Black and Tan Theater Construction Thread (Just upgraded to Dolby Atmos) (1 Viewer)

[corrinla]

yes, those images are amazing......

 

[Brian Dobbs]

This is an incredible undertaking. I hope to achieve something similar. Did you lay carpet directly on the concrete floor or use special padding at all?

 

[Adam Gregorich]

I came back to revisit this thread as we have recently upgraded the theater to Dolby Atmos. and noticed that my pictures were all missing due to some server issues from several years ago. I restored them and will be adding info on my Atmos upgrade and install in the next few days.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

This is an incredible undertaking. I hope to achieve something similar. Did you lay carpet directly on the concrete floor or use special padding at all?

Thanks. since we were over concrete, we opted to use a high quality rubber pad (as opposed to foam). It provides more of an insulating barrier from the cold concrete. We did not use a pad for the stage, we stapled the carpet to the wood.

 

[joner7777]

I am waiting to see the rest of the pictures.

I start my build weekend next-- timber ordered , tools ready!

I think most builders need some theme or idea to start from , this is a good one.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

I have to add the Atmos pics here, I have more pics in my Gallery: http://www.hometheaterforum.com/gallery/album/2-black-tan-home-theater/


Just remember screw and glue with the wood, no nails! You don't want anything to squeak later on!

 

[Sam Posten]

So did you fish lines for speakers post original construction? How big a PITA was that?

 

[Adam Gregorich]

So did you fish lines for speakers post original construction? How big a PITA was that?

Sort of. It was a big enough of a pain that I'm glad I hired professionals. Because I used hat channel under the drywall, I have a small gap between the drywall and the joists, but I also have a large beam a few feet from the wall on the equipment side of the room that has virtually no gap between the drywall and the beam, so I can't fish things through that way. You can see it in the ceiling above the ladder in this picture:

Thankfully I ran 12/4 speaker wire to not just the 7 standard speaker locations, but since I didn't know if I would go with passive or active subs, in addition to a coax I also ran a 12/4 (12 gauge, 4 conductor) speaker wire to both subwoofer locations on the front wall. You can see the left sub and left channel speaker wire mud ring near the ladder.

We removed the screen, to get behind it.

The blue wires are for an eventual motorized curtain. Eventual means something the people who buy our house someday put in.

We pulled down the single piece of insul-shield acoustic insulation from the ceiling to expose the drywall and that's when the pros went to work.

They drilled 3 to 4 inch holes in the two bays where we wanted to put the speakers. The first bay we tried had several copper water lines, so we had to move one bay further into the room.

Here is a view of one of the inspection holes which was also used to feed wire into the bay. I have installed a piece of 1x material to use as backing so I can put the drywall plugs (we have two layers of sheetrock) back in. You can also see the speaker wire they ran in the hole and coming out of the ceiling going under the wall acoustic insulation.

First plug back in. Since no one will see these I just use caulk to seal it in.

Second layer of drywall back in. I screwed both drywall plugs to the 1x furring strip I had installed previously and sealed both with caulk. They were going to be covered by the acoustic insulation and be behind the screen, so I didn't have to worry about anyone seeing it.

The speaker wire was run from the new ceiling speakers in the joist bay and then behind the acoustic insulation where it was connected to the previously run subwoofer speaker cable.


Once the best joist bays were identified they had to verify that there was noting in the way of the actual speaker locations. They did this by taking a thin sharpened metal rod and poking it through the drywall to make sure nothing was in the ceiling space. We had to make a minor tweak to the speaker layout as they found a sprinkler pipe (you can see the head in the photo). If you look carefully to the left of the speaker in the photo above you will see white specs, these are some of the places where they probed the cavity prior to cutting in the speaker.

I should mention that I used Pro-Comm to do the work, and was VERY pleased by their attention to detail. All of my other speakers are Atlantic Technology, and while I would have liked to have used their new IC-6 OBA speaker for timber matching, it doesn't have a back box, and after everything we did to try to seal the ceiling against noise I didn't want to put an exposed driver into the space. I used Triad Bronze speakers since they are sealed.

