Oliver’s D Theater

System Configuration

Audio

Yamaha RXV-1200 Receiver

JBL Studio S36 Main Speakers

JBL Studio Center Speaker

Acoustic Research 8” Subwoofer

Acoustic Research 206 HO Speaker for Surrounding

Pinnacle Wide Center for Rare Center

Video

Toshiba SD2109 DVD Player

Infocus X1 SVGA DLP Projector

96”x58” DIY Screen

Construction

The original basement was in an “L” shape. I built a 12’ wall which results a 13’x26’ area for home theater. It’s a bit too long for the purpose of home theater. The corner opposite to the entrance was fixed with shelves. So, I came to this idea to build a bar table at that corner and have the other side as “audience area”.

The basement was furnished when I purchased the house. The ceiling was a wallboard construction. I designed a new ceiling for sound absorbing and decoration purpose while not sacrifice too much headroom. Acoustic panels used in ceiling and sides are constructed by fiber insulation boards I bought in RenoDepot. I trimmed them to 4’x2’ panels and wrapped with fabric. Ceiling panels are nailed to 1.5” wood rails to the ceiling, so that there is a 1.5” gape between ceiling and panels for the lightings. The center piece has a pyramid shape. I built frame inside with plywood before toughen the fabric.

The lightings are provided by 10 12V halogen “Flying Saucers” I bought from IKEA. The power source is from a remote control outlet. This is very convenient when you finished playing movie in a totally dark room. I made a major mistake though. I shouldn’t have to paint light colors on the walls. I was planning to have a rare projection TV when I started this construction. I changed my mind to have a DLP projector instead. The problem is that yellow colored wall reflects too much ambient light and degrades the image quality a little bit.

The screen is constructed by 1”x 2” wood frame and toughen with 2 layers of fabric. The screen is fixed to vertical aircraft cable on each side. The same aircraft cable is also used for the halogen lights. I ant the whole design has the same tone of metallic matches breech wood color. There is a 1.5’ offset from the wall for the center channel speaker. The offset will also reduce the sound blockage of the screen. The fabric has a rough texture. When I first use the screen, I found the texture reflex lights in very bright scenes. I later applied a thin coat of matt white paint. It improves the reflection and increased the contrast of the image, but it seems to make the screen door effect more obvious. Screen is measured roughly 8’x4.5’. It was for a 1.3x zoom lens. It fits the width in the 16:9 mode with lens fully zoomed out and fits the height in 4:3 mode fully zoomed in.

The projector is set at the ceiling 14’ from the screen. Infocus X1 has a 1.2x zoom lens, so I have to reduce the distance to screen to get 4:3 image fit into the screen.

The total cost of this project is under 2500 CDN.