Man Cave media.....

[GilaMinumBeer]

The "Man Cave" media room remodel has begun. See; https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f19/swmbo-orders-me-get-another-tv-79550/ for an idea of how this started (if you have nothing better to do).

The room was originally deco'd with a local college football theme (why anyone wants an Orange room is beyond me but I digress) and I am elated to see that crap go away.

My current plans are to trim the walls in a faux library panel pattern using dimensional stock and base shoe. Basically, it's a library panel except taht instead of a wood panel filler between the frames it's the original sheetrock.

I have seevral patterns to choose from that I have sketched out but, I won't decide which untill I have some material costs to estimate by.

There is a local building supply overstock warehouse I am gonna check out to see if it will save me some cash. Once it goes up it's gonna be permanent. I have to glue the trim to the wall to eliminate the potential for rattles from low frequency sound.

I have a "before" pic but, I figure I'll wait to post that until the room is trimmed and painted for an "after" photo and then another once it's furnished and running.

My base audio system is comprosed of a Yamaha Rx-Z9 pimping no less than 9.2 discrete channels (although software today doesn't support that many). The speakers are cheapo 2 way RCA 80 watt RMS bookshelf with a tested range of 20kHz to 80Hz and are surprisingly flat across their range. A pair of powered 1000watt Definitive 15's stratigically placed in room nulls deliver the low end and perform with minimal chuffing at peak load.

I spent the better part of last evening re-stretching the carpet. Apparently, the previous homeowner installed the carpet as a DIY and didn't realize that it needed to be stretched and the carpet buckled like mad with crazy peaks. I had to cut 2 Inches off the edges and stretch it in with a rented knee-kicker get it back in and buckle free. What a miserable experience. I am glad that bit is done. Now to cover it all with plastic and start the trim and paint.

Man I am getting really psyched about getting my HT system back up and running. It's been two years now since I have used the system due to parenthood.

 

[quixotic]

Sounds like a great project. With that TV you just got, you'll want a BluRay player, if you don't have 1 yet. You'll want to get some new speakers soon, too. I've got a 5.1 HT setup. My advise would be to spend big on your center channel speaker. That's were the majority of sound comes from for movies. The Def 15 is a nice sub BTW.

 

[zoebisch01]

Ahh carpet sucks big time. I will not own carpet again. It holds dirt (allergens), if water gets through it that is nasty. It breaks down into fuzzy garbage (especially underneath) and if I remember correctly contains lots of VOC's when it comes fresh from the factory.

Sorry for the rant. I feel your pain restretching the carpet. Been there, done that.

That'll be cool with the faux Library thing. I am seriously thinking of starting the 'man cave' this next year. I think I am going to make a quasi-permanent setup for brewing and buy two induction burners so I can go indoors year round and set up an exhaust to outside for the water vapor.

 

[MgMt_Home_Brew]

I have been looking at bluerays and I have been thinking of just getting a PS3. They are about the same price as a player and you can play video games on them.

 

[monty73741]

I personally wouldnt go with paneling...just sheet roock with a wainscoting. It would be the best for resale. If you have the head room, float the floor with 1/2 foam & plywood. that way you can put down either rug or hard wood. It stays warmer in the winter

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

quixotic:

I have personally verified the performance of these speakers with my Real Time Analyser and they literally outperform the majority of the speaker I have worked with. Like I said, they are nearly flat across their range.

I also have a pair of B&W DM604 Series 2's and these little "sats" have a cleaner response than the B&W's. Seriously!

zoebisch01:

The saddest part is that this carpet is relatively new. After pulling the carpet I checked under the pad for dust buidlup, figuring now would be a good time to vacuum, and it was minimal.

MgMt_Home_Brew:

+1. For the price, one might as well get the PS3 and get both worlds but, alas, that will not be me. I have the PS2 and the XBox but rarely play vids. I expect that when my first born is coordinated enough to play video games I break down and buy a more current console.

As for the resolution benifit.... for now I'll just make due with my upsampling Sony DVR. Considering how much has already been, spent coupled with what has yet to be spent, I might send the wife into early labor if I came home with a PS3 or a Blue-Ray.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

I personally wouldnt go with paneling...just sheet roock with a wainscoting. It would be the best for resale. If you have the head room, float the floor with 1/2 foam & plywood. that way you can put down either rug or hard wood. It stays warmer in the winter

I agree. Like I said in my first post this won;t be an actual library panel with a wood body filler. It will be sheetrock in the open fields of the body and will have a similar look as the first photo. I just haven't decided my pattern yet.

And given that this is a media room I actually do not want wood floor as they are too reflective of sound. It's a small room, in what nearly amounts to a perfect cube, meaning that it is an acoustic disaster. I need the carpeting for the absorption. Additionally I plan to use bookcases in the two front corners to house books, magazines, records and DVD's.

Acoustically, the bookcases will act as a bass trap and help temper the peaks of standing waves and smooth out the room response. If need be, I can also fabricate my own acoustic panels to help control any other acoustic anomolies I find when I bring my RTA in. I already know that I will have to address the large closet opening that will act as a point source radiator for late reflections but I need to see how bad it is before I act.

