Hello, I have been looking at this wonderful site now for about four months to get ideas for my home theatre! Well its time now!! After getting the wifeys permission I decided to go ahead with my plan. I am a rookie with avs systems. I am not in no rush with getting this theatre done very quicky. I want it done right and time is not of the essence. Me and my father will be doing almost all of the work, he has the brains and knowledge for building this room and I have the strenth. I am looking at a 7.1 surround sound system with a 100 in fixed screen and projector. I will be using my PS3 and apple tv. I will have OTA antenna for the theatre room. The room will be used mostly for movies and sporting events. My ceiling is 8 ft and were the I beam and hvac it is 7 ft. I am looking to have my small av rack, fridge and in wall media storage built into the back wall by the utility room. I just ordered a bunch of wire & cables from Monoprice. Ordered my OTA antenna and amplified signal splitter. I will be placing my lumber order with Home Depot on Monday. I appreciate any feedback, please dont hesitate to tell me I am messing up something. I posted some pictures. Sorry they came out a little blurry I had to use my iphone camera because my oldest daughter took my camera with here to Chicago.

more pictures

Can one of you pros point me in the right direction for reciever and 7.1 surround sound with a budget of $1,000. I was looking at the Onkyo htib HT-S9100THX, but I cant imagine having theses huge speakers hanging on the walls since I am already cramped for space. Any Ideas??

Hello and welcome. If you are looking for suggestions and opinions and help spending your hard earned money you have come to the right place. There are many more talented and experienced people here than I, and I hope they chime in, but I do have a couple of suggestions straight off.

First why have you already "settled" for a 100" image? My room is roughly 13.5 x 20 and I still have not decided for sure what image size I'm going to go with. This could be a good starting point but don't limit yourself. You just may find you could easily go 114"-120" depending on your preferences.

Second unless your using the HVAC/water heater room for storage I would make the room smaller to open up additional real estate for the theater and the media/storage area. Obviously you need to keep to code with clearances and such but you could really gain some extra space reducing the size of that room. Or you could consider flipping the room and the window would not be an issue, but you would have to rework the media storage area, but that should not be a big issue.

Good luck and hopefully someone smarter than I will chime in too.

Regards,

RTROSE

Oh...Regarding your pictures it is much easier to have them hosted by a site such as Photobucket or Flickr and then imbed the image here. Makes looking at photos much easier. It is pretty easy to do and someone here posted an easy "how to" I just can't find it now.

My first response thank you for commenting. I would love to go bigger but I was worried about that I beam and hvac duct work to the top left of my outline with two layers of drywall I would only be at 6'8 from floor to ceiling there. How big do you think I can go? I plan on blacking out the window covering it up with some type of plug that could be removed If I ever sell my house. I talked to an hvac buddy today and he said I need to leave 36 in for furnance and water heater. There is code that goes by btu some crazy math formula he tried telling me over the phone. I had another question about my riser by code floor to duct has to be at least 6'6, I was thinking about it and I guess I might have to do an offset riser to meat code.

Welcome

I took the liberty of hosting your floor plan picture. Many people like to help out but find having to click for pictures a bit too much work.:)

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh35/gregward_album/IMG_0043.jpg

You seem to have a wonderful space here. I especially like the room at the back for equipment. The size is nice, I would have loved an extra 2 feet of width in my theater!

With a riser, some people build it after the fact as a 'removable piece of furniture' to skirt the head height code a little. If you do a split one on both sides (ie, not touching the side walls, you should still be able to hold a couch and have easier assess to your equipment room. You may need to move the door forward so that it can swing with a riser.

With the furnace room being at your back wall (and for other reasons), you'll probably want to give some thought to sound isolation.

Edit: i guess RTROSE and I must be on the same wavelenght tonight (you just edited your post to add picture hosting:p )


Greg

I posted a couple pictures of my problem with screen size because of that ibeam. How do I post the whole picture without having to click on it. Thanks scopeguy for posting that picture for me!!

I plan on using pocket door to take care of my door swing problem.

You have to have a host for the picture. I set up a photobucket account. It's free and will host your pictures. Upload your picture as the large size (640 by 480 resolution). Once your pic is uploaded just place your mouse over the picture, a list of options will come up. Click on IMG code (at the bottom) then come to the post your writing and paste it in.

With a pocket door you have to worry a bit about vibration. I know others have done them, but it can be a problem with heavy bass. Perhaps someone will be able to chime in on how they damped the door?

Good Luck
Greg

I personally think the window will be a bigger issue to contend with than the HVAC/I beam, but here again this is just my opinion.

I second the thought of building the riser as a "piece of furniture" it will give you a lot more flexibility in placement options. This is what I'm planning on doing as well.

