sk3lph's brand new Media/Cinema room

[sk3lph]

Some final pictures unless someone wants to see something specific.

Room is finished and some final fixes were done a couple of days ago where the blind was tweaked and the front right speaker internal wiring was fixed. I'm still playing with the speaker settings but it's already looking and sounding fantastic.

Here is a video of the blind running - absolutely no light gets through this whatsoever.

If I get a better camera I'll upload some better pictures. Thank you all to the advice and words of ecouragement, really appreciate it.

I'm off now to watch a few films

 

[sk3lph]

Looks great, where did you get your blinds from? I want a couple of pairs of powered ones for mine.

The AV installer I used sorted it out with a separate company - if you are keen to find out then I'll try and get the details.

Looks fantastic. What are the dimensions of the room. I have a few rooms where I could do something similar.

Room is about 5.5m by 4.8m.

 

[sk3lph]

interesting to see how it develops... a "plan" never had this with my home cinema setup

Not sure what you're saying here treacle - any chance you could elaborate?

 

[sk3lph]

Absolutely brilliant.

As the kids like to say, "well jell"

I would paint that door to match the walls though. Would look better IMO.

A really awesome disc to watch for the atmos soundtrack would be the blu Ray of In the heart of the sea. Films not that great but the soundtrack is immense. The creaks of the ship and the thunderous audio when the whale attacks is just superb. I would deffo give that a run out on the system.

I'll look into that, watched John Wick last night which has a great Atmos soundtrack and will give the Gravity SE a full viewing next. I'll be snapping up as many Atmos discs as I can within reason to try on my system.

Really disappointed the Atmos soundtrack on the Deadpool UHD disc didn't also find it's way onto the regular Blu-Ray - can't understand that.

WRT the door, the photos make it appear white when in fact it's medium grey, so I don't really notice it - but may change it in the future.

 

[sk3lph]

Had a fair bit of time with the room now and ran the calibration routine again and it has made a big difference, the sound the system makes now is absolutely fantastic.

I'm finding music is great through it as well, I'm quite partial to putting the star lighting on, reclining on the middle chair to some music - very relaxing.

Just to catch up on some questions I missed.

Amazing

Whats the total ball park cost?

The whole project has been 10's of thousands, if you are meaning the room itself with all the electrics, audio, furniture etc, it's been about £30k.

Looks awesome.

Did you not fancy a double recliner somewhere, so you and the missus can snuggle up?

I did think about this a lot and the audiophile in me won out and I really wanted a double arm chair smack in the middle of the room, with the 3 seats for front and 3 for the back it had to be a single seat in the middle with tables either side for drinks and snacks

Fantastic job and very well done. Sometimes the journey is just as exciting as the end.
I found myself, not actually watching movies (to start with) but watching parts and clips from all my fav movies. Batman Dark Knight for instance, Saving Private Ryan (beach landing) all those epic movie scenes.

Up next, you definitely need to build a HTPC with media center and have all your movies at a touch of a button. It also makes it look really impressive. Something easy like Plex I'd recommend.

It has been a long journey and can't quite believe it's finished.

Yes, a media PC would be good in the future, although if the new Xbone is decent I may settle for that. There are lots of movie scenes that I never get tired of watching, both the films you mention I've run through as well as loads others.

Epic. I agree with door. I believe it'd look better if it matched the wall colour and definitely get something like Plex up and running. I like you sit in my HT (basic compared to yours) and flick through film and TV shows just to get the "best" bits and hear the epic sound. One tip I found was with sub woofers, if you can place it or them right next to your main seat it has a surprising meaty bass effect (vibrates through the seat itself)

Lot of comments about the door, which you don't really notice as it's on the back wall, if it was next to the screen it would definately be black. To be honest I'll be giving the decor a rethink as matt paint seems to show every blemish, so I'll be tweaking things a bit in the future.

Anyway, thanks again for all the kind words, feel free to post any more questions and I'll do my best to answer.

 

[sk3lph]

It's taken another age and a lot of work but I finally finished putting down the insulation and installing a raised floor in the attic space above which I did over spare weekends - so no feet going through the starscape ceiling.

The build is now officially completely finished and I can get Building Control in to do their inspection.

