Things I wish I would have done differently in my project - Page 3

Well, I am in the process of building a new house. This isn't a custom home, so some of my choices were limited. But here's what I chose, and I would welcome any feedback or suggestions. In short, I went with sort of a dual-approach:

First, the "interim" solution...

I paid $2000 for a media niche in the family room. The major reason we did it is because unlike most built-ins that are, well, built INwards, this one actually pushed out the wall of my house! So I still ended up with the same exact room size! The niche is big enough for a 65" RP HDTV. Not huge, but perfectly acceptable for this arrangement. My wife hates the exposed speaker wiring in my current setup, so she also insisted on the $1000 for built-in 5.1 speakers! They're all 100W, and even the 100W sub is built-in. I'm worried about this being adequate, but since this is just my "short-term" solution, I think I'll be okay. The one thing I might do is run some zip line so I can pull wire for a rear center channel (6.1) some day.

All the speakers terminate into outlets in the niche. I also have 3 RG6 coax, 1 Cat5e phone, and 1 Cat5e data going in there. The latter are for a media center PC with Tivo/PVR-type functionality. I also have a couple speakers in my patio ceiling that terminate in the niche, for outdoor parties.

Light-control is definitely the biggest issue here, as the family room is next to the kitchen. Our current house has 2" wood blinds, which are horrendous for blocking light. So I am trying to talk her into some of the shade-type window treatments that will actually block the damn light when they are down! I am also comforted when I remind myself again that this is NOT my home theater, it's just the family room...

On a side note, I also ran data, phone, and cable to the desk in the kitchen for an under-cabinet LCD TV someday. This will also double as a monitor for a PC tucked in the cabinet, which along with a wireless mouse and keyboard should make for a very useful yet unobtrusive configuration.

Finally, I got structured wiring so every CAT5e phone, Cat5e data, and RG6 coax cable terminates into a panel in my master bedroom closet. This is where my high-speed modem and ethernet switch/router/firewall goes, so I don't have to clutter my den with it.

And now for my ultimate plan...

The real reason I bought this house is because of the split 3-car garage. Originally, I planned on playing $3500 to convert the one-car garage to a 13x20 room. But when I realized that I would have to rip everything out to run wires, power, flooring, soundproofing, etc, I decided that it would save a lot of money to wait. My biggest remaining concern is cooling (I'm in AZ). Since it is a garage, it won't have cooling run to it, which could be very expensive to fix later. Any suggestions?

Lastly, in preparation, the garage has the following:

2 RG6 coax
1 Cat5e phone
1 Cat5e data (all 4 in 1 outlet, back wall)
1 220v outlet (back wall)
6 110v outlet (2 back wall, 2 each side wall)

There is also a 110v in the ceiling for the garage door opener. Not where a FP would go, but I should be able to move it without too much trouble--I mean, I have to rip it out up there to install some recessed lighting anyway, right? There is also an external 110v outlet in the upper corner of the outer far wall (1 of 4 I put in the eaves around my house for holiday lighting). However, all the eave outlets will be switched in my foyer, so I'm not sure I could use it for my HT. But since all my stuff is behind me, I'm not sure I need any power up there. Am I wrong?

In essence, I figured that this room would give me plenty of space to build an equipment closet and media shelving in back, and still have room for a couple rows of seating. I'm thinking I could fit at least two 4-person reclining leather theater seating units without cramping the room at all.

Admittedly, this is probably a 2-3 years away. So what I'm most interested in is suggestions for things that I could do easily now, but that would be very difficult and/or expensive to do later... Thanks!

Not really a regret as the technology is still evolving, but I placed 2 speakers Left Rear and Right Rear next to each other (2 inches apart) behind the main seating area. This was done based on THXII recomendations. Look at the recent Widescreen Review Mag and there is a move to have speakers at different locations realtive to the THX standard.

Doug

This is all cool stuff, as my family is looking to put in a HT in our new house sometime this year.

I was wondering, if anyone who has gone with the option of a painting screen (with the proper coatings of course) regrets the choice when compared to actual projection screen?

