Long time lurker for over 6 years now and I finally get to create a thread to document my theater and bar build. We built our house 5 years ago and are finally getting to finish off our basement. When we designed this house I had a plan which included an area for the theater, an area for the bar and my workshop, all of which I think of as my "essentials" for a basement. Thanks to support beams and the electric panel having to go in where the screen is supposed to be, I am a little limited on some set-up options, especially limited by a throw distance to the screen of only around 12 - 13 feet.
We are naming the theater the Three Dane Theater as a reflection of past, present and future. The past is for our first Dane "Boozer" we lost back in May, the present is for our 2 y/o Dane "Zoey", and the future is for our 6 month old (95 lb) monster puppy "Ovi". I figured like naming boats it's good luck to name the theater and give it something with meaning right? The bar will have a huge Thin Blue Line American Flag wall dubbing it the Blue Line Bar.
Enough of my personal babbling, the details of the build: The theater will be 12'5" x 20'7" with 8.5' ceilings. The bar will be behind the theater with a large pass-through opening so that the screen can be seen from the bar. I know this probably is a horrible idea for the sake of sound quality, but we like to entertain a lot and we wanted the theater to flow with the bar while the bar flows with the rest of the open concept entertaining area in the basement. It's just me and my wife, no kids so I am not worrying about sound proofing the theater or basement, but I do want good acoustics in the theater (don't we all). I have been reading a lot and watching as many videos as I can on acoustics and trying to learn from all the amazing acousticians out there. I've also posted on another thread and got some tips from Jeff regarding the pass-though opening and ideas to help with reflection points.
I know I probably put the cart before the horse, but I already have my seats thanks to a great deal from fellow member @AnnapolisSony and a couple more add-ons from Roman. So the seating will be two rows of 3 Fusion Jive's in the espresso leather.
I am putting in a 120" 16.9 screen. The room will be mostly hockey and Netflix shows with some football, a little gaming and a movie here and there. The screen will be an AT screen with about 30" behind it for the speakers and sub. I just have to make it so that I can easily access the breaker panels that are behind it. Already looking at using gas struts to make it easy to raise up out of the way if that will work.
I want to do 7.1.4, I am still trying to read up and understand Atmos a little better so I can figure out how to best place the in-ceiling speakers. Unfortunately due to duct work running through the back of the theater I have a short ceiling in the back and tall ceilings in the front. Not sure if Atmos can be at different heights.
I have included my designs for the space (first time attempting sketchup), along with a few pictures of the basement. We actually started this past weekend with the framing. My brother and I will be doing everything but the sheet rock. I promised the wife we would be done by March, I just didn't say which year...
Equipment:
Denon 4400
HSU VTF-3 MK5
Front 3: HTM 10's (not ordered yet)
Surrounds: Volt 8
Ceiling: (4) Monoprice Amber in-ceiling 8"
Projector: TBD
Seats: 6 Fusion Jive
I am looking forward to all the amazing feedback from everyone out there. I am good at building stuff but an absolute newb when it comes to the science part of the home theater. Hopefully the vast wealth of knowledge will help me out and guide me in the right direction in those areas I am still quite clueless in....
Lastly, thank you to all the members out there that have given me so much inspiration and some great ideas to incorporate into my build.
We are naming the theater the Three Dane Theater as a reflection of past, present and future. The past is for our first Dane "Boozer" we lost back in May, the present is for our 2 y/o Dane "Zoey", and the future is for our 6 month old (95 lb) monster puppy "Ovi". I figured like naming boats it's good luck to name the theater and give it something with meaning right? The bar will have a huge Thin Blue Line American Flag wall dubbing it the Blue Line Bar.
Enough of my personal babbling, the details of the build: The theater will be 12'5" x 20'7" with 8.5' ceilings. The bar will be behind the theater with a large pass-through opening so that the screen can be seen from the bar. I know this probably is a horrible idea for the sake of sound quality, but we like to entertain a lot and we wanted the theater to flow with the bar while the bar flows with the rest of the open concept entertaining area in the basement. It's just me and my wife, no kids so I am not worrying about sound proofing the theater or basement, but I do want good acoustics in the theater (don't we all). I have been reading a lot and watching as many videos as I can on acoustics and trying to learn from all the amazing acousticians out there. I've also posted on another thread and got some tips from Jeff regarding the pass-though opening and ideas to help with reflection points.
I know I probably put the cart before the horse, but I already have my seats thanks to a great deal from fellow member @AnnapolisSony and a couple more add-ons from Roman. So the seating will be two rows of 3 Fusion Jive's in the espresso leather.
I am putting in a 120" 16.9 screen. The room will be mostly hockey and Netflix shows with some football, a little gaming and a movie here and there. The screen will be an AT screen with about 30" behind it for the speakers and sub. I just have to make it so that I can easily access the breaker panels that are behind it. Already looking at using gas struts to make it easy to raise up out of the way if that will work.
I want to do 7.1.4, I am still trying to read up and understand Atmos a little better so I can figure out how to best place the in-ceiling speakers. Unfortunately due to duct work running through the back of the theater I have a short ceiling in the back and tall ceilings in the front. Not sure if Atmos can be at different heights.
I have included my designs for the space (first time attempting sketchup), along with a few pictures of the basement. We actually started this past weekend with the framing. My brother and I will be doing everything but the sheet rock. I promised the wife we would be done by March, I just didn't say which year...
Equipment:
Denon 4400
HSU VTF-3 MK5
Front 3: HTM 10's (not ordered yet)
Surrounds: Volt 8
Ceiling: (4) Monoprice Amber in-ceiling 8"
Projector: TBD
Seats: 6 Fusion Jive
I am looking forward to all the amazing feedback from everyone out there. I am good at building stuff but an absolute newb when it comes to the science part of the home theater. Hopefully the vast wealth of knowledge will help me out and guide me in the right direction in those areas I am still quite clueless in....
Lastly, thank you to all the members out there that have given me so much inspiration and some great ideas to incorporate into my build.