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Rustin’s Home Theater Project

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This is a quickly thrown together document that shows the story of my home system. Expect it to change over time.

(Revised 2005-12-27)

Ancient History

A long time ago in a basement far away from where I live now, I put together a bed sheet, a 6-inch converging lens, a mirror, a 10-inch green NTSC computer monitor, a VCR and a various pieces of wood to make my own projector. I don’t have any pictures but the thing but it projected a green image of the video on the sheet that was 8 feet wide and visible in an extremely darkened room. It wasn’t very watchable but it convinced me that I might some day find a way to make it work.

The Projector

I spent some time searching Ebay , reading AVS Forum , studying Curt Palme’s Web Site, and elsewhere to develop a grip on what makes sense to do if I want a projector based home theater. I have four young kids which makes it logistically impossible to take the family to the movies and enjoy it. My wife and I decided to bring the theater to our family instead. We were also bound by the constraints of a very limited budget which is what prompted our creativity.

After considerable looking I decided to spend $600 plus about $70 shipping and handling for a working Ampro 2000 CRT projector and its controller. I decided to buy a CRT model because I wanted real blackness when things are supposed to be black, not the grays that you get from LCD/DLP systems. (Contrast!!!) The other reason was that tubes fail more gracefully (and possibly cheaply) than Lamps. I wasn’t intimidated by the challenge of converging the lenses. When the unit arrived, a friend of mine (Thanks Brian) helped me haul the unit to the ceiling when we mounted it. As some may know, many adult humans don’t ever reach the weight of these projectors. I had discovered that regular hardware store eyebolts worked in the threaded mounting holes. I drilled holes in the floor joists and put heavy duty threaded rods through them and the eyebolts (already attached to the projector). Nuts and washers secured the rods and eyebolts in place. Here is the unit installed in its home. (Click on the picture for more detail). A threaded rod and some of the eye bolts are visible.

The Screen

With the projector installed, we needed a screen. With 4 young kids playing in the basement, it was vital that the screen be inexpensive so I wouldn’t cry if/when one of my kids put a wet sucker up against it. My wife knew that you could buy muslin for quilts at Walmart that came in bolts that were 10 feet wide. That provided a large enough seamless area to work with. The dimensions of the room allowed for a 10-foot diagonal image and the projector had already been mounted in the right place for that to work. We went to the local home improvement store and picked up 4 10-foot long 2-inch wide PVC pipes and 4 90 degree elbows. We also found snap-on pipe hangers for 2-inch PVC pipes. We built the frame in the basement, and cut the fabric with about a 1-foot overlap all the way around. My wife then spent hours putting grommets in around the perimeter. We then tightened the whole thing up with nylon rope. We used a symmetrical pattern involving many diagonal and crossing runs, resembling the back of a corset.

Here’s the screen in its mounted location.

Here is a picture of an elbow joint in the corner showing through the fabric.

These pictures illustrate the path that our ropes went to make a nice tight and smooth surface in the front.

The whole screen is hung from the ceiling using these pipe hangers. They were manufactured to hold up 2-inch PVC pipes. The fabric snaps right in with the pipe.

As of yet we still haven’t painted the screen. So far we haven’t been inclined to do so. Right now we could easily take it apart and throw the screen in the washer/dryer (minus the pipes and rope. J) if we need to. Sometimes a ball or something else hits the screen and ripples are formed. They are easy to fix with a strategically chosen pull at the perimeter. (no further rope tightening necessary) For the last 18 months the screen setup has been working very well.

The Sound System

I already had two Onkyo M-504 power amplifiers, 2 Boston Acoustic tower speakers, (shown above) and numerous cast metal Radio Shack Optimus speakers that make humble but effective surround speakers. I long since had run out of patience with integrated receivers and didn’t want to buy another one. Instead, I hooked up to the amplifiers to the sound card of a computer that I had dedicated to the task. Initially it was only 4 channels. Later I added another M-504, center speakers, and a dual 10 inch auto subwoofer that a friend gave me. (Thanks Charles) I also purchased a Soundblaster 6 channel THX soundcard to drive the whole setup. If you look at the picture, under the ugly furniture, you will see modular 1 foot tumbling mats. These are not only great for making the floor safe for kids to play on. They also provide a nice path for speaker wires. (Please don’t let this inspire you to run AC power cords under them though) The subwoofer, shown below, blasts downward and is supported by huge fenderbolts used as legs. The bolts are installed in 4 holes drilled in its face and tightened in place with washers and nuts. Explosions in films now feel like explosions.

