Grassroots Home Theater

I promised pictures of the ceiling painted white. Here you go.

I finished the second riser tonight, here's the picture with a seat in it's proper spot. I was going to start the sub build this weekend, but I'm going to help the kids with their science fair projects, so next weekend....

Out of curiosity, are you going to sound-deaden the risers or is that unnecessary? I wonder if the hollow space inside of them is a problem.

Also, two subs in stereo. You know you want to.

I love home theater stuff! I used to be big into CRT projectors back in the day, the huge Barco 3-tube monsters. In my last house I finally moved to modern digital projectors since I had a tiny room to work with, and went with a Panasonic PT-AE1000u. I loved that projector. I got a good deal on it off Craigslist ($800 or so) and picked up a Yamaha RX-V665BL receiver and a set of Klipsch 5 channel speakers and used an old analog Yamaha amp to drive an old 15" sub that I had. I had a nice DaLite fastfold screen that was pretty much free but still looked good. The sound was incredible and having a real 1080p HDMI projector was awesome. I bought cabling and wall plates from Monoprice and ran all the signals and speaker wiring inside the walls for a seamless install. I found the long reach flexible drill bit extensions were invaluable - I ran all the wiring in an existing room and didn't have to do any drywall patching. It looked like it was done when the walls were put in. I ended up with less than $2k into the whole setup due to careful shopping. It wasn't sporting Magenpans but then again I was dealing with a 10x13 room or so! (BTW, I had a pair of MG1's years ago, those were nice speakers. As you say, the imaging was incredible.)

Sadly I sold the whole setup with the old house but the good news is the giant house has a giant theater room that's in shell condition right now. I don't know when I'll get to it, but it's around 22x24 and should be dedicated to the home theater I think.

I tend to prefer emphasizing the home aspect of the theater so probably won't go with theater style seating, unless you count more than one row of couches as theater style.

I like your room so far! The wooden ceiling turned out well. I will probably go with drywall on mine since it's not covering any utilities. I wonder, did you look at the denim sound insulation at all? I don't remember what the cost was but I do recall it having a higher db suppression rating than fiberglass.

Good luck, keep posting; people are reading it.

Kylini wrote: Out of curiosity, are you going to sound-deaden the risers or is that unnecessary? I wonder if the hollow space inside of them is a problem. Also, two subs in stereo. You know you want to.

I'm leaning towards two folded horns at this point. That way I'd be able to get the best fill in the room.
As far as the risers, I'm going to wait and see. Some folks drill a 3" hole in the front panel, then fill each bay with sound deadener to act as a bass trap. Others actually raise them up a little bit to allow the low frequencies to travel under the riser, allowing the riser to rumble. That's mostly done when you have a concrete floor, such as my basement. I can do either one of those very easily if I need to.

dculberson wrote: I love home theater stuff! I used to be big into CRT projectors back in the day, the huge Barco 3-tube monsters. In my last house I finally moved to modern digital projectors since I had a tiny room to work with, and went with a Panasonic PT-AE1000u. I loved that projector. I got a good deal on it off Craigslist ($800 or so) and picked up a Yamaha RX-V665BL receiver and a set of Klipsch 5 channel speakers and used an old analog Yamaha amp to drive an old 15" sub that I had. I had a nice DaLite fastfold screen that was pretty much free but still looked good. The sound was incredible and having a real 1080p HDMI projector was awesome. I bought cabling and wall plates from Monoprice and ran all the signals and speaker wiring inside the walls for a seamless install. I found the long reach flexible drill bit extensions were invaluable - I ran all the wiring in an existing room and didn't have to do any drywall patching. It looked like it was done when the walls were put in. I ended up with less than $2k into the whole setup due to careful shopping.

that sounds great. Nice job on the seemless install too! I'm not sure if I'm going to get a projector or not. With the prices of today's TVs, it makes less sense every year. And my room is small.

dculberson wrote: It wasn't sporting Magenpans but then again I was dealing with a 10x13 room or so! (BTW, I had a pair of MG1's years ago, those were nice speakers. As you say, the imaging was incredible.)

I love maggies. I've had a lot of speakers, most of them pretty high-end. The Maggies are the only ones I miss.

dculberson wrote: Sadly I sold the whole setup with the old house but the good news is the giant house has a giant theater room that's in shell condition right now. I don't know when I'll get to it, but it's around 22x24 and should be dedicated to the home theater I think. I tend to prefer emphasizing the *home* aspect of the theater so probably won't go with theater style seating, unless you count more than one row of couches as theater style. I like your room so far! The wooden ceiling turned out well. I will probably go with drywall on mine since it's not covering any utilities. I wonder, did you look at the denim sound insulation at all? I don't remember what the cost was but I do recall it having a higher db suppression rating than fiberglass. Good luck, keep posting; people are reading it.

If I could have made the room a bit bigger, I'd do with the living room-style setup. But, when people come over, I don't want anyone to have to sit in a seat that will be as 'off' as the outer seats in the setup I'd have.
Thanks for the kind words. It's coming together nicely. I'm happy with the ceiling, and I started putting carpet down, looks good. It's nothing like some of the ridiculous setups out there, but I'm not putting six-figures into this.

Cool thread! I've been pondering doing this, the room I have to work with is about 11 by 11 so it would be pretty cramped. I've got this ridiculous Dayton reference 18 inch sub with a pro amp that's just sitting idle, that was used in a prior living room set up when we had an apartment with a gigantic living room. Have you seen diysoundgroup.com? Kits for HT waveguide speakers. I'm intrigued by the directivity thing.

turtl631 wrote: Cool thread! I've been pondering doing this, the room I have to work with is about 11 by 11 so it would be pretty cramped. I've got this ridiculous Dayton reference 18 inch sub with a pro amp that's just sitting idle, that was used in a prior living room set up when we had an apartment with a gigantic living room. Have you seen diysoundgroup.com? Kits for HT waveguide speakers. I'm intrigued by the directivity thing.

