# Drake's Theater Build



## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

The building of my home theater!!!!!!!!!!!!
My life long dream is coming true.








Building the wall between the dinning room and the home theater.









Completed wall between the dinning room and the home theater.









One of our pictures for the home theater and our popcorn maker. You can't have a HT without the popcorn maker.









Building the front stage area and a view of the neighbors house.









My buddy Robert using his height to his advantage.









The top and bottom front stage frames completed.









Me holding the frame.









Robert screwing the frames together.









These wood frames will be stained and the center will be covered in fabric to match the walls.<br />


















Time to eat homemade pizza!!









The Epson 6100 in his new home.









A font shot of the new toy.









A cool view of the POWER TOOLS. Half the fun of construction is the POWER TOOLS.









Picture of the sheet with the screen samples. A Carada 114 inch 1:78 to 1 screen is on order. Let the fun begin.


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

Forget the build... I want some of that pizza... :meal:

So what's the size going to be and what all equipment are you going to have in there?


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

Building the equipment closet






















































Drywall fun. 

















The almost finished closet. Just need to put in the gear.


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

> Forget the build... I want some of that pizza...


A man after my own heart. :bigsmile: 

*
Home theater equipment and furniture *
Projector = Epson 6100
Screen = Carada BW 114 inch on order
Receiver = Onkyo 805
Sub Amp = Parts Express 1000 watt
Blu-ray = Sony PS3
CD/DVD = Yamaha DVD A and SACD compatible 
Speakers = Magnepan MC1's and MMGW's
Sub = 12" GR Research will be replace with a quality 18" soon 
Seats = Berkline row of 4 on order
Remote = Harmony
Popcorn Machine = Costco black full size


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

Work completed this weekend. Routed the panels, built the sofit frames and built the screen wall. 








Routing the panels









Completed panels waiting for sanding and stain. 









My buddy Wayne working on the sofit frames. 









Screen wall waiting for black fabric which just arrived at the fabric store, so it will be black soon. :R


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

Looking good. Make sure all of those solid-sided soffits are filled with insulation to keep them from resonating.

Keep the pics coming.

Bryan


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! for the tip! I was going to attach .5 inch sound board to the sofit. Do you think that will be enough to keep them from resonating? This board is great! I posted this on AVS and in one week one user commented and over here it has been 10 hrs and two have commented. Thanks guys. 

Matt


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

Unfortunately not. The cavity in the soffit will just act like a drum but be tuned lower due to the extra mass. You'll still need to damp the cavity.

Bryan


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

Thanks! I was going to put lights in the softit but I am wondering now if I should use rope lights instead and fill the sofit with something. What do you suggest filling the sofit with? Something that I could lay rope lights on top of. 

Matt


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

There's no problem having a little 'tray' on the front of the soffiting to hold the rope lighting - that's done all the time to very nice effect. It's the 'hollow box' part like you're showing where the PJ is that I'm concerned about.

Bryan


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

I installed the rack shelves into the rack last night and wired up all the gear.


















I still have to make a box out of sound board and wrap it around the top shelves were the Blu-rays are but it is almost done. Thanks for looking. :T


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

Thanks Bryan for the help! You have not idea how much I appreciate it!!!!!!! Should I stuff the box full of insulation will that help or should I redesign it? The sofit's on the side are hollow as well, so what do you suggest I do with those? I was going to use them to aim indirect light up and the ceiling but I can live with it. :bigsmile:

Matt


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

It really depends on what you want to use it for. If you want it to double as broadband bass control, it can be just a skeleton frame filled with insulation and covered with cloth. Then, you can just use crown moulding attached to the bottom of the side face of that and lay the rope light in there. You'll get the same effect and get some bottom end control in the deal. You might need to space the crown out an inch or so to keep the hot lights away from the cloth unless you use GOM FR701 wich is fire rated.

Bryan


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

Ok I am starting to understand. Rather than make the frame out of the large panels I used I should make the sides more of a skeleton frame "very little panels" then I can fill them with installation. Can I cover it with soundboard wrapped fabric? Is it ok to have the shelf that the projector sits on still, if I make the front the skeleton frame? 

I am a little worried about the corner where the popcorn maker is sitting in the first set of pictures. Do you think it will be a problem? If so, would one of the GIK corner differs work? 

Matt

Wanted this kind of a look for the soffit.


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

You can still do that. Just fill it with insulation and have a little rail or something above the insulation that will keep the rope off of it.

