# Twenty months later…



## steverc (Jan 5, 2008)

We managed to cram twenty weekends of work into 20 months. How many times have you heard "don’t install the projector until the theater is done", guess what; DON’T. I could not have done this project without the support and help of Karen (my wife) and access to the World Wide Web. I want to stress that this was a joint effort not just me with help but the both of us together. If we didn’t know how to do something then we went on-line and found information from someone who did. We found lots of wonderful DIY sites, sites that included such seemingly simple things as painting, to DIY subwoofer sites and DIY home theater sites like this one. Thank you all for sharing your successes and even your not so successes. I didn’t see any failures. I guess the only failure is to not try. Well now for the part I'm eager to get to, the showing off. :bigsmile:

Check out our work at http://www.kn7f.com/Theater/


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## salvasol (Oct 31, 2006)

Nice job!!! :T

But, brick and rock have a very reflective surface :bigsmile: . :rofl2:

Are you DIY'ing the speakers too??? :huh:


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## steverc (Jan 5, 2008)

Heavy texture and flat paint don’t reflect much, however I didn’t want the white lines on the front wall as I think they would be distracting. I put columns of foam rubber in the corners as bass traps and it really killed the slap echo as well. 

I DIYed the sub, It’s in the ceiling about two feet from the front wall, four MJ-18s from mach5audio.com in about 900 cubic feet of attic. The mains and surround speakers are the MG IIIa model from Magnepan. I was going to put in 7 of them but the room was too small so I had to settle for 5.


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## Guest (Sep 12, 2008)

Wow. I can't believe the difference in the before and after. Quite a unique theme. Not for everyone, but I think it's pretty sweet! ... in an evil, bad a$$ way. :bigsmile:


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## Guest (Sep 12, 2008)

Looking good!!!
Hows the Subs in the ceiling working? Anything falling off the walls in other parts of the house?
How loud is it outside?


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## steverc (Jan 5, 2008)

Dave:
The sub in the ceiling is crossed over at 60Hz and is a seamless match to Maggies. The theater is in what was a detached garage with a roof connecting to the house. I closed in the breezeway so we now have a 7' X 7' airlock entry connecting the main house to the theater. I stuffed the attic space of this area with heavy sound absorbing insulation.
So that I could answer this question I just did a little experiment. With Deep Purple peaking out at about 100db on my RS sound meter:
Just outside the theater in the breezeway I can carry on a conversation without having to raise my voice (much).
Through the other door in to the kitchen you can hear it somewhat above background noise.
In the bedroom (next to the kitchen) it can hardly be heard but if I was trying to get to sleep the bass would be a problem.
In the office on the other side of the house the computer fan & hard drive are louder.
Going outside I found that the rattling of the siding is louder than the bass out to about 30' and can no longer be heard at about 50' (half way to the road) at the road I had to listen carefully to hear the bass at all, and passing cars totally covered the music. In the dead of night I'm sure it would be easily heard at the road but not at the neighbors about 300' away.
In the theater, what a thrill as the kick drum punches me in the chest and the bass line shakes every cell in my body!
I have run a test disk to look for rattles and they are there at high enough volumes (I can even make the projector shake) but I have never heard anything rattle at any volume that I would care to be in the room with.


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## steverc (Jan 5, 2008)

Mike:
When we were looking at lighting for the theater we fell in love with these ones from Design Tuscano so we had to design the theater to go with the lights.:heehee: If we did it again I don't think that I would do the stones, I would use the same colors and textures but not go to the trouble of the masking, peeling and touching up process (It was a lot of work). However Karen might have different thoughts on that.


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## Guest (Sep 15, 2008)

Wow!

I have hope for the future now, the clutter in those before shots reminds me of our house!


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## steverc (Jan 5, 2008)

Scott:
I'm sorry that someone else has to live with that much clutter. It got much worse because everything that was in the two rooms that became the theater was moved to the living room. We have spent the last week sorting and storing and yes trips to the dump. So when we finished the theater we also got our living room back. Karen says "pack rats should never marry". I'm glad she didn't listen to her own advice.


