[deandeck]


Hi guys! So, here's the situation:

 

I moved into my house five years ago and spent 5 years thinking about my hot tub room. I finally got my budget and found a good contractor, but then at the last minute figured I'd save money over all if I did the whole basement at one time (less disruption in my life too.) So now I'm doing it all, including the "Home Theater." So I had 5 years to plan the hot tub room and five weeks to plan everything else, and I've been so busy planning things, talking to workers and running to stores to find fixtures, I never got to make this post to ask some specific questions. The walls are being framed, as I type they are banging under me! So I still have time for a few details I was hoping you guys could help me with!

 

First of all, the floor plan...

 



 

 

The theater ends up being 17' 8" x 12' 8" x 8' 5" {LxWxH}

 

 

I've talked to three people. Two of them said it's too small for 7.1 and the third said it's not, and maybe put the side speakers in the ceiling for more separation.

 

I guess that's Question #1. 7.1 or 5.1?

 



I'm going to have an entertainment center built and cover the openings with speaker mesh doors. This is happening because I have to hide my water main behind the right cavity. If that were a closet I would have no good spot to put an in wall speaker, so I decided to build the entertainment center.

 

Question #2. Is 15" deep enough?

 

Question #3. How high should the middle part be? Is there an issue with how high my center channel will be if I put it in there and it's about 6' to my first row of couches?

 

Question #4 Riser depth:

 

I can't for the life of me figure out how deep my riser should be. I got such a good deal on the couches that I actually bought them before I had a theater! The back row if four power recliners in a curve. The riser will be 14" high. It's hard to figure out because I want to avoid pushing my front couch too close to the screen and yet I want to avoid making my riser too small. But since they're curved, only the corners of the end recliners stick out much farther than the rest, and the couch in front is an 8' long three seater, so those corners sticking out might not be a problem anyway....argh! I'm thinking about a 6' 3" riser, which means that when fully reclined, the corners of the end chairs will hang out way over the front of the riser...but who reclines all the way to watch a movie!? I can't figure it out! Here's the size of the couches...

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

And here's the space....

 



(the water line was moved to the right)

 

 

 

Thanks for any ideas or suggestions you might have!

 

[deandeck]


Well, the good news is, looks like it didn't matter that I made the post this so late in the game! lol

 

[derf36]

We're interested and paying attention, keep the pics coming!

 

[joe277]

1. 7.1 is great if you want it. Don't worry about the size of the room. The room is long enough.


2. 15 inches is NOT enough depth for Home theater equipment. MINIMUM 17/18" but 20" is preferable.


3. Center should be as close to the SCREEN/TV as possible. Left and Right should be height of Center or Height of screen. I prefer height of screen myself.


4. I'm not sure. Do a quick google search. I remember seeing something about Risers. Check the companies websites that sell Home Theater furniture. Like Salamander Designs, Fortress Seating, and Elite Home Theater Seating. I know one or two of them has a seating designer that includes riser info. Not sure the sites still up, but you could check Camden Cinema's website. They had a designer too.

 

[deandeck]


Hey guys, thanks for the responses! 

 

I had it wired for 7.1! Also, I looked into the riser design sites, joe, and am still trying to figure that out. So far I haven't found anything that really helped me figure it out, but right now I have a more pressing issue because insulation is coming tomorrow (Friday) and drywall on Monday!

 

Here's the issue: I'm trying to figure out the best place to put all the cables in my left cabinet. I had the electrical placed up high since I couldn't reach any components that high and have to bring the power strips down anyway, and that keeps the nice useable bottom space of my cabinet clear. At the same time, the electrician (who knew a lot about home theaters) recommended putting all the low voltage stuff (cable, phone, cat6) up there with it. But when the A/V guy showed up, he thought the speaker stuff, low voltage conduit, and therefore also the other three lines should all just come out of the same box. But this way I don't get any nice terminals because it's so crowded, it would all just be coming out of the ring in the wall. 

 

So the question is, where should I put this big orange box with all the cables? Up high? Where it is? Or split up the cables into different boxes in different areas?

 

Any good ideas? Right now it's all getting crowded, confused, and ugly. You know, the things I was trying to avoid!

 

Thanks!

 



 

 

 

 

 

[joe277]

If you know where your equipment is going then you can split them up and use nice wall plates. But if it's inside a cabinet then don't worry about the wall plates (unless you really want it to look nice in there.) It's really all up to you.. You could also put in a larger in-wall box like http://www.aifittings.com/catalog/home-theater-audio-video/8x10-tv-box/ or http://www.amazon.com/Peerless-IBA2AC-W-In-Wall-Metal-Outlet/dp/B004QQX6FU or http://www.snapav.com/p-584-sm-rbx-wh.aspx or http://bargaintory.com/ortronics-low-voltage-audio-video-data-wall-mount-enclosure-ormdue10.asp?active=yes&coup=CFDE992929FFB68E239973DDA265DC6F91C18109&1=true .... these are just some suggestions. You can find similar stuff at home Depot sometimes. The larger box would allow you more options. The snapav one is nice cos you can put multiple wall plates in it at different angles. A larger inwall box would also allow more room behind your equipment and make wiring neater.



Also, I didn't think of this before, but you should wire for 2 or 4 subs. Lol. Sounds like a lot, but if you wire all 4 corners for a sub then you have options (or you could use a wireless unit for the sub(s)) But in all seriousness you should consider using 2 subs. It's becoming very common and most decent AVRs have 2 sub outputs.... some with just 2 outputs and some with a Left and Right output.