Updated 6/21/10
EQUIPMENT LIST
Front Projection:
ROOM
Dedicated Home Theater Room:
A little background is in order. This will be my second major home theater build. The first was a dedicated room in our Palm Springs, CA home. The outcome was fairly successful for our purposes. I have included a link to my website that has pictures of the construction process here. My second home theater was the conversion of the 2nd bedroom in our apartment. Being an apartment, nothing permanent could be done, and this room was also used for other purposes. The only construction was for the purpose of mounting of small, motorized 84" diagonal 16:9 projection screen. Although we enjoyed the small bedroom theater immensely, it doesn’t really qualify as a home theater “build.” This brings us up to present day.
My wife and I just purchased a new townhome with a full, unfinished basement, pictured here.
As you can see, the basement has its challenges with the location of the HVAC, plumbing and support beam. However, thanks to many of the wonderful suggestions of fellow AVSers, I have settled in on a design for the new theater. In designing the theater area, it was important that the basement maintain an “open” feel to it for entertaining. One of the challenges that I still face are the water lines running everywhere. It is important that the equipment rack and projector not be located right below water/sewer lines that may start to leak some day. I have not yet determined where the equipment room will be located. We also would like to add a bar somewhere into the mix. Here is the initial design that I have come up with:
I currently already have much of the a/v equipment for the theater. I may do some swapping out of individual components, but for the most part the equipment listed above is what I will be using.
The following issues are still to be determined and any input is greatly appreciated:
The time frame for this project completion no later than December 2009.
AramB
EQUIPMENT LIST
Front Projection:
- Projector: Sim2 HT300E DLP (720P)
- Video Processor: DVDO iScan Duo
- Screen: 2.35:1 Dragonfly High Contrast 125" (diagonal)
- Anamorphic Lens: Panamorph UH380 with MTH1 Manual Transport and AK6 Attachment Plate
- Ceiling Mount: Chief RPA Mount with 12" CMS Extension Column and CMS115 Ceiling Plate
- Pre Pro: Lexicon RV-5 Receiver
- Power Amplifier: Lexicon ZX-7 (300W/Channel @ 8 ohms) for Left, Right, Center, Surrounds and Rears
- Main Speakers: Legacy Audio Focus 20/20
- Center Speaker: Legacy Audio Silverscreen II
- Surround Speakers: Triad InWall Silver/4 Surround
- Rear Speakers: Triad InWall Gold/4 Omni SE
- Subwoofer: Legacy Audio LFExtreme
- CD/DVD/DVD-A: Rotel RDV-1092
- HD-DVD: Toshiba HD-XA2
- Blu Ray: Panasonic DMP-BD80
- Cable: Motorola DCT-6200 HDTV CATV (Service Electric)
- Electronics Power Conditioning: Panamax M5400-PM & Panamax M5300-PM
- Projector Battery Backup: Panamax M1500-UPS-PFP
- Power Distribution: Panamax InWall MIW-PowerKit-Pro
- Middle Atlantic 43-Space AX-S In-Wall Equipment Rack
- Middle Atlantic RSH Custom Rack Shelves
- RTI XP-8 Central Control Processor
- RTI T3-V Remote Control (zigbee)
- RTI RK3-V InWall Touch Panel
- RTI CB-8 Connecting Block
- RTI ZM-24 Zigbee Transmitter/Receiver
- Leviton Vizia RF+ 1000W Dimmers/Switches (z-wave)
ROOM
Dedicated Home Theater Room:
- Room Dimensions: 21' deep; 15' wide (screen wall), 17.5' wide (rear wall)
- Ceiling Height: 7' 6" maximum; 6'0" minimum (standing on riser below soffit)
- Screen Height: 52" from floor to middle of screen
- Seating for 6 = 3 in front row, 3 in rear on a 12.5" riser
- Front row: 11'
- Back row: 17' 6"
- Lower Walls: Behr Premium Plus Ultra Flat Enamel - Cayman Bay (UL230-19)
- Upper Walls: Behr Premium Plus Ultra Flat Enamel - Mesa Taupe (UL130-16)
- Ceiling: Behr Premium Plus Ultra Flat Matte - Delicate Lace (UL130-12)
- Screen Wall: Behr Premium Plus Ultra Flat Matte - Black Black
- Floor: Behr Premium Plus Porch & Floor Low Lustre - Rich Brown (PPF-52)
A little background is in order. This will be my second major home theater build. The first was a dedicated room in our Palm Springs, CA home. The outcome was fairly successful for our purposes. I have included a link to my website that has pictures of the construction process here. My second home theater was the conversion of the 2nd bedroom in our apartment. Being an apartment, nothing permanent could be done, and this room was also used for other purposes. The only construction was for the purpose of mounting of small, motorized 84" diagonal 16:9 projection screen. Although we enjoyed the small bedroom theater immensely, it doesn’t really qualify as a home theater “build.” This brings us up to present day.
My wife and I just purchased a new townhome with a full, unfinished basement, pictured here.

As you can see, the basement has its challenges with the location of the HVAC, plumbing and support beam. However, thanks to many of the wonderful suggestions of fellow AVSers, I have settled in on a design for the new theater. In designing the theater area, it was important that the basement maintain an “open” feel to it for entertaining. One of the challenges that I still face are the water lines running everywhere. It is important that the equipment rack and projector not be located right below water/sewer lines that may start to leak some day. I have not yet determined where the equipment room will be located. We also would like to add a bar somewhere into the mix. Here is the initial design that I have come up with:
I currently already have much of the a/v equipment for the theater. I may do some swapping out of individual components, but for the most part the equipment listed above is what I will be using.
The following issues are still to be determined and any input is greatly appreciated:
- Where to put the equipment room – I would ultimately like to have enough room for two racks, in the event that I do a distributed audio/video system throughout the entire home.
- Storage location for DVDs and CDs – One thought was to locate all the software in the equipment room.
- Bar location
The time frame for this project completion no later than December 2009.
AramB