Ok. I want to finally get some things done in my theater again. One thing that I was following was making my own DIY acoustic panels for the walls and then covering them in customer printed fabric that was still acoustically transparent. This means anything can be printed up and still not hurt the function of the panel.

I was thinking about getting six movie "posters" printed on the fabric to wrap them in. Put 3 on each wall appropriately and maybe a larger 7th one on the rear wall with the theater "name" on it or something.

I got the idea from here:
DIY Custom-Printed Movie Poster Acoustic Panels - cheap!

And here is an example of what one guy did. I would probably just do a black border around the "poster" and wrap the frame instead of having an exposed wood frame...


My wife thinks that will look tacky.

I still want/need acoustic panels, but my room is so plain, I don't know what else to do. I don't want shelves of movie knick-knacks since they will just add vibration points. I am just at a loss.


Ideas?

Here are a couple of photos. The colors are off a bit, but the walls are a subtle brown and the ceiling is a dark chocolate brown. The seats are more of a deeper, rich color than the "red" look.

I want to come hang out with you.

While I think that the movie-poster-wrapped acoustic panels are brilliant (BRILLIANT!), you and I both know that Mrs. Buol's opinion should be held in the highest esteem.

God, that is a beautiful room.

I'd try to find some (large) textile print that she likes that coordinates with the existing colors. I actually kind of like the exposed wood frame in this instance, as you could tie in the colors of the surround speakers, the soffit, the base molding, etc.

I mean, if she doesn't want big, thematic, specific art, how about big, generic decorative art instead?

While typing this I realized that I am not an interior designer and you should probably just ignore me altogether.

But, you know, good luck with that.

The crown molding (not shown in the photos) is painted the same dark brown as the ceiling. The baseboard trim should go in this spring as well and it too will also be painted the dark brown.

I wonder how hard it is to match the Axiom Boston Cherry vinyl in a wood stain as a potential option.

As for the textile print or even some larger "artwork" like design could save some $$$ since I wouldn't be wasting as much fabric since the printed fabric for each movie poster size will have a lot of empty area (the fabric length and width is more than what is needed for each poster size). I could create a color matching design and just cut it as needed.

Then again, I like the movie posters....

So, you're still on that "what I like matters" train, eh?

You've been married long enough to know better.

Ha. I know, I know....

Looks great as is.

You can never go wrong with basic black panels.

Nick, what i am going to recommend has nothing at all to do with movies, or HT for that matter....


If it were my room, i would get some Art printed.. Maby a Chagall, some Dali's, and a few Van gogh's... But! that's just me...


Like i said, nothing at all to do with movies.. But, i think some art in the room would make it look much more interesting when the lights are on, rather than movie poster prints...

I was thinking something similar with art, but not sure if I could find something subtle enough not to be distracting, plus 6 pieces of artwork that would match the room.

Of course, there is the same problem with movie posters.

I love the movie poster acoustic panel idea.

Not really what your thinking about, but I'll throw it out there anyway - how about some big soft fuzzy bean bag chairs. They help acoustically deaden a room and are kind of fun and comfy to fall into when just playing a video game or casual watching. We have 3 big ones for the kids (1 each). Makes for a neat room feature, plus they can easily be moved anywhere in the theater or house.

I also use movie posters. I framed mine on planks and installed a low wattage picture lamp for each (about 9 in the room). The lights give me just enough room lighting along with the screen bias light.

Those seats rock!

So does this one!

They rumble too with the Bass Shakers inside...

oh man, you didn't say that. :)) My ep600 and twin 350's really pound the room that I can feel, can't imagine shakers...

If I ever get around to building my 2nd sub to match my SVS PCi 20-39, then I will have something to really shake about.

The room will respond better with the 2nd sub, plus the acoustical panels will help overall, and the bass shakers are just fun. For those that haven't read my wordy build thread, I don't like to crank the shakers up too much, but boy do they help with things like a racecar's engine rumble, or a rocket/spaceship. You get the feeling of sub-audible LFE like nothing else, even when set pretty low.

Here is a great site with very tasteful products. Similar DIY could be had for a fraction of the price and similar performance since you know what you are doing obviously.

http://www.vicoustic.com/VN/Homecinema/default.asp

Drool! You've got a great space. Read the build thread. Kudos.

They don't have any resellers in the US it seems. Their home page says "coming in January" but I didn't see how to get to a US product page.

EDIT: Found it:
http://www.vicousticusa.com/VN/Homecinema/distribuidores.asp?c=List