Bryan


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## salvasol (Oct 31, 2006)

mdrake said:


> My buddy Robert using his height to his advantage.


And perhaps a little help from the stage frame???:whistling::bigsmile:

Is looking good...I'm sure you'll have a nice HT, keep the pictures coming :yes:

P.S.: Bryan is the expert on acoustic, maybe he can confirm if is okay to use at least the pink insulation to fill the cavities, OC703/705 will be better...but if $$$$$ is tight....


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

For a larger cavity like that, using standard 'pink stuff' to fill the cavities is just fine. All we're looking for is damping - and as thickness increases, density matters less.

Bryan


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

> And perhaps a little help from the stage frame???


Maybe a little. :bigsmile: Thanks for looking at the pics! 

Matt


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

The 114" Brilliant White Carada Precision Screen came yesterday package REALLY well. It was easy to assemble and the quality of both the frame and the screen is amazing! Here are some screen shots. This is my first try at screen shots and they do not do the picture quality justice. I will take some better shots this weekend hopefully. The picture from the Epson 6100 and Carada screen is AWESOME!!!!!!!! It is better than any LCD I have ever seen.


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

I am not sure why people say the Epson 6100 is lacking on blacks? To me the blacks look black. Some times the sky looks gray but if you look at other elements in the film that are black they look black. Maybe the Carada screen is helping the blacks? The screen shots above are in theater mode and they still have TONS of pop. 

Matt


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## scyce (Mar 26, 2008)

Looks good!!! 

What is the dimensions of your HT room?


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

Thanks, the room is 13 feet wide by 16 feet long. It has 10ft coffered ceiling which makes the room look MUCH larger than it really is. The 10 foot ceilings seem to really help with the 70hz bass problem. I took today off work to work on the room. So now with a 3 day weekend I hope to get a LOT done. :R

Matt


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## speedklz (Jan 14, 2009)

Looking good!


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

Thanks guys for the kind words. 

I am in a state of shock and amazement!! I knew a home theater would be cool but tonight was unreal. I watched the Eagles live in concert DVD and it was like nothing I have ever experienced. I have been into audio my whole life and have never experienced music like this. Between the room, the Maggies and the projector it was breathtaking. It was so moving it almost brought me to tears. It is a shame that not everyone has a dedicated HT room. Everyone should experience this at least once in there lifetime. Thanks guys for all the help and if anyone lives in the central CA area I would love to share the experience.  Fabric wall panels are half way done. I will post pics tomorrow. I have a new respect for all you who have built a dedicated HT room! This is a lot of work but oh so worth it. 

Matt


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

Eagles in Melbourne? Of course any Eagles is good... :T

You are moving on quite nicely with this... in comparison to my slow pokin' self. :whistling:

I like the lighted soffit idea... those look pretty cool. I would like to see how yours will turn out.


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

> Eagles in Melbourne? Of course any Eagles is good...


Yep, that is the DVD. Watching it at 114 inches was almost as good as being there and in some ways better. :bigsmile: Amen on the Eagles. 

Hopefully we will get to see the sofits sooner rather than later. I am planning on finishing the fabric this week and weekend but these 12 - 14 hour days are taking a toll on me. Not sure how much longer I can go. :hissyfit: I took the night off last night which was nice. :jump: 

Thanks again for the kind words.

Matt


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

Pics from the weekend. Sound Board wrapped in fabric and stapled to the walls.









Front wall 80% done. Waiting on wood panels.









One side almost done and the sofits waiting on lights and insulation. 









Time for the pizza. :dumbcrazy:


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

Oh yeah... rub it in with the pizza... addle:


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

> Oh yeah... rub it in with the pizza...


Sorry could not help it. We need to have a Theatershack meet and I will make pizza's. :bigsmile:


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

I need some Construction Advice. I have coffered ceiling built with 2x6's every few feet. I hung a 40lb drop ceiling using 6 inch stainless steel lag screws and heavy duty brackets. Do you think that 40lbs or so is to much for a coffered ceiling?

Matt


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

No idea how it's attached to the structure to say if it's too much or not. You're saying the whole ceiling is only 40lb? I'd be very surprised if that's all it is.

On a side note, why are you covering the coffer? That's actually a nice acoustical element to break things up with out deadening things.

Bryan


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

I put fabric on the side angles of the coffer and put 4inch drop ceiling in the middle of the coffer which weights 40lbs. The center section is 7 feet wide by 10 feet long. So the look of the coffer is there but in black fabric with LED stars. Just wondering if the center section is to much weight for the ceiling. Do not want it falling on someone. :thumbsdown: 

Matt


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

OK. We're talking about different things with a coffer. I see what you did.

