26x17 attic addition- this theater will ultimately contain:
136" 2.35 aspect 1.4 gain carada screen
monitor audio rx8 floorstanders
monitor audio rx-center
monitor audio rx-fx surrounds
polk audio rear surrounds
Epik Legend dual 12" subwoofer
panasonic dmp-bd85k blu ray player
sony xa5400es sacd player
emotiva xpa-3 3 channel amplifier
sony str-da 5400es 7.1 receiver
directv hd dvr
cablepro, pangea, element, QED cables

27x19 foot attic space in the house we purchased recently. after leaving my old theater behind, i was worried about what would replace it. apparently we have found our answer.

I am no DIY hero like those i respect on the hallowed pages of this site. I have tools and a rudimentary woodworking skills. I have neither the time nor talent though to do anything other than get myself in trouble with a finish-out like this. So at the recommendation of my realtor, i got in touch with a local home-builder who also is remodeling while the country decides whether it wants any more new houses. We put some ideas to paper about a 26x17 foot theater with 9 foot cielings, 2 closets, and access to the remaining attic crawlspace for storage. I plan for a 136" cinemascope screen illuminated by a panasonic pt-ae 4000u projector hung at 14-16 feet. furniture and electronics translate from the old theater. Bid comes in. I accept, its time for a lumber package. The framing took 8 hours for 5 men to complete, including adding a wall, raising the rafters to 9 feet, creating one closet and walling off another.

facing the screen wall. the small notched area of the wall to the left is perfect to accomodate a small media closet about 3 foot by 4 foot. this leaves approximately 14 feet for screen wall.

at the screen wall facing the rear wall and only entrance. to the left of the door will be a closet.

framing is complete. closet pictured here will contain music and movie media. finished dimensions will be 26x17. raised cieling to 9 feet. 3x7 foot closet at entrance, 3x5 foot media closet at front wall.

carada 136" 2.35 screen will fit symmetrically between the door aperture and equal space on other side. just barely....

centrally located 2x8's will soon anchor the cieling mount for the projector. cieling fan will locate behind it.

extra closet at back of room will be for general storage. note small crawlspace entrance on right wall, giving access to remaining attic space, measuring 4' x 28'. still useable sf.

media closet closeup

attic crawlspace for you fans out there

hvac went in today. we are pulling from the one of 3 units the house has. i thought it was overkill when we were shopping it until i saw this space. perhaps it was always planned to be a finished room. just waiting on the right owner.

room got wired today. 4 rear channels, 4 can lights, outlets spaced per code, hdmi cord hung, box for fan.

insulation is in. still cold in here. only time will tell if this room is to be habitable.

that long skinny box at bottom of the door is the 136" screen which incidentally also arrived today. tomorrow the projector and mount arrive, and have nothing to do for about 2 weeks while we wrap this up.

sheetrock and first bit of drywall went in today. those guys are fast. 2 hours of sheetrocking and 1.5 hours mudding. makes sense to hire a professional.

panasonic projector and peerless cieling mount arrived from visual apex today. pity theres no screening room yet to hang them in. yet....

screen in its full 11 foot length

an emotiva preamp, a cieling fan, a dimmer switch, 2 door knobs-- all various parts of a delicious puzzle.

drywalling complete. cieling is sprayed on. trash removed. thanksgiving week has trashed any hope of completion. the doors and trim are in the garage waiting for install on monday. hopefully next week holds paint, carpet, trim out, outlets and cans and fans and then i can hang a projector and screen and move in.

looking towards back of the room i noticed a little monster followed me in....

doors, baseboards, mouldings, attic crawlspace plate went in today. nothing fancy. brought the ambient temperature to within shouting distance of the rest of the house which is nice and encouraging. was worried there might need to be a space heater in here. stay tuned for the room gets painted tomorrow some bold colors.....

