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My rather HUGE theater project

post #1 of 66
6/25/08 at 7:29pm
Thread Starter 
I posted a long time ago about this, and thought I'd rehash where I'm currently at. I've

been working on this overall project for over 2 years, and I'm getting much closer to

watching my first movie in it! The complete project is here:

Party Barn

...some highlights:

...the building I'm converting for theater use is on the left:



...a conceptualization:



...much insulation had to be done first:





...welding work:





...and exotic aspects:









In the end, A LOT OF WORK!










I'm fast approaching the point where I'll be installing a screen. At this point probably a

16 x 9 (or as they're list "9 x 16" - why vertical first?). I had wanted bigger, but If I

want a 16x9 aspect then, well, 16' by 9' looks like it will fit best. As you can see, it's

all painted black for minimum reflectivity. After the screen will come the audio. The

acoustics are not going to be very good (with osb walls), but there WILL be carpet down to

help a little. I plan on having a small platformed area with a little bit of seating where

the bass can travel (on the back, lower wall, facing the screen). My focus is not to have

hi-def my #1 concern since the building will be for more than just video. But I still

think I can build a decent enough sound system. After the audio, I plan on getting a DLP

projector (there's a JVC I've been eyeing with a high contrast - although not all that

bright).

I though some might be interested in this project...
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post #2 of 66
6/26/08 at 4:29pm

Re: My rather HUGE theater project

Reflections (audio) might be a problem, so you might want to consider adding some carpet (as needed) to your black OSB walls. As needed.

Something you're probably aware of is, you're gonna need some serious power in here for audio, with this much volume of air to fill.

As for the projector, I have seen a 500 ANSI Lumen JVC projector on a 16' x 9' screen. In a totally dark space, it was fantastic.

For a space like this, however, I'd love to put in a 3-chip DLP projector - something like a Christie 3-5000 lumen... not that I could afford it - probably all told with mount, lens, projector, et cetera, in the $30-$50k range.

Leo
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post #3 of 66
6/27/08 at 6:59am

Re: My rather HUGE theater project

When it's done....please adopt me!

What are you putting on the floor?

RSlater,
RSmike
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post #4 of 66
6/30/08 at 12:45pm
Thread Starter 

Re: My rather HUGE theater project

Quote:
Originally Posted by RSmike
When it's done....please adopt me!

What are you putting on the floor?

RSlater,
RSmike

There's about 1100 sf of floor space. I plan on buying about 1500 sf of a low cut (read:cheap) carpet in a dark color. The excess I'll cut into strips and strategically place on the walls for echo dampening.

On the back wall (on ground level by the loft), I'm putting in a low (like a couple inches) platform for theater seating - to resonate the base a little better. I just plan on putting in like 5 seats across the wall at first. Maybe more later if needed.

...oh, I'll adopt you if you're blond and FEMALE! LOL!
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post #5 of 66
7/1/08 at 8:11am

Re: My rather HUGE theater project

That is a huge area on the size of a small cinema and you’ll gonna need JBL cinema professional to fill that, no ifs no buts you’re gonna need JBL professional!
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post #6 of 66
7/1/08 at 3:57pm

Re: My rather HUGE theater project

There are plenty of other options than JBL. I know Martin makes some very nice FLA units (focused line array. The big hanging speaker-stacks at rock concerts.)

Leo
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post #7 of 66
7/3/08 at 6:47pm

Re: My rather HUGE theater project

Everything is bigger in Texas, including home theater rooms!
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post #8 of 66
7/4/08 at 10:30am

Re: My rather HUGE theater project

Neat project. A general idea about dampening. You might get a few bolts of black or burgundy felt and attach it, pleated, to the side walls in a few places. In that large an area I think you need some 3-D dampening. Think about it, virtually every movie theater has heavy drapes pleated on the side walls.
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post #9 of 66
2/16/09 at 7:40am
Thread Starter 

Re: My rather HUGE theater project

It's been a while since I updated to this forum. Anyway, I've made some progress. I've built and added a wetbar and had the place carpeted. I plan on using the left over carpet pieces in strategic places on the walls. I did a lot of research concerning the sound system and concluded it would be VERY expensive to do this "right" in terms of a home theater. But this room will be used for more then just movies. In fact it will be used more for private parties then movies, SO, I'm installing a rather homogenized sound system. I can always upgrade it later if this proves to be radically under powered! Anyway, here are the components thus far:

A Mackie (American Audio?)1801 powered sub:

