My HT is (mostly) DONE!!! (1 Viewer)

[chris_everett]

After almost a year of work, my theater is now in a functional state, just in time for Christmas! I started this project back in march, and spent almost 9 months before that doing planning.

Click on my gallery link for some pics. (more to come)

Current Equipment list:
BenQ PB6200 Projector
Pioneer VSX-D810S Reciever
Sharp DVD player
Crown CH1 Pro Amp (subwoofer)
SVS PC-Plus Sub
7x JBL S36II Studio Series Speakers

The Room is 8'6" Wide by about 15' Long, taking up one-half of my garage. (Previous home owner had used the same space as an office)
My DIY Screen is about 90" wide in a 16x9 format

I've got auralex accoustical treatment on the ceiling, and a strip along the walls. I have two layers of drywall, separated by Mass Loaded Vinyl in the walls that provides excellent soundproofing (better than I expected) All in all, the accoustical component of this project turned out better than I hoped.

I need to replace my old DVD player (soon), and also my sub amp (which is currently borrowed). Later on I will replace my pioneer receiver, probably with the outlaw separates, and add an accousticly transparent screen, and a bit more foam to trim things out.

Special thanks are owed to "The Driftwood" HT for providing a proof-of-concept for a garage theater, and everyone else on the HTF for ideas, inspiration, and motivation.

 

[BrianKR]

Awesome Chris!
How does it sound using the auralex accoustical treatments?

 

[chris_everett]

It helped quite a bit, more than I thought it would. With not much space between the speakers and the seating, I thought I would not have great sound, but It's still easy to localize all of the surround information. It also made the room appear much warmer and inviting.

 

[nickMahler]

where did you find this type of acoustic stuff? and did you do an RTA type test to see where you needed the most help with reflection or echos? looking good so far

 

[chris_everett]

I ordered the foam from Sweetwater Locations for the foam was determined by a number of factors, (this was the majority of my research time) but the bottom line was:
1. Bass traps in the corners (wasn't able to do the back of the room that way, but there is bass trapping in my riser)
2. A mix of absorbtion and diffusion on the ceiling (I used 1" foam for that)
3. A ring of foam at ear level (this seemed best for surrond systems, as any other solution was just too complicated.

I haven't really tuned the system yet, I hope to this week, and I'll post updates then.

FYI, an RTA isn't going to do much good for this sort of test, as you need to see time domain information as well to seperate reflections from direct sound. I do have some limited time domain test Gear, but due to the small size of my space I'm limited in what I can do anyway, so I mostly went for the theoretical best options.