# Theater / Lounge Build



## fax6202 (Apr 5, 2012)

I think I have gotten far enough on my build that I can post some pictures/progress of my basement build. Some background, I am fairly handy with some carpenter experience about 15 years ago before college. But over the years I'm always taking on projects and learning new things. I wanted to build a HT with complete sound proofing like I have seen so many on here. However it didnt turn out that way. I do have a dedicated HT, but sound may be an issue as the adjacent room will be partially open to the HT. This of course was a combination of compromise with the family and available space. The only portion of the HT system that I am set on is:

PJ: Epson 5010
Screen: Elite Lunette 135" w/ Acoustic pro 4K material


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## fax6202 (Apr 5, 2012)

A little background on the design. HT is 18'W x 22'L x 9'7" H. The lounge is 9'W x 18'L. Game room is 13'W x 15'L. Originally I had planned on enclosing the HT, like most theaters are done but with the Lounge room being the size that it is I really couldnt decide on what to do with that room. So instead of having a small confined room I left it partially open to the HT. In that I mean I framed 3 archways leading into that area. This was by design as there was 3 steel support poles that needed to be addressed. So what I have decided is this. HT will be completely dedicated to just that, a HT. The lounge will have my Sharp 60" LCDTV on the wall so that I can watch SAT TV with out having to use the HT. The game room will have my other 55" Samsung LCDTV for video games only. This is for my two boys, ages 8 and 9.


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## fax6202 (Apr 5, 2012)

First things first: Moisture control.

I have a very dry basment but I am over cautious of potential moisture issues in the future. I decided to first treat the walls with 2 coats of drylok. I then put up 1.5" Rigid Foam Board insulation on the wall with foam board adhesive. This combination accomplished two things; satisfies the R-value requirement and moisture control.

I sealed all the the seams with Tyvek tape and spray foam insulation in all the larger spaces above (no picture). I plan on spraying the rim joists/sill plates with insulation very soon. 

The dehumidifier in the third picture is a monster. It is an Aprilaire 1750 and is rated for a much larger space then what I have. This is probably overkill but it brings me peace of mind.


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## fax6202 (Apr 5, 2012)

First wall is up! I have to admit, I have deviated from the original plan several times and probably will continue to do so.


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## fax6202 (Apr 5, 2012)

Framing is moving along nicely


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## fax6202 (Apr 5, 2012)

Framing Pics. 

Note: I have been taking all of my pictures with my phone. I need to get the wifes camera and do a better job. I apologize about the quality!


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## fax6202 (Apr 5, 2012)

Now.....the design requirment by the wife that sunk my sound proofing.

The first and second pictures are taken from the HT looking into the Lounge.

I decided to frame 3 matching elliptical arches to incorporate the three supports into the structure. I went with 2x6 framing versus 2x4 because I wanted some depth to the arch.


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## fax6202 (Apr 5, 2012)

Finished framing of the archways....


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## fax6202 (Apr 5, 2012)

Keeping uniformity, I decided to frame a larger elliptical arch on the left side of the Video game room. This is not one of the HT walls, but runs into the entry way where there are a few closets and the bathroom. I really wanted to make everything as open as possible, except the HT of course.


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## fax6202 (Apr 5, 2012)

In the meantime some of my A/V cable is starting to show up.


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## fax6202 (Apr 5, 2012)

My wiring plan is to run 7.2 to the HT, 5.1 to the lounge, and another 5.1 to the video game room. Of course I need to find the right AVR to accomplish this. But when the time comes I know that I can gather that info with the many knowledgeable folks on here.


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## fax6202 (Apr 5, 2012)

Framing is pretty easy, but its not a whole lot of fun. I'm really looking forward to some more specific HT building. I have some pretty decent ideas for the stage and room design.


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## Prof. (Oct 20, 2006)

It's looking good..:T
How did you curve the archway timber like that? I can't see any notching on the back to form the curve!


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## fax6202 (Apr 5, 2012)

Prof-

Its actually six layers of MDF glued and placed in a JIG. Each arch is two pieces. Once you have the arches its a breeze to put it up. 

I love the look, but I am disappointed about my acoustic dilemma.


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## Prof. (Oct 20, 2006)

Very well done! :T It just looks like a solid piece of timber..
Yes..acoustics is going to be a bit of a problem and will probably be a compromise at best..


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## fax6202 (Apr 5, 2012)

I have already received some guidance from bpape. I am all ears and am willing to go over budget if the return is worth it. I have decided to go with a AT screen and will be building my stage out of Walnut.


