daverichards
Established Member
Hi All
Firstly a massive thanks for the forum for a lot of inspiration over the years. Whilst I am not an overly active participant in discussion I am an avid lurker and have been for many years. I have spent countless hours admiring peoples home cinemas and how they evolve over time. I moved into a victorian semi about 5 years ago and it meant any dream of home cinema was likely never to come to fruition. I even had a 50" TV when we moved in that immediately got downgraded to a 32" to not look ridiculous in our living room. In many ways it was the perfect decision because now our living room looks lovely, however, it meant I never really enjoyed films like I used to on my large (ish) screen and relatively budget friendly 5.1 that I had in my old flat. It just felt so flat and lacked any immersion. Needless to say it meant that my film viewing dropped considerably unless it was at the cinema.
Fast forward 5 years and what was a wasted space at the bottom of my garden (circa 100ft) became the dream site for a home cinema. It really started as a dream and I never thought it would become a reality, I really didn't. I talked about it a fair amount with one of my best friends and one day he said 'you know what, lets just do it' and the rest is history. We started in the late summer on odd days and afternoons here and there and overall it took about 3 months to finish. If we had done it full time we could have probably done it in a couple of weeks. Materials were sometimes hard to source during covid with supply constraints but with some help from Travis Perkins they sorted us out.
Worth noting that I have barely done anything more than put a shelf up before so to say this feels like an epic achievement would be an understatement. I have learnt a LOT. I am extremely lucky to have my friend Rob as he's been the mastermind behind all of the structural pieces and with a combo of great DIY skills and a mind for this sort of thing (plus a fair amount of Youtube videos) we managed it. I basically just did what I was told...and inhaled an incredible amount of Celotex dust!
The real sad note is that Rob is still yet to experience the cinema in all its glory since he is unable to visit due to covid restrictions. Hopefully soon we can enjoy a movie and a beer together to culminate this amazing project.
Kit list:
115" Cinemascope screen
JVC X5900 projector (calibrated)
Marantz 7010
KEF R100 L/R
KEF R200C Centre
BK Subwoofer
KEF in ceiling and in wall rears for surround and atmos
Panasonic 820 Blu Ray player
Apple TV
Hard wired ethernet and router for wifi
Room size (int) 4.8m x 3.1m
Paint - all from Lick and I highly recommend it. So lovely to use. Black on the screen wall and green grey on the walls
For anyone who is interested, the total build cost a tad over £7k including plastering, electrics, paint and carpet. The kit and sofa etc are on top of that of course but for anyone wanting to have a go I thought it might be a useful especially when you can pay £20k+ for someone else to build it for you!
I feel like pictures can do most of the talking - but thanks to everyone I've DM'd or asked for help from on their own posts - you've all been ace and you helped me get to where we are today. I plan to enjoy this for a very long time and the viewing experience is every bit as sweet as I imagined it might be
Firstly a massive thanks for the forum for a lot of inspiration over the years. Whilst I am not an overly active participant in discussion I am an avid lurker and have been for many years. I have spent countless hours admiring peoples home cinemas and how they evolve over time. I moved into a victorian semi about 5 years ago and it meant any dream of home cinema was likely never to come to fruition. I even had a 50" TV when we moved in that immediately got downgraded to a 32" to not look ridiculous in our living room. In many ways it was the perfect decision because now our living room looks lovely, however, it meant I never really enjoyed films like I used to on my large (ish) screen and relatively budget friendly 5.1 that I had in my old flat. It just felt so flat and lacked any immersion. Needless to say it meant that my film viewing dropped considerably unless it was at the cinema.
Fast forward 5 years and what was a wasted space at the bottom of my garden (circa 100ft) became the dream site for a home cinema. It really started as a dream and I never thought it would become a reality, I really didn't. I talked about it a fair amount with one of my best friends and one day he said 'you know what, lets just do it' and the rest is history. We started in the late summer on odd days and afternoons here and there and overall it took about 3 months to finish. If we had done it full time we could have probably done it in a couple of weeks. Materials were sometimes hard to source during covid with supply constraints but with some help from Travis Perkins they sorted us out.
Worth noting that I have barely done anything more than put a shelf up before so to say this feels like an epic achievement would be an understatement. I have learnt a LOT. I am extremely lucky to have my friend Rob as he's been the mastermind behind all of the structural pieces and with a combo of great DIY skills and a mind for this sort of thing (plus a fair amount of Youtube videos) we managed it. I basically just did what I was told...and inhaled an incredible amount of Celotex dust!
The real sad note is that Rob is still yet to experience the cinema in all its glory since he is unable to visit due to covid restrictions. Hopefully soon we can enjoy a movie and a beer together to culminate this amazing project.
Kit list:
115" Cinemascope screen
JVC X5900 projector (calibrated)
Marantz 7010
KEF R100 L/R
KEF R200C Centre
BK Subwoofer
KEF in ceiling and in wall rears for surround and atmos
Panasonic 820 Blu Ray player
Apple TV
Hard wired ethernet and router for wifi
Room size (int) 4.8m x 3.1m
Paint - all from Lick and I highly recommend it. So lovely to use. Black on the screen wall and green grey on the walls
For anyone who is interested, the total build cost a tad over £7k including plastering, electrics, paint and carpet. The kit and sofa etc are on top of that of course but for anyone wanting to have a go I thought it might be a useful especially when you can pay £20k+ for someone else to build it for you!
I feel like pictures can do most of the talking - but thanks to everyone I've DM'd or asked for help from on their own posts - you've all been ace and you helped me get to where we are today. I plan to enjoy this for a very long time and the viewing experience is every bit as sweet as I imagined it might be