The Computer and Rack

I could probably write a book about the electronics behind this system but I’ll try to keep it brief.

Illustrated below, you will see my homemade rack that stores all the precious electronics. I got tired of stacking equipment and having stuff come unplugged all the time. The main structure of the rack is two rectangles made of 4x4 lumber bolted tightly together. They are sandwiched between two tall sheets of plywood. Metal wheels are bolted to the bottom rectangle so I can move it around. Regular closet shelf mounting hardware is used inside to support the numerous shelves. Notches in the shelves serve as wire paths. I have a collection power strips sitting up on top, inside the upper 4x4 rectangle. All wires that connect this monstrosity to the world are bundled together and come out the top. I keep about 6 feet of bundled wire free to allow for mobility. The crossing metal reinforcements were needed for stability. They are actually screen door supports.

The computer is the only beige thing that you see below in the rack. It has the appearance of an old Gateway 133 Mhz Pentium machine but don’t let that fool you. I put a new ASUS motherboard in supporting a 2.4 GHz Celeron. It has 512 Megs of RAM and two DVD drives. Inside you would find the Soundblaster Audigy THX soundcard, an ATI All-In-Wonder video card, & an ATI HDTV card.

Other items are hooked into the computer like an old Laserdisc player, Satellite Reciever, VCR, Audio Cassete Player, and a Record Player via a switch. After I got all this together it has actually been very low maintenance.

The Wiring & Other Stuff

The Rack is on the opposite end of the basement from the Projector Screen. This means lots of long wires. The setup basically has a wiring harness that starts at the rack and runs along the central I-beam with wires pealing off for power, signal, & speakers. At its fattest the bundle is about 2 inches thick. J This setup is great when you want to enjoy a movie but don’t want physical access to the sensitive equipment in the rack. It’s behind a locked door to keep the setup kid friendly. There was one problem that needed to be overcome, controlling the system. I tried running 50ft mouse and keyboard wires (PS/2) and placing them on a stand next to one of the chairs but that led to a lot of trouble. I tried a cheap $30 wireless keyboard but it didn’t have enough range. Eventually after reading various reviews, I discovered the keyboard illustrated below. It’s called the “Long Ranger” made by Grandtech. This thing has the needed range so that its receiver can be located anywhere in the basement and still get signal from the keyboard. It also has an integrated pointing device so I don’t need a mouse or trackball.

The Result

My investment of equipment and effort has resulted in a flexible, reliable, and relatively easy to use home theater. I have a 10 foot screen that displays all the details that a DVD can provide and an audio system that packs a wallop. I can sit in the couch and use the machine like a computer. My kids have been known to play the Lego Star Wars PC game as a group in the room. We also study spelling words while typing in the letters. Things still aren’t perfect but they are pretty good. I generally end up running the system at 800x600 even though I can do 1024x768. The 7 inch tubes of the projector are hard to get 1024x768 out of, but it is great for DVDs. And my black skies are as black as a coal mine while I still have good brightness. I already have good light control in place. The only screaming problem to face is that the ceiling and cabinets of the room are white. If they were matte black that would be better for the contrast. My wife thinks I should visit the local chapter of “Tweakers Anonymous” because I keep wanting to adjust brightness, contrast, the sound, or the projector. Overall I’m rather happy with how the project has gone. I’m glad I didn’t have to pay for the project all at once. This is a picture of the screen showing an image of one of my favorite videos. (Wallace & Gromit – The First Three Adventures)

If you have any questions or comments that you want to fling my way please write to rustin@foxpup.com