AVS Forum banner

Planning stages of "Dreamgranter" dedicated home theater

2K views 36 replies 9 participants last post by  Nyal Mellor 
#1 · (Edited)
Planning stages of "Dreamgranter" dedicated home theater, need advise

Hi
I want to start thanking everyone in the forum for posting pictures, discussion, expert opinions and advise they provide to many threads just as the one I am about to start.
I have partially finished basement with the great room of about 27 x 30. I have two unfinished areas one of which I want to convert to dedicated home theater.

My wishes for the home theater are following
1. sound isolation
2 good sound and large screen, attempt to implement dolby atmos
3 i enjoy 3d
4 30% sports, 70% movies/documentaries

Gears I have- is used in entertainment room that exists but I am not looking to bring them to dedicated theater except chairs.
I am budget conscious, therefore my priorities are
1. build good sound isolated room, 2. invest in speakers 3. invest in PJ/screen

My desired gadgets are
1. seymour 140 inch wide AT screen
2. 3d capable epson or other projector
3 klipsch thx ultra 2 speakers and pair it with atmos speakers 7.1.4 setup
4 Yamaha or marantz atmos capable avr for processing
5 emotiva amp

I plan sound isolation per Ted White company advise.

I am not much hands on, but I do want to learn and do some of it myself. I am enrolling into basic woodworking tool classes etc.. (waiting my employer to pickup my tuition :). I came up with two plans each with distinct advantages and disadvantages. I dont care much about star ceiling, soffit, stage, and I want to avoid riser building- thus keeping the cost down. I am quickly learning sketchup so should be able to create 3d plans.

I have put two plans together on graph paper. I want to know which plan would be a good idea..
 

Attachments

See less See more
2
#2 ·
You could add some simple columns and encase the support post in one, to let you widen either room 5-6".


You could flip the av rack and embed it between the two support posts, in the entry area.
Could a doorway be cut into the existing wall?





A baffle wall would allow for a shallower "AT" space, that might allow for two rows of three seats, in the same area as your single row version.


How tall is the room?
 

Attachments

#6 ·
Got it. If I can get four chairs in row, I dont need another row in true sense. I do like idea of six chairs though.
I have posted video for everyone to look. As you can see in video one end of the room has water and sewage main lines and installation for sewage pump site. I am not sure how and what impact it can have in room design- should I put screen on the other end as Tedd suggested?

I appreciate your help. Have you worked with anyone from contractor side who implemented room in room design in Raleigh area? would you recommend some one? Please PM me.
 
#5 · (Edited)
I really like your suggestion. I also see that you flipped the room around. I am in no real need of storage. so I am ok to reduce it sacrifice it.
I am not sure which one is better in terms of room in room design and sound isolation, baffle wall vs other methods
The height I have in finished area from carpet to ceiling is 8 ft 7 inches, unfinished measures 9 ft.
Yes I believe, door can be accommodated in the area you designated.

I have uploaded you tube video of the area, so you can look at it

 
#7 ·
those vents both look like supplies, just follow them back to the air handler. If they connect off the top of the furnace they are supplies, connected to the sides or bottom are the returns. It is not unusual in an unfinished basement to not install a return. Then when it is finished to pop one in. For theaters you want dedicated supplies and returns in addition to what you have installed for the rest of the basement.

All those drain pipes are an issue it would help if you can indicate on your floor plans where you think they will be located
 
#11 ·
Here is modified version of what Ted suggested to indicate placement of the pipes.
Thanks Ted..you are visionary..
I think storage in the back would be converted to av media storage
I will try to transfer this to graph paper to see what angle speaker will be and what size of screen we can reasonably achieve.
Thanks again..
 

Attachments

#8 ·
The HVAC runs could be handled outside the room, in the upper area between those pair of support posts, down the side of the theater.


The room flip was thrown in there as maybe something you didn't try, as is the KQ front row in this layout. (And this layout lets you put the riser step outside the room.)
 

Attachments

#9 ·

Attachments

#13 ·
I guess you are saying bar seating would be problem from perspective of speakers need to be placed 4 ft from ground, and bar/people obstructing the speakers. Am I correct in assuming that? I also get your point on timber matching for atoms set up, I will wait to decide on speakers until more choices become available. Procella is out of budget for me in the beginning stages. I can wait for klipsch to come out something with timber matching or go with something else all together.

I did not understood about soffit in the back needs to be larger..would you please elaborate.. thanks
 
#15 ·
@SierraMikeBravo
Agree that atmos approved speakers are not there yet..but if the object based sound is to hold place in home theater, I am sure others will come up with their lines at higher cost like you said.
However at Cedia they used P6 in dolby atmos demo

I dont see p5 listed on the procella site..who would I get in touch to get pricing?
 

Attachments

#16 ·
Atmos was something I was about to question. I have to wonder if money reallocated elsewhere,
might yield better overall results. The words "budget conscientious" coupled with the room
depth, had me wondering if a professionally designed baffle wall with the Procella P5 up front, and
sticking to 7.1 is the superior audio route.
 
#20 ·
Atmos enabled are mains and surrounds that bounce sound off the ceiling and contain some circuitry that modifies the frequency response to trick your ears. It is a process licensed by Dolby.

then there are ceiling speakers. the P8s pictured were ceiling mounted and as far as I know do not need and do not contain the circuity.
 
#37 ·
Atmos enabled are mains and surrounds that bounce sound off the ceiling and contain some circuitry that modifies the frequency response to trick your ears. It is a process licensed by Dolby.

then there are ceiling speakers. the P8s pictured were ceiling mounted and as far as I know do not need and do not contain the circuity.
+1 you don't need some special Dolby stamp to use in ceiling speakers for Atmos. Any of the reasonably sized Procella speakers would work on the ceiling, as long as you pay attention to waveguide coverage. The circular waveguides of the P6 in wall and P5 would likely work better than the standard waveguide which is assymetrical with less vertical coverage than horizontal.
 
#24 · (Edited)
I am going to disagree partly in that it is a general assumption. I wouldn't put a lot of faith in automatic room correction systems that have proven nearly 100% of the time to have failed in correcting a room correctly in my experience. Further, if a speaker is incapable of being matched, you have a problem. Too many assumptions and faith placed in auto majik systems. Even the more robust correction systems which require a PC to implement have failed in 7.1 systems to say nothing about Atmos. Even if you manually try to correct, if they are so far off, which I have seen in Klipsch, you run the risk of the speaker being incapable of matching the others. Further, proximity to boundaries and pisitioning will change timbre. If a speaker company adjusts for this already, that's great!! So, the moral should always be to test your speakers first before implementing for matching before running any type of EQ.
 
#27 ·
ok after everyone's help and discussion I am throwing out more of area for consideration in the basement.
Would this be a better fit?
 
#32 ·
adding another video to decide which area to use for dedicated HT in unfinished basement.


I appreciate your help @SierraMikeBravo and @BIGmouthinDC and especially @Tedd

Once I can decide on a site..I can have some discussion with my wife and opt for Erskine design service or pro layout service..
 
#35 ·
I do!! With new unbuilt theaters, we always recommend the design service over the layout. The layout service is really designed for existing rooms that need help acoustically. The design service also assists in "where is the best place to place my theater", and to help guide you through some of the issues the OP is experiencing now.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top