Home Theater Riser

[Dave Fifield]

I have been working on a home theater riser for the back row of seating in my mulitmedia lounge/theater for the past couple of weeks. I spent most of the holiday yesterday on a final push to get it all done, and succeeded.

Although it's not "fine" woodworking, I thought it was worthy of a mention here. Someone may be inspired by the design/construction of it.

Basically, it's built using two layers of frame using 2" x 6" kiln-dried stud, with a 1/4" bottom, 3/4" ply middle layer floor (steps), and Kahr's beech flooring (to match my existing floor) over 3/4" ply on top. All the cavities are filled with high-density un-faced acoustic fiberglass (Johns Manville product (http://www.jm.com/insulation/performance_materials/products/ei14_spinglas_board.pdf)) to stop the structure from causing any unwanted acoustic problems in the room.

My buddy Bill came over last weekend to help me - you can see him in a couple of the photos. In the photo of me standing (proudly) on the finished riser, you can see the nasty gash I got on my shin from one of the clamps we used during the construction. I'm trying a "new" thing - a pdf photo slideshow. Fear not any viruses or trojans....it's a perfectly clean file, I promise. Try it and let me know what you think.

http://www.woodust.com/HTR.jpg

Adobe pdf slideshow is here (http://www.woodust.com/HomeTheaterRiser.pdf) (1.85MB file!).

Cheers,

[Gary Keedwell]

I couldn't get it....it knocked me right off the Creek.:eek:
Gary K.

[Anthony Anderson]

The file worked fine for me. Great Job Dave! I have wanted to build a riser for the second row of seating in our theater room for some time, but SWMBO does not think we need it. But nice job on yours, maybe I can use your pics to convince her. Congrats on a job well done. Regards, Bill

[Bill Villamor]

Great job Dave. The slide show worked for me. It looks like your TV is now too small for the room. You need a TV that matches the magnificence of your home theater riser.

[Dave Fifield]

Thanks Bill. That's exactly what Caroline said.....I couldn't believe it....she wants me to get the BIG screen model.....perhaps I did marry the right woman after all?!

[Mark Engel]

Beautiful job Dave.

Perhaps you should let Dr. House take a look at that shin gash?

[Tim Morton]

very nice....but i don't see any buttkickers?:D

[Dave Fifield]

Very observant Mark! We were watching an old episode of "House" when I snapped the last photo. That show is one of my favorites, even though Hugh Laurie dissed Norm in one episode (something to do with New Yankee Workshop being full of suspense because it's got idiots messing around with power tools!).

[Dave Fifield]

Tim, I have a very respectable buttkicker - a 1200W jobby that matches the Energy speakers. It's on the RHS of the RH main speaker, on the floor. You can't see it in any of the pics. I guess I could have built some more into the riser...... :D

I still have to remove the base board, route some speaker wire channels in the back of it, then replace it and wire in the rear set of speakers either side of the rear seating. I've only had those rear speakers 6 years now, sitting around waiting for me to actually do something with them!

[Bruce Page]

The posted pic looks great Dave but I couldn't open the pdf

[Dave Fifield]

That's odd Bruce. Gary seemed to have a similar problem (above).

What version of Adobe Acrobat do you have installed? It may be time for you to update it. The pdf slideshow was made using version 8.1.0.

If I get time later, I'll post some more individual pictures.

[Mike Heidrick]

No problems opening the pDF here.

Great pictures.

[Mike Heidrick]

When is the projector and sceen coming???

[Chris Padilla]

Nice fun little project, Dave, complete with pics and everything! You realize you built a torsion box, right?! :D

[Tim Morton]

Very observant Mark! We were watching an old episode of "House" when I snapped the last photo. That show is one of my favorites, even Hugh Laurie dissed Norm in one episode (something to do with New Yankee Workshop being full of suspense because it's got idiots messing around with power tools!).

I remember that episode (also consider House to be my favorite show)....i remember thinking what a random reference that was:D

[Tim Morton]

That's odd Bruce. Gary seemed to have a similar problem (above).

What version of Adobe Acrobat do you have installed? It may be time for you to update it. The pdf slideshow was made using version 8.1.0.

If I get time later, I'll post some more individual pictures.

on my mac it opened up in the safari browser...not as a slide show, but in one window and I had to scroll down to see them all. Very nice pictures.

:D

[Dave Fifield]

Nice fun little project, Dave, complete with pics and everything! You realize you built a torsion box, right?! :D

I didn't until you pointed it out Chris. You are correct though...it is indeed a very large (and super-strong) double torsion box design (glued and screwed everywhere). It's too heavy to lift and takes 3 strong guys to push across the floor (I floated it on a whole bunch of those slider thingies so it wouldn't damage the existing floor). It doesn't creak or move at all as you walk on it and is acoustically dead too.

Note that the wood and flooring materials cost almost as much as the 46" LCD TV!! I have to remedy that sometime soon and get a bigger TV....or a projector/screen per Mike's suggestion.

[Jim Becker]

Yup...you need to go large! (Nice job on the room!)

[Dave Fifield]

on my mac it opened up in the safari browser...not as a slide show, but in one window and I had to scroll down to see them all. Very nice pictures.

:D

Same thing on my iPhone Tim....one big long window with the pictures all in line.

[Tim Morton]

Same thing on my iPhone Tim....one big long window with the pictures all in line.


nice hidden "iPhone" gloat....:D

I was just reading about one getting pretty hot and breaking....

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19614050

[Tim Morton]

I didn't until you pointed it out Chris. You are correct though...it is indeed a very large (and super-strong) double torsion box design (glued and screwed everywhere). It's too heavy to lift and takes 3 strong guys to push across the floor (I floated it on a whole bunch of those slider thingies so it wouldn't damage the existing floor). It doesn't creak or move at all as you walk on it and is acoustically dead too.

Note that the wood and flooring materials cost almost as much as the 46" LCD TV!! I have to remedy that sometime soon and get a bigger TV....or a projector/screen per Mike's suggestion.

I vote for the projector in a year or so when 1080p comes down in price

:eek:

[Bruce Page]

What version of Adobe Acrobat do you have installed? It may be time for you to update it. The pdf slideshow was made using version 8.1.0.



It looks like I have 4.0. Time for an upgrade I think...:o

[Dave Fifield]

At least it's a free upgrade Bruce :)

Cheers,

[Bruce Page]

I can see! I can see!
Your setup looks sweet Dave!

[jason lambert]

Nice job, watch that dressor by the left speaker that will kill your first order reflection point and make your sound a bit muffled out of the left speaker, also moce the center to the edge of the glass and pot some vibration dapeners under it (3 hocky pucks work and are cheap). Woodwork looks great.

[Dave Fifield]

Good points Jason. I should apply all my recording studio know-how to my home theatre - my studio went from being an echoy hall sound with a bass hole in the middle to a very nice neutral sounding room with plenty of bass all over after I finished treating it with sound absorbing panels and diffusers etc. I plan to put up some sound absorbing panels into my home theatre sometime in the near future.....all in good time.....the rear speakers aren't even mounted yet!

The drawer unit that you see in the photo is moving to a different room. It's actually part of my son's computer desk area. I may move the main speakers further apart and further into the room also when the desk is gone.

Cheers,