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The Limited Edition
#413001 06/24/15 03:21 AM
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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" grin ). 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 ...

Last edited by DrStrangeQuark; 06/24/15 03:46 AM.
Re: The Limited Edition
DrStrangeQuark #413002 06/24/15 03:25 AM
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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 ...

Last edited by DrStrangeQuark; 06/24/15 03:39 AM.
Re: The Limited Edition
DrStrangeQuark #413003 06/24/15 03:33 AM
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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 grin .

Re: The Limited Edition
DrStrangeQuark #413004 06/24/15 04:13 AM
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Great work so far. I can't wait to see how it develops.

Re: The Limited Edition
DrStrangeQuark #413006 06/24/15 07:42 AM
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DAMN!!!! Impressive work!


--
Denon 4520, EPIC80/500/VP180 Speakers
Re: The Limited Edition
DrStrangeQuark #413007 06/24/15 08:53 AM
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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. smile

Re: The Limited Edition
AAAA #413013 06/24/15 02:48 PM
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Thanks All!

I'll respond to Serenity's specific questions.

Originally Posted By Serenity_Now

A) With all those receptacle drops are you considering powered monitors down the road? Would be cheaper/better than going monoblocks everywhere maybe.

B) Any data drops in the room?

C) AV cabinet/closet planned?

D) Sound isolation?

E) The shelving dividers should add some nice front to back flutter control.

F) Not sure, all that carpet may suck the "air" out of the room and leave a heavy perceived bottom end.

G) Any renders or drafting plans to share?


A) There are a lot of outlets smirk. 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 wink . 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

Last edited by DrStrangeQuark; 06/24/15 02:50 PM.
Re: The Limited Edition
DrStrangeQuark #413017 06/24/15 07:42 PM
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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. wink

Re: The Limited Edition
DrStrangeQuark #413030 06/25/15 04:53 PM
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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

Re: The Limited Edition
exlabdriver #413032 06/25/15 05:02 PM
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Originally Posted By exlabdriver
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. frown

"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. wink


Farewell - June 4, 2020
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