i just want someone to come in, design my HT and make it and put all the equipment in. how much would that cost? and does any one firm do all of this? or do i have to hire a designer, contractor, and professional a/v installers.

I have no idea. How much do you want to spend?

That will answer your question.

Could cost a cold brewsky for a techy neighbor to hook up your HTiB, or it could cost millions of dollars. Unless you have an idea of what you're after, we have no idea...

what you guys are doing.... a room with a 100inch projector, a nice 5.1 or 6.1 system, a stack of av equipment and with two rows of theather seating. black walls, soundproof room, etc. what most of you guys are making, a room like that. how much would it cost for someone to make a respectable home theather.

I *really* hope you're trolling and not serious, because your question makes absolutely no sense. What you've just said is essentially "I want to buy a vehicle. It should have four tires and a steering wheel. How much will it cost?".

The information you've given doesn't provide any help at all. You need to define your parameters MUCH more tightly, and even then the answer will vary depending on where you live, how much of a hurry you want it finished in, and any number of other factors.

If you're absolutely desperate for an answer, as was previously stated, the only answer you can be given now is somewhere between the cost of a case of beer and millions of dollars.

-drin

First of all most of us, "Guys" are not having someone come in and completely design and build a theater for us and fill it with equipment, because for one, if we were we would not need to be in a forum such as this.
There are some here that have used designers , or contractors or AV specialists, and I use that term with reservation, since many of the "Home theater" stores have less of a clue what's needed than the man on the street.
People here have put together their own home theaters from from a couple thousand, real basic set up to multi hundred thousand.
I am a do it yourselfer have NO professional assistance at all, and my theater which is about 18'X15' has soundproofing treatments ,two rows of Theater seats, an acoustically transparent screen, 720p projector, anamorphic lens, 7.2 speaker system, Bass shakers, and some kick butt electronic equipment, carpeting, lighting, AC, the obligatory POPCORN machine, and other concession area goodies, cooling fans for equipment and projector.
Hm I am sure I missed a few items, anyway still working on it and up to roughly 60K for it so far.
Now if I had hired someone to come do that for me???? take a guess.

A friend wanted a theater, didn't have the time or interest to DIY but had a checkbook. After visiting a couple of home theaters came up with some basic parameters for his.

He then talked to a contractor who had "some" HT experience.

The ceiling had to be removed and a return duct relocated (to the side rather than right down the middle of the room), then the ceiling rebuilt with a soffit and rope lighting. Risers were built and carpet installed. A few decorative 1/2 columns were installed and a front stage (Minimal) and speaker "NOOKS" were built (against my advice). Sconces added and wiring reworked. and Window tinting applied to the glass panel door. No soundproofing or acoustical treatments other than insulation in ceiling. The room was repainted.

He bought a Sony Ruby and a Stewart screen and a Middle atlantic rack.

His contractor hung the projector (with the help of one of his buddies who knew a little about it) and hooked up his equipment.

He already owned speakers, DVD player and receiver,

He ordered 8 berkline chairs from an internet vendor.

He said the construction tab was 25K and I think the equipment/chairs was about 15K

Just for one reference point.

I'll do it for $2.5 million, assuming you are somewhere in the U.S.

I'm one of those people you would call to do everything.

For a typical theater I usually tell people the price of admission is around $25k-$30k for me to design, sell, install and project manage everything, and from there the sky is the limit.

Getting fancy gets expensive, especially with the room buildout, seating and acoustic treatments.

Your question is a bit vague... ;)

But, here in the Northeast, to build a 14x25 room (not HT) in a basement with electric baseboard heat, no AC, drop ceiling, one layer of drywall, standard base & door trim will set you back $30K.

Luckily that was my neighbor's house and not mine. Given that figure I'd hate to guess how much my 14x23 sound treated theater, lobby, and bathroom with central heat/AC would cost to have built for me. :eek:

Well what do you know?

Once again, my BPE (Ball Park Estimate) holds true. In one of many prior threads about "how much this will cost" I came up with the Standard BPE of 30K.

To recap, it seems that in my area (Northern VA/DC suburbs) no matter what you want done by a contractor, the BPE is $30K. If you bite, he drops everything on all of his lesser contracts, comes to your house to get started, and then goes back and finishes the others and then finally gets around to finishing yours. From what I can see, this appears to be spreading around to other areas of the country as well.

I'll do it for $2.5 million, assuming you are somewhere in the U.S.