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## Prof. (Oct 20, 2006)

I'm sure Brian has given you the best advice for your acoustic situation..
Good choice on the AT screen..:T Who's material are you planning to use?
Any particular reason for using Walnut on the stage? I presume it will be carpeted..so it seems a bit of a waste to use such good timber for the stage!..


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## fax6202 (Apr 5, 2012)

I have not settled on one screen yet. Some serious consideration with Elite. As far as the stage, yes you are right some will be carpeted but not all. I wont use the walnut on the steps that will be carpeted. But I want to build a shallow shadow box for the screen, and columns on each side. I am also planning on trimming out the stairs, having chair rail and possibly crown (not sure about installing crown with a drop ceiling tile ceiling. The walnut will match my color scheme which is black and brown.


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## robbo266317 (Sep 22, 2008)

That is looking good. :T


While you have the chance you should wire it for at least 9 channels or even 11. Wiring is relatively cheap and much easier than trying to run it later.


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## fax6202 (Apr 5, 2012)

I have it wired for 7, where would the 8/9 the channel be located? That is something i will definitely do


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## robbo266317 (Sep 22, 2008)

Straight from the Onkyo manual:

DTS Neo:X™Adds Extra Dimensions to Surround
Sound
The TX-NR5009 is one of the first receivers in the world
to feature DTS Neo:X, a new technology that offers a
multitude of ways to set up the speakers in a 9.1-channel
home cinema system. A basic 5.1-channel set-up can be
complemented by one of three different arrangements:
(1) You can add surround back and front-height speakers to
bring out ambient, non-directional sounds; (2) You can add
surround back and front-wide speakers to provide a more
expansive soundstage; or (3) You can add front-height and
front-width speakers to create an immersive space without
needing to install rear speakers.


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## fax6202 (Apr 5, 2012)

Ok, got it. I already have the surround back. I will add front wide to the mix and that will put me at 9 channels. the LCR will be behind the screen so the front wide gives me plenty of room to play with.


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## fax6202 (Apr 5, 2012)

It has finally gotten through my thick skull that I need to plan more and work less. Ive always learned through 'doing', but some drawings/plans of some sort would really make a difference.


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## fax6202 (Apr 5, 2012)

3 Things I learned today.....

1. I should have waited until the drywall is complete before I build my riser.
2. I should have considered outlets when building the riser for power reclining seats.
3. I dont ever want to spend a whole day fixing my carelessness.

Nevertheless....Riser is built although I am going to have to move the beast to drywall around.



















One of the two reasons I had to take it apart today....I didnt have a barrier between the insulation and the concrete floor


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## fax6202 (Apr 5, 2012)

side note.....I got rid of the angled step to the right of the riser. I thought it was a good idea, but I dont like the way it looks.

Taking the riser apart........



















Reason number 2..... I needed the outlets for the Seating. I decided to go with three in the first row |0|0|0| and a 3 seat couch in the back row |000|.


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## fax6202 (Apr 5, 2012)

Quick question.

What is the purpose of putting sand in the stage. I realize that that will keep the stage in place, but there are other ways to do that. Is there any acoustic value to the sand.


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

IIRC, it is due to the fact most people locate their subs on the stage and it adds plenty of mass to reduce the chances of your stage becoming a huge boom box.


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## fax6202 (Apr 5, 2012)

Yesterday while working in the basement I brought my Radio down so I could listen to the Nationals game. I had it up a bit but not too loud. I went upstairs for something and on my way back down I could hear the game like I had headphones on, and this is from the hallway leading to the basment door.

That tells me that I have some serious sound issues. I need to start treating this room and the adjacent lounge immediately. I am putting a drop ceiling tile ceiling in the HT, but what about above the Tiles....Insulation I assume, are there any products that would work better.

Also, Would it make anysense at all to DD and GG the adjacent Lounge, would that have an effect on limiting the amount of noise from the HT hitting the first floor


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## fax6202 (Apr 5, 2012)

*AT Screen and Stage Distance*

Not really sure which forum to post so i'll start here. I am going with an AT screen and strongly considering the PSB GT1 towers (Thanks Jack). Not sure about a SUB yet. My question is two fold. One, how far does the speakers have to be from the back wall, and two; how close together can they be and how close to the screen. Screen specs are 8 1/2 x 36 x 14 3/8"

I am starting to plan my stage and I need to input before I fnalize my drawings on stage size.


Thanks.


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## fax6202 (Apr 5, 2012)

Ok.....alot of changes from yesterday. Time to really plan this thing out. I am going for the full treatment. I am going to decouple the walls and ceiling in both the HT and the adjoining Lounge. Solid core door at the bottom of the stairs. And will start working on the soffits and HVAC right away.


