My Spare Bedroom Home Theater

[victor-eyd]

There's nothing fancy about my theater, other than being a 12x13 converted bedroom housing a 110" 4:3 grey wall screen, a business-class Sharp A10x projector, two slightly mismatched sectional that became one 10ft. long supersofa, and equipment dating back at least 5 yrs. I haven't yet migrated to blue ray, but I am capable of watching 1080i HDTV downscaled to 576p with ease and it fits my tastes and needs currently.

6.1 audio from a standard-issue Pioneer receiver. A Samsung HD-OTA receiver for hd signals. Toshiba 5-disc dvd player and a dvd recorder to added later.

The theater is slowly undergoing a makeover conversion, mostly moving around stuff, adding this and that. The seats, audio equipment, and pj stay put.

Viewed from the doorway


The screen


Audio equipment and media bookshelf


Equipment area location in room (son optional)

[victor-eyd]

Some artwork


Closeup of dts poster frame(no longer available apparently)


Closeup of dts plaque frame


Closeup of dolby poster frame


Closeup of dolby plaque frame (with built-in dvd case holder)

[victor-eyd]

Recently completed, this is a collage of most of my old laserdisc jackets collection. Once I find a use for the discs themselves, they'll be propped in the room also. I made a wood frame from pre-primed mdf from home Depot, painted black and the jackets glued to the frame. Hung using mirror holders



A special plexi frame called a sandwich frame was made to hold this spiderman poster



A cardboard prop of darth vader found at a thrift store for $7 is re-used to become my stand-up display. Backlighting is via some unused halloween orange string lights

On


Off


My dvd Now Playing display- too much to build unfortunately

[victor-eyd]

This is the lobby entrance outside the theater. My brother in law gave me some bubble gum/candy dispensers for free so if you have a quarter, enjoy. The POTC frame was also found for $7 at the thrift store. Ultimately, this lobby will be changed so temporarily this is the look one sees approaching the theater.



Getting your name on the NY Times is great!


Victor

[EM3]

I like it. I wish I could use a PJ. I am sure you enjoy it. I love the gumball machines!

[chlngr1970]

Nice setup you have there. What receiver do you currently have? What speakers. PEOPLE WANNA KNOW THESE THINGS!!!

Seriously. You have a sweet thing going on there. Glad you enjoy it!

J

[Pirate]

Yes, post those specs!

Love the Vader light, but why do you have the Dolby plaque framed?

[victor-eyd]

The receiver is an old Pioneer VSX-D810S with 6.1 and (2) component inputs. The speakers are all custom made using Audio Concepts crossovers and drivers. The subwoofer is a powered Yamaha with dual 6"'s (good enough for this room) and is located behind the couch



I also utilized a second center channel above the screen as I was never happy with the center info being so low. Is it acoustically wrong? Yes. Do I like the end result and centers the sound to the screen? Yes.



The nice thing about the room is that the total cost all of the components (including sofa and curtains) comes to way under $3000, so it's money well spent.

As to why frame the plaques- I work at a picture framing gallery and I never liked the look of the plaques mounted on the wall as-is. Adding a frame around it gave it more finished look to it.

Victor

[zepherman]

Originally Posted by victor-eyd

There's nothing fancy about my theater, other than being a 12x13 converted bedroom housing a 110" 4:3 grey wall screen, a business-class Sharp A10x projector, two slightly mismatched sectional that became one 10ft. long supersofa, and equipment dating back at least 5 yrs. I haven't yet migrated to blue ray, but I am capable of watching 1080i HDTV downscaled to 576p with ease and it fits my tastes and needs currently.

6.1 audio from a standard-issue Pioneer receiver. A Samsung HD-OTA receiver for hd signals. Toshiba 5-disc dvd player and a dvd recorder to added later.

The theater is slowly undergoing a makeover conversion, mostly moving around stuff, adding this and that. The seats, audio equipment, and pj stay put.

I love the big 110 inch screen! And many would love to have a dedicated room to view movies in (myself included). I think your HT room is pretty darn cool! Also I really like all the way cool DTS and Dolby Digital wall plaques you have.

Thanks for sharing your setup with us.


Seth

[Iguana Man]

Very nice, and for the money spent I suspect it performs better than most. You painted the ceiling and the screen wall black (or a very dark color) which is awesome! Kudos on that and if I may ask, what is that 'thing' on the couch with alien looking antenna?



Great job sir!

[ganthc]

That's a crazy setup. If I were your guest, I would have a hard time going to sleep, because I'd be staying up all night watching movies. I like the all the HT niceties that you added, like what you have in your lobby.

