I am about to start framing. I will have 3 columns on each side wall and 2 on the rear wall. My speakers are not in the columns, but they will have sconces on them.

I do not plan on building out the columns with wood, they will be painted. To me it just seems easier to go ahead and frame them and let my drywall crew wrap with drywall.

Most photos I have seen on this sight show eveyone building with MDF after drywall, even if they are just for sconces, no speakers. Am I missing something?

Couple of thoughts. Building the columns after makes it easier to convert the room to other uses at a future date. Not having the sconce electrical boxes penetrate the wall offers more sound control.

The one's that I've seen usually do this for a few reasons....I'm not an expert but have been doing my fair share of reading.

Most that I've seen are soundproofing the room with DD/GG, clips etc.. It is much easier with a rectangular/square room.

Then most use a soffit as a conduit for the wiring to the columns where receptacles and speakers are mounted. Some of the colums are used for acoustical means as well, which can't be done when sheetrocked.

The idea is that you don't want many holes in your soundproof "aquarium".

If you are not worrying about sound proofing then I would think you'd be fine.

In most of the builds, it seems that they are trying to isolate the room (sound wise) from other rooms in the house... it just seems easier to finish the room with r-clips, z channel, double drywall, and green glue in one long uninterupted wall. Than to build and wrap with drywall... I have also seen that a good portion of builds finish the room before they put up soffits...
I on the other hand am doing like you. I built my soffits into the wall and then will wrap them with a thin layer of wood and drywall. I don’t see a downfall to doing it this way. I would only suggest that you insulate the columns so that they do not become a sort of bass drum if you will. I will be placing fiber glass batts in my soffits to not only silence the boom of any excess bass but to keep the sound of draining water to a minimum in the theater.. Soffits cover the waste drain for the house.

IMHO I can't see why you couldn’t build them into the wall to be dry walled over...

Max

I would only bother building columns if during the pre-drywall framing process if I have to hide certain things like Structure posts, waste or water pipes that are sticking out of the frame level. I had to build two columns this way but I also built them where I can house my Klipsch RS-62 speakers as well, so I hit two birds in one stone in a sense.

But if you dont have to hide anything and you dont need to store/shelve anything heavy like speakers in these columns, I would only build them after the drywall....make them nice and light....if they are only supporting wall sconces, you might be able to just buy ones that are ready made...just make sure to wire your sconces through the walls where the columns will eventually go.

My advice, is when it comes to framing...if you dont HAVE to do it, then dont bother with it...especially with non-structural and load-bearing columns, it was hard enough to get them level and plum with the soffits...it took me like 6 hours to build two 25"W x 12"D X84"H columns...and I had to spend another hour or more doing some final adjustments to where they looked really good.

The reason that I wanted to drywall is that I have 10 foot ceilings and I am just going to paint the columns. If I built with MDF, they only come in 4x8. Drywall would provide a clean look top to bottom.

You should be able to find 4 x 10 and 5 x 10 MDF.

The reason that I wanted to drywall is that I have 10 foot ceilings and I am just going to paint the columns. If I built with MDF, they only come in 4x8. Drywall would provide a clean look top to bottom.

10 foot ceiling in your HT? you suck!!!! :) You can still find MDF that long...but hey if you are up to the challendge of framing/building 10 ft columns then go for it dude.

Put up some pretty pictures, it sounds like you're gonna have a really nice set up. Best of luck