Attic truss dedicated theatre

Hi, we're building a new home shortly and have set aside the bonus on top the 3 car garage as a dedicated theater. I hope to get some feedback on anything that can make my build better without bringing the cost way up

The dimensions are 15'9"x21'8"x8' ceiling with side walls @ 7'2" slanting up to 8' rather quickly. I'm hoping to do a pretty low budget build because this is my first dedicated theater. This is what i have so far.




Sound isolation should pose a minor issue. The theater sits in a bonus room on top of the garage, the screen wall goes to the exterior, the side walls goes into the attic trusses. The problem is the back wall connects to a bedroom, i plan to stagger stud this wall and fill with insulation, hopefully that will be enough.

NOTE: That is master chief in my seats

There is also a small bonus area by the window that i plan to wall off and leave a hidden door. This will house my equipment and also be a fire escape.




My budget theater will consist of:
DIY 120" canvas screen (need to build)
Mitsu HC3800 (already own)
Onkyo rc260 (already own)
HTPC (already own)
Front LR - Boston Acoustic vr965 (already own)
Center and Surrounds - monoprice in-walls (need to buy)




I have small 12" bass traps in all 4 corners, the upper side corners are angled due to the attic truss. The black columns are 2" fiberglass panels.

A couple of questions:
Is it advisable to have the in-wall speakers inside the fiberglass panels?
The same goes for the wall sconces on the fiberglass panels?
Is 4 wall sconces enough lighting or do i need more?

Any advice would be much appreciated, I've been reading the forums for months now and i still feel like i know nothing lol. The house will probably be built in three months and the builders will allow us to go in to do the low voltage wiring before the drywall goes up.

thanks for all the advice guys. i'm glad i posted here while the house is in planning stages, i can avoid costly change orders.

i'm on a pretty tight budget and when i said that sound isolation was a minor issue, i meant that there were no babies on top or below the theater and it is my own bedroom next door

i can probably get the drywall subcontractor to install hat channels on all 4 walls and the ceiling for minimal cost. the builder says the garage is "insulated", but i'm not sure if that includes fiberglass fill in the ceiling (the floor of the theater).

i'm not too worried about sound transmission to the garage, only the transmission to the next room.

would having resilient channels all around the theater and the wall connecting from the bedroom help isolate 80% of the sound? i'm not looking for a perfect solution, just something cost effective.

also, what do you guys think of flipping the layout:




this throws the speakers and seats off center though, but it will allow me to hide my fronts behind the screen. this will also free up the "fire escape" and allow me to use my polk cs2 as a center which will probably match the boston's better.

again, thanks for all input. i'm still a newb lol

edit: oops, forgot to move the projector

Thanks Hughman for the links, i've read through some of that research and have come to a tentative plan.

For my needs, i'm not too worried about total sound isolation (right now i watch in a room by my furnace and anything will be quieter than that lol). i'm actually more worried about sound treatment within the room to get a flatter response. i've decided that the most cost effective way to get decent stc is to double layer drywall+hat channels. This won't cost me too much because i play golf with the drywall subcontractor that will be working on my house . See image:




Also i've thought of a different room orientation:




Using the room width-wise will give me a side entrance into the room and a side entrance into the equipment closet. This will also address the issue that SierraMikeBravo brought up about boundary gain. My fronts will also get 36" of space from the side walls. It will also simplify my seats because i won't need to build a riser. i've also replaced the wall height treatment with half wall height 1" around the side and back wall. The front wall with have 2" rigid fiberglass. The 4 corners also get to have bigger bass traps in this configuration.

Please tell me what u guys think

Hey guys, haven't been able to update this thread lately, been working a lot. Finalizing some plans with my builder, I think we'll be able to break ground soon.

So I've layed out a new set up and gave the room some design. I'm hoping to get a japanese look by making my sound panels and bass traps look like shoji.

I've decided to keep it simple and have 2 zones of lights. 3 cans in front on one dimmer and 4 sconces on the side and rear on one dimmer.

Also, we plan to use this speaker as an in-wall center behind an AT screen (made of phifer4500)

http://store.audioholics.com/product...n-wall-speaker

Here are some new pictures





As always, any comments are welcome.

There was a few reasons why we decided to flip the room. First, with the seats in the doorway we felt that the room would look cramped when you first walked in, the new orientation makes it so that you walk into a wide open space. Second, the doors got in the way of where the side surround speakers need to be positioned. Third, not having the seats in the way also provided a clear path to the equipment closet.

Regarding the first reflection points, I believe it is most evident in the midpoint between the LCR and the listener, which would put it beyond the doorways.

For now we're trying to save some money by using the Boston Acoustic towers, but in the future we may put 2 more Atlantic Tech in-walls as the main left and rights along with a dedicated sub. We are just using the BA's powered 8" woofers to cover the low end right now.

Also, does 7.1 matter? It seems like 5.1 is plenty right now because most Blurays don't even have 8 channels of audio.

So, we've decided to go with five AT IWCB 52's to cover the speakers in a 5.1 setup. We couldn't pass up the deal that they had on audioholics ($150 each with the grille).

Now we're stuck choosing a sub. I'm hoping to spend approximately $200. The BIC America F12 seems nice, but I would like some opinions. We probably would use our room for 70% movies, 30% music. Although I prefer tight bass over loud rumbling bass.

Thanks.