Not to start a bidding war or anything, but I can undercut that bid by $250K! And I'll put in writing that I will only disappear for 6 months at a time after starting demolition.

Tom

i cant make a theather by myself. i am not good with DIY projects and I am pretty bad at anything to do with "house" projects. Thats why I am asking whats the average price for someone to come in and make me a mini-movie theather. The example below is a HT that I have in mind.

http://gallery.avsforum.com/data/501/Basement_016.jpg

The example below is a HT that I have in mind.

http://gallery.avsforum.com/data/501/Basement_016.jpg

Couple of things about that theater for your planning.

The box at the bottom holding the subwoofer will cause all kinds of resonance issues muddying the sound unless it's properly filled with acoustical treatment.

The location of the center speaker below the screen will likely make the dialog less clear for the middle seat of the back row of seating. The front row blocks the direct sound path to the rear seats. Better to have above or behind an acoustically transparent screen. It looks like the R/L seats can see the speaker so it may be a problem just for the center.

It looks like that theater might have acoustical treatment on the side walls between the columns which is a good practice.

I would have painted the recessed lighting trims and used darker color outlet and switch plates.

Where you live is a factor. But I believe Dennis Erskine's crew does travel. They did CPanther and another guy, he writes columns, his name is slipping my mind.

I think when CPanther was asked he said more than a Toyota, less a Bentley - - or something like that.

OK, I spotted where you got the photo:

here are some others to look at:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9192758#post9192758

Lets try this again.

How large is your budget?

How much money are you willing to spend?

If you have no idea what you want, then figuring out how much something that you have no idea about is going to cost isn't going to get you any answers.

The theater pictured above you could build aesthetically for not too much money if the room is already basically in place, but the equipment costs could vary tremendously depending on what kind of performance you're after. I mean, there are just so many variables having to do with room design and equipment design, just building a theater that "looks" something like that picture could cost very little, or a whole lot.

You should visit some HT design companies near where you live and spend some time educating yourself about what kinds of capabilities are out there, because at this point it seems you have no idea what you want or what is available, so obviously it's going to be impossible for anyone to give you much assistance.

I mean, we still have no idea if your budget is 10K, or 100K, or what.

We got some qoues for a 12 x 20 room plus a couple of closets, no special wiring but double drywall, GG, RSIC (we provide GG and RSIC). The estimate was about $40k.

John Kotches is the reviewer that Dennis' crew did. He writes for Widescreen Review.

These guys aren't trying to badger you, they're really trying to find out what you're after. Just decideing between painted walls and cloth walls can change the price of a project by a couple thousand dollars. Carpet can vary a couple thou - as can seating. Don't even think about the differences in price for PJs or speaker systems.

Also very true is the huge difference in material costs and labor in different areas of the country. If we knew where you were, we'd at least be able to take a resonable guess as to whether the labor is going to be on the high or low end of the spectrum.

Reasonable estimate? In most places if you look around for labor, have reasonable expectations, buy middle of the road mainstream equipment, etc. - you should be able to do a decent sized room for around $40k. But that can vary a LOT depending on the 100's of variables.

Bryan

Room is already in place?

The cheapest I really see is going to be $10K to $15K. And that would be at the lowest end of the scale.

There are a couple of threads on here now where one came in at $10K-ish and the other 12K-ish.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=980998

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=980823

Oh good, looking at these estimates it seems I'm not getting hosed after all! Seriously though, I do sorta understand what the OP is asking. When I got my blueprints from Rives I didn't actually have a good idea of how much it was going to cost to actually build the room. Since it was fairly specific on how it was to be built within the constraints of my room it wasn't possible to get a good estimate and I ended up doing it on an hourly basis which is rarely in the interest of the payer. It has worked out well because I trust my contractors not to hose me too badly. It's nearly done and in retrospect I think it's been a fair price, close to what I had suspected.

A home theater can cost more or less than a kitchen....or a cheap house or a spendy house. It can cost you a weeks salary or a decade of stock options.

Only you know what you are willing to or can afford to spend.

I'm trying to squeeze my theater in for under 7 grand. I'm guessing that I've spent almost 4 grand at this point. Of course, I'm going the DIY route, with tons and tons of help from my father-in-law who happens to be in construction. Also, I already had all the equipment, so the 7 grand figure is mainly for the room and furniture.

