Home Theater - 01

Introduction:

I’m a guy.  And as a guy, I like electronic toys.  For the last 20 years of my life, I’ve always desired to have a multi-channel home theater setup.  I wanted something that not only sounded great, but it also had to be near invisible/stealth. 

After waiting years for our older TV to die and some meticulous planning, I got the chance to start putting nose to grindstone and make things happen.

(Side note:  The home we bought actually came with a home theater setup.  Sort of.  It came with a movie screen mounted to some molding that could be stored away when not in use.  I chose not to purchase their movie projector when we were offered it during the home sale.  The room is away from the rest of the house and it’s awkwardly shaped… it just wouldn’t work.)

 

The Plan:

The plan is simple.  I want to mount the TV to the fireplace.  I want to build some kind of column like contraption and mount some speakers in them.  I want to lower the mantel to the legal limit by fire code, and install some more speakers in it.  I want to create some window high cabinetry that is our equipment storage, subwoofer(s), and miscellaneous storage.  All in all, it’d have 9 discreet audio channels and 1 subwoofer channel.  A true home theater.  And most importantly, it’d all be stealth.

The project will have essentially 4 main milestones:

-  Build, assemble, and install the back board for the fireplace.

-  Build the left and right towers for the speakers/storage, and install them onto the back board.

-  Build the mantel for the speakers, and install it onto the back board.

-  Build the entertainment cabinets.

 

Here is the configuration of the fireplace.  The fireplace is centered on the far wall, surrounded by windows.  There are windows along the right wall, and a solid wall on the left.

The mantel is so high, that it would put the TV at break neck heights.  No good, so I ensured what the minimum fire/build code for the mantel height could be as part of my design.

Home Theater - 02

April 6^th, 2012.  Day one.  I’ve spent the entire day building this.  Some parts are only for support at this stage and will go away, but you get the idea.

 

Here, I am sanding and filling all the joints that exist.  I planned well in advance that all the seams would be hidden.  In this case, the barely visible seam will be hidden by the mantel itself, once it’s installed.

The two square holes in the back board will be my media and power cable ports.

 

At this stage I have applied a coat of Killz Primer and fit the TV mounting provisions.  These provisions did not stay long however, as they did not provide the necessary TV tilt function that is required to watch 3D TV.  Not something we do a lot of, but you just never know.  This was one item on the list that was not planned for.

 

Nothing like a few coats of paint to glossy it up.  I went with an untinted gloss white.

Unplanned:  I thought it’d be a good idea to prime with KILLZ and paint with a foam brush to get the high gloss latex as smooth and streak free as possible.  Well, it didn’t go on smooth or streak free.  I need to try something else.