Which is first: Test, Measure, Purchase, or Guess?

bpape · « **Reply #40 on:** 21 Nov 2008, 09:11 pm »

Quote from: nathanm on 21 Nov 2008, 08:53 pm

I thought they looked quite "finished" when I saw them. I actually thought they were covered in fabric at first. If this image is in fact closer to what the color actually is then I really like the combination of the forest green walls and the yellow fiberglass texture. If you had wood frames to match the wood trim of the windows and just the bare panels, I dunno, call me crazy but that would look really good. I suppose you want some kind of covering to contain the fibers, though. Hmmm.

While I agree purely from a 'color' standpoint, the last thing you want in a home theater space is lighter colors - especially there where lighting from the back would reflect off of them and wash out the screen. I'd vote for a darker color.

Bryan

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #41 on:** 21 Nov 2008, 09:21 pm »

No Nathan, there's no green in there at all. The walls are a medium/dark(ish) flat gray. The yellow panels are the bare Owens raw material color, which by the way, isn't as attractive in person as the photo. I'll be covering the material mainly for cosmetic reasons, but having uncovered insulation covering the walls isn't good with children. With exposed material, I'd have little finger holes poked in all the panels.

As I mentioned earlier, the photo was taken without much regard for color accuracy. With dimmable lighting, it takes a while to get an accurate reprosentation of the walls. With the cameras flash on, they're a bright weird blue for some reason. Having both of my camera tripods holding up the rear panels, I wasn't going to dilly dally around with photography. I just wanted photos of the panels.

These are the most accurate wall color photos I have (depending on ambient lighting levels:

Doug - Thanks for the link on the burlap. I've thought about the burlap but hadn't spent any time sourcing it. Being lazy, I was just going to go with the standard black speaker grill fabric. I'll check that out, thank you very much.

Bob

nathanm · « **Reply #42 on:** 21 Nov 2008, 09:32 pm »

Wow cool, you've captured a picture of the human center channel leprechaun behind the screen who does commentary tracks on DVD movies! I always wondered how that worked. Sweet!

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #43 on:** 21 Nov 2008, 10:14 pm »

Now you know my day job.....I'm also the guy with "the famous voice" advertising movie trailers.

Bob

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #44 on:** 23 Nov 2008, 01:18 am »

Today's accomplishments........

The 4" thick panels are in 5" thick frames (with holes), hanging 2" from the rear wall.
The pretty covering comes later. The bass trap in the corner on the camera tripod is temporary.

Vinyl-Addict · « **Reply #45 on:** 23 Nov 2008, 09:37 pm »

Nice job Bob!!..... and way to go getting your money's worth out of that holesaw.

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #46 on:** 24 Nov 2008, 03:51 pm »

Yes I did. And that's not just 43 holes, that's 43 holes that have a 1/4" roundover ....on both sides.
So I got my monies worth out of the router too. aa

Thanks for the complement VA!

Bob

nathanm · « **Reply #47 on:** 24 Nov 2008, 04:33 pm »

My arm got tired just looking at all those holes!

Is there a reason why they aren't centered, though?

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #48 on:** 24 Nov 2008, 05:40 pm »

The drill press and 2 1/4" hole saw came in handy. The arm wasn't too worn out. Doing it without a drill press would have sucked BIG time.

Eventually, I'll paint the frames and wrap the panels individually as opposed to wrapping the entire unit. I think it will have more visual appeal this way. To date, I've not done anything the easy way. I figure if it's a big pain in the butt, then the end result will look better than if I take the easy way out and make it look cheap and cheesy.
When the panels get wrapped, the back side (against the wall) will undoubtedly look like crap. I wanted the frame to extend further back than the panels to help hide the ugly back side. The panels are 4" thick, the frame is 5" thick, the entire unit will sit one or two inches from the wall creating an open air cavity that's two of three inches in depth. With the possibility someone could see behind it I made frame extending beyond the panels.

At least this seemed to be the best way to do it?

It took a Helluva lot longer to build this than I originally thought it would, so this is the only one I've gotten assembled.
The design of others will match this one, just smaller.

Bob

EDIT: By the way Nathan, the above photo is a realistic color for the walls.

oneinthepipe · « **Reply #49 on:** 25 Nov 2008, 04:28 am »

Looks really good, Bob. You have mastered the wood frame, undoubtedly. You will have some excellent absorption. Since you have woodworking capacity, you might also consider some diffusers. I think that you room is large enough that it might have enough benefit, but perhaps someone more knowledgeable will comment about diffusion.

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #50 on:** 25 Nov 2008, 05:05 pm »

Thank you for the complement Mr. Pipe!
I've had a couple 'little birdies' mention diffusion in my room.
I'd be very interested in hearing thoughts from the pros.
If memory serves, Bryan mentioned diffusion on the front wall (remember, this is open baffle), but it was in passing as he and I mainly concentrated on absorption discussion.

Bob

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #51 on:** 28 Nov 2008, 02:18 pm »

Color me Amazed.
As I sit here at my PC this morning, centered between the speakers at the back of the room underneath the new (massive) panel listening to Holly Coles self titled release I keep looking at the receiver to see if I've inadvertently switched on the rear surround channels.

How can I be hearing musical instruments above and behind my head (coincidentally right where the rear surrounds are located).
This is cool. aa
I may never leave my chair.

Despite the fact my 19" monitor is blocking the soundstage, the imaging and "pseudo surround" I'm hearing now is fantastic.

Bob

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #52 on:** 28 Nov 2008, 07:36 pm »

384 holes, including the panel I made last weekend.

Off to the router table to smooth the holes...........

satfrat · « **Reply #53 on:** 28 Nov 2008, 08:19 pm »

Quote from: Bob in St. Louis on 28 Nov 2008, 07:36 pm

384 holes, including the panel I made last weekend.

Off to the router table to smooth the holes...........

I dunno Bob, that's a lot of holes you got in your system.

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #54 on:** 29 Nov 2008, 02:40 pm »

HAHA. Very funny Robin.

Anybody still wanna see pictures?

The sawdust stage is over.
Assembled and ready for covering:

TomW16 · « **Reply #55 on:** 29 Nov 2008, 04:22 pm »

We LOVE pictures. Looks great Bob!

TomS · « **Reply #56 on:** 29 Nov 2008, 04:24 pm »

Bob,

Don't put that saw away just yet... Pretty soon, you're going to need some all wood diffusers too

Great job on these - they look great!

Tom

satfrat · « **Reply #57 on:** 29 Nov 2008, 04:47 pm »

I can't wait to see an undated picture of the room with all that panel trim in place Bob.

That was a very inventive way to dress up all those panels.

Cheers,
Robin

John Casler · « **Reply #58 on:** 29 Nov 2008, 04:57 pm »

I hear "Albert Hall" is looking for holes

Only if you're over 40 will you get that one.

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #59 on:** 29 Nov 2008, 05:08 pm »

Yip, I'll need some diffusion, but that's another day.

John, That's funny!! In fact, one of the fellas on the Hawthorne forum made the same comment about Albert Hall.

You guys are as "full of it" as they come.

Thanks for the complements fellas.

It's the same photo, but one doesn't use flash on the camera, which makes the black speaker grill material look brown

) and the other uses flash, which is a realistic color depiction of the panel, but a VERY unrealistic wall color.

I may need to ask the Eye-Fidelity folks what's going on.
Oh well.

Alright, here we go:
Notice the two different colors; One for the frame, the other for the panel:
{NOTE: Please ignore the left side of the frame is bowing out, I'll fix that later.}

^ Wrong wall color, correct panel color.

^ Correct wall color, incorrect panel color.