Ginky Weeds Home Theater

[Ginky Weeds]

Got the screen wall components painted and the goalposts installed.  The crossbar is cut to length and waiting to confirm at what height I want to install the screen.  After placing a recliner and an auditorium seat on the riser I will determine sight lines and then mount the goal post.  And the screen!

Picked up some surplus acoustic panels today.  The light colored panels against the back wall are 3/4" rigid fiberglas with fabric covers that I assume are acoustically transparent.  I plan to install those in the alcove behind the screen.  I'll probably cover them with landscape fabric since they'll be behind the screen to make them black in color.  Hidden behind them are six Tectum "shredded wheat" panels that are 2' x 5'.  I think I'll put one on each of the doors that are near the stage.  Then probably two between the columns on each side wall.  Then one on the entry door and one on the rear wall opposite the entry.  The bonus, besides them being free, is they are painted flat black.  Will fit the decor perfectly!  Of course, I'll test them around the room to confirm most beneficial locations.

[jkasanic]

Great build! Just a quick note on the pinky fluffy. If you’re looking for the columns to provide broadband absorption probably not an issue but if you wanted to take advantage of lower frequencies, not compressing the insulation is required. Pink fluffy drops off quickly under compression. For what it’s worth, I treated my entire front stage with it hung and saw no appreciable differences in response (more likely due to location than anything else). 

[Ginky Weeds]

Great build! Just a quick note on the pinky fluffy. If you’re looking for the columns to provide broadband absorption probably not an issue but if you wanted to take advantage of lower frequencies, not compressing the insulation is required. Pink fluffy drops off quickly under compression. For what it’s worth, I treated my entire front stage with it hung and saw no appreciable differences in response (more likely due to location than anything else).

Thanks for the comments on the insulation.  Are you saying that if I take some of the insulation out of the columns and leave what's left loose, I should improve low frequency response of the Heresys?  

interesting that you found no appreciable difference with the entire front stage treated with insulation.  Makes me wonder why it's recommended in seemingly all of the build threads over at AVS Forum.  I'm going to use the panels that I have, assuming that they won't impede audio quality.  And planned to install some corner bass traps as well.  I won't be aware of issues until I get the audio gear placed and hooked up.  I'd like to do some basic tweaking of distances, etc. before running Dirac.

[bmoney]

On the front soundstage it’s not to effect the FR but to eliminate reflection. So it eliminates combing effect. Not measurable with FR 

[jkasanic]

On the front soundstage it’s not to effect the FR but to eliminate reflection. So it eliminates combing effect. Not measurable with FR

Correct, supposed to eliminate SBIR but no appreciable difference in time domain either. My point is spend the effort “in room” if it’s a trade off.

@Ginky Weeds: yes, I’m saying less is more in this case. Allow the insulation to expand naturally and you’ll see more absorption in the lower frequencies (assuming that’s what you want). Some people like more diffusion so…

[bmoney]

Correct, supposed to eliminate SBIR but no appreciable difference in time domain either. My point is spend the effort “in room” if it’s a trade off.

@Ginky Weeds: yes, I’m saying less is more in this case. Allow the insulation to expand naturally and you’ll see more absorption in the lower frequencies (assuming that’s what you want). Some people like more diffusion so…

well it at least fixes the sound bouncing off the rear wall too....i would never NOT do insulation on the screen end of the room
but i know what your saying.  not critical

[randman]

Theater is looking great! Stage and columns are really nice!

Hey, I got my seats today. Same people who a week earlier didn't want to drive the last couple of minutes into the neighborhood with only 1" to 2" of snow on the ground. This time, they only wanted to put the seats on the driveway. I had to argue with them that I paid for white glove delivery. They said they're only going to drop it off. So, we looked at their work order, which said "room of choice", as expected. They started to argue that a basement doesn't count as "room of choice". Eventually, I think they realized their arguments were hollow, and so they brought the seats in the basement and assembled them. They're in the room right outside my HT (under construction).

So, I took measurements. With a 16" riser, the base of the chair needs to be 2" to 4" from the riser. With a shorter riser (< 14") it would be possible to put the base of the seats right up against the riser and still fully recline.

Anyway, seats are nice. Love the smell of new leather... They are firmer than the old HT seats I have (the old seats are about 20 years old, so that could explain part of the difference in firmness). Power recline, headrest, and lumbar are nice.

One thing that I knew when I ordered the seats: the cup light and the base light are controlled by one switch. It would be nice to be able to leave the cup lights on but the base lights off. The base lights are too bright, particularly for the seats in the front row. I need to determine a way to darken the lights or cover them altogether. Or maybe there's a way to disconnect them without a brute force method.

[Ginky Weeds]

Correct, supposed to eliminate SBIR but no appreciable difference in time domain either. My point is spend the effort “in room” if it’s a trade off.