 

[monty73741]

I mean a floor with 1/2 foam with ply down...then carpet....it will be off the floor & it will hold heat better in the room

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

I mean a floor with 1/2 foam with ply down...then carpet....it will be off the floor & it will hold heat better in the room

Ahhh. Sorry I misunderstood. This room is actually very efficient on heating and cooling. To be honest, I have to choke the diffuser down to keep the room from getting too cold or hot. This room is the closest to the HVAC system and has the shortest duct run (underground ) so there is minimal temp loss to the duct runs. The fan noise isn't too bad either but, I may opt to place something over it to mitigate the fan noise from this duct outlet.

Additionally, considering that there is only one very small window and it's double pane glass.

Finally, the RX has a huge terroidal transformer which generates a lot of heat quickly. Enough so, that after a few hours of TV you can litterally feel the impact it has on the room. I once set a thermometer 1 foot above the top of the receiver and got a temp reading of 85*F. I spoke with Yamaha to question how hot it was running and they confirmed that the high temp is normal for that receiver. They actually suggest, unofficially, that you give it a full foot of top clearance to aid in cooling and offcicially suggest that if you rack the unit to use a cooling fan. Insane!

 

[Bobby_M]

I did the same thing throughout the foyer and hallways:

It seems easy enough but making the frames with such small stock takes patience. Do yourself a favor and make a right angle jig out of some MDF and 1x3 stock so you can clamp it together, glue and brad. It goes much easier when you make them on a flat surface, then attach to the wall.

Are you planning on building any high freq absorbtion panels?

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

I did the same thing throughout the foyer and hallways:

It seems easy enough but making the frames with such small stock takes patience. Do yourself a favor and make a right angle jig out of some MDF and 1x3 stock so you can clamp it together, glue and brad. It goes much easier when you make them on a flat surface, then attach to the wall.

Are you planning on building any high freq absorbtion panels?

It's a good look and yes also a lot of work. I went out to the overstock wholesale warhouse we have local and find that I can get the stock for about 25% of what I would spend at Lowes. But the quantity is limited.

After going to that warehouse I am considering just doing a cornice in similar fashion. I am thinking it'll be enough to dress up the room and not cost more than $150.00 in wood. I now plan to have a chair rail and replace the existing bulders stock base with a dressier profile (the original was a basic builders stock K mould)

As for building high frequency absorbers, I am gonna wait on building any kind of panel diffuser or absorber until I have a chance to first listen to the room. If I don't like what I hear I'll pull out the RTA to see what the response looks like. As is, it will be a pretty "live" room but after the overstuffed sofa and ottomans, the bookcases, etc.. go in I don't think the room will sound that bright on the high end. Given the short dimensions to the listening position I also don;t anticipate too much interferance from early reflections either but, I do anticipate I may have to dampen for them.

The main frustration at this point is that the headwall (where the tv goes) is an exterior wall and the left sidewall is also on the exterior. Which means I get to do some drywall work to get the wiring in. Oh well.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Update:

The trim work is progressing slowly. All I have is 2 hours a night to work on this project during the week.

Man, I dunno how I talk myself into these things. I am definitely no carpenter and that alone has slowed this project down considerably. Still have a lot of work to finish and a lot of mistake to make and fix.

 

[Bobby_M]

No argument there. I'm about half way through a 6-month long kitchen remodel.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Fortunately, I am still within my budget.

Biggest stupid mistake so far has been running some crown moulding before I ran some wire on an outside wall. It was late, I wasn't thinking ahead. Dumb mistake. Only two pieces but, I'll have to pull them down and run the wires tonight. I doubt I'll get much else done.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Pictures coming soon.

This project has finally gotten to paint. I started priming last night before it got too late.

/rant

Oooooh. Handnailing let me tell the joys of using the hammer on the nail. Being the anti-carpenter I am I finally produced a perfect coped joint. There is nothing quite like the "joy" that rushes through your body after creating the perfect coped joint only to nail it in place and find that while driving the nail the board shifted a 1/4 of an inch thus destroying what would have been a perfect corner.

There are no less than 22 cope joint in the room and every one of them are effed up in one way or another.

If I ever decide to get ambitious again I am definitely getting myself a nailer.

/rant

Despite my frustration with corners all is looking good, of course 6 tubes of caulk can fix a lot of errs and 3 gallons of primer and 3 gallons (won't use it all, I hope) of flat finish paint can hide a lot of what the caulk could not.

 

[zoebisch01]

It was late, I wasn't thinking ahead. Dumb mistake.

I used to "push" through projects, working into the wee hours. I'd say 90+% of the mistakes occur when I am tired and "pushing".

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

I used to "push" through projects, working into the wee hours. I'd say 90+% of the mistakes occur when I am tired and "pushing".

Amen brother. You've hit the nail perfectly on the thumb. This entire project has taken place between the hour of 10:00pm and 6:00am and the mistake became more frequent as the morning drew in.

On the final day of trimming I found myself at 4:00am cutting the final piece of base board. A simple inside coped corner one end and a splayed end on the other. I measured, marked, measured, and compared.

Finally I cut the piece and go to dry fit. Doh! It's 1 Inch too short. Damn!

Grab a new piece and do it again. Damn! Too short, 1 Inch.

3rd time = fail. By then I am too pissed and just cut a 1 Inch filler figuring it gonna get the putty treatment and a crapload of paint so, who gonna see it anyway, right? Of course, the filler piece cuts perfect the first time (splayed both ends).

The result of being tired and forcing myself to finish that phase.

 

[Damonic]

OMG you didn't use a nailer? For a decent size project they're worth their weight in gold.