This page is dedicated to my home theater, a hobby I picked up a few years ago when I lived in a different house.  Most of this has been copied and pasted from www.avsforum.com  which is a forum where people can document the chronology of their theater builds.

I'll try and edit this article so it makes sense but the formatting is different than the forum.

This is a picture of the theater when the first build was completed enough to make it usable.  It has gone through many revisions and upgrades since then.  The progress you will see here has been spread out over almost four years.




I should mention here that the thing I am most proud of is that this theater is made completely from recycled, garage-saled, or repaired items and equipment.
1. The screen is 84" diag. and was built just as I would build a stretcher for a painting. My first screen was canvas with an experimental paint job including pearlescent components. I eventually settled on plain ol' black-out cloth.
2. My projector is an Infocus Screenplay 4805 which I bought on ebay with the collapsing light tube. This was easily fixed and the bulb only had 300 hours on it. I would like to mention here that I think it best to let this particular projector fan-cool after use. I read a FAQ a couple years ago that claimed that it would increase your bulbs longevity if you just powered down without fan-cooling, it was more natural. It is my belief that this hot-soak is why so many light tubes fail.
3. My surround amp is a JVC Pro Logic II which I got at a yard sale for $10! I told the gal that it was worth much more and she told me it belonged to her X-husband and to get it out of her sight. Ummm....okay I brought it home and there wasn't a darn thing wrong with it.
4. The large speakers are Kenwood stereo speakers I also got at a yard sale for $2. The cones needed a little tender loving care but sound great now.
5. The center and surround speakers are also Kenwood that I got from a pawn shop. I fixed a few DVD players for him and he gave them to me.
6. The Sony subs were acquired in the same manner. One is powered and the other is driven by the large amp on the right of the cabinet.
7. Sony DVD player (bought new actually).
8. The cabinet was cobbled together from an old laundry room, hanging-type cabinet and hand built components. I may eventually replace this with an equipment closet and build one of those cool stages everyone seems to like.
9. The surround speaker mounts were hand made. I will include photos later.
10. PS2 purchased at yet another yard sale for $10. I'm not a gamer (although I'd like to be) so I don't know if this was a good deal.
11. The chairs are from Barnes & Noble and are really quite comfortable but will soon be replaced with a couple of faux leather rocker recliners. I want to build a small riser for them as well.









I will post more detail pics with my next post.
All comments and suggestions welcome.
Thanks for looking,
-Mac

Aha, I found a before picture. It's lousy but does show how I added to the partial wall (the seem) and was taken before I painted the ductwork flat black.




Here's a picture of the cabinet. Again, it was fabricated from an old laundry room hanging type unit and some left over MDF.



I think I might lean towards an art deco look when adding all the details so I designed and carved this mount for the right surround. I ran out of vacation time so for the left surround I knocked together something simple.



The left surround mount



This is the winow I would lose if I added the extra soffit for symetry. The curtain is a heavy, black corduroy. The window is something like 12" deep so we're always expecting the curtains to open with Punch and Judy poppiing out, lol.



That's about it for now. I anxiously await your thoughts on the two soffits and any ideas for making the back of the room lighter for non-screening activities.
-Mac

Screenshot. Looks like I need to paint those track lights flat black.

I had a 20% off coupon for BigLots so I picked up a couple new additions for the theater. They're big and maybe a little ugly but man-oh-man they do sit nice. These are rocker recliners which I prefer over a simple recliner.



We call them "Joey" and "Chandler".




So it looks like it's time to build the riser
But before I do that I'm going to remove that main supply duct (right hand duct) and shunt the vent ducts to the other supply duct on the other side of the left-hand wall. There are only two vent supplies that have to be relocated so I don't think it will change the dynamics of the airflow much. It may even it out a little anyway.
Once that main supply duct is removed I can build a soffit over the return duct and build a matching soffit on the right-hand wall of the theater for symetry. That soffit can then be used for storage. I'll have to cap the window first though. When all that is complete I can start thinking about the ceiling.
It looks as though we're going to have an early winter here in the midwest. I'll just use the time I spend doing yardwork playing in the theater :-)
Have a good day, all.

Hello everyone,
It's been a while but I have some updates to the theater I would like to share. First update was replacing the old cabinet with a DIY equipment rack. It opens in the back which is located in the utility room.



Here's a neat little trick. I used MDF for the cabinet but also for the shelves. You know how hard it is to paint MDF end grain? I sealed the end grain with wood glue, just smeared on a good layer and wiped off the excess with a rag, let it dry, and sanded. That way I didn't get that fuzzy edge I've seen so many times. Works like a charm.


With the new equipment rack up and running I decided to build a couple subs. My father had given me a couple of stereo spekers before he passed on but they were a bit 70s looking so I pulled the 10" woofers and built these. Man oh man, they can sure rattle the teeth. They're powered by a 120 watt per channel amplifier I had lying around.







Next I needed to move the rectangular supply duct to the other side of room so I needed to loose the window.



With the window drywalled over I was able to reroute the ductwork. I was leary of the effects on airflow but it didn't change it at all. The space seems so much larger without both rectangular ducts hanging on the left.



Finally came the time to build the long awaited soffits. I was a little short on wood so I decided to to simply hang supports directly from the rafters. Big mistake! Lol, the rafters aren't very even and it took forever to even out the supports.



I used 1/2" MDF so I needed a way to hold the panels in place while I screwed them in. Notice the cleats I screwed to the wall under the 2x2 to create a kind of cradle to hold the panel.





One soffit down, one to go.



Well that's it for now. This weekend I may tackle the other soffit. This time I'll build a full frame and srew to the lowest rafters.
An interesting note; One of the division secretaries at school found our house (at the time, a one room schoolhouse) on a map dated 1847! No wonder the rafters aren't even, lol. They're not even pine. It seems that oak was common in this area at that time....but I would swear it drills and smells more like mahogany.
Next on the list:
1. A ceiling
2. A couple of short risers (my ceilings aren't very high)
3. New carpeting
4. Better lighting

Happy building, everyone.

For the right-hand soffit I decided to work smarter rather than harder. The solid frame made all the difference, although at 16 ft. long it was still a little too flexible.




The soffits are finished! I actually have a few small ones to build in the back of the theater but they can wait.



Look at that paint. I haven't been happy with that flat stuff. Too difficult to touch up, you can tell the difference between brushwork and roller, and even slightly bumping it, with say your shoulder, changes the sheen. It's just awful.
Anyway, time to start thinking about the ceiling