[dobbin]

From Idea to New Cinema Room

Hi

After seeing some of the rooms on this site I was motivated to build one of my own.

The idea was about a year ago. We bought a new house and decided to build a wrap around extension. This would provide us with a new kitchen, utility room, Shower room and our own Cinema Room! I designed it so that adjoining the cinema room there is another smaller room to hold all of the equipment so that the Cinema Room itself was pretty empty of equipment (and hopefully distracting background noise and light).

I then decided to gut the whole house and floodwire it with Cat5e, Satellite cable, alarm cable, speaker cable. I would try and set up a system so that I could pipe music to every room and also video.

Work began about six months ago and is now nearing completion.

I will take you through in chronological order.

Here are the photos of work not long after it commenced.

Photos from left to rigt show
1. Inside the Cinema Room
2. Inside the Cinema Room
3. Looking to the Equipment Room
4. Looking into the Equipment Room
5. In the Equipment Room looking into the Cinema Room
6. The Wiring in the loft space

[dobbin]

When the room was finished I decided to paint the walls Chocolate Suede (thanks Inzaman) and the woodwork bitter chocolate. (a chocolate room – I hope it doesn’t melt!)

I then started construction of the star ceiling. This was to be 2 sheets of 12mm MDF @ 8’ x 4’. I built a frame running along each side wall so that I could suspend each of the sheets while I was adding the stars. This consisted of drilling holes and feeding the fibre optic cables through one by one. A long task!

When all the fibres were added I then swung each of the sheets up so that they met in the middle.

[dobbin]

I then started construction of the screen. Firstly the frame. The screen size is going to be approximately 81” x 47”. After construction of the frame I temporarily used an old sheet as a screen cloth in order to test the setup so far. I have bought some blackout material from Dunelm Mill to use as the real screen material. I also made a temporary mount for the projector (a cradle) again for testing.

[dobbin]

I then constructed a shelf to run around the perimeter of the star ceiling. This had a number of uses including – installing downlighters and wiring, running speaker cable and somewhere to put my blue LED ropelight so that it will shine up on the star ceiling.

[dobbin]

That is all complete and the big switch on. I am pretty happy with the result and it all seems to be working okay. Fitted a stainless steel dimmer for the downlighters. I have also bought a ceiling projector mount.

[dobbin]

That is pretty much where I currently am at.

I am hoping to get it up and running this bank holiday weekend

[inzaman]

Wow looks very smart at the moment, those star ceilings look excellent; i bet they are quite awkward to do though? If i had the ceiling height then i'd like to attempt one.
Keep the pictures coming

[Nick 156]

Looks superb dobbin, love the stars on the ceiling!

What equipment are you installing in there?

Keep those pictures coming

Good luck for the big switch on this weekend

[dobbin]

Thanks for the comments.

I have been 'collecting' the equipment now for a few months.
I will be installing

- Yamaha RX-V2600 http://www.yamaha-uk.com/av_amps_rec...product_id=121
- Acoustic Energy EVO 3B Home Theatre Speaker System http://www.hifi4less.com/product.php/484/0/
- Hitachi PJ-TX200 http://www.hitachidigitalmedia.com/D...?productid=487
- HTPC - I have built this myself

I did think about increasing the 5.1 speaker system to 6.1 or 7.1 but as the room is only about 10ft x 10ft I wasn't sure it was worth it? (still not sure)

Only the HTPC has been switched on. The other three are still in their boxes awaiting the finish of the room.

[mrm3]

simply excellent

though why is your projector angled as it should be square to the screen and then lens shift if off centered? ...or is it just the photo?

[dobbin]

Thanks for the comments.
The cradle for the projector was temporary.
I have bought a proper ceiling mount now.

[louishm]

Amazing: thats basically all i have to say

[Xan]

You have done a superb job there, i loooooovvvve that ceiling!! Well done mate.

[Dony]

Great Job, now just stick on some Pink Floyd and enjoy that ceiling!!!

[waf-tastic]

That is a great room you've got there!

I was looking at making a star ceiling but didn't have the room height in the end. Is it very distracting during a film or do you turn it off? I always used to think that lights were annoying in a cinema, but now I've finished mine, I often have the side or centre lights on but dimmed quite low.

[nak]

Good job Dobbin,

That is similar to what I want to create.

This was my last project (nothing special).....

Get your plasmas out for the lads - Pt II


.....but the missus has gone for a new color scheme now!?!

So it gave me the chance to order a Panny AE900!!

[dobbin]

Thanks again for the comments

Originally Posted by waf-tastic

That is a great room you've got there!

I was looking at making a star ceiling but didn't have the room height in the end. Is it very distracting during a film or do you turn it off? I always used to think that lights were annoying in a cinema, but now I've finished mine, I often have the side or centre lights on but dimmed quite low.

I haven't got a great deal of height. just a standard size (2.4 mtrs) but the false ceiling can be quite close to the actual ceiling. The fibre optics do not need much clearance. I will tell you whether they are distraction during a film when I have got everything setup. I didn't actually plan to use them while watching a film. I planned to use them while listening to music. But we will see.

Nak
You last project looks very good. I only managed to get away with most of my scheme because it was a dedicated room. If I also had to use it as a living room, the design would have been much watered down I think!
You will have to get designing for the arrival of your panny.

[Son of Shaft]

Very inventive way for making a starceiling and light cove. looks very good.
I'm planning something similar. What kind of light source do you use for the stars? Are your fibers all the same tickness? I'm thinking of a high lux led but don't know (yet) if I have to use multiple for enough light output.

[shahedz]

looks stunning, love that celing!!

