What I'd do differently next time. - Page 22

While not entirely discounting the whole 'make noise while the baby is young' theory entirely, I think you might be over estimating the whole whole cause & effect of that. I noticed that despite similar noise exposure in infancy, each of our kids seemed to have different noise tolerance as they grew older, and that if anything it seemed to vary according to their age more than anything - even those who woke early or easily as toddlers seemed to sleep through anything and everything as teens or young adults. Go figure.

In any case, soundproofing a HT while doing the construction at least gives you the option of containing or minimizing the noise down the road if you want to ... and my money would be on the likelihood that there will be plenty of times when you - or your wife - will want to do that. Conversely, if you don't do it now and decide later that you want it, it will cost a lot more to retrofit it.

FWIW, I read somewhere here that one of the HT gurus - perhaps it was Dennis Erskine? - listed the top reasons why people stop using their HT regularly, and one of the top 3 reasons was the lack of sound containment.

As for your other question, sound proofing/containment is NOT a substitute for acoustic treatments within a room. Two different issues.

If your audio components are high quality, they should be capable of producing quality sound in a smaller room as well as large. You just don't turn them up as loud.. :P

There are two ideas that are typically used for the projector mounting (other than getting it at the right height.. in your case, as high as possible, which should be about 3-4" from the ceiling). The best method is a long throw projector that goes in a room behind the theater and projects through a hole. It's quieter, easier to direct cooling to it, and keeps it out of sight and out of the way. If it must be in the room, mount it directly above a row of seating, since you'll never be standing on the seat.

Soundproofing the walls helps with the room acoustics by providing mass and minimizing possible rattling/vibration, but it's really more about isolating noise for the theater (keeping other noises out and keeping the audio from escaping). It's definitely not a substitute for good acoustic treatments. A well soundproofed drywall box is still going to sound like an echo (not anechoic ) chamber.

Great, I really appreciate the input. I will definitely include plans for acoustic treatments and/or curtains for the budget planning.

I have to agree as well. My daughter had to spend the first week of her life in the Newborn ICU. It was never quiet in there since all the machines the babies were hooked up to kept beeping loud constantly. Throw in workers, parents, and the phones, and you have a pretty loud room. Anyways, for the first 6 months of her life i was afraid she was partly deaf because loud noises, really loud, would not wake her up. She slept through a noisy dave and busters meal, she has slept through a movie at home with loud bangs, pretty much anything.

Hi to everyone, just embarked on dedicated HT in basement, working in a bar also,
enjoy your commentary and insightful replies Im just finishing up prewire, insulation,
support nailers etc. Next step is drywall, somewhat apprehensive to take this step
as thinking about all the what-ifs, why didnt-I's etc.
chat soon.

cheers

@cavedirt, Start a build thread so we can follow and give advice. Just curious, do you work in a bar, or are you working a bar into your build... ?

oops......meant building a bar as well as theatre...will round up all necessary info..
thanks bh285

Cool. I'll keep an eye open for your build thread. Lots of pictures helps!

I'm working on my build as well, but have not started a thread myself.

This is an awesome post guys, thanks for the advice!

Ill definitely get a 2" conduit going from my main level downstairs for cabling as well as one going from the media rack to the back wall in the basement - before I close off the space with drywall! Also it looks like HDMI covers are the way to go VS plugging the cables directly into my devices.

...Not make decisions on an empty stomach. Those decisions will be in the best interest of said empty stomach.

John

1) Like others have stated, room gets pretty warm with large parties & projector running: some sort of hvac add on (another complete zone/system -- very expensive from what I understand)
2) Place room under kid's rooms instead of mine -- even though the room is very soundproof, when system is cranked, wife complains when she's directly above it and hears the bass (even though it's not THAT loud upstairs -- a tv at regular volume drowns it out -- not that I'm bitter or anything
3) Use backing behind screen -- on certain movies with black background & white text (think Star Wars beginning scenes), I can see the text being lit through the screen (should I spray paint the OC 703 behind the wall black???)

Just cover with some cheap FR black fabric.

Different Next Time:

Build a false wall and utilize an AT screen like everyone told me too. (And I'll just pretend the wife gave me permission).

Yes. AT's are great for so many reasons and as projectors get brighter they become more practical. I went the AT route and am very pleased.

Isn't 3' somewhat subjective? Does it not depend on viewing distance? If you are 15' away from screen, you might be able to get away with 2' off the floor. (I know, you'd need a huge screen and a light cannon, but let's assume you can get that)

Among other things 2' off the floor means you better have an AT screen and at least the center speaker behind it. A speaker at two feet off the floor is typically compromised. And there better be room aside the screen for the left/right, or an AT screen with them behind, or... again, a compromise on sound.

But perhaps more important -- since one assumes one has an extra large screen because image is what matters -- if you like to recline when watching a movie, you'll possibly have trouble comfortably seeing the bottom of the screen when it's that low...

My screen is huge by most standards. 168" wide 2.35 in a 208" wide room. I was about to put a comment in that Dennis's recommendation of not exeeding 80% of the room width could be stretched. Then I did the math. I'm right at 80%.

Thanks. I think that it also depends on viewing distance. Your 10-12 degree criterion is appropriate and I think that one should stick with that. As you sit further back, the screen can drop a bit while still being in that viewing angle range.

I am planning a nearly identical screen. Which screen and projector do you use? What's the screen height from the floor and your viewing distance? Thanks

DIY, I don't want to take this thread off topic, so please PM me or visit my construction thread if you have any other questions. I'd be happy to talk.

Briefly, I have an AE4000 with the SeymourXD material. 20" off the floor and seating distances of 12', 19' (primary seating) and 24' (bar).

What I would do differently...I had roughly a 15.0' wide area for my HT. I made a built-in for this area. I was short sighted on additional cabling that I had not considered (LAN cable, front height speaker cable, etc.). I either should have added this in the first place or made a cable tunnel in the bottom of the built-in cabinets with access to more easily and cleanly run these additional cables. It took a lot of "Fishing" and frustration to add these after the fact and took a lot of work to hide the cables.

I have heard the eyes should be 1/3 up the screen. That would give similar results to yours at certain viewing distances. I'm too lazy to do the math. In any case, that puts my 10' wide 16:9 screen 2' up off the floor. While it works well with my seating and a 15" riser for the second row, I am considering raising it to make the front row better suited to tall people. The 3' height may be a good compromise for me.

I prefer eye level to the center of the screen if possible. That presents the most "correct" and believable image geometry to the eye. All the perspective cues are captured directly on by the camera. The more off-axis you place yourself, vertically or horizontally, the more you introduce tell-tale shifts in perspective that tell your mind "I'm looking at a flat image."

I had a pretty complicated system for trying to achieve that (since my image size varies, as does my image center to some degree). But I got pretty close.

Occasionally someone comes in the room and says "wow, your screen is pretty low" since many people are used to looking up at a screen to some degree. But once they sit down the angle suddenly makes sense and they go "Oh...now I get it, this feels perfect!"

Make sure my outlets on the front wall are level with each other. Pay someone to do the drywall.

+1

I just can't justify paying someone $800 to do the drywall.

Unless your good at it yourself then it is money WELL spent and the professional results in such a little time frame cant be beat.

Very true, however, when the lights go down nobody will see the drywall. I would rather put the money into a new projector or an Epik Empire.

You can if you've ever done it yourself. If you haven't done it yourself I'd get someone to mud it for you at least. But that's just me.