# My Theater Room - Cinema 1858



## thrillcat

A few photos of my room.

Before:
 

It was a pretty bad setup, with the screen perpendicular to 3 floor to ceiling windows. Bad pendant lighting. I won't even bother showing you the before shots of the other end of the room.

So I spun the room 180º. Moved to a 115" DIY Seymour CenterstageXD screen, acoustically transparent. 
 
 
 


Over the course of several phases I've upgraded various components. It's now at:
• Emotiva UMC-200
• Emotiva UPA-7
• TiVo Premiere
• AppleTV
• Panasonic BDT-360 bluray player
• PS3
• Modified Elemental Designs MTM-6 theater series (upgraded driver & crossover components)
• Mission 77s surround x4
• SVS PB-2000
• Optoma HD20
 

It's all been DIY. This summer I'm going to pull the ceiling and add more soundproofing.

I bought the LCR cabinets from a guy I know around here. There's a ton of cabinets floating around since they closed up shop. I've actually bought 4 slanted surround cabinets to eventually finish up and install as well.
 
 

It sounds great in there. I finally figured out Room EQ Wizard once I had the eD cabinets behind the screen and they had had a couple months to break in. REW works great with the UMC-200.

I have more photos, and I'm down there every night. Let me know if you have questions about anything or want to see something else! Love to hear what you think!


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## thrillcat

Troubleshooting dropbox photo links.


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## thrillcat

I backed the NEEO project on Kickstarter, I'm really hoping that ends up being as nice as it looks like it will be. I've never been happy with a universal remote, but this seems a little bit beyond the Harmony remotes. I'm excited to get it and see how it does.


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## Peter Loeser

I like the setup, nice and clean. Nice work on the screen and front wall treatment. Additional acoustic treatment should help when you get to that step. Those seats look so plush and comfy, and I dig the look of those Mission 77s. I assume your sub is on its side to accommodate your screen placement? Curious - what's the square hole in the back wall? Looks a tad creepy in the photos :gulp:

I checked out the NEEO page. I'm interested to hear your impressions when you have yours set up. I just basically gave up on URC and ordered a Harmony Ultimate Home this week - it came in the mail today so I should have it set up this weekend. Still very curious about the NEEO and will probably be following its development.


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## thrillcat

Peter Loeser said:


> Additional acoustic treatment should help when you get to that step. Those seats look so plush and comfy, and I dig the look of those Mission 77s. I assume your sub is on its side to accommodate your screen placement? Curious - what's the square hole in the back wall? Looks a tad creepy in the photos :gulp:
> 
> I checked out the NEEO page. I'm interested to hear your impressions when you have yours set up. I just basically gave up on URC and ordered a Harmony Ultimate Home this week - it came in the mail today so I should have it set up this weekend. Still very curious about the NEEO and will probably be following its development.


- The seats were $200 on craigslist, of course I spent $100 in cleaners to get the smoke smell out of them.
- The Mission 77s were found in a pawn shop locally. I had to mount the main surrounds on the ceiling because of the windows, and they just disappear visually. They're actually the perfect surrounds, since they're so physically close to the seating. The four of them together make a nice smooth surround field. When I put the ceiling back in, I'm going to move the main surrounds forward about 12 inches.
- Yes, the sub is taller than the NHT it replaced, so it's sitting on its side or it goes right to the bottom of the screen.
- The black hole in the back wall is another window. It was behind the original screen. I stuffed a piece of Linacoustic in there to black it out.

I'm anxious for the NEEO to arrive...


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## tripplej

I like it. Very clean and I am sure you will have years of enjoyment. I also Like the sofa's as well. I bet if you were not careful, you can fall asleep on those sofa's. lol. Great job!


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## thrillcat

I'm sure I COULD have years of enjoyment, but I'm already mentally planning my next theater. Once I hit the lottery I want to build a new room over my garage to give me more space - wider screen (2.39), more seating, just plain more flexibility.

It never ends. But this room is very cozy and enjoyable.


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## Talley

I only need one seat in my theater


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## Lumen

Talley said:


> I only need one seat in my theater


I like the way you think!

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## Owen Bartley

Great transformation, thrillcat! Room looks great and cozy. How do you like the SeymourXD screen? Do you find the audio is still nice and clear, or is it muffled at all?


