Dedicated HT DIY build

[fotto]

I have been under construction for 1.5 yrs for various projects in a 900 Sq Ft basement finishing, and am pretty much done with my 12' x 22' HT with the exception of a couple of acoustic panels and screen frame/border. Specs follow.

Screen:
Seymour XD 120" wide 2.35:1
Diy frame using T-slot aluminum

Electronics:
Panny PT-AE4000
Onkyo TX-NR708
Samsung BD-P6500
Rotel 2 channel AMP (FR/FL)
Axiom VP150
Axiom QS8's (SR/SL)
American Acoustics Towers (275W, (2) 12 woofers
SVS PB12-NSD

Seating:
Berkline 45032

Lighting control:
Grafik GRX-3104 (4 zone)

Screen pre wall treatment

 

[adk highlander]

Looks great congrats. Where is your gear stored and what are you using to control the electronics?

 

[fotto]

Looks great congrats. Where is your gear stored and what are you using to control the electronics?

Thank you! I housed my rack outside of the theater for additional sound isolation. See pic following as visual (bar area was part of the build as well). The door on the right wall you can barely see if the HT entrance. Santa brought me a Logitech Harmony 900 this year so I can control components via the RF link and projector via IR in room.

I did gold standard for sound isolation in room using clips/hat channel on ceiling, decoupled and disconnected walls, staggered stud where needed, double layer of 5/8 drywall with GreenGlue all surfaces. Currently the door is the weak link, but even that's not too weak. I may or may not decide to alter that.

All of the wood (columns, baseboard, case, bar top, trim etc.) is Cherry that I had milled off of my property.

Theater and overall basement floor plans were:

This was original plan but moved HT entrance to south side wall, flipped overall HT orientation, and swapped the bar and exercise areas. The eqpt rack in the small east end utility room isn't shown here either.

 

[darien87]

Looks good. I really like the wood accents.

 

[adk highlander]

It looks like you really did your homework on the sound isolation. Really nice work. The bar area is very nice as well. Also great to hear you were able to use the cherry from your own property. I had to cut several oaks when I built my house but was not able to find a cost effective solution to use them for trim and other interior uses due to my limited construction time.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

very nice build. any plans to get M60 or M80 to complete nicely vp150 ?

 

[90gstman]

Nice elegant design. I'm glad to see you didn't go overboard on the decor. Sometimes people make their theater look to cartoonish in IMHO. I love the cherry.

 

[Panjsheri]

WOW great setup!! I cant wait until the day I can do something similar and damn the pic quality is sooo crisp!!!

 

[westcott]

The woodwork is beautiful and the overall look is very clean and well executed. My only suggestions would be to move the front row back a little farther. Based on your measurements, they are too close to the center of the room (audio null area). I would also have recommended moving the main speakers further away from the wall.

Thanks for taking time to share some photos.

 

[jostenmeat]

The woodwork is beautiful and the overall look is very clean and well executed. My only suggestions would be to move the front row back a little farther. Based on your measurements, they are too close to the center of the room (audio null area). I would also have recommended moving the main speakers further away from the wall.

Thanks for taking time to share some photos.

I disagree with that suggestion, as 38% (11.25') of the room length would likely mean that he needs to move the front row forward. Since I'm measuring from the seat back, the ears will likely be closer than what I measured, so it's probably pretty close to ideal.

Oh, nice to see another XD screen here! I just put mine up recently, and it's awesome!

 

[fotto]

Thanks for the kind words everyone. My first row eyes to screen is right at 12', which gives me right around 45% viewing angle based on screen width. I cantt move front row further back as they are against my riser and planned as such, and have no desire to move further forward as I tested this seating distance/viewing preferences prior to committing to the final position.

I'm currently involved with tweaking the audio/bass management. Close to running REW and have been playing around with crossover setting for fronts to try to tune things in, although I don't have any major issues right now with it. Must need something to do

Amazingly enough, I have had lots of compliments on my pics (I've got my build fully documented) considering my camera is an old Kodak easyshare 3.1 M pixel that's about 10 years old. No need right now to spend more money.

The Cherry wood was a bonus, and wouldn't be there unless it was close to free. I had a guy come out with a portable bandsaw mill to cut into slabs, then had a millwork guy pick it up, kiln dry, and them mill to what I wanted. Had around 800 board feet initially. Cost me $250 to cut, $240 to dry, and then $.30 per foot to make any profile I wanted.

 

[fotto]

very nice build. any plans to get M60 or M80 to complete nicely vp150 ?

When I upgrade, will probably be the M60's. M80's above my budget, although the "budget" was blown some time ago.

 

[fotto]

The woodwork is beautiful and the overall look is very clean and well executed. My only suggestions would be to move the front row back a little farther. Based on your measurements, they are too close to the center of the room (audio null area). I would also have recommended moving the main speakers further away from the wall.

Thanks for taking time to share some photos.

Thanks wescott. Not entirely sure I'm following your suggestion on moving the speakers further away from the wall...further into the room from the screen wall or further from the side walls?

I currently have 1" of linacoustic on the screen end wall and built OC703 floor to ceiling superchunk bass traps at both corners behind the screen. Planning on adding another 1" linacoustic on top of first layer depending on how much of the roll I have left once all my panels are built. I also have a recess in the ceiling behind the screen ceiling soffit that is about 2'x10'x8" deep, also filled with 703. So, the front wall is pretty dead right now and I have quite a bit of bass trap in that area.

