[Stephen Cagle]

Howdy!
I'm getting started planning early, but wanted to get some suggestions from the community.

We are going to put a contract on a house to be built in Dec (when the new lots are available) putting construction completion around May/Jun 2020. The house has a dedicated media room... and I'm trying to figure out the best way to outfit it.

The room dimensions are 16' D x 14' W. the ceiling height i'm not sure about..i think it's 8' but then slants up on both sides to what i'm thinking is 12 or 13' (i'll have to get the exact dimensions from the builder later) ..see the attached picture to see what i mean. Apparently I can't attach pictures yet... Ill have to have some new posts as a new member then i'll come back and attach them

The room has a riser in the back.

The existing equipment I have available for use is:
Receiver- Denon AVRX1200W
LR Speakers- klipsch R-26F
C Speaker - Klipsch R-25C
Surrouds - 4 Klipsch R-15M
Sub - Velodyne VRP-1000


Some thoughts:

-One really cool thing about this house is there is attic space around the side and front walls! no surrounding rooms. I'm thinking Ill build boxes on the front wall (flush with the front wall and extending into the attic) for the subs, L,C,&R). then cover the whole front wall with black GOM-FR701 wrapped around some panels with OC703 stuffed inside.

-Both the doors in the picture extend into open attic space so, I'm going to build a closet behind one of those doors to house the AV Rack.

- i think the riser is placed at 10' from the front, leaving 6' for a second row of seats (if not, i'll have them build it that way)

-I'm going to start out with 7.2 with plans to upgrade to 7.2.4 later (don't want to drop the money on a new receiver right when moving into the house)

-I'm thinking of 100' screen with first row at 10'

-My theater couch is 10' wide and the width of the room is 14' so I'm thinking of using in wall speakers (although if someone has a good alternative I can build housings in the wall extending into the attic for bookshelf speakers)

-Im thinking of using dipole or wide dispersion speakers for the Side surrounds and front firing speakers for the rear surrounds

-Should I have the builder get rid of the columns built into the wall (assuming they are not structural, i don't think they are)?

-I'm thinking I'll build 3'x6' (2-3" deep) frame panels stuffed with 703 and covered in GOM to go along both sides of the wall and run some led light strips along the bottom of the panels

-what do you think of the ceiling shape? Should I see if the builder can drop that arch and just have a flat ceiling? would that be better for figuring out acoustics and the placement of the 4 height speakers later?

The equipment I'm thinking of using in the initial build:
Receiver- Denon AVRX1200W (already own)
LR Speakers- klipsch R-26F (already own)
C Speaker - klipsch R-620F (need to purchase)
Side Surrounds - R-5650-S II (need to purchase)
Rear Surrounds - Pro-18RW (need to purchase)
Subs - 2 Monolith 12" THX Ultra (need to purchase)
Projector - Epsom 5050UB (need to purchase)

I'd like to spend less than 6k initially with plans to upgrade the receiver and add atmos speakers later.

Thoughts? Ideas? I'm planning on doing all the work myself, unless there are suggestions to what it might be worth having the builder do

Thanks!!!!

 

[BIGmouthinDC]

those can't be pictures of the same room? it is showing a riser at the front. Don't drop the ceiling, keep as much height as possible for better Atmos sound effects. I'd see if they could install those double doors opening out instead of in so they don't interfere with what seating you might end up sitting on the raised section. If you intend to fill the room with your friends for an event have them supersize the HVAC for the room, it doesn't appear so in the model home pictures.

 

[Stephen Cagle]

those can't be pictures of the same room? it is showing a riser at the front. Don't drop the ceiling keep as much height as possible for better Atmos sound effects.


