Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater The Limited Edition

This post will be used to share a few photos of our ongoing theater build. The room has been christened "The Limited Edition", as the central design feature is integrated display space for a large collection of film statues (mostly Rings and StarWars). If you know collectibles, the display pieces are primarily from Sideshow, Weta, and Gentle Giant. Most are hand painted 1/6 scale figures cast in stone-resin. Edition sizes range from 500 to 5,000 pieces (although some are open edition), with a majority in the 1,000-2,000 piece window.

The room is an over-garage bonus space, which was designed for this purpose when the house was built ~ 5 years ago. Dimensions are about 20' front to back, and 16' wide at the base (tapering to 8' wide at the ceiling). The room floor level is one foot lower than the adjacent entry area (the house ceiling height exceeds the garage ceiling height), which allows for stadium seating risers to continue exterior floor level at the entry point. With the risers the effective room height is 8', increasing to 9' beyond the second riser position and closer to the screen. Insulation was in the walls, but we've built it up fully DIY from there ( we've gotten lots of "help" from the kids in the "worker-man room" ). The project has moved forward in fits and bursts over the last ~ 2 years as time, energy, and priorities have allowed, with intermittent periods of big progress separated by long fallow periods. The DIY aspects include:

Building the risers -- This was the first step, and my brothers / father helped. I'm more of a "plan it out first" type, which sometimes leads to not ever getting started on a project. Family was in town and pushed me to get going, so it was concluded that the risers could be designed without knowing the full layout everywhere else at that juncture. Really glad for that push to get started.



Helpers!



Finished risers, as viewed from the front.



Electrical -- The builder dropped me a 240V 30A line, which was used to power two legs of a dedicated 12 breaker subpanel, with individual circuits for the subwoofer and LCR positions, as well as a couple circuits at the equipment rack, and shared circuits for surrounds and heights, plus some switched accent lighting, etc. The primary room lighting is from the main house panel. The combined usable wattage limit for the room is therefore in the ballpark of 6,000W (say 240*30 minus ~ 20%). Individual 120V 20A circuits can access something like 2,000W, but obviously not all at peak simultaneously, or they'll trip the upstream breakers. The setup allows (in principle) for monoblocks at every speaker position, but "Version 1" will run on a single receiver (Marantz SR7008). As budgets allow and upgrades come due, the LCR will get separate power first. The other positions could, but probably will not ever, get the same treatment. The photo here is just a 4-gang wall switch that controls the primary (can) and secondary (recessed fluorescents) room lighting, the fan, and the switchable outlets for collectible lighting.



Low voltage & speaker cabling -- Every speaker location (the room is set up for 9.2, with surrounds, rear surrounds, and front heights to be suspended at a ~1' drop from the central flat region of the ceiling) has a speaker cable run, a balanced signal cable run, and a low voltage trigger. Speaker cable is 12 gauge in-wall from monoprice. Sub positions have balanced signal cable, and trigger. The next photo is the set of boxes close to the future equipment rack. Cable, phone, and ethernet come in. Along with the described speaker feeds, there is an HDMI cable running to the projector position, and a few other low voltage control wires for a possible screen motor, or anamorphic lens, or whatever down the road.



The screen goes over this window.



Invaluable documentation of wire locations!



Side view with cables running to ceiling speaker and projector locations (with reinforcements for mounting) and onward to the front of room positions.



Continued ...

Sheetrock -- a good buddy with a pickup helped me get the sheets from Lowes and up the stairs. He also helped install the flat ceiling sections. The rest I could do alone, with some help here & there from my wife.





Screen -- this is a 5'x10' 1/2" MDF panel, prerolled with Kilz and sprayed with (a slight variation on) Mississippi Man's (AVS) silverfire treatment.





Shelving -- MDF (3/4") is the material we selected due to the fact that edges can be handled easily with a router, and it paints up nicely. Shelves line the side walls and continue up the sloping wall/ceiling transition, and flank the upper perimeter of the room in a continuous line. They will be sprayed black, with some white LED strip lights tucked behind moulding to highlight the figures.

