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Help - Building New House with Home Theatre

#1
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6/28/09 at 5:59pm
  • Joined: June 2009
  • Post Count: 2
Greetings. My wife and I are having a house built with a home theater. The theater will be 17' 7" x 12' 11" and with 8' 8" high ceiliings. We plan to have one riser. We were not happy with components the wiring company who works with the builder offered and suspect the mark up between him and the builder is not reasonable. We plan to have the builders wiring company do the wiring but we plan to put in the projector, screen and speakers ourselves. We will also have a conduit put in by the wiring company so we can pull a HDMI cable through the ceiling from the projector location to the components location. Since this is a new house we have all options open. We don't have an unlimited budget and think we would do a 5.1 system of some kind and a 1080 projector. Can anyone help with how the wiring should be laid out? Should we wire for speakers in the ceilings or on the walls? Where should the builder put in supports for the projector?

Thanks much,

John D
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#2
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6/28/09 at 6:26pm
  • Joined: February 2004
  • Post Count: 1,603

Re: Help - Building New House with Home Theatre

You have to decide on the projector first, to know where it will mount on the ceiling. Do not let the electrician wire for projector until you know which one you're buying. The same goes for the projector mount bracing. They all have different throw distances. Or you can put it on a shelf on rear wall(if you buy a projector with lens shift). This is by far the easiest way to go(if you want LCD). This is what I would do if it was an LCD. I would definitely wire for speakers on the walls. On the screen wall, you'll need to know the screen size before you know where to wire for front speakers. What is your budget just for projector? Do you want LCD or DLP?
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#3
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6/28/09 at 6:29pm
  • Joined: February 2004
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Re: Help - Building New House with Home Theatre

You have to decide on the projector first, to know where it will mount on the ceiling. Do not let the electrician wire for projector until you know which one you're buying. The same goes for the projector mount bracing. They all have different throw distances. Or you can put it on a shelf on rear wall(if you buy a projector with lens shift). This is by far the easiest way to go(if you want LCD). This is what I would do if it was an LCD. I would definitely wire for speakers on the walls. On the screen wall, you'll need to know the screen size before you know where to wire for front speakers. What is your budget just for projector? Do you want LCD or DLP? Don't forget to budget for screen(or make your own), cables, HT receiver, speaker wire, speaker brackets, ceiling mount(if applicable).
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#4
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7/1/09 at 3:12pm
  • Joined: June 2009
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Jim Mcc - THis is helpful information.  I don't mind spending up to 3 thousand for the projector.  I haven't decided what is necessary at our level of minimal sophistication on the audio system and so I am focusing on the critical path issues first like specifying wiring, riser and projector mounting instructions that the builder will expect at some time in the near future.  Excuse my ignorance but by LCD you mean something other than liquid crystal display?  Asssuming so, we want a projector, not an LCD since we are thinking that is more appealing as a home theater approach (there will be other rooms with HDTV - LCD for casual TV viewing).  I see posts here and there on recommendations for projectors, do you have recommendation for a projector in that budget range and can we get a decent projector with good illumination at that budget level?  I was thinking perhaps we would shoot for an image of 96-100 inches diagonal but am still in the early stages of thinking through the max projection throw size.. I found an online calculator for riser calculations that got me thinking that might be a size to go for we could make work.  In a 21 foot long room with an 8'8" ceiling I believe we have a little room to play with.  Thanks again for past or future suggestions.
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#5
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7/18/09 at 1:43am
  • Joined: April 2009
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I thought I was new to this.... When he said LCD, he was speaking of an LCD Projector. They are usually a refered to as a 3chip LCD Projector though. I do not know as much as a lot of the guys here but will try and help you. My wife and I have just built our new house as well. I am planning on having a Dedicated Theater Room with 2 other rooms and a bathroom in it. My Theater is approximately 20'wx23'lx9'3"h.

I think if you look at Home Theater Magazine you would find some helpfull information on the electronics end of the planning. You can also contact a Custom Installer and ask how much it would cost to have them come look at your room that will hold all of your components and plan it for you. I went this way and it only cost me $100.00. Fairly reasonable for a drawing showing me the optimum placement for speakers and diagrams describing what type of wiring and jacks/outlets needed where.

On the projector I have chosen to go with is the Epson HC6100. You can get this one at hhgregg which I am sure you have one close by. It will run you around $2500.00 with a 5 year warranty including Bulb replacements during that time. It is an LCD 3 Chip Projector. If you google it, you will find some reviews. It has 18000:1 contrast ratio which is better than most with I think 3000lumen projection. Look it up and check my specs because I don't have the list in front of me... Just going by memory. The LCD projectors will be less expensive with more bang for the money.

If you choose to go DLP, you will spend a lot more to get as good as the one above I believe.

The biggest piece of advice I can give..... DO NOT GET IN A HURRY!!! Make time for researching with what you want to watch, and give thought to your sound as well. The picture is only half of the movie. You should be able to do a 7.1 Surround set up for the money you will save on the projector.

Hope this helps... Sparks
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#6
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8/12/09 at 9:41pm
  • Joined: July 2001
  • Location: Whittier, California
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I agree don't get in a hurry because you may just end up with something that you are not happy with. Do not let the contractor rush you and I wouldn't let him wire for the projector without having chosen one first. You need to know where it will be mounted before you can go ahead with getting it wired. A 7.1 system really is not that much more expensive than a 5.1, the only thing you need to do for the system is add two more rear speakers. I would look into a good quality a/v receiver since it will be the brains behind your home theater. Personally I like Denon, they sound great, they have alot of features and flexibility for the money and even some of there lower end models have 100MHz component video inputs and output. I would love to have a projection system some day but for now I just want to replace my old aging Yamaha RX-V995.

You will have a good size room so IMHO I would make sure you lock down a good projector, get a good receiver and match your speakers to your new receiver.  IMHO I would get at least 120 watts - 130 watts if you plan to listen to it loud.  You can always add external power amplifiers as long as the reciever has the analog outs.  The most important speakers in your home theater will be your front 3 speakers.  These will be the 3 speakers that will use most of the power from you receiver, your subwoofer will most likely have its own internal amplifier.  So if you add an external power amp I would suggest a nice 3 channel model as this will give you the added power to give you the results you want if you plan on filling a large room with sound and making it loud!

Let us know how it goes, good luck!   


1080p High Definition SupporterLossless Audio Supporter Current Library: 221 DVD's / 70 HD-DVD's / 181 Blu-ray's (251 HD Titles)

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#7
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8/19/09 at 11:05pm
  • Joined: January 2008
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Even if you think you will not run 7.1 as of yet, at least wire for it, this will cost you nothing at all to do at this point in time and will be there for future reference.  And take my word for it, I as of yesterday got to listen to my first movie in my basement in 7.1 and absolutely loved it, I will never go back to 5.1 if I can avoid it. 
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#8
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9/3/09 at 4:35pm
  • Joined: November 1999
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I agree with Ryan.  Wire is cheap and you should wire for 7.1  Don't forget about wiring for subwoofers either.  Everyone is right about picking out your projector first, but at the same time odds are 5 years from now you might have a new one, so leave a lot of extra wire in the ceiling cavity so you can accomidate a new one down the road.

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