Construction photos from back in late 1996 - early 1997!
Note my home theatre dimensions are #3 on the Louden scale for excellent acoustics, 25' long, 18' 3" wide and 12' high (actually, in construction ended up being 1" short of 12' high).
When my theatre was built late 1996/early 1997 I had done a lot of research on building it, acoustics books and Widescreen Review Magazine articles on the subject. The theatre addition was added East of the Master Bedroom. A hallway and bathroom are between the Master Bedroom and the Home Theater room. The theater's cement foundation has seams between the theater and the hallway/bathroom, and also between the hallway/bathroom and the Master Bedroom, for vibration control. Double masonite doors with wood and rubber seals around them lead from the Master Bedroom to the hallway, and from the hallway to the theater. Double 2 inch X 4 inch stud walls, with 1 inch air space inbetween, are between the Master Bedroom and the hallway/bathroom. (The current theatre renovation will at the rear of the home theater have a separate and cooled/vented area where the projector is mounted behind port glass and the component racks are located, also with disc storage.There is blown in cellulose insulation for all of the walls, which seeps into and perfectly seals all nooks and crannies, except the ceiling insulation is BAT (much of the ceiling is taken up by large oversized air conditioning ducts and there was insuficient room up there to squeeze in a blow in cellulose). USG Acoustical Sealant was used on all stud surfaces to minimize vibrations. Sound board, followed by gyp board, was installed on all of the walls and ceiling of the entire addition. The air conditioning return is at the rear of the theater underneath the cabinets and is roughly about more than 10 feet long and 4 inches in height. The air conditioning is whisper quiet thanks to the oversized gentle turns insulated air ducts. The air return is located in the attic above the bathroom, with a separate air conditioning unit outside the room, and with the air conditioning unit on a concrete slab separated from the addition's concrete slab, so that the air conditioning is self-contained and totally separate from the rest of our home. The local code requires at minimum the Home Theater room's windows, two windows four feet wide X 5 feet high. The windows consist of one double pane outside and a single pane inside. Each pane is on a separate wood insulated frame to minimize vibrations and maximize soundproofing. Manual Draper Lightblock shades ensure that the room remains totally dark for video. Our home has a 400 amp electrical service. That service was originally split into two 200 amp panel boxes, one for the East and one for the West side of our home. With the new addition at the East of our home, its 200 amp service panel box has a new 100 amp circuit breaker, which is isolated from the 200 amp panel from which its fed, which feeds a third panel box which contains 19 dedicated 20 amp, 10 guage wire circuits for the Home Theater room only. However, I intentionally wired the Home Theater room and addition lighting, a ceiling dedicated 20 amp circuit (which can but is not presently used for the projector), and the addition air conditioning dedicated 30 amp circuit into the pre-existing East panel box, to help keep noise from those circuits out of the panel box and dedicated circuits for audio and video components. The 19 dedicated 20 amp circuits in the Home Theater room panel box are wall wired same electrical phase, skipping every even circuit in the panel box (otherwise, as in typical panel boxes which don't skip every even circuit, this results in doubling the AC power noise). 4 guage copper wire runs from the Home Theater panel box to a nearby 8 foot copper ground rod well buried in the ground. The house ground is a 4 guage copper wire from the East panel box. And a 4 guage copper wire connects the copper ground rod to the house ground. The Home Theater room electrical outlets are PS Audio Power Ports 20 amp (which replaced Hubbell one grade below hospital grade in August 2002). In 2007 added whole house surge suppression, Innovative Technology (Eaton) PTE160 for 400 amp panel and PTE0481S101 for home theater panel. Home Theater room colors are optimized for front projection, black carpet over a cement foundation, black ceiling, and black side walls from the front screen wall out seven feet to the edge of the windows, the remainder of the room is dark gray (the dark gray looks like a medium to lighter gray when placed next to black).
Note my home theatre dimensions are #3 on the Louden scale for excellent acoustics, 25' long, 18' 3" wide and 12' high (actually, in construction ended up being 1" short of 12' high).
When my theatre was built late 1996/early 1997 I had done a lot of research on building it, acoustics books and Widescreen Review Magazine articles on the subject. The theatre addition was added East of the Master Bedroom. A hallway and bathroom are between the Master Bedroom and the Home Theater room. The theater's cement foundation has seams between the theater and the hallway/bathroom, and also between the hallway/bathroom and the Master Bedroom, for vibration control. Double masonite doors with wood and rubber seals around them lead from the Master Bedroom to the hallway, and from the hallway to the theater. Double 2 inch X 4 inch stud walls, with 1 inch air space inbetween, are between the Master Bedroom and the hallway/bathroom. (The current theatre renovation will at the rear of the home theater have a separate and cooled/vented area where the projector is mounted behind port glass and the component racks are located, also with disc storage.There is blown in cellulose insulation for all of the walls, which seeps into and perfectly seals all nooks and crannies, except the ceiling insulation is BAT (much of the ceiling is taken up by large oversized air conditioning ducts and there was insuficient room up there to squeeze in a blow in cellulose). USG Acoustical Sealant was used on all stud surfaces to minimize vibrations. Sound board, followed by gyp board, was installed on all of the walls and ceiling of the entire addition. The air conditioning return is at the rear of the theater underneath the cabinets and is roughly about more than 10 feet long and 4 inches in height. The air conditioning is whisper quiet thanks to the oversized gentle turns insulated air ducts. The air return is located in the attic above the bathroom, with a separate air conditioning unit outside the room, and with the air conditioning unit on a concrete slab separated from the addition's concrete slab, so that the air conditioning is self-contained and totally separate from the rest of our home. The local code requires at minimum the Home Theater room's windows, two windows four feet wide X 5 feet high. The windows consist of one double pane outside and a single pane inside. Each pane is on a separate wood insulated frame to minimize vibrations and maximize soundproofing. Manual Draper Lightblock shades ensure that the room remains totally dark for video. Our home has a 400 amp electrical service. That service was originally split into two 200 amp panel boxes, one for the East and one for the West side of our home. With the new addition at the East of our home, its 200 amp service panel box has a new 100 amp circuit breaker, which is isolated from the 200 amp panel from which its fed, which feeds a third panel box which contains 19 dedicated 20 amp, 10 guage wire circuits for the Home Theater room only. However, I intentionally wired the Home Theater room and addition lighting, a ceiling dedicated 20 amp circuit (which can but is not presently used for the projector), and the addition air conditioning dedicated 30 amp circuit into the pre-existing East panel box, to help keep noise from those circuits out of the panel box and dedicated circuits for audio and video components. The 19 dedicated 20 amp circuits in the Home Theater room panel box are wall wired same electrical phase, skipping every even circuit in the panel box (otherwise, as in typical panel boxes which don't skip every even circuit, this results in doubling the AC power noise). 4 guage copper wire runs from the Home Theater panel box to a nearby 8 foot copper ground rod well buried in the ground. The house ground is a 4 guage copper wire from the East panel box. And a 4 guage copper wire connects the copper ground rod to the house ground. The Home Theater room electrical outlets are PS Audio Power Ports 20 amp (which replaced Hubbell one grade below hospital grade in August 2002). In 2007 added whole house surge suppression, Innovative Technology (Eaton) PTE160 for 400 amp panel and PTE0481S101 for home theater panel. Home Theater room colors are optimized for front projection, black carpet over a cement foundation, black ceiling, and black side walls from the front screen wall out seven feet to the edge of the windows, the remainder of the room is dark gray (the dark gray looks like a medium to lighter gray when placed next to black).