The sand was originally intended for weight / damping under the sub locations, but I thought the depth would be much greater. Not sure this did much good, but the kids enjoyed spreading it. This is our oldest, a special needs child.



Shelving pedestals.



The shelf dividers go up.



The shelves on the wall / ceiling transition. The supports are pine.



Long span rear shelf with integrated underbracing to prevent sag.



More trim is installed on the shelving and the ceiling.



Continued ...

To do -- There are still a few bits of trim to install, then putty, caulk, sanding, and painting. Many of the wall/ceiling surfaces are to be covered with a commercial type looped short pile carpet (grey, no pad). The strategy is that the extensive shelving naturally creates little rectangular areas, where recesses have been routed into the backsides (close to wall) of the trim pieces to allow under-tucking of the carpet (which will be glued down to the drywall). The same motif has been carried over to the ceiling and rear wall. The floor will be covered with self-adhesive carpet squares with a built-in pad -- maybe in red. The speaker wires and signal lines need to be terminated with hardware and integrated into wall plates. The AC ducting (which I installed) needs to be tied into the main system -- I will likely contract this. The capacity to cover this room on the main zoned system was built in, for this intended use. Several other odds and ends, bits and bobs. Occasionally, I actually feel like we're getting close!

Last pic (for now) is one of my favorite figures from Weta Collectibles testing out its future home.



However, we may need to do something about the audio situation. If only I knew a place to pick up some great speakers .

Great work so far. I can't wait to see how it develops.

DAMN!!!! Impressive work!

Fantastic planning and attention to detail! Great bowed riser design. With all those receptacle drops are you considering powered monitors down the road? Would be cheaper/better than going monoblocks everywhere maybe. Any data drops in the room? AV cabinet/closet planned? Sound isolation?

The shelving dividers should add some nice front to back flutter control. Not sure, all that carpet may suck the "air" out of the room and leave a heavy perceived bottom end.

Any renders or drafting plans to share?

Your room is going to kick serious serious ass! Fantastic work so far. This thread is exciting already.

Thanks All!

I'll respond to Serenity's specific questions.



A) There are a lot of outlets . Note the outlets at floor level are switched for led lighting transformers. Got carried away a bit, but it gives flexibility in placement. The bare wires at ceiling level are for a ring of fluorescents. The receptacle drops that you are referring to would allow for powered monitors, or amps at the speaker location. Probably, I'll do neither any time soon. The surround, rear surround, and front height are going to be QS8's, QS8's, and M2's. I'll be welding a 1' drop down support, and if desired later, a bolt on attachment to hold the very light Outlaw 2200 amps. They are relatively cost efficient per channel, and allow for balanced inputs, and I would already own very nice speakers. But, the expense for 6 channels is not negligible, and it is very likely that I will never feel the need for the "upgrade".

B) Yes, Ethernet cable comes in at the main equipment location.

C) No closet. A welded equipment rack will wall mount at the main cable junction.

D) No clips or green glue or that sort of stuff. Just insulation, heavy fire code sheetrock, caulking on joints, etc. There is a double wall at the back on the portion to the right of the door, but that was just an "accident" of the existing framing.

E) I think maybe so. Nice diffusive element, perhaps.

F) I've been mildly concerned about this. Open to thoughts. But, there are still plenty of hard surfaces, including the screen wall and the huge amount of shelving. Plus, there are some bass absorbing treatments planned at corners & helping with the first reflection point. The thought has been that with 9.2 in a modestly sized room I certainly don't want long decay times. It is possible this goes too far in the other direction. Note that the solution was chosen not only for acoustics but also aesthetics & as an alternative to having to texture the walls . I should do some reading.

G) No, we didn't do anything like that. There are a few hand drawn sketches from the brainstorming / planning. Could possibly post those down the road.

