[iamjason]

Great - this is my home theater build thread and my first home theater that I will be designing/building. I am looking forward to the entire process.


We are having a new home built - and while we are a few months out until completion I am am trying to finalize some details with the builder to maximize the space. This is in a planned community and is a semi custom build meaning that a lot is to spec but we have a lot of leeway with certain design elements. the new home is 4400 sq feet (our current one is 3700 sq feet). even though it is a larger home the movie theater will be smaller then what i am used to. going from an 18x18 room to a 12.6x17.4 will be a big change.


So far we have added the media port for wired internet/streaming($170). We added the tube (not sure what it is called) to run the hdmi cable from the projector to the receiver letting me swap cords in the future as the tech changes without having to get into the crawl space(about $220), prewire (about $350). we will be choosing carpet soon but will go with the one pick for the rest of the house since it is included in the cost,


I am keeping our DaLite 106" screen and Panasonic 4000 projector (unless it is negotiated with the sale of our current house) but decided to do ceiling speakers to save on space in the smaller room - we added paradigm cs-60r-30 speakers for the LCR and paradigm cs-60r-sm ($2k for the speakers and install). 5.1 set up....though i do not have the sub yet it is something that has been on my wish list for a few years.....and maybe for a few more -


I will be building a riser, stage and a pair of floating walls (one on each side of the screen) to block the a/v eqip and movies.


My main concern at this time is the size of the room and how i will design the riser -




This is a screen shot of the movie theater - it is on the 2nd floor and has a bathroom on one side, a bedroom on the other and to the left is an open game/bonus room. don't pay attention to the room measurements on the image as that is showing it as an optional 7th bedroom with a closet. The way i will have it configured is one open room, no closet and like i mentioned 12.6x17.4 with 9 ft ceilings.


The doors cannot not be moved but I would like to have my riser on that side of the room so that my screen and LCR speakers are at the bathroom wall and not on the wall that boarders my kids bedroom. I have the option to add additional insulation to the screen wall or all 3 walls but am waiting to hear back on pricing as we have a million other expenses for the house to think about.


my current riser is 8'x6'x12" and fits our back 3 movie chairs perfectly so they can recline but there is only about 2 inches left on each side so it is a great size. I would like to build a riser just like that one but at 8ft wide i would only have 2'3" feet of space on each side of the riser. I am waiting to heat back about the width of the doors. If they are each 2ft wide (like ones we have now) then I am all set as one door can be locked and the other with swing in without issue. If they are wider then I will need to think more about my placement and size of the riser. we have two rows of 3 and would like to keep it that way. if the doors are an issue i could make everything off center to the right side of the room but i think that would get on my nerves. I am also trying to get a price on making the double doors pocket doors but am hoping that the doubles are 2 ft each. of course i could offset the seating by 2 or 3 inches and still be good.


any thoughts on the insulation? my sales consultant said that instead of the standard insulation they would use a thicker one and fill in the walls as much as possible to add more of a sound barrier. does that sound like something worth doing? we need to hear back from that vendor about cost.


I think there will not be much for me to add until i get into the room and house (not until nov 2013) but wanted to get this started with my beginning stages. I have a lot of inspiration for building some of the features, wall colors and lighting from the forum and will post those when i can.


and if anyone cares here is the exterior of the house....colors are different but you get the idea - we are very excited!

 

[BIGmouthinDC]

You said the builder won't move the doors, Can you do it after you take possession? Can you make them swing out? Can you convert the double door to a single? Solving this would make all your riser issues go away.


As for insulation, the difference between cheap and deluxe is that your mortgage will be higher for the deluxe. You aren't doing any real soundproofing no matter what you pick. Insulation alone will not contain the the lower frequencies of a Home Theater sub-woofer.

 

[Tedd]

If that is not a load bearing wall, then why not just have the builder leave the wall out completely? Then you could add the wall and put a single door elsewhere.

If you flipped the room, and did your own framing, then maybe you could widen the room several inches, and move the door away to where you want it. If you

put the riser step outside the room, and it doesn't interfere with circulation space, then you'd have end up with this:

1.jpg 30k .jpg file


Or the entry could be a single door spaced away form the screen, but at floor level. :

2.jpg 29k .jpg file

 

[BIGmouthinDC]

Don't overlook the need to have a dedicated HVAC return in this room. I'd wager that there isn't one in the current plan. Six people and your gear are going to make this room really warm when the door is closed.