Paul, in my opinion, a DIY painted screen is a no lose scenario. I painted my screen on drywall as follows:

2 coats drywall primer
2 coats silver metallic (Behr)
2 coats SilverScreen (Behr)

I will frame it with regular door trim.

Total cost: under $30 and about 2 hrs of my time. There are plenty of others here who did a similar treatment. If you are not satisfied with the results, you can always upgrade to a "real" screen. As for me, I am completely satisfied. I, admittedly, have not done the Pepsi Challenge with different samples and shades of grey, etc., but my results were so good that I just didn't bother with trying anything else.

I am sure that there are others here that have a more critical eye that would not find it acceptible, but in my opinion, you should try this before you spend the $$$ on a real screen.

More media storage, a dedicated zone for heating and cooling, a rear speaker wire and how in the world could I forget an Cat-5e cable from my router...dumb.

I just had central air installed and I was thinking about dedicating a zone for my future theater, but the cost and room needed for a second blower just didn't make sense. I thought it was just a matter of a separate damper/thermostat. Man, was I wrong!

i had floating wood shelves installed above my tv...the problem is that the shelves are not deep enough for me to get behind the equipment...if i have to add something or change anything around, i don't know what the hell i am going to do...it looks real nice, but not practical..

'- Know what seats you want before beginning construction and then building to fit. I had very limited choices at the end. It is amazing how many configurations are 2"'s wider than my 10' 6" space.

'- do as much as you can yourself. I found with a little patience and thought you can pretty much do everything yourself. Better sense of accomplishment and more $$'s left over for better equipment.

'- Even if you don't have 7-1 - run the wires. It doesn't cost much and it is much easier and cleaner than running at a later date.

'- run a separate cicuit for the projection whether RPTV/ projector.
'- use 12g..harder but allows 20a in the future if required

'- have another for the components

'- I have my lights running on a circuit from another room.

'- I can't post links but I found this site

http://www.homewiringandmore.com to be extremely helpful for DIY electrical guys. Excellent site. No I'm not promoting anybody. Great forum. Great diagrams for wiring. So simple that anybody who can read should be able to run wires for any set-up they can envision.



'- I find that alot of things some people think are a must are not a must for most people.

'- Dark is obviously better but it doesn't have to be dark. I have a white ceiling and burgandy walls. No complaints. No shadows or glare (in the basement with a little casement window which helps).

'- I didn't double up the drywall. Costs more and takes much more effort and I can't see the difference being worth the effort. I ran my system down there before I put any walls up or drywall and after I finished. Honestly the sound travels just as much and I'd expect the same with 4 layers of drywall. Bass travels through it without much problem. Please don't shoot me. I'm just a normal guy who enjoys a good dvd. Without meters and what not I doubt I'd ever be able to tell if I had 2 sheets of drwall.

'- I'd agree with a subfloor for bass. Even putting down Dricor over the basement floor with a carpet and pad made a huge improvement to base response. I only have a 10" powered sub for a 11 * 17 room. No problems.

'- I have plain old masonite doors. Hollow. I can't complain. Solid would probably be better but going hollow has not caused me any regrets.

'- I wished this thread was around before I started

http://www.jayandmary/base04.htm

I'm going to repaint an olive green color a theater type red color someday.
Also, I wish I had made my own photos of movies/celebrities so they could be plak mounted instead of purchasing posters.

Next time, I will pay someone to put the GOM under the soffits. Wow! Crazy job.

Took me 2 days (2 times 12 hours) to put the 5000 staples to keep the GOM in place over the panels of Owans-Corning 703, and to stretch it enough to hide the little bump caused by the rigid fiberglass...

Installing GOM is really easy on the walls, but under the soffits...

I made sure that my contractor left enough room to get my 55" television in the basement. However, when the set arrived, we realized that after the room was completely finished, the set would not be able to get out. Upgraded to a 65" (breaks into two pieces). Must take the time to think about what will happen if something goes wrong (servicing, moving, etc...)

Reapolstered my seats

In my current setup.. Media Storage is the thing I totally forgot to account for. I have been doing, and redoing a ton of work ever since to accomodate my Media. I still have yet to come up with an answer I am happy with. I actually felt like.. DOH!!!! when I realized my mistake after seting up / installing all the equipment. This thread would have been awesome to read before hand indeed.

