What I'd do differently next time. - Page 24

lol

Well, I guess since 50% of the time, it's just me in there (awesome), it's not too bad.

Are you speaking of Behr's Disney Mouse Ears paint?

Also, why don't you paint your walls dark also?

Don't assume that you can easily pull the slack out of Romex thru an outlet box after drywall is up. I ended up having to cut the box with a utility knife and Drimmel to get the Romex to pull all the way out. Instead, either go ahead and wire the outlets or tie off the Romex and stuff it in the box.

Yes , Disney mouse ears.

The gray is actually very dark but the flash is really lighting it up. With just the 4 - 4" can lights on the grey is almost indistinguishable from the blue.

My theater evolved from a finished basement family room. I spent a lot of time and energy working around ducts, support beams, electrical panels, water shutoffs and long windows on two sides. I am very happy with how it turned out but the design is a bit busy because of room complications and the maximum projector throw will only allow a 92" wide (106" diagonal) screen. Laying on the bed in my son's room the other night it occurred to me that I could have solved all my problems, and given my son a much nicer room if I had just swapped the spaces. One little window, no ducts or access panels, a more traditional "longer than wide" layout and even a separate adjacent pantry to house all the equipment. Arghhhh! Not worth doing everything over but most definately would have been easier with better result if I had taken a step back and looked at the bigger picture before beginning. My advice, you don't necessarily have to think outside of the box, just look at all the boxes available.

Great advice! The third contractor I brought in to look at my theater space said, "Why don't you rotate everything 90 degrees and take out that wall?" The result is that I went from a cramped 15x18 foot space to an 18x24-foot space that will eventually seat 11.

Third time the charm they say. 15X18 cramped? One man's hovel is another man's palace I suppose. Then again I would never have a need for 11 seats as typically it is just the family who uses the room. No link to your theater build?

My only concern with sound proofing was to keep the HVAC noise out of the theater, which is in the next room. I didn't put in an air return in the theater but there is one next to the theater door in the other room and I cut a 1/2" off the bottom of the door to allow air to go under. I hope that it will suffice or I will have to put in a dead vent or some such.

You will regret not having a return vent in the TR, even if it is a small room. Too much body heat build up. Undercutting the door does not work well even for a small bedroom. Try using an insulated rolled duct for the return air and try to keep the run as long as possible. The return air duct does not cause as much noise as the supply air. That should be an insulated duct as shown in my previous post's here, if possible. Or at least try to use 1" rolled fiberglass insulation as best as possible.

Add a sub 2x4 insulated wall between the furnace room and the TR, and/or add 1/2" sound board, found at Home Depot, on the furnace side of the TR wall. Lay some carpert down in the funace floor area, which will help with sound deflection from the furnace motor and ducts.

I disagree that sound proofing does not make a difference. There is a reason why recording studios use "magical force fields" to improve sound quality. It is more about sound deflection. Using insulated drapes on the side walls is an inexpensive way to help sound quality and is a cheap way to give a home TR an expensive professional look. Again, there is a reason why Theaters use them. Just my 2 cents.

I can tie into the return run if I need to. I guess I will do so if it is a problem.

Heh, yeah, 15x18 would have been okay, but I really wanted two rows of seats, and I couldn't make the geometry work out so that both rows would have good line of sight, good image sizes, and so forth.

I'm in the process of writing the first two long-winded postings for what will be my build thread. The theater construction itself got sidelined by larger renovation of the house, but it's truly underway at last! Look for "The Money Pit Theater", starting soon on an AVS build thread near you.

[Edit: Shucks. It looks like somebody else did a previous build called "The Money Pit". I'll have to come up with a different name...]

I too agree with a certain degree of soundproofing. I dont buy into the diminshing return value of all the steps that some take in soundproofing their room, but there are 2 valuable characteristics of taking some steps. Reduced noise floor, which increases your dynamic range in the theater as well as reducing distracting outside sound. And second, it allows you to use your theater at a higher volume at times when you may not be able to, such as when people are sleeping somewhere in the house.

My soundproofing strategy in my theater was less about hightech materials and methods like GG, DD, etc. and more about decoupling from the floor above and wall beside the room. It didnt cost much extra to do it this way, but the result is that I can lose myself in my room without bothering others or being disturbed by outside sounds.

MY sub shakes the room and I can hear the front wall and ceiling rattle when the sub kicks in. The HT is almost ten years old and I am so debating doing the front wall and ceiling to address this issue....

But Id have to shut down the theater and I dont wanna do that lol..

