Front room redesign Cinemascope 11.1

Richard Fenn

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Many of you will remember my first front room thread which can be found here. It has been well used and enjoyed by the family but in hindsight I should have done it the way it was suggested by InstructorUK.

Anyway after a bit of saving I decided to crack on with revamping the room. There isn't too many build photos I'm afraid as I'm the sort of person that just cracks on with jobs until they're done. I also needed to have the room finished in time for when the recliners arrived so pausing to take photos would also have meant grabbing a beer from the fridge (there's some logic there somewhere :confused: ).

So the idea was to have two cupboards either side of the chimney breast with the screen built in to these. The speakers would be hidden behind the screen and all the AV gear and blu-rays etc in the cupboards.

So first job was to remove old screen and devore panels etc.

removing-old-screen-and-devore-panels.jpg


I decided early on that I would have a new AT Cinemascope screen with the front speakers behind. However, I also wanted to keep a TV in the room so decided that having a tv that rose up on a lift in front of the screen would be the best idea as previously it had been very close to the floor and wasn't ideal.

So it was on to building a big MDF box to hide the tv when not in use. I got some 18mm MDF sheets cut to size at B&Q and set to work. Again apologies for the lack of build photos ...

tv-lift-build.jpg


The hole in the front was an after thought as I realised the signal for the tv remote wouldn't go through MDF :facepalm:

And before anyone mentions them, IR extenders were an after, after thought :facepalm::facepalm:

I then wrapped the whole box in devore which had been recycled from the old panels.

Unfortunately the TV lift I really wanted was out of my budget range so I had to go for one that had a build height of 89cm. This makes the TV quite high up when it's out but isn't as bad as I first feared. This in turn though meant I would have to have my Cinemascope screen higher up so that the TV didn't block the centre speaker when fully extended but again once you're reclined in the seats it really isn't so bad at all.

I then set to work building the units to fit either side of the chimney breast. Another trip to B&Q along with recycling the old AV unit and a couple of hours later I had these built and in place:

left-hand-cupboard-build.jpg


right-hand-cupboard-build.jpg


You can see the speakers in the gaps where the screen slots into place ...

testing-screen-position.jpg
 
Next step was to wrap all the cupboard doors in Devore and to create some panels for above and below the screen to hide the chimney breast. These are also wrapped in Devore. Again I find myself apologising for the lack of build photos :blush:

The wall that use to have the screen on was next for revamping. It was in a bit of a mess as it's made of lath and plaster and it had umpteen screw holes etc in it.

I decided that the easiest (and quickest) way to sort it would be to cover the whole wall in fabric. If I had pulled the wallpaper off I think the plaster would have just come off with it :eek:

So I screwed batoning all around the edges and along the walls at widths equal to the width of the fabric (black faux suede). The fabric was then staple gunned to the batons and covered in trim which I painted matt black. I also needed to sort out where the rear surrounds and rear presence speakers were going along with a lightbox for displaying a canvas I have (you'll see this later).

trim-painting.jpg


Next job was to revamp the old fibre optic lighting chandelier type thingy we had into a star ceiling. The star ceiling was made with two sheets of hardboard and some 1x1 batoning for strengthening. I painted it matt black and painted on the rough side of the hardboard as I figured it would give a less reflective surface than the smooth side.

In place and hanging from the ceiling:

star-ceiling-on.jpg


Next on the list was a new blackout roller blind I'd bought from Ikea. It was actually 5cm too short for the window so some wooden blocks were screwed into the window frame to lower it by ten cms. I then created a devore wrapped panel to hide these and also to stop the light coming through from above the blind.

light-blocker-window-top.jpg


The blind edges run down some small trunking I found at Wickes. It doesnt completely stop the light but it's a lot better than not having them.

blind-in-trunking.jpg


I also had to make a devore wrapped panel for the bottom that is screwed into the window sill.
 
The led lighting for the room was the next job. I bought two remote controlled RGB 5 metre strips that run along the picture rail either side of the room.

testing-leds-blue.jpg


testing-leds-green.jpg


testing-leds-red.jpg


testing-leds-purple.jpg


This pretty much finished the job off so here's a few photos of finishing touches etc.

The Avengers watch over the right hand side of the room:

avengers-head-knockers.jpg


Batman, Bane and the Joker watch over the left:

batman-joker-bane.jpg


The rear wall:

back-of-room-finished.jpg


back-of-room-finished-02.jpg


Rear surrounds:

right-rear-surround.jpg


left-rear-surround.jpg
 
Iron Man Lightbox

iron-man-lightbox.jpg


iron-man-lightbox-wall-on.jpg


iron-man-lightbox-wall-off.jpg


iron-man-lightbox-wall-on-02.jpg
 
tv-lift-01.jpg


screen-tv-side-view.jpg


view-from-door-01.jpg


view-from-door-02.jpg


projector-close-up.jpg


rear-presence-speakers.jpg


recliners-01.jpg


recliners-02.jpg
 
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Canvas Posters

blade-runner-canvas.jpg


django-canvas.jpg


pulp-fiction-canvas.jpg
 
The obligatory screen shots :D

blade-runner-ss.jpg


harry-potter-nine-three-quarters-ss.jpg


harry-potter-remembrall-ss.jpg


harry-potter-ss.jpg


monsters-inc-ss.jpg


wreck-it-ralph-ss.jpg
 
Kit List:

Panasonic PT-AE3000e
Seymour AT Cinemascope screen material on homemade frame. Viewable area dimensions are 2400mm by 1000mm.
Onkyo TX-SR705 Receiver
Klipsch Quintet SL 5.0 Speakers
Klipsch KSW 10 Subwoofer
4 x JBL Simply Cinema SCS-175 Speakers
Sony CDP-CX355 300 CD Changer
Virgin Media Box
Sony PS3
Nintendo Wii
Harmony One+ Remote Control

The more astute amongst you will have noticed I can't be running 11.1 with that receiver and you're correct. A new receiver will have to wait for more funds but the JBLs are all wired up and ready to go.

Is there any point in even having 11.1 in a four metre square room? Probably not but I had the speakers anyway so thought why not :laugh:

Tonights viewing is John Cleese and a load of midgets ;)
 
Looks good - I want to do something similar but luckily don't need a TV - what dimensions are your room? I have a 3.9m by 2.7m room and want to have the projection down the length of the room.
 
The room is approx 3.6m x 4.5m (into the alcoves either side of chimney breast).
 
No, I'm not seeing it......is it photography your into....no, that's not right....home cinema ?....I'm right am I not !
 
Impressive! Thanks for sharing.

Where did you get those Canvas posters from?
 
Looks nice, will be doing the same within the next couple of months and just starting to look at different rooms for ideas, sorry if I've missed this but that is 16:9 screen right? How do you manage the masking for different aspect ratios?

Also looking forward to your views regarding 11.1, I have an avr-a3020 was thinking of doing the same.
 
Impressive! Thanks for sharing.

Where did you get those Canvas posters from?

I got the pictures and frames online and got a friend to print them for me, then framed them myself.
 
Looks nice, will be doing the same within the next couple of months and just starting to look at different rooms for ideas, sorry if I've missed this but that is 16:9 screen right? How do you manage the masking for different aspect ratios?

Also looking forward to your views regarding 11.1, I have an avr-a3020 was thinking of doing the same.

No the screen is 2.4:1 CinemaScope so I have black bars left and right for 16:9 stuff. I'm going to make some small masks for the sides when I get some black acoustically transparent material.
 
Excellent work Richard!

You actually did the pop up TV thing. I toyed with the idea, but I then managed to get an AT screen and frame for a bargain price. It's a bit big, and I didn't want it too high up the wall, so I had to ditch the TV coming up idea. See this thread if you haven't already:
http://www.avforums.com/forums/memb...5-best-both-worlds-lounge-dedicated-room.html

Loads of questions, if you'll indulge me:
So how high up is the bottom of your projection screen please?
Where's the centre speaker? How big is it? - mine are quite large (but shallow). I could put a second centre in the screen up higher, but for now have a spare in ceiling speaker sat in the TV cabinet, which is on a different wall.
How's the lift up motor working out please? what model have you and which did you really want :D?
What size TV is that and how close to the floor does the lift allow you take the TV? Is it almost flush to the floor? - not that I should think about it, there's no space under my AT screen to drop my TV...
 
Excellent work Richard!

You actually did the pop up TV thing. I toyed with the idea, but I then managed to get an AT screen and frame for a bargain price. It's a bit big, and I didn't want it too high up the wall, so I had to ditch the TV coming up idea. See this thread if you haven't already:
http://www.avforums.com/forums/memb...5-best-both-worlds-lounge-dedicated-room.html

Loads of questions, if you'll indulge me:
So how high up is the bottom of your projection screen please?
Where's the centre speaker? How big is it? - mine are quite large (but shallow). I could put a second centre in the screen up higher, but for now have a spare in ceiling speaker sat in the TV cabinet, which is on a different wall.
How's the lift up motor working out please? what model have you and which did you really want :D?
What size TV is that and how close to the floor does the lift allow you take the TV? Is it almost flush to the floor? - not that I should think about it, there's no space under my AT screen to drop my TV...

Thanks NaTT :)

The screen bottom is about 100 cms from the floor. The centre speaker is behind the screen in the chimney breast about two thirds of the way up the screen so that the TV doesn't block it when its up. Not sure of the exact size of speaker but its approximately 45cm by 20cm by 20cm (WxHxD). I took three and a half bricks each out of two rows and slotted it in the gap.

The lift motor is working fine so far. It takes about 25 seconds to fully extend. It's from the popuptvlift company and called the pro 700. I really wanted the Venset one that's 600mm tall but lifts up 700mm. Not sure of the model number of that one buts it retails at about £350. Mine was £205 off that well known auction site.

The TV is 40 inch diagonal and when installed on the lift sits about 20cm from the floor. This is because the lift motor is under the shaft rather than built in like the Venset one.

:thumbup:
 
Made some side masking panels today for when we're watching 16:9 films or TV. :)
 

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How it looks in daylight :)
 

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