Staffy in his build put in a pocket door you can see how he did it here. Clickie (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=15514879&highlight=pocket+door#post15514879).

I'm trying to find the tutorial on hosting pictures for you. Someone will come to my rescue.

Regards,

RTROSE

I've seen it mentioned before that a seating riser is not considered "the floor" for floor to ceiling calculations. Something to think about to conserve headroom is to put a mini riser just under the chair bases. If you do a 2-3 inch mini riser the overall riser can be that much shorter. The result is more headroom when standing.

http://i972.photobucket.com/albums/ae204/kansasrookie/IMG_0052.jpg

I figured out photobucket!! Thanks Scopeguy! Big Mouth I love your theatre Im so glad you decided to comment on my build. I called my city building inspector and they to me I must have 6'6 from ibeam hvac to floor no exceptions. How big of a screen do you guys think I can go? Big Mouth is a 2' or 3' riser high enough to see over the front row?? Thanks in advance!!!

http://i972.photobucket.com/albums/ae204/kansasrookie/IMG_0044.jpg

Aw! And I have the link of the how to. Oh well now at least I can find my own thread now and point others in that direction.

Regards,

RTROSE

BTW having Big on board is a great thing! He brings a lot to the table. Do yourself a favor and probe his knowledge he is WISE!

I called my city building inspector and they to me I must have 6'6 from ibeam hvac to floor no exceptions.


This would be why it's a piece of furniture installed after final inspection;)

You can use the riser height calculator at the top to determine an appropriate height for your room. You may have to move your screen a little higher.

Greg

Thanks to all of you guys so far! I would be lost without this forum!! Any ides on how close I can get my screen to that ibeam in the top left corner???

Hello, can someone please explain to me my hvac concerns with my home theatre? How big of a screen can I go with? I think I am almost certain that I am going with the Epson 6500ub. I am looking at a surround sound system with a budget of $1,000. At least 4 hdmi inputs and video upscalling is a must. Can you guys point me in the right direction?

A 7.1 speaker/sub system AND receiver for $1000 is stretching things very tight.

You might get more responses in the speaker and receiver section of AVS.

Personally, if the budget is tight, then I would buy a quality entry level receiver (like the Onkyo 607 or 707), Pioneer SC5 or 7, etc and buy the front 2 left and right speakers and possibly a center. You can expand out from there.

Just make sure to do you wiring for your 5.1 or 7.1 and you can buy additional equipment as you go.

Likely, your timeline will be extended enough that you can up the budget...or more likely, you'll spend more on the room than you could have possibly guessed AND it will take longer. :D

HVAC concerns: HTs generally generate a LOT of heat - lots of equipment, a projector, people, etc.

You need more than you typical amount of air circulation...especially if you are in a generally hot/humid area. I assume you are in Kansas so this likely will apply you to you.

You also have to think about ductwork and how sound travels in/along ducts to the rest of the house.

This is a complicated question and the answers are out there....start by looking at:

Start here: http://www.soundproofingcompany.com/

Thanks Johnsteph10!!!!

Being a fellow Johnson County resident I will be following your thread to see how it develops. Subscribed!

Hello, can someone please explain to me my hvac concerns with my home theatre? How big of a screen can I go with? I think I am almost certain that I am going with the Epson 6500ub. I am looking at a surround sound system with a budget of $1,000. At least 4 hdmi inputs and video upscalling is a must. Can you guys point me in the right direction?

While the HVAC concerns have already been addressed. I was wondering why your are concerned with the number of HDMI inputs. Really all you need is one and good pre/pro or receiver to do the switching. A good receiver will also do the upconverting. Look for one with a Reon chip, which is generally the best.

Did I miss your ceiling height somewhere?

And BTW, the heat hat people spoke of will be contained in the equipment room. So really the only heat you have to worry about is form the PJ. Out theater, which is about the same dimension as yours, is generally cold, so a little extra heat is welcome and I have all my equipment stored in another room, so there is no heat or sound, which to me is a huge benefit.

As far as equipment goes, try our own AVS classified as there are some good deals on there, or Audiogon/Videogon.

While the HVAC concerns have already been addressed. I was wondering why your are concerned with the number of HDMI inputs. Really all you need is one and good pre/pro or receiver to do the switching. A good receiver will also do the upconverting. Look for one with a Reon chip, which is generally the best.

Did I miss your ceiling height somewhere?

Celing height is 8 ft & under I beam and hvac ductwork 7 ft

Being a fellow Johnson County resident I will be following your thread to see how it develops. Subscribed!
Great to have a fellow Johnson County resident following my theatre!

Off to Home Depot to place my lumber order today. I hope they got some dam strait 2x4x16's. Hopefully UPS delivers some wiring today!!