If the whole thing only weighs 40 lbs, you should be fine.

Bryan


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## Bruce Fisher (Nov 24, 2007)

I see you mention Magnepan speakers. Any thoughts about them for a theater? I'm been researching them lately... I found lots of praise for them for music - but not a lot of feedback about them in a theater...


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

I have mixed feeling for Maggies. I love their transient response and breathtaking mid range but the MC1's have NO mid bass and their dynamic range is really lacking. They are also, very inefficient and require enormous amounts of power. If you are willing to take the time to set them up and have lots of power on hand they can sound like magic. 

Matt


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## steverc (Jan 5, 2008)

Matt:

I like your theater build. DIY is so much fun!



Bruce Fisher said:


> I see you mention Magnepan speakers. Any thoughts about them for a theater? I'm been researching them lately... I found lots of praise for them for music - but not a lot of feedback about them in a theater...



Bruce:

I use Magnepan MG3As in my theater. What they do for music they do for movies too. But I agree with Matt about the smaller Magnepans, they just don't have enough in the low end. A lot of people think that even the MG3As are weak at the bottom but I don't find that to be the case. Any way for the very bottom I use four 18 inch subs in the ceiling. Also if you look at my theater you will see I use one sideways for the center, it sounds great for the two center seats in both rows but the dispersion is a little narrow so the top end is a little weak at the edge seats. 

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


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## KASR (Jun 9, 2009)

Man, that room is looking sweeeeeet!! Can't wait to see more pics of the progression!


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

Yepppeeeeeeeeeeeeeee the room is 99.9% complete!!!!!! THANKS GUYS for the help and inspiration.  

Here is a video :bigsmile:


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

Equipment list has changed though.  No more Maggies. The front speakers are DIY and ran through a DCX2496 and powered by a 500 watt 4 channel class A Soundstream car audio amplifier. :flex: lol I needed more dynamic range and the compression horn drivers seem to be the ticket.  I was also able to hide the fronts from view behind the red curtains. 

The center channel is also DIY and consists of 2 Mark Audio full range drivers. I still need to do measurements and tweaking but so far the system sounds much better.


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## aftermath (Mar 27, 2009)

You need to take some high quality photos. Would love to see the room in more detail.


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

I am planning on taking better pictures but waiting on my buddy with his fancy camera and wide angle lens. I just used the wife's iphone to take a quick video. 

Matt


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

WOW only one comment. Guess I need better pics... lol :sad:


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## zacjones (Mar 25, 2007)

Looks great! I'd like to see some more finished pictures too. Really nice job on your build and log.


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

Thanks zacjones for your post!!  I will get some better pictures, hopefully soon. 

Matt


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## natlight (Jan 6, 2010)

Excellent job on the build! You have inspired me to start working on my basement.


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

Thanks natlight!!! Be sure to take lots of pictures of your basement build. It is fun watching a build!!!!

Matt


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## bassman_soundking (Nov 4, 2008)

Wow great build! I am jealous to say the least. I have 2 theaters, one is in my bedroom, other is in L-room I want the l-room to bea dedicated theater though. The room is so open and total space is like 24x50 or even longer. l-room dining kitchen laundry roo are all connected. I will make it probably 12x16 or 10x 18 depending n which way I do it. After seeing your room transform I have found new motivation.


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

Thanks bassman_soundking!! You will love having a dedicated HT! Make sure to take lots of pics!!!!!

Matt


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

The colors here are pretty accurate. 









It's a ghost... :R









Stars









Pop Corn Machine 









My Wife and the Pop Corn Machine 









HT Overload... 









Left Side









Right Side


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## Prof. (Oct 20, 2006)

Very nice styling! :T
How did you get the ghost effect!?


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## bassman_soundking (Nov 4, 2008)

some pics have red seats, and some have grey seats?


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## natlight (Jan 6, 2010)

Love how it turned out. That room is perfect!


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

The lighting in the room was very hard to photograph. The seats are actully black like the first picture. :bigsmile:
Thanks for the kind words!!! 

Matt


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

The ghost picture was shot by opening the shuter 15 seconds and moving from one side of the room to the other. 
Thanks, I tried give the room a retro but modern theater feel. I really has a very unique feel when the lights are dimmed. 