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## fax6202 (Apr 5, 2012)

Problem Soffit number 1: This is taken standing in the HT looking into the lounge. Right side









Same camera position but this is from the left side









Next three are from the Lounge looking into the HT, this is the biggest of the 3 soffits




























these next two are in the lounge directly across from the biggest soffit, so this one is the furthest from the HT


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## Prof. (Oct 20, 2006)

fax6202 said:


> Quick question.
> 
> What is the purpose of putting sand in the stage. I realize that that will keep the stage in place, but there are other ways to do that. Is there any acoustic value to the sand.


Definitely fill the stage with sand if you intend to put ANY speakers on it.. 



> Also, Would it make anysense at all to DD and GG the adjacent Lounge, would that have an effect on limiting the amount of noise from the HT hitting the first floor


I'm no expert on this side of HT, but I would think anywhere you can have DD with GG can only help with acoustic isolation..



fax6202 said:


> Ok.....alot of changes from yesterday. Time to really plan this thing out. I am going for the full treatment. I am going to decouple the walls and ceiling in both the HT and the adjoining Lounge. Solid core door at the bottom of the stairs. And will start working on the soffits and HVAC right away.


Sounds good



fax6202 said:


> Problem Soffit number 1: This is taken standing in the HT looking into the lounge. Right side
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Progressing nicely..:T


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## fax6202 (Apr 5, 2012)

Thanks Prof. My original plan was to not treat the two rooms. I figured that since I had two adjoining rooms that it would be a waste of time. I was convinced otherwise and Im excited about the possibility of much improved acoustics. Of course I will never reach the same level that I would without the attached lounge, but i think that I can make a good dent. As I touched on earlier I am also going to replace all of the duct work with insulated flex duct work. The runs are already long and I am going to snake it to help more. Going to do the puddy pads and I am still looking into possibly doing a dead vent. we'll see.


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## fax6202 (Apr 5, 2012)

Plumbing is done. I got a really good deal. It was only a half bath but bidding was 500 to as much as 2620. How that happened I dont know. But nevertheless I am happy with the job he did.


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## fax6202 (Apr 5, 2012)

A few questions today. Duct work....

I was doing some planning last night and was
thinking about the duct work in the ceiling. I have two long runs
(15ft) that service the HT, the trunk line is actually above the
Lounge. I was going to replace the aluminum with
flex insulated duct work and 'snake' it down the joist. If this is
the case do I also insulate around the duct work as well as in between
all the other joists w/ R-13 or higher. Ive read that the longer the run the better and that snaking it instead of having a straight run is also more effecient.


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## Prof. (Oct 20, 2006)

*Re: AT Screen and Stage Distance*



fax6202 said:


> Not really sure which forum to post so i'll start here. I am going with an AT screen and strongly considering the PSB GT1 towers (Thanks Jack). Not sure about a SUB yet. My question is two fold. One, how far does the speakers have to be from the back wall, and two; how close together can they be and how close to the screen. Screen specs are 8 1/2 x 36 x 14 3/8"
> 
> I am starting to plan my stage and I need to input before I fnalize my drawings on stage size.
> 
> ...


Basically you're limited to how far out from the front wall the screenwall can be, as far as speaker position..
At a minimum, the fronts need to be about 6" out from the front wall..more if possible..
The distance from the speakers to the screen also needs to be a minimum of about 6"..

If your screen is a 8 1/2' wide scope screen, then your L&R speakers should be positioned just to the edges of where a 16:9 image would show..


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## fax6202 (Apr 5, 2012)

Prof-

I misspoke. The specs i gave were the speaker specs, the screen is 135", which is about 118" wide and 67" tall.


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## fax6202 (Apr 5, 2012)

A few things got done this afternoon. Ran all the outlets for the lounge. Had to wrap up early because of the noise traveling upstairs. It's amazing how bad the sound is right now. I am really looking forward to a more quiet place to work.

A question. For my walls and ceilings I am set on decoupling, joist mufflers, flex ducts w/ insulation and MLV.

But what about the copper pipe and the PVC sewage line?


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## Mopar_Mudder (Nov 8, 2010)

*Re: AT Screen and Stage Distance*



Prof. said:


> Basically you're limited to how far out from the front wall the screenwall can be, as far as speaker position..
> At a minimum, the fronts need to be about 6" out from the front wall..more if possible..
> The distance from the speakers to the screen also needs to be a minimum of about 6"..
> 
> If your screen is a 8 1/2' wide scope screen, then your L&R speakers should be positioned just to the edges of where a 16:9 image would show..


