Welcome to my Home Theater - The Escape II

Second time's a charm.  This is the remake of my first room for our new house in North Carolina.  This time, I've gone with more of a Mission style to match our new house.   If you'd like to see a pictorial description of the construction of the theater, check out the Construction Page.  

I'd like to thank Dennis Erskine for his guidance, My wife, Sharon for moral support and, of course, Michael for all of his "help".

(some off the pictures herein can be clicked upon to render larger versions)

The columns are typical of a DE theater.  They are both decorative and functional.  The rear columns hide the side and rear surrounds (AT 370THX dipoles).  I treated the bottoms of mine with wood panels and stained and finished them in a natural cherry finish.

The walls are a combination of poly batting and Johns-Manville Linacoustic RC covered by an acoustically transparent fabric from Guilford of Maine.

The carpet is a commercial grade Berber from Patcraft.

In the rear there is a bar area with built-in microwave and mini-fridge.  All the necessities of home...

The lighting is a combination of Ardee downlights, wall sconces from Lowes and a rope light which is concealed in a tray built in the soffit and reflects off of a 45 degree angled portion of the ceiling providing a warm  "glow" during movie viewing.

The whole system is controlled by a Lutron Grafik Eye 3106 and is operated from the remote control with appropriate light settings enacted when play, pause and stop are engaged on the movie.

The Projector is an Electrohome Marquee 8500 firing onto an 85" wide 1.85:1 (16x9) screen custom made from a wall material by Parkland Plastics.  Total cost of the screen -- around $35. 

The forward wall is a stage with a radius front and three layers of walls -- a proscenium wall which holds the left and right speakers (behind the fabric so that they are invisible), a screen wall which is just framing covered with a black, acoustically transparent fabric and contains the center channel as well as the screen, and, finally, the actual back wall of the room.  All front wall surfaces and the cavities created by the multiple walls are treated with Linacoustic to eliminate reflections. 

I have to hand it to Dennis here -- the acoustics in the room are amazing.  We hear music and sounds in movies that we never knew existed before as well as crystal clear dialog without having to "jump" on the remote when loud scenes come up.

The seating is the Cinema Series 090 from Berkline.  Three up front in an arched configuration and three in the back setup as a couch.  All seats have the electric recline option and are covered with a micro-fiber cloth that resembles suede and fits in with the rest of the decor.

These puppies are uuber-comfy and make for a much more "Theatre" feel than the seating in the last room.  I'm very glad I was able to swing getting these chairs and I highly recommend them to anyone else looking for similar seating.

And now for the "Tim Allen Tool-time" portion of our presentation (ooh, ooh, ooh)...

The equipment rack (a Middle Atlantic slim 5) is around the corner to your right as you enter the theater.  Housed within it are the following (from top):

Furman power conditioner and light module

AudioControl Ten Series III EQ (rear surrounds)

AudioControl THX Bijou EQ (other five channels + sub)

Pioneer Elite DV-F07 301 DVD changer

Lexicon DC-2 DD DTS surround processor

Faroudja Native Rate Series video processor at 720p

Turtle Beach AudioTron (used as a  whole-house audio server)

Old Sony Amp used in whole-house system

Russound CAV6.6 whole-house audio video controller

QSC Model 1200 Amp

Lexicon NT212 2 channel amp (rear surounds)

Lexicon NT 512 5 channel amp (all other channels besides LFE)

Behind the scenes there is also a Sony PS2 and a balanced power module through which all components run.

Room Facts

Width - 14' (with wall treatments)

Length - 19' (18' to screen wall)

Height - 9'9" (at center in front)

Riser height - 12"

Soffit build down - 12"

Distance eyeballs to screen:

   Front - 9'

   Back - 13' 8"

And we close with the entry which sports the faux Ticket Booth.  This is the feature of the room that I am least happy with.  It just didn't turn out as well as I had hoped.  I may re-do it if I get the energy.

It is functional though as it opens to reveal a storage compartment above for DVD cases and such and below for snacks and other various items.

Thanks for visiting and, if you've made it all the way to the end of this site and you're ever in the Charlotte area, look me up and we can watch a movie.