RobZ's Cozy Theater Room

We're in the framing stage of our new home. Due to setback restrictions I was forced to decrease the length of my dedicated HT space to 14x15 (planned approx 14x22). Unfortunately though its the largest house we've built, its the smallest space I've had to date. I've decided to proceed with the same plan though we will limit the space to one row of four or five seats and a couple of bean bags available for the kids.

Construction:
Screen wall, right wall, and rear wall are exterior walls (screen wall is the garage wall)
The left wall seperates room from the family room.
Home is single story
We decided to install two windows and cover them with acoustic panels. If I decide to build a larger dedicated space on the property we will have the ability to easily transform this to a living space, office, etc.

The only sound isolation treatment will be double drywall and green glue on walls and solid core door with seal.
Equipment (receiver, etc.) will be housed in the family room television console.

We are undecided about cooling. Due to prior HT experiences, this is probably one of the most important aspects of the build to me.The contractor recommended zoning the room while the foreman recommended going with a small dedicated unit (advised against a mini split).

Although we are going with a single row, we still want to add a small riser to better align our eyes to the screen as well as give the room a more theater-like look. I'm debating whether we want a straight riser with a curved row of seats or a curved riser with a straight row.



Initial equipment: (all of which I already own and use with the exception of the Carada screen. I currently have a 120 in Dalite HP electrol)

(current setup:http://www.avsforum.com/t/913109/who-says-you-need-a-dedicated-room-with-pics)
JVC RS20 (will eventually upgrade)
148in Da Lite High Power 2.35:1 (58x136)
Onkyo TX-NR3008 but considering a Marantz AV7005 Processor/ Outlaw 7700 combo
Klipsch THX Ultra 2 system (3 x 650s and 4x KS525s)
SVS PB13 Ultra (will likely add second)
Hsu MBM-12 (behing seating, will add second)
Oppo BDP 93
Toshiba HD-DVD
Monster HTS 3600 MKII Power Center
Darbee Darblet
Logitech Harmony 1100 w/ RF extender

Seating: Lane 175 Grand Slam black leather match (Berkline 13175 Tangiers) curved row of 5



Edited by RobZ - 10/23/12 at 10:44am

Reserved

Reserved

Reserved

As you can see from the pic below we are in the very beginning stage of the build with only the framing of the outer shell. I was going to opt for staggered stud in the theater room but since the room is already small enough I decided to just go with GG and DD. The room is at the far corner of the home with the nearest bedroom seperated by the garage.

The initial plan was to have the room left bare (studs and outer shell/ roofing only. However, the construction to permanent loan required that the room be finished, including floor covering, prior to close.

Reserved for one of the following: .........


Ok. I'm hoping to have a decent little space though I really do not want to overbuild as I will likely want to build a larger dream space in the coming years. I think I'd go all out with sound isolation if it were an ideal larger space. I'm also on a tight budget so it makes decisions a bit easier. Thankfully I have most of the gear already.

Some areas where I'm going to need some help in the coming months:

1.Flexible conduit: should I and if sh where? Three of the walls will have sprayed foam insulation and the attic space over this room isn't going to be as easily accessable as I'd like.
2.HVAC: oh boy I've heard lots of opinions on this on other forums (mini split, zone, seperate 1.5 ton system, etc)
3.Seating
4.Acoustic paneling (DIY, ATS, etc.)
5.Beer: Shiner, Stella, Schlitz...?
6.Screen: 2.35, 2.05, 1.85 and size

Thanks Mike.


What I'll enjoy about the smaller size (approx 1900 cu ft) will probably be the visceral impact of the audio. The PB13 Ultra, MBM, and KL650s pack a lot of punch. I was considering adding another PB13 but I think my money should be spent elsewhere.

Wiring plans so far include
-HDMI (probably 40 ft, Blue Jeans, BJC Series-1 Belden Bonded-Pair HDMI Cable), and 3 cat5E to projector
-speaker cable to 7 speakers (run outside of the 2 in flex conduit that will likely be installed). Planning on using Belden 5000UE (Gray jacket, 12 AWG) from Blue Jeans
-2 sub cables (Blue Jeans BJC LC-1) to the front corners of the rooms (run with the L&R speaker cables)
-The projector's electrical outlet will likely be surge protected in-ceiling
-Electrical outlets throughout the room


Sound isolation:
I'm planning on limiting the amount of effort we'll put into isolating sound in the room. My first choice will be to have the walls and ceilings covered with double 5/8 and plenty of Green Glue. My only concern is how reliable the drywallers will be in properly applying the GG if I am not present to supervise. I've even considered just opting for Quietrock or similar (though expensive and less mass). Quietrock would save a couple of inches of much needed room space while eliminating the stress of not knowing if GG was applied properly.

