The Silent Theater - Phase 1

As the title suggests, I'm starting my theater. It will be a long process made up of two relatively short phases.

1. Room Construction
2. Equipment Purchase and installation (at least one year later)

I’m naming this thread the Silent Theater for two reasons. First, one of my most important goals is to keep sound from traveling outside of the theater, and second, because for a long time (at least in my mind) the theater will not have any equipment in it to make any sound…

Below I’ve broken down some basic info. I really need feedback on my decisions, but more importantly I need answers to my questions and feedback on my fears.

All comments and suggestions are welcome. Thanks in advance for your help. Construction may begin within a month…

What I know for sure:

1. Concrete walls and steps will limit the room to 19 x 14 x 9 BEFORE studs and drywall. I’ve added a diagram below of what I believe are the max dimensions of the theater once studs are up.
2. Equipment will not be in the theater (although may be accessible from the theater). In other words I won’t have an equipment rack sitting in the room somewhere.
3. Room will be built at least 1 year before any theater equipment makes it in there. I’ll probably use it for an office with a two channel (Klipsch RF-3 tower speakers) setup, but may leave it empty…  which will most likely encourage us to finish the room.
4. While someone else will be doing the labor (putting up the walls, hanging drywall, wiring the power), the rest will be up to me. However, I will not be hiring a specialist or using my local shops (actually shop unless you count magnolia in Best Buy - which I don’t), because I have no confidence in them or any desire to spend money on knowledge that can be gained from research. Besides doing the design myself is half the fun.
5. This will not be a showplace as it is HT 1.0. Instead I’m looking to put money into what I can take with me when I leave the house, or what will add the most performance to the room. In other words, no fiber optic lighting, no wood columns, no hidden speakers, no fake front wall.
6. Room will be used for 30/30/30/10 (movies, gaming, television, other)

Decisions 90% made (in other words I could be talked out of any of them with a good enough reason):

1. Fixed screen attached to wall (I could be talked into juts painting a screen if I believe it will save money but still allow for really good performance, but I’d rather have a real screen.)
2. In room speakers
3. 7.1 channel system
4. Center below the screen on stand away from front wall.
5. Two rows of 3 seats
6. Back row on riser
7. 16X9 screen (Update - this decision is now about 50/50 for a wider screen ratio)
8. 1080p projector
9. 92 inch screen (only because everything I read suggests I can’t go larger and still be reasonable on size – please convince me otherwise). EDIT: According to THX, I can go up to at least 116 and still be ok!
10. Two doors in room. One for accessing the room, and one for accessing some utilities pipes on side of room (see drawing ).
11. I plan on using an existing Definitive technology PF1500 subwoofer
12. I do not plan on using my Klipsch Reference speakers once the equipment purchases begin EDIT: I'm rethinking this for HT 1.0. Right now I already have the front 3 speakers and could simply add the back 4. This would be much cheaper than buying 7 new speakers. Also, I think Klipsch are pretty good speakers for movies. They are very dynamic, efficient, and detailed. So while they aren't my first choice, sticking with what I already have may speed up my purchases in other areas.

Decisions not yet made:

1. Do I make equipment accessible from the theater? I’m worried that making it accessible opens a hole in my wall which will allow sound to travel outside of my theater, but I also don’t want to have to go into another room to change movies or Xbox games (neither is a huge concern, but seems silly to walk into another room to make this change and it would be a huge pain to explain this to my wife). EDIT: Decision made - Equipment will not be accessible from room.
2. Where to put the equipment – under stairs or in own room off the theater. Under stairs means it gets more ventilation, own room means more accessible if not accessible through theater. EDIt: Decision made - Equipment will sit in the room to the side of the theater. This will allow for easy access from the theater to change movies or games. However, I planning on using an IR repeater or RF (even better) system to controll everything so that it does not have to be seen in the room.
3. Should I use Green Glue? EDIT: Decision Made - I will not be using GG
4. Should I use two layers of drywall? EDIT: Decision Made - I will not use 2 layers of drywall. I feel that using GG and 2 layers will most likely not give me the results of total silence outside the room. Instead I'm treating my wifes ears with a noisemaker (fan) in our room so that when I turn the music up she can simply mask the sound - fix = $20 If at some point I decide this was a major mistake, I can always add another layer of drywall with GG... although that is doubtful.
5. Should I do a stage? EDIT: Decision Made - no stage. We've decided that this room needs to be set up genericly so that our potential buyers aren't turned off by a dedicated room. If they want to dedicate it, it will be simple, but if they want to put a pool table in there, they won't have to deal with a stage and riser.
6. Should I mount my projector to the ceiling or on a shelf in the back of the room?
7. Should I build a hush box for my projector?
8. What kind of conduit is best for cables in case I want to run a new cable to my projector or another area in the theater at a later date?
9. If I need an HDMI cable that is about 40ft or less, is there anything special I need to look for, or will something simple from monoprice do the job? EDIT: Decision made - 1 35' HDMI cable purchased from Monoprice
10. Where should I put the Subwoofer?
11. Should I use two Subwoofers?
12. What should I do about lighting? EDIT: Decision Made - 8 cans 2 on each switch (will not use graphic eye at this time, though may try and get one later)
13. If I do two layers of drywall, what thickness should I use? EDIT: Decision Made - Not using two layers
14. Should I use special drywall (Quiet Rock), or just standard drywall? EDIT: Decision Made - Using standard drywall