[dobbin]

Originally Posted by Son of Shaft

Very inventive way for making a starceiling and light cove. looks very good.
I'm planning something similar. What kind of light source do you use for the stars? Are your fibers all the same tickness? I'm thinking of a high lux led but don't know (yet) if I have to use multiple for enough light output.

The star ceiling was a kit from here
http://www.opticlighting.co.uk/products_starceiling.php

The kit comes with 18m of cable. This can be cut to custom lengths. More cable can be purchased at about £5 a metre. Each cable contains 25 fibre optic elements. I doubled up on some of the holes to give a brighter light, and left some fibres deeper in the hole to give a dimmer star. The kit also came with 250 plastic end caps. I used a few of these at random to give a different effect. All in all I'm quite pleased with it. I certainly think the blue glow from the LED ropelight enhances the effect well.

[benwillcox]

Hey Dobbin,

That looks great, that blue glow effect is exactly what I want in my cinema. Can you tell me where you got the ropelight from? And what colour is the ceiling painted, is it black?
Got any more details on how you constructed the shelf that holds the ropelight?

Cheers,
Ben

[dobbin]

Ben
Thanks for the comments.
The ceiling is matt black and I got the blue LED rope light here
http://www.lights4fun.co.uk/outdoor/.../29szz403p.asp


I have a photograph showing a cross section through the shelf

It is using 9mm MDF and a couple of bits of planed softwood to join them. They screw to the wall (??) through the section of MDF on the right. I also added a piece of moulding on the front to finish it off.

[dobbin]

Okay I'm a bit behind schedule!
I had a few problems with the carpet and then trying to get all the equipment working TOGETHER!
I'm getting there slowly.
Here are some updated pictures of the room. Most of the equipment will be hidden in an adjoining room. But to do that I need a 10metre HDMI cable to go from the Yamaha AV amp to the Hitachi Projector. I have ordered one and I am currently waiting for it to arrive.
So you will see a lot of cables (especially speaker cables) in the photos of the rear of the room. They will all be gone in the finished article.

[jagdeepp]

Hello mate, the room looks absolutely brilliant.

Quick question.. have u got your hdmi cable linking the amp to projector yet? How long is it?

How are u wiring up to the projector ie through walls? I'm building my home cinema and am wondering how to get the wires across.. I presume you went up into the room above to do your fibre optics etc?..

finally ur mrs must be patient.. Mine would never let me get away with the fibre optics!!

Well done!~

I'm looking to buy the acoustic energy evos too. sound any good?

[dobbin]

Jag
Sorry I took so long in replying. I seem to have been busy all the time!

Some answers

Quick question.. have u got your hdmi cable linking the amp to projector yet? How long is it?

It's 10m long and purchased from ebay shop mostwantedproducts. It cost about £30.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PREMIUM-HDMI-C...QQcmdZViewItem

How are u wiring up to the projector ie through walls? I'm building my home cinema and am wondering how to get the wires across.. I presume you went up into the room above to do your fibre optics etc?..

I didn't do anything from above! As you can see from the star ceiling construction photos that was all done at room level and them fixed to the ceiling.
The construction of an around room shelf also allows you to run cables unseen around the room.
The back of the room is higher than the rest because of the shelf around the rest of the room. I constructed a shelf to take all the cables to the projector which is hidden unless you move to the back of the room and look up!
I am also lucky that my equipment room is adjacent to my cinema room. because this room is higher than the cinema room (which is lower because of the star ceiling and shelf) I can drill through to insert cables into the cinema room.
Both rooms were newly built part of my new extension and were always planned for their current use.

If you want any photos to highlight any of these points just let me know and I will get my camera out to illustrate my explanations.

finally ur mrs must be patient.. Mine would never let me get away with the fibre optics!!

SHe is very patient but I think the thing that allowed me to do it is that it is a dedicated cinema room and not a lounge. The lounge/dining room is elsewhere in the house.

To be perfectly honest she gave me total control over how these rooms were developed. I think that she was a bit concerned about some of my ideas when I explained them to her, but when she has seen the finished product she loves it.

I'm looking to buy the acoustic energy evos too. sound any good?

Excellent. They can usually be found at good bargain prices. I paid £599 for my 5.1 set of evos. In one of the magazines they were home cinema speaker package of the year in 2003 and always got good reviews. The following reviews they got 9/10 and 10/10 respectively.

http://www.homecinemachoice.com/cgi-...?reviewid=3035

http://www.homecinemachoice.com/cgi-...?reviewid=3615

They are still excellent speakers.

[JayMann]

Hi dobbin


With the starlight's what is the minimum space you need to leave in between the old ceiling and the new one???


I don't have a lot of space to drop it that much but i am gonna fit a new layer of green glue and plaster broad!

[Rian1988]

WOW is all I can say, well done Dobbin, how are you getting on know with it? Nearly finished? Can we get some pictures, lots of the equipment room!!!

[dobbin]

With the starlight's what is the minimum space you need to leave in between the old ceiling and the new one???

You don't need much space at all. The fibreoptic strands are very thin and pretty flexible. You could easily get away with 1 inch, maybe less.

how are you getting on know with it? Nearly finished? Can we get some pictures, lots of the equipment room!!!

Like all projects they get to 95% finished and stay there! This is no exception. Once I got in and got everything working so that I could watch films etc. the motivation to finish dwindled. I will get there eventually!

The equipment room is also work in progress. But here is what it currently looks like. I will post more photos when I progress more.

[JayMann]

Thanks for that i was thinking about a 1 inch gap will be enough

[Rian1988]

Nice! You better keep that blind closed, our your local robber will have a field day in there haha! Seriousely keep up the motivation!!!