 

[iamjason]

thanks for the info - as for the wall position it is one that i added as an option - we have 5 kids so i would not to take up anymore space in the adjacent bonus room for them - I am hoping that the doors are 2 ft each - if that is the case then one will be locked and the one that is the furthest back will open in allowing easy access into the room then i can just scoot the riser 2-3 inches.


about the insulation - this is something i have never done in a room so just a thicker, higher rated insulation will do nothing for the sound of the theater? if not then what is the benefit if any? maybe i can add some sound panels to that wall to absorb the sound? i have seen some nice uses of that in theaters on this forum.


good thinking about the hvac - i did not think of this but the builder does not have the option to add a 3rd ac unit - maybe i can look at some other options at that time -

 

[BIGmouthinDC]

At a minimum it involves running an insulated flex duct up in the attic from the theater ceiling to the other return lines. Cost of materials is less than $50.

 

[iamjason]

oh i was thinking you meant an actual a/c unit - there will be a vent in there but not sure about a return - will need to check on that.

 

[cw5billwade]



Quote:
Originally Posted by iamjason  /t/1476051/squeezing-in-to-a-new-dedicated-home-theater#post_23398092


thanks for the info - as for the wall position it is one that i added as an option - we have 5 kids so i would not to take up anymore space in the adjacent bonus room for them - I am hoping that the doors are 2 ft each - if that is the case then one will be locked and the one that is the furthest back will open in allowing easy access into the room then i can just scoot the riser 2-3 inches.


about the insulation - this is something i have never done in a room so just a thicker, higher rated insulation will do nothing for the sound of the theater? if not then what is the benefit if any? maybe i can add some sound panels to that wall to absorb the sound? i have seen some nice uses of that in theaters on this forum.


good thinking about the hvac - i did not think of this but the builder does not have the option to add a 3rd ac unit - maybe i can look at some other options at that time -

It is your house and honestly a good 1 3/4" safe and sound solid door is probably cheaper than the French doors your builder is planning anyway. French doors and sound proofing make it tough. My builder is letting me make any changes I want in fact I am constructing the sound proof shell and the house is still under construction. Check my thread. Whose bed room is on the riser side of the theater and do they like base late at night. If it is the master and the wife is with you than sound proofing is less important. Check Soundproofing.com for sound proofing ideas. R13 in all 4 walls and R 19 in ceiling is a start but you must decouple the walls, use a double layer of Drywall with Green Glue sandwich at a minimum. 2 ways to decouple and my build has both. IB-1 Clips and hat channel on my ceiling front and side walls and decoupled wall with IB-3 clips on the rear. Both walls in rear have R13 (billiard room and new decoupled wall in theater) I even had him put 2 layers of 5/8” drywall in the billiard room between the theater. You will lose 5” on each wall if you go decoupled as opposed to IB-1 clips and channel which is only 2” loss but cost more to do. I am not sure what is below your room but I put and additional layer of ¾” T&G subfloor with Green Glue on my floor which is above my garage just to avoid the flanking of sound.

 

[cw5billwade]



Quote:
Originally Posted by iamjason  /t/1476051/squeezing-in-to-a-new-dedicated-home-theater#post_23401238


oh i was thinking you meant an actual a/c unit - there will be a vent in there but not sure about a return - will need to check on that.

Standard method for air return in a ducted system is under the doors. If you seal your room including your door for sound control it does not matter how many supplies you have the air will not come into the room. It is like having your vents closed. After a lot of discussion I had my builder just add 4 6" supplies and a 10" return on my system for my room vise a standalone unit. I wanted zoned system but that will come later if I need it. My plan is to turn HVAC fan to on vise auto whenever I use the theater. This will help draw the stale air and heat out even if the AC is not supplying air at the time.

 

[iamjason]



Quote:
Originally Posted by cw5billwade  /t/1476051/squeezing-in-to-a-new-dedicated-home-theater#post_23401327