Wish I would've purchased a decent digital camera to chart the progress/work along the way. I did not purchase a camera until after the room was completed.

When I build my next HT I will take pictures from start to finish.

We wish we had taken a little more of the unfinished part of the basement so the concession area could have been larger. Other than that, we pretty much planned things out so much in advance that not too many things were unplanned. Oh yeah, one more thing we would have changed....we would have done it sooner!

I would have planned everything a lot better. At first I designed the room around a 65" widescreen with 5.1 surround. Then later changed my mind to go with projection and 7.1. So after backtracking and ripping off a couple of sheets of drywall to run wires, I lost interest and basically haven't stepped foot in that room for close to 6 months.
Just spent 10 hours down there today though. I want this thing done already.
I would suggest to get everything down on paper, and stick to it. Decide on everything before hand.

Also I would have tried to contain the 'green guy' a little better while putting drywall on the ceiling with only the wife helping.
It's safe to say she won't be helping again, ever!!!

This is indeed a great thread. I'm still trying to decide whether or not I want to run flex conduit to all my locations before the sheetrock is done. I think it will be a pain in the butt, but can't be nearly as bad as if I decide in 3 years that I want to add wires or upgrade the wiring. Right now I have the room wired for a 12 point system (for future growth.) So far the only thing I regret NOT doing is having aditional electric drops run for advanced accent lighting. I really wich I would have found this site a few weeks back...I could have gotten some really great info from you folks.

I would have ordered my theater chairs much earlier. The room is completely finished and the chairs are still 3-4 weeks out. I didnt realize that it would take 8-10 weeks to get them shipped.
BTW, ordered (6) Lane Hollywoods.

Electrical. Can't skimp on a good electrical setup. If I had it to do over again I would do a dedicated 20 amp ballanced circuit with isolated ground for my amps. A 2nd 15 amp dedicated ballanced circuit with isolated ground for the rest of my components and then a 3rd circuit that would be for the lighting. Go with automation from the start. Run all wiring in walls. Go with room treatments to control reflections. Go with a double stud wall and solid core doors to keep noises out of room and theater sound in the room.

This is indeed one of the best threads I have ever stumbled across! As fate would have it, I'm meeting with my builder tomorrow to begin some wiring and conduit work. He agreed to let me run conduit, wire for a phone/intercom system, cable for a security camera at the front door, and extra electrical outlets, including one in the corner of the HT for a powered sub and another on the ceiling for a future front projector.

I put my deposit down on this townhome in March, so I've had a lot of time to think about things and plan. I agree with everyone who says you CANNOT do enough planning. I have

1) drawn diagrams for everything. Can't stress this enough. Has made a huge difference in going forward with plans;

2) allowed builder's contractor to fleece me on the structured wiring, since I had no choice but to use them. Still glad I did it, though, because I have seen what it's like trying to run wiring in an existing home;

3) paid for extra RG6 and CAT5e runs to HT and master bedroom, the two major focal points. When I drew diagrams later, I found an immediate use for many of the "extra" runs;

4) estabished a good relationship with everyone associated with my builder, especially the project manager, for obvious reasons;

5) priced out things so that I left money in the budget for new toys for the new house.


Things I didn't do that I might have if I had read this thread earlier:

1) Plan wiring for butt shakers under sofa (still might not be too late);

2) Run even more RG6 and CAT5e (as I noted above, almost all of the "extra runs" are now accounted for);

3) Done a better design of the lighting for the HT. I have recessed lighting that comes standard in the room, and I optioned for 4 sconces. I should be fine with this setup, but since I had time, and the builder's electrician willing to work with me, I should have researched different lighting options more.

All in all, I'm pleased with the plans. Time to implement them has arrived!

