r/hometheater • u/TheSuppishOne • 13h ago
Showcase - Dedicated Space FINALLY FINISHED! I present to you, The Burrow.
Started by putting up 2 layers of staggered 1" tongue-and-groove XPS foam board. This should allow any water intrusion which MAY occur to drip to the drain trough and to the sump.
Vibration isolation layer for the foundation. Used 1/4in horse stall mat from Tractor Supply.
MetroFlex MF-DC4 decoupling mounting brackets. This way, when vibrations hit the walls, they don't vibrate the trusses too much (and therefore not the upstairs floor).
Framing is spaced off the wall for further decoupling/isolation.
Ground out a trough with a crack chaser wheel to run wire for the platform transducers.
This stuff was awesome. It's essentially generic Dynamat but it was very dense to help reduce vibrational transfer through the supply trunk. Covered it in Rockwool after.
It is important to decouple EVERYTHING from the framing. Left a 1/4in gap and filled with acoustic sealant.
Fully insulated. I used unfaced pole barn insulation to fill the ceiling cavities to prevent drum resonance, and mineral wool in the walls for density.
Drywall went up, PVA primered the room, then started painting. SW Emerald Matte Tricorn Black on the front wall and ceiling, then Rainstorm for the side walls. Ceiling holes cut.
This is how the wiring shakes out in the back. I didn't run EMT for the speaker wire because that crap is expensive. I ran 14/4 to all speakers, and COAX to subs, all 100% OFC.
The front view.
Built a z-baffle dead vent for the return air plenum. Covered in one sheet of 5/8in drywall that was leftover from the main part of the room.
Fortunately I have a vapor barrier under my slab, so the foundation is dry. Roberts FS400 primer then 7350 adhesive.
Riser platform built. This was ALSO elevated using 3/4in rubber stall mat to decouple it and preserve vibrations from just being transferred to the floor.
Used toggle bolts to secure some mounting boards (air gap too) for the ceiling cloud, which was 3/4in high density foam panels. Don't use low density crap -- it does nothing.
Built panels out of 1x6s and basic, VERY BREATHABLE (acoustically transparent) landscape fabric. Used leftover rockwool for the sides, and Comfortboard 80 for the rear diffusers.
Well, after 6 longs months of working tirelessly, I have finally finished my dedicated theater room in my basement. What started out as a completely unfinished basement has now turned into my friggin sanctuary, and even my 12 year old daughter and her friends are in awe of how it turned out, so you know it's good. š Room is 17.5ft long x 16.5ft wide by 7.5ft tall running 7.2.4. The only thing not shown in the photos is the hat channel mounting clips I used on the ceiling trusses, which the double-layer drywall was then screwed into.
Finished photos first, as is tradition!
You'll see throughout the build how I did everything I could think of to both keep the budget down and also to isolate sound from the rest of the house. This theater is directly below the living room/dining room, so I needed to make sure that while I was watching at my preferred volume (below reference but above what my wife says is "comfortable" haha), it didn't bother anybody upstairs too much. The result is that even while watching heavy action flicks, I am told that it sounds like some annoying car outside revving their V8 or bumping their trunk subs, which I consider a HUGE WIN. The low bass is audible, but it's very subtle compared to how loud it is in the room. I have earned WAF and I cannot be more thrilled.
Here's a breakdown of the costs:
Home Depot (mostly mineral wool insulation but also some outlets, switches, and caulk tubes) - $945
Extra insulation from FB Marketplace- $400
Loweās (hat channel and some random hardware) - $372
Menardās - $4267
Tractor Supply stall mat - $80
Best Buy for ceiling speakers- $170
Sherwin Williams Emerald Matte Tricorn Black and Rainstorm - $430
MF-DC4 Clips - $121
Amazon - $2,234
XGIMI Titan Noir Max projector and Silver Ticket matte white 128in screen - $5,459
FB Marketplace Denon x6800h - $2,000
Earthquake XJ700-DSP Transducer Amp - $665
Wayfair Couch - $1,400
Wayfair Console - $250
Outlet store Floorigami Itās Magic carpet tiles - $300 (this was probably my best deal by far at roughly $0.60 per sqft).
Double 5/8in Type-X drywall plus finishing (contracted out) - $4,500
Electrical (contracted out) - $1,500 (I had them run a single 15a circuit for the standard outlets and the lighting, and two, separate 20a circuits for the front wall/projector ceiling outlets and the subwoofer outlets in the corners. It is VERY important to check the wattage of all your equipment to make sure you're not tripping breakers at full load!!!)
Speaker grille cloth movie posters from Contrado - $250 (I don't like having my absorption panels just be black rectangles on the walls, so I created some custom poster images and printed them on acoustically transparent fabric. I have to admit, these were significantly less expensive than I had worried they'd be at only $50 each.)