Off to Home Depot to place my lumber order today. I hope they got some dam strait 2x4x16's. Hopefully UPS delivers some wiring today!!

Don't count on the yard or delivery guys picking straight lumber for you. They just grab x number of boards load them on the truck and happily deliver them to you. Especially with the 2x4x16's the longer the board the more likely it will not be straight.

Having said that I have had pretty good luck with large lumber orders with the majority of the boards in pretty good shape, only having to return a few of them.

Yes I too also long to see delivery trucks pull up to the house. You too will learn to love Monoprice. Great prices, great service, and great products, what is not to like.

Regards,

RTROSE

Went to Home Depot today to order lumber. 180, 2x4x8, 30, 2x4x16. Delivery is scheduled for Wednesday. Finished cleaning up basement. Previous home owners put some indoor outdoor carpeting down there with about a zillion gallons of some type of glue. Then a 2nd trip to Home Depot to get an industrial scrapper to remove this crap! What a joke! My pilot went out on water heater wondering why I noticed the two plastic blue & red rings were melted. Water heater is not venting properly It is dumping into basement. HVAC guy coming tomorrow to fix his screw up when he installed new furnance last month.
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... and another Johnson County resident following your thread - I've Subscribed. It looks good! I have a thought\suggestion..have you considered closing in the media room, flipping the door to the Furnance and moving it all the way to the right next to the wall. Then having another door going from the Furnance room into the media room along the right wall. This would allow you to build your eq rack in the wall facing the theater in the space that is currenly open between the theater and the media room.

Is sound isolation a big concern here? If so the pocket door cannot be in the plans. As well, you'll really have to be careful with that side wall and the stairwell.

Is sound isolation a big concern here? If so the pocket door cannot be in the plans. As well, you'll really have to be careful with that side wall and the stairwell.
I have seen a couple theatres with pocket door. I just dont want to loose another 30' of door swing. Anybody got any suggestions?

... and another Johnson County resident following your thread - I've Subscribed. It looks good! I have a thought\suggestion..have you considered closing in the media room, flipping the door to the Furnance and moving it all the way to the right next to the wall. Then having another door going from the Furnance room into the media room along the right wall. This would allow you to build your eq rack in the wall facing the theater in the space that is currenly open between the theater and the media room. Hello and thanks for following my thread. I read your suggestion and I couldnt figure out what you were saying. Is there any way you could draw on my plan? Thanks!

I have seen a couple theatres with pocket door. I just dont want to loose another 30' of door swing. Anybody got any suggestions?

This has been discussed many times before. It's a reasonable thing to consider. There are many reasons not to do this if sound isolation is a concern. The big reasons:

The doors are impossible to seal to any acoustic standard. This includes the doors themselves as well as the holes they reside in.

The pockets where the doors reside when open are hollow walls, essentially.

Pocket doors are convenient, and many use them, but sound isolation suffers greatly. We recommend that if a person needs pocket doors to not spend the time and energy on other heavy soundproofing efforts.

This has been discussed many times before. It's a reasonable thing to consider. There are many reasons not to do this if sound isolation is a concern. The big reasons:

The doors are impossible to seal to any acoustic standard. This includes the doors themselves as well as the holes they reside in.

The pockets where the doors reside when open are hollow walls, essentially.

Pocket doors are convenient, and many use them, but sound isolation suffers greatly. We recommend that if a person needs pocket doors to not spend the time and energy on other heavy soundproofing efforts.
I was thinking about having the theatre room entrance door open open out the the rec room instead of opening into the room, but I am pretty sure that it is against code to have a door open out. I MIGHT SCRAP THE WHOLE POCKET DOOR IDEA!

I was thinking about having the theatre room entrance door open open out the the rec room instead of opening into the room, but I am pretty sure that it is against code to have a door open out. I MIGHT SCRAP THE WHOLE POCKET DOOR IDEA!

In a panic situation (I believe this more refers to main building entrances and commercial structures) the doors open out, allowing people to push the door open and run like crazy.

Scrapping the pocket door is a great idea.

I was thinking something like this. The front of the rack would be accessable from the Theater.

http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww32/dk-customs/IMG_0044-chg.jpg

This is just my opinion, of course, but I would flip the whole room 180 degrees. The screen could be larger (if you want it larger) because you wouldn't have to deal with the window. Also, the window end of the room seems perfect for a built in riser. The door could be right at the bottom of the stairs, and swing in to the left, so it swings up against the wall. The only downside I see is the increased distance between your equipment and your projector.

kmenz is right. also why both segmenting the media storage room from the unfinished utility room. Just make it one big room, and I'd face the cabinent like DK said too.

