New Home Theatre - Advice, help, Suggestions

logan8246 · 08-18-2007, 06:04 PM

I have a detached 2 story addon to my house we are building, just a small breezeway connects them. 630 square feet per floor. 1st floor is an open gameroom. Second floor has a couple of offices and one room that will soon be my Home Theatre.

The Home theatre is a fairly small space, it is 13 ft wide and 17 foot long and 9 foot ceiling with a 4 x 4 1/2 foot space off the back cornerthat I will put DVD shelves and the Media equipment (this is the space above the stairs from below)

I have been reading the "Things I wish I had done differently" thread and thought I would share my plans for my room in hope that I would not have to post on that thread in the future. (although i guess I already have one regret, and that is that I would have made the room just a foot or so wider and a few feet longer)

Here are a few pictures: (couldnt figure out how to post pictures, did a quick upload, but got an error message stating I couldnt post links yet)(tried attachment and files are to big, I will make them smaller and try and post or attach later.)

Front of room where screen will go.
I plan to build columns to enclose the Duct work going to the game room below. That should leave me roughly 11 feet between the columns for speakers and Screen.

Back of room. Hope to be able to fit two rows of seating, with the back row on a riser that I would build out of 2 X 10 and 3/4 inch plywood. to the right in the small open area would be the Media equipment and DVDs with a dedicated light switch for a single recessed light

right wall. I plan to have the door open into the hall way. Have an outlet box about 5 foot u p. I also have two on the wall opposite. I plan to build light boxes for Movie posters and wanted the cords to be hidden inside the box.

Equipment that I have or plan to purchase:
JVC dla-RS1 projector ceiling mounted. (still need to purchase)
Klipsch Speaker system - still trying to decide what models I need for this room size before purchasing.
Denon 2807 receiver (already purchased)
I have a xbox360 with HD DVD drive I use on my computer, but figure I will need to purchase a dedicated HD player. Any thoughts on this?

Screen: I read on the forum about Carada for a screen and have been looking at some of them there, but did not realize there were so many aspect ratios and have not decided on which one to go with.

Cables: Heard about Blue Jean Cables on the forum and am looking at their site also.

Buildout:
I plan to run PVC pipe in the walls for front speakers and PVC above ceiling for projector, just to make it easier to switch or add anything in the future.

I am going to try and make my own sound panels. I have been told that I can just buy some suede fabric for this. trying to decide if it should be applied directly to sheetrock or a thin plywood panel.

The bottom 3 foot of the wall will be wood and trim with the top of the wall alternating between painted sheet rock and fabric.

sorry about the length,
look forward to showing pictures and hearing any advice you may have or any flaws in my planning you want to point out.
thanks

logan8246 · 08-18-2007, 07:43 PM

I have been reading for the last couple of days and just came up with a bit of concern. Any advice on the electrical needs? right now it looks like my electrician is going to have basically everything in the room on one breaker or at least all the media equipment. The lighting may end up being on a second.

Also, i only have one outlet on the wall that the screen will be on, I didnt really think I even needed that one.

I assumed the power cord for the projector would run through pvc pipe in ceiling to the media area (about a 6 ft run) and plug in there, or should I put an outlet in ceiling?

thanks

Parker Clack · 08-19-2007, 06:23 AM

As far as the screen goes Carada is a great choice. I would give David a call over there, tell him the projector you are going to get, your room size and he will give you the best choice for your room size and projector.

You can't go wrong with the cables from Blue Jeans Cables period.

If you are going to be ceiling mount the projector I would have your electrical outlet box run up to the projector. As far as the number of outlets you would need for the room that would be up to code for your area. Also, I am not an electrician but I would think that you would definitely need more than one breaker. Many people have their equipment on one breaker, the projector on another, the lighting on another. I would talk to your electrician about adding a dedicated sub panel that would have several dedicated breakers for your HT away from your main line. We do have several electricians on the site so I imagine they will jump in here with recommendations.

I would also lay a larger conduit to run your wires to your projector and from equipment to your speakers adding a bit more diameter to future proof the room and allow for upgrades in the future keeping the number of right angles of the pipe to a minimum.

I am going to increase your post count a bit so you can post images.

Parker

logan8246 · 08-19-2007, 11:17 AM

Thanks Parker,
I know there is not a lot to see at the moment, but I am working on it

I will talk to my electrician about your suggestions Monday.

Screen Wall:

Back wall with equipment cubby to the right:

entrance:

logan8246 · 08-21-2007, 10:43 PM

Struggling with what set of speakers to get. I have listened to polk, dynaudio and klipsch. Problem is, I have listened to them all at seperate stores and am really unsure of which one I liked the best. I was leaning towards the Klipsch but then read a thread in the speaker section stating that he thought they sounded to harsh in his home theatre.
I was looking to spend somewhere between $1000 to $3000 for speakers.

some of the systems I was looking at are:
Klipsch: 1 Pair RF-62, 1 Single RC-62, 1 Pair RS-52 and 1 Single RW-12 Sub
for $2644.00
Klipsch: 1 Pair RF-35, 1 Single RC-35, 1 Pair RS-35 and 1 Single RW-12 Sub
for $1999.00
I was also looking at the BIC speakers, BIC Acoustech Cinema Series 6 Speaker System which are only $799.00. Anyone heard these before?

Any suggestions in this price range or comments on the above?
Thanks,

**HTF Ads**

Shannon W · 08-22-2007, 12:50 AM

You have a PM.

Shannon

JJMJ71 · 08-22-2007, 08:02 AM

If you decide to go with Klipsch you should be able to pick the speakers up for less then the price that you have listed. You have to peruse the internet to find the deals, but you should beable to come out ahead.
Here is my speaker list:
2 - RF82
1 - RC62
2 - RS52
Total I spent: $1450

From all the great things I have heard about SVS subs I would check those out. Anybody that has one will tell you that they just love' em.

Hope this helps,
JJ

logan8246 · 08-23-2007, 12:17 AM

Well, I made the plunge today and ordered my projector, the JVC DLA-RS1.
I got an awesome price from AVS. They just lowered the price while supplies last. I talked to 3 dealers in the Dallas Texas area and they were all wanting 5995.00 to 6295.00 so I am very happy with the price AVS gave me. If you have been putting off buying one, now might be the time. I am not sure If I am suppose to list the price, but if you want to know, let me know its ok to post and I will or you can PM me or you can call Jason at AVS.

Thanks go out to SherardP for the advice about contacting AVS on another thread. he helped me to save a bundle.

also, thanks for the info on the speakers JJ and Shannon

homthtr · 08-23-2007, 01:17 AM

What is your screen size going to be? That will determine where your video and power should go. I would just run one 5 conductor RGB cable to the projector. That is all you will ever need. Along with an Electrical outlet in the ceiling next to the video run.

logan8246 · 08-23-2007, 02:47 AM

I am going to get a 110 inch screen from Carada. I need to order the speaker wire etc from blue jean tomarrrow and get the wiring done, so we can start closing in the walls. You mentioned running RGB, what about HDMI? I am going to ceiling mount the projector. So, are you suggesting that the outlet be on the bottom of the ceiling or should I build a small recessed box opening between two joist slightly behind projector?
thank