I think it depends on the screen material doesn't it? I know with the XD material people have been going as close as a couple of inches with no bad effects. Perforated screens might be another story.


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

fax6202 said:


> A few things got done this afternoon. Ran all the outlets for the lounge. Had to wrap up early because of the noise traveling upstairs. It's amazing how bad the sound is right now. I am really looking forward to a more quiet place to work.
> 
> A question. For my walls and ceilings I am set on decoupling, joist mufflers, flex ducts w/ insulation and MLV.
> 
> But what about the copper pipe and the PVC sewage line?


I wrapped all my pipes with that foam pipe wrap - it did deaden the sound a bit. Alternatively, Ted and John at The Soundproofing Company have a pipe wrap that can be used as well.


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## fax6202 (Apr 5, 2012)

Soundproofing Plan....still waiting to verify everything w/ Ted but feel free to pick it apart if you see something.

Estimated Materials
4x8x5/8 Drywall – qty : 112 sheets
Green Glue – qty: 4-5 buckets
Putty Pads – qty: 3 boxes
Whisper Clips – qty: 323 clips
Pipe & Duct wrap - ?
MLV - ?
Drywall Channel - ?

HT & Lounge Wall Treatments
Total Square Footage: 1160

Proposed Wall Plan
•	Insulate all wall cavities with R-13.
•	Install Putty Pads on all gang boxes.
•	Install whisper clips and drywall channel to decouple the walls.
• Drywall 5/8” 
•	Acoustic sealant on all seams
•	Recommended application of Green Glue
•	Drywall 5/8”

HT & Lounge Ceiling Treatments
Total Square Footage: 613

Proposed Ceiling Plan
•	Install Joist Mufflers ( Double 5/8” drywall with Green Glue) in between all accessible floor joists
•	Replace aluminum duct work with 8” flexible duct.
•	Install Backer Boxes in between Floor Joists for recessed lighting. Boxes will be built using ¾” OSB (outside) and drywall (inside) with Green Glue and acoustic sealant. 
•	Insulate loosely around flex duct, main trunk (, PVC sewage main, and copper piping; then wrap all in MLV 



























•	Re-route AC duct from side of soffit to the middle of soffit and replace with flex duct and treat as noted above 



















•	Seal tight where the register enters the drywall
•	Insulate all remaining air cavities with R-13
•	Install whisper clips and drywall channel to decouple the walls and soffits
•	Drywall 5/8”
•	Acoustic sealant on all seams
•	Recommended application of Green Glue
•	Drywall 5/8”


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## fax6202 (Apr 5, 2012)

Not a whole lot done today. I finished pulling cable for the outlets in 3 of the 4 areas in the basement. I am definitely going with a sub-panel in the basement. I will probably end up with close to a dozen circuits when all said and done.


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## fax6202 (Apr 5, 2012)

Another day of almost nothing done in the basement. The wife is pulling me away to take care of some other things around the house. I was really hoping that I could keep up the furious pace I started with. Nevertheless, tomorrow morning will be an early start. Going to frame the A/V area, which is going to be in an unfinished portion of the basement. Also going to finish running the outlets. Hopefully start on the joist mufflers by weeks end. Im sorry for the boring recent posts, I am just trying to stay current and its a way to track my own process.


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## phillihp23 (Mar 14, 2012)

Looking good. Nice job so far. :clap:


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## fax6202 (Apr 5, 2012)

Thanks phillip


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## fax6202 (Apr 5, 2012)

A ton of other obligations have kept me from working in the basement. Feeling like I am not doing enough I did what any man would do. I bought a tool


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## fitzwaddle (Aug 25, 2010)

fax6202 said:


> A ton of other obligations have kept me from working in the basement. Feeling like I am not doing enough I did what any man would do. I bought a tool


Well played!


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## fax6202 (Apr 5, 2012)

Got alot done this weekend, whe I looked around it didnt seem that way but I got in a half day yesterday.

I finished running all of the electric in the rest of the basement. I just have a few circuits left for the equip closet and lighting in the unfinished storage area. I also did some framing fixes on a few rough door openings and a portion of the wall.

Hopefully today I can get the exhaust fan installed in the bathroom.

I have an order from Ted coming in tomorrow so I can finally begin to work on the joist mufflers and backer boxes, this is long overdue. I'll post pictures later as I have to pick up a new camera. My cell is not cutting it.


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## fax6202 (Apr 5, 2012)

New build is Kinetic River Cinema


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