AV Science Presents The Home Theater Book

I have not read through this yet, but shouldn't there be a "Calibration" section in between "Speaker Installation" and "Opening Night"? My apologies if the content is there, but does not have a section devoted to it.

Hi appelz,

Nope there isn't a section on calibration. Calibration is discussed during an audio interview with Shawn Byrne, and is mentioned in a few others sections - but not a dedicated discussion. I agree that calibration is very important, however as the book ends with the physical build, there aren't sections on how to calibrate, how to measure, how to EQ, etc... Thanks!

Sounds like a good book. I'll wait until I hear some reviews to buy.

have there been any reviews yet? just curious before purchasing.

EDIT: I decided to update my original post with a completely unprofessional review. I’ll try to give you the punch line first, and then explain how I got there.

1) If you’ve recently decided you want a home theater, and you have very little knowledge about what to do or where to begin, THEN BUY THIS BOOK NOW! From personal experience, when I first started researching theater design, I would have paid twice as much for this book, and been glad I did.

2) If you’ve spent the past few years reading build threads and topics on AVS, and/or you already have some theater building experience, you likely will not find anything new in the book. That does NOT mean the book is not worth the investment. I for one didn’t find anything I haven’t seen before in the book, but it did remind me of a few things that I’ve learned, and since forgotten, over the past several years. If you have more experience, then this book may serve you better as a reference, but it will be more difficult to determine how much value you will place on the book.

Most people are going to fall somewhere in between those two extremes, so deciding just how useful the book will be is going to be a little more difficult. To help clear things up a bit, I’ll try to explain more about what you should and should not expect.

First of all, in my opinion this book does not give instructions on how to build a theater from the ground up. I wish it did, and that’s really what I was hoping for, but now that I’ve read the book I don’t know that a step-by-step guide to theater construction is really feasible. Some would need instructions on cutting 2x4’s while others would really just like an explanation on acoustic treatments. There are just too many scenarios that will differ with every room, and knowledge will vary too greatly from person to person.

However, this book does cover the general topics that you should consider when building your theater, and it points out the major issues that you may or may not be aware of. For example, the book discusses acoustic design, but without getting into the details of how this is really done. You are given enough information to understand why it’s important, and given some general guidelines to be considered, but then it’s up to you to decide if you want to pursue it further for your space. The idea seems to be, present the issues that you need to consider, and give you enough information to make educated decisions about how to further pursue those topics.

Some topics are only covered superficially. Automated lighting is one such topic. I was a little disappointed at the level of detail offered here, but in retrospect, it’s a topic that is hard to discuss without choosing a particular system. Even then, this topic could be a book by itself (just look at the Grafik Eye thread). So again, the idea seems to be, present the reader with the issue, offer some insight into possible avenues of approach, and allow them to decide on their own if it’s worth pursuing further. If you didn’t know automated lighting existed, having the information in the book could be the difference in a ho-hum theater vs. an amazing one.

Finally, this book has tons of pictures in it from some of the more popular build threads on the forum. I think there is a lot of value there if you are just beginning to design you space, or if you need ideas on how to approach specific issues. Again, they’re all on the forums, but it’s much easier to have them all collected and organized in one place. For the uninitiated, the photos will offer guidance on what goes where, and ideas on how things might look in their space. For those trying to work through the details of their construction, the photos might offer that little insight into how close a column should be to a step. There is a lot of information in a picture that you don’t know you need until you start looking for it.

In summary, whether or not you should buy this book really depends on your current knowledge, skill level, and what you’re looking for in a reference. If you want a step-by-step guide, this is not it. However, if you’re just starting and haven’t a clue where to begin, this book should be a must read. If you’ve been researching this on AVS for years, you’re probably not going to find anything new, and you will have to justify it based on the convenience of having all that information organized in one place. For everyone in-between, it just depends. I feel like you’ll find something in there that’s useful, but I can’t guarantee you’ll feel like it’s worth the price of admission. Keep in mind though, if the book keeps you from overlooking even one aspect in your design, it will likely have paid for itself.

EDIT 2: I neglected to mention the "Bonus" material that comes with the book.

First, I think the interviews will be extremely helpful to a lot of people. Obviously, those that are just getting started will likely benefit more, but there's something there even for the more experienced as well. There is some really great advice for those just beginning to plan their theaters, and on a personal note, something mentioned in one of the interviews may well have saved me thousands of dollars (no exaggeration either). At this point, I feel like I've seen or heard most of what is offered on AVS, but this nugget had slipped by, and I'm truly grateful I picked it up in the interview. I suppose I knew it, but hadn't put 2 and 2 together. Obviously, YMMV, and it will probably be a rare case from someone to save that much money, but it doesn't take much savings to pay for the book.

Secondly, the supplemental pdf's I found to be less informative, but still worth the read. I did find the discussion on color and contrast to be beneficial, as it gave concrete examples of why we choose the colors we do for our theaters. These pdf's are pretty short, but they get to the point quickly and offer some useful insights that you may not be aware of.