We're having a solid core door built (36x96) with perimiter seals if possible.
Edited by RobZ - 7/13/12 at 8:43am

How about Putty Pads wrapping the outlet boxes?

Subs: I'd really like a pair of F113s instead of the PB13 (size) but shipping a PB13 would be a PITA so I wouldnt know what to do with it.

Some pics of framing

Here's the family room. The theater room entrance is at the far left corner. The windows & french doors to the right are 8 ft.

Two weeks into the build and we're moving right along thanks to dry weather and all of the trades getting work done. We're just about ready to start pre-wire of rthe room. I'm running a Blue Jeans 45 ft HDMI, a pair of Cat6, Blue Jeans speaker and sub cables. The front block should be done this week and stucco has been started. The clay roof should also go up this week (weather permitting). The electricians are very busy doing there thing and are currently running Cat5e to every cable location.


Here's a shot of the back of the house.

Thanks. These guys are moving extremely fast on the build, which is surprising. I would LOVE to go scope but because this house is eating every dime of my budget I will have to stick with the RS20 for a while. I would love to add an RSXX as planned and go with zoom method but the RS20 may be a pain to zoom manually. Any thoughts?
Another option is the 2.05:1 Carada. Since we're only going single row (and therefore decent viewing distance) I could opt for a wider screen. However, a 13 foot throw makes that impossible.

This week the electrician, alarm, and wiring dudes are there doing their thing. What a royal PITA. Today they ran a few staples through my pretty new Blue Jeans speaker cable. Fortunately it was the end of the run so no damage done. It's killing me not being able to do it myself but that would make me responsible for stolen cables, damaged wiring, etc.
So far we've run Cat5e to every coax cable location (one or two per room), ceiling speakers in the formals, kitchen, family room, and patio. We also had them wire up the surveilance system. We went with eight 700 TVL Sony CCD cameras (though two more may be added) and a DVR system with monitor, remote access and seperate run to the master BR television.

I'm having serious doubts about the drywallers being able to figure out GG DD. The room is seperated from the bedroom area of the house by a garage so I'm debating going with anything more than a sealed solid core door. Couldnt I just try the single 5/8 sheetrock and add a second layer later or would the junction boxes be an issue considering there would be 3/8" added?

HVAC time. The rooms cooling will consist of a zoned system with it's own thermostat running off of the unit cooling our family room and kitchen. The return vent will apparently be located on the opposite side of the room.

Wiring this week:

1.To projector:
4x 50 ft CAT6 runs from cabinet outside of room
2xHDMI runs (one Blue Jeans & one redmere Monoprice) from cabinet outside of room


2.From receiver outside of room:
speaker wire from Blue Jeans
3 sub cables: front left, front right, rear


The rest of the home we've run Cat5e to one or two locations in every room (TV mount locations and computer desk locations). Cat6 and pair of Monoprice HDMI from low (cabinet locations) to location of the TV mounts (bedrooms, gym, library, master bath. The family room has three HDMI from entertainment center location to the location of the TV mount. The patio will only have Cat5e & RG6 for the 40 in LCD.

We also added another CCTV cable from theDVR to the family room. Security cameras will be able to be viewed from an LCD in the pantry, family room, and master bedroom television.

Here are the exterior colors (side of home).

10/5/12 update:

Family room/entrance to theater room (location of 10 ft wide entertainment cabinetry





Projector location: 1x 45 ft Redmere from Monoprice and 1x 50 ft Blue Jeans Cable HDMI






Rear wall

Edited by RobZ - 10/6/12 at 1:55pm

Drywallers are starting this weekend. Room will be two sheets of 1/2 inch drywall and green glue (four cases on the way). We're DD/GG all walls and ceiling mid week. The electricians installed boxes for 1/2 in drywall but I purchased extenders from HD.

I'm considering opting for two PB13 Ultras up front and the MBM12 behind the row of chairs.