I'm now thinking about some fun stuff, which includes putting some film posters up in the corridor outside the room which looks a bit bare and maybe a Dolby Atmos or DTS:X plaque if I can find somewhere that sells them.

 

[sk3lph]

So after a few months of having and using the cinema room, how're you finding it? Everything you expected and more?

Anything missing? Need to make any changes?

The room is the culmination of years of planning so I spent a long time thinking about where everything would go and going through in my minds eye what it would be like to use and experience it so there were definitely no surprises and there isn't anything that I want to change aside from some minor decor related issues which I'm not in a big hurry to sort.

Very happy with my choice of equipment, would always be a worry when spending this much that the final experience would fall flat but the speakers and amp seriously deliver on that front with music also being very enjoyable as well as films - it's gratifying to see the Yamaha RX-3060 amp winning an award in the What Hi-fi awards this year which is the slightly newer version of the one I've got.

The next upgrade will perhaps be going to a 4k projector and 4k blu-ray player however both technologies are still in the early stages so I'll wait and see what develops - I was interested in the new JVC projector until I saw the price - £30k for a projector is a bridge too far.

Myself and my missus don't quite have the same taste in films so it's great that I don't take over the lounge if I want to view a bit of Science-fiction and it's also a great place for a bit of gaming or music - just got a Steam Link so I'm dabbling with that.

Overall I love it and don't regret going through all the pain to get there for a second.

 

[sk3lph]

Got a better camera so I thought it'd be worth uploading a couple of new pictures -

And an animated one to give you an idea of the starscape ceiling in action -

 

[sk3lph]

Thanks as always for the kind comments folks.

Absolutely brilliant. What a joy now the cold winter evenings are setting in.

That's a point, does it have heating?

The HVAC system heats or cools the room to a set temperature via the grilles in the ceiling. There are also heaters in the seats to provide some extra warmth.

Will be interesting to see how it copes in colder weather.

 

[sk3lph]

love the star ceiling , thinking of adding one myself ..

https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18758265

but being an after thought i'm going to have to add a false ceiling , any tips ?

Have a chat with Peter Fagan at Starscape who will be able to help and have a good look through their website. They do prefabricated panels with the fibres already installed which may be the way to do yours.

Post up some pics if you decide to go for it.

 

[sk3lph]

Sk3lph if you don't mind me asking what was the cost of the optic fibres ?

Don't mind at all - the cost is obviously how much star density you'd like, how much ceiling area and how fancy a light box you want.

I went in conkers deep and got the fanciest light box with a density of about 35 stars per square meter which translated to about 700 fibres. This ended up costing about 700 quid but I did get a really good discount and did all the installation work myself. You will get a discount if you put your work on the forum as I did.

 

[sk3lph]

Thanks as always for the kind comments.

I don't smoke or drink (apart from the odd beer) so meeting the cost has been driven by a single minded obsession over the course of a number of years to save up the money needed.

Also an understanding wife has been required and the absence of kids and having the right shape of house too. Worth bearing in mind that a fair chunk of the cost will hopefully be returned when the house is sold, but I'd obviously be a bit gutted if I had to do that in the near future.

 

[sk3lph]

Understanding wife is THE key one

Mind you if she was the sort of person who would think a 32" television is a perfectly acceptable size from 10ft away then I doubt you would have married her

You are indeed right, there were a number of requirements that had to be met for the project to go ahead and only one not being possible would have scuppered the whole idea, however support from the missus is probably top of the list.

That isn't to say it's been an easy ride, months of builders on site and having the garage partially demolished and plaster dust everywhere in the house certainly didn't go unnoticed and the statement "I wish I'd never agreed to this" may have been said more than once, however you know what they say about pain and gain.

Of course the situation I'm in now is that it's pretty difficult to get me out of the house of an evening so thats breeding it's own issues, I also need to make sure I manage my time effectively so I don't get into trouble for being absent for too long

 

[sk3lph]

The missus factor has a strong influence on most of the people reading this forum I would imagine. Sign off on the purchase of an item for sure (unless done under the Radar) and also negotiation on where it can go.

I've had mates having to give in to speaker locations in completely unsuitable places where they are either practically right next to each other or in extreme cases on the floor, behind sofas or pointing in the wrong direction above head height.

