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My blank canvas and plan comments and advice welcomed and needed (1 Viewer)

prcmike

Auditioning
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Mar 13, 2009
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Mike Koop
Hi All,

Here is a photo of the room I have set aside for the HT. It's only small (9' X 15 1/2') and I hope not too small for what I plan which I shall describe below. This is my first attempt so all comments and advice are welcomed and needed:

Attachment 1373

We are in China where all walls are concrete columns and beams with solid brick infills. Walls are a solid about 1 foot thick. The window is not required as I do not need ambient light. Also it is in an external wall so I am planning to simply build my sheetrock wall inside and across the window opening. The door in the photo leads to a small boiler room which contains 3 instantaneous water heaters. This door is in what shall be the front wall of the HT.

Next is my plan view of the room. Please note that dimensions are in millimeters:

Attachment 1374

I am planning a floating floor throughout with sheetrock walls all round insulated with glass fibre. At the front wall there is a stage 7" above the floor. A built in cabinet is proposed to fill the entire front wall. This cabinet shall house a Samsung HDTV 50" flat screen for normal TV viewing, front, center and sub speakers (Bose Acoustimass 16 Series II), Onkyo TX SR 706 receiver, a small bar fridge and a DVD and CD library. I am planning to have a 100" screen drop down 2" in front of the cabinet for rear projected movie viewing. The door to the boiler room will be disguised as part of the cabinet. A detail of the cabinet elevation is shown later. Two rows of seats are hoped for with the second row of seats being about 10" higher than the first. The front viewing position is about 6' from the screen with the rear at about 11' from the screen. Is the front row too close for a 100" screen?

Next is a detail elevation of the front wall cabinet:

Attachment 1375

The door is on the left and shown in green. The outline of the 100" projector screen is shown in red. Fridge is in lower right corner. The lower part of the cabinet will be 1'8" deep with the upper part 8" deep suitable for DVD storage.

Below is a section view of the room showing levels:

Attachment 1376

I have shown sofa style seating in full recline position. I am not sure whether I will go with these large seats as they may simply be too big for the room. The plan drawing above shows the full dimension of the same seats.

So this is my draft proposal after doing the research I have done so far. I have not begun work yet as I feel this design shall change several times before it is right. I wanted to run this past all here to get opinions.

The last question I have relates to the sub. I remember reading somewhere that a great effect can be created by filling below the stage with sand and directing the sub into this. Any thoughts and details how to do this with maximum effect?

All comments good, bad or constructive are greatly appreciated.

Mike



 

Kevin Stewart

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Oct 7, 2003
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Kevin Stewart
A couple of things off the top of my head:

1. If you're planning on doing that much work for a great space, DO NOT get the Bose products. There's MUCH better for a fraction of the price.
2. I would be leery of putting speakers inside a cabinet (especially the sub), unless they were designed to go in an enclosure.
3. Mini-fridges can get loud. I don't know if I'd have one in a room that small due to the noise they can make.
4. Yes, 100" is too big for 6'. The general rule of thumb is 1.5 times screen width. Since a 100" screen is 87" wide, that would make the desired viewing distance about 11'. Depending upon the projector and screen, sitting 6' away from a screen that size will not only show every flaw in the picture and source (pixels, screen door effect, etc.), but the screen will be much larger than anyones peripheral vision.
5. If you're going to have a stage with a sub sitting on top of it, you have to fill it with sand. Otherwise, it'll just be a big open cavity that will echo all of the sound from the sub.
6. Stages, of course, are mainly for looks. I'm not sure I'd put in a stage in a room without a fixed screen. Not sure it'll look very good when the screen is down and won't it also cause a 7" step/drop whenever using the door to the room? Which could result in lots of tripping when entering or exiting the room.
7. Your left front speaker seems to be right where the door is. Not sure I understand how that's going to work.
8. 20", might be a bit too shallow for an equipment cabinet. Many receivers, for example, are 18" or 19" deep. That doesn't leave much room in the back for the connections.

If it were my room, I'd think about dropping the stage idea. Move the sub (at least) out of the cabinet and directly onto the floor in front of it. Only have one row of seats (the rears) with some bean bags or something in front. Reverse the door going into the room (so it opens out of the room instead of into the room) and drop the riser idea. I'd also expand the depth of the cabinet (lower) a couple of inches and remove the fridge.
 

prcmike

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Mar 13, 2009
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Mike Koop
Thanks for your help Kevin....All constructive and sound (no pun) suggestions. They kind of confirmed my suspicions.....Doing too much in a space that's too small. Unfortunately that's all I have available.
 

prcmike

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Mar 13, 2009
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Mike Koop
kevin just as a postscript; the problem you mentioned with the left front speaker ......the door leading to the boiler room really only needs to be used 2 or 3 times per year. I am planning to have the the entire cabinet be the door (see the plan view drawing). A small (compact) front speaker was planned to sit in the cabinet. I was not planning to have either front speakers actually built into the cabinet but be placed on the shelf.

I have noticed 82 viewings of my post yet only one response. Surely I am not the only person that has a small room. Please the people with small room HT's give me the benefit of your experiences.
 

Ennsio

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265
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Chris
Kevin's comments seem to cover most of the issues quite well - probably why you have not had more responses.

I helped my brother build a home theatre in his basement with a projector and 100" screen. Sitting at about 12 feet back, the 100" screen is almost too big in my opinion (screen door effect), but then he is only playing DVDs at 480p on his 720p projector at the moment so it might be better with HD material. I could not imagine looking at that screen from only 6 feet away.

If you really want two rows of seating, I would say your options are:
-just use the tv and forget about a projector
-go with a much smaller screen.

Definitely do not do that much work to your room and get Bose speakers. There are many small bookshelf speakers that you could get for a fraction of the price that would not take up a lot of space and would make your room truly sound like a theater. What are your options for buying speakers in your area? Are there stores to go listen to them in? If so, what brands are they? If you give us an idea of what your budget is and what the prices are for electronics in your area, we could give you more advice on the best options to bring value for your efforts.
 

prcmike

Auditioning
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Mar 13, 2009
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Mike Koop
Thanks for the 2 comments I received from 152 viewings of my post to date.

Although I can build the room no problem I really am a novice at all this electronic stuff. So I took Kevins recommendations on board and gave the brief to a local "professional" (remember I am in China) for advice on the equipment. After seeing the room in reality the following advice and quote was provided on equipment:

Receiver: Denon AVR-1908 with a six speaker surround package from Jamo –

Front speakers: Jamo C607

Center speaker: Jamo C60CEN

Rears:Jamo C60SUR

Sub:Jamo SUB250

Projector: Epson TW700

Metal electric screen: Purerite 100

TV Converter: Buster TVBOX

HDMI data lines: Locally produced

S data lines:Locally produced

AVG data lines:Locally produced

Sound Frequency Lines: SYV75-5 Locally produced

Sound Frequency Lines: 2*200 Locally produced

Price all up $ USD 7,500.00.

Price includes all mounting brackets, installation, testing and commissioning,

We would need to draw cables but that’s no problem as we can do it as we install walls.

All thoughts and comments are gratefully appreciated.
 

ImaT

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Apr 14, 2009
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James
- I would make only a single row of three seat running across from the window, making the back of the seats just in front of the door on the opposite wall
- I also agree about removing the mini fridge from the room.
- Does that $7500 include the room's construction cost.

hope that helps you out.
 

prcmike

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Mar 13, 2009
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Mike Koop
No the 7,500 is only for supply, installation and debugging of equipment and I have to pull all the cables myself
 

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