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## thxgoon (Feb 23, 2007)

Neat theater. It looks very personal. And the subs look like they can keep things from getting too personal . Nice work!


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## atledreier (Mar 2, 2007)

Love the rustic goth style! Very nice! 4x 18" eh? :hsd:

Bet it sounds and looks awesome in person!


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## dradius (Sep 10, 2008)

Cool looking theater. Looks like it turned out really well. Congrats :bigsmile:


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## mdsbuc (Jan 17, 2008)

Beautifully done. Very nice! :T


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## stevez11 (Nov 24, 2008)

Nice work congrats to both of you.


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## steverc (Jan 5, 2008)

Thank you for looking. It was a lot of work but it was even more fun. The only problem I have now is that Karen keeps telling me to "shut up and watch the movie" whenever I say thank you for the nice theater, But she does have a smile on her face when she says it. The really sick part is that we find our self's saying "when we do this again I'd...".:coocoo:

Steve
http://www.kn7f.com/Theater/


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## deacongreg (Jul 29, 2008)

steverc said:


> Thank you for looking. It was a lot of work but it was even more fun. The only problem I have now is that Karen keeps telling me to "shut up and watch the movie" whenever I say thank you for the nice theater, But she does have a smile on her face when she says it. The really sick part is that we find our self's saying "when we do this again I'd...".:coocoo:
> 
> Steve
> http://www.kn7f.com/Theater/


Very nice, very nice, you deserve it. You worked really hard. I like your Maggies. What amplification are you using for the speakers?


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## steverc (Jan 5, 2008)

Greg:

I'm using a Denon AVR-3808CI receiver for the mains and surround and using four channels of my old Denon AVR-2802 receiver for the subs (one amp per speaker). 

I started buying used Maggies almost eight years ago so that I could put seven of them in our theater. The original plan was to tear down the house and garage and build new and the theater was going to be 25' by 19'. We got the permit$ did a lot of prep work and then we both found our selves out of work. The first seven years of the last eight always found one or other of us unemployed with both of us out of work during my son's senior year in collage. Savings, good luck and each other got us through. The end result is a theater too small to fit 7 large speakers so for now we have just the five with plans to put a pair of MC1s on the back wall. The point of a larger theater was not to fit more people but to create a larger sweet spot. It may be small but the spot we got is pretty sweet!

Eventually we will cover the speakers and reupholster the seats in black; at least until they come out with something darker.

Steve
http://www.kn7f.com/Theater/Finished/


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## deacongreg (Jul 29, 2008)

steverc said:


> Greg:
> 
> I'm using a Denon AVR-3808CI receiver for the mains and surround and using four channels of my old Denon AVR-2802 receiver for the subs (one amp per speaker).
> 
> ...




Great, I look forward to the finished work.


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## jwesenick79 (Sep 25, 2008)

i love the light fixtures on the wall lol. Nice work on the room, i think it looks awesome, especially the brick look. :T:clap:


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## BleedingStar (Feb 3, 2008)

Awesome!!! are those all electrostats???? Maggies? Not familiar with them... but it looks awesome.


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## steverc (Jan 5, 2008)

BleedingStar said:


> Awesome!!! are those all electrostats???? Maggies? Not familiar with them... but it looks awesome.


Magnepan Incorporated is the company. http://www.magnepan.com/ The model I have is the MGIIIa, I fell in love with Maggies over thirty years ago when I first heard a pair of MG1s in the "Hi-Fi" store. It was twenty plus years before I finally got my first pair. They are not electrostats but sound similar to my ear, only not nearly as bright. To me they have a very natural sound when reproducing the human voice. Some people don't think these suckers can rock but believe me, they most certainly can; and often do in my theater.


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## Pinhead-227 (Dec 24, 2008)

Very nice transformation! Man I wish I had a house so I could build my own dedicated HT room!! Good job!!!


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## BleedingStar (Feb 3, 2008)

Very cool... I have heard the name Magnepan, but never seen or viewed any. I've heard a few ribbon planer systems thought that were quite impressive. = )


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