Greetings everyone,
I've been reading and participating in AVS Forum since 1999, when I worked at ReplayTV and was known here as "ReplayMike." Since then, I've worked at a number of other CE companies, in both the audio and video sides of the industry. In all that time, while I've had home theater and music gear that I've enjoyed greatly, what I've really wanted was to build a dedicated room. At last, the time has come!
In this thread, I'm planning to document the construction of my dedicated music and movie room.
I'm my own general contractor on the project, and I'm responsible for the technical design of much of the media system and the control system. The construction is being handled by a small team of superb craftsmen, without whom the project would be impossible. I'm extremely excited to say that I'm working with Keith Yates Design Group on several aspects of the room, including the acoustical design and treatment of the space.
My goal is to complete the room in September of this year. It's an aggressive goal, but the design work is behind us and construction is underway, so I think we can get there. [update: Yeah, that didn't work out at all. Construction went in parallel with the rest of the house for awhile, but then some of the people working on the house became the "critical path" for the project and all work stopped. At this point, I am hoping to be finished before June or before I collapse from stress or go broke.][update: Notice how I cleverly said "June", but didn't include a year? That wasn't on purpose, but it has turned out to have been a clever omission.
]
The room will have comfortable seating for seven, with additional bar seating for four more. I will be using an acoustically transparent screen with automated "Constant Area" masking for movies. The audio system is built around Aerial Acoustics speakers, and was designed to work well for both music and movies, erring on the side of music when those two uses were at odds. All of the acoustical treatments and some of the speakers will be behind stretched fabric walls and ceiling. All systems (electrical, media, HVAC) have been designed for low noise.
With all that said, this is not a "no holds barred" room. I am limited by some of the realities of the building, the site, and the budget. Nonetheless, I'm hoping that the final product will be a space that my friends and I will enjoy for many years to come. I look forward to hosting some HT meets, as well.
My goal with this thread is to share what I have learned so far, and what I will be learning as we go forward with the build. I have learned so much from what others have shared here in their own build threads, and I want to contribute to the community in the same way. I am also, of course, excited about a project that has been years in the making, and I want to share it with an audience that will appreciate it!
I plan to write a series of articles, each focusing on a particular aspect of the room's design, and post them in this thread. I'll also include construction details and progress reports. As I add major articles, I'll update this first posting to maintain a table of contents linking to each article.
I'll do my best to explain why certain decisions were made, especially when I think the tradeoffs and compromises may prove interesting to others. I also intend to spend a bit of time on particularly interesting technical aspects of the room, like the constant-area system.
I'm especially excited to be an early beneficiary of some new work Keith Yates and his team have been doing with the shaping of bass response in rooms like this, and I'll do my best to explain how that work has contributed to this room's design.
A few ground rules:
Fair enough? Okay! Let's get started.
Table of Contents:
1. Introduction (this page)
2. Mike's Money Pit
3. The Tyranny of Trigonometry
4. Ten Pounds of S*** in a Five Pound Bag (Construction Update #1)
5. The Art of Compromise
6. Seven Subwoofers! Surely You Can't Be Serious?!
7. Matterport 3D Scan of the Theater
Greetings everyone,
I've been reading and participating in AVS Forum since 1999, when I worked at ReplayTV and was known here as "ReplayMike." Since then, I've worked at a number of other CE companies, in both the audio and video sides of the industry. In all that time, while I've had home theater and music gear that I've enjoyed greatly, what I've really wanted was to build a dedicated room. At last, the time has come!
In this thread, I'm planning to document the construction of my dedicated music and movie room.
I'm my own general contractor on the project, and I'm responsible for the technical design of much of the media system and the control system. The construction is being handled by a small team of superb craftsmen, without whom the project would be impossible. I'm extremely excited to say that I'm working with Keith Yates Design Group on several aspects of the room, including the acoustical design and treatment of the space.
My goal is to complete the room in September of this year. It's an aggressive goal, but the design work is behind us and construction is underway, so I think we can get there. [update: Yeah, that didn't work out at all. Construction went in parallel with the rest of the house for awhile, but then some of the people working on the house became the "critical path" for the project and all work stopped. At this point, I am hoping to be finished before June or before I collapse from stress or go broke.][update: Notice how I cleverly said "June", but didn't include a year? That wasn't on purpose, but it has turned out to have been a clever omission.
The room will have comfortable seating for seven, with additional bar seating for four more. I will be using an acoustically transparent screen with automated "Constant Area" masking for movies. The audio system is built around Aerial Acoustics speakers, and was designed to work well for both music and movies, erring on the side of music when those two uses were at odds. All of the acoustical treatments and some of the speakers will be behind stretched fabric walls and ceiling. All systems (electrical, media, HVAC) have been designed for low noise.
With all that said, this is not a "no holds barred" room. I am limited by some of the realities of the building, the site, and the budget. Nonetheless, I'm hoping that the final product will be a space that my friends and I will enjoy for many years to come. I look forward to hosting some HT meets, as well.
My goal with this thread is to share what I have learned so far, and what I will be learning as we go forward with the build. I have learned so much from what others have shared here in their own build threads, and I want to contribute to the community in the same way. I am also, of course, excited about a project that has been years in the making, and I want to share it with an audience that will appreciate it!
I plan to write a series of articles, each focusing on a particular aspect of the room's design, and post them in this thread. I'll also include construction details and progress reports. As I add major articles, I'll update this first posting to maintain a table of contents linking to each article.
I'll do my best to explain why certain decisions were made, especially when I think the tradeoffs and compromises may prove interesting to others. I also intend to spend a bit of time on particularly interesting technical aspects of the room, like the constant-area system.
I'm especially excited to be an early beneficiary of some new work Keith Yates and his team have been doing with the shaping of bass response in rooms like this, and I'll do my best to explain how that work has contributed to this room's design.
A few ground rules:
- I work for a CEDIA member company, but I will not be discussing my employment or the nature of my work, at least for now. I do not speak for my company in any way, especially online!
- I don't speak for Keith Yates and his team, either! I'll do my best, though, to accurately represent what they're doing.
- I will not discuss costs, except to say that I have been extremely aggressive in controlling costs where possible, but this is definitely not a "low budget" project.
- I will not discuss sources of equipment or materials, except to say that while some equipment was purchased specifically for this project, I am also using equipment that I have acquired over many years: some new, some used/B-stock, and some traded for other equipment.
- Questions and comments are welcome, but I would appreciate it if we could keep the thread civil, informative, and on topic.
Fair enough? Okay! Let's get started.
Table of Contents:
1. Introduction (this page)
2. Mike's Money Pit
3. The Tyranny of Trigonometry
4. Ten Pounds of S*** in a Five Pound Bag (Construction Update #1)
5. The Art of Compromise
6. Seven Subwoofers! Surely You Can't Be Serious?!
7. Matterport 3D Scan of the Theater