1. I'm thinking of putting new carpet in my basement. Is it a bad Idea to put the speaker wire under the carpet?

2. Acoustics: I have no clue what I'm doing. What should I do to improve the sound in my room? Please see post below for room and equipment details.

3. I'm thinking of building a screen out of Wilsonart Designer white. I haven't been satisfied with my paint solution. The wall is too imperfect. Anyone know a cheap place to get the Designer white in Canada?

4. I bought potlights to replace the flourescents. They go up soon. Any other lighting suggestions?

5. I want to put HDMI cables and powercables (For projector) in the walls. There is currently insulation behind the drywall. What is the easiest way to accomplish this? (Photos are appreciated, I'm not a handy guy)

Click below for a web-album. I used a crappy camera, sorry.
http://picasaweb.google.ca/lh/sredir?uname=c.pastuch&target=ALBUM&id=5377633314551367105&authkey=Gv1sRgCO_Q7I3N29absgE&feat=email

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_uqFVA9f4BGE/SqExCGscukI/AAAAAAAAAHk/XuOk6ADMnZs/s800/Colin%27s%20Home%20Theater%2085%25%20136.JPG

Projector: Benq W5000
1080P DLP. Won runner-up for best midrange projector last two years in a row on projectorreviews.com. In Canada there is no better value for the money at only $2000.

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_uqFVA9f4BGE/SqExGqz5PLI/AAAAAAAAAGU/EA-reU01WHI/s400/Colin%27s%20Home%20Theater%2085%25%20165.JPG

HTPC:
It's a beast. AS good for gaming as it is for everything else.
Gaming Peripherals: Microsoft Sidewinder X8 and X5 keyboard.
Case: Nmedia 6000B
Motherboard: Asus P5q Pro
Hard Drives: 5 for a total of 6 Terabytes. Raptor OS drive.
Videocard: Sapphire Vapor-x Radeon 4890 (Displayport, HDMI, DVI and VGA native - UBER quiet.)
CPU: Core2Duo E8400 with Arctic cooling freezer.
4gb DDR2 800 Cas 4
Game of choice: Left4Dead!

Home Theater Software:
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit
Windows 7 Media Center
Media Browser plugin 2.1.1

Receiver: Pioneer 1019
Only had a few days but I am thoroughly impressed. The HDMI pass through works perfect and audio is being passed over HDMI through my Sapphire Vaporx Radeon 4890

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_uqFVA9f4BGE/SqKG6IG_VzI/AAAAAAAAAIg/mLVZ75CWpuA/s400/IMG_1819.JPG

Subwoofer: SVS PB10-NSD
Again it's brand new but so far I think it's spectacular. I can't imagine how good the PB12 sounds. SVS makes the best subwoofer I've ever heard but I'm no expert. The lows are incredible, I hear things I've never heard before. I was pleasantly surprised by it's ability with music. It's not just an HT woofer.

Room size:
The room is 113 Inches Wide, 83 inches tall (7 foot ceiling), and 316 Inches Deep (great for multi rowed seating).

Walls and lighting:
The walls were all white so we painted them dark purple. It almost looks black. The ceiling is matte-white drop tile. Similar to what you see in most office buildings. There are large fluorescents which I am in the process of replacing. I bought pot lights and a dimmer switch. The drop ceiling is terrific for beginners like me. I am wiring the lights, dimmer, and projector myself. I'm going to put a dual HDMI connector in the wall to really give it that professional finish. I plan on buying 6 more lights and putting them over framed movie posters along the walls. Thats not going to happen for a while yet.

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_uqFVA9f4BGE/SqExEhRFPmI/AAAAAAAAAGM/IZaQgLlXOOk/s800/Colin%27s%20Home%20Theater%2085%25%20158.JPG

Screen (D.I.Y.): Thanks to Tiddler (Todd) for the paint advice. It's still not perfect after six coats, the guy who did the drywall before i moved in did a brutal job.

~N8.5 DIY Tint {Medium Gray}
Quart Custom Tint
Behr UPW (1850,4850)
0 6 0 Lamp Black
0 1 1 Brown Oxide
0 0 1 Medium Yellow

Seating:
Seating for six total. Four people is optimal. My computer desk will be directly behind the second row of seating.

Speakers:
I have now purchased the speakers, receiver, and projector all from HD.ca. They gave me some very nice discounts:
Check out the speakers here:
http://www.hd.ca/packages/sinclair_value.php
http://www.hd.ca/packages/smallimages/value_system.jpg

Front Towers: Sinclair BT25s
The BC25s are great, I would describe them as a bright speaker. I can't compare them to many models though. For the price I am definitely satisfied.

