Some in Progress Pics of my HT.... - Axiom Message Boards

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Well as most of you know I have been working on remodeling about 3/4 of our basement, which amounts to about 1800 sq ft. Included in the remodeling is a bedroom/office, full bathroom, and a larger recroom which includes a bar area/pool table and YES a dedicated HOME THEATER area.

Anyway, Nickbuol and I have been in a bit of a contest to see who would get done first, well he kicked my butt a long time ago.

I basically have done everything myself from wiring/framing/drywall, etc... I did hire the mudding/texturing job and will get someone in soon to lay the carpet.

Nick has been asking for some pics, so here are a few:

First off we have a shot of my DIY Screen I just temporarily mounted for testing purposes. I still need to trim the corners as you can see where I folded the material around the frame. The screen is 51" x 120" in a 2.35 AR.

Second we have a shot of my DIY QS8 mounts, basically they are some shelf brackets I picked up at Menards. I like them becuase they give me the clearance I wanted, and have a gloss black plastic cover on the backside to hide the wires.

Third we have a shot of my projector, which is a Sanyo Z2 WXGA LCD projector. I made the DIY mount out of 3/4" pipe/flanges/bolts&nuts/painted wood.

Here is a picture of my new Prismasonic H-600M Anamorphic lens, I have not mounted it yet in front of the projector. What this will achieve is once I scale 2.35 movies to fit the height of my screen vertically (makes everything look skinny), the lens then stretches out to fit the 2.35 screen. The advantage is your using the 33% of the pixel panels you normally lose on a 16:9 screen. Thus, the picture is much brighter/better as well, not to mention you get the full movie experience with no black bars and full width...

Here is a pic from near the back of the room by the walk out door of the entire theater area, you can see the 4 Qs8's in this picture. I don't have my other speakers/receiver down their yet, as I am building a stage/platform for below the screen for them. That is the stuff you see sitting on the floor to the left.

And here is a picture of what will become my AV rack. I built a nice big closet for easy access.

I am eager for your comments. I resized the pictures to try to be dial up friendly

Randy

Nice setup Sirquack! I'm very envious!

I too recently finished off part of my basement (no room for a dedicated home theater though -- too small for that), and I too did just about everything myself except for the carpet. I really wish I would have hired out the drywall mudding and taping. No matter how hard I try, I never wind up with a finish that I'm totally happy with, so that was a great idea you had.

Can't wait to see the pictures of the finished project!

Whow, I have some serious envy blended with a touch of jealousy happening. Obviously, an awful lot of thought and hard work have gone into your project. You have given me some great ideas. Unfortunately, I will have to wait another 3 years until I can get back to my house and start work on my own project.

Please keep us updated!

Cheers,
rob

Thanks guys, I appreciate the nice comments. When I started refinishing the basement about a year or so ago, I had basically just basic carpentry skills. I knew I could not afford paying someone to do the work, I would have had to take out a loan

... Anyway, I asked a lot of questions on forums like Axiom and AVS, and received a lot of great advice.

I had never run electrical, but ended up wiring the whole basement, ended up being pretty easy once you get started. I had never hung drywall or done any framing, so I pretty much learned on my own. Sure I made a few mistakes from time to time, but it was a learning experience.

The only thing I farmed out was the taping/mudding, I had heard many horror stories from people that tried it on their own. Besides my wife said no way

I've been working on a few doors today, applying the finish coat of polyurethane, that is new to me also. Can't wait to try to hang them, should not be to bad as they are pre-hung doors from Menards.

I also started on building a new DIY projector/lens mount to accomodate my latest toy, the Prismasonic Anamorphic lens.

Randy

SQ - That is one GREAT looking room.

Randy
Looks fantastic!
I'll take ya on to a fooseball game or 20.

That is on nice looking H/T room.I might have just a touch of jealousy, good thing you can't tell

Thanks Craigsub, it is actually Home Theaters like yours that have given me the drive to take on this project.

Bray, thanks for the comments. Actually that is a cheap fooseball all-in-one table we picked up at a garage sell for our 6yr old. It has table tennis/shuffle board/bowling/ etc...

After I get everything carpeted, my dad is giving us his 3/4" slate pool table. They don't use it like when us kids were around. Most likely I'll add air hockey and a nice fooseball table at some point. I already have a decent electronic dart machine.

thanks again.
Randy

Very neat installation, Randy, especially the QS8 mounts.

Thanks Wid and JohnK....

I didn't mention this above, but I am also going to have 2 rows of seating. The first row is 3 lazy boy recliners we bought that are in our storage room waiting to be used. The back row will be elevated and will have a couch that has built in recliners.

I can't wait to get the rest of the speakers down there and start enjoying everything.

There just seems to never be enough time for the fun stuff. Just work work work, come home, eat fast, run the kids to soccer/activities, come home, give the kids a bath, put them to bed, then it is time for us to go to bed. Then you do it all over again the next day. The only time I have to work on this stuff is on the weekends.

I guess that is life. Maybe I'll win the lottery and watch movies and listen to my Axioms every day

The basement HT project is looking mighty fine Randy!