I finished loading the lumber into the basement last night. I am going to pick up my Dad on Sunday to give me a hand with framing. http://i972.photobucket.com/albums/ae204/kansasrookie/P2260001.jpg

Why does the theater entrance door have to be centered right at the middle of the room where it would be in the way? It would make more sense to put it at the back right corner w/ the door swinging towards the wall. Similiar to the furnace room door.

Hi guys does anybody have any idea how much an egress window would cost?

Hi guys does anybody have any idea how much an egress window would cost?

http://www.servicemagic.com/article.show.Pros-Costs-and-Cons-Egress-Windows.16003.html

Being a fellow Johnson County resident I will be following your thread to see how it develops. Subscribed!

Ditto! I'm working on my basement right now as well.

I will start some room construction tomorrow. I have a question maybe someone can help me out. Is it possible to send video to two different rooms. Example If I was watching a blue ray movie in my home theatre can I also watch it in my rec room at the same time in 1080p? NFL is comming up and was wondering if I can watch multiple games in rec room and home theatre? And will the AVR be able to send different audio? Thanks

Yes you can. Most AVRs have a zone 2 output that can be set to whatever input you like, including the one you are using in the same room. Or if you always want to watch the same thing on the home theater and the rec room, you could just get an HDMI splitter. It should send audio your TV can use.

Greg

Yes you can. Most AVRs have a zone 2 output that can be set to whatever input you like, including the one you are using in the same room. Or if you always want to watch the same thing on the home theater and the rec room, you could just get an HDMI splitter. It should send audio your TV can use.

Greg
Thanks! Do you loose any image and audio quality by using an hdmi splitter?

In regards to your AVR question there is actually several answers. AVR's vary in their features and how they distribute 2nd zone video. Some AVR's can only send the video to the 2nd zone via a composite cable, some component, unless there is a new AVR I'm not aware of there is not one who has a 2nd zone HDMI. There are AVR's that have two HDMI outs, but as far as I know it is the same signal on both HDMI outs. You also have to be aware of how the signal is sent to the AVR. Some can upconvert from say composite to HDMI but some maybe not any will take HDMI and down convert to component or composite. Most of your higher end AVR's have upconvert and analog to digital conversion.

Some AVR's that have a lot of features are Denon 4308CI Yamaha 2200/3900, and the higher end Onkyo's 906/876.

It all depends on your budget. Hopefully I have not confused you further and the short answer is yes you can have video in two zones it all depends on how you want to do it and what you want to spend.

Regards,

RTROSE

I will spending alot of the day redirecting alot of pipes and waterlines to run threw the joist. Depending on what my dad says about the window I might be adding an egress window. Any tips or insight?http://i972.photobucket.com/albums/ae204/kansasrookie/P2280001.jpghttp://i972.photobucket.com/albums/ae204/kansasrookie/P2280003-1.jpghttp://i972.photobucket.com/albums/ae204/kansasrookie/P2280004.jpghttp://i972.photobucket.com/albums/ae204/kansasrookie/P2280005.jpg

Regarding the egress window let me say this. I did not do one mainly due to the layout of my basement and budget constraints. They are a excellent idea and typically required by code if there is a bedroom located in the basement. If your budget allows I would highly recommend putting one in. I do have an interconnected system of smoke detectors on all floors of my home, if one goes off they all go off and the stairs are very accessible from all areas of my basement. An egress window may be a project I put in at a later time.

Regards,

RTROSE

I started working on the basement this past Sunday! I started on the framing. I need to make four sofits. I finished 1 sofit and layed out all the walls. All of the base plates and top plates are all cut to size. That was the hard part the builder of this house chopped up the whole basement. The builder ran everything under the joist instead of through the joist. I also decided to add a half bath. Actually my wife decided for me to add a half bath. I guess that means busting through concrete!

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Does anybody have any suggestions on light that can be controlled with Harmony remote? Something cheaper than the Lutron Grafic eye. I like the Grafic Eye I just cant seem to justify spending $500 on it. Any suggestions?

I will start some room construction tomorrow. I have a question maybe someone can help me out. Is it possible to send video to two different rooms. Example If I was watching a blue ray movie in my home theatre can I also watch it in my rec room at the same time in 1080p? NFL is comming up and was wondering if I can watch multiple games in rec room and home theatre? And will the AVR be able to send different audio? Thanks

There might be others, but you really should look at the Pioneer SC-07 that is at closeout sale right now from several online vendords. You can do the following

1) Two HDMI that are active at once (watch out for receivers that say two HDMI but only one can be active at once like Marantz at least lower end)
2) You can have component out for a 2nd zone with a different signal...so if you had two cable boxes you can run them both through the receiver

Can't discuss street pricing so look it up on amazon or something. This probably pushes your budget a little above limit, but wanted to at least make you aware.

Any updates?