Cheers - DSQ

Wrt carpet/decay times, all the issues can be massaged out later. I tried to plan my acoustical approach fully before construction but know full well the signature of the room is unpredictable without heavy math and room modelling....

Besides our book has cures for all evils.

DSQ:

Great & sophisticated work!!

Perhaps you should plan to come up to Axiom's Birthday Party in Sep & give us a talk on your HT Build. If not that, I'd like to have a beer (or whatever) with you anyway...

TAM

I remember when I got invites like that.

"come and talk about sound proofing and isolation"
"come and talk about acoustical treatments"
"come and talk about..."

Wish I could make it, so I am just bitter.

TAM - Thanks! Both sound great! I would really enjoy joining in, although don't think that circumstances will allow.

Nick: Can't be belle of the ball forever!

WooHoo!

The Marantz SR7008 came a week ago from Accessories 4 Less. Great deal on the refurb, and I would not be able to tell it apart from new stock. Of course, I haven't been able to test it out yet, but that should be changing shortly!

I'll be running the m80s + ep500s in stereo in my office for the time being. After a year+ on layaway / installments, I'm very very excited.

6 packages, 246 lbs.

That's awesome, Doc! I remember MY excitement, and your system is well beyond mine!

Uh oh! progress halted. Very cool feeling.

Cleared customs in Memphis!

Wife's really pressuring me to devote more time to finishing the theater. Keeps trying to increase the budget. You know, normal spouse stuff

Wow, wow, wow.

The m80's are out of this world. The m2's also sound great, but the m80s are a different category. I haven't been able to get the subs to run yet, with music. That was OK though ... we enjoyed being astonished by the bass of the towers with no assist for the time being. Comparison of m80s with / without sub and m2's with/without sub will come later. Also will plan on some comparisons to our existing Mirage FRX-1 bookshelves, which have been our main set of speakers for ~15 years.

For now, the Mirage have a bit more bass than the m2s, but the m2s have quite a bit more resolution and separation of the instruments. The m80s are radically set apart from both of the bookshelves by their fullness. Although we both enjoyed both sets of bookshelves, against the m80s it isn't even a fair comparison. It will be interesting later though to compare the bookshelves + sub to the m80s.

All in all, couldn't be happier with the first listen of the m80s. Its hard to imagine what else they could do. First track was Dreamline, by Rush, off Roll The Bones. Then we went through most of Bela Fleck's Tales From the Acoustic Planet. Absolutely wonderful acoustic bass on that disc by Edgar Meyer, and the m80s delivered it with authority. Everything was absolutely tight, resolved, well balanced. We both heard many new subtleties that had escaped attention previously. The "fingers on the strings" element was heightened beyond anything I'd heard before.

Thanks Ian & Andrew!

More later, especially once we can figure out the sub situation ...

Hi All -- Sorry to have been out of touch for so long. Work got really busy, for one thing, and what time I had for this sort of thing got aimed at finishing the theater up. I'm super pleased to say, that after just about 3 years of effort, the theater is now just about done! Still to do: cover the bass absorbers in fabric and install, sew and install the screen curtain, finish wiring the LEDs for the shelves, finish welding the equipment rack and surround/height ceiling hangers. Then, it will be time to load the collectibles up onto the shelves.

We're already "moved in" and are watching movies now, though. The very first "movie" was Baby Einstein: Baby Newton, the choice of our special needs boy. The first full movie was Pirates II. The mains (m80) and center (vp180), plus the subs (2xep500) are working and sound GREAT. The subs literally shake the chairs -- very impressive for a sealed box! And the bass is absolutely controlled and articulate. Amazing.