I would have obtained a DVI based DVD player BEFORE I closed up the pre-wire drywall. Also, I would have moved the light dimmer out of the hall and into the actual room so that the universal Harmony remote could actually send a signal to it. Both of these things are going to be corrected. :b

I am getting ready to embark on my HT, I have been planning on building one for almost 2 years now so I have had alot of time to plan things out, I am on a tight budget as I have to refurbish 2 bathrooms, a kitchen and paint all rooms in the house as well as replace all the flooring through out the house, its a great house but hard to explain what a basket case it is at this point, lets just say 30 year old carpet, avid tobacco pipe smoker lived in this house, KILLS PAINT IS MY FREIND!!!! Luckily I was a carpenter for 4 years, my father was a carpenter and general contractor for 20 years, my two best freinds are an Electrician and a Drywall finisher, I will be starting this project in a couple of weeks, keep up with it all in the HT construction forum, once I start I will keep it updated with pictures through out my construction



on another note for anyone wanting to paint their screen on a wall as I will be doing, I would recommend using Metal Studs for that wall, the reasoning is that metal studs are always perfectly straight and true and they will never warp

I read about "ground loop interference" before I started wiring my home theater, but decided it wouldn't be a problem if the projector and all other equipment was on the same circuit. So I put the lights (with dimmers) on one available circuit, and the equipment on another.

Well, it turns out that ground loop interference is a real problem. When using the projector for television (that is, when the VCR tuner is in use) I get the annoying horizontal line that travels slowly up the screen. It stops if I plug the projector into a different circuit. The problem is that I've long since closed up the walls and running different power to the projector (or VCR) is going to be a major headache.

Moral: if at all possible, check all your equipment in place before you close up the walls.

Edit: Well, this was a problem in my living room, but now that the equipment is actually in the theater it is inexplicably no longer a problem. Fine with me.

My living room entertainment center is on wooden legs. I have to lift and move the whole darn thing (containing a TV, audio and video components, and about 400 CDs) in order to get to the back of any of my components. It is a real pain.

For my new HT, I made sure my entertainment center was on wheels so I can easily swing it out to get to the back of my components. It is a breeze!

Since my HT has a FP, I tried to think ahead and had a power outlet installed in the ceiling where I thought I'd end up mounting my FP. While I got the placement right, I did not think about surge protection. I have yet to find a good surge protector that is ceiling mounted. I have had to settle for a small, probably fairly useless, outlet mounted surge protector for my FP. If I was doing it again, I'd run a power line from the FP mount area to the equipment rack area so I could power my FP through the same surge protector/line conditioner I use for all my other audio and video equipment. (I am not sure how that would work though, a long extension cord run through the drywall sounds like a bad idea.)

If I wanted to be even more future proof, I could also have run a power line and speaker wiring under my floor, so it comes out through the floor under my seating area in case I ever want to add Buttkickers.

Monster makes a small little surge protector you can plug into the wall, I think you can also get outlets with them built in...

what you REALLY need is PS Audio's Ultimate Outlet
see it here:
http://www.psaudio.com/products/ultimate_outlet.asp
good luck

I posted this in another thread but thought I would post it here too, I ran all my speaker wire in a 1/2 inch plastic flexible waterline called SIL-O-FLEX, that I found at LOWE'S in the plumbing dept, its about 8 dollars for 100 feet and fish tape goes through it wonderful, its so good that you could probably push speaker wire through it without fish tape but I havent tried yet, I ran this for all speaker locations including where I will eventually put Bass Shakers and even ran a line for a future rear Center channel, never know what the future holds :-) I used a Half inch hole saw in my cordless drill to make holes in the top of the outlet boxes, although the holes in the back of the outlet boxes will work too, but I found it put the box in a bit of a bind so I just ran them in the top, this wont effect any code as this is just speaker wire, I also bought some 1/2 inch tube brackets to attach these lines to the studs so the line wont back out of the boxes, I wrapped electrical tape around the line where the bracket goes to insure a tight fit, you can see the bracket in the first pic, the brackets were about 45 cents for a pack of 5..... here are some pics

Speaker Run 1

SPEAKER RUN 2

SPEAKER RUN 3

Check these babies out.. ( THe inwall units)

http://www.panamax.com/products.cfm?...&sec=group_app

The only thing I regret not doing and wishing that I had was run conduit through my riser to make it easier to fish cables. Not that I really need to, but it would have been a nice feature to have for any kind of upgrading later.

Cheers,
Andrew