I upgraded my processor to a Marantz 7702 Mk II which does Dolby Atmos today and will have an upgrade in early March to be able to do DTS:X as well. I needed additional amplification for the 4 ceiling speakers and tapped the Outlaw 5000 amp which fit not just the requirements, but the budget too.

I still need to get the grills painted, but this shows the final locations of the four ceiling channels. With these I am running a 7.2.4 system: 7 channel conventional surround (left, center, right, right surround, right back, left back, left surround), 2 subwoofers and 4 ceiling speakers. I opted for ceiling speakers as I can't do Dolby Atmos enabled speakers in the room due to current speaker locations and the soffit around the perimeter of the room.

I upgraded the Marantz to a Audyssey pro license and calibrated room based on 16 measurement locations. I have watched over 20 Dolby Atmos titles so far and overall I am thrilled with the upgrade. Some mixes don't really push it where others have an amazing impact of the viewing experience. Atmos does to audio what a good 3D version does for the video. I have no regrets about making the investment and I can't wait for more Dolby Atmos releases.


You can find a list of our Dolby Atmos reviews at this link: http://www.hometheaterforum.com/atmos.html My thoughts about the Dolby Atmos mix can be found in the audio portion of the reviews.

 

[Sam Posten]

Ohhh in ceiling, interesting.

 

[Brian Dobbs]

HTF Featured Home Theater January 2016!

 

[JohnRice]

Adam, how do you like the Marantz 7702? I'm guessing the main improvement in the MK2 is (eventually) DTS:X? Does Atmos have any benefit with non-Atmos soundtracks?

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Adam, how do you like the Marantz 7702? I'm guessing the main improvement in the MK2 is (eventually) DTS:X? Does Atmos have any benefit with non-Atmos soundtracks?

I really like it. The MK2 will add DTS X (I think SW update is available in March). It also adds HDMI 2.2. Atmos can only be used on Atmos tracks, but Dolby Surround does some processing that will put sounds in the overhead channels for non-Atmos encoded tracks. I watched Jurassic World (not Atmos) this weekend and it did a good job with placing effects overhead.

 

[JohnRice]

Thanks. I've been contemplating a processor upgrade. I almost jumped when I saw the 7702 MK1 for $1,200 new and $900 refurb, but I guess if I'm going to upgrade, I might as well have DTS X. There's just no way I'm dropping $2,200 on a processor, especially since there will be speakers and an amp to add as well. So maybe I'll wait and see what the MK2 refurbs go for once they're available. Surround is my second priority, but I want it to be good, and I prefer balanced outputs since I moved my amps out of the equipment rack and closer to the speakers. The surround amp needs at least 15' interconnects, which I'd rather not do unbalanced.

 

[DaveF]

Adam,
Can you comment some more on your speakers and speaker configuration? I'm considering a more dedicated space with in-wall speakers, and I've never considered that option before.

What are the depth of the in-wall and in-ceiling speakers? Do they go into conventional 2x4 stud framing?

For, say, a 7.1.x system, Dolby shows the side speakers directly to the sides of the (nominally, single) listener and the rears behind and angled at about 45 deg. With a "theater" having two rows and in-walls, are the sides between the rows or do you have multiple side speakers? Are the rears in the rear wall pointed forward, to adjust for not having that angled orientation?

Thanks

 

[K.Check]

Just wanted to say... theater turned out AWESOME!! hard to tell in the pics.. what color are the columns...
since they pics didn't load in the thread, i checked them out in the gallery, but it was hard to tell
how you finished them.

looks amazing though!! nice work!

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Just wanted to say... theater turned out AWESOME!! hard to tell in the pics.. what color are the columns...
since they pics didn't load in the thread, i checked them out in the gallery, but it was hard to tell
how you finished them.

looks amazing though!! nice work!

Photos have all been fixed. They are now pointing to the gallery here instead of photobucket. The columns are covered with the same tan fabric that is on the upper wall sections.

We sold that home about a year ago opting to simplify life a bit by moving to a smaller home with a much smaller yard. We don't have room for a dedicated theater in the new house, but have updated the family room with some HT gear. Pics of that can be found here: https://www.hometheaterforum.com/community/threads/multipurpose-room-ht.351252/