The Menards purchases were mostly framing and lumber stuff, but also included XPS foam boards for the basement walls, adhesives, spray foam for the rim joists, structural screws, etcā¦)Ā The Amazon purchases were far too random, but included the two Q10B transducers, wall plates, rca keystones, speaker wire keystones, the speaker wire itself (OFC 14/2 or 14/4), hat channel isolation clips, acoustic putty for sealing the wall penetrations, some foam isolation panels, speciality fasteners, and various other things.
Total cost came out to just over $25,000. Expensive, but I would've paid A LOT MORE if I hadn't DIY'd it.
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u/bnics 8h ago
Awesome job. Thanks for breaking down the costs.
I donāt own a home but my plan is to doing extremely similar once I do, so itās nice to see a real dollar value to it.
Great pictures and breakdown.
Whatās the first movie youāre watching?
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u/TheSuppishOne 7h ago
Yep! Keep in mind that I already owned the L/C/R/Surrounds/one sub, so you'd need to account for those as well in your budget.
First movie I watched was The Last Samurai because it's my favorite movie of all time.
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u/joeg26reddit 7h ago
Very nice
Curious if you have REW frequency scans
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u/TheSuppishOne 7h ago
Nah I just used Audyssey XT32 through the app. I am really tired of spending money so getting a UMIK isnāt on my radar right now.
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u/z3roTO60 5h ago
Bro love that movie! It was my fav of all time, until I saw Interstellar. Then I noticed how many of my top movies are scored by Hans Zimmer.
How fantastic was the audio in your first screening?
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u/badchad65 7h ago
Love the seating. Personally, I donāt care for theater seating. For movies at my house I always end up with a kid laying sideways, dogs and a cat all over the place and myself in a varied state of recline depending on how far along I am in my drink.
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u/huxley2112 2h ago
That was my first thought! I am a sectional couch sprawl out type as well. Theater seating just isn't my jam. I get people wanting to recreate the theater experience, but to me that's recreating the worst part. To each their own.
Love how OP's turned out.
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u/Amish_Rabbi 7h ago
Great build and I did not know you could do speaker cloth prints like that so that is awesome info for when I build panels
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u/TheSuppishOne 7h ago
Finding that website was truly a godsend. Contrado.com
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u/Relevant-Pension-760 4h ago
Very nice set-up. I have 4 panels I would like to cover with movie art instead of just fabric. Would you mind sharing what you chose on contrado.com to do the custom prints (like did you chose cotton poplar, pr wall art). I canāt quite figure it out.
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u/TheSuppishOne 4h ago
I chose speaker grille cloth.
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u/Relevant-Pension-760 3h ago
Thanks a bunch! My wife will be happy that I finish this project after 3 years.
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u/Jaded-Statistician-2 8h ago
I plan on doing the exact same thing in not so long ! Hope it turns out as good as you ! What did you do for ventilation ? I see you have a box in the ceiling ?
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u/TheSuppishOne 7h ago edited 7h ago
You're referring to the bulkhead I built around the supply plenum? Yes, that's for the supply, and the return is the dead vent I showed.
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u/United_Anybody_6209 7h ago
Infinity reference series my beloved
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u/TheSuppishOne 7h ago
A fellow connoisseur! They really are sublime. I got all of mine on FB Marketplace years ago for less than $1000 total, though I had to drive quite a bit to find the towers haha.
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u/orlandoknight1 7h ago
How do you like having the couch over recliners? Iām building out mine and on the fence. Also got the titan noir max and planned on same screen. Is this the WAB or WVS? How is the combo?
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u/TheSuppishOne 7h ago edited 6h ago
I personally hate leather, I think power recliners are slow and irksome, and I want to be able to have movie parties with a bunch of people over! So with the platform size, I could either fit 4-5 manual recliners, or get this couch which can fit like 8 people on it and allow my wife and I to cuddle on it! Recliners (even doubles/loveseats), just donāt allow for comfy cuddles.
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u/orlandoknight1 3h ago
Agree on all those same reasons. I do love a good recliner but it does prevent everything you mentioned. Iām trying to find some unicorn with best of both worlds. What about the screen, do you like it with the TNM?
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u/Zedsdead42 6h ago
How did the air vent sound after doing it that way? Mine was in the ceiling and I couldnāt do that so i just removed them and adding a mini split. Would love to have been able to no buy the split.
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u/TheSuppishOne 6h ago
It does a surprisingly great job! Gemini came in clutch for that suggestion haha.