Also to-do is a projector upgrade. Right now we have a hand-me-down benQ 480 line pj (coming up on 20 years old) from my Dad. It served well, but can't compete with modern solutions. Worse, we are down-converting blu-rays to 480 and sending over hdmi (the only connection run to the pj) which is then is being transcoded to analog vga (the old benQ has no digital inputs) by a $10 plug adapter. The combination of an old pj, old bulb, rather dark film, and low-end transcode made for a pretty dingy picture. My plan is to pick up a Sony vpl-hw40es. The 45es has now been announced, so I'm watching to see how things shake out -- I doubt the 45 is more than an incremental step up, but maybe some deals on the 40 will surface. The first movie with the new PJ (and perhaps the surrounds) will be Episode IV.

Another note, since it has been some time since my last post: I had asked questions on the forum here a while back (which Ian was kind enough to address personally) about the role of the woofer cones in the m80, and had some concern that they were working over what seemed (naively) to be a narrow/limited frequency range. In a nutshell, it was the old question of whether the capabilities of a near full-range tower were irrelevant when good subs were also in the mix. Having some experience now with the speakers let me give some additional feedback on the issue. The woofers on the m80s have *plenty* to do, and are absolutely not sitting on their hands, getting lost between the sub and the midranges. They are absolutely pounding, and are very essential and effective contributors to the sound mix. The m80s are indeed enhanced by the presence of subs. But, in my opinion, the full range towers are by no means a redundancy when the subs are added. They have a fullness (even with the subs in both cases) that the bookshelves don't match.

Anyway, here are some pics of the progress. Hopefully I can find some time this summer to do a full writeup of the whole construction process. Sorry to say, I'll Probably still have a rather limited presence on the forums, as I just don't have the time. In any event, it is great to "see" you all again, and my very best wishes to you and those you love!

The Theater:


Reverse View:


Wall Panel:


LEDs on Stairs, before carpet install:

Very nice. Lots of well worth it!

Looks Awesome Doc.
I find the same with my M80s they can handle most any thing probably down to 30Hz and a Ep500 or two is icing on the cake.
I've got 1 and man can it pound shockingly well.

Thanks



Right-O! Also, turns out I've maybe never *really* experienced soundstage before. Too Awesome! Cheers--

Oh my but those seats are red. Very nice work. Hopefully you are taking the time to enjoy to enjoy the fruits of your labour.

That's one hell of a HT. Outstanding work!

Like a red pump with a little black dress was my wife's theory on it!

Yes, we're enjoying -- thanks. A Sony VPL-HW40ES is on order & should be in shortly. That will change the situation quite a bit. Things already sound great, but soon they should look great too.

Thanks / Cheers!

Thanks! Hopefully this summer I can find some time to do a full recap. A bit different than a traditional real-time build thread, but retrospective, and organized by topic (main electrical, low-voltage, structural carpentry, finish carpentry, lighting, screen, treatments & surfaces, etc.)

Hi All --

A quick update -- Welded equipment racks and speaker hangers are back from powder coat, and installed, so we are watching movies with 9.2 surround! We are *loving* the 3D on the Sony HW40ES.

Here are a few pics:

First is the theater screen view, with the height, surround, and rear speaker mounts visible. New projector is also in view.



Next is the equipment rack:



That little guy post-mounted on top is a 1:1 scale replica of the studio prop from A New Hope, 32" long, by Master Replicas.

Here's a detail view:



Still "ToDo": Sew silver silk covers for the rockwool type bass absorbers positioned in corners. Sew silver silk curtain (wife is handling all of the stitch work ), and install curtain rail. Finish installing under-cabinet lighting, and move collectibles onto the shelves. Connect ducting into the main A/C system (may have a professional do this, but am holding off for expense reasons).

PS -- Thanks Ian for some really great customer service, resolving an issue with shipping damage on one of the QS8's -- "Above and Beyond".

Dr:

Your pics don't show up here...

TAM

Hi TAM!

Try reloading? I can see them. Are you missing just the last batch, or all the images in the thread?

Cheers - SQ

nobody can see the last batch that you put up. it's just a circle with a - inside

Looking at the links (when I try to "quote" the message) these appear to be stored "privately" on google, and thus the reason you can see them, but we can't. We don't have access to your storage area, and thus they don't show.

