My Home Theater is Complete!! Almost? (1 Viewer)

[SethOakley]

Please view the pictures and give me your thoughts if you have time. I'd love to hear your thoughts.


I've finally finished my Home Theater to the point where I could post some pictures. This project took me about 1 month of actual work, the rest of the time I was just putting this project on the back burner while I took part in other important ventures, like the birth of my first child. In hindsight I see that I could have completed this entire project in about 2-4 weeks if I had already saved the money, and two I had the motivation to spend a few hours per night working. However, its pretty much done now and I couldn't be happier. Its funny because my wife who has been skeptical this whole time is completely in love with it, she's inviting over friends and family and spends her afternoon kicking back watching movies. I say this like we've been funtional in this for awhile, its been 4 days. She even apologized for complaining about it, and thanked me for building it. , not too bad!

We own a VERY modest house that we just bought in August. The day we bought it I told her that the garage would be converted to a theater. So our "detached" garage became what is now our theater. The dimensions are 21' x 13'. The back riser I built was 8" high, and the full 13' wide. I built it 6' out from the back wall. I wanted to make it large enough so that we could walk comfortably on it and have room for our mini-fridge, microwave, and all my components. The back row sits 20' away from the screen. The front row is 13' away from the screen.

I built the screen myself for a total of $38. I bought screen material off EBAY that looked as sharp or sharper than some of the screen samples I received from some companies. I simply stapled the loose screen material to the wall and pull and tightened so that it was completely flat. Once that was done I built the frame and screwed it to the wall. 2 hour project maybe! I went against the grain(meaning everyones suggestion) and painted the screen frame beige instead of black. I thought it tied in my overall color scheme much better. The ceiling is completely black, and the walls are all beige like the screen frame. In person everything looks good. I have the inverted color stripes on both walls, I did this to tie the black to beige together. I painted a 6" stripe all the way around the top of the wall, I used 6" baseboard all the way around the bottom, and I painted the stripes 6" on the wall.

I've got a heating and cooling unit coming for that window. Right now, I'm sporting two designer trash bags to block the light. REAL classy! I need to add the covers to my recessed lighting, trim out the window after thats done and then this deal will be done.

Since arriving at this level of completion on Friday evening the 20th, we've had 38 guests to see the place. We've watched

Fast and the Furious
2 Fast 2 Furious
Caddyshack II
Last Action Hero(Nephews were over)
Jurassic Park
Deep Blue Sea
Die Another Day
Dickie Roberts Former Child Star?
Blue Crush

Kansas Jayhawks vs Iowa State (My hawks player horrible but won)
Kansas Jayhawks vs Texas (My hawks sucked!!)
Syracuse vs Villanova

So all in all, I'm THRILLED with the project. Theres a lot of little things that I've yet to do, but I couldn't be happier with how it turned out.

Theater Equipment List
Denon AVR 2803
Denon 910 DVD
Motorola HDTV Digital Cable Box
XBOX
Paradigm Monitor 7 Fronts
Paradigm CC-370 Center
Axiom QS4 Surrounds
Paradigm PDR 12 Sub

Finally, I've got the Sanyo PLV Z1 projector and a $70 mount I bought on EBAY. The mount is so nice and easy to use and I save a lot. I couldn't be happier with the picture. The projector cost me $1000 brand new and is worth every cent. I've honestly got 6 different family members wanting to buy this exact projector (Dad, Bro-in-Law, Bro-in-Law, Uncle, Bro-in-Law,Bro-in-Law). Its not a high dollar projector by no means, but I personally can't tell the difference. And yes, I've done side by side comparisons. Anyway, thats about it.



http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/set...=/ba96&.src=ph

 

[Dave Poehlman]

Cool solution! Nice job on the colors and the screen. Do you have a subwoofer? How's the sound on the outside of the garage... pretty soundproof?

Keep us posted on your updates.

 

[SethOakley]

Yeah sorry I forgot to include the Sub on the original post. I've got the Paradigm PDR 12. Anyway, the sound is unheard on the outside. We insulated the garage VERY well and put in a new insulated door. Our old garage is now the nicest part of our house.

 

[LaMarcus]

Sweet!! I like it man, looks very cosey. The comments about the wife nagging about it at first and loving it afterwards is just priceless. I can't wait to get that same type of feed back from my girl. She can't understand why all I think about is completing my theater with a front projector. I keep telling her that once I get it she's going to love it, but she think the 65" is enough. Here's to the future.

Great job man.

 

[Tom Kay]

Hi Seth

Well done on the completion ! Time to enjoy it now. My HT is a long way from being done, but that's OK.

I have a question about the Denon 2803, and that's the one I have been eyeing. How do you like it? Is there enough power without going to the 3803? Are there any features missing that you wish were there?

Thanks, Tom.

 

[Owen Bartley]

Seth, great job! That looks really nice. Plus you can't ask for better privacy when watching a movie.

I was also wondering how you like your Denon, more specifically with the Monitor 7's. I have a 2802 and Mini Monitors, but am planning on picking up a pair of 7's sometime this year.

To chime in my 2 cents for Tom's question, my 2802 is rated at 90wpc and it does fine driving the speakers I have it set up with now (Minis in rear, CC370 centre, and Cerwin Vega VS120's in front - I know, a strange match, they're on loan while my bro is away for a while).

 

[JohnnyN]

looks comfy... is that a microwave i see? oooh... ahhh... popcorn...

 

[Randy Laporte]

Looks great,good luck.The hardest thing about finishing my HT was deciding what should be my first movie to watch LOL
my HT

 

[SethOakley]

Hey, sorry it took me so long to respond. I thought I checked the box that would email me after responses. I kept checking my email thinking, I can't believe nobody has responded.

First of all LaMarcus, thanks for the compliments. My wife does absolutely love it, I would have never thought she'd be this happy. Tell your girl that the front projector will take up much less room than that 65, that is less room until the movie starts.

The Denon 2803 is great. I really haven't wished for anything extra, I've got more power than I need with this unit. I've never had it cranked up because I can't handle it, and I'm only 24. I typically find myself turning down my sub and turning down my volume if anything. This unit is great and it powers the Monitor 7's nicely. Honestly the only thing I've wished it had was some video input on the front. My nephew brought his original Playstation over the other night and wanted to play it, however, I wasn't in the mood to move all that stuff so I could get to the video inputs. As you can see my stuff is angled in the corner. Anyway, thats something small that still could have worked if I wouldn't have been lazy. Plus, XBOX should be good enough for him.

That is a microwave, sitting on top of a mini-fridge. We have the room fully stocked with Pop, candy and popcorn. I believe we actually have formula for my son out there too. Compliments of the wife