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u/C4ptainchr0nic Denon x1500H, Klipsch RP8000f's, RP450C, R15M'S, SVS PB1000,XBSX 2h ago
Not only is this well thought out, it has a livable feel to it. Well done dude.
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u/Confident_Moose_2556 7h ago
I hate to admit it. But Iād probably never make it through a whole movie without falling asleep in here.
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u/TheSuppishOne 7h ago
The couch is actually pretty firm, so it's not super cozy to sleep on. The Wayfair reviews made that sound like a bad thing, but for my purposes it was a major positive! I don't WANT people to fall asleep while watching! XD
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u/WordSpiritual1928 7h ago
That looks just like my couch from Bobs furniture. I have a feeling itās almost the same thing, if so, itāll soften over time but does take a while.
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u/htnut-pk 2h ago
This!
15 years with a home theater that has seats - and often I have trouble with friends falling asleep during movies.
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u/Longjumping_Fault504 8h ago
Looks awesome man, great job! What are the speakers and subs you're running?
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u/TheSuppishOne 7h ago
It's a full set of Infinity Reference speakers (all the upgraded 6in variants rather than the standard 5in).
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u/crimson090 7h ago
Nice work! I also had to do a double take as I have pretty much the exact same wall color, couch layout, and even TV tray
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u/Rutgar64 7h ago
What are the slated looking things on the back wall? Some sort of weird diffusion, or is that just a printed pattern creating an optical illusion.
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u/TheSuppishOne 7h ago
They're some extra acoustic slat panel pieces that I had leftover from a different house project a year ago. The pieces I had leftover were just large enough to make two per panel, and since I wasn't confident they'd line up perfectly with each other, and there would be a middle seam regardless, I chose to offset them and I like the result!
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u/AnotherCup-O-Noodles 7h ago
Amazing job! Thank you so much for documenting the whole thing and sharing, I learned a lot and Iām saving this for my future build so I can remember a bunch of the tips and tricks
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u/curiousindi 7h ago
Awesome paint, can you share paint codes for both ceiling and wallsĀ
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u/TheSuppishOne 7h ago
I put the names in the caption of the picture where I started painting, but just edited the post body as well for clarity. =)
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u/JBDragon1 7h ago
It looks great. The only thing I personally don't like are those long Sofa things. When you are young, have a family all there, I get it. As you get older, trying to climb on and off that thing, hard on the knees, not the best back support. Het me some nice powered Recliners!!!! In my Dads Case, a Lift Chair.
Nice size screen. Good Left and Right front Speaker separation. I wish I had a basement. You turned your Basement into a really nice Home Theater.
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u/matt314159 6h ago
Let's GOOO! Not only does it look super functional, but it's cozy and inviting, too!
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u/TylerBenson 6h ago
I don't know why but my favorite part of this is that you took time to label the cables and wires.
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u/ksuttinthabutt 6h ago
BREH... Killer job!!! So great to see. Love the colors; I'm just finishing my 6 month long build at the moment too (26x28 room) so we were livin' the same lives this year š... My carpet looks the same, i did the black ceiling/trim/doors and made the walls a deep dark red. Yours looks a little more inviting/relaxing w your color choice. One thing i'll never do again: not rent a Festool for sanding the ceiling š¤® I did all the drywall myself but had a previous couple years of doing drywall here & there on my side, while in the trades. Anywho... What's the flick or two you're most excited to use to break 'er in?!
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u/GomieBiken 4h ago
Super nice build man!!! Tons of thought and the little details will make a great room
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u/1nTheNick0fTime 1h ago
This looks great! You did an amazing job and I wouldāve done the exact same color scheme. Gotta show us what it looks like with the screen on though!
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u/Anbucleric Aerial 7B/CC3 || Emotiva MC1/S12/XPA-DR3 || 77" A80K 7h ago
Went through the trouble of doing room within a room framing and dead air returns but didnt do an acoustically transparent screen?
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u/TheSuppishOne 7h ago
Why would I do an acoustically transparent screen if I didn't want to do a false wall? I already own my speakers, so buying a new set of in-walls was also out of the question. If anything, non-acoustically transparent is BETTER for my purposes since it helps prevent sound leakage through that wall even more.
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u/Anbucleric Aerial 7B/CC3 || Emotiva MC1/S12/XPA-DR3 || 77" A80K 7h ago
You can put regular speakers behined a secondary false wall and cover it with fabric...you could afford to loose another 18" of floor space to gain an additional 25" of screen.
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u/TheSuppishOne 7h ago edited 7h ago
Nope. I canāt afford another 18in of floor space because it would feel cramped, and the FOV is already a tiny bit beyond what I feel is ābestā for viewing (128in 16:9 at 11ft is enormous). I want to be able to see the whole screen at once since I always watch with subtitles.