No they are two different pictures I pulled off of listings on houses already built. I don't know why the owner had them reverse the direction of the riser in that picture.. good to know about the ceiling height..thanks! i've been reading quite a few of your threads... thats where I got the idea to do DIY built panels with the sound dampening inside along the sides and hiding the front speakers behind black GOM. Will probably add the reflective tape like you've done in some of your posts for reflection/dispersion as well

 

[BIGmouthinDC]

see my other comment on the HVAC

 

[Stephen Cagle]

see my other comment on the HVAC

Will definitely have them make the doors open outward. Good call on the HVAC, I'll be sure to see what we can do there when we start talking to the design center. Ideally I'd like to have mechanical dampers and give the theater its own zone, but I'll have to see what that upgrade cost is. At worst I could prob have them add a few more vents and put a smart temp sensor in there that kicks on the upstairs a/c when the room rises above a certain temp

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[BIGmouthinDC]

Couple of other items, rather than a ceiling mount with a down pole you should probably mount your projector on a shelf hanging off the back wall, you should design something stylish with architectural details, and be sure to have the outlet and hdmi cable conduit to the correct back wall location.

Hold off on buying a screen until you are in the house, the seating is in place and you have a chance to experiment with an image on the wall in both 2.35:1 and 16:9 formats, 100 inch screen will probably be too small if you watch a lot of movies.

Lastly just a heads up, with those subs and standard builder grade construction methods you can expect to rock the house with low frequencies. When you go to the design center don't be a sucker and pay extra for what they will claim as upgraded sound proofing insulation, yes you want insulation, but it won't help with the LFE so get the cheapest. If they have other options to beef up the wall construction like using Quiet Rock it is worth considering but don't expect miracles there are a lot of things that go into aggressive sound isolation and home builders rarely are capable of doing with the resources they work with. You can only get it from custom home builders that are used to unique customization requirements.

 

[Stephen Cagle]

Couple of other items, rather than a ceiling mount with a down pole you should probably mount your projector on a shelf hanging off the back wall, you should design something stylish with architectural details, and be sure to have the outlet and hdmi cable conduit to the correct back wall location.

Hold off on buying a screen until you are in the house, the seating is in place and you have a chance to experiment with an image on the wall in both 2.35:1 and 16:9 formats, 100 inch screen will probably be too small if you watch a lot of movies.

Lastly just a heads up, with those subs and standard builder grade construction methods you can expect to rock the house with low frequencies. When you go to the design center don't be a sucker and pay extra for what they will claim as upgraded sound proofing insulation, yes you want insulation, but it won't help with the LFE so get the cheapest. If they have other options to beef up the wall construction like using Quiet Rock it is worth considering but don't expect miracles there are a lot of things that go into aggressive sound isolation and home builders rarely are capable of doing with the resources they work with. You can only get it from custom home builders that are used to unique customization requirements.

I like the idea of back mounting the projector with a shelf. Hadn't thought of that one.

Do you think those 2 12" subs are too much for the room? The room is over the garage and only adjoins the house on 1 wall. Suggestions on different sized sub?

 

[MinHeadroom]

You seem handy- I know you already own the Klipsh L and R, but have you looked into diy options? IMO assembling them is easier than designing and building panels, and they are regarded as the best value by many.

 

[BIGmouthinDC]

I would keep the two sub design but at the price point of the Monoliths do a side by side comparison with the SVS 3000 speakers.

 

[Stephen Cagle]

You seem handy- I know you already own the Klipsh L and R, but have you looked into diy options? IMO assembling them is easier than designing and building panels, and they are regarded as the best value by many.

Man I wouldn't know where to start building speakers.

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[Stephen Cagle]

I would keep the two sub design but at the price point of the Monoliths do a side by side comparison with the SVS 3000 speakers.

Would you go with ported or sealed? At 800watts and 13" those would be powerful subs. I'll have to do a price comparison in May when I start putting things together

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[PreciseD]

As someone who has the exact speaker setup (minus subs) as you, you are going to be underwhelmed with them for a dedicated theater space. I would not waste the time building them into the wall, unless they are going in your living room.

Spend the time/money now on speakers so you don't have to upgrade them again.

I'd do some DIYSG HTM-10s (maybe HTM-8s) for LCR and Volt 6's for surrounds and atmos duty. They are super easy to build and you will be blown away at their sound quality. I'd reach out to Erich at diysg.com and ask him what would be best for your room size.

