The Big Bay Home Theatre

My wife and I recently bought our first home. We don't take possession for another couple of weeks and as you might imagine, we can barely contain our excitement. I've been dreaming about building a proper listening room (for my 2 channel rig) and a dedicated theatre for many years, so I'm quite pleased that the new house has space to accommodate for both.

The current owner partially finished the basement so my first job will be to "gut" it. The work was poor and the layout is not desirable. I will also need to re-locate a largish HVAC trunk that currently runs the length of the theatre space.

I'm not a super handy guy so I will rely on pros for anything I am uncomfortable doing. That being said, the dozens and dozens of construction threads here on AVS have given me a solid understanding of the best practices and techniques required for the job; I hope to tackle quite a bit myself.

I visited the house a few weeks ago and took detailed measurements of the basement and compared them with the plans I was able to source from the builder. The house is 8 years old and while the builder is still offering this model, I wanted to make sure the plans I was given matched that of my place. Luckily they did.

Here is the proposed new layout of the basement:



Room Details:

• 14'w x 23'd x 7.5'h
• Located in basement
• A separate equipment room will be located behind the screen wall.
• No windows

Goals:

• Purpose built theatre for movies and occasional TV
• Clean, elegant design
• 7.1 setup
• Seating 5 in 2 rows (Berkline or similar recliners)
• Hidden speakers
• 2:35 or CIH AT Screen
• Carpeted floor
• Fabric Walls
• Lighting (5-6 zones) controlled by a Graphik Eye setup

Gear:

• Projector: ???? In the current design with the projector on the back wall I'd need a throw of about 19.5 feet
• Speakers: I'll probably use a set of Active Genelec monitors I have sitting around for LCR and in-wall speakers for surrounds (Triad, Atlantic Technology etc)
• Subs: Stereo subs behind AT Screen.
• Pre-Pro: Bryston SP2 or SP3 (Canuck eh?)
• Amps for Rear Surrounds: 2 x Bryston 4B
• Sources: Boxee Box, Sony Blu-ray, Cable box
• Screen: Some sort of DIY AT screen -- perhaps I'll buy a frame? Seems easier than building one.

My initial ideas:

Sketch-up file: Theatre Layout - Jul 28.zip 437k .zip file





I've taken ideas from many of the build threads here on AVS but I'd very much welcome any suggestions or comments you may have.

Thanks for the tip re: Jamestown. I'll look into it.

I'm not considering 3D as it's not really something I'm interested in. I'd rather buy a better 2D projector.

As for soundproofing -- yes, I plan on doing staggered wall construction, clips + channel, DD and green glue. Even though I think it's overkill given the layout of our house and the fact that its just my wife and I, I've read enough on these forums to know that its worth the effort and extra cost to do it properly the first time around.
Edited by memmo - 7/28/12 at 2:38pm

I'll aiming to start right away. There isn't anything I need/want to do upstairs. In fact, I'm taking the week off after our move so I'm sure I'll be knee deep in demo mode pretty quickly.

I agree completely. I will have to wait until I demo the existing rooms to find out exactly where the beams are. Their position may ultimately define where the door to the theatre has to go. I wanted to avoid having the door be the first reflection point.

There is an egress window in the bedroom -- I just didn't put it in this Sketchup mockup.

Updated Sketchup drawing -- I increased the depth of the riser to 7' and the space behind the screen wall to 24".

Not shown in this mockup is a 5.5" soffit -- I'm still not convinced it will work with the low ceiling height.

General thoughts at this point:

1. Soffits -- With the riser being almost 12" inches tall and the soffits even a modest 5.5" tall I'm concerned people might hit their heads as they go up onto the riser. I have an 8" deep column placed where the step is which helps a little but I'm not sure if its enough. My primary reason for wanting the soffits, I'll admit, is mostly cosmetic -- as it would allow me to incorporate rope lighting which really adds some polish to the room. Secondly (and maybe more importantly) they would give me a spot to house recessed lighting without cutting holes in the ceiling and they are an ideal spot to run conduit. Would a rope lighting effect be worthwhile on only a 5.5" tall soffit?

2. In the rear of the room, I have "boxed out" the corners. The one side is to conceal a plumbing stack coming from an upstairs bathroom. The opposite side will hide some duct work but it is primary there for symmetry. In the current drawing, I have the rear surrounds in the wall -- I'd love to have them in columns matching the sides but putting a pair of columns on the rear wall look awkward with the corners "boxed out". Any suggestions on how I might get around this?

3. I haven't yet decided on a projector -- Ideally it would go slightly behind the rear row of seats (again so people don't risk hitting their heads). That however means a throw of almost 20' That seems like a lot.

