Ben's new cinema room....

[benwillcox]

OK, we've put up the second layer of Soundbloc on the cinema room part.
I did a little test by playing some music in the bedroom above REALLY LOUD and listening in the cinema room. Hmm it would appear that the sound can be heard rather more than I'd hoped for
Oh well, maybe another 2 layers of soundbloc ought to do it... Ha I think not, I'll have to live with it. Maybe GreenGlue or no nails would have made it better, but I'll never know....

Anyway started building the dividing stud wall, first bit:

Then one layer of soundbloc board:

And from the rear it looks like this:

Some insulation will go in the middle then another soundbloc board. If need be I'll leave a gap and build a second stud wall in front of it, to reduce sound leakage even more.
This little cubby hole will have a bit of work surface or something across it, and will house the beer fridge, popcorn maker etc! Any other ideas are appreciated!
Oh, realised that it will be dark there and I havn't run any cables for a light. I knew there would be something I forgot!!!

 

[Peter Parker]

You won't hear any real difference until the last piece is done - a one inch hole can let as much as 15dbs of sound through IIRC, so until all holes etc are sealed, you probably won't hear the majority of the benefit of your work.

Gary.

 

[mattym]

Ben im sorry mate i didnt see your post originally asking for costs, should have emailed or pmd me, i do try and read every post here but time simply doesnt allow it, again, sorry!

Inzaman, acoustic treatment can be expensive, but some DIY treatments can be made up in a couple of hours and cost relatively little, so it is worth exploring the options(just dont tell my boss i said that!!)

 

[benwillcox]

You won't hear any real difference until the last piece is done - a one inch hole can let as much as 15dbs of sound through IIRC, so until all holes etc are sealed, you probably won't hear the majority of the benefit of your work.

Thats reassuring Gary, thanks. I guess when the carpet and stuff is in it will help, as the sound just seems to reverberate and bounce around off the walls at the moment. Well, thats what I hope anyway!

Ben

 

[benwillcox]

Ben im sorry mate i didnt see your post originally asking for costs, should have emailed or pmd me, i do try and read every post here but time simply doesnt allow it, again, sorry!

Hey Matt, don't worry, the costs on the audio alloy site gave me a rough idea and unless you said oh yeah it's £1 a tube or something then I knew it was going to be a bit too expensive for me anyway!

Cheers,
Ben

 

[Peter Parker]

Thats reassuring Gary, thanks. I guess when the carpet and stuff is in it will help, as the sound just seems to reverberate and bounce around off the walls at the moment. Well, thats what I hope anyway!

Ben

Hard flat surfaces will reflect a lot of sound, you will get 'slap echo' and the like until some soft furnishings and carpet go in. If you fit carpet to the screen wall and to the lower half of the ramaining walls (below ear height), that will tame the reflections quite well. It would be better still to use propper corrective treatments though, and I think Matt has a software program that can do all the calculations for your room and tell you what products to fit and where.

Gary

 

[benwillcox]

I need to start thinking about my equipment rack. My initial vision was just to have an opening in the cupboard shown on my plans, with shelves inside, and a smoked glass door.

But, I want to be able to actually get inside that cupboard for if I need to add any extra cabling etc (as cables can exit through the ceiling, though another cupboard upstairs and up into the loft, where my network gear and stuff is). Obviously this would be a rare ocurrance, and I don't want to make another opening in the cupboard to prevent sound leakage.

I'm thinking about using some server rack rails to make the entire rack unit slide out of the wall complete with equipment, which would then allow me to climb inside the cupboard if/when necessary. This would also give me easy access to wiring at the back of the amps etc.
I have got hold of 4 Dell server rack rails, look like 6U or thereabouts so pretty heavy duty.
Anyone done anything like this before?

 

[Peter Parker]

I've seen it done before, and is a good alternative. You just need t make sure the cables are long enough so that you can slide the rack out to give plenty of room to get behind it:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7378208&&#post7378208

Gary

 

[benwillcox]

Wow, now that's a rack!

I think mine will be a little more modest, but that looks like the kind of idea, thanks for the link.

Any idea where I can get some of the square-holed punched metal rails that normally go on the sides of 19" racks, so I can incorporate it into the frame of my cupboard? In fact I probably just need a bare 19" rack frame which would give me the correct width spacing too, but dunno the best or cheapest way to get one.?

Ben.

 

[Peter Parker]

I've no idea, sorry. I wonder what a google UK search might bring up though.

If you've enough 'wiggle room', could you just put some casters under the rack you'll build and make sure it can run out of the cupboard OK without fowling on the carpet etc in the room. maybe build a runway for it so that it has a perfectly smooth surface to run out on.

Gary

 

[benwillcox]

I've no idea, sorry. I wonder what a google UK search might bring up though.

Ah I found it. It's called 'rack strip' and I can even get it at Maplin:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=1784&TabID=1&C=SEO&U=SEOsearchPages&doy=search

If you've enough 'wiggle room', could you just put some casters under the rack you'll build and make sure it can run out of the cupboard OK without fowling on the carpet etc in the room. maybe build a runway for it so that it has a perfectly smooth surface to run out on.

