[Gagzi]

Hi all!

I've been harping on about this home cinema lark for ages and finally it has begun. Basically I'm converting my garage to become my little home cinema.

The room is only going to be around 7.5ft by 18ft so it's not going to be a very wide room but quite a long one. Also because of the space restrictions I've gone for custom in-wall speakers similar to my cousins which sounded great when I went over to his house and they seem just right for this room.

I've got some pics of how it is coming along below but I just thought I'd let you know what exactly i've bought or already got to go into the home cinema:

- Themescene HD73 projector
- 92" Motorised Projector Screen by Panoview
- 46" Samsung LCD (LE46M87BD - 1080p Full HD TV!)
- Sony STR-DA5200EB Receiver/Amplifier
- 5 KEF Ci-160 Custom in wall speakers (Square)
- Velodyne CHT-8R - Entry level Subwoofer (my first AV room so starting with this - will upgrade if needed later in the year)
- Playstation 3
- Sony VAIO XL-301
- Microsoft Xbox 360
- Nintendo Wii
- Playstation 2
- Harmony remote (895)
- Lutron Dual Rania IR Light Dimmer switch

All of the wiring in the room is going to be done behind the soundproof plaster board and therefore there will be no wires on show. It started on Monday and we're a week through the agreed three week building schedule agreed by the builder. He can do everything so he's fitting the electrics and everything and will also be fitting under floor heating for me as well as all of the lighting and cabling in the room whether it be speaker cables or HDMI cables.

Here are the pics from before we started:

First day in and he's cleaned up all of the rubbish and started to get the door frame sorted that will lead to the hallway in the house.

Floor has been raised to match the level of the house and the door frame knocked out. The frame of the back wall also up as we'll temporarily put the back boards up.

Hole in the wall covered by sheet to ensure that my 2 year old doesn't keep walking through.

The door is in now but I haven't had a chance to take the pics. I will do once work starts again on Tuesday and I'll update this thread later in the week. I think we're going to be getting the rest of the frame up and the cabling done early in the week and then all of the plaster board up by Friday ready for plastering the week after.

I'll update later in the week... till then have a good bank holiday!

Gags

[Kenny Glasgow]

gags

Good luck withe project

[lone ranger]

good start my man,cant wait to see the progress, oooh I can hear the projector revving up now

[Gagzi]

Thanks guys... it'll start off again tomorrow so hopefully I'll have more pics up tomorrow night and try to update daily if possible. Two more weeks to go and I can't wait!

[Pupster01]

hi all

I'm about to start a simillar conversion in a celler you mention soundproof platerboard which would be really usefull but i have not hurd of it. do you have any details i'm currently planning to use a double skin of 20mm plasterboard and green glue.

[inzaman]

Originally Posted by Stel

oooh I can hear the projector revving up now

I didnt think the HD73 was that loud


All the best with the project Gag's and looking forward to seeing the progress

[dub007]

What a great idea your doing!! i put a big bolt on that door that should stop the GF or wife giving you hassle! just in the most intense part of your gaming sessions

[Gagzi]

Thanks a lot for the encouragement guys. I appreciate it. I can't wait until we get this sorted. Today has been a right mare.

I'm spending so much on this home cinema that I was getting worried about little aspects especially to do with the projector and the projection screen.

As you should already know - I've gone for the HD73 and a 92" Panoview Gray Wolf screen.

The problem was that this morning I read in the projectors forum that the white screen had to be below the projector lens by a mathematically worked out figure.

The poster had just fitted a HD73 in a museum and had a right mare with it and said that for every metre of projection distance the white screen had to be 11.5cm beneath the lens. Crazy stuff as I was hoping to put my screen around 3.5m away from the screen which would mean that the screen would have to be 40cm beneath the projector.

Anyway this all sounds pretty simple and it was but I read the screen dimensions wrong and got into a right panic! All is ok now as I've measured it all up with the help of Andy (builder) and it should all fit nicely with the bottom of the screen being around 65cm off of the floor (i'm happy with that).

Anyway I've taken a few more pics for you so take a look at the latest, it has been a slow day today though:

- The ceiling has been brought down and there was already some insulation up there but we'll be putting more up.

- Cabling hanging down from ceiling - Better Cables HDMI cable and speaker cables

- Van Damme Blue series cable being run through the ceiling ready for speakers at the back of the room.

- Another of the cables hanging from the ceiling... to be finished off tomorrow.

- View from the far end of the room - HDMI cable hanging in front and part of the part time frame of the back wall. The wall is to be made stronger so that the 46" Samsung can be housed against it.

- New door way created through hallway wall. The door has been jammed in for now so that it doesn't end up falling on top of my 2 year old daughter. Once it is hinged in the surrounding area will be plastered and we'll use some spare wall paper on it to make it look normal again.