Matt


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## bassman_soundking (Nov 4, 2008)

what camera do you have with adjustable shutter speed? cool effect!


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

We were using Nikon's D40 and D50 to shoot the pictures. I really need to borrow a good light kit and flash to get the pictures right. My buddy loves to mess around with open shutter techniques. We tried a 3 ghost effect but needed a bigger flash to pull it off. You open the shutter and then pop the flash when you want to get the ghost effect, so there could of been 6 of me if we had a bigger flash. lol

Matt


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## bbieger (Sep 15, 2009)

Looks great!!

If you want to get the colors right on your photos.. take one picture holding a white card. You can even make it just a business card or something. Since you have a 40d, shoot it in RAW format. 

Open the RAW file in adobe RAW, click on the white balance adjust, select custom, and then click on the white card in your photo. Tadah.. instant correct color. BTW, you could even forget about the card and click on anything white in your picture..like the screen and the colors should be accurate. you can increase back lighting and what not to make it look right.

the key thing is good software..I.e. adobe bridge and RAW.


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

THANKS bbieger!!!! I will try shooting in RAW and editing it in Photoshop. Do you think it will work in Photoshop or does it only work in the Adobe Bridge? 

Matt


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## s52e368 (Jan 11, 2010)

any info on how you created the starry night effect?


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## bassman_soundking (Nov 4, 2008)

I like the starry night effect as well. I saw another build where someone did something similar using some type of fiber optic filaments or something. I think that is a great effect that wont interfere with the movie or add light to the room.


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

I was going to go the fiber optic route but it is expensive!! I got  these LED lights from IKEA for a 30 bucks and the effect is great. I just wish I would have added more. 

Matt

P.S. I removed the led lights from the metal frame and poked them through sound board that I attached it to the ceiling.
Of course, I covered the sound board with black fabric and then the entire ceiling was covered in black fabric.. 
I will NEVER fabric another angled ceiling again. :hissyfit: 

:TThe room has the same feel as the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney Land. Something that I have been trying to achieve since I was a child.


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## bbieger (Sep 15, 2009)

mdrake said:


> THANKS bbieger!!!! I will try shooting in RAW and editing it in Photoshop. Do you think it will work in Photoshop or does it only work in the Adobe Bridge?
> 
> Matt


You can do all the adjustments in photoshop but they are much much much easier done in adobe Camera RAW. I am pretty sure that adobe camera RAW is no just a plugin program that is included in photoshop CS4. I'm not really sure as I use adobe bridge to handle my photos (deleating, rating, pinning key words to the photos) and when I double click on a photo in bridge, it opens in RAW. Open photoshop and then try to open a RAW file..it should open in camera RAW instead of the normal photoshop window. 

You can get the whole adobe CS4 professional suite ummm..somewhat less than legally online and apply the keygens and hacks. 

At any rate, I would highly highly highly suggest that you pick up a copy of the adobe Photoshop CS4 book for digital photographers by scott kelby. It is a terrific book that steps you through how to use photoshop and I can't stress enough how a little time spent reading the book and following the examples can help your pictures tremendously. Photoshop is a nightmare if you try to just work your way through it. If you learn some simple shortcuts and functions though, it is an amazing and QUICK software.

Cheers,
Brian


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

WOW, just looked and sure enough my CS4 suite here at work has Bridge!! Thanks for the help!! I will be giving this a shot for sure. Never used Bridge but it looks easy enough. I have not done a lot of photo editing in Photoshop but I use it every day for web graphics, so the learning curve should not be to bad. 

Matt


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## bbieger (Sep 15, 2009)

buy the book, buy the book, buy the book.

jeez you would think I was getting kick backs or something. one of the cooler things in RAW is that you can adjust all the settings on one photo and if your others have the same issue (poor lighting, whatever). You can select all the other photos and "apply changes" to all the other photos. BOOM all your photos now look good. If you really want to save time, you can record a macro in photshop. I have a "resize for web" macro. you just hit record on the macro then resize your photo, reduce the resolution, and save it to a seperate folder. then hit stop on the macro. next time you open a photo you just hit that macro key.. kabam... web suitable picture saved in seperate folder for upload. 

Pretty nifty really. Again, all this is covered in the book  

Bridge is really a file management program. play around with the different desktop view settings. they can help allot. or jsut hit the space bar..tadah instant slide show.


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## natlight (Jan 6, 2010)

The stars look great. How big is that panel? How many lights would you recommend using?


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

bbieger
So, you really think I need the book?:devil: Thanks for all this tips I might even have to break down and buy the book. 