Part of the problem with starting from scratch is the cost of the audio. The audio is going to be one of the biggest factors, cause you don't want any crappy speakers in there. You really want some top of the line speakers, and those aren't going to come cheap. You figure 7 speakers and 2 subwoofers, and then you have the amp. That takes up a huge chunk of everything right there. Luckily, I already had my speakers.

Boy this crowd can be so tough! Why not help the guy instead of coming down on him?
Not everyone spends their spare time reading everything they can on building a home theater. To the original poster I would say do not get discouraged, you can build a nice enjoyable home theater from as low as $2000, not saying that is your budget but this is a good low entry point. This is assuming you already have a finished room. This would include a 720P projector, a nice HTIB or a entry level receiver and speakers. You can get great deals on older model components and or buy them used from this site or somewhere like ebay.

Now if you want audiophile/videophile quality you will spend a whole lot more, like some else said the sky is the limit. Search for budget theaters

Put it this way. The lowest bid I got to just finish my basement with absolutely no HT type stuff in it was $35000 (nothing more then walls, carpet and simple electrical). When we bought the house, they wanted $35000 to finish the basement and we passed knowing we could do it ourselves. It cost me about $12000 to do basically general contract it myself and do minor things myself like insulation. In the end, I finished the entire room including full HT equipment, $5000 extra in electrical and seating for just about $35000.

Did anyone else notice this thread is 8 months old?

One can assume the OP either dropped the idea or did his own thing since he never made the effort to come back and answer any follow up questions.

Pred02 gets the credit for the resurection on this old thread.

I tend to not look past the date of the most current post.


:)

Pred02 gets the credit for the resurection on this old thread.

I tend to not look past the date of the most current post.


:)


My bad, I was in "search" looking for something, and did not notice that I was still in search when I posted a reply.

A combination of DIY and outsourcing certain tasks yielded about $35-40K. This was the initial estimate for a non-HT theather without may tasks. We did it in the Boston area, which is not cheap for contractor work.

This is what we did:
1) 12 x 20 HT room, soundproof with double drywall, Green Glue, and RISC. Acoustical treatments all around. Custom wiring throughout. One small wine cellar with a AC unit. A pantry, a hallway, a laundry area and small toilet.
2) Structural piping changes - outsourced to plummer; moving a shared gas meter to outside the house, moving a bunch of gas and heating pumpts to get the ceiling height required. Cost about $5000-$6000
3) Wiring - upgraded from a 100A->200A box (cost $1300); did the rest of the wiring DIY, another $400 to get the electrician to validate the work and clean up because he pulled a permit. DIY on all basement electrical (outlets and lights), DIY on all AV wiring in HT. Rewired the entire house with new coax, telefone, CAT6, conduits in the HT room and key points for future upgrade - all DIY.
4) Carpeting - outsourced to local company for $800. Found a left over carpet, saved about $700 without ordering a new one. HD is crap with this, go to local guys (HD outsources to them anyhow).
5) Drywalling - sanding only, cost about $500 but the guy did a crappy job, had to fix ourselves.
6) Master carpenter - $6000 a retired family friend helped us with tricky things and precision things like threads, etc.

If you can do some work yourself, you can save a lot. Like electrical or AV wiring. Especially AV wiring, there is very little danger involved (unlike electrical where you must be confident and precise). Carpeting is not worth doing yourself, drywalling is a pain, and master carpentry... well, you have to be dilligent, very dilligent. Plumming has to be done by a plummer in MA.

My bad, I was in "search" looking for something, and did not notice that I was still in search when I posted a reply.

Hey, better than starting a whole new thread on the same topic! :)


I take my hat off to the ppl that continue to offer assitance, even after countless folks start these one paragraph threads asking for assitance (in broad undefined terms) then abandon the thread when asked to provide information or do some research on their own. ;)

mine is a small room (12x15 in a townhouse). and the room is already finished. I just hire someone to run the wire (rear surround, ceiling power outlet & hdmi for the projector), install a new entry door (it was a open hallway), new carpet, and some other tiny little thing. I paint the whole room myself, and buy most of the stuffs myself too (mainly from either homedepot or online store like monoprice).

included some decent equipment like epson HC 1080UB, 100" screen, definitive speakers, yamaha receiver, etc. (no highend, but "good enough" for me!) and a reclineable sofa, my final bill should comes up with about $10-12k with majority of the fund goes toward the equipments!

so, I guess it really depends on how fancy you wanna do it, and how willingness you wanna shop around & do some of the work.

here's my thread.... (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=982083)

what you guys are doing.... a room with a 100inch projector, a nice 5.1 or 6.1 system, a stack of av equipment and with two rows of theather seating. black walls, soundproof room, etc. what most of you guys are making, a room like that. how much would it cost for someone to make a respectable home theather.