Well I had imagined that the rack would only be about 2 or 3 feet tall, and start maybe 2 foot off the ground, so it would be suspended from only the rack rails.
I think that the rails I have should cope with the weight especially if I use all 4 of them. But then again, maybe I'll have to experiment and see! The only stuff I can think that I'll have in the rack is a HTPC, Amp, and maybe a BFD, unless I've forgotton some essential item!

Ben

 

[Peter Parker]

Looking forward to seeing the pics of that when you've got it up and running.

Gary

 

[inzaman]

so it is worth exploring the options(just dont tell my boss i said that!!)

I wont

 

[benwillcox]

Second half of the stud wall started to go up, plus the door frame:

 

[benwillcox]

Not a lots happened as I've been doing some thinking about the placement of the rack and aircon unit.
I'd originally planned to have some columns down the sides of the rooms (as on my first Visio plan), however after doing some measurements I don't think I'll be able to fit them in, so that idea is scrapped. So that also means that I'll probably go with a 5.1 or 6.1 system instead of 7.1, as there's nowhere for the extra speakers to go now.

Also saw someones build on AVSforum where they had recessed their aircon unit into the wall, so I'm gonna do the same with mine!

I've started framing out for the recess for the aircon unit (the top large horizontal space) and the equipment rack (the left vertical space). I'm still waiting for my rack strip to be delivered (got it from ebay in the end) before I fix the studwork in position so I get the widths correct.

I'm finding it a little tricky as all the measurements and positioning depends on many factors, such as how low the soffits will be, how tall the rack needs to be, necessary clearance around the aircon unit, clearance away from the screenwall/stage/front columns, spacing between rack and aircon unit etc.etc.
So it'll probably end up wrong somewhere along the line!!!

 

[benwillcox]

Got the rack strip today. Unfortunately the Dell rack rails won't fit as the angle in the strip is too close to the punched holes. Hmm........


Anyway, today I also built a recess tray for the air-con unit. It will only recess about 3 inches into the wall to avoid restricting the airflow, but every inch counts (so the ladies tell me )

I used 18mm MDF:

And with the unit in:

I might get around to mounting it in the stud wall tomorrow......

Ben

 

[Peter Parker]

Did you drill into yourself at any time because that looks like an awful lot of blood around the drill there....

Gary

 

[benwillcox]

Did you drill into yourself at any time because that looks like an awful lot of blood around the drill there....

No pain, no gain, that's what I always say!

Fixed some more of the studwork into position to allow the MDF tray I made to fasten in:

Not sure what to do about the rack strip yet, I can either try and find some more that the rails will fit, or I can butcher the rails with my angle grinder to make them fit....

 

[benwillcox]

OK started building a frame to mount the rack strip to, which will be recessed into the wall. I did some angle grinder surgury on the Dell rack rails to make them fit.

Heres the frame with the rack rails fitted (they will also be supported at the rear by more rack strip):

And it'll look like this with the rack pulled out:

Finished framing out for this to fit into the wall:

And the plasterboard is now up!

 

[benwillcox]

Put 2 coats of matt black paint on my MDF creations and mounted them in the wall:

Here's a view from the back, which will be inside the cupboard when I build the rest of the walls - these walls were filled with more insulation:

From the side you can see that the unit sticks out 3 inches less than it would have done without the recess tray:

 

[wandgrudd]

looking good

 

[benwillcox]

Thanks wandgrudd!

OK. Framed out for the cupboard that will house the av rack, and plasterboarded it inside (nearly):

The rack is sort of done! I realised I'd made a big miscalculation when working out the width of the rack rails - I'd spaced them so that normal 19" gear would fit in the rack, but didn't allow for the width of the inner rack that will slide in and out, with the result that none of my av gear would actually fit in there!

Luckily I noticed this in time and was able to take off the front pb sheet and adjust the stud spacing and remade the MDF rack frame 2 inches wider. Good fun.

So, here's the rack strip mounted now at the front and rear, with the Dell server rack rails in place (they are the rapid-rails, so just clip in place):

And they then extend like this:

The rack (yet to receive it's shelves) drops in place here (it looks a bit wonky in this photo but it's just the angle the picture was taken, honest!):

And then with the rack pushed back into place:

Heres a pic from the front with the rack fully out:

It seems to work pretty much as I had imagined, and will allow me to pull out all the rack to give easy access to the back of the gear without having to disconnect anything.

 

[wandgrudd]

Got to say that’s going to be a good looking system when it’s done. Love the rack idea and from the sounds of it a good bit cheaper than a of the shelf one. Can’t wait to see it done. (Hurry up)

bet its been nice with the air con on the last few days a least you should still be able to work if it gets warm again

 

[baldrick]

It's all looking very good although I'm a little confused regarding the rack mounting!!

As far as I can tell you are rack mounting your rack!?!?!?

 

[benwillcox]

Got to say that’s going to be a good looking system when it’s done. Love the rack idea and from the sounds of it a good bit cheaper than a of the shelf one. Can’t wait to see it done. (Hurry up)

bet its been nice with the air con on the last few days a least you should still be able to work if it gets warm again

Heh, I'm hurrying!
It's actually been very cool inside without the aircon on at all, even when it was very warm outside last week., I guess becuase the back part of the room is kind of underground. I've been using the system mostly in heating mode so far, but I'm sure when I get a few sweaty bodies in there for a couple of hours I'll need some cooling.