Crazy projects..or..I am 'effing nuts..

[pdxfj]

I never think of anything simple to do.  Always seen to pick projects that turn out to be a PITA.. Why can't I be content watching grass grow or paint dry?  Noooo.. I have to do stuff that at times pisses me off so much I want to burn the house down..

My latest project is no exception.. it has been the most difficult and challenging thing I've ever done..  I must have read at least 100,000 pages of information over the past few years preparing for this.  It is something that I have wanted to do for nearly 20 years and finally reached a point in life to where I could make it happen.

So I bought a house over a year ago.  It is actually my grandmother's house and has been virtually untouched in terms of updating, etc since it was built in 1946.  I have many memories of being in this house as a kid and there is even part of the driveway that is dated 1974 with the grandkids names written into the once wet concrete along with an impression of my foot from when I was a baby.

So.. you have a couple of rooms in the basement that need some serious updating.  My grandfather was a cheap bastard and wouldn't spend a dime on anything.  Some of the jerry-rigged crap I've run into shows this mentality..  A $2 part to fix a broken drain was too much.. so he used a piece of radiator hose, some clamps and a ton of silicone to fix it... only one small example of what I've run into..

Let's start with this room... No idea how many games of pool I played on that table..  That's 99% of my grandmothers stuff in there..





Clear it out and get rid of the paneling..




Replace paneling with sheetrock.. and redo the texture.. plus fix the missing plaster from under the windows from leaks..




Next you build a screen wall, cover front wall with acoustical insulation, prime, paint, install lighting, install base, equipment shelving unit, build your riser, start installing carpet, etc, etc, etc, etc....

[pdxfj]

After nearly 10 months of work, with the last 4 months of that working every day after work until 11pm and every weekend you wind up with your very own dedicated home theater.  I did as much of this on my own and built it completely out of a picture I had in my head.  I only scribbled a few drawings down for my wood working guy to custom build the equipment and media shelving, cap for rope lights on the base and a few other things.







But wait.. you need a lobby with a popcorn machine, candy, movie posters and such..




The screen is nearly 38 square feet of viewing area.  This picture gives an idea of just how big it is.  I’m 6 feet tall and the ceiling is only 7 feet high.




The family kept this quiet from my Grandmother the entire time.. The unveiling was last Saturday.. My folks, aunt & uncle and of course my grandmother came over for dinner and a movie.  Grandma is use to watching movies on my TV and was a bit confused when I took her downstairs to watch a movie.  She got to the bottom of the stairs and was shocked by the changes.. I let her take it in for a minute and then said she needed to go into the “Pool room”.  I received a “what for?” look and she then walked over and opened the door.

She walked in and just stood there for a minute.. Not sure how to react…  Finally she said “OH MY GOD!”..about 10 times.. Got her seated in the middle of the front row, everyone got their popcorn and beverages.. turn the lights down and start the show.. after the first trailer my father leaned over to his mother and said “Mom.. remember.. you are sitting in the “Pool Room”.. “..   “OH MY GOD..WOW”.. is about all she could say..

After the movie was over she was so stunned she couldn’t get out of her seat.  I chatted with her for a few minutes and asked if she approved of the changes to her house.. She of course gave her overwhelming support and when asked what she wanted to watch next time “ANYTHING!” was her response.

For the other A/V enthusiasts, my equipment list:

JVC RS-40 Projector
110” Carada 1.78:1/16:9 Brilliant White Screen (1.4 gain in Criterion frame)
Oppo BDP-93 Blu-Ray player
Darbee “Darblet” video processor
Onkyo TX-NR1010 AVR
5ch Sony TA-N9000ES Amp (bridged 200x200 watts + 120w..running Left, Right, Center speakers)
Polk Audio RTi-A7 towers for Left & Right  Upgraded crossovers with Clarity Caps and Mills Resistors
Polk Audio CSi-A6 Center Channel Speaker upgraded crossovers with Clarity Caps and Mills Resistors
Polk Audio FXi-A4 Di-Pole Surrounds
Polk Audio RTi-4 for back surrounds
Dual SVS PC-12NSD Subs each sitting on an Auralex SubDude
Logitech Harmony 1100 remote
Blue Jeans Cables and Ethereal HDMI cabling
3 channel Lutron Grafix Eye dimmer panel

7.2 channel surround sound system.  Room is wired for 9.4 channel and butt kickers if I ever so desire.

Fully 3D capable theater, but not necessary since there is enough depth to the 2D image it feels like you could reach out and stick your hand into the picture.  Plus it is a chunk of additional cash to buy the Ir emitter and 8 pairs of glasses.

[pdxfj]

So that's where I have been for a while..

Next project to tackle is finishing the re-do of the master bedroom so I can move out of the smaller bedroom and get it ready for my sister's visit this summer. 

Hope you enjoyed taking a look at my other "hobby".   

[rktmanfj]

Very nicely done!   

