Home Theater – Part 6

Since my last post, we’ve been hard at work on the platform almost every day.  David added a 2×6 to the inside of the platform to mount the Buttkicker on.  This played a big role in the design of the platform as we want as much of the vibration to transfer to the seats as possible.

It is plugged into a speaker wire that runs to an amplifier, connected to the subwoofer output on the a/v receiver.  We also added furniture feet to the bottom of the platform to lift it off the floor and minimize the amount of vibration lost that way – no pics of that 🙁

Next, I began adding trim to give the platform a more finished look.  I debated on whether to put anything along the bottom since I figured the carpet would cover the plywood edge.  I finally decided to go for it and I’m glad I did.  I used a small board that looks like a “mini” baseboard.

I covered the corners with trim pieces to cover the gaps in the plywood.

Then, I got fancy.  I added some chair rail molding to the sides and back.  I decided to make it a little more difficult for myself and went with octagons instead of plain squares.

One on each side and three across the back.  It wasn’t necessary, but it adds a lot!

The whole thing was then painted with Behr Marquee Magnet to match the walls.

Once the paint was dry, David was able to run the LED strip lights we had ordered.

It took four 16.5′ strands to cover all the edges.

We did not connect them all to each other, so we had some issues getting them to all stay in sync.  We ended up using an IR repeater which is connected to each strand of lights.  The IR receiver will be mounted near the left side step, almost out of sight.  Once the plywood floor was attached, all this wiring would be inaccessible, so we needed to make sure everything was going to work.

To Be Continued . . .