[predgw]

Hi guys. Great website. I have been reading for awhile and decided to join. I am in the planning stages for building a dedicted Home Theater room and wanted to ask the experts some questions. First some info to help with your answers. Room is in the basement. Concrete floor, with stud walls and insulation already up. Room is 25'-11" x 14'-4"x7'-3.5"(concrete to bottom of joist) I plan to buy a projector. I already own Definitive technology speakers. All have powered subs built in and are bipolar. Clr2300 center, 4- 7006 towers, and the BVPX/P rear. I have already started buying some dri-core panels for the floor. Ok here goes:

1. At what point in the building process did you guys buy your projector. I know throw distance is important so I need to be building around a projector don't I?

2. I am looking for a good book with some home theater design ideas. Styles ect. I have downloaded pics from this website gallery but would like even more ideas.

3. What is an ideal distance from the rear surround to the ideal listening position. I am thinking about adding cabients in the make for storage so the long dimesion of the room would shrink by 3' or so.

4. Finally I am thinking 106" screen area with the seats at about 15'-6". I know what the recomended ratio is but do you guys think that is a good screen size for my rooms dimensions? thanks in advance

[king]

Wow that sounds just like my theater room! Same dimensions. I knew which projector I wanted and the throw distance, so I left the purchase for last. I made sure however that I had all the wiring in place including a power outlet in the ceiling. I went with a black drop ceiling tile so it's always easy to route any cables later.

I wasn't able to find any good books. Looked at Chapters and everywhere! So just a lot of searching on Google for home theater stores that do custom theaters. Also look for magazines including 'HomeTheater' magazine among others.

Check projectorcentral.com for projector throw distance etc. I used their calculator to figure out the optimal seating position. I didn't want to put bookshelf speakers right behind the seats so I decided to put the surrounds in the rear walls. This also clears out the floor space. I built a separate closet for housing all my components, DVD's etc.

As for the front speakers, I built cut outs in the wall (at an angle and 2ft away from the front wall) and put the towers behind. Then I made a custom grill and covered them to look like a wall panels. Matching front and rears. My screen is also a 106" Da Lite fixed mount. I built a channel between the wall and the speakers to accomodate drapes to slide behind the speakers.

Difficult to explain without pics...I will post some tomorrow!

[predgw]

Thanks for the reply. The more pics the better. Couple more questions.

How do you know what you will need for sound treatment? Doesn't this need to be figured into the design. For example, on the side walls I was thinking of making a column or a couple square box outs(not sure on the name) to break up the wall and make the room look better. But if I want things to be somewhat symetrical I kind of need to know if I am going to have to hang a square sound treatment on the wall.

You mentioned you didn't want to put bookshelf speakers right behind the listener so you put them in the rear. Is this a 5.1 setup? I was planning on putting 2 or the towers on each side, just behind the main seating and then the one rear on the back wall in the center. Do you think this will optimal? Ok thanks again.

[homthtr]

[predgw]

Nice, thanks. Speakers are all in wall, what made you choose that method.
My def techs are piano finish black so I am going to try and incoporate that in my color scheme. I am thinking a deep cheery red for wood.

In the first pic you posted there is box out in the upper right corner. Is that a HVAC duct underneath or did you add that to break up the walls a little. I have seen those with recessed lighting in the bottom and it looks good. ok Thanks.

[David Noll]

My room dimensions are a little longer and not quite as wide. I also have Def Techs, the 7001s. I have columns along the side walls to break-up the sound and more importantly carpeting on the lower half. My walls are double thickness drywall. I did not need to use any sound treatments. My "tin-look" ceiling is acoustic tile.

See my pics in the gallery (link below) if you have not already done so.

David

[predgw]

Your link is not working right now but I think I will check them out. Did you build the columns specfically to break up the sound? If so is there a rule of thumb on column size/ room size ratio. What are your other speakers? Thanks

[David Noll]

The two columns on the right hide posts that hold up the main beam of the house. The columns on the right balance the room. Size was determined by width of doors available that matched my cabinets and the soffit above.

My speakers are the BP7001sc for the mains, a C/L/R 2500 center, and four BP2X for the surrounds.


David