[jakkb]

My house is currently under construction (first floor framed) and I am in the process of designing my basement theater and other A/V needs. I hadn't planned on doing a construction thread but with all the questions running through my head I figured it would be the best way to get expert opinions on everything I am waivering on.

Intro:

I am by no means an audiophile/videophile so for the most part decisions will be made on function/aesthetics as opposed to optimum performance. I am relatively new to the hobby, in fact I was almost forced into it because the home I bought in 2006 had a theater in the basement already. Now that I am moving and had to say goodbye to that theater, the wife and I decided we had to have one in our new house. How could you ever go back to not having one??

Summary:

1. A non-dedicated theater in the basement. The space will be open so that the screen is viewable from the rest of the basement. I am looking at a 7.x system with a 120"+ screen (still TBD). The room will be 15' wide by 13' deep. Yes it is wider than it is deep. This was chosen based on the basement layout and wanting to use the room as more than just a theater. Fortunately it is open at the back so the seating placement is somewhat flexible.


There will be two towers, a center channel, and a sub(s) at the front of the room, two in-walls as surrounds, and two in-ceilings as rear surrounds. I'll use an IR repeater to work the components located in a rack near the back of the room.


2. A 5.1 system with a flat panel tv on the main floor. Speakers will be all in-ceilings. IR repeater to control components.


3. A pair of outdoor speakers, powered by the zone2 of the receiver used on the main floor.


4. A flat panel tv in the master bedroom. No speakers other than tv speakers planned.


Although this isn't my first theater, it is the first one I have had to design. There is a huge difference between working with a room that was already built and designing a room from scratch. The options are endless when you have a blank canvass. I am hoping to get advice on things like screen size/selection, speaker selection and placement, wiring routes, etc. but I'll continue in upcoming posts.


Thanks in advance!

 

[jakkb]

Here is my main floor layout:

Anything green is a speaker location, the tv location is shown in blue, and grey is the location for the receiver, sub amp, and hdpvr.


The reason I want to house the hdpvr in the den is so I can connect one tv using hdmi through the wall, and connect a second TV in the master bedroom (not shown) using the component connection. I will have prewired component video with 2 channel audio from both tv locations down to the basement rack room. I will use an IR repeater to be able to control it through the wall. For the master bedroom, I will control the hdpvr using an RF remote.


The receiver is going in the den so that I have access to it from the listening location. For those of you that have a receiver on a different floor from where you are using it, how do you find it?

I also just recently realized that having it on a different floor will not allow me to use the Audyssey EQ calibration feature.

 

[jakkb]

Here is a rough layout of the basement:

Green are speaker locations, blue are the projector and screen location, and grey is the rack location.


I am going to wire hdmi, component, and composite to the projector. In addition I'll add conduit from the projector to the rack, and conduit from the screen wall to the rack.


If there are any local people reading this, can you suggest a place to purchase IR repeaters? Also, have any of you had success getting a middle atlantic rack shipped here from buyrackgear or stayonline?


I would like to place the projector about 13' back from the screen, with a 120"+ 16:9 screen. For the projectors I have considered, this requires using a lot of zoom. Should I try to avoid using the zoom on the projector? Does it have much effect on picture quality?


thanks.

 

[calv1n]

Hey Jay, glad you started a build thread. Good luck with the MA rack ordering from the states hopefully it goes well. As far as zoom it's not the end of the world but ideally you won't have to play with any of the "features" of the PJ in a perfect world. Of course in the real world it's tough to get perfect PJ placement and that is why they virtually all come withe additional capabilities to use offset, zoom etc... I wouldn't concern yourself with it to much but once you've made up your mind on the exact PJ you have decided upon you can do some AVS research here and make sure that zoom isnt' an issue or concern with the unit you've chosen. As a general rule I don't believe you want to use (or even approach) the extremes of any zoom, offset of any PJ though so keep that in mind if the one your looking at is near the max settings in order to give you what you want (again AVS research should be your best friend - pm some existing owners or try to get a demo of a local person or business of the PJ in action under that / those conditions to make up your own mind if it's acceptable.