I get the keys in a few weeks and can't wait to get started -- it's really painful counting down the days

Been a while since an update so here goes:

Moved in at the beginning of September but got busy with work which didn't leave me much time to think about the theater project. A few weeks ago I began to rip out two existing rooms the previous owner had built in the basement. My father has been helping quite a bit and his jeep + utility trailer comes in handy carting stuff off to the landfill. I still have to rip out a sink and finish removing the exterior framing. I should be able to complete the demo this next week at which point I'll be down to the foundation.

The hardest part of the process so far has been getting the F^#&$ carpet adhesive off the floor. I didn't want to use chemicals so its been a slow manual process with a floor scraper I bought from Home Depot. Perhaps I need to change my position and pick up some chemicals if it would make my job easier. You can see I still have a ways to go. I'm almost too embarrased to post these pics given how messy everything still is down there but here goes:




standing at the end of the theatre looking towards where the screen will be (though there will be a wall in-between dividing the theatre and equipment room - and yes the sink will be removed!)

I have to figure out where I can move some duct work -- one is an HRV return, one is a supply for a second floor bedroom. They are located in an inconvenient spot - essentially right between the theater and the equipment room.



As soon as I had the ceiling down in the basement, I took the opportunity to run all the low-voltage stuff required for the rest of the house (I'm also installing a distributed A/V system). Fishing turned out to be easier than I had anticipated. Cleaning up this rats nest on the other hand will require some work



Planning ahead:

I've been wrestling with a couple questions in my head:

1. How to go about moving air in and out of the equipment room. Given its location and the way the existing HVAC is implemented it is near impossible to run a supply or return duct into the space without dropping down below the steel beam - something I was hoping to avoid. A dedicated mini split is not in the budget. Could I bring in air from an adjacent hallway via a vent in the wall and then exhaust it using a bathroom type exhaust fan? Any other options I should consider?

2. Dedicated Power - As I'd like to get the equipment room closed off from the rest of the basement ASAP (so I can begin to get some of the A/V stuff running for the rest of the house) I need to think about power. I'd like to install a sub panel. I'm thinking 6-8 circuits in total for the equipment room/theatre - 2 x 20A for the gear, the rest for various lighting details and wall plugs in the columns. Does this sound reasonable?

That's it for now. More pics to come shortly.
Edited by memmo - 11/8/12 at 1:33pm

Here's the new proposed layout which flips the orientation of the theatre. Key specs are:

Width (after double 5/8" drywall): 13' 8 1/4"
Length (after double 5/8" drywall): 20' 9 1/2"
Distance between screen and the front row seating position: 11' 9"
Riser depth: 6' 6"

Right now, I'm hoping I can keep the projector located on a shelf in the adjoining equipment room. This means a throw of about 19 feet.

This is true. I decided to place them there because on the one side of the room I needed a way to conceal some plumbing which comes down from the main and second floors and since the column was near by I guess I just decided that would be the cleanest option.

I could make them wider which would look awkward or I could move them forward and have to add an additional "enclosure" to conceal the plumbing stack... neither seem like great options.

Lucked out this evening... stopped in at Lowes to ask about delivery options and realized they were having a sale on 5/8" drywall. I ordered 80 sheets at $9 instead of the regular price of $13. Sale ended today.

Won't have it delivered for another month or two but I'm glad I got it on sale

Any canucks here know where I can source 2" flexible conduit? Shipping 100' from Smarthome costs $300+

Thats exactly what I was thinking. I'd be happy with this look:



Only downside is that the soffit would hide some ugly plumbing from the laundry room upstairs. I can't think of a way to box around it without it looking like a complete disaster -- and having rope lighting run around it would only make it more obvious

I agree though, the soffit doesn't look like its going to work.

The sub panel will only be used for the equipment room and theatre. The rest of the basement is powered from the main panel which has more room for growth.

Sure, here goes.

The main vertical pipes would be concealed with the a combination of the wall and the column. It's the part that comes out at the top on an angle that is harder to conceal. Its not the depth thats the concern here, its the width. If I were to make a column that would conceal the main pipe and the top portions, It would probably be 2 feet wide.






Edited by memmo - 11/13/12 at 5:31pm

Well, I'm thinking about having a plumber come in and turn the clean-out 90 degrees so that it opens to the side instead of the front. This would save 1.5-2". By the time I build the wall + double drywall and then build a column it will be enough to conceal the lower part of the pipe. My concern is the top part where the 2 pipes run below the joists.

They could be concealed with a 5" soffit but given the ceiling height of 7'5" and the rear riser, I think we've determined that won't work too well. I thought about building a riser just wide and deep enough for the rear row (so it wouldn't go full width)... might that be an option that would allow me to keep the shallow soffits or am I still dreaming?