@Ginky Weeds: yes, I’m saying less is more in this case. Allow the insulation to expand naturally and you’ll see more absorption in the lower frequencies (assuming that’s what you want). Some people like more diffusion so…

What's not obvious from the pictures is that the majority of the insulation in each column is totally uncompressed, just sitting in place.  There are a few places where I compressed it to fit it into tight places, but it's mostly uncompressed.  So maybe I'm getting a little of both diffusion and absorption??

[Ginky Weeds]

Theater is looking great! Stage and columns are really nice!

Hey, I got my seats today. Same people who a week earlier didn't want to drive the last couple of minutes into the neighborhood with only 1" to 2" of snow on the ground. This time, they only wanted to put the seats on the driveway. I had to argue with them that I paid for white glove delivery. They said they're only going to drop it off. So, we looked at their work order, which said "room of choice", as expected. They started to argue that a basement doesn't count as "room of choice". Eventually, I think they realized their arguments were hollow, and so they brought the seats in the basement and assembled them. They're in the room right outside my HT (under construction).

So, I took measurements. With a 16" riser, the base of the chair needs to be 2" to 4" from the riser. With a shorter riser (< 14") it would be possible to put the base of the seats right up against the riser and still fully recline.

Anyway, seats are nice. Love the smell of new leather... They are firmer than the old HT seats I have (the old seats are about 20 years old, so that could explain part of the difference in firmness). Power recline, headrest, and lumbar are nice.

One thing that I knew when I ordered the seats: the cup light and the base light are controlled by one switch. It would be nice to be able to leave the cup lights on but the base lights off. The base lights are too bright, particularly for the seats in the front row. I need to determine a way to darken the lights or cover them altogether. Or maybe there's a way to disconnect them without a brute force method.

Happy that you got your seats and were able to do measurements.  I have a 10" riser, so sounds like they'll snug right up to it if I want.  These are my first HT seats, so I didn't think about desirability of independently switching the cupholder and base lights.  My initial thought is I don't want either of them on while watching the screen.  But who knows?  I might change my mind after I've used them a few times.

[randman]

Happy that you got your seats and were able to do measurements.  I have a 10" riser, so sounds like they'll snug right up to it if I want.  These are my first HT seats, so I didn't think about desirability of independently switching the cupholder and base lights.  My initial thought is I don't want either of them on while watching the screen.  But who knows?  I might change my mind after I've used them a few times.

I was using Carlton Bale's excellent spreadsheet to estimate riser height (https://carltonbale.com/home-theater/home-theater-calculator/). I can probably use a shorter riser (< 16"), but I'm accounting for the possibility that someone might want to sit reclined in the back row, while the seat in front isn't reclined. But, the riser height won't be too forgiving for tall (> 6' 4") people.

I thought I might want the cup holder lighting on, but not the base lighting. I figured it might help prevent spilled drinks. However, I just checked in a completely darkened room, and even just the cup holder light is too bright. So, I guess they'll only be good for momentary usage. 

[Ginky Weeds]

I thought I might want the cup holder lighting on, but not the base lighting. I figured it might help prevent spilled drinks. However, I just checked in a completely darkened room, and even just the cup holder light is too bright. So, I guess they'll only be good for momentary usage.

That was my thought as well.  Thanks for confirming!

[randman]

We have color!  The Green was painted yesterday evening and I really like it.  We plan to paint the ceiling Tricorn Black on Thursday, which will complete paint (except for trim) in the theater.  I also decided to paint the flanges on all the recessed lights flat black.  Carpet has been ordered and is scheduled for installation on February 21.

I had also chosen Tricorn Black a few weeks ago. I was planning to paint my walls a version of gray, but after looking yesterday, my wife didn't like any of the various colors of gray I had chosen. Leading candidates so far are SW Smoky Blue (7604), or some greenish color. The room outside my HT is Svelte Sage, which we really like, but it's too light for a HT. So I was thinking a darker share of Svelte Sage. The green that you chose looks pretty good. What is the name of the green?

(And David V., I don't have to get SW and can get similar BM paint :-) ).

[jkasanic]

What's not obvious from the pictures is that the majority of the insulation in each column is totally uncompressed, just sitting in place.  There are a few places where I compressed it to fit it into tight places, but it's mostly uncompressed.  So maybe I'm getting a little of both diffusion and absorption??

I think you had me at “stuffed”! Haha

Yeah, if it’s not compressed you’ll get the full impact (depending on the depth).

[Ginky Weeds]

I had also chosen Tricorn Black a few weeks ago. I was planning to paint my walls a version of gray, but after looking yesterday, my wife didn't like any of the various colors of gray I had chosen. Leading candidates so far are SW Smoky Blue (7604), or some greenish color. The room outside my HT is Svelte Sage, which we really like, but it's too light for a HT. So I was thinking a darker share of Svelte Sage. The green that you chose looks pretty good. What is the name of the green?

(And David V., I don't have to get SW and can get similar BM paint :-) ).

It's SW 2847 Roycroft Bottle Green

[Ginky Weeds]

Yeah, if it’s not compressed you’ll get the full impact (depending on the depth).

The columns are 10" deep and much of the insulation is 10" batt insulation.