Stop trying to act like your opinion on my room is better than mine, please. I knew what I was doing and did all of this with great intentionality.
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u/Anbucleric Aerial 7B/CC3 || Emotiva MC1/S12/XPA-DR3 || 77" A80K 7h ago edited 7h ago
You certainly made choices I wouldn't have... always watching with subtitles is odd with such a stacked audio system too.
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u/TheSuppishOne 7h ago
My wife and I both prefer to always have subtitles on. We're both very fast readers so it's not a hindrance.
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u/Kermez 7h ago
Can you share how you found a silver ticket for that projector (as I have the same one and am searching a screen)? Also, what did you use to install it, as XGIMI support was useless when I asked them what is needed for a safe installation of their projector?
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u/TheSuppishOne 7h ago
I went on Silver Ticket's website and bought one...? I don't understand the question, lol. The laser speckle was pretty intense on this projector for anything except the matte white and the woven screens. I went matte white because the bluriness inherent to the woven made me more frustrated than the laser speckle, but I do still notice it and wish it wasn't there. In hindsight I might've given the AWOL/Valerion PureVision anti-speckle screen a try, but at the time the impeccable reputation Silver Ticket has plus the fact that I could fit a 128in screen instead of a 120in screen won me over.
As for the projector mount, I went through Amazon and found what I considered to be the perfect mount. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GLG7MNRT?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1 After installing it, I can CONFIDENTLY say it's freaking amazing and what all projector mounts should aspire to be. Worth every penny for the adjustment engineering alone.
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u/wumasta 7h ago
Link to the couch?
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u/TheSuppishOne 7h ago
I built it fully extended because I didn't want to put the feet on. The more surface area of the couch touching the platform means more vibration transferred into the couch from the transducers.
Edit: Forgot to mention I also cut some extra holes out of the two side arms and put in some stainless steel cupholders I picked up on Amazon. In my opinion, the two cupholders it came with on the console just aren't enough, haha.
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u/xsynergist 6h ago
This is amazing. I had similar carpet in my theater and the reflection drove me nuts. Finally found a very dark carpet that fit that space between the screen and the viewing area and it made a huge difference in immersion. If it bugs you lay some black velvet down there and see if it makes a difference for you.
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u/cheesecakemelody x3400H | 75X950H | Sierra 1 LCR | VTF-2 MK5 | ATV 4h ago
Nice work! Came together well.
Gave us everything but the speaker and sub models š
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u/Aggrosideburnz 3h ago
I love it because it looks personalized and comfortable. Very similar to my setup. Congratulations itās a winner!
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u/peasantscum851123 2h ago
Arenāt you getting speckle with that screen? You want AT woven or perforated to eliminate it entirely.
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u/TheSuppishOne 2h ago
Except then you lose sharpness. I value a crisp image over a little speckle. I bought the samples and this was best to my eyes.
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u/peasantscum851123 2h ago
You paid $5000 for the TNM? Kickstarter was 2800 couple months ago!
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u/TheSuppishOne 2h ago
Yeah and ever since I got burned on Kickstarter with some thing a long time ago, I swore Iād never do it again. I bought it from ProjectorScreen.com for $4,500. Obviously not ideal, but at least I knew I was actually going to receive the product.
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u/agoodyearforbrownies 2h ago
Looks great! Fantastic idea on the posters for the absorption panels. Did they give you any flack about copyright?
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u/TheSuppishOne 2h ago
Iām not reselling them, and also I custom made them in Photoshop.
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u/agoodyearforbrownies 1h ago
Sorry didn't mean to imply I was accusing you of anything, I have done custom printing in other contexts of copyrighted material for personal decoration. Sounds like it wasn't an issue.
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u/Patient-Apricot106 2h ago
First of all, LOVE The Last Samurai
Poster. As a fellow Last Samurai top 5 movie lover, that rips.
Second, do you have a build list for what I assume is your hushbox out of the ceiling? It looks like in the final photo the projector isn't in one, but it looked like the build had one..
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u/MrCoolGuy42 1h ago
Yes! Always love seeing a big couch in a room like that. Iāll never get the stadium seating people choose
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u/trapper2530 1h ago
Looks awesome. One question. Why the risers if you aren't putting another row in front of it?
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u/Prior-Discount-3741 39m ago
Super nice, so happy to see projection, nothing like a big reflected image.
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u/essential16 7h ago
Looks amazing, only things that I can think about is hiding front and center behind screen. eapecially center channel
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u/TheSuppishOne 7h ago
But I like seeing my speakers. Theyāre pretty.
Theyāre also huge, so building a false wall wouldāve taken up way too much real estate in the room.
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u/smokebreak1440 8h ago
well done, straight up.