My Private Home Theater
It is the year 2002, and I was invited to a housewarming party of a colleague. When we came to his appartment the first thing I saw (or actually, everybody saw) was a big movie projector hanging from the ceiling. It was a huge Barco CRT projector. One with 3 tubes for red, green and blue. Ofcourse he had to show off his new big toy and showed us some nice DVD movies on a big screen. I was so impressed that ever since that moment I wanted to have my own projector and enjoy movies on a big screen too. Now, 7 years later, I went a step further and have my own Private Home Theater!
Ofcourse it all started from that moment in 2002. But to cut it short, since 2002 I bought (and sold) a Barco CRT projector, played around a bit with surround sound (Bowers&Wilkins speakers) and we end up at the beginning of 2009. This is the moment I had bought a Full HD projector and decided to really make something nice. With the help of a great company which specializes in HomeTheater ("Beter Beeld & Geluid") and helps designing HT's I started making concept sketches and models of how I wanted things to be.
At first I created some raw models of the room in question. Although, as you can see, there are quite some obstacle's in the room, solutions can always be found. It is possible to work around them. The guys at "Beter Beeld & Geluid" gave some pointers on how the room could be altered to be a great Home Theater. With these remarks I started creating a new model in which I used all the advice that was given.
Because the room is long and small (which affects room accoustics) we had to make sure the listening position is not in the exact center of the room. If you do place your viewing position exactly in the center, you will have problems with the lower frequency's. To make this possible the projection wall is placed 40cm in front of the real wall. This way you can move your viewing position further to the back and thus you won't sit in the center of the room (although it might visually seem like you are).
A second advantage of moving the projection wall 40cm is that you can place speakers and subwoofer behind the screen. But this requires an accoustic transparant screen.
A new wall should be created on the right side of the room. This is done to create symetry in the room and create space for a/v devices like the receiver, dvd/bluray player, xbox, etc. Plus, you can use this space to place side speakers if you want to go for a 7.1 speaker setup. This was actually advised due to the room being rather long and small. It would greatly enhance the soundstage and create a more realistic surround sound experience.
After this it needed the accoustic changes and a visual design. Again with some brainstorming and help from BB&G we came to the folowing definitive design for the room.
Accoustic material (absorber and diffusor) is hidden inside the left and right pillars. This too is needed to create a better sound stage.
From this moment everything was clear and I could begin constructing everything. I won't go into the exact details of the construction (I have done so in a Dutch forum, so if you would like more info, just ask me :)) but the results are great! Just a few pictures to show off!
The speakers behind the screen:
And the projector side:
And, now the rundown of specs of what you see:
Projector: JVC RS-10. Projection Screen: Screen Research 110" diagonal (96" wide). Receiver: Yamaha RX-V3800. Speakers: Martin Logan Fresco i. Subwoofer: DIY - Peerless XLS12 (1 12" active and 1 12" passive woofer).
So thats it! It rocks big time. Expect, from time to time, some reviews of movies I have watched.