It is your house and honestly a good 1 3/4" safe and sound solid door is probably cheaper than the French doors your builder is planning anyway. French doors and sound proofing make it tough. My builder is letting me make any changes I want in fact I am constructing the sound proof shell and the house is still under construction. Check my thread. Whose bed room is on the riser side of the theater and do they like base late at night. If it is the master and the wife is with you than sound proofing is less important. Check Soundproofing.com for sound proofing ideas. R13 in all 4 walls and R 19 in ceiling is a start but you must decouple the walls, use a double layer of Drywall with Green Glue sandwich at a minimum. 2 ways to decouple and my build has both. IB-1 Clips and hat channel on my ceiling front and side walls and decoupled wall with IB-3 clips on the rear. Both walls in rear have R13 (billiard room and new decoupled wall in theater) I even had him put 2 layers of 5/8” drywall in the billiard room between the theater. You will lose 5” on each wall if you go decoupled as opposed to IB-1 clips and channel which is only 2” loss but cost more to do. I am not sure what is below your room but I put and additional layer of ¾” T&G subfloor with Green Glue on my floor which is above my garage just to avoid the flanking of sound.

great link!! i learned a lot about how and why the various techniques work to sound proof - I will need to check with the builder but i am thinking that they will not decouple and am not sure if they can insulate the floor (the ceiling in the crawl space obviously is. - i know i can add the insulation to the walls and am waiting to hear back on cost - as for the surrounding rooms the screen wall has one of the bathrooms and the seating wall has one of my kids bedrooms. the left wall is to the play/bonus room and the right wall is exterior. Below the room is the master bath and above is just a crawl space.


so i will ask about decoupling and will find out about the cost of insulating the 3 interior walls. They do not add additional layers of dry wall so that would be on me if i wanted that - then i would need to add the texture to the walls as well, reattaching the baseboards and paint. Are there any steps that if i cannot do will make other steps pointless? for instance if i cannot have the builder decouple then will the other steps be pointless - or is it more along the lines of whatever i can do is better than nothing to helps reduce the sound?


would i see any benefit i kept the walls with one layer of dry wall then made sections of drywall squares, green glued those to the wall, then add some sort of acoustic or visual treatment?


thanks - i am learning a lot - my current room was ready when i moved in but has no sound treatments. i like the idea of reducing the sound but need to keep in mind i am buying a new house and my wife informed me that there are other rooms in there as well so i am trying to see what the options are and what i can do to make it all work!

 

[iamjason]



Quote:
Originally Posted by cw5billwade  /t/1476051/squeezing-in-to-a-new-dedicated-home-theater#post_23401354


Standard method for air return in a ducted system is under the doors. If you seal your room including your door for sound control it does not matter how many supplies you have the air will not come into the room. It is like having your vents closed. After a lot of discussion I had my builder just add 4 6" supplies and a 10" return on my system for my room vise a standalone unit. I wanted zoned system but that will come later if I need it. My plan is to turn HVAC fan to on vise auto whenever I use the theater. This will help draw the stale air and heat out even if the AC is not supplying air at the time.

so you are saying to have a vent on the wall or door that goes in to an adjacent room to ensure the air is able to flow or are you saying i should have that return attached to the hvac system? if it is into another room then would that not defeat the purpose of soundproofing?


thanks - hvac is also new to me as i never had to think about it.

 

[BIGmouthinDC]

Using the gap under the door as a return vent works for a bedroom, Now imagine a bedroom that sleeps 6 with a space heater (All your gear and a projector) in the middle of summer. Not going to happen. Also most guys like to have their doors sealed as tight as possible to contain sound. You need to add a dedicated return preferably in the rear ceiling assuming the supplies are in the front.


Connect that return directly to the return duct system, don't rely on it flowing through another room.

 

[cw5billwade]

did you catch this link I just posted http://www.avsforum.com/t/1468993/the-retirment-dream-home-theater/90#post_23411450

here is the vew from top side. return is on left supplies to left side of theater is on right
http://s629.photobucket.com/user/cw5billwade/media/theater/20130609_093424.jpg.html

it is a 10" return which goes directly into the main return for my upstairs HVAC. I will take a picture of that for you and post it here

 

[cw5billwade]

Here is where the theater cold air return is integrated into the 2nd floor unit.
http://s629.photobucket.com/user/cw5billwade/media/theater/20130612_185545.jpg.html
http://s629.photobucket.com/user/cw5billwade/media/theater/20130612_185615.jpg.html

 

[iamjason]

thanks for the great info - it looks like they are doing a jumper duct so there will be a return in the movie room that connects to the return in the adjacent bonus room and that connects to hvac - so i think that will work great -


still waiting on cost of insulation.


since we are using ceiling speakers any recommendations on placement? since they need to be prewired i need them installed where they need to be as i cannot move them around.


