HT Construction Progress - Axiom Message Boards

In an earlier thread there seemed to be some interest in my HT progress, so since I finally got around to taking some new pictures I thought I'd start a thread for anyone interested.

Soffits are done with the exception of the lip for the light tray. I'm leaving this off for now as I'm going to paint the ceiling and the face of the soffits the same color and it will be much easier without the lip in place.

Started furring out the walls for the acoustical treatments and fabric this weekend and got a pretty good chunk complete.

Once the furring is complete I'll build the columns and paint the ceiling, then I think I'll be ready for carpet, which I haven't even picked out yet! Can you believe I'm this far along and haven't finalized the carpet or fabric yet? Picking a color scheme is turning out to be the toughest part of the whole build. At least I know the ceiling, screenwall and proscenium walls will be black so I can get started with that while I debate the rest.

As always follow the link in my sig below for pics.

**One other thing. I had built a temporary 110" diagonal 1.78 BOC screen during construction to help with the layout. Now that the screenwall is done I decided to put it back up to get an idea how it would look. I also recently took delivery of my projector (AE700) so I threw up a quick image (using my 4-yr-old laptop as the source through VGA...no tweaks) to get the whole picture. (pun intended

) Anyway, from my first-row seating position (13') 110" just didn't seem large enough, and now I'm more certain than ever that I'll be going with 120". There's a picture of the mounted screen in the "Proscenium" album on my site.

Chip, that is going to be one BEEYOUTEEFULL theater. I can't speak for others, but having a specific room, separate from, but attached to, the house, is just flat out the best. I hope it provides you with many years of enjoyment.

>>I can't speak for others, but having a specific room, separate from, but attached to, the house, is just flat out the best

Amen to that. I was over at my brother and sister-in-law's place for dinner tonight -- they're the ones with my PSB sub. There was some discussion about setting up the home theater somewhere outside the house, along with a few gentle suggestions from my sister-in-law that I could take my sub back any time and *now* would be a very good time. I begged out, claiming there was not enough room in the Jeep to carry the sub back.

My brother-in-law, on the other hand, thinks the rec room (right under the master bedroom) is a mighty fine place for a home theater and is starting to ask about 7.1

Thanks Jack!

I think it's going to be great too, if I can just get it finished. After two years I can finely see the light at the end of the tunnel...

Looks like it is going to be well worth the wait.

Just a quick progress report...

Painted my ceiling today (Benjamin Moore Twilight Zone Black) as well as the face of my soffits, and while I was at it I threw a coat on my furring strips as well to hopefully prevent them from showing behind the fabric.

I must have put the paint on a little too thick though because my ceiling seems six inches lower!

And dark? I have a 500w work light that lights up the room like a 60w table lamp now. I'm amazed what a drastic difference just painting the ceiling made.

I also temporarily ceiling mounted the projector to make sure I had worked out all the angles. Even straight out of the box I was pretty pleased with the picture. (of course being a projector newbie and having an untrained eye certainly factors into my assessment) Of course I had to take a couple of obligatory screenshots so I put up a new album on my site for those. The image on the screen is actually better than the amateur photos would lead you to believe.

Now that the paint is done I can put the light tray lip on my soffits and get started on the columns. Carpet and fabric to follow.

Until next time...

Wow... that is looking great. I imagine you're going to have a kid with a flashlight guiding people to their seats anyways (you have everything else just right) so don't worry about the darkness

It is looking AWESOME!!!

This past week I finished up the furring strips and built my columns.

The columns were built to be removable (if necessary) and are basically just friction-fit with a couple of drywall screws holding them in place for the time being. I'll remove them when I start hanging the wall fabric, wrap them in GOM and then screw back into place. This should give me nice clean seams around the edges of the columns where they meet the wall.

I'm going to get the acoustical treatments done this week and then it's on to carpet, fabric and finish work.

As always updated pics are on my site.

We're getting closer....

Looking good. Quick question, though...