 

[sk3lph]

My fiance however whilst it may not be her "thing" she knows I know a lot more about the subject and I love it/technology. When putting the speakers in the living room in our apartment she was asking me where they go rather than telling me where they could go

This is making me think of the Daffodil Daydream conversation from Deadpool.

 

[sk3lph]

How time flies - its approaching 2 years since I finished this project and still loving it, many great cinema nights have been had in there and I love the reactions it gets when people see it for the first time. I've since fitted a turntable as its a great music room as well and the door is also now black, which does indeed look much better.

I can upload some new pics if people want - been a while since this thread was on page one so this is really for the people who haven't seen it and are looking for ideas for their own rooms.

 

[sk3lph]

OK, as requested I've got round to taking some more pics.

To sum up the equipment is a Yamaha RX-A3050 Amp with Robson Accoustic speakers; two subs and four Monitor Audio ceiling speakers in a 5.2.4 configuration where the centre speaker is behind an accoustically transparent screen. This is all controlled using Control 4 where the AV equipment; projector; lighting and electric blind can all be activated or deactivated with the press of one button.

The ceiling is a starscape one with about 750 points of light provided by fibre optics and a lightbox in the attic space above the room.

I have also incorparated a Rega Planar 6 turntable with Ania MC cartridge and Rega Fono MC phono stage for music listening.

View from the back corner of the room.

And view from front corner looking back.

Like a lot of people I've got back into vinyl again and I've found its a great room for music as well as films. Yes I know the surround speaker is a bit close to the turntable but this was the only place I could realistically put them - the turntable is on a dedicated wall mount so it is isolated as best it can be.

The monitor is for instances when I'm listening to a surround music DVDs and need to navigate the menus - so this means I don't need to switch the projector on if I just want to listen to music.

Close up of the front middle chair which is the best listening position - the cushion is good positioned just at the back of the neck which is really comfortable, the only danger is that it is very easy to fall asleep in.

Front chair with the foot rest extended which is done with the touch of a button, keep your finger on the button and the backrest goes almost horizontal. The picture also shows the AC ventillation grille in the ceiling just in front of the projector.

The rear chairs are not as fancy as the front ones but they can still recline and are pretty comfortable. They are also on a platform so you can see over the front ones.

View of the Control 4 remote and the controls for the massage settings on the front chair. The cup holder can also either heat up your drink or keep it cold using the buttons on the arm rest. The table is black glass so the white dots are reflected from the ceiling.

Finally a pic of the projector which I'll be hanging onto for a while yet until genuine 4k projectors come down to a decent price.

Thats it, hope that provides some interest and ideas for your own setups.

 

[sk3lph]

Honestly these look 100% photoshopped. The only way we can trustfully verify this is as awesome as it looks is to come over for a movie or 6

Bloody incredible mate. Must be sooooo satisfying to sit back and enjoy all of that.

It'd be a bit of a trek for you to come over from Portugal to the NW of England .

 

[sk3lph]

Quick question with regards to paint / paper, are all your surfaces the same colour?

Reason i ask is building my coffers this weekend and debating what colour the faces should be, the room is currently matt black on the projector wall and dark grey on the others with a white ceiling.

I was thinking going matt black for all walls including the ceiling and horizontal face of the coffer, then perhaps dark grey or white for the vertical coffer face?

Hi Firestar,

I went with dark grey ceiling, medium grey coffer and woodwork, front and rear walls black wallpaper sidewalls black with a little bit of sparkle in it.

Are there pictures of your room on here somewhere?

 

[sk3lph]

I’m planning on having a cinema room in the new house we just bought. Thanks for the info and inspiration!!

You are most welcome - that was one of the reasons I put this forum thread together, to pass on some ideas for peoples own install - I also can't take credit for the design as I used a few ideas from other sources myself.

Still looks badass! Was the ceiling a pain to get in place?

It was a lot of work, I split the ceiling into a grid using chalk string and designated around 35 points of light to each grid reference. I was above the ceiling feeding the optical cables through whilst a mate drilled the 700 1mm holes from below using a dremel. I then secured them all using black silicon and duck tape and then put in a raised floor to protect the install from any foot through the ceiling mishaps as the AC unit needs regular servicing and it lives in the ceiling space and is now easy to get to.

It took months but I don't regret putting it in for a second - it definitely delivers the visual impact I was looking for.