first coat of paint is on. Olympic "evening hush" for the sidewalls and cieling, "victory blue" for the projector wall. i must say i had a panic moment seeing this midway today as that front wall is aiming to be a dark navy color, near black. in daylight it looks gumball blue. a frantic call to the paint store brought the manager over. he painted a two foot section again and blow-dryed it on the spot. it will indeed get there after a few more coats. we've got a bit of painting left to go, so all judgements must be reserved until then.....

paint will wrap up tomorrow. electrical installs outlets and cans thursday. friday holds the carpet and shelving install. Furniture can then go in. Tuesday the magic happens- projector and screen go in. Curses, why must this take so long????

carada 136" waits quietly in the antechamber after assembly today. surely this row of boxes in front of it will protect against any neer-do-wells. got it together in 1 hour flat. just in the nick of time, as its being installed in only 6 days. close call...

peerless cieling mount after being impatiently fiddled with. i am loathe to crack open the panasonic box and attach it what with all the construction dust still flying. once the carpet is in on friday and ive had a chance to vacuum, i may chance it. the 4000 is infamous for its ability to suck dust particles into the important projection bits yielding blobs of all sizes on the image. just the sort of projector you want exposed to a sheet rock storm.

paint is complete. as seen in this flash photo, we have acheived a sufficiently dark screen wall. contrast should eye-pop.

natural light photo yields a signficantly different color. all i can say i love it. it looks really eccentric in here, like i was going for the surface of some alien planet look. very cool vibe.

2 tone closets.

electrical got finished out today. cans, outlets, and cieling fan went in. lighting looks awesome. got the blind hung and installed the mounts for all 4 surround speakers as well. tomorrow carpets and closet shelving go in. hopefully by the afternoon i can move some furniture in. my staging room will then also begin its transformation into the kids' rec room (27x17 as well- lucky kids).

as shown above, a bit of progress made today. carpet and closet shelves went in. rear channels installed. moved in sectional. hung projector and screen. got all electronics installed and powered up. did a basic alignment of screen and run-through of projector. all systems functional so far. keep your fingers crossed as that was my first DIY projector/screen hang. hope my geometry was right.

needless to say we are 95% of the way done. a bit of tweaking and some cleanup/decorating and she is ready for duty. the wife was blown away, even after our first theater in the last house. she says this one handily outdoes that one for an authentic movie experience. i'll take that as a good job honey.

first big movie night. my daughter has already made herself comfortable and is remodeling. note the leopard print snuggie around grandma and my son. dont underestimate how comfortable these are. in all i am very pleased with how things have turned out.

laser star projector and lava lamp for some 2 channel mood lighting

panasonic dmp-bd-85 wifi networked blu ray player. replaced oppo bdp-83 and frankly i cant tell much difference. love the network capability for netflix and pandora.

directv hd dvr

emotiva xpa-3 200wpc 3 channel power amp and usp-1 preamp

sony str-da5400es 7 channel receiver and my new joy xa-5400es sacd player

this player is on another level.

my daughter's old portable dvd player now serves as a pandora portal so i dont have to fire up the projector.

new epik legend subwoofer. dual 12" sealed. energizes this room nicely with good control and no bloat.

Empire Strikes Back on Laserdisc. We must preserve dead formats for future generations to marvel at once physical media is no more. especially ones with cool cover art like LD.

some action out on the back patio

vader's saber from Empire Strikes Back

young padowan

my other passion- music. dire straits on vinyl

Communique- their best album

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Comments (105)

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Comments (105)

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Mansinthe  » Feb 28, 2013 02:22 PM

i love your homecinema. looks just grade and awesome .. nice work !

e2g  » Nov 05, 2012 07:17 AM

Such an awesome space

MTS  » Nov 05, 2012 12:54 AM

Very, Very Nice Work! Love the Empire Laser Disc display case. Know you're proud!

wes  » Oct 07, 2012 05:00 PM

10 very nice I like the laser show did you do all the work yourself?

