Theater Update (Revised 11.15.04) (1 Viewer)

[Jay Mitchosky]

This has been a busy couple of weeks. Completed the stage and riser. Had the rear counter installed. And over the last two days had carpet laid and chairs delivered...



{Incidentally, those chairs are purple. Difficult to balance color in this room.}

Over the next couple of weeks final painting and millwork will be completed. Kind of bittersweet as it will then be a finished room but without gear. I can install the audio side and may use it as a music room for the time being until I get the projector. At least it's no longer the incomplete mess that's haunted me over the last year.

From this...



...to this...



...to its current form. Pretty wild watching it take shape.

 

[Frank Zimkas]

SWEET!! Looks like a great HT to spend some time in. Congrats!!

 

[Travis_R]

looks really good man

 

[Dan_J_H.]

Beautiful HT!

Just a couple questions. What is the length and width of your HT room and is the wood framing on the floor in the 2nd picture for the floor or is it to be raised up for the walls?

I am in the planning stages for my basement HT. I need all the hints and tips I can get.

Dan

 

[Tom D]

That really looks fantastic Jay. Congrats.

Regards, Tom

 

[Jay Mitchosky]

Plan as much as possible. Every element you can that is reasonably within your control. Know your chairs up front as the measurements for eye and ear position as well as site lines and such are key. I mapped out exactly where my head was going to be, where the chair edges would lie to determine walkspace between the first and second rows, width of the seats to ensure the right dimensions for the riser, etc. The dimensions for the room are quite comfortable in terms of adequate walking space, seating locations and such. On paper it sounds like a big space but that gets eaten up very quickly.

I need to update my previous website that shows progress pictures throughout. I have a bunch re: stage and riser finishing that may be helpful to some people who are starting out.

 

[Joe Angelicchio]

Ok here's my first ever post.

WOW, very nice.

 

[Robert James Clark]

I really like the simplicity of the look of your theater. Sometimes we can get carried away with the ornateness of the interior...

 

[Jay Mitchosky]

That was the plan from the beginning. There is more detail work to be done but not excessively so. I like clean lines. That and it's really frickin' expensive to glitz it up!

 

[Phill O]

I lIke it!

 

[Neil Joseph]

As I mentioned before, awesome room. What projector were you going to get again, the link pointed somewhere else.

 

[Jay Mitchosky]

Undecided. If I were to pull the pin right now I would lean towards the Dwin TV3 - I love its installation flexibility with the "above the screen" lens shift. I loathe the idea of having a projector hanging from the ceiling on a post and frankly don't have the headroom for it. Ideally it would also offer a slightly longer throw. My immediate goal is to finish the room so at least that is behind me. Projector will have have to wait.

 

[Will d s]

Looks very nice. Have you decided on speakers and equipment yet?

 

[Chris Moe]

WOW, looks great indeed. Very nice job.

 

[James^C]

Do you have any other pictures or a link to your website? I would love to see your progress! I'm in the middle of construction and would like to see other ideas!

LOOKS GREAT!!!

 

[Jay Mitchosky]

Needs to be updated. I'll post it shortly. There are a lot of pictures showing construction techniques.

 

[ScottATL]

Wow, I have been planning out my HT and on paper it looks exactly like what you have in your picture, even the color of the room is what I was thinking about, I painted our master bedroom a "portabello" from Sherwin Williams and
thinking about doing a shade off for the HT room.

I'm hoping you can answer a couple of questions for me.
1.What color did you paint the ceiling? Is it the same as the walls?
2. Your dimensions are 17 X 24, mine are 12.5 X 20, so my room is a little smaller, how wide are the 4 chairs side by side, and how wide is the platform. I'm thinking I don't have enough room for 4 chairs, but your measurements would definitely help.
3. Is that a wall/bar on the back of the seating platform? That's a pretty neat idea.
4. I have the trey in the ceiling identical to that of yours as well, mostly because of running the HVAC. How far apart is your recessed lighting, I was thinking of every 5 feet
5. Where did you get your lighting? I've been looking around for the best deal and have found a couple of shops on ebay, but haven't ordered anything yet. I'll be doing the framing in the next week, and hope to do the electrical work over Thanksgiving.
6. Is the lighting on the inside of the trey over the whole room? I was thinking of doing only over the seating platform.

 

[Jay Mitchosky]

"A couple" means "two".

Right now there's no trey. In a week or so I will have my millwork guy come in and finish installation which will include a crown moulding (maple, stained dark walnut to match the rest of the house) along the inner perimeter of the bulkhead. The ropes will sit in there. If you crank the brightness on your monitor you can probably make out the black electrical outlet at the back corner of the bulkhead (will be positioned above the doorway) for the rope light connection. The ground lights will be all hardwired.


Let me know if you need more details. I have pictures that need to be compiled and my site updated. In the interim here are a couple of shots without the chairs for a better view of just the construction...

 

[ScottATL]

thanks Jay, that helped me out a lot. I like the 120" arrangement, I want to have the "love seat" type middle with no arm between them. the only concern I have is it would leave me only 1 foot of space on each side, unless I moved it against the wall and offset the seating, which I'd rather not do. I do have another room that is a bit wider, right at 14' that would give a 2 foot passthrough on each side, but I want to use that room in a different way. Doing it that way, you would have to walk through the home theater to get to the game room. I would rather walk through the game room to get to the home theater.

One last question, what projector are you getting and what did you do for a screen?

 

[Jay Mitchosky]

No idea for the projector. The market is actually very limited in terms of ones that have two important installation features I want: 1) optical lens shift that allows for placement above the screen (absolutely a waste in my opinion if only allows between top and bottom) for mounting flush to the ceiling, and 2) a nice, juicy long throw at least 2x screen width. I haven't been paying too much attention to the current batch of projectors but I know Dwin's TV3+ has these capabilities. Will have to wait and see. Screen will be an 87" wide 16:9, material TBD (FireHawk is my first choice, but DLP technology is advancing such that it's not as important - will wait and see).