A Room In A Room

When I first began this project, it started out as a free standing array of parts to create a HT in a townhouse I was renting at that time. In February 2010, I began construction of my 3rd dedicated home cinema. Whilst the room has been 'completed' for a few months, there are always 'tweaks' to be done.

The diagram above is a close representation of what the room looks like today. As mentioned above, the original design was a set of free standing components which could be set up in an existing room. Due to moving out of the unit and into a house, I was given the opportunity to build another dedicated room. I was on a very limited budget for this project, however the room has come together and looks and sounds very good. I've recently modified the laminated free standing surround arrays on the sides of the room and these now hang from the walls. I decided to keep the panels to match the one in front of the EQ Rack as I really like having a port for the projector.

Frame Construction

Construction of the room began whilst I was still leasing my unit. I've simply used 75mm x 35mm structural pine and made each wall a 'panel' so that it can be taken apart of modified (made larger?) in the future.

Sheeting, Painting and Sound Treating

The room had be "ready" for moving day [25/06/2010] and I only just made it about 3 days before the lease was up. The walls are actually made from 16mm MDF and then painted with Suede Effects "Pompeii Ash". I used a rubberized adhesive before screwing the wall/ceiling panels to the frame. And so far, no major rattles.

The sound treatments cover the full first 1/3rd of the room and half cover the remaining 2/3rds. At the screen end of the room, there is no slap echoes and this is exactly the result I wanted to achieve. The ONLY echoes I hear are part of the soundtrack :)

The Projector and MK5 Aussiemorphic Lens

A rethink to the design, the MK5 now adds improved alignment due to the ability to rotate the lens body. The new stand also features independent height and tilt adjustments.

The projector is currently the BenQ W5000 seen here with the Aussiemorphic Lens MK5. I will be upgrading to a W6000 soon and am contemplating a new JVC X3 for 3D. This is pending that I can find a solution to the current vertical stretch issue. I am sure projector manufactures will have this sorted before too long.

Surround Arrays and Seating

The former free standing side panels for the Surrounds have been cut down and are now wall mounted panels. The seating is arranged in two rows where the front row is just 2x the image height and the rear row [elevated 300mm] is 3.2x the image height. Whilst the front row is close, it provides a very wide viewing angle and is also the optimum seats row for the surround sound. The rear row used to be my preferred seating row for films, however the seats are actually behind the Left and Right Surrounds. Surround Sound still works because the Back Surrounds are behind the seats and therefore you are still in the sound field. When seated in the front row, you get the best of both sound and a very immersive picture.

The Curved AT Screen

I call this room the SRT. The room is small [SRT stands for Small Room Technology] at just 2500mm wide allowing the screen to be wall to wall. In order to keep the proportions staggered, I had to reduce the ceiling height. To assist with controlling reverberation, the front 1/3rd of the room's walls are fully treated with the other 2/3rds half treated. The room has total light control and because this room is decoupled from the house [free standing], assists with sound isolation. The colour scheme is neutral, black and grey.

The room itself is 5100mm long x 2500mm wide and 2000mm high. The AT screen Rig occupies 600mm of depth at the front of the room. The actual seating area is 3700mm and the balance is behind the false rear wall and serves at the equipment room.

UPGRADES:

Since the room has been completed I've made some upgrades which include new ACTIVE LCR speakers and the new Aussiemorphic Lens MK5.

Active LCR Speakers

Behind the AT screen is three identical LCR [Left Centre Right] speakers. The Speaker on the left is the new Active speaker which recently [23/11/2010] replaced the passive version [right].

Mark

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