510 Cinema Construction Thread - Pics Inside

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[kenallwine]

Well, I thought it would be fun to photo document my construction process of my latest addiction.  Enjoy the pictures and I'll keep adding to this as we continue along.

Master Plan:
At the same time that I am wiring for the Drive Way Theater (DWT), I figure, "Why not wire for back patio sound, garage sound and workshop sound!"  I said, "good idea self! Get to it!  Hence the project has started:

Here is the mastermind and nutty daughter behind the curtain...





Here are some pictures of the screen construction.  I used a so-called "white" canvas tarp from Tarpsplus 8x12 and EMT tubing.  I picked up some connectors and joints from creative shelters to put the whole thing together.  The construction lets me tear down the screen frame to pieces no longer than 6' for easy storage.  The screen is also hung from our banister with the large bicycle hooks to can get a Home Depot.













You have to love wireless internet!!!



Quick shot of the Coke Slides:

[kenallwine]

Here is the start of the heart of the whole system.  I am beginning to build a cabinet for all of the main electronics: Reciever, 5-Disc DVD player, Speaker Selector and what ever else I decide to toss in there.  It will have a framed glass door to finish it off.  The bottom were the reciever is will have a drawer for the reciever for easy access to the back connections.  There are also a few pictures of the wiring I used: 14AWG CL3 speaker wire.











Next are the first set of speakers.  These are a VERY old set of paper 10" Fisher cabinet speakers that I have had since the late 80's.  They are going to pull double duty.  They are going to be both my garage speakers and my rear surround speakers.  To do this I had to figure a way to make it easy to disconnect and remove them without too much trouble.







To make it easy to disconnect, I removed the round spring style connectors and replaced them with a bananna plug style connector from Parts Express.



To make it super simple to get them off the wall, I devised a cool little mounting bracket that works by gravity.  I simply cut a piece of 1/2" MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard) at a 45° angle and the two pieces just nest together.





Once I finish the cabinet for the electronics, I will be building front and center speakers from scratch.  You'll see pictures of this soon I hope.

Well that is it for now.  Now that it is 10:00pm, it is time for me to start working on some of my MBA homework and stop itchin' to get the DWT done!  Time for me to vamoose!

[Sparge]

Ken,

Nice design!  It looks like you've got yourself a very serviceable screen there!  At first I was wondering what kind of folding box you had that would let you store a 10' stick of EMT in a 6' space.   Then I see in later pics that you added some additional connectors.    If I were you I'd simply leave it together and store it fully assembled on another set of bike hooks in the garage.

That's a pretty shameless plug for backyardtheater.com, by the way.  I like it!  

Nice job with the speaker mods, too.  That's a clever bracket.

By the way, I also like the torches.  Ever thought about renaming it the "Tiki Theater"?

-Sparge-

[rfisk]

That's looking GREAT, Ken!  Love the speaker hangers and electronics cabinet!  And that picture of your daughter is classic!  She's gonna love this.

However, I need to send up a flare on your screen hangers.  I'd change them.  I had a bad experience with those very hangers installed that way.  I had them under my upper deck to hang my screen frame on over the winter (yes, I took it down the first year) and both broke.  I think it was because they are designed to be installed screwed UP into something.  Basically, at this angle, instead of just bending, they both broke right at the edge of the wood.  They were brittle and not malleable.  Had they bent, it would have been OK but they didn't.  They snapped.  So I'd suggest changing them to something different OR at least add a couple thick zip ties around the frame and deck rail for backup.  Those would be easy to snip at the end of the night.  But with that adorable little girl running around there you need a better hanger!

Thanks for the BYT plug.  Keep us posted and have a blast!

Randy

[kenallwine]

Thanks for the comments guys!  Randy, thanks for the heads up on the hangers.  I'll have to look into something more heavy duty.

[matt314159]

I love what you've done for the screen!  I'm glad I haven't taken any concrete steps to build mine yet because I think I"m going to take a page out of your book.  Except modify it to use the 10x16 foot tarp for a bigger widescreen experience. 

[fasteddie]

looks great but i really likes the shirt

[dorsalfin]

hey, wow:I think you did a great job,I to like the speaker hangers.

Any time you can have a shrot set up time..you will use it more often.

Let the fun  bbegainn 

[matt314159]

Well that is it for now.  Now that it is 10:00pm, it is time for me to start working on some of my MBA homework and stop itchin' to get the DWT done!  Time for me to vamoose!