Thanks, I'm glad you like the thread. 11X11 is small, but really, if you aren't trying to pack a lot of people in it, is't fine. A small room (and I consider mine small, so I'm not knocking 11X11) can be good. You don't need as much power or as many/large drivers. That keeps the cost down.
That 18" would be silly-awesome in that room haha. Wow.
And no, I hadn't heard of the waveguilde kits. I think you just wrecked my Sunday, I don't see anything productive happening after I go there.

Yes, it is definitely pretty small, I'm going to have to put some stuff in the room and rough it out. It's just my wife and I for now, I could see us having maybe another couple over, but more than 4 or 5 people total would be unexpected. Yes, watch out with the waveguide kits, there's a dizzying array of different models. I think I'm going to build a pair for my garage since the waveguide should help a bit with floor and wall reflections. I do actually have a large unfinished basement that considered using for a home theater, but there is a lot of stuff scattered around like the water heater, furnace, sump pump, etcetera, so finishing it to not look like crap would be pretty difficult, and I don't really want to spend the money or time on this house. My wife also said "I would never come down here to watch a movie" so that killed that idea.

Yeah, that's tough. If your wife has no in going down there, that kinda kills the idea.
We were already finishing the basement, so the majority of the expense (walls, ceiling, insulation) would have already been done, I'm only adding the risers and acoustic treaments. And that stuff isn't expensive.

I've started the subwoofer build! With the help of Joey48442 and his dad (what a nice guy!) we made a much of sawdust and what was left over was 26 panels that will make up two subwoofer cabinets. After much deliberating and many weeks of research into different enclosure types, I decided on a tapped-horn style enclosure. I'll briefly explain how it works here, but I'll go into more detail when I'm posting pics of the cabinet itself and it'll make more sense.
Basically, horn-loading a driver boosts its output, just like how you cup your hands around your mouth when you yell a long distance. That's a horn. The placement of the driver within the horn is unique and gives a boost in output.
More on all that later. Here's some pics:
Joey48442 doing some measuring and marking of the wood

Jr. and Sr. making a few cuts that couldn't be made on the very nice table saw

And the stack of wood in the theater. You can see that I've started laying the carpet tiles

The carpet tiles look nice.

With all the different speaker designs, I applaud you in making a decision.

This makes me want to finish my speaker project: A full range 4" Fostex in a bass reflex cabinet. Nice, simple, and efficient.

There's a lot to be said for full-range drivers. I sold my large Celestioms to someone om GRM, but I'm keeping the 5.25" beauties. High sensitivity, crisp clear sound, they actually remind me of the Fostex, maybe with a little more reach down low.
How far along are you with your project?

I've got the birch plywood cut and a box full of the drivers and other parts. Then I had a kid!

RossD wrote: I've got the birch plywood cut and a box full of the drivers and other parts. Then I had a kid!

Hahaha. Those last 5 words tend to change a LOT don't they? My wife and I talk about things in terms of B.C. and A.C. Before children and after children.
But man, you're pretty close aren't you? No crossovers to build, are you going to do a high- or low-pass filter? Tell me about the enclosure.

I cut the plywood for the reflex enclosure (tuned for 61 hz, their specs) detailed in the Fostex FE126eN pdf. I didnt plan on building any filters and they will go with one of my sub 5 watt, home brewed tube amps.

Ohhhh, a home-built tube amp. That's on my short to-do list.

This thread kicks bass....

I had looked at the frugal horn project but thought I should start with a more simple project. http://www.frugal-horn.com/fh3-plans.html

As for small tube amps I like designs by a gentleman named Matt Renaud (Suncalc on diyaudioprojects.com)

I've built his 4S Universal 12A*7 Pre-amp: http://diyaudioprojects.com/Tubes/Universal-Tube-Preamplifier/

I had him design my 2A3 amp http://diyaudioprojects.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=4542 and he helped design my 6aq5 and my 6k6gt amps.

My next build will be his 6V6 amp: http://diyaudioprojects.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3274

I have always wanted to build a tube amp. I always get to the point of sourcing parts, and not being able to find something, and giving up. Good on ya!

Oh man Ross. I'm not going to follow those links just yet, I have to get some stuff done at work this week haha. One day I'll build a tube amp. I've never owned one, yet.

Been busy helping the kids with science fair projects, so little-to-no progress except that I ordered my speakers today. They are being built now. I should have them in 2-3 weeks.
GIDDYUP!

A little update. I ordered the speakers 7 days ago. They were supposed to be 2-3 weeks for the build, then they'd be shipped (my above post was worded wrong). They are shipping tomorrow!!!!! I'm stinkin' excited. I haven't done anything on the room until last night, so I gotta hustle now since I'll have some packages soon....

Very cool project. We just finished a stripped down for now home theater in our "bass-ment". I would highly recommend painting the ceiling at least light grey - the darker the better though. It makes it a much more authentic experience.

We went with a pc12plus SVS tube sub - it is insanely powerful and sooo much smoother and musical than a sub in it's price range should be.

http://www.svsound.com/products/pc12-plus?gclid=CNu2rpr95ssCFQaUfgodItAMwg

It was the big splurge but wow is all I can say!

Very cool man. I was just looking at the SVS site this morning as a matter of fact! When I start assembling the subs, I'll document it here. The wood is cut, but not assembled yet.
I've always had a thing for tube subs, just seems to make so much sense. How long have you had it?

About 3 months - nicest sub I've ever heard and I used to sell high end audio.