Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Lets plan a theater space

I was always of the opinion that a theater room walls needed to be painted flat black. But after looking at these pictures, I'm kind of liking what you've done here.

I tried to design something that would be as welcoming with the lights on just listening to music too. A good balance I am hoping. Glad you like it so far.

Interesting video from Home Theater Geeks that's very germane to this thread. Thought I would share.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j23aG6pSYok

Lauded home theater designer and constructor Dennis Erskine shares some of this projects and outlook on room design and acoustics. He touches on ATMOS and 4K video technology as well.

A couple of gems I took away from the interview was his notion of being able to bias the bass response by using 2 or more subs balanced to provide a "virtual" subwoofer location. ie. if the sub would be ideally located in the center of the floor, you can create this location by splitting the difference between the actual physical locations and individual gain settings. He states "the experienced typical ideal location for a subwoofer is in a moderate location in the room about 1/3 from each neighboring boundry into the room." He explains how using multiple subs can balance modal issues-- not necessarily smoothing bass response across all listening positions which he refers to as a misnomer. "Smooth bass is not the same as good bass. It only means same bass- good or bad." Very interesting.

Another tidbit I heard and echo again and again is the importance of the room in a design. To paraphrase: "80% of what you are hearing is the room. It is the single most important factor in the system- more so than the speakers themselves." He also favors engineered acoustic products over DIY. Go figure.

He also showed how he used acoustical panels to act as doors for storage cupboards and screen wall access. A great idea for access to the electrical panel and rear of equipment backing into the wall of my planned room.

Oh to be rich enough......

For those of you playing along at home (designing and building vicariously as I love to do as well)

THE WINNER IS OFFICIALLY OPTION 2

The engineering report and drawing is complete and approved for construction according to their strict specifications. The column can be removed. The build can proceed now as designed. Officially!!

World 1-1 Complete

LVLS ordered. Delivery expected a week out.

Changing electrical runs in the basement to not interfere with LVL location is more work than I thought. Not so much the re-routing of existing homeruns, but re-feeding runs on the main floor that stopped in octagon junction boxes before going to the next floor. WHY?!

The house was built in 1968, so it seems every update made was in the form of feeding a basement junction and branching from there to the main floor.

Affected are:

Garburator
Dishwasher
Counter Cooktop (Spliced # 8s -WHY?! )
Garage feed (which is on the same homerun as the bonus room on the main floor )
Microwave
In-Cabinet Range

I also have to fish in another dedicated 20A counter plug and re-feed the fridge- as there are no dedicated branches for kitchen counters. Things have changed since ole '68. Weekend mornings making toast and coffee at the same time result in the circuit tripping if the fridge compressor decides to play too.

Last but not least, all 4ft fixtures in the basement stopped in a junction and T off to the next light before feeding the fixture. Not a big deal, but strange.

Although the service is 100A, an upgrade to a modern 100A or 200A service is definitely in the cards. Haven't decided which yet. It may be nice to have the option to run a heatpump or instant hot water baseboards in the future.

BTW the existing panel is the definition of cheating. In every way. Oh how things have changed.

They are here! They are heavy!

That is a lot of wood and glue... They are very strong though.

First actual day of work!

Yesterday was a very productive day. It helps when someone you rely on for help shows up while you are still in PJs with an armload of Tim's coffee. (or as we Canadians know it as- morning nectar.)

We had gone out for beers the night before and the topic of the LVLs came up.... so my alarm clock was "lets do this." Unfortunately, lazy me wasn't ready for the LVL install quite yet. I spent the day tidying up electrical loose ends. I said "Come back in an hour and I'll be ready." 8 1/2 hours later I called it for the day.....

Needless to say the LVLs didn't get installed. On the upside I took care of a lot of gremlins this old place had been collecting for the past 45 years.

Renovations often bring unhappy surprises. Mine was a junction removal that actually had a wire leaving the back of it into the floor above to feed the fridge. But not directly beneath it of course. After a half hour of troubleshooting, we were able to isolate the fridge feed from the others it was spliced into- only to find it has a buried junction box somewhere behind the kitchen cabinets. Delete and re-feed from scratch. Then we re-fed the dishwashwer only to find it had been leaking for quite some time when we pulled the front kick plate off. David Suzuki would be proud of my little hidden silverfish colony. A marvelous micro-ecosphere. Gross.

But all in all it was a happy day! Progress is progress and I can already feel the excitement of things to come. Here is the state of things. So far 5 existing junction home runs are deleted and replaced and the beam is finally bare.

Just remember that you are doing exactly what you said.... Fixing 45 years worth of issues. Fixing them now is a LOT better than having to deal with them later. The extra hours will seem like nothing and will be well worth it in the end.

Chipping away! Today was another step in the right direction. Shoring material picked up and built. Picked up all the joist hangers and LVL bolt hardware. Also picked up a spray foam kit for the rim joist.

The main floor feels like I could host a concert and it wouldn't budge. Sure strengthens the place. Each joist is supported by a 2x4 and angle bracing beefs it up a little more. All material will be reused in the final frame up once the beam change out is complete. Even the old beam material will find a home. I'm learning a lot and I'm sure glad I have knowledgeable help!

Progress feels good! I screwed up and the room is actually a little wider than initially planned (about 8"). The speaker VS sofa conflict may be a moot point now. I also found some cool software that Sirquack may have used back in the day for finding and verifying first reflection points before the room is built. The plan is to have sconces on the acoustic panels so this is a great find. Good ole Axiom archives.