I'll go ahead and get the popcorn ready. May want to give me a couple of days worth of advance notice, that's a long drive out to Iowa from my place.

thanks Rick, from Florida that would be a nice drive

Speaking of Florida, last month when I was at a conference in Orlando, I was talking to a Floridian gal, she said "Oh yeah, Iowa, I know where that is, isn't that the place that grows Potatoes"

I'm really concerned about these kids that are our future. I said yep "I just jump in my horse and buggy and drive down to the General Store after stopping and seeing the Ingles family"

Dude...that is sick. Hurry up and finish it! I wanna see it in all its glory - I also want to see all those fancy flashing leds and lcds on the avrack

thanks Adam

Today was my first experience hanging a prehung door, was not as easy as I thought it was going to be..

Randy,
That's going to be a fantastic home theatre! I am envious as hell! Very nice job.
Cheers,
Shaun

Very nice looking room Randy. I look forward to seeing it finished soon. Keep up the tremendous work. Good call on hiring out the mudding. I did exactly the same as you the whole way. It took me about 3 months to hang the drywall for our entire basement, and after that dusty mess I didn't wan't the mudding/sanding to be the same. Hired out it was all done in 1 week.

Please post more pics as you go. I want to see the lens mount.

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Quote by freesey: "Dude...that is sick. Hurry up and finish it! I wanna see it in all its glory - I also want to see all those fancy flashing leds and lcds on the avrack"

I was happy to get to this point too. But soon after you find yourself turning off all LED lights you can on your equipment and using black electrical tape to cover the rest. With front projection, you want all the black level you can get in the room.

Thanks guys, I'll try to post a new pic asap. I hope to put the finish paint coat on the DIY board I'm mounting the Z2 and lens to tonight.

Randy, that is beautiful and inspiring work. Thank you very much for sharing it with the rest of us. I particularly like your elegant and ingenious QS8 mounts. It all looks just fantastic to me. I'm going to Iowa! Okay, not right away, but I'm sure more motivated now than I was before.

Thanks Tom, I appreciate the your comments. I'm going to try to get a few pics of the new mount, including the Prismasonic lens installed. Who knows, I may try to get a pic of a movie in all of its glory, 2.35. My camera is not the greatest but I'll give it a shot

ps: If you build it, they will come...:) Iowa, home of the Field of Dreams

Here are some new pics from tonight, sorry if the pictures are not that good of quality, this digital camera is like 5yrs old.

1st two shots of are my new mount, including the Prismasonic lens.

This shot is from Napoleon Dynamite, the movie is in a 1.85 aspect ratio but being displayed on my 2.35 screen. I turn the knobs on the lens to Pass Through mode so it would look just like if I had the lens removed. I don't have any masking curtains up yet for the sides, but normally I would draw them in to mask the sides, so you don't see the rest of the 2.35 AR screen.

And finally, here is a pic from Star Wars II, right before Yoda shows that age does not matter against Count Duku. This is a 2.35 AR movie, so again the height is constant, I just turn the Stretch knobs on the lens to fill the full width of my 2.35 10ft wide screen.

Randy

lucky! but have you taken it off any sweet jumps?

Boy, that place was a rip off

Update....Thanks to another Axiom member "dllewel" !!!!

With his assistance, my latest addition to my theater. This is the startup screen that comes up on my Sanyo Z2 now, instead of the default welcome screen. To Cool Eh......

I liked his home page welcome screen so much I begged real hard

Thanks Dave

What? No dancing popcorn buckets???

Sirquack, your HT room is coming out nice.

sorry Peter, if I was using HTPC setup, then I would do like some of the other AVS'rs and have an AVI movie with the 21st Century Fox music and have my logo/startup screen be animated. My projector/dvd player will only allow for a screen shot.

However, I do plan to purchase a retro popcorn popper like in the theaters

what I would do to have that kind of space. That's going to be sweet.

The 2.35 screen is great too. Lots of movies in that format.

Awesome pictures Randy!

The Napoleon Dynamite scene reminds of the scene whenever a serious Kip states he's going to become a 'Cage Match Wrestler' had me rolling on the floor.

I love your start up screen, cool beans!

Come on Napoleon, why don't you come down here and I'll show you how fast I am....ding dong.....I'll get it...ouchhhhh"
I think you ripped off my mole, is it bleeding...

Do you have any new pictuers of your room?

Thanks for asking Clarence, nothing new yet...I've been gone a week attending a funeral out of town. When your doing all the work yourself it just drags on and on...

Looking good Randy. Your welcome. Very happy to share. I also want to see updated photos when you get your stage and baseboard all done. I understand what you mean about it going slow. Our basement finish took me almost 2 1/2 years.

I'm glad to see that you have your gallery updated. It's alot easier for me to browse now. Its very nice, btw.

Thanks. Yes, updated and compatible with firefox. But I see the real reason you like it is because we have the exact same axiom setup. Very nice.

lol, yeah. I actually noticed that after I posted and looked at your equipment section. I really enjoy it.