Center: Sinclair BC25
Fantastic center channel. Great for cinema surround. Vocals are always clear.

Rear Surrounds: Sinclair B14
A little small, I should have got the B15s I think.

143 views and not one answer to any of my questions...

The really obvious improvements are to get the mains out of the corners and off the screen wall. You may have to shrink the screen size a wee bit to accomplish this. Build a stand for the center channel and get it off the floor. Ideally filled with dry sand and painted a dark colour. The mains might also benefit from a slight toe-in.

Fix the drywall imperfections for the screen, or do a new screen. Add a velvet border and paint the screen wall black, or even a matching purple. The grid ceiling and ceiling tiles would also greatly benefit picture quality if they were painted black or a dark colour. A dark carpet will also help picture quality, even a black IKEA area rug up front will help.

I'd try to avoid running speaker wire under the carpeting. It could be worked in, under the kicktrim.

I'd run the cables in the ceiling, taking advantage of the ceiling tiles. Cable run in wall, should be rated for inwall use. The projector would get a 120v plug at the projector's location.

As for the pot lights, zone them and put the zones on dimmers. The room would also benefit from a second type of lighting, like sconces.

Acoustical treatments: A pair of DIY panels up front, and maybe a pair of DIY bass traps in the front corners.

Nothing major here, just some fine tuning and tweaking that will elevate the performance of what you already have. The good news is most of it, is inexpensive to accomplish. :)

Use flat wire under carpet.

Acoustics faq: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1063494&highlight=acoustics+faq

no clue on source for wilson art.

Sconces

1. I'm thinking of putting new carpet in my basement. Is it a bad Idea to put the speaker wire under the carpet?

2. Acoustics: I have no clue what I'm doing. What should I do to improve the sound in my room? Please see post below for room and equipment details.

3. I'm thinking of building a screen out of Wilsonart Designer white. I haven't been satisfied with my paint solution. The wall is too imperfect. Anyone know a cheap place to get the Designer white in Canada?

4. I bought potlights to replace the flourescents. They go up soon. Any other lighting suggestions?

5. I want to put HDMI cables and powercables (For projector) in the walls. There is currently insulation behind the drywall. What is the easiest way to accomplish this? (Photos are appreciated, I'm not a handy guy).


1. If you are placing carpet directly over the concrete, this is a bad idea. You will have ridges where the wires are located. If you will have padding under the carpet you will need to cut channels into the padding for the wiring to sit in. You could put up some crown and run your wiring behind it, or use one of the false baseboard products that they make to run the wire behind.

2. At a minimum you could build some acoustic panels and place them at your reflection points. This can be accomplished by building a simple frame out of 1x2 or 1x3, rout the edge to desired look, place 2in rigid fiberglass in it and stretch acoustically transparent fabric of choice over the frames. Most people use Guilford of Maine(GOM) fabric for this purpose.

3. Can't help here.

4. Sconces placed on the walls or on columns.

5. Cut a hole near the bottom of the wall and up near the top of the wall. Run a fish tape from the top hole to the bottom hole, attach your wiring to the fish tape with electrical tape and pull it through. Then drill a hole through the top plate of the stud wall and run the cables through that into the drop ceiling area. Then on to the projector...

Hope this helps some....

when pulling wire through an insulated wall try to snake it between the vapor barrier and the drywall. It is a lot easier than going through the insulation.

watch out for fire breaks in the wall.... :(

also man, the HT equipment looks good but nothing looks finished.... finishing work is what makes it nice, right now it looks like my college dorm room :(

With all that length, have you considered an AT screen?

What is an AT screen?

Gaming on my HTPC is a very important part of the theater. The desk, needs to be close enough to the screen for me to write emails and read fonts.

There will be padding under the carpet. I'm going to get it professionally installed. I think I can run the speaker wire underneath it. I also like the idea of putting it under the kick trim.

The bass traps sound like a good idea. I don't want to move the main speakers though because I really don't want to shrink the screen.

The pot lights I am installing will be on a dimmer. I got a pack of 6 lights. I'm thinking I'll do two zones of lighting and two dimmers.

Thanks to everyone... this advice is priceless.

AT = acoustically transparent. You can elevate the speakers and put them directly behind the screen. There are several DIY approaches and alternative fabrics to consider. You can put one together for $200-400.

I'm just setting up my own version of this, and am searching for a screen solution .. I'm thinking of doing something like drapery on all the walls to soak up the sound reflections, which would continue behind the screen, so i'm thinking a fixed screen hanging in front of that. 110x62 inches for 16:9.

Anyone have any suggestions for a Vancouver source for wide material that would work ?? Interim will be the king-size bedsheet i'm afraid :(

Cheers,