New Loft Based Cinema Room - Nearly Finished

[mjkinch]

I started looking at AV forums some years ago, and have patiently been collecting equipment ready for the day I can put it all together in one room. We started a new build in January and worked out the cost of turning the loft into rooms was a cost effective way of getting an office, and a much wanted cinema room.

Wherever I could I have included cabling and wiring to the loft room during the build process, to have everything in place.

It seems to have taken an age, but we are getting closer to being able to pull everything together, so I have put some pictures together of how far we have got. The plan is to have it completed and working by mid september.

First up went the shell, here you can see the basic structure of the loft rooms;

Next we created the basic frame which is going to hold all the kit and the 7ft screen, and here we are finishing the insulation, ready for plaster.

We then ran wiring around the room, so I have the rear speaker wires in place and a HDMI cable running from the back of the screen to the ceiling mount for the projector. I also have an empty pipe running through the ceiling to the PJ, in case I have forgot anything, I have a nagging feeling I may want to run something else through at some stage.

I have also run speaker cables into each of the bathrooms, which feedback to the screen, and three Cat6 cables, which go downstairs to a gigabyte router. Sort of future proofing, but not sure how I am going to use it much more than connecting a PC and XBOX as yet.

So on goes the plaster...

Finally all the painting is done and we are ready to complete the back wall over the next week or so.

I should explain the tubes hanging down - the loft rooms get very hot, and I didnt want to put in air-con, which would mean an exhaust unit somewhere. And I dint want to cook whilst watching films, so we came up with the idea of using fans to suck in cool air from the gable (where the sun never shines) and push it into the room at floor level. The ceiling tubes will be fitted to grills and extract the hot air out again.

I have to say it is very effective, and the room stays a constant temp even during the recent hot days. A bit Heath Robinson but it works.

This is the back end of the room, and you can see the power cables hanging down and the HDMI cable and spare pipe.

I will post the rest of the pictures over the coming weeks, and hopefully I havent missed anything out connector wise, and the the magic moment when we pull it all together!

[mooperman]

lookin great matey....

Have you decided on what kit you want in there yet or is all that already covered?

Mark

[hilljd00]

Looking good

[mjkinch]

Thanks - Do you think I need anything other than a single HDMI cable leading to the projector from the amp? Cant think of anything as yet, as the amp seems to manage all the connections I need.

I have managed to get together (based on this Forums recommendations) an Infocus 81, Sony STR2400, KEF 2005.3 speakers, and a decent Grandview 7ft screen to show it all on. Again based on reviews I also upgraded all the cabling, and HDMI cabling, and included a clean power supply brick,

I have set it up on boxes and tables to check it all out, and its a fantastic viewing experiance, nothing like we have ever had before. Also connected is a Sony Blu Ray, an XBOX acting as a media server (oh and it plays games :-) ), Freeview box, Wii, a Windows home server based on a tranquil box to hold all my music and pics, and I have also added an Acer Aspire box, with an HDMI socket and wireless keyboard, so I can also access Iplayer and Youtube stuff online.

There is so much stuff connected, I forget sometimes which button operates which, but when we get it all properly set up, then I will label it all up a bit better.

[Skars]

If this is a cinema room may I ask why you chose to paint it so light?

It's just that you will get so much light bleeding back off the screen it will illuminate the rooom. Take a look at Albriscoe's thread, I know bat cave's may not be high on the old WAF, but there are thing's you can do to minimise it.

[IanW]

That looks like it is going to be sweeeeeeet!!

[mjkinch]

We have painted the house in one colour initially, but to be honest with everything going on I completely forgot about the final colour for the cinema room

I will look at changing it whilst we have the painter on site, and quick look at what may be the best colour. I did plan for all the backscreen to be black, but it slipped my mind about the main walls.

[Skars]

Have a look at my thread, I have (like others) on here used some excellent paint with high WAF but has very good light absorbing capabilities.

[mjkinch]

The paint looks good (Flawless Powders Essential) and isnt a million miles from what we were thinking of, Ihave not seen it on the shelves but will wonder down to B&Q and see if they have it - My Dad has his ever useful 10% discount OAP card, so I will get him to come with me!

I will paint the whole room one colour, with a black background, and see what it looks like. I havent addressed the sound as yet, I am rather hoping it will be OK, although other cinema room builders seem to prefer some sound absorbtion material around the walls. I figure I can always add that later.

We also have these new conservation Velux windows, which you cannot buy blackout blinds for, so we have dark blue blinds (one of only two options) unless anyone else has found something that works.

I have to add all this is part of a huge (for me) building project - If you want to see where we started and how its all come together go to kinch.net - I keep a log of everything for family and friends.

[albriscoe]

Hi Martin

just taken a look at your build photo`s and it all looked very organised, well done

just about complete ours as I type this and enjoying it immensley although ours is traditionally built by myself and 2 sons or 2 sons and me

As to the cinema room colours, as Skars has already pointed out, the darker the better and you can take a peek at my now revamped room which is now a dedicated room.

Its all in my blue thread and the build of the house itself in the red one.

The difference in the image contrast and quality is like night and day Martin so please take into consideration how you might want to change the cinema room colour.

Anyway good luck mate and welcome to the world of AV

cheers Al

[mjkinch]

Thanks Al

Already been through your thread, great build and I wish I had seen it a couple of months ago, as some of your tips would have been useful, particularly when sourcing products.

We decided to employ a project manager, otherwise we would have gone slowly mad, given we have no experiance of a build, and I am glad we did. However it has given us a taste for building, and I think we may take a little more involvement in the next project (the wife doesnt know about the next project yet )

I wish I had spent a little more time on automation, a lot of my ideas were lost along the way, although like you I am very techie, so we have shedloads of technology in the way of computing built into the network. We dropped the idea of ceiling speakers in major rooms, only concentrating on bathrooms, but although I have all the cable is place, I am still not finalised on how to power it all. I have invested in a Logitech Duet, and a small amplifier, and will link that into the network and connect to the bathroom, so in theory I can control all my bath music via the handheld remote. If it works then I will see if its worth getting another couple.

All in all Al that was a great thread you did, and I suspect it created a new generation of self builders!

Its silly to think I forgot about the colour of the room, but with everything else happening it slipped my mind, but I do take your point and I will sort out colours this week.

Do you think we should put in sound panels? The floor has good carpet and acoustilay underlay, which has a decibel rating of around 38db, so there should be no problem there.

Thanks

Martyn

[albriscoe]

Hi Martin

we also did all our house, every room the same colour just because it was easier at the time to do

When you say "sound panels" do you mean acoustic absorbtion ones to stop reflections.

If so mate I`d wait until your up and running first to see if you have any problems, then if so its not so bad to do your own and very worthwhile imho.

More important mate is the colouring of the room which I would do first off and maybe incorporate acoustic panels in the work needed to darken the room.

I know I did the velvet panels but it also allowed me to make the acoustic ones as well at the same time, but I had been using the room for about 15 months so new where it all had to go.

Get it up and running first Martin although I would def want to darken the screen wall, ceiling and maybe side walls to a degree before installing any kit if you have the time to do it.

cheers Al