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## thrillcat

Thanks! It's a great place to hunker down for a movie or two. 
There is absolutely no audible difference in the sound when the screen is in place vs when it is not. I couldn't be happier with the screen. That's a lie. I would be happier if the room was wider and the screen was 2.39:1. But that's not the screen's fault. 


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## NBPk402

thrillcat said:


> I'm sure I COULD have years of enjoyment, but I'm already mentally planning my next theater. Once I hit the lottery I want to build a new room over my garage to give me more space - wider screen (2.39), more seating, just plain more flexibility.
> 
> It never ends. But this room is very cozy and enjoyable.



Looks great!
Move the cars outside, and convert the garage to a HT (that's what we did, and we build a car port for the cars), it will be much cheaper than building a new room over the garage. :T


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## thrillcat

Yeah, but I live in Iowa. No way I'm giving up my garage in the winter. 


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## NBPk402

thrillcat said:


> Yeah, but I live in Iowa. No way I'm giving up my garage in the winter.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


It might be cheaper to build a new garage then to build a new room over your garage...


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## thrillcat

ellisr63 said:


> It might be cheaper to build a new garage then to build a new room over your garage...



I'll be finding out soon. 

It's not going to be as big of a job as it sounds. The way my garage is built, it shares one of its walls with the kitchen, but the garage wall raises above the kitchen and the garage's roof is above the rest of the house at that point. So, in essence, I'm getting a quote on lifting the roof and adding another 10 feet of wall in there, then reattaching. Already have a staircase, but it only leads to storage. 


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## Owen Bartley

thrillcat said:


> There is absolutely no audible difference in the sound when the screen is in place vs when it is not.


Awesome. That's exactly what I wanted to hear. I happened to stop in to browse one of the well known established B&M stores around here a little while ago, and mentioned my plans for an AT screen and the "experienced" guy seemed pretty intent on talking me out of it. I didn't really put much into what he said, but it did leave a few doubts, so hearing that response is perfect. Thanks!


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## thrillcat

The old-school perforated screens have more of an effect on sound than the newer weaved materials. 


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## thrillcat

Well, a few weeks ago I upgraded my projector. A friend down the street upgraded to a 4K Sony, so I bought his Panasonic AE-8000U to replace the Optoma. Very, very big improvement in image, plus it's quieter - almost silent.

The projector had been calibrated last year by Jeff Meier, too, so that's another big plus. Going from a black room to a black room, the only image adjustment that was made (besides zooming and focusing, of course), was a one notch drop in the brightness. Other than that, everything is still spot on. Very happy with this investment.

I guess another thing I did this past fall was to alter my screen aspect ratio. I bought a 4K TV for upstairs, and I've really shifted 95% of my TV watching to the upstairs, and I'm using the theater for only movies and bigger events, bigger games. So I added another velvet wrapped piece of lumber to the bottom of the frame, friction fit inside, effectively changing the aspect ratio to 2:1. I let 16x9 content shoot off the top and bottom. It doesn't really lose anything important, sports graphics are right at the top and bottom edges of the screen. I feel it makes everything a bit more cinematic, and Cinemascope content is shown with smaller letterbox at the top and bottom. If I had the room, I'd have a 2.39:1 screen, but I'm already from side wall to side wall, so this is a nice compromise. I like it, and if I change my mind all I have to do is pull the extra board out and I'm right back to a 16:9 screen.

Had 12 people in there comfortably for the Super Bowl this weekend, everyone thoroughly enjoyed it!

Now how to pay for the new room above the garage....


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## thrillcat

Well the room above the garage has still not happened...but I've been working on some more updates to my existing room.

In my first remodel, I had taken out the two side walls that consisted of cedar planks and replaced them with drywall. Over the last few weeks, I tore everything out except those two walls, and I've now drywalled the entire room 5/8"X, while filling some leaky spots with Roxul. I've mudded and taped, but will still be covering all seams with the cedar planking that came out to match the side walls, and to give the ceiling a nice, coffered look.

Carpet came out, too. The same friend down the street that I bought the projector from was replacing carpet in his theater, so I took a couple big chunks out of the virtually unused portion of his room and will put them in mine soon...definitely an upgrade over what was there.