[flips]

I never think of anything simple to do.  Always seen to pick projects that turn out to be a PITA.. Why can't I be content watching grass grow or paint dry?  Noooo.. I have to do stuff that at times pisses me off so much I want to burn the house down..

Excellent Work Mr Bean!
Perfectly thought through & executed.I'm thouroughly impressed  .The last home reno project I did (all by myself  ) was the bathroom,changed layout &  new spa bath,so I can completely relate to your opening statement!

Cheers 

Jeff P

[markmartin]

Nice job!  I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who can't be content with what needs to be done and comes up with additional self inflicted torturous projects that will be well worth it when it gets done, but is a total time drain during the process. 

'We' turned a basement area into a family room and exercise room two winters ago.  What a pain in the ass. It's the most enjoyable room in the house now.

Enjoy!!

[Pat Conlon]

Amazing. Tell us about your Clarity/Mills crossover mod. How/where did you learn about that? What does it do?

Amazing. I have the Oppo BDP-95 and I love it. (I have no HDMI to my receiver, thus the 95 vs.93)

Amazing. Post WCR party at Garth's house....Klavdy will bring his porn BluRays.

[yamaha fj rider]

That's AWESOME!!!!!!!! Well done, definitely worth it. Great job. Thanks for posting.

Kurt

[CanDman]

Amazing. Tell us about your Clarity/Mills crossover mod. How/where did you learn about that? What does it do?

Amazing. I have the Oppo BDP-95 and I love it. (I have no HDMI to my receiver, thus the 95 vs.93)

Amazing. Post WCR party at Garth's house....Klavdy will bring his porn BluRays.

Uuuuuuuuh Pat....... drop the pipe and pull your pants back up............what happens at the ralley's...should stay at the ralley's.........otherwise the newbies might start asking what WCR stands for....

[pdxfj]

It was a ton of work and turned out better than I had ever expected.  There are still a few nagging items to deal with, but none of it is a show stopper.  There was one mistake I made that required ripping apart a wall I had just finished and was ready to paint.  Even though I measured numerous times before buttoning it up it was still messed up.  For the life of me I can't figure out were the F I went wrong...

Pat:  I started with the Oppo 83 and it is a fine player but the Mediatek chip-set is a bit outdated and it wouldn't play some BD's so I snagged the 93. I considered the 103 but the Cinavia copy protection turned me off.  I am thinking of sending my 83 to Oppo for the SE upgrade.  New power supply, DAC board and analog output stages.  Make it into a higher end 2ch player.

As far as the XO upgrades, I came across the idea on the Polk message boards.  The practice involves removing the stock crossovers, and swapping out the cheap and crappy electrolytic caps and sand cast resistors for much higher quality film caps and wire wound resistors.  The RTi-A series of speakers are a bit bright to begin with since they are designed for Home Theater.  My Sony amp is a little on the bright side as well, so the combination of those were not working in my favor.  While the speakers sounded "good" with HT, I hated their sound with 2ch music.

The cost to do the front three speakers averaged out to a little over $100 each for parts.  Mind you the new film caps are massive compared to the electrolytic ones they replaced.  In the center channel speaker there is an 82uf cap and the film replacement is half the size of a beer can.  The transformation of the speakers sound was immediately noticed.  The highs were tamed and smoothed out.  Mids were much more room penetrating and vocals were much clearer along with the bass tightening up.  As the caps and resistors broke in, things just sounded better and better.  While I was in there I also replaced all the internal wiring with a high strand count, braided, pure copper 16awg speaker cable.  In addition to applying a damping material to the speaker baskets to eliminate "ringing" and re-enforcing all the internal bracing and corners with more glue to stiffen things up and reduce cabinet flexing.

Here is a picture of the stock center channel speaker crossover



So you've got your three electrolytic caps, two resistors (white rectangles at bottom) and one tiny film cap (dead center) that acts as the bypass cap.  I could have replaced the inductors as well, but the replacements were insanely huge.

In this picture you see the replacement caps, next to the ones they replaced.  All values are the same.  For the giant 82uf cap I had to attach it to the XO with a length of speaker cable and then glue it inside the speaker once I installed the XO.



The XO's for the towers were much more complex and were a bit more of a challenge to arrange everything.  I have also done the same upgrades to another pair older Polk speakers I have and along with new tweeters they sound excellent being powered by a Parasound amp.  These became my living room speakers after I moved the sound system to the theater.

[The General]

  What a seriously good thing. What a great story. Awesome. 

[racerman_27410]

Nice work!

Sometimes mistakes HAVE to happen but when it's all said and done knowing you did the work makes the journey (and learned experience) priceless.


KOokaloo!


Frank

[1tinindian]

Outstanding transformation!
Very impressive!

[Flynt]

7.2 channel surround sound system.  Room is wired for 9.4 channel and butt kickers if I ever so desire.

Sorry guys, but I've got to call this room for next year's Renegade Rally!   

Frank

[craigo]

SWEET, Very nice work. Bet it's better in real life and the pics don't do it justice.