That is another very nice HT. What is the room dimesion? How big is your srceen?

The home theater is impressive, but the halloween setup is awesome.

Why thank you Peter! Between both the theater and Halloween, I'm lucky to have survived it. Too bad Whatfurer's visit to SLC wasn't sooner or I would have suggested it as an attraction to see while here in Utah.

Sirclyde,

The theater room is 13' x 23' x 7.5'. The screen is 110" diag. or 96" wide (16:9). The 2 rows are 12' and 18' back from the screen.

On the left hand side of the room is your chairs touching the wall? From the front row does it seem fairly close? Are you moving yours eyes alot while watching a movie?
When I first started looking at doing a HT I thought I knew what I wanted to do. Now it seems to be getting bigger and bigger. I was going to get a 55 or 60 inch now I am looking at a 106" PJ.

Yes, the front left chair is next to the wall. The second row is a few inches away but not much. This was a decision based on the width of our room.

I realized that seats next to the wall are not ideal for sound quality, but we thought the seat there would be better than not. We don't have to use it, but when we have company over no one complains about having that seat.

The screen is great from the front row. I went off of the THX reccomendation of a 36 degree viewing angle for the distance. I love it, but everyone is different. For me it is perfect.

Dear David,

I have been meaning for some time to salute you on the design, implementation and overall environment of your home theatre. I can no longer in good conscience allow my inability to adequately express my appreciation prevent me from complimenting your efforts. That is a fantastic theatre suite. I wish you and your family many happy hours there. Thank you so much for sharing your photos with us.

Your pages have helped my wife put my comparatively meager requests in a different context.

Beautiful! Bravo!

Tom,

Wow. I see no hint of inability in expressing yourself. Thank you for your kind words. Yes, the theater turned out well, but I don't feel worthy of such high praise. Thank you to you and all the members of the forum for helping me along the way. During the planning and building stages I wasn't posting, but always reading and learning. I'm very grateful for the invaluable advice.

Now, I'm certainly looking forward to Sirquaks final pics when his room is finished. I'm sure it will be spectacular.

Your to kind David, as is TT

I think your attention to detail will top mine, but I'm doing my best. Actually, I'm pretty happy with how nice it is turning out, especially since I have very little experience has a handy man.

Your bar is what I really like, I'm still trying to plan an L-Shaped design which will be near the pool table...

In reply to:
Dear David,

I have been meaning for some time to salute you on the design, implementation and overall environment of your home theatre. I can no longer in good conscience allow my inability to adequately express my appreciation prevent me from complimenting your efforts. That is a fantastic theatre suite. I wish you and your family many happy hours there. Thank you so much for sharing your photos with us.

Your pages have helped my wife put my comparatively meager requests in a different context.

Beautiful! Bravo!

Couldn't have said it better myself ... never, ever!

I really like the new site David, beautiful place you have.

In reply to:
allow my inability to adequately express my appreciation

Who are you kidding Mr. Wordsmith?

Well, Craig, I was hoping to come up with something pithy or insightful, rather than the conversational equivalent of "cool room". But at least I felt strongly about it.

Wow!!..just look at what you guys,-you know who you are-are producing!!

When I first started looking seriously at Axiom(back in the pre SE days)the average Axiom home theater was most likely a 27" Trinitron with a couple of M3s near by!!

No question about it guys: Cool Room(s)indeed

Umm... mine is a 27" Panny with some M22s. Does that count?

Yup,...sure does count

About six months ago I finally graduated from a 31" Sanyo, with a few M3s, and 55WPC myself; so yes indeed; Everyone qualifies!!

Ok, talk about getting the cart in front of the horse

The other night I was a bachelar and a friend stopped over with the DVD The Hulk, one I had not watched yet. He said "Dude, you don't have your speakers hooked up yet downstairs?"

Well, as you know I'm in the middle of staining/varnishing and hanging trim/doors, so I didn't want my speakers in the way. Well he twisted my arm, and we carried my speakers and Denon 2805 down there very carefully, hooked them up, ran the receiver setup, verified everything with the SPL meter, and the rest is history. Although there was many reflections of the sound since I don't have carpeting or any furniture yet, it sounded pretty good.

Here are a few lousy pics with my 5 yr old camera.

Those M60's look small next to that huge screen

Looking good man, looking real good. Can't wait to see it when it's all done. Congrats on all your hard work my friend, it's really paying off.

Sutter

man i'm jealous!!! that looks amazing!!!

That's so rockin far-out coolio, man!!! How can you wait until it's done???? I'd be all up in that place if I knew where you lived!!!

Very nice sirquack! Your black front wall was the inspiration for painting my 'frame' on the front wall flat black. We seem to be at about the same stage with our rooms, I took pictures last night after I finished the subfloor. My walls are painted and the floor will be installed by the end of this week.

After you were done watching movies, I hope your friend helped you carefully carry the speakers and amp out so you aren't slowed down in your progress.

Nope there still down there, we watched NASCAR Imax last night, I'll never get this thing done now...