Rear wall corners are also superchunk traps, with middle wall panel 2" thick 703. That's about all the bass trapping I can fit in here and maintain my aesthetic goals. I also vented my riser (rear and sides) to provide whatever additional trapping I could get.

Front wall:

Rear corners

 

[westcott]

I disagree with that suggestion, as 38% (11.25') of the room length would likely mean that he needs to move the front row forward. Since I'm measuring from the seat back, the ears will likely be closer than what I measured, so it's probably pretty close to ideal. The front speakers should be as far away from the display wall as one can tolerate all the way up to 1/3 the distance from the display into the room to minimize bass frequency interaction with the room.

Oh, nice to see another XD screen here! I just put mine up recently, and it's awesome!

The room is 22'. 2/3 back from the display wall is little over 14 feet (recommended seating distance for audio considerations). Not sure where this 38% number is coming from unless you are referring to seating distance based on screen size (video concerns should always be secondary).

Dead center is 11 feet or half the room length where his front row now sits (audio null area).

Only conducting frequency sweep tests can say four sure since every room is different. Gernerally, I suggest extensive speaker placement testing before committing to a final room design to get the flattest frequency response. Bass traps are most effective when problem frequencies have been identified so they can be targeted more accurately.

 

[jostenmeat]

westcott, I misread the length (didn't account for space behind the false wall, and didn't see that dimension to begin with). Now, 8.45' would be 38%, doesn't matter from front or back wall. This is the de facto starting point for the best evening of axial modes in a rectangular room. b pape has stated on more than one occasion that this number may drop to as low as 33% with the inclusion of non-axial modes (tangential, oblique).

You're right though, every room is different, and nothing will beat measuring. Fix the modal issues, with traps in place, then there is yet more freedom in how to place speakers for best imaging.

 

[GO-NAD!]

That looks fantastic!

I'm currently working on a similar configuration, using the same PJ. After reading the little exchange between WC and JM, I fear that I might have a similiar issue of seating too close to the centre of the room.

Love the trim.

 

[fotto]

The room is 22'. 2/3 back from the display wall is little over 14 feet (recommended seating distance for audio considerations). Not sure where this 38% number is coming from unless you are referring to seating distance based on screen size (video concerns should always be secondary).

Dead center is 11 feet or half the room length where his front row now sits (audio null area).

Only conducting frequency sweep tests can say four sure since every room is different. Gernerally, I suggest extensive speaker placement testing before committing to a final room design to get the flattest frequency response. Bass traps are most effective when problem frequencies have been identified so they can be targeted more accurately.

Not sure I'm following this one guys. My front row eyes/ears are right at 12' from the false wall/screen/speakers. The false wall ended up being 30" from the screen permanent wall, so I am listening at 14.5' (12+2.5) from the permanent wall, and 12' from the false wall.

So, my listening position is 3.5' foot further back than actual room middle of 11', which puts me behind peak null area assuming that's calculated on overall room dimensions and not from the false wall.

I guess however you look at it, there's many variables at play including room design (columns, soffits etc) and impact of acoustic treatments right?

 

[westcott]

Not sure I'm following this one guys. My front row eyes/ears are right at 12' from the false wall/screen/speakers. The false wall ended up being 30" from the screen permanent wall, so I am listening at 14.5' (12+2.5) from the permanent wall, and 12' from the false wall.

So, my listening position is 3.5' foot further back than actual room middle of 11', which puts me behind peak null area assuming that's calculated on overall room dimensions and not from the false wall.

I guess however you look at it, there's many variables at play including room design (columns, soffits etc) and impact of acoustic treatments right?

LOTS of intagible variables so using an SPL meter and a test CD/DVD are your best friend in these applications. It is a LOT of work. Testing, repositioning, retesting, again......

Start with the subwoofer, then the center channel, then the left and right mains. It is a hair pulling test of will and committment and probably why it is rarely ever done. But, this is Audioholics and some of us are just plain anal about such things. Afterall, one is investing a great deal of money, it only seems befitting to spend just as much time properly setting it up and testing the results. The finest equipment in the world will sound no better than a Bose system if you fail to take the time up front to follow some of the recommendations of the Audioholic College and the wealth of information available to have a final product that takes full advantage of the fine equipment.

I do apologize if I hijacked your thread. I really did not want to to dig this far into room acoustics on your thread.

Enjoy.

 

[fotto]

That looks fantastic!

I'm currently working on a similar configuration, using the same PJ. After reading the little exchange between WC and JM, I fear that I might have a similiar issue of seating too close to the centre of the room.

Love the trim.

Thanks GO-NAD. LOL at the name

 

[fotto]

LOTS of intagible variables so using an SPL meter and a test CD/DVD are your best friend in these applications. It is a LOT of work. Testing, repositioning, retesting, again......

Start with the subwoofer, then the center channel, then the left and right mains. It is a hair pulling test of will and committment and probably why it is rarely ever done. But, this is Audioholics and some of us are just plain anal about such things. Afterall, one is investing a great deal of money, it only seems befitting to spend just as much time properly setting it up and testing the results. The finest equipment in the world will sound no better than a Bose system if you fail to take the time up front to follow some of the recommendations of the Audioholic College and the wealth of information available to have a final product that takes full advantage of the fine equipment.

I do apologize if I hijacked your thread. I really did not want to to dig this far into room acoustics on your thread.

Enjoy.

No problems with the audio conversation. I come to these forums to learn (and share what I know).