That's all I've got for today - as I said it was a slow day but hopefully tomorrow the plaster boarding will start and everything else will just kick into place. At the same time there is a a small laundry room being built on the other side so there may be days when I don't update but hey we've got three more days this week so lets see where we can get to!

Take it easy and let me know what you think...

Gags

[Gagzi]

Steady movement again today as we had the delivery for the soundproof plasterboard and the floor boards for the laundry room.

The electrics have been started today so we're just getting the final cables in place now for all the socket points and the lights.

As you can see below, the door is in and the frame for the plasterboard is up right across the wall. On this wall we've also got the main electrics board and the gas meter so we're going to build cabinets for them and make them look like they're a part of the wall. It's the only way we could get round it without losing more width for the room.

Last pic for today of all of the materials delivered today... should be an exciting couple of days to come!

Will update in a couple of days now once we've got some decent movement.

[thfccambs]

So jealous,just want to start my garage but never have enough time,good luck.

[Miniholic]

Looks promising.

Good luck with the build.

[Gagzi]

Cheers guys - it was crazy the day before yesterday thought - i had a massive panic about my chosen projector - HD73 - it is supposed to be quite fiddly to set up so I was worried about getting it set up right and if my ceiling was high enough.

In the end though some of the kind members of this forum sorted it out for me and worked it out as they already had experience of putting it up!

That's why these forums are a must for any AV buyer because it is the place you'll get to hear about these niggly bits and bobs.

Will update later today hopefully...

Thanks again...

Gags

[Gagzi]

Hi again guys,

Unfortunately Andy's van got a tyre puncture today so he couldn't get to work until 12ish as he had to go to the suppliers before hand.

Frame was built today where the screen and the speakers are going to be near the front of the room. This is where the screen and three front speakers will be housed.

A closer look at the frame which will house the speakers which will be pointing down towards the sofa's in the room.

The plasterboard has started to go up properly now too with electric cables coming through the areas where the light switches and wall lights are going to be.

A better look at it from this shot:

Once the plasterboarding is done things will move at a faster pace. The problem is the darned laundry room that has to be done because of the ladies in the house otherwise it would have been very difficult to get to an agreement for this cinema room.

I've also ordered Sky HD today for £149 plus free installation. I've got it booked in for June 14th (two weeks today) so I'm hoping that the plastering and painting is done by then. I'll also need the carpeting done by then too so that I can build my two Alphason cabinets and get all of the equipment in there.

I'm still waiting on my Themescene HD73 projector, Panoview Screen, Optoma bracket and Lutron lighting IR switches. Once they arrive I'll have got everything apart from Sky HD.

I'm getting impatient now as the progress is slowing but I'm sure I'll hold out as it'll be worth it when I start to watch Casino Royale on BlueRay on the PS3!

Take it easy and will update again, for last time this week, tomorrow...

Gags

[lone ranger]

the £149 sky hd deal, is this from comet or alikes, buy any hd tv and get sky hd half price?
If so what did you need to do or did retailer do it all.

[Gagzi]

Hi Stel... basically I tried to get the deal from Currys but they couldn't do anything for me.

I then rang up Sky and said that I'd like to upgrade but not replace any boxes and add a fourth box to the house, which would be the Sky HD box.

I then said that we had every single channel, including Asian channels, and that we had been a Sky customer for a very long time. They put me through to their sales department and had a look at the account and said that I am a very loyal customer and I then mentioned that I had heard of the £149 plus free installation deal at Currys. She then said that she'd match that and gave me the deal.

She said that they could install within a week but I said I needed it in two weeks so they sorted it.

I've heard that there is a deal in Currys or Comet that could get you half price if you buy a TV with it but I'm not sure which retailer it is.

Anyway I hope that helped.

Cheers

Gags

[cloudcity]

looks like a very thorough job so far, keep up the good work.

[lone ranger]

Originally Posted by Gagzi

Hi Stel... basically I tried to get the deal from Currys but they couldn't do anything for me.

I then rang up Sky and said that I'd like to upgrade but not replace any boxes and add a fourth box to the house, which would be the Sky HD box.

I then said that we had every single channel, including Asian channels, and that we had been a Sky customer for a very long time. They put me through to their sales department and had a look at the account and said that I am a very loyal customer and I then mentioned that I had heard of the £149 plus free installation deal at Currys. She then said that she'd match that and gave me the deal.

She said that they could install within a week but I said I needed it in two weeks so they sorted it.

I've heard that there is a deal in Currys or Comet that could get you half price if you buy a TV with it but I'm not sure which retailer it is.

Anyway I hope that helped.