J.Seb  » Aug 10, 2012 03:46 AM

Great looking HT, I really like the colours you chose for the walls. Just one question, all the lights in that cabinet look pretty cool, but are they not a bit distracting/annoying while watching a movie in a darkened room?

lDlisturb3d  » Aug 10, 2012 01:22 AM

This is freakin awesome!!! Great job man. I love the laser disc too. Oh in the galactic theme. You're doing big things 10/10!!!

B.Hulk  » May 22, 2012 11:56 AM

Using the Pyle is just way too cool....

ldgibson76  » May 20, 2012 12:14 PM

Hello Amp74. Congrats on the new additions to an already strong, home theater. The Pioneer Elite SC-55 is a fine looking AVR with a highly regarded pre-amp section and with the Emo XPA-3 pushing the front stage, the results should be mind-blowing! . The Oppo BDP-93, enough has been said about that BD player. It deserves all the kudos it receives. The Audiolab 8200dq is a very interesting choice (in a good way). "A game-changer." indeed! (nice description ) I'm sure it's taking your two-channel listening to a different level. Have you compared the two channel performance of the 8200dq to the SC-55 and/or the Oppo? If so, was there a vast difference between them? Everything about your room is impressive, especially the star-light projection. You've done well.

ian w  » May 20, 2012 05:28 AM

That my friend is totally awesome ! There's not much more to add to that hahah an easy 10/10 from me I would give you more if I could. ENJOY :-)

lswope00  » May 20, 2012 12:10 AM

Very nice upgrades looks great! Ten from me

luwanda  » May 10, 2012 02:23 PM

Speechless, great damn job mate!

SlaughterX  » May 09, 2012 04:48 PM

Awesome, 136 inch screen! Are you going to get the Star Wars 360?

rkolinski  » May 05, 2012 02:27 PM

Beautiful attic home theater and I couldn't understand the couple of low scores you received; you received a 10 from me!

FBDMatt  » Feb 26, 2012 08:32 PM

Perfect 10. What else could I rate it?

JH_Spock  » Feb 22, 2012 08:58 PM

Awesome

rkproceed  » Jan 29, 2012 07:57 PM

A dream theater well done mr!

Crow  » Jan 22, 2012 01:04 AM

Beautiful HT! Love seeing the from start to finish photos. Your hard work certainly paid off. Congratulations.

xcapoeirax  » Jan 04, 2012 07:37 AM

WOW what stunning Home Cinema!!!!! I love your wall colorers and clean room design, very nice ambiance. Your equipment is amazing and your setup is perfect!

mrmichaelbeck  » Dec 16, 2011 03:32 PM

Very classy setup my man. You did a really nice job with the DIY installation of everything. I also am very impressed with your laser starfield. :-) Great job.

Badas  » Oct 27, 2011 06:53 PM

Hey where did you get that light that makes the stars on the roof from? Ta Dono

Badas  » Oct 27, 2011 06:43 PM

Absolutely 10/10. Top work. Love the wall colour and the room just lends itself to a HT room. Ta Dono

kong73  » Sep 23, 2011 03:03 PM

GREAT JOB! very nice work. i would never pay to go to the movies again with that set up

jayo  » Aug 24, 2011 04:29 PM

amazing job from start to finish.

lswope00  » Aug 19, 2011 05:03 PM

Sneekin peeks again man I like you setup ! I would add another sub not that its needed but I'm a bass head. Sony es says it all I want a projector next once again great setup!