Im only part way through my build but I will tel you one thing that would be a no brainer for me...Dont buy alot of lumber at once and dont get it delivered. If youre a weekend only project person like me then only buy the lumber you will use for that weekend. It sucks making a trip to the lumber yard everytime you need lumber but...I had about 150 studs delivered and over the course of a month about 50 studs were IMO unusable.

Ive been much happier getting 30 or so studs and using them up over the weekend. This way I can pick through at the store for staright ones and use them immediately. No junk wood delivered and no time for the studs to lay around and warp.

That's what I call a kitchen remodel.

Who is that dime piece in the picture?

If I could to do things over again, I would've made more money!

That way I could've had the theater designed first then designed the house, then built the house and purchased all the equipment/furnishings all at the same time.

I've been purchasing audio/video toys for several years, trading up as I go along. I bought what I thought was the best theater speaker system--Paradigm Signature Series 8. Only to later learn that the very tall (48”) tower mains will be sitting on top of a 12" stage—With the tweaters at the top of these tall main speakers they will be almost in line with the top of the screen--and way over the top of my head/ears. Also, there will be no way to place the center channel tweater in line with the main tweaters.

Maybe this massive speaker system wasn’t the best system to place behind a movie screen.

You know what? I completely agree with post about not spending $$$ on sound proofing. I have saved big $$$ by not doing the same thing. So what if the fam hears some home theater sounds once in a whole? Like we haven't heard kids yelling, playing their music, playing their games? The money is better spent, for me, one better speakers!

The trick with soundproofing IMO is to keep extraneous noise out of the theater. I, like you, wasn't concerned about keeping theater sounds from leaking out. Everybody's situations will differ of course.

I had all my audiostuff in my regular living room and would crank movies up loud with a 4yo and a 1yo in bed. They never wake up front it. Im not concerned about the new dedicated theater in the basement being noisy.

I am so glad that I focused time, energy, and money on soundproofing. Some of the big "bang for your buck" stuff really isnt that expensive in the scheme of things. I have a great location in my basement, but it is right below our master bedroom. There are many times that I want to stay up land watch something and my wife wants to go to bed. Since I enjoy movies a little loud, the soundproofing let's me still enjoy my theater without keeping my wife awake. It isn't perfect, but perfection would have cost significantly more.

Dennis I have said this for YEARS.
I spent a few more dollars on the room, vs speakers, and I have NEVER regretted it.
Newbies sit in my theater, and absolutely RAVE, then I have so much fun when they try to guess how much I paid for speakers. (and they ALWAYS guess WAAAAAY high). I usually wait until they guess like $20k or more. (and they ALWAYS do ) Truth? $400 system "speakers-in-a-box"

FLOORS them...."No way!!" and "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?!"
Then I show 'em.

Point? IMHO, it is the room design/acoustic treatment that gives the best "bang for your buck", NOT expensive speakers.

I pulled these from Jautor's build thread, some really good points, hope he does not mind.

"LESSON/MISTAKE: Having the risers built-in as part of the structure means it's not possible to undo the theater and turn the space into something else. Not that I would ever do that, but it could be a turn-off to potential future owners. While it would be possible to fill in the front of the room, lowering the rear riser would be a huge challenge."

"LESSON: At the time, Dennis' AVS-special design service wasn't available, and having shopped for other design services (which I deemed too expensive at the "basic" service level for the amount of additional expertise I would gain), I didn't use any of them. Having seen Dennis' design work here, and for the price he offers the AVS service, I *HOPE* that if I was starting from scratch today I would be smart enough to send him a check! I did get a lot of free advice from industry experts and manufacturers by visiting them at CEDIA, and of course, reading lots and lots of AVSforum threads. "

"MISTAKE: Having the risers built-in as part of the structure means it's not possible to undo the theater and turn the space into something else. Not that I would ever do that, but it could be a turn-off to potential future owners. While it would be possible to fill in the front of the room, lowering the rear riser would be a huge challenge.

MISTAKE: I also made the risers 5'9" deep, also using some chair dimensions (see LESSON above). In the final theater, there's just enough space for the Berklines to recline fully. "

"IF I DID IT OVER: I'd have made the room 17'x 24', adding a foot of width (6" to each aisle), with at least 1' longer to the front, and 6" more on each riser. But I would have stuck with my final seating plan. If I had the room up front, I might have put in a small stage, but I don't consider the lack of a stage as a mistake, either."

"MISTAKE: Plan all your speaker locations before the room shell is constructed. When I built the house, I had a space in the back for a pull-out rack, so rack access wasn't going to be a problem. And I made the rack area large enough for a small countertop - likely for a popcorn machine. But I didn't think about where the rear speakers needed to be. Turned out one of them really needed to be in the middle of that cabinet area. If I placed the speaker column inside of the cabinet location, the two rear speakers would be only 4' apart. Nope, speaker placement wins, cabinet goes away. In hindsight, that cabinet was unnecessary. Popcorn machine is hot, noisy and smelly (all in a good way!) - and is therefore better off outside the theater. I had a lot of U space in my rack, so I added a drawer there for remote/accessory storage, which works great."