Best of luck

Calvin

 

[calv1n]

Missed the IR repeater - try giving double diamond a call and see what they have in stock (they are hard to beat price wise locally)


Cheers

 

[jakkb]

Thanks for the tip on Double Diamond. I have been talking to them for a screen, projector, and TV but had no idea they had IR repeaters as well. Turns out they carry the Buffalo brand for a good price IMO.

 

[jakkb]

I am having a really tough time deciding on the screen size. After going back and forth on a 2.35:1 versus a 1.78:1 I have decided to stick to the 1.78:1 ratio.


Now for screen size. If I plan on sitting 13' to 15' from the screen I think a 130" or so size screen would be ok right. That's about 9.4' width which would satisfy the 1.5 screen widths away rule.


This would make the height of the screen 5.25'. What is the recommended minimum distance from the floor to the bottom of the screen? There will be no riser or second row for the seating. I plan on building something like this:

The ceiling height will be 8.5' so depending on the minimum distance from the floor to screen bottom, I am afraid the screen will look jammed in there.

 

[Scopeguy]

A rule of thumb would be to have 1/3 of the screen below your eyeline and 2/3 above. If your eyes are about 36" off the ground when seated your screen would be about 19 to 20 inches, which isn't too bad. You may prefer it a little higher though.


Greg

 

[calv1n]

Jay is that picture from one of the local edmonton showrooms? I think I've been in that room or one very close to it...


On screen size I think you'd be fine with a 130" 1.78.1 at those distances

For a more detailed info and comparison use this handy tool for seeing what moving a few dimensions on the screen or the seats will do etc...

http://myhometheater.homestead.com/v...alculator.html


Cheers

Calvin

 

[jakkb]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Scopeguy /forum/post/16884683


A rule of thumb would be to have 1/3 of the screen below your eyeline and 2/3 above. If your eyes are about 36" off the ground when seated your screen would be about 19 to 20 inches, which isn't too bad. You may prefer it a little higher though.


Greg

So if my eyes are 36" off the ground and I want 21" (1/3 of 63") of screen below my eyeline, my screen would be only 15" off the ground. That is good to know as I wanted it about 20-24" off the ground and I thought that was too low.


Thanks.

 

[jakkb]



Quote:
Originally Posted by calv1n /forum/post/16886880


Jay is that picture from one of the local edmonton showrooms? I think I've been in that room or one very close to it...


On screen size I think you'd be fine with a 130" 1.78.1 at those distances

For a more detailed info and comparison use this handy tool for seeing what moving a few dimensions on the screen or the seats will do etc...

http://myhometheater.homestead.com/v...alculator.html


Cheers

Calvin

That picture is actually from my old house. I can't take any credit for it as the house came like that.


Thanks for the link and confirming on the screen sizes. I mentioned the screen size to a guy at work and he thought it was way too big so I second guessed myself. I see a lot of regrets from others on the forum about going too small on the screen. I didn't want to have the same regret. Plus I don't think I have seen anyone post that they wish they went smaller.

 

[jakkb]

I did a model of my future theater to see how things would fit. There is no furniture or anything yet but I put the planned in-wall surronds (black boxes) and am noticing they will be slightly in front of the seating location. From everything I have seen they are usually directly beside you or slightly behind. Is it ok to have them slightly ahead of you? Should I switch those to in-ceilings as well (rear surrounds will be in-ceiling)?

 

[jakkb]

I picked up an 8" in-wall sub from another member on the forum. Thanks again Calvin for the sub and for showing me your setup. After reading your thread it was great to see everything and to meet you in person.


I may try to switch out the casing though. For an 8" sub, the grill/casing is about the size you would expect for a 12" sub. I am going to try buying a cheap 8" from monoprice and swapping the two. I have emailed the manufacturer about doing so and they said as long as it fits it should be ok. Has anyone else tried to do this? Results?


I also purchased the tv that will be going in the master bedroom once the house is done. I am using it as my main tv for now. It is the Toshiba Regza 40XV645U. http://www.toshiba.ca/web/product.gr...9450&category=

I'll try to post some pics later.


I bought it after buying the LGPQ20 42" plasma. I wasn't impressed with the picture quality on the LG unit so I decided to try the Toshiba instead. I will be keeping the Toshiba and returning the LG. PQ is much better on the Toshiba.

 

[calv1n]

jakkb,


Have you thought about di-pole speakers - might be a good fit for what your trying to do.