Cheers

Gags

pc world did and still do the offer i am referring to, the big store near me has some lovely tvs aswell.

[Gagzi]

Stel, go and get that offer mate. One of my colleagues at work has had sky hd since before the Footy world cup last year and he said that it is awesome even though there are only a few channels that show HD.

Over the next 12-18 months we'll see a lot more go HD though...

[Gagzi]

Originally Posted by cloudcity

looks like a very thorough job so far, keep up the good work.

Cheers mate.. I've checked yours out too and its coming along a beauty. Nice to see pictures of the Alphason stand as i've bought two of these stands. I've got so much stuff to put in there so I went and got two - one 115cm width one and the 80cm width one too.

Anyway have a good holiday mate!

[welshy]

Looking good so far. Keep it up

[lone ranger]

quick process it seems, coming along well.

[dbs2]

Looking good... Are you keeping the Up & over door in situ to allow for re-converting to a garage at a later date if you sell Etc...??

[Gagzi]

Hi Dean... what do you mean by "up and over door situ" - sorry for being a bit of a dumbo but I don't quite catch your drift...

Gags

[dbs2]

Originally Posted by Gagzi

Hi Dean... what do you mean by "up and over door situ" - sorry for being a bit of a dumbo but I don't quite catch your drift...

Gags

Hi, Sorry , i was enquiring about the door you would normally drive a car through, are you removing it and bricking it up, or are you leaving it so it looks write from the outside and just plasterboarding the inside ??

[Gagzi]

Yeah we're leaving the door on and then plasterboarding from the inside and securing the door too. What you said is exactly right, if we sell in 5 or 6 years anyone who wishes to buy off of us will have the option to bring the plasterboarding down and use the garage again - they'd be crazy though with all the wiring already done for them all they'd have to do is put their own bits and bobs in and they're done!

Thanks for the post mate.. I'm hoping to update with new pictures from today's work this evening so make sure you come back and have a look!

Gags

[dbs2]

Can't wait to see it all finished, i think with the kit you have it's gonna look great .........

[Gagzi]

Cheers mate... appreciate the post! I can't wait myself... imagine having to look at the kit packed up in their boxes? It's torture!

[dbs2]

I bet.....

[Gagzi]

Quick update for today as the most of the day was spent knocking down the kitchen wall and door frame for the laundry. Therefore only a few things were done in the home cinema but there are developments and tomorrow should be a pivotal day.

1) View of frame that will hold speakers and screen with plasterboard over the top of it. Not a good picture but now the design is finally taking shape.

2) Shot of the holes created for the spot lights...

3) Close up of the frame for the speakers, although not a very good one

4) Another problem we had... the toilet is beneath the stairs and parallel to the cinema room which mean't that the fan would be blowing straight into the room or in between the plaster board so we were worried as to how we were going to get around this. We found a way around it, as shown below:

The plastic casing goes straight up and then across the ceiling and out the side of the garage. The plastic casing sits inside the ceiling and is totally safe as it is only air that will pass through this.

5) A view of the frame that will hold the speakers and the screen from the inside.

That's all for today as the majority of the work was on the laundry room but all of the cinema room should be plasterboarded tomorrow which will be a massive move and as there are two guys working on it now we should get a move on and the completion date for everything is next Monday (excluding fitting the projector and TV - that's just for finished room).

So this is an important week as most of the hard work should get done! I'll update as and when I can...

Thanks for viewing...

Gags

[Gagzi]

Hi guys... quick update for you..

The guys have been working very hard... here are the pics:

1) John (Andy's brother) working away with the plasterboard near the front of the room.

2) As you can see the garage door has been boarded and secured. My little one has creeped into the picture at the bottom there - cheeky girl! You can also see the HDMI cable at the top of the room there where the projector will sit.

3) This picture is taken from the back of the room (there are no lights only the ones at the front)

4) Another shot of the front left of the room plasterboarded.

5) The door has been finally fitted into the frame and the plasterboarding done around it.

6) Pictures of the various electricity and light sockets below that will get fixed up once the plastering is done. Hopefully the plastering will start tomorrow and finish by Friday evening. We're hoping to get the painting started on Monday.

That's all for today... It's moving on pretty quick now. We've got two more days this week and hopefully the plastering is started and completed as the Sky HD guys are coming on Thursday so I need to get the painting and carpeting done by Thursday. I've got fans ready in the room to dry the plaster and then the paint. I've also bought specific paint that goes onto plaster as soon as it has dried so lets see how it works out.

I'm in a major rush because I want it and I want it now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ARGH!

Just kidding... i've planned it for months, so what is another week or so eh? Anyway i'll update tomorrow with further developments..

Thanks for viewing...

Gags