I like the column idea as the finished product will look great, but what about the top and bottom woofers on your QS8's (or QS4's, whatever you have)? Aren't they going to fire directly into the column and get "lost"? Any plans to put in an angled particle board piece to deflect the sound into the room?

I am sure that you have thought this through, but I know that when I built some large projects in the past, it was good to have another 3rd party throw out some thoughts and ideas, so please don't take it as me being critical of your work, I'm not, and it looks awesome!

is it just me or are those pictures really small. Can't see much. Looks cool as far as i can tell but all i see is a picture that is probably 100x125 pixels big.

Yes they are small.Real hard to see when wearing bifocals.

Click on the link in his signature, and you can view a ton of pictures at full size.

Duh on my part.Thanks Spiff.That is one heck on a room.

Sorry guys...should have been a little clearer about the link in my sig. Thanks for the comments!

In reply to:
I like the column idea as the finished product will look great, but what about the top and bottom woofers on your QS8's (or QS4's, whatever you have)? Aren't they going to fire directly into the column and get "lost"? Any plans to put in an angled particle board piece to deflect the sound into the room?

I am sure that you have thought this through, but I know that when I built some large projects in the past, it was good to have another 3rd party throw out some thoughts and ideas, so please don't take it as me being critical of your work, I'm not, and it looks awesome!

Nick,

I had actually planned to stuff the top and bottom sections with insulation and then "cap" the MDF above and below the speakers (QS8s) but now that you mention it I think angling a couple of pieces as you suggested would give me much better dispersion. Great idea!

I agree with you 100% regarding the "extra set of eyes". Sometimes we're so wrapped up in what we're doing we don't catch things that are immediately obvious to someone on the outside.

So no, I obviously didn't take your suggestions as criticism at all, so no worries there. Half the reason I post my progress is so someone out there with an idea or suggestion can jump in (as you did) and save me from making a big mistake.

Thanks again and I'll post back with some updated pictures of the columns when they're complete.

Acoustical treatments (batting & Knauf ductliner) have been installed:

Also picked up my receiver this past weekend (Marantz SR8500) so I temporarily hooked up my speakers (Axiom M60s/VP150/QS8s) for a trial run. I had visions of getting all the fabric up only to find I had cut into a speaker wire somewhere along the line. Even though it would be a pain to re-run at this point it would have been a disaster if the fabric had already been installed. Luckily everything seems to be in order, so now I have to break it all down and clean up the room (you'll notice it's a MESS in the pictures) so I can get the carpet installed.

Slowly but surely progressing. I'm still loathe to set a deadline for completion, but I can almost taste it...

Officially GREEN with envy.

Major Update!

Well, it's a major accomplishment for me, anyway!

Finished up the fabric install this weekend:

Wasn't as bad as I thought, though a little better planning on my part during the construction (especially around where the soffits meet the proscenium walls) would have saved me a lot of aggravation.

As an added bonus, my chairs arrived this past week. They are Berkline 088s in Grade 4 leather/match. A curved row of (4) four up front and a pair of loveseats in the back:

Even though the room isn't quite finished I needed to move them in so I could reclaim my garage. Took me 3+ hours to open, dissamble, hump up to the theater and reassemble all eight chairs. I was a little nervous as the first few went together that I had estimated wrong and they weregoing to be too big, but in the end they fit exactly as I had planned.

And yes, even though it isn't finished, I hooked up all my equipment and watched an hour or so of Gladiator last night. I know that's the death knell of HT construction, I just couldn't resist!

I still have to install the equipment rack and finish the trim. (crown, chairrail & base moldings, as well as wainscot on the bottom of the columns) Once that is finished I'll tackle tiling the equipment room and finishing the lobby area.

Updated pictures of my latest progress can be found in the "Fabric" and "Equipment" sections of my construction gallery. (link below)

Very nice job. Posts more pics

STILL officially green with envy!

Check out my HT construction gallery (link in sig below) for pics (275+) detailing the whole construction process.

(I changed the link in my sig but apparently the change is not retroactive to existing posts???)

WOW -- that is looking great !!

In reply to:
WOW -- that is looking great !!

I'll say!