Was a pleasure to meet you as well and I hope I get a chance to visit your room once your all done

I haven't seen the grill casing swap out with the sub as your planning but I don't see any reason you couldn't do it and if Angstrom says it's a go! you should be fine.


Best of luck

Calvin

 

[jakkb]

Here is a shot of where the main floor setup will be. There will be an in-wall sub in the bottom right part of the wall and the tv will be mounted on top of the fireplace.

And here is a shot of the future theater wall. The area with the window will be a bedroom, leaving a 15' wide space for the screen and speakers.

Looking at the pic of the basement reminds me of a question I had. Is there anything I should be doing to the joists or area around the joists that my projector will hang? Something to reduce potential vibrations from people walking around on the floor above?


Thanks.

 

[jakkb]

Not much A/V stuff happening at the moment. Spent the last little while picking aplliances and plumbing fixtures, etc.


The house is almost ready for wiring. I am waiting for one quote before I make my final decisions.


I got one quote and was unpleasantly surprised at the cost. Close to $10K just for wiring. Sounds pretty high to me but I have nothing to compare it to. Can anybody comment on whether or not that sounds about right? I asked for 6 HD video zones, 11 drops of 2xRG6 and 2xcat5e, a 7.1 audio zone, and a 5.1 audio zone.


I sure hope the next estimate is a little more reasonable or I may have to abandon some of my video zones, maybe even the upstairs 5.1. Would be a shame.

 

[Scopeguy]

If you know about where your projector is going to go putting in blocking between the joists could help stiffen the ceiling and make it more convenient to mount the projector later (you wouldn't have to hunt for the joists). If your trying to do hard-core sound isolation than this would necessarily work because you would want to couple the drywall to the joists.


Unfortunately, that estimate might be a little high but doesn't sound too far out there to me. That does usually include them terminating that with wall plates, etc. Will your builder let you pull any of your own wire?


Greg

 

[jakkb]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Scopeguy /forum/post/17187904


If you know about where your projector is going to go putting in blocking between the joists could help stiffen the ceiling and make it more convenient to mount the projector later (you wouldn't have to hunt for the joists). If your trying to do hard-core sound isolation than this would necessarily work because you would want to couple the drywall to the joists.


Unfortunately, that estimate might be a little high but doesn't sound too far out there to me. That does usually include them terminating that with wall plates, etc. Will your builder let you pull any of your own wire?


Greg

Thanks for the suggestion. Do you mean to put blocking where drywall would normally go, or in the cavity between the ceiling and the floor above it?


Just got my second estimate back and it is MUCH more favorable. Roughly $4k, what a big difference. Now I am not sure if the first one includes termination, and the second one doesn't?? If that is the case, I am comfortable with terminating myself, especially if it saves me $6k! And my builder will not let me pull my own wire - liability issue or something like that.


Thanks.

 

[Scopeguy]

I'm glad the next estimate was alot better. That must be a relief! Make sure the quote includes everything you thought it would.


The blocking would be just above the dry wall, If you placed as piece of 2x8 or 2x10 horizontally at the lower end of the joists, that will provide a nice mounting point.


Are you having the builder do the basement theater at the same time, or is this going to be down the road? Are you doing whole house distributed audio? I guess with having a 'home-theater' system on every level, you probably don't need to.


Greg

 

[jakkb]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Scopeguy /forum/post/17190404


I'm glad the next estimate was alot better. That must be a relief! Make sure the quote includes everything you thought it would.


The blocking would be just above the dry wall, If you placed as piece of 2x8 or 2x10 horizontally at the lower end of the joists, that will provide a nice mounting point.


Are you having the builder do the basement theater at the same time, or is this going to be down the road? Are you doing whole house distributed audio? I guess with having a 'home-theater' system on every level, you probably don't need to.


Greg

Yes that was a huge relief. Wasn't sure what I was going to do had it been similar to the first quote. There are some details that need to be clarified but I think it will be ok.


I took a look at your thread and I know what you mean now with the blocking. Beautiful basement/theater btw.


Yes the basement will be finished with the rest of the house. I'll be taking care of the equipment however. I considered the whole house audio but abandoned the idea because of cost. Might reconsider now but will have to re-evaluate. Would be a nice feature for sure. Realistically it would only be an additional 2 or 3 audio zones.