Screening Room Construction Begins

(Originally published January 29, 2007 )

After many years of planning and reading of posts on the AV forums, construction had finally begun on the Bungalow Films Screening Room. Dennis Erskine, a professional theater and acoustic designer, designed the theater for me a year and a half ago and it has taken a while to get the project going. The screening room is part of a larger addition to my house so there are (unfortunately) a lot of other concerns that often take precidence over the theater. The theater is being built in what once was a smaller bedroom measuring only 10 feet-8 inches by 13 feet-4 inches. Based on Dennis's acoustic calculations and recommendations the room was expanded to 13 feet by 21 feet, the extra width being taken out of the adjacient living room and the extra length being part of the all new add-on to the house. The existing bedroom had a closet which will be used for the AV equipment and DVD storage.

My intention is to use the theater, not only to watch movies, but as a screening room for my work as a visual effects supervisor. With this in mind, the screening room is adjacient to a new production office space and digital work being done on the computers there will be able to fed into the screening room for projection and evaluation.

My current equipment roster is as follows:

B&K AVR507 AV Receiver
B&K Reference 200.5 Amplifier
Arcam DV78 DVD Player
Cinea SV300 DVD Player
Front L&R Speakers = Thiel CS2.4
Center Speaker = Thiel MCS
Surrounds = Thiel PCS
Misubishi HS-U748 VCR
Tivo Series 2
Hughes DirecTV HD Satillite Receiver
Xbox
Monster HTS 5100 Mk2 Power Center
Transparent Audio Speaker Cable

I am intending to add another B&K 2 Amplifier unit when I go to 7.1.

The Thiel PCS surround will be replaced with in-wall speakers, probably Triad Silvers and the Thiel PCSs moved into my office for listening to music.

The screen will be 100 inch horizontal, 1:2.35 CIH (Constant Image Height), probably home built.

I have not settled on a projector yet though I am seriously considering both the Runco 610 and the Dwin Transvision 4, plus probably the Panamorph anamorphic lens.