about how far in front of the screen should these be and how far apart should the LCR be? room is 12'6" wide and 17'4" long. rear seating will be appx 14ft from screen and front seating will be appx 9 feet from screen.


same question for proper placement of the rear speakers.


also should i have the sub prewire place in the front of the room or side - i know i can adjust position on the sub but would like to minimize the connecting wires as much as possible.


thanks

 

[djkest]



Quote:
Originally Posted by iamjason  /t/1476051/squeezing-in-to-a-new-dedicated-home-theater#post_23436102


about how far in front of the screen should these be and how far apart should the LCR be? room is 12'6" wide and 17'4" long. rear seating will be appx 14ft from screen and front seating will be appx 9 feet from screen.


same question for proper placement of the rear speakers.


also should i have the sub prewire place in the front of the room or side - i know i can adjust position on the sub but would like to minimize the connecting wires as much as possible.


thanks

Are you doing 7.x or 5.x ?


For 7.1 I would put the side surround speakers between the first and second row about 30" from the side wall. For the rear speakers, probably just behind the heads of the back row.

What kind of in-ceiling speakers are you looking at?

 

[iamjason]



Quote:
Originally Posted by djkest  /t/1476051/squeezing-in-to-a-new-dedicated-home-theater#post_23436226


Are you doing 7.x or 5.x ?


For 7.1 I would put the side surround speakers between the first and second row about 30" from the side wall. For the rear speakers, probably just behind the heads of the back row.

What kind of in-ceiling speakers are you looking at?

prewire for 5.1 - all speakers are ceiling mounted - LCR are paradigm cs-60r-30 and paradigm cs-60r-sm for the rears - so the fronts have a 30 degree angle toward the viewer.


sub has not been decided but can be added whenever i have the funds


i considered 7.1 but with the size of the room i decided against it -

 

[Glenn_Law]

I just moved into a new construction house with a nearly identical dedicated theater room - 13x16, second floor, 9' ceilings, and double french doors on an end of one of the long walls. We screened Star Wars on Saturday night (side note - very temporary setup with 109" photo backdrop paper taped to one wall, my son sitting in a lawn chair, and the surrounds sitting on wardrobe size moving boxes, but the projector and 5.1 system were fully operational).


Anyway, the room got rather warm. The heat from the receiver and the projector were noticeable. I set the upstairs thermostat down to 75 and turned the a/c fan to on, but the media room was still 5-10 degrees hotter than the rest of the upstairs. My media room has 2 a/c ducts but no return duct. Halfway through the movie, I cracked the doors open but it didn't help. I'm not looking forward to spending money to modify the a/c for the room, but eventually I'll have to do something.


Glenn

 

[iamjason]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Glenn_Law  /t/1476051/squeezing-in-to-a-new-dedicated-home-theater#post_23436648


My media room has 2 a/c ducts but no return duct.

thanks for the info....especially with similar room dimensions to what ours will be - i am not sure how many a/c vents will be in ours but with the return jumper duct i am hoping that the air flows well keeping the room cool -

 

[cw5billwade]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Glenn_Law  /t/1476051/squeezing-in-to-a-new-dedicated-home-theater#post_23436648


I just moved into a new construction house with a nearly identical dedicated theater room - 13x16, second floor, 9' ceilings, and double french doors on an end of one of the long walls. We screened Star Wars on Saturday night (side note - very temporary setup with 109" photo backdrop paper taped to one wall, my son sitting in a lawn chair, and the surrounds sitting on wardrobe size moving boxes, but the projector and 5.1 system were fully operational).


Anyway, the room got rather warm. The heat from the receiver and the projector were noticeable. I set the upstairs thermostat down to 75 and turned the a/c fan to on, but the media room was still 5-10 degrees hotter than the rest of the upstairs. My media room has 2 a/c ducts but no return duct. Halfway through the movie, I cracked the doors open but it didn't help. I'm not looking forward to spending money to modify the a/c for the room, but eventually I'll have to do something.


Glenn

a lot of folks use the dead vents with fans to draw cold are from other rooms and dump the warm air back to the cold air return. Check the soundproofing company web site

Quote:
Originally Posted by iamjason  /t/1476051/squeezing-in-to-a-new-dedicated-home-theater#post_23439025


thanks for the info....especially with similar room dimensions to what ours will be - i am not sure how many a/c vents will be in ours but with the return jumper duct i am hoping that the air flows well keeping the room cool -

a good rule of thimb is have the run HVAC load based on a kitchen a independent return is vital.