My HT is something like you describe, built in a dedicated room in the basement. Equipment is quite good (Sony VW 100, Denon 4308, Atlantic 8200e, JL F113 subs) but not over the top. The room is very nicely finished with custom millwork and padded walls.

The total cost was about $45,000.

There is another thread on this but here:

Equipment:

Sony VPL-VW50 - $2800
Denon 3808Ci - $1150
HD-A-35 HD DVD player - $340 (now they are around the $250 range)
Carada 110 inch screen - $840
Cabling from Blue Jeans Cable - $500

So as you can see in equipment alone I have over $5000.

Now the room is about 15.5 feet by 19.5 feet. Total with guys coming in to to the construction and drywall and electrical (I painted it) was about $10,000 with all materials which is a big chunk of it. I'd say labor wise it was about $4000ish. I did buy extra of a lot of material though since I am now working on the rest of the basement but it gives you a rough idea. That is double drywall, using Kinetic ICW suspension hangers for ceiling as well as sound insulation dead mat on the entire ceiling etc. . . .
I designed the room with a bit of help from some friends and it works fantastic. Very happy with it.

i just want someone to come in, design my HT and make it and put all the equipment in. how much would that cost? and does any one firm do all of this? or do i have to hire a designer, contractor, and professional a/v installers.
Did you ever get an answer for this question? This is exactly what we do. Where are you located?

^^^^ business slowed a bit lately?

Wow, is that a record?

His very first post and he is trying to contract work.

Impressive.

Wow, is that a record?


I think the record goes to a guy who owned a carpet store, he made about 7 posts (his first) all fishing for business. Some one had a question about a carpet installation and I sent him a PM to see if he would pull his own weight. Of course you know the answer.

Second place goes to the dude who posted a "link" to his completed HT that had made it into the pages of "Home theater magazine" The link took you to an advertisement for his business of building theaters. The sample theater shown looked like Crap.

Just had to jump in on the band wagon here seeing how this came back to life. Just recently moved into a new house and I am finishing my room in the basement. I got a price from the builder of $35 a square foot to finish the room just like the rest of the house when I moved in. That does not include any "home theater" items such as wiring, equipment, etc. Mine is about 420 square feet so that would have put it at about $15,000 for the construction. I've got $7500 invested in equipment and I'm guessing at about another $2500 for seating. If plug another $2500 to get all the wiring done by someone else, mine would have run about $27,500 if I would have had someone else do it. And that would have gotten me a plain jane room with no "theater like" atmosphere. Most likely, $35,000 to do it right. Thank goodness I am doing myself.

I think the record goes to a guy who owned a carpet store, he made about 7 posts (his first) all fishing for business. Some one had a question about a carpet installation and I sent him a PM to see if he would pull his own weight. Of course you know the answer.

Second place goes to the dude who posted a "link" to his completed HT that had made it into the pages of "Home theater magazine" The link took you to an advertisement for his business of building theaters. The sample theater shown looked like Crap.

ah yes, the carpetman. he even went as fat to PM me his number so we could discuss my upcoming carpet purchase/install. i did not.

I think Spitzer knows the cost to have "everything" done

I recall reading that the average basement remodel is $55k for the basics, two rooms and maybe a half bath. Sound about right - no theater considerations, no electronics.

I think to build and finish a room taking into consideration the topics on this board (proper sound isolation and acoustics, proper lighting, seating, etc. - proper material choices, not to mention the electronics), one could easily consider the starting point at $100k, totally outsourced.

A local HT company that will do a 'proper' job per above uses this $100k number as their minimum.

The 'Seven Diamond' job (sorry Elliot) would be more.

db

A buddy of mine had a room retrofitted for a theater. He started with a finished room.

The ceiling came down and the HVAC moved to the perimeter, Soffits around the perimeter, a front stage of sorts, added a riser. Cornice molding with rope lighting installed. Paint, new carpet and some PVC columns.

He bought a $7200 projector, Stewart screen, 8 berklines, Mid-Atlantic rack.

He owned the sound system. The guy installed everything and ran all the cabling.

in total he wrote $35,000 in checks, but his theater was up and running in 60 days.

No sound treatments, or soundproofing.