Building the wall for the electronics

The rest of the molding originally at the edge of the risers has been removed (pile left foreground) and the tools and wood for the false wall upon which electronics will be mounted has been hauled up. The big orange hose is for the pneumatic nail gun.

The wall has to be set out from the original wall by almost a foot to clear the two conduits in the middle of the back wall as well as a column on the side wall which is just out of the picture to the left.

Several very short stud walls will be attached with masonry anchors perpendicular to the existing walls, and the new wall will then be attached to these. (There is probably a fancy term for such a construction, but I do not know what it is, so I will call them anchor walls.)


John Elsea mounting the first of the short anchor walls.

The first section of wall in place.

The stud walls will be sheathed with 3/4" plywood upon which the approximately 150 circuit boards which generate and process the sounds will be mounted. Currently, all of the electronics are mounted in a large cabinet with four levels (see photos of relocation work), making access for tuning and maintanence somewhat inconvenient. With the new mounting, all boards will be easily accessible.

Power will be routed from a breaker box in the projection room (soon to be shop) which is out of the frame to the right. The existing junction box visible behind and near the top of the new wall leads via conduit directly to the breaker box. From there, power will be distributed to several outlets located along the bottom of the wall.

Another view of the first wall section. The apparent bowing of the studs is actually due to the wide-angle lens on the camera distorting the perspective.

Anchor walls in place.

Next two wall sections ready to install.

Next two wall sections mounted.

The stud wall is complete.

The completed stud wall as viewed from the auditorium. The picture is rather fuzzy due to insufficient light, and being too far away for the little built-in flash to be effective.

Utility boxes for AC power are being mounted close together so a plug will never be far away. It is unclear at this stage what the future holds, so more are being mounted than are needed.

The outlet box at the end of the wall will be for the main audio amplifiers which will be in a cabinet just out of the photo to the left.


Most of the 3/4" sheathing in place.



All of the sheathing in place.


Flat Black!



Carpet installed. The uncovered floor next to the wall will have barrier strips to connect the old console cables to the new generator cables. Eventually there will be sliding plexiglass doors covering the entire wall for protection of the circuitry, yet allowing easy access for tuning and maintainance.



This page last updated at 1:52 PM on Mon, Apr 23, 2007
CHORD site maintained by Dr. William Park. Please address comments or suggestions to parkw@ces.clemson.edu