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[Stephen Cagle]

As someone who has the exact speaker setup (minus subs) as you, you are going to be underwhelmed with them for a dedicated theater space. I would not waste the time building them into the wall, unless they are going in your living room.

Spend the time/money now on speakers so you don't have to upgrade them again.

I'd do some DIYSG HTM-10s (maybe HTM-8s) for LCR and Volt 6's for surrounds and atmos duty. They are super easy to build and you will be blown away at their sound quality. I'd reach out to Erich at diysg.com and ask him what would be best for your room size.

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Definitely something to think about. The idea of building speakers is overwhelming to me though.. looked at their website though and I feel a little better. I really don't know enough about the science of sound to make a decision of what makes a speaker "better.". How would one make of 200w speakers be underwhelming compared to another make of 200w speakers...perhaps in terms of sound quality but I think of loudness in terms of "underwhelming".
I do see your logic though. Though I'm anxious about the rabbit hole I'm going to put my mind through for the next week or two trying to understand the properties of speakers. Lol

If they are that much better, seems like it would be worth the time to build.
My only other concern would be the left and right surrounds...they will only be 2 ft from the seats so I wanted a dipole or wide dispersion speaker to eliminate hot spotting... Not sure if I can get that with the diy..I'll look into it.

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[Mocs123]

Even HT-10’s or HT-8’s instead of the HTM series.

 

[PreciseD]

Not sure where you are located, but if in the NY/NJ/PA area I'd show you how to build them.. if you are farther than that, I could build the crossovers for you so all you would have to do is glue together the flat packs.

Follow the white rabbit my friend

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[MinHeadroom]

^ Forums and a search engine- If you can make pretty panels from wood you cut yourself, I am certain you can assemble speakers from DIYSG. I paid to have three crossovers soldered up for me, but it wasn’t an option for the 4 surrounds. Honestly, the pins and the circuit board are REALLY big, and a good place to learn to solder. I don’t know (nor want to know) if you bill at an hourly rate in whatever you do in real life, but the (reward)/(time investment) is really, really large. Just saying, the time spent reading up and assembling likely will have you ahead financially. Also- good people here like PreciseD or one of the speaker designers for DIYSG can solder them up for you.

 

[Stephen Cagle]

^ Forums and a search engine- If you can make pretty panels from wood you cut yourself, I am certain you can assemble speakers from DIYSG. I paid to have three crossovers soldered up for me, but it wasn’t an option for the 4 surrounds. Honestly, the pins and the circuit board are REALLY big, and a good place to learn to solder. I don’t know (nor want to know) if you bill at an hourly rate in whatever you do in real life, but the (reward)/(time investment) is really, really large. Just saying, the time spent reading up and assembling likely will have you ahead financially. Also- good people here like PreciseD or one of the speaker designers for DIYSG can solder them up for you.

Yeah, I've been doing the research... The more I read, the more convinced I'm becoming that diysg speakers are the way to go. Really glad you guys brought this up. I had no idea

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[MinHeadroom]

^ I’ll tell you, I went from “intimidated” to “I think two diy subwoofers the size of refrigerators are totally reasonable.”

There is a wealth of info here, and really, really positive and helpful posters (at least, in the Dedicated HT and DIY subforums, be warned about projector and vinyl subforums )

 

[PreciseD]

Yeah, I've been doing the research... The more I read, the more convinced I'm becoming that diysg speakers are the way to go. Really glad you guys brought this up. I had no idea

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I wish there was a me two years ago lol.. I literally listened to the wrong people (not on here) and thought klipsch this and klipsch that.. MY little $120 Volt 6 blew my F26Fs out of the water..

So I ended up doing this to them..

PS In case it wasn't clear I would do the work for free..

-Chris

 

[Stephen Cagle]

Thanks Chris, Unfortunately I live in Houston, Im quite aways from NY. after doing more research I feel much more comfortable with the idea of building the speakers though.