Hey I just caught that.  MBA for the win!  I'm in my third year of an 18 month program, how about that!  I'm waiting for one more class to roll around this october in lieu of writing a thesis (yuck!) and then my degree will post. 

By the way I'm pretty sure we're going to copy your design almost to the 'T'  At first I was going to go for a 16'x9' screen, but I'd like to hang this under the eves and the 9' height would make the bottom of the screen almost touch the ground.  8x12 we might be able to do a little better.  Might still be a bit snug but we'll see.  It would be nice to have the 4x3 in some ways since I sometimes take our satellite receiver (standard def) out there for games and TV shows and stuff (LOST on the big screen is AMAZING!). 

If I get a chance tomorrow I might start going around to hardware stores and picking up some of the parts I need to get this thing started. 

Good luck on the MBA program, I know from experience that it's a challenging experience.  And I don't have a daughter to care for!  But it will pay off in the end!

[kenallwine]

My MBA is killing me!  I'm in a Leadership class right now that is rather demanding with papers.  I'm in a 22 month program at Eastern University and I graduate in October!! - Walk in December.

I'm pleased with the screen dimensions for running both 16:9 and 4:3.  Although, maybe next thursday when Gray's and Lost are both new, I might have this set up for a T.V. night!  My only problem is my throw on my projector.  I have an Infocus 26+.  It is super bright but to fill the tarp on 16:9, I have to have the projector back 20 feet or so.  I'm thinking about getting a movable basketball hoop so I can weld some brackets on the tube and get the projector up about 7' so people can sit infront of the projector instead of behind it and really far from the screen.

If you are going to use the same tarp that I have let me know.  I'll take measurements of the pipe cuts that I have and the parts list from Creative Shelters.

[plymouth]

Well Bmac, it looks like our work here is done...

[matt314159]

My MBA is killing me!  I'm in a Leadership class right now that is rather demanding with papers.  I'm in a 22 month program at Eastern University and I graduate in October!! - Walk in December.

I'm pleased with the screen dimensions for running both 16:9 and 4:3.  Although, maybe next thursday when Gray's and Lost are both new, I might have this set up for a T.V. night!  My only problem is my throw on my projector.  I have an Infocus 26+.  It is super bright but to fill the tarp on 16:9, I have to have the projector back 20 feet or so.  I'm thinking about getting a movable basketball hoop so I can weld some brackets on the tube and get the projector up about 7' so people can sit infront of the projector instead of behind it and really far from the screen.

If you are going to use the same tarp that I have let me know.  I'll take measurements of the pipe cuts that I have and the parts list from Creative Shelters.

The hardest class I had paper-wise, was my business ethics course.  My classes were every saturday for six weeks.  You take one class at a time for six weeks, then move to the next class in the rotation.  Anyway in that six weeks I think I wrote about 80 pages worth of papers, it about killed me.  But I found that no matter how hard the class was, everybody always rose to the challenge.  Financial statement analysis was a killer on the brain but there were no papers.   

I'm not sure what tarp I want to get yet, the ones on tarpsplus looked a little steep in their prices, though I have no doubt the quality is great.  I am going to take a look at the texture of the tarps at harbor freight and see if there is anything I like there for cheap.  But I'll let you know if we end up getting the one ordered off the web. 

[kenallwine]

Well Bmac, it looks like our work here is done...

I am now fully committed....or wait should that be: I should be committed!

We are now about 3 weeks from our premiere!

[bmac]

Well Bmac, it looks like our work here is done...

I know my back is thankful that Ken opted for the driveway theater in lieu of the terraced back yard idea, since you volunteered my services to do the shovel work.

Ken, its looking great.  I'm sure you will be pleased.

[matt314159]

Okay after sitting outside staring at the area we're going to use for about a half hour, I've thought of about every possible scenario and I keep coming back around to an 8x12 just about like yours (except I'm going to make it freestanding.  Hanging it from the facia like I thought about would make it too low to the ground)  I was going to do 16x9 but there's a couple of problems with that idea.  1) our seating area is rather cozy compared to some yards.  I think 16x9 would be too big.  2) 8x12 is the threshhold where my projector can hit 12 foot-lamberts of brightness on the screen, and I don't really want to dip below that.

also what size of EMT did you use?