It's 800W (1000 peak), has a peak out of 135db(I'll never crank it that high!), is about 26" cubed. specs: Mackie - Home

A Denon AVR1909:


And Infinity speakers:


Some current shots of the whole place:











This last shot is the control desk up in the loft. To the right is custom rack computers that will control every thing. It contains two machines (one completed, one not yet). The completed machine is a Linux server that will be left on all the time. It will primarily store video (as I get DVD's I'll rip them to its hard drives). It has room for 5 SATA drives, so 5TB should hold a fair amount of footage. The other machine will be used for A/V applications as well as gaming. It will be a quadcore and multi-boot into Vista, XP, and eventually Win7 - depending on what it needs to be at the time.

I'm off this coming week, so I'll be adding all the conduit to run the speakers, and then place/wire them all up. Should be fun!

All this stuff is on the revamped Partybarn site at: The Partybarn
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post #10 of 66
2/16/09 at 6:28pm

Re: My rather HUGE theater project

Whoa, this has to be the coolest thing i've seen yet on these forums! I am definitely jealous. Make sure you update the forum with how the audio/video goes. Maybe i missed it in your posts, but what projector did you decide on?
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post #11 of 66
2/16/09 at 8:37pm
Thread Starter 

Re: My rather HUGE theater project

Well, my next step will be a screen (16'x9' or so) and THEN the projector (they keep dropping in price - the longer I wait the better off I'll be!). Anyway, it'll be a 1080P of course, but beyond that, I'm certainly open to suggestions. Something that is both bright and has a decent contrast ratio... I'm thinking I'll scrounge the $$ this summer sometime for the projector if all goes well. I'm hoping to find one suitable for under $3K by then.

Thanks for the input!
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post #12 of 66
2/16/09 at 9:19pm

Re: My rather HUGE theater project

Are you buying the screen or building it? I would think building would be much much cheaper and more bang for your buck, but there's some extremely nice custom order screens (Stewart screens comes to mind) that you can find. Of course, custom order generally goes hand in hand with the highest prices possible.
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post #13 of 66
2/17/09 at 4:13am
Thread Starter 

Re: My rather HUGE theater project

Hmm I had planned on buying one (about $2K). Here's why: I need a screen that I can get out of the way for access to the 8' roll-up door behind the screen. A motorized roll-up seems to be the best option. But then again - I'm certainly open to options on this as well!
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post #14 of 66
2/17/09 at 5:31pm

Re: My rather HUGE theater project

In a room like that, you should go scope.
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post #15 of 66
2/17/09 at 8:19pm
Thread Starter 

Re: My rather HUGE theater project

In the past couple days I've run 160'+ of conduit and miles of monster cable. A couple hours ago I connected all the speakers and built a custom harness for the sub and connected it also. Next I ran the Auto Configure to set it all up (took 30 minutes or so I guess). That Auto Configure was pretty nifty. This receiver came with a little mic that I had to set up on a tripod and move around the room to set 6 different positions - is this a normal feature these days? My last receiver was 'stereo'. It could be set up for 4 channels, but it was still stereo - my how times have changed. Anyway, it really sounds great! The sub woofer is actually a tad on the overkill side. It looks like I'll be keeping it below 50% for most of its life! At "normal" volume, I could hear the bass in the house (about 150' away). Would dampening things inside with fabric/carpet on the walls, etc. cut this down? I guess it's no biggy during the day, but I'll have to tone things down a bit at night. My neighbors house is quite a ways away, but I bet if I turned things up even a little, the bass would carry 1000' or more... All in all, I'm pretty happy with sound aspects of this arrangement. Tomorrow I'll be cleaning up (I made a complete mess), and take/post more pics!
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post #16 of 66
2/17/09 at 8:21pm
Thread Starter 

Re: My rather HUGE theater project

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevin Stewart
In a room like that, you should go scope.

hmm, scope as in "look" or "search"? Or is "scope" a brand name??? Or do I have bad breath?? heh heh

???
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post #17 of 66
2/17/09 at 8:44pm

Re: My rather HUGE theater project

Very cool! Kinda looks like a nightclub inside.
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post #18 of 66
2/18/09 at 12:22pm
Thread Starter 

Re: My rather HUGE theater project

OK, got things cleaned up today and I made a quick little video: http://polarsoft.net/partybarn/PBTour1.1.wmv



It's about 4 minutes long, sorry it's not brighter - the walls soak up light for some reason - heh heh.
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post #19 of 66
2/18/09 at 8:54pm

Re: My rather HUGE theater project

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rhatphlegm
hmm, scope as in "look" or "search"? Or is "scope" a brand name??? Or do I have bad breath?? heh heh

???

