At the request of some of the members of this area of the forum as suggested by Bobby C I am going to start this thread and make it a sticky so that members can post things they would have done differently when building their HT.
I would have put a wood floor in my basement home theater. I just laid carpet on top of the concrete slab. Works OK but I don't "feel" the bass enough.
As with any construction project, from the staqrt, just go out and get the right tools instead of making due. The trip to the store and cost is minimal compared to how many times you,ll have to do it over, or how crappy it will come out. The right tools for the job makes so much of a difference.
Also, I would have thought it out a little more as far as where I needed my outlets....Although I will make do, Better planning innitially, would have saved me from the 'creative wiring' I now have to do.
I can think of two things right off, and they aren't necessarily independent. I would have done a better job of planning before building. It beats getting to a point in construction and then realizing there is something that I should have considered before starting. Along those lines, I could have hired a professional to design the HT structure. In fact, that is what I'm going to do for my next HT
I would have spent more on water baseboard heat instead of the electric boards (HT in basement).
I should have dumped my crappy electrician from the start.
I should have thought about seats before finishing out the room so that I could have built the rise earlier and put it all the way to the wall.
I would have held off longer on the projector to get the next step up.
Sounds like I have alot of regrets, however, the education of it all has been good and I now know what I would do if I were to build a new theater. Time to tell the wife we need a new house!!!!
I would have consulted with a structural engineer before messing with any joists or structural support pieces... even if i didn't pay for their professional services, I would at least like to hear what they have to say about my plans...
Not necessarily a contribution to the "things I wish I did differently" ( at least not yet ) but just wanted to say as I get ready to embark on our HT, this thread is a great idea to learn from.
Thank you to those that have (or soon will) share your thoughts.
I hope to have my home theater finished by this weekend, but if I had to do it again I would:
1. Run 2" or larger conduit or, even if a bit expensive, run DVI and component cables before drywalling the room;
2. Reinforce the ceiling where I think I might mount a FP so I don't have to jury-rig it later or, get the FP first so I know for sure where it will go;
3. Cut a slot into the ceiling for a hidden pull-down screen so I don't have to either hang it from the ceiling or cut the slot later; I would also run an electrical outlet into the slot so I could upgrade to an electric screen (and run conduit from the component area to the screen for a future trigger cable);
4. Built a wooden subfloor on top of my slab concrete floor to get better bass;
5. Run audio wires for a back center speaker in case I ever wanted one; and
6. Thought harder about whether I want a sound permeable screen so I can place a center speaker behind it. The only screens that are sound permeable are expensive electric torsioned screens and fixed screens (also expensive if sound permeable).
There are also some things I am very happy I did:
1. Run two sets of speaker wires through the walls for each of my front speakers, center speaker, surround speakers, and rear surround speakers. By running two sets of wires to each speaker, I can place one or more subs in the same positions and not lose any of the other speakers, or I could bi-wire the speakers if I ever felt that made a difference;
2. Install a pull down screen rather than a fixed screen. I can hide the screen away, making the room look like it can be used for something other than pure home theater and I can hang art on the wall, install a bookcase, etc. I can also close up the screen to prevent damage when not in use (but perhaps at the sacrifice of some surface tension);
3. Get a projector that can tolerate some ambient light. I don't like the idea of having to shut the room up like a tomb in order to view a film;
4. Get a 4x3 screen and projector rather than a 16x9. I DON'T lose much size at all when viewing widescreen material, and get a LOT more size when viewing 4x3 material such as old movies, etc., compared to someone with a 16x9 projector and screen;
5. Installed a dedicated electrical circuit to my components;
6. Installed dimmers for all lights; and
7. Installed solid core doors and insulated the room to block sound escaping to the rest of the house.
Wow - when I suggested this thread I thought I'd get a couple of nice ideas, however in just a short time I have many! Torgny - I like the idea of a slot in the ceiling for a pulldown screen, I'd like to give that some thought. My only concern is I'm trying to isolate the room so I'd probably have to do that over the ceiling - kinda like a small narrow box that juts slightly down.
As I said in the original thread, I wish I was more careful in my demolision phase with my reciprocating saw, that copper pipe is sure easy to nick! As I am in the early stages, I'm sure I'll have plenty of others..
im glad to hear everyone would rather have a wood floor than slab, helps me decide on what to do now that im getting ready to change my garage over to HT .
1. I would have moved a bit of ac pipe that cuts through about a foot of the upper rear corner of the room. I'm going to hide it but I wish that it wasn't there. But I would have needed a HVAC contractor to come in and my project was a contractor free zone - the only contractors that set foot in the 600 sq. ft. finished basement were the carpet installers.
2. I purposely didn't do it here (we are on a five year plan at this house and I couldn't justify the expense) but will do it on the next: Dri Core or some sort of subfloor on the slab.
Just a quick comment about the wood floors for the sub... Based on a recommendation from Dennis Erskine, I built a stage in the front of my HT area & placed the sub on the stage. The idea, according to Dennis, is to have the sub move air...not the stage, floor, walls, etc. Thus, the stage is filled with sand & not attached to the walls.
With the same sub / speaker set up that was previously in a family room, I can honestly say that the bass output in my basement is now 10x greater!
Hadn't thought about the sub on the sand-filled stage idea before. Regarding the shaking of walls, floors, etc. - isn't that why people add bass shakers? I've never used a bass shaker before, but I've thought about it for my next install. Is that not the effect I should be going after?