Bought it, read it. All the stuff in there you basically can find on AVS, but puts it in one place for fast, easy reference.

I didn't buy the first version as my personal theater was complete at the time. I can tell you with 100% certainty that my theater would be better today if I had read it before beginning construction.

If you spend a year reading all the old threads and hanging out on the forum you can probably piece together all the information that Warren has assembled, but who has that much time to devote?

With 15,972 posts, I'm guessing you do!

That was a joke. Especially since I copied the rear bar in your HT.

That is less than five things to say a day since I joined, I'm just getting warmed up. My theater related photos get over a million views a year.

I cant even fathom what your new theater would look like if you decided to move. Have you ever drawn up plans and ideas for your next possible theater project if you were ever to do it again?

My next house will be smaller, so that would require some adjustments. Actually if I were to build in my current house, I've mentioned this many times that I would build a Private screening room rather than an open concept entertaining space.

It is not totally out of the realm of possibility that my next theater might be a sheet stretched between two palm trees. Anything could happen.

I bought and read ver1 on a long return plane trip home. This occurred before I started my build. Having it all condensed into a single read was great for me! Sure it is all in the AVS forum somewhere, however - how many hours, (with an internet connection) would you need to piece it all together.

After reading the book, I decided to update my previous post with my humble attempt at a review. I edited my first post because I figured being in the top 10 posts would keep it on the first page with most people's thread settings. I thought I'd bump the thread too in case someone is waiting for another take on it.

Thanks J_P_A, I'm one of those in-betweeners.. I've never done a full build, but I am fairly mechanically inclined (woodworking & electronics).. I'm also a frequent online researcher but I wouldn't mind having a well organized reference for my future build. With a b-day around the corner - this may go on my wish-list, thanks again for the review.

I'm glad my ramblings are useful

Also, I forgot to mention that the bonus features are not to be overlooked either. Time for another edit

Curious if myself, or my room shows up in the "bonus materials"
(if so; it would be via reference to Craig B)

I don't remember seeing it. Is there a particular section or topic you think it would be mentioned in?

from what i've seen so far, it's looking good..

1 thing I would suggest is have a tute on the right ways and wrong ways to build something, illustrating the good and bad points of diy on certain things...

detailed explanation is always inciteful..

I believe there is great value and insight in this book. It's a compilation of projects and info, yes, but not everyone has got the time to do that on their own, not to mention organize it and discern between so many opinions(many times conflicting ones).

I got it to use it as a guide for a soon to come dedicated HT project and as a way to support this kind of effort.

Keep it going.

Guys....how in the hell do you get the book? lol I bought it back on 6/17, got an email confirmation of my order and that's it. No instructions and no unique username or pw....no clue how to get the book I've tried to call the number but it's out of service and I haven't had my emails returned yet from Warren. I've been back to the home theater book site but can't for the life of me tell how to download the book. I even manually registered so I could log in as a member but still can't get access to wherever the heck the book is? This is maddening. lol

Hi Kevin,
I bought this book last week, all seemed to go through for me. Sorry I can't help above that except to indicate that i had success.

Adam

Thanks Adam. My order went through....at least I got a confirmation of my payment and an order number. But how do you get the book? Was the confirmation supposed to contain a username and pw to login and download it?

to answer question it is a pdf download, Ipad or kindle might be woth a look..


did you register on the link site??

to get the download you must get the register on the site..

from what I'vre seen so far. and been told that there isn;t actually a book in paperback as such it's only a pdf download...

personaly i was hoping for a book myself, though it didn't happen.

Yes I ordered the book from the AVS link, paid, and got my email confirmation/receipt...but was never directed to the secure download page where the materials are.

In my case, I received a confirmation email from warren@thehometheaterbook.com with subject "Confirm Your Paid Membership for The Home Theater Book" and a link to do so.

Then, on a separate email I got confirmation of successful registration.

Hope this helps. Maybe it went to the junk or spam folder/label.

Thanks. I'll try to get a hold of him again. No replies to my emails yet.

Just a quick update, I was moving from IL to CO, and my move times happened to be at the exact same time as when Kevin was trying to reach me. he is all set now, and if anyone has any other questions, feel free to send them my way. Thanks!

So this "book" is a pdf file or file(s)? I ordered the thing thinking I was getting a "book"... you know, one of those things that is mailed to you and has these things called paper pages that you flip through. That thing. Then I sent an email back to them from the 6 emails they sent me when I registered and it said all the materials were available on the website. So I'm getting the idea the "book" is not in fact a "book" so I write them back asking if the "book" is in fact a "book" and haven't yet received an answer. Then I come here and it does appear the "book" is not in fact a "book".

Not for nothing but I find this thread, the original post, the title of this thread and the related page on AVS here to be entirely misleading.