Scope: A 2.35:1 screen instead of a 16:9 screen. It enables you to use a wider screen so that movies are bigger (and reduces the likelihood of black bars on top and bottom), but HDTV would be the same size you have now.


PS. Did you say miles of "Monster" cables? Please tell me you got them free.
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post #20 of 66
2/18/09 at 9:58pm

Re: My rather HUGE theater project

1 vote yes on the brass pole.
you know why.

smoke machines and stobe lights can be had cheap on ebay as well.
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post #21 of 66
2/19/09 at 6:43am
Thread Starter 

Re: My rather HUGE theater project

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevin Stewart
PS. Did you say miles of "Monster" cables? Please tell me you got them free.

Hmm, well, the local Circuit City is going under. I got it all at "40% off". I compared the prices to the net and they were indeed a lot cheaper at their price. Was there a better route I could go? I know you hi-fidelity types are much more critical about your sound systems then I'll ever be (not that is a bad thing), the Monster cable seemed quite sufficient to me (12G) ...
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post #22 of 66
2/19/09 at 11:27am

Re: My rather HUGE theater project

Well, I don't know what you paid, but you could have bought 100' of 12g from monoprice for under $30 (for example). Performance wise, Monster works fine, it's just a ripoff in most cases.
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post #23 of 66
2/19/09 at 2:57pm
Thread Starter 

Re: My rather HUGE theater project

here's a question for you: would regular 12g 2 wire Romex work as well? The only difference I see is stranded verses solid...

the Monster stuff I bought was $37 for 100'...
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post #24 of 66
3/3/09 at 6:51pm
Thread Starter 

Re: My rather HUGE theater project

Here are some current pictures that I posted today to the site: Current shots as of Feb 16

The latest is the new chairs and tables. They are solid maple and stained to match the bar. Oak would have been nice, but these sets were very inexpensive and will fit the ticket perfectly. We plan on getting one more set in to allow for our 12 max occupancy. It will be summer before I can get a screen in from the way things are looking...







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post #25 of 66
3/3/09 at 11:54pm

Re: My rather HUGE theater project

Quote:
Originally Posted by RSmike
When it's done....please adopt me!

What are you putting on the floor?

RSlater,
RSmike

LOL

If you can have one you can have two.
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post #26 of 66
3/4/09 at 5:41am

Re: My rather HUGE theater project

A word of advice on Kevin's suggestion of smoke machines:

be cautious.

On casual use, one might not notice it, but over the long term, think about it: where does the smoke go?

It settles out on things. The crud that settles onto hot lenses (light fixtures) is nasty, disgusting crap. Do you want that in your projector?! Eew.. plus, you get this interesting brown-shift in the color, and a general loss of brightness...

Now, if you put the projector in a filtered "hush-box"...
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post #27 of 66
3/5/09 at 3:55pm
Thread Starter 

Re: My rather HUGE theater project

hmmm, is a smoke machine like a fog machine? if not - a fog machine seems harmless enough...
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post #28 of 66
3/6/09 at 11:15am

Re: My rather HUGE theater project

Dude off the hook! When can I come over?
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post #29 of 66
3/6/09 at 12:04pm

Re: My rather HUGE theater project

regarding smoke, fog, haze, and other atmospherics,

smoke machines generally vaporize a water/glycerin mixture that floats/rises. Older ones, and large area ones may use ethylene glycol and/or propylene glycol for a much heavier smoke that "volumizes" better, and lasts longer.

fog machines create fog by mixing boiling water and dry ice or liquid nitrogen that hugs the floor. Optic safe, but depending, you can make wet floors and/or choke people if you don't have enough ventilation. May also help cool the room. Or warm it, for that matter, depending on where you have the hot water supply.

haze machines -- at least the early ones -- atomized very pure oils in small quantities so that they would linger in the air for hours. It eventually settles, but on what? Not sure.

Snow machines and bubble machines are very similar; it's just the size of the bubbles where they really differ. They're generally optical safe, but may make the floor slippery if you're running them too hard. (The caveat about the general optic safe is, well, if soap bubbles land on the lens directly, that's probably not real good.)

That's probably more than you really wanted to know, anyway...
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post #30 of 66
3/7/09 at 6:22am
Thread Starter 

Re: My rather HUGE theater project

Great info - thanx!
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