I'm going to seal up one of my big windows so I can move the side surrounds to the walls instead of the ceiling. Not that they sounded bad on the ceiling, but I'd like to have them on the walls (future surround speaker upgrade planned to match my LCRs).

In addition to the drywall and soundproofing upgrades, I'm moving my seating forward...it was initially placed a bit far back to allow a workout space, or so I could put my bike in there and watch a movie while I ride on the trainer. Well, I'm not doing that enough to justify the sacrifice, so I'm moving both rows of seating up, and I'm going to extend the riser back and add a low bar & two or three chairs for more overflow seating back there.

I'm also moving my equipment rack to the back of the room, so the whole thing was rewired, too.

Hoping to wrap up soon... here's a couple progress pics.

Back of the room - the creepy blacked out window has been completely sealed over.









Front of the room, will need to build my screen wall in front of this again.


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## thrillcat

Today I was able to start trimming out the ceiling so I could install the lighting and wore it up, therefore being able to turn the power back on. Made good progress. All downhill from here. 











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## thrillcat

Progress!






































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## Owen Bartley

Awesome. Love that shot of the speakers inset in the absorption material. Also I'm loving the framed out wood with dark wall sections, this may be good for my build too. 

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## thrillcat

Owen Bartley said:


> Awesome. Love that shot of the speakers inset in the absorption material. Also I'm loving the framed out wood with dark wall sections, this may be good for my build too.
> 
> Sent from my LG-H812 using Tapatalk


Actually going to need to go back in and fill in some more of the absorption material, too, after I figure out how I'm going to fill in the space above and below the screen. I had come of the cedar trim below it before, which I'll probably do again, and more black velvet above, but I think I might go cedar up there, too.

I love the way the cedar trim has worked out - obviously still more to do, but I love the look. It's also nice that it was all available, since the entire room had cedar walls to start. I'm simply repurposing that wood.

I had an image on screen and 5.0 sound last night! Locking in a final distance for the front row seats, then I'll move the riser into location, finish it and be ready to rock.


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## thrillcat

More progress. My rack arrived last week and I was able to get it loaded up and installed.










I really just need to build the riser extension, carpet it, and finish up a bit of trim here and there and it will be good to go again. But of course I've been using it a little bit. Sounds so much better already and I haven't even calibrated. And the soundproofing is a definite improvement in the rest of the house. 




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## thrillcat

More progress. Hoping to finish it up this week. 




























And I picked up some theater chairs for the third row and a great couch for the second row. 





















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## thrillcat

More more more!




























Should be able to be done tonight!


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## thrillcat

Carpet is in. After dinner will be the couch swap and done except for some trim finishes. 































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## Prof.

Looking good!..:T


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## Owen Bartley

Great progress thrillcat! I see you have an audience ready to go, too! Keep up the great work. 

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## thrillcat

You guys!











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## Owen Bartley

Thrillcat, this is the part where angels sing and light shines on your beautiful finished project.  enjoy it! 

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## thrillcat

A little more progress today. I finished up all but the top piece of trim on the screen wall. Stuffed all my carpet scraps and carpet padding scraps behind it to prevent resonation. 







































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## thrillcat

puukorva said:


> Now that you saw all that trouble of paneling the room, why not consider building diffusers front and back?


I definitely plan on doing something along those lines once I finish the trim. I want to to a little absorption on the ceiling, the front wall is covered with Linacoustic. Once I get the trim finished on the back wall I'll put the mic up and start looking into what I should do as far as more treatments.


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## thrillcat

Yesterday I replaced my SeymourAV Center Stage XD material with Center Stage UF. 

I wasn't expecting a huge difference, but since I'd moved my front row closer in the latest remodel I thought what the . Well, it is a HUGE improvement. The image is much cleaner and smoother, I must've been seeing the weave before, and this is almost like I bought a new projector. I'm loving the improvement. 






































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## Prof.

Is the UF. as bright as the XD?


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## thrillcat

Prof. said:


> Is the UF. as bright as the XD?




I believe it is .1 lower gain than XD, but I didn't notice at all (will scope next week), and with the added clarity and sharpness it feels more like a new projector than just new material. 


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## thrillcat

I am planning on building some custom absorption panels. My printed fabric arrived today. 






































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## willis7469

Love it. 


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## BD55

The prints look super cool - that is an awesome idea! :T


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