[victor-eyd]

Over at allposters.com, they have a framing option for posters called a mounted frame. This process is where the poster is spray glued on to 5/16 mdf hardboard, then a clear film is adhered to the poster itself, so protect the poster and give the frame a finished look. However, this process sans poster can easily cost $100 framed.

I only have about $20-30 so I made my own version. Home Depot carries a variety of 24x36 and 36x48 mdf hardboard so I simply measured my posters and had them cut the mdf to size. I painted the edges black and I spray glued the posters. I don't have the protective film but since I'm building it on-site it wouldn't be necessary.

Here's the front


And here's the back



Now onto the lobby. Removing it from my son's room since he longer has the space or interest in it, I took this stormtrooper and strengthened it with leftover mdf hardboard. I'll probably adding some backlighting for a glowing effect like my darth vader but right now it looks fine.

Front


Back


The star wars poster is a clearance from bed bath beyond but it was severely bowing so I had no choice but to drill it into the wall on all corners to make it flat. It was cheap so really no worries. I'm probably going to paint the wall for added impact but other than a few knick knack accessories the lobby is pretty much done





Victor

[victor-eyd]

I've been considering this project and how to do ever since my son did a diorama project for his class. It's still progressing and I can tell you that it will be fully functional, will integrate with the existing system, and will be a fixture on my coffee table...



wait and see...

[EM3]

Tres interesting!

[chlngr1970]

I'll toss this idea in.

Glass case under the surface. Making the glass case the coffee table. I'd probably use some sort of plexi to be safe, but it could work...

j

[Iguana Man]

Cool idea J' and I assume you meant top versus bottom for the see thru glass/plexi? Meaning the bottom from looking down on to it from above has a solid background so the diorama has more effect.

I know that's probably what you meant but I'm just making sure bud.

[chlngr1970]

For the Igster:

The red line indicates the plexi top, the sides would be clear, with the bottom being solid, and the base of his display. You can probably make it rather cheap with supplies from Home depot, or maybe hit up a fixture sales place for a glass display case, and make a coffee table out of it

j

PS

Meh, you get the idea

[victor-eyd]

Thank you for the responses and the positive comments regarding my theater.

Its still a work in progress but I am seeing light at the end of the tunnel and I'm hoping my theater will be as original as the many theaters I have seen on this forum as well as avsforum, which I also participate under the same call sign.

As to what I am doing, well the coffee table idea that's been brought forth is very interesting, and could be an extension of what I am doing right now. As it is, it will be open air so it will be susceptible to my daughter's fingers and curiosity. I might simply invest in a plexi box to cover the creation but that's a procedure I'll undertake if the project undergoes too much "damage".

As for now, it's more of a proof of concept but it shows promise...

[victor-eyd]

It's pretty much done- just some gluing, lawn trimming, and painting the parking areas but you get the general idea. All in all, a fun project for under $50- and it has a/v in and outs so it will be connected to the home theater.



I'll have to make a cover for this so its less unsightly




Victor

[chlngr1970]

THAT is just WICKID COOL!

Congrats...MUCH more than I had envisioned...



j

[EM3]

I saw this one time on a model railroad layout. It's still really cool!

[victor-eyd]

I think you meant this one. Way more polished than mine but then, these guys have been making small scale stuff all of their lives

[sub780lime]

On the first screen I just assumed it was an image until you showed the top-down view. That is very cool. Love theater and, as stated by others, many of us wish we could dedicate a room to a theater. Often hard to find one big enough. How far is the seating area from the screen? Every think of building a box out for the screen and then you could actually raise the speakers and put it behind it?

[victor-eyd]

I sit about 12ft or so away from the screen.

[victor-eyd]

It took me awhile but most of the ht is done (what ht is ever really done, anyways)

Before


After


Before


After


Before


After

[Iguana Man]

I'd put some rug swatches under each front speaker. Try it and tell me it dont tighten the bass. Or, I may be drunk, but I would still try it.

Nice job and it's amazing how quickly this setup changes. I assume you had all these changes photoed ahead of time?

Looks great man.

[victor-eyd]

I am looking for a decent rug to tighten up the bass but right now nothing looks good or is within my budget.

As to the planning, it was basically as I went along. I originally considered two-toning the lower half but it would have looked too busy. It's almost too busy as-is.

Almost

Victor

[cherno]

Originally Posted by victor-eyd

My dvd Now Playing display- too much to build unfortunately

Where does one find one of those frames? Are they standard like that or did you make it or have to piece it together?

[victor-eyd]

Thats just a standard 8x10 frame but I had the plexi modified to hold a dvd box as well as the matted lettering