[McCall]

I was just wondering when we see comments on how much people have into their dedicated theater builds how many are including all the equipment as opposed to the room itself, screen furniture etc.


also how many of you figure what your theater would have cost if you paid full price for everything, I think many of us shop for and get "bargains" on our stuff. case in point, I was quoted 6K for an AT screen before I found Smx thread and I ended up spending about 600 on the screen I made, can't do that now unfortunately, but I figure my value at probably 4 to 6K if I had had to buy it instead of DIY.


At this point I figure equipment alone has risen from the 4K I orininally figured to spend on my "home theater" to over ten times that amount.


probably about 15K to 20K On building and furnishings side of it.


So how do yours break down?

 

[whiskey alpha]

I'm trying not to think about how much I have spent and going to spend. It will obviously be several, several, several thousand dollars. Don't tell the wife!

 

[w84no1]

I started out with a budget of $8000 to finish my basement which includes my theater.


The lumber has cost about $1800.

The electrical about $700 so far.

$600 on plumbing.

$400 on drywall so far + $270 for drywall lift.

$200 on misc. tools


So far I have spend around $4000. I still have carpet, tile, GOM, paint, drywall mud and tape, furniture and 2 interior doors left to purchase. I was quoted $22000 to finish my basement, so I will have saved about $14000 by doing ALL the work myself. It has taken me 21 months so far, but I have learned so much that I am glad I went the DIY route.


When I am finished I will have added 1000 square feet of living space and a half bath to my house for $8000, I should see a nice return when we decide to sell.

 

[mbennum]

I'm pretty sure I haven't paid full price for anything in mine

IN72 $450

Panny xr-55 $140

Velodyne CHT speakers $200

20" WS lcd $120

cables from monoprice ~$150 total I think

la-z-boy black leather reclining couch $550 from an outlet store

10% off almost all of my building materials (I haven't added up the reciepts but I'm sure its a few thousand) from lowes/menards, 20% off the drywall, 15-18% off most of the tools I had to buy (18% off "anything you can fit in the bag" sales rock), 22% off the carpet, 60% off the blackout cloth for the screen (going out of business sale)

 

[ecrabb]

I should have well under $10k in my whole room by the time I'm finished... That's from bare basement walls to completely finished with recliners and full AMX automation. Carpet was by far the most expensive single line item - over $2000. Ouch.


DIY cut construction costs significantly, but Fleabay is what's really enabled my project and allowed me to get it exactly the way I wanted it. It took me a couple of years, but I've collected almost all the equipment that way. From an Extron commercial high-bandwidth switcher that would have cost $2200 (purchased for $225 on fleabay), to AMX automation gear (probably $5000 vs. $500), to my speakers (6-ch M&K + 2 subs - probably $1500 vs. $3000 new). I even bought my chairs on fleabay. 8 microfiber Berks for just over $600. They were a couple years old, but it in really nice shape. Including truck, fuel, etc, I probably have around a grand in them. My projecter is a Sony CRT from a university sale.


When I'm finished, I should have a room that would have cost probably in excess of $50k to have built 5 years ago.


Of course, there's a ton of hours in it between my friend and me. Oh, yeah - my friend. I could have never done it without him. WAY too much work. The only thing I hired was the drywall finishing. In hindsight, I wish I would have paid to have it hung, too.


SC

 

[Lindahl]

~$1500 DIY Subwoofers

~$2000 DIY Speakers designed by Rick Craig

Comparable to a ~$12000 THX Ultra2 system (better subwoofers, though).


~$1000 pro amplifiers

Save versus a ~$4000 audiophile amplifier.


~$300 DIY CH coated lens

Save versus a a ~$3000 lens.


~$600 Denon 887 - has HDMI upconversion, PCM over 2 HDMI ports and 7.1 pre-outs - all I need.

Save versus a ~$2000 processor.


~$2000 projector

Costco returnable.

~$250 SMX screen material

We all know what this is comparable to... $5k?


~$900 Two dual-seat recliners with a big center armrest with storage.

Berklines would have cost me more than double this price, and I would have lost the armrest storage (good for video game wireless controllers, remotes and extra batteries).


I probably have about $1000 invested in other miscellaneous stuff like DVD players, Xbox, games, cables, remote controls, IR, X10 etc. I probably saved around $500-$1000, here - mostly in DIY automation.


A contractor's price to do the shell which requires demoing one medium wall and building a large and medium wall, including a new subpanel, seperate HVAC, staggered studs, RSIC clips, green glue, double drywall, was about $10k. I probably can do it for $6k -- $2k drywall hired out, $1k hvac, $1k electric, $1k wood, $1k carpet install. I haven't decided how much of it I want to do myself, and if I'd rather spend that time with my family. I'd estimate it taking me around a year to build it, and the contractor will take about 2 months, plus 2 months for me to finish the interior. I'm leaning towards having the extra 10 months to live.