Natlight
There are two sets of those lights in the the panel and the panel is 4x8 feet. I would recommend min of 2 sets per panel maybe even three depending on many stars you want. I will try to take a better picture of the ceiling. 

Matt


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## Gilltyone (Feb 1, 2010)

Gday Looking very good so far, I was at the Eagles concert, only the Adelaide version, was incredible.


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

Thanks Gilltyone! I would love to see the Eagles in concert!!! 

Matt


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

I finally got the DCX 2496 hooked up to the Soundstream 4 channel car audio amp and the Crown XLS 802D Mal-x amp in a 3 way setup and WOW! That DCX 2496 is not for the faint of heart. It is a VERY complicated and the manual is worthless. It won't even make good toilet paper.  So, now the room looks and sounds better than a real theater!! Yeppppeeeeeeeeeeeeee finaly after over a year it is 99% done... there is always something else.... I still need to learn the eq on the DCX but that should be easy compared to setting the thing up. :T

Matt


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

Wow the eq works great!!!! I highly recommend the DCX 2496!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
I am blown away with how flat the DCX 2496 was able to get my room. If anyone gets
stuck using the DCX 2496 I would be happy to TRY and help.


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## sub_junkie (Apr 14, 2009)

It looks great Matt!! Great work bud.


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

Thanks!!! It was a lot of work and it is still a work in progress. :bigsmile:

Matt


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## Upstairs Cinema (May 18, 2010)

Very cool build Drake! Your stage is classy. Are you hiding the sub in the stage? Is there insulation all around it in there?

Def show some more pics of that ceiling! :T


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

Thanks for the kind words! 

There is installation in their but the box takes up most of the space under the stage. The stage is just framed and the panels in the front are fabric and the top is sound board to keep it from acting as a second enclosure. It seemed to work pretty well. 

Matt


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## Upstairs Cinema (May 18, 2010)

Can I ask how deep the stage is? How far forward of your screen does it extend? I've been racking my brain about how to fit my sub in, and everyone has very low step stages that make what you did impossible. But your build shows that a more square stage still looks very good, and gives room to hide the sub (i want the phantom speakers look  ) 

Cheers


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

The stage is 20in high by 16in deep and it extends about 15in from the screen. I think the stage works because of the curtains to the side of it. It gives it an old theater feel. 

My wife and I both wanted the phantom speaker look (more her :bigsmile which was very hard to do and still have good sound. I tried Magnepans mounted on the side wall towards the front and they looked strange and then towers close to the front and side wall which really did not work. :rolleyesno:

The mains are now behind the curtains and I can move the curtains out of the way for critical listening. They are horn loaded drivers so the curtains don't effect the sound as much as I thought they would for movies. 

What are you going to do for mains?

Matt


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## Upstairs Cinema (May 18, 2010)

I am looking to get the Axiom Audio setup all around. M60 mains are 7.6"W x 15"D x 36"H i think. 

I have 2'8" on each side of my screen, so im hoping that the relatively narrow towers will snug up against the screen frame (in a column of fabric) and still have good clearance from the side walls.


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

Cool, I wish I would of had the much room on each side of the screen! 

Matt


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## Upstairs Cinema (May 18, 2010)

We'll see how it pans out lol. I'm in planning phase now, and my wife and i sit about 10' back, and are currently enjoying a 134" screen...about a 1:1 screen width to first row ratio. pretty much everyone here says thats a bad idea lol. But the wide screen doesnt leave much room on the sides (room is 16'6"W). Im sure you'll see posts from me soon with 'HELP' written all over them 

A funny thing about speaker placement, and its not necessarily optimal, but most advice on these forums says move the speakers away from the side walls. However, 90% of the theatres i see have them in columns...in the corners lol.  Mine may end up this way as well.

I may just copy your stage though  Nice work. 

Cheers


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## peceman (Mar 2, 2009)

Hello, Matt. 

I liked your work. :clap:

Now you'll never see your neighbors from there ...


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## engtaz (Jul 9, 2010)

Very nice work on the HT. I really appreciate you taking time to post your build process.

Thanks


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

Thanks guys!! It was a lot of work but well worth it. It is still a work in progress, as I want to do some custom wood word on the pillars and walls. 

Matt


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## fitzwaddle (Aug 25, 2010)

Nice build and thread Matt, thanks for taking the time to document and share it. Helps keep us who are still building motivated! Hope you're still having fun with it. :T


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