I'm brand new to this forum and happy to be here!

I am about to build my home theater and definitely need some guidance.

My basement space that is 15' wide by 28' long, but ceiling height is only 7.5'.

Definitely looking for the "theater" experience. I can go up to $30K for my budget and have a great contractor to help with electrical work, sheetrock, etc.

Any ideas for equipment and where to look for quality interiors (acoustic panels, seats, etc.). Not even sure what step 1 is...

All input is greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Ryan

Welcome Ryan :)

Start digging into the forum here and read as many of the build threads as you can before you make any plans that will help give you a idea of where to start. 30K will build you a awesome theater 15 X 28 X 7.5 is a nice space to start with

well the 15 and the 7.5 may cause some problems, but we have treated worse. :D

As you get closer to finishing with the build, feel free to list some pictures and or diagrams on here. There are many people that will be able to give you some GREAT advice on acoustics.

Glenn

Thanks for the posts guys.

These forums are incredible and I was up to 2am digging around. I had some professionals give me quotes - and they both came in at around $52k (and they didn't include the build-out).

Some of the products he put in my quote were:

SIM 2D 80 Projects (9k)
Stewarts Luxus Screen Wall 110" (2.5k)
Sunfire TGR-3 Grand Receiver 3 (5k)

It just seemed excessive - so I wanted to take some action and do research for myself.

13 years ago I built my own "make shift" theater with a Denon AVR 1000 receiver and Polk speakers, a laser disc player (remember those!) with a 27" TV. The whole system cost a couple of grand and I remember it sounded great.

Just not sure how "high end" I need to go. I want a nice theater, but don't want to go overboard if it's overkill.

Thanks again,

Ryan

I think the key is to research and buy your own equipment and get help with the major construction. That should at least cut your costs in half vs. that quote you got.

I'm building my theater in a fairly small bonus room as well - see my thread here

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=899340

For equipment, I tried to find a balance between high quality and reasonable price:

Denon AVR2308CI receiver - $800
Epson 1080 Home projector - $2300 after rebate
Martin Logan Abyss sub $800
Speakercraft AIM8-Two in ceiling rears - $400
Monitor Audio Silver series fronts and center - $1200
Transparent Cable $2/ft
Da-Lite High Contrast Cinema Contour 106" screen - $1400
(speaker prices are ballpark because I don't have the quote in front of me)

Much of this equipment I ordered from Magnolia, and the rest I got from a local home theater dealer. It's not cheap stuff, but it's not super high end like the theater contractors will propose. I have not hooked everything up yet, but I know from testing out the sound system and reading comments on this forum that I found a good balance. That's where I tend to stand on things like this. We have good household income but we're not rich. When we decided to buy a luxury car, we got an Acura TL instead of a Mercedes or BMW. So I'm trying to take the same approach with this theater. I think in the end we'll be very happy with it.

Every one is right about doing your research. I'm pretty new to this site too but trolling through the different threads has helped me point my budget in all of the right directions for my build. Take some time during this phase to plan, revise, plan, and revise. It's cheap to make changes on paper.:D

...and have with fun build!

Just my take - choose and buy your own equipment, and have the space built by a contractor. You will pay a significant premium if you combine these two things and get it all from the same place.

Welcome,

In this section of the forum is this thread. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=855958

This will give you a "heads up" on some of the problems others here have had. My biggest issue in my build right now is time.

Draw out some type of plan or jot down some ideas you like or would like to incorporate into your theater. Have some type of plan on what you want to do.

I am doing most DIY. Having a HT installer come and do it for you is expensive and as you are finding out will put you over your 30K budget. I'm not knocking the "professional installer" at all just that you are looking at more that your budget. A good professional installer is worth his weight in gold and can give you an over the top theater but you can DIY for less and still have an awesome HT.

As others have said research, research, research! There are literately thousands of options available to you and you will learn you don't necessarily have to purchase "high end" to have a "high end" experience.

As I have gone through my design and research phases I have changed my thoughts on equipment purchases, design elements, and other nuts and bolts stuff. I too have spent many a night here blerry eyed due to lurking and reading.

Good luck on your project.

Regards,

RTROSE

I agree with the others look around for your choice of components. You will find that you can get the same quality for less. Audition speakers that you like buy the best ones you can afford they should last you a good while longer than other componets.

In planning your theater, you need to focus on the room for now. Unless you are faster than many of the rest of us do-it-yourself types, the prefered equipment will change anyway by the time your done. You only get one chance to build the room and the room diamentions and accoustic treatments will be every bit as important as the equipment you buy.

Check the pictures below on my 13x18x8 room. It's almost done and was completed on a 30K budget. (No contractors involved, though.) Understanding how to build the theater was a result of several years of reading this forum and thinking about the various oppinons before getting started. I'm not saying that you have to wait years to start, only that you should invest some time reading here.

It's nice to know the equipment you'll be using when designing your space. This allows you to plan for things like false screen walls and distance from rear wall for subs, sizes of columns to hold surround speakers, seating location and screen size go together, etc.

Bryan