Biggest fears:

1. I’m very concerned about isolating the sound in this room. While it sits under my dining room, any amount of noise out of this room could wake up my wife who essentially sleeps with one eye open…
2. I’m very worried about HVAC. The space currently has a single vent in it. My unfinished basement is wide open (1400sq ft) and is on average 5 degrees colder than the first floor of my house.
3. Room acoustics. I really want this room to sound as good as it can (within reason), and know that it will require some room treatments.
4. Budget – This is HT 1.0 for me. We will most likely move from this house in 5 years and therefore I have no desire to dump 50 grand into this room as little of that would ever come back to me in our market. I want this room to be like a Camaro – Lots of performance, quality is good and nice to look at but no Ferrari, and therefore reasonably priced.
5. Time – we’ve decided to start finishing the basement in the next few months (possibly within a month). I want to ensure that this room is set up for flexibility and quality now, so that when I start buying equipment I can simply plug and play.

I'm reserving the rest of the space below on this first post to display pictures of the current progress.

Progress report:
Thread Started on AVSForum
First Diagram of room started
Construction Begins
Electric run
AV cables run
Conduit to Projector put in
Drywall hung
Drywall Tape and Mud (screenwall shown below)
Drywall finished
Trim and doors installed
Walls painted
Carpet installed
Speakers 20 inch computer monitor, reciever, and xbox installed.

Here are some pictures of the space and my first drawing of what I’m working with:

Entry Hall



Front Wall


Open side that will be closed off (possible location of equipment)


Right side (stairs - also possible location for equipment)


Back Wall (entry door on left of picture)



Diagram with estimated dimensions

One other question:
5. Should I do a stage?

Also, I just created another drawing of what it may look like when complete:

Two more questions

6. Should I mount my projector to the ceiling or on a shelf in the back of the room?
7. Should I build a hush box for my projector?


I don't know.... Help!?!?!?!

This is my main fear and main reason for starting this thread. I figure at a minimum, some insulation. At a maximum, green glue, two layers of drywall, and crossing my fingers, and (insert options here).

In all honestly I have absolutely no idea what I should do, but it is a pretty big goal of mine to block the sound transmission. However, I can't affort to put 10 grand into blocking sound.

The room above is a dining room. It opens to the rest of the house (open floor plan). You can actually see the dining room from almost every other room on the first floor.




If I do this, which I'm leaning towards, I have two options:
1. put the equipment in the side room
2. put the equipment under the stairs.

If I put the equipment in the side room, is there enough room for the heat to get out (without coming into the theater)? there wouldn't really be any ventilation in that room. I'm affraid that the equipment would just continually heat that room up until it was about 90+ degrees in there.

If I put the equipment below the stairs, I'll have to walk all the way around the stairs to change DVDs and Games, but there would significant increase in ventilation.

Comments/Thoughts/Suggestions?


What is the distance of your closest person's eyes to the screen?


Two more questions
8. What kind of conduit is best for cables in case I want to run a new cable to my projector or another area in the theater at a later date?
9. If I need an HDMI cable that is about 40ft or


So I just did some price shopping. If running 40ft HDMI cables isn't a problem, I could actually put the Xbox and other disc based players that need constant access, in the side room while putting all other equipment under the stairs.

Seems kind of odd to not have the euqipment centralized, but running the cables would give me the flexibility and wouldn't really be that expensive if I decided to not use this method in the end.

Hey Bryan,

Good to reconnect. I sent you a PM.

The HVAC is actually something I'm really worried about.
1. I'm worried that the room will get too hot with adults and kids in the room.
2. I'm worried that the vent/vents will allow sound to travel out of the room
3. I'm worried that the vent/vents will add too much noise when the AC or Heat turns on.

Any thoughts/solutions for these issues would be greatly appreciated.

That's the truth. Honestly my goal is simply to keep enough volume in the room as to not wake up my wife. My kids rooms are far enough away that I'm not too worried about them. I'm not sure if it's realistic or not yet. If it's not, I'm going to end up with a fantastic home theater for my headphones...

two more questions:

11. Where should I put the Subwoofer
12. Should I use two Subwoofers

This isn't exactly something I need to worry about now, but I do want to put outlets for the subwoofer line so that I have options. I figured I'd put a drop in each of the front corners and one in the midle of the screen. I think those are really my only three options for placement since the back two corners are taken up with doors.

one other question:
13. What should I do about lighting?

My origional plan is to do can lights in the ceiling as well as sconces on the walls. I'm guessing, like everything else, the can lights will allow sound to travel outside of the room.

Interesting. I actually thought about doing that as well since I'm not really concerned about sound going sideways out of the theater - just UP. However, my fear is that it will go out the side then bounce up off the ground and go up through a different part of the ceiling/floor.

13. If I do two layers of drywall, what thickness should I use?
14. Should I use special drywall, or just standard drywall?

Would it make sense to put quite rock on the ceiling with gg on the side/front/rear walls?

Height will be just under 9 feet.