Alpha Sixx  » Jul 19, 2011 12:29 PM

Wow amazing to watch it all come along and all the progress. Excellent documentation and presentation.

b00st  » Jul 15, 2011 01:01 PM

nicely done. great lookin HT 10/10.

amp74  » Jul 15, 2011 08:55 AM

i tried the preamp route in addition to the receiver to see if it would improve two channel cd performance. it did not make enough of a difference and i have since sold the preamp and abandoned that course of action. i probably need to spend significantly more on the pre to make it worth while and thats not in the cards just yet.

lswope00  » Jul 15, 2011 08:40 AM

Sweet setup! Your running a receiver and a preamp how does that work for you?

starman 75  » Jul 14, 2011 03:07 PM

great home theater one of the best ive seen. alot of time and effort went into it looks like the whole family is enjoying it and that is what count's

Bluvette  » Jul 10, 2011 09:33 AM

Awesome job. Perfect 10

blu-rayguy  » Jun 20, 2011 08:25 PM

aww mate this is awsome just loving ur room, and the laser star projecter makes it look even more awsome just how a theatre should be.. i think i will will invest in the projector for my room... 100 stars from me to you dude....

Garth Hyson  » Jun 08, 2011 08:24 AM

I miss the days of laser disc

GunZenBomZ  » Jun 05, 2011 01:51 PM

Laser Cosmos – Laser Star Projector, thank-you for inadvertently providing me with my next gadget. Nice HT room

Reference_head  » Jun 01, 2011 08:44 PM

Yes we must be long lost brothers. (epik as well) As far as the Sony being too brassy I haven’t really noticed that. I’ve been using ES gear since the 80s. I will probably at some point go to a pre pro. I would like to get heights outputs but I’m in no hurry. Trying to decide if I should go projector or a 70”+ LCD/led

Reference_head  » May 29, 2011 09:47 PM

Really nice man love all of it nice job

Baqx  » May 28, 2011 05:22 AM

Just: WOW! Very tidy, comfortable and good-looking setup! GJ!

djflex40  » May 24, 2011 08:27 AM

wow awesome just awesome the screen shots are outstanding 10/10

ldgibson76  » May 24, 2011 07:39 AM

Incredible!

Starmartyr  » May 23, 2011 08:39 PM

Awesome! That screen is massive! And I love what you did with the ceiling paint. The fact that you had an exact idea of what your room was going to contain from day one and then saw it through to fruition is great. Excellent job!!

amp74  » Apr 15, 2011 07:55 AM

thanks for the kind feedback. dafees- the rear channels are indeed on different planes due to the installation of the closet on the right rear. this is easily compensated for by the receiver though. it can delay the more distant speaker to cause any rear pans to arrive coincidentally or in a linear fashion, depending on what the mix calls for.

veromozart  » Apr 14, 2011 04:46 PM

Super home theatre, looks great. Cheers!

DAK4  » Apr 14, 2011 04:43 PM

Fantastic job on the Home Theater! Great equipment and I love that projection on the ceiling! Really cool.

DaFees  » Apr 14, 2011 04:25 PM

I must say that this is one amazing conversion from an attic into a very nice home theater space with some very nice equipment powering it all. You did a fantastic job, and I can only imagine the enjoyment you get from this nice setup. I do have one small question though; How does sound from your rear channels sound? I only because your back surround channels aren't on a parallel plane (the left one is further back than the right one). Again great setup, easily a 10/10.

hooper818  » Apr 14, 2011 01:04 PM

Man what an amazing setup. I know your loving that Sony ES SACD. I have a ES 6400 and Monitor Audio RX's aswell and love the setup. Congrats on your setup.

JH_Spock  » Mar 27, 2011 08:59 AM

Beautiful mix of environment and equipment.

hamilton02  » Mar 01, 2011 06:20 PM

another ummmm ya. Not much to say. STUNNING

4x12  » Feb 21, 2011 05:34 PM

Damn Nice Amp!! This build is making me really anxious to my future build up this July!! Great Work

nismo604  » Feb 18, 2011 03:44 AM

nice build, love the MA's

TCR Alliance  » Feb 09, 2011 07:30 AM

petew  » Feb 08, 2011 08:47 PM

You have done a fantastic job! One TINY suggestion: Change the door knob and hinges on the door to the left of the screen to something black. Great choice of colors.

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