Dave Simpson
Second Unit
- Joined
- Sep 18, 1999
- Messages
- 445
Hey dudes,
Here's an excerpt from an e-mail I sent to friends and family yesterday after finishing my HT room in the basement. It was intended to be done in a quick and dirty fashion, but the best laid plans of mice and men...It's still a dirty reno, it just wasn't quick. Pretty cheap, however. Associated gear, as my family and most of my friends wouldn't give a rat's ass:
-Sanyo PLV-Z1
-DIY blackout cloth screen
-DIY ceiling mount
-Yamaha 795a, as poor-man's pre-pro
-Parasound 1205a, passively bi-amping mains and
center
-Parasound 1000a, powering surround channels
-Liteon 2001
-Pioneer CLD-704, and B&K DT-1 demodulator/switcher
-Axiom M60, VP150 mains and center, PSB 3LR surround,
Axiom EP-175 sub.
Kindly bear in mind that I am a mechanical idiot. Forthwith, here's how not to build your room:
"Destruction began on the 28th of July, construction slowly, and I mean v-e-r-y slowly, followed through the fall amid much big talk, and today Kerry and I are thrilled to finally say The Strotoplex is now complete (other than one small cosmetic job that falls to me), and open to all you movie fans. The room is roughly 30' x 10.5', and the viewing area itself is 20' x 10.5'. The back of the room has been tastefully finished as Kerry's Kooky Kocktail Lounge. The projector is firmly mounted to the ceiling with about six bucks worth of plumbing parts, and the DIY screen (blackout cloth stretched around 2x2s) measures 82"x45", or 92" diagonally. Light control is 100%, and with no clock, time stands still in this room.
The results are simply smashing, we feel, and despite the various trials of the job, it's been fully worth it. We'd surely do it again, 'tho certainly not without a ton of differences. To wit, here's how not to do the job:
- plan as you go. By the seat of your pants, baby! Really, a rough idea is all you need.
- don't pre-wire anything before you begin painting. Why would you want to make the job easier and cheaper?
- on the subject of paint, by all means use flat paint. This way, you have the pleasure of breaking out the tray and roller every time a wall gets scuffed, and your skills won't get rusty (we're finding that the only way to cover scuff marks on flat paint is with more...flat paint). Duhh!!
- don't bother breaking your back doing a decent job sanding the walls before you prime and paint. Work is for suckers, right? Besides, a basement ought to look like a basement, imperfect walls and all.
- related to the pre-wiring issue, don't waste any money on a PVC tube above the drop-ceiling through which to run various cables. It's way more fun to string each one manually, panel by panel.
- further to this, if you'd like to paint your drop ceiling, don't even think about taking each panel down and doing them individually. That would deprive you of the joy you'll feel as you attempt to run cables above the newly-painted panels that are now fully sealed to their supports. Keep your utility knife handy. And more paint.
- permanently mount the projector to the ceiling without giving it any thought whatsoever. Does it really matter if the view of the people sitting on the rear couch on a riser (to be installed at a later date) is fully impeded by the projector?"
Moral of the story, I suppose, is that we learn by doing. Next time will be quicker and far more efficient, although we're still over the moon around here with the finished room. Can you believe some people are satisfied paying as much as twice the price of a PJ for an RPTV?? Different strokes, of course, but for me, there can be no going back.
Cheers, guys!
DS.
P.S. Digital pics coming soon...
Here's an excerpt from an e-mail I sent to friends and family yesterday after finishing my HT room in the basement. It was intended to be done in a quick and dirty fashion, but the best laid plans of mice and men...It's still a dirty reno, it just wasn't quick. Pretty cheap, however. Associated gear, as my family and most of my friends wouldn't give a rat's ass:
-Sanyo PLV-Z1
-DIY blackout cloth screen
-DIY ceiling mount
-Yamaha 795a, as poor-man's pre-pro
-Parasound 1205a, passively bi-amping mains and
center
-Parasound 1000a, powering surround channels
-Liteon 2001
-Pioneer CLD-704, and B&K DT-1 demodulator/switcher
-Axiom M60, VP150 mains and center, PSB 3LR surround,
Axiom EP-175 sub.
Kindly bear in mind that I am a mechanical idiot. Forthwith, here's how not to build your room:
"Destruction began on the 28th of July, construction slowly, and I mean v-e-r-y slowly, followed through the fall amid much big talk, and today Kerry and I are thrilled to finally say The Strotoplex is now complete (other than one small cosmetic job that falls to me), and open to all you movie fans. The room is roughly 30' x 10.5', and the viewing area itself is 20' x 10.5'. The back of the room has been tastefully finished as Kerry's Kooky Kocktail Lounge. The projector is firmly mounted to the ceiling with about six bucks worth of plumbing parts, and the DIY screen (blackout cloth stretched around 2x2s) measures 82"x45", or 92" diagonally. Light control is 100%, and with no clock, time stands still in this room.
The results are simply smashing, we feel, and despite the various trials of the job, it's been fully worth it. We'd surely do it again, 'tho certainly not without a ton of differences. To wit, here's how not to do the job:
- plan as you go. By the seat of your pants, baby! Really, a rough idea is all you need.
- don't pre-wire anything before you begin painting. Why would you want to make the job easier and cheaper?
- on the subject of paint, by all means use flat paint. This way, you have the pleasure of breaking out the tray and roller every time a wall gets scuffed, and your skills won't get rusty (we're finding that the only way to cover scuff marks on flat paint is with more...flat paint). Duhh!!
- don't bother breaking your back doing a decent job sanding the walls before you prime and paint. Work is for suckers, right? Besides, a basement ought to look like a basement, imperfect walls and all.
- related to the pre-wiring issue, don't waste any money on a PVC tube above the drop-ceiling through which to run various cables. It's way more fun to string each one manually, panel by panel.
- further to this, if you'd like to paint your drop ceiling, don't even think about taking each panel down and doing them individually. That would deprive you of the joy you'll feel as you attempt to run cables above the newly-painted panels that are now fully sealed to their supports. Keep your utility knife handy. And more paint.
- permanently mount the projector to the ceiling without giving it any thought whatsoever. Does it really matter if the view of the people sitting on the rear couch on a riser (to be installed at a later date) is fully impeded by the projector?"
Moral of the story, I suppose, is that we learn by doing. Next time will be quicker and far more efficient, although we're still over the moon around here with the finished room. Can you believe some people are satisfied paying as much as twice the price of a PJ for an RPTV?? Different strokes, of course, but for me, there can be no going back.
Cheers, guys!
DS.
P.S. Digital pics coming soon...
, but you give me a wee bit too much credit, sir. The reason my room took as long to complete as it did is because I'm scarcely wealthier than a pauper, but I always strive to live within my means, and that means if I don't have the money for it, I don't buy it (credit is for emergencies only, no exceptions).Therefore, every small trip to Home Depot was paid for out of pocket, and there were some weeks, particularily over the holidays, that work ground to a stand-still, 'cuz there was no dough. Also, my girlfriend and I both work shifts, and it's often difficult to snyc our schedules, and believe me, she was the brains behind this enterprise; I was just just a pair of hands with a rough idea, some AV gear, and a pocketbook. There were many instances of imaptience getting the better of each of us (mostly me, and neither of us at the same time), but in the end, it's been entirely worth the effort.
