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First step reccomendations and opinion

post #1 of 7
2/13/09 at 9:51am
Thread Starter 
Alright, I made it home (After 18 months away) and I spun up my wife with my HT plans. We are taking the first steps in prepping the room and I would like your educated opinion on a few things.

First: What do you recommend the first step in setting up the HT is. For the record I have done research on items to purchase but have not purchased any components yet.

I need to paint the walls and redo/remove the rug. My second question is, what is a good color and texture (Flat/semi-gloss) for the walls.

Third question: I plan on putting some laminent (sp?) down (If not now, in he future). I currently have rug in there. Should I keep the rug or put the laminent down?

Thanks,
Ray

Just realized, I have no idea how to spell recommend... Oh well, you win some, you lose smoe.
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post #2 of 7
2/13/09 at 11:01am

Re: First step reccomendations and opinion

1. Plan. Draw things out on graph paper or some type of room layout software. Mask out a screen on a wall. make a sub box out of cardboard and see if you can live with the size. It takes time but it will keep you from returning a lot of stuff. I made that mistake 7 years ago with my first HDTV. I asked my wife if 65" was too big. She got home from work and immediately asked if we could downgrade to a 55".

2. Flat paint sucks. We made the mistake of using it when we built our house. I've already repainted two rooms with egg shell. The theater room is a dark, dark blue with battleship gray trim and ceiling.

3. A rug will help absorb sound reflections. High frequencies tend to bounce all over the place in a room with hard surfaces.

-Robert
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post #3 of 7
2/13/09 at 12:18pm

Re: First step reccomendations and opinion

Ray:

We are in similar situations--both beginning an HT project.

One important thing to figure out is where the speakers will go, but first you need to figure out the primary listening/viewing positions. That is easy enough, but I am putting my speakers in the wall, so I am going to be committed!

If you are mounting a TV to the wall, you need to figure out how high you want it. Some say that it should be at eye level (the middle of the screen, that is); but people also say that is too low--I believe that they are correct. The other guideline is that it should be between eye-level when seated, and eye-level when standing. I have found that putting the center of the screen about 4 inches below eye level works well (I am 6 feet tall). This way, you are not looking to high up in the air to view the screen.

Just my thoughts so far...

Good luck,
Jeff
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post #4 of 7
2/13/09 at 1:35pm

Re: First step reccomendations and opinion

For screen height I used 2 imaginary horizontal lines to divide my screen into 3 equal sections. When sitting my eyes are the same height as the line separating the bottom and middle sections of my screen.

-Robert
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post #5 of 7
2/17/09 at 8:39am
Thread Starter 

Re: First step reccomendations and opinion

Robert:

1. Good idea, I think I'll plan out the room on paper and see what I come up with. At least this will slow the process (I would like to do this right the first time). I'lltry to post a picture here of what I am thinking to get some opinions.

2. I am still undecided on colors. I have one window in the room that will be an issue and I have popcorn ceilings (I hate them). I need to make the decision to remove the popcorn ceiling or keep them white. I am also toying with the thought of curtains on the walls (To cover all the walls, wires etc). I think we plan on going with a projector screen so I will need to figure out how to incorperate this with a painted screen on the wall.

3. I believe at the current time, we will be keeping the rug (It's 10 years old and NEEDS to be replaced, but we want to do five rooms in the house so we're going to have to save up for that project. Until then, we will put an area rug down to spruce up the room.

Jeff:

I think drawing out the room will assist with these decisions. I already have a love seat that I will be placing in the room untl we upgrade the seating so I will use this to conduct the planning for he layout of the screen.

Thank you both for your opinion,
Ray
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post #6 of 7
2/17/09 at 10:09am

Re: First step reccomendations and opinion

Curtains are nice but have you priced quality fabric? Da-um!!!! I know. We had all of our curtains custom made when we moved in a few years ago.

You can paint a screen on the wall of go with a DIY model. I used 1x2's from Lowes to make a frame and covered it with blackout cloth. Door casing was used to make the border. Took a weekend and cost $75 in parts. I also made it where I can paint the fabric with any of hundreds of screen formulas that are available on different sites. I wanted to try a gray one to improve my blacks.

-Robert

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post #7 of 7
2/18/09 at 9:39am
Thread Starter 

Re: First step reccomendations and opinion

Robert,
Very nice set up you have there, no I have not priced the curtains but I figured it would be easier than painting plus it would hide the cables.

I still have much research to do before the build begins, thanks for your help.
Ray
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