Carpet material will probably be around $1k. Stage, screen frame, fabric and room treatments will be around $1.5k.


If I use the contractor, total for everything will be around $20k. If I had everything done by a custom install company, it'd probably be around $40k, maybe $50k.

 

[Kurfer]

I saved bigtime on the cost of my equipment by buying from ebay...I just can't bring myself to pay retail price for electronic equipment.


Epson Powerlite: $750

Denon AVR 2307: $499

Carada 1.0 brilliant white fixed 120" screen: $450

PS3: $300


I am impressed with everything, the Epson and Denon are certified refurbished. I think I saved well over $2500 buying my speakers/digital equipment online.


The room however was a different story, I keep adding lighting/stages/furniture. What originally was $21/sq ft is quickly costing me $30/sq ft.

 

[calv1n]

I did a break down in it I didn't include all of the furniture in all 3 HT's (just the seating) I'm still not done and I'm still spending $ in the basement but the other 2 are pretty much complete. I will likely put another 5 to 10k into the final room.

What I really paid was considerably less but still a pretty good chunk of change.


Edit. Found a breakdown in my thread

in post #99


Here is the estimated cost for HT equipment only (MSRP of course in CDN $ some I had to take a best guess at as I couldn't find MSRP online)


Downstairs-------------------------------------------------MSRP

Sherwood Newcastle R-965 ----------------------------$ 2600

HSB-600 -------------------------------------------------$ 400

Infocus 333* --------------------------------------------$ 9500

Behringer BFD 1124P x 2 ------------------------------ $ 450

Crown CE 1000A ----------------------------------------$ 550

Behringer EP 2500 AMP ---------------------------------$ 525

Flying mole cascade amp& modules-------------------- $ 5200

Super X pro Crossovers x 2 ----------------------------- $ 300

Earthquake Thor x 4 ****--------------------------------- $ 10,000

W850 Series x 8 (only using 7) -------------------------$ 4600

GE distribution Panel ** -------------------------------- $ 1000

The Adagio Berkline Chairs x 8 --------------------------$12000

c/w power and lighted cupholders ***

Toshiba XA1 -------------------------------------------------$ 1200

Xbox 360- HD-DVD player----------------------------------$ 200

SMX Screen & frame 138" 16:9 diagonal---------------$ 3000

Middle atlantic rack with all the fixings------------------$4000

Riser (build, carpet, wiring etc..)--------------------------$1500

Xbox 360------------------------------------------------------$500

Alesis powertrip 8's x 2-------------------------------------$500


Main Level

CA850 Series x 4------------------------------------------ $ 2300

IW55Ix 1----------------------------------------------------$ 375

IWS10 x 1--------------------------------------------------- $ 700

Leather furniture ------------------------------------------- $ 8000

PDR Mount--------------------------------------------------- $ 1000

Xbox 360-----------------------------------------------------$ 500

Toshiba A1 ---------------------------------------------------$ 700

Sherwood Newcastle R-771---------------------------------$ 1000

46" 1080P Samsung LCD ------------------------------------$4000

Furniture (leather sectional)----------------------------------$6000


Upstairs Bonus Room HT

Samsung 1080P DLP HDTV------------------------------------$8000

Seating (leather couch, chair & loveseat)-------------------$7500

Pioneer Elite 82VTX----------------------------------------------$1500

PS3------------------------------------------------------------------$700

XBox 360------------------------------------------------------------$500

Toshiba XA2--------------------------------------------------------$1000

Speakers & Sub---------------------------------------------------$10000

Nintendo Wii--------------------------------------------------------$300


Wires & inter-connects & cabling etc-----------------------$ 3000

Back boxes and brackets for speakers----------------------$ 1500

S&H, customs and brokerage

not included in prices above------------------------------$ 3000


Equipment + associated costs total ============= $119,200 MSRP


Installation estimated----------------------------------- $ 6000

Partially finished Basement costs------------------------$35000

(not including unfinished areas)


Total HT Components MSRP and basement costs. ----------$160,200 (+ our lovely 6% Goods & sales tax of course )

Once I add in the sound treatments (still to come), remotes (not included above but purchased) and tax I'm likely close to or over $200K.


Not included in the costs are my 3 PC's along with their set ups (LCD's, printers etc...) I had prior to construction.


* = Converted from US to CDN including S&H and customs charges not MSRP but actual price in this case

** = Actual price I paid can't find a MSRP on the exact panel I've purchased

*** = Estimated MSRP as I can't find an actual MSRP on these chairs but when you factor in exchange, S&H + C&B charges this will be pretty close to what I'm paying anyways

**** Edit - Changed this value after finding these are listed as $1999.99 MSRP (us).



Cheers