger! I believe the largest of sizes weighs about 150 lbs. If you order online, definitely search for coupon codes... Or, if you get lucky, they'll have a lovesac/squattoman package deal in the sale section of their website. Buying them at cost is $$.


----------



## brandon75173 (Dec 13, 2009)

Humble my A$$. Thats a really neat room. I like it.


----------



## dsully444 (Apr 10, 2008)

Thanks for the infor 27. Work is a bit sensative with internet seraches at times. Especially considering if I google the name of the bean bag chair, it might raise some flags. The last thing I want to do is to explain what a squattoman lovesac is.


----------



## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

LOL. I hear ya - the couches they make are called sactionals. They actually have a video on YouTube marketing the sactionals called "69 Sactional Positions" that shows 69 ways you can configure the Sactional pieces.

The connotations are slightly thick.... ;-)

Seems to be a good company. I had a warranty issue with the wooden shoes that are used to hold the Sactionals together - they didn't hesitate to honor their warranty. I don't expect to have another issues. Their stuff is solid.


----------



## joonbug99 (Feb 24, 2011)

Lovesac sactionals are awesome for an ever changing theater room environment. Movie nights it's a "movie lounger". Sports games it's 6 separate chairs for my friend. The sacs are awesome two. Highly highly recommend them if you have a need for a multi-purpose sell the room to your wife angle. ??.


----------



## joonbug99 (Feb 24, 2011)

joonbug99 said:


> Lovesac sactionals are awesome for an ever changing theater room environment. Movie nights it's a "movie lounger". Sports games it's 6 separate chairs for my friends The sacs are awesome too Highly highly recommend them if you have a need for a multi-purpose sell the room to your wife angle. dde03dde03.


 Nice room 27


----------



## smjens (Jan 20, 2009)

Looks great. Bet it sounds great, too! Could you make a list of your equipment?


----------



## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

Thanks... It does sound pretty good to me!

On the first post, you can click on the word "gear" and that will take you to a listing of the equipment.

Have a good one!


----------