"IF I DID IT OVER: The rack area will later be drywalled with everything else. But the AX-S pull-out rack is intended to be used with "millwork". I should have finished the rack recess area with a site-built cabinetry box. The small, drywall covered space isn't perfectly square/flush, so when I pull the rack out, it tends to rub on one corner, which makes me get out the touch-up paint. A cabinet could have been made easily to the proper dimensions, and slipped into place. I purchased the Gasket/Guide kit for the rack to fill any gaps - turns out I don't have any gaps, it's too tight a fit even for the guides!"

"MISTAKE: (This is the big one, which is great, because it didn't really impact the final outcome) aka:

IF I DID IT OVER: The columns, all 6 of them, were then framed out to be covered in drywall. This meant that the interior of the column is outside the treated theater space, and therefore all the things penetrating it are creating holes in the theater. Little things like the step and sconce light electrical boxes. And, um, that in-wall 6"x12" speaker. D'oh.

In hindsight, those columns should have been built post-drywall, with only small holes for electrical and low-volt. Thenn the speakers would have been enclosed within the room. The result is that as they are, a lot of surround sound can be heard in the attic space on one side of the theater, and it's also transmitted from the rears to the stairwell behind the room. The good news is that because the theater is placed away from bedrooms, and it's only the 'surround' channels, it had no real negative consequences for me. I may box in the side columns from the attic side to reduce transmission there, but it's only a nitpick for me. But your milage would definitely vary...

The same is true, to a lesser extent, of the ceiling framing. The can lights also penetrate the room shell, not a post-sheetrock soffit. But again, this is a second floor, the attic above is filled with blown insulation, and is geographically isolated from the rest of the house. In the end, with music playing at high volume from all channels, I can barely hear the transmission outside, and not from the bedrooms. Most of the sound that does make it into the adjacent gameroom is coming through the solid-core theater door (you can feel it vibrate)."

"IF I DID IT OVER: I would have used two separate PowerBridge inlets behind the rack, one going to the projector location, the other to the front of the room (for speakers/subs/screen). The reason is that if I wanted later to install a UPS in the rack for the projector, the way it's wired now, the subwoofer and everything else at the front of the room would also be on the battery backup. Had I wired separate inlets, I could have run the projector to the UPS, and the screen wall outlets just to the conditioner/surge protector. Now, this is probably not a big deal as it is, as "run time on UPS battery" is not the goal here."

"IF I DID IT OVER: Since the GrafikEye will be installed in the entry hallway, I decided to add 2 wall stations where one would expect the light switch(es) to be in the room. One just inside the room, and another next to the rack. In reality, with the remote control working well, I rarely use those wallstations, and at ~$200/each probably would have skipped at least one, if not both of them."

"LESSON/MISTAKE: With all the recessed lights on, it's still not bright enough in the room to read comfortably from the seating locations. Not an issue for theater use, but I ran into it many times with instruction manuals! I can crank up the sconces, but the direct glare from those at full power doesn't help the situation.

IF I DID IT OVER: I probably would have added 3" recessed can lights in the soffit above the seating locations, which of course would also have helped force me to the 8-zone GrafikEye."

"My advice is to follow what I did (based on advice from other AVS'ers):

1) Wait until the room is complete before actually buying the projector
2) Wait until you have the projector before finalizing the screen size
3) Test screen size in the real space before hitting the "Buy" button..."

When you prewire for 7.1 make sure the mid speakers are at our behind your seating position.

Try not to have as much of a half-dome ceiling which can wreak havoc on your screen placement and all your measurements.

PUT A PLUG IN THE FLOOR! For your power recline seats.

Secretly start the room planning/design phase long before the family knows about it. Otherwise you'll get plenty of "what's taking so long, just build it already" type of comments . Designing every detail of the room before construction takes a lot of time but also avoids painting yourself in a corner later. Sketchup is your uncompromising friend.

Re: SketchUp - one tip: use components / composites liberally! If you don't (I didn't), its pretty easy to get to the point where editing the drawing becomes extremely difficult - to the point where I basically just stopped keeping mine up to date, and winged it the rest of the way.

+1. I spent 2 years planning and researching and have spent 3 months, so far, building. Almost everyday, since I actually started physically working on the theater, my wife asks "So, are we watching a movie in your theater tonight?". It's as if she thinks I've been building it for over two years.

I'm on year 4... Something wrong with that?