That is my best guess based off of the first picture's link being (I removed the https:// at the begining to show the whole link):
lh3.googleusercontent.com/7lA5INfpm-GrH-2wQ3cWo7BoD-ibTw-ofbQvrnGNbe5cbkSQoM_T3b5r09aDq3Hc6H565Uvy7dVLC744OU0pC7vbQ9TuKlCkxp-mFdmRklOCb9Zs0HSkQ3MZVHnZOje3Wr_nUXws7nKIG7Mf_Rwy-U3ACt_wM-pNYe3nR7oFjB8RmqCvR5Z0wMgnH-vk6Us5t05bq0TvqmIFW6f7pSaG5Crb0yNMUsL-aLPaA2EdpEbqF7GceDOxsCONYBjp7aPeVTVUmMjbPX8ON-w5cll9NRbHeUBbVz434PQs0IPl6BaV-Rq-Sil4JBAe-2sLPY91POpv0WR8KbbWPfIUs9Ts7mLVC5-H52aiAUdxLvjc0MJaHPRD2bRdocOTo-1XO9DJaCPN2u4tceIrAzcR6qHNUa2a67Sri1CAUeUBGO90RZCEu56L8njmWaWG4XsQNlTN5yYmxVY6kr5xAVGxvrTLgtckBAlCaTCxTk04kcXUqlfgwCG88ToaVHEUIcMViZZ6Jm1l6uxGP7wvDDtShtJKKGAnEZbomGZjxY8ZtM7mXMJL54DxEs9gujpDkjZXiqGJUOzFB3oeTpZklhQ9A7geonUbKGYljqc=w720-h959-no?.jpg


Isn't THAT long?!?!?!!!! googleusercontent.com is what has me thinking that is the case.

Thanks Matt for the confirmation. I'll retry with a slight modification, plus some new shots as well. Let me know if visible?

Doing some welding on the equipment rack. Younger son/daughter enjoyed watching though a welding shield.



Speaker hangers:



Archival photo of wire positions with digital lines added to help avoid hitting wires.



Finished speaker hanger, with mounting prepped on back of QS8. Note: this required some internal adjustments to the speaker, in order to remove the electrically active hanging brackets.


Forward facing M2's for heights were configured with a 30 degree down-tilt, rather than 45 (for the side-facing QS8's in surround/rear positions).



Interior view of theater with speakers hung.



Equipment rack installed.


Closeup of the Master Replicas 32" Studio Scale (1:1 with filming prop for A New Hope) Millenium Falcon.



Mockup of the Falcon placement (with width compensation for tilting angle) to avoid support rail on rack, as well as wall/shelves.

Nick -- Thanks, I think you are right. I was getting the link from the top level photo uploads section of google photos (which is private), rather than from a lower level "Album" view, which can be public. Let me try one more time ... ( I wish that the Axiom boards would keep that "edit" button visible for just a bit longer ).

Doing some welding on the equipment rack. Younger son/daughter enjoyed watching though a welding shield.



Speaker hangers:



Archival photo of wire positions with digital lines added to help avoid hitting wires.


Finished speaker hanger, with mounting prepped on back of QS8. Note: this required some internal adjustments to the speaker, in order to remove the electrically active hanging brackets.


Forward facing M2's for heights were configured with a 30 degree down-tilt, rather than 45 (for the side-facing QS8's in surround/rear positions).



Interior view of theater with speakers hung.



Equipment rack installed.


Closeup of the Master Replicas 32" Studio Scale (1:1 with filming prop for A New Hope) Millenium Falcon.



Mockup of the Falcon placement (with width compensation for tilting angle) to avoid support rail on rack, as well as wall/shelves.

OK -- I can view that last batch on my phone, which is not logged into the google photos account, so should be good to go!

I can view them now...

TAM

Amazing stuff. I'm jealous.