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Building a Home Theater & Listening Room (1 Viewer)

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Jul 1, 2014
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Hi all,

My wife finally parted with a portion of her terrace garden and let me build a home theater.

First off all I find myself very fortunate to build a room that can be dedicated to music listening and watching movies. The room will be 3.96 meters wide, 7.38 meters long and a height of 2.7 meters. So with a little more than 29 m2 it's not a big room at all.

We live in a duplex penthouse (5th & 6th floors with terrace rights). So, traditional construction methods are a bit difficult. I plan to take the prefab route.

Proposed HT room area.





Columns set and trusses on.







Cheers! :)
 
Joined
Jul 1, 2014
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Thanks Sam,

The 3 pics are of the composite decking sheet being fixed.... in fact yesterday...the plasterers were skimming the walls and pouring the concrete slab....

I will add more photos as the work progresses.

IMG_5301_zps2baf643a.jpg


IMG_5303_zps4e26c07c.jpg


IMG_5305_zps97c972f5.jpg
 
Joined
Jul 1, 2014
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Started laying of electrical, speaker and signal cables. The cabling work is being carried out by a local guy and someone from my work giving him a hand.

To reduce hum and noise I want to install a dedicated line with only a single ground from the audio / home theater system to the electrical service panel. Don’t want to attach anything other than the A/ V system to this special dedicated line.

Expecting the result to be noise and hum free power with a 'deep black background'.

By this stage of the project, I have already identified the following :

[*]Placement of all speakers
[*]Placement of A/V components
[*]Placement of video source
[*]Lighting needs
[*]Possible future enhancements
[*]Thermal Insulation & Acoustic Treatment
[/list]

BTW I have provided a frame also…for supporting the screen.

I will try and post pics if there's interest...as soon as i work out how to do it....!!
I have all the kit i need already for this…mix of new and from old lounge... not top end by any means...but works for me...





 

andySu

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Krishna, coming along smoothly. Those concrete slabs fitted in should reduce or keep out as much of the outside street/traffic/airplane noise?

Thou the roof is inquisition of what's it going to be like when it really pours down hard with rain?

Waiting for it to rain to hear how audible it is inside? Maybe simulate with garden hose pipe with sprinkle effect to spray water onto the surface and listen inside to see how loud it is?
 

Brian Dobbs

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This is fantastic man! Be sure to use blown-in cellulose if you can. That will really help not only with insulation, but sound isolation as well.

Run CAT 5 EVERYWHERE! And conduit!
 
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andySu said:
Krishna, coming along smoothly. Those concrete slabs fitted in should reduce or keep out as much of the outside street/traffic/airplane noise?

Thou the roof is inquisition of what's it going to be like when it really pours down hard with rain?

Waiting for it to rain to hear how audible it is inside? Maybe simulate with garden hose pipe with sprinkle effect to spray water onto the surface and listen inside to see how loud it is?
Thanks andy,

The wall is built from prefab panels and have good noise insulating quality...fortunately i live far away from flying zone :)

That is not just metal roof...It's going to be composite slab of 3" thick concrete laid on top of the decking sheet.In addition, will be doing thermal insulation to the walls and ceiling from below and acoustic treatment to tame the bass.
 
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Brian Dobbs said:
This is fantastic man! Be sure to use blown-in cellulose if you can. That will really help not only with insulation, but sound isolation as well.

Run CAT 5 EVERYWHERE! And conduit!
Thanx Brian for the suggestion,

I am considering all angles.
 

andySu

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Krishna Reddy Tummala said:
Thanks andy,

The wall is built from prefab panels and have good noise insulating quality...fortunately i live far away from flying zone :)

That is not just metal roof...It's going to be composite slab of 3" thick concrete laid on top of the decking sheet.In addition, will be doing thermal insulation to the walls and ceiling from below and acoustic treatment to tame the bass.
That will do it. Good show.
 

andySu

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Have you tried the projector as far back as it would go to get the image side to side wall? Otherwise looking good.

I would strongly advise you move the screen forwards or build a stage to place the matched LCR speakers behind the screen for a proper effect otherwise speakers in front of the screen or mismatched centre placed below the screen, just doesn't create the proper cinema illusion. That's my 1 pence. ;) So back off and don't rush it. Build a stage that extends the width of the room, at least 2 feet deep for most cinema grade boxes or good PA matched speakers placed behind the screen.

If its not a transparent screen then plenty of fabrics can be used to give a similar illusion. I have some, spandex that I'll be using for a diy screen, eventually when I get around to finishing my screen and all speakers are placed on stage at height that will reach the back row seating with HF compression horns.

The foundation of the flooring is good as that won't rattle or buzz when stage channels surrounds and subs are aligned turned EQ.

I don't know if your planing putting down a solid firm wooden flooring for the seating and are you using real cinema grade seating that takes up far less width and I reckon, you can fit at least 5 seats across a few rows pending on the height of the projector as you'd need some reasonable clearance form a few rows of seats when one stands up and that won't cast a shadow on the screen?

I'd say at most you'd be lucky to get away with 3 rows of 15 seats. Any good cheap cinema seats on ebay in your area?

I'd make the first layer wooden floor not too deep about solid 1.5" to 2" for first row seating to be screw mounted down.

Second row raised up a bit with a reasonable clearance and easy sight-light of the screen, (repeat that for the final third row), Too many rows will have to be stepped up higher and soon you'll find the back row when standing up is too close to the ceiling and the projector at the back.

If you plan to make it a nice seated home cinema, put enough speakers around the side walls and rear wall for each seating row and setting them up is not hard. But each row needs a surround placed on the side wall a few inches behind each row of seating. Otherwise you don't hear that "ITS BEHIND"! You'll hear the sound ahead of you. Also placed a few inches back reduces the sharpness of toppy end of most films.

Step the surrounds up a few extra inches for each row if possible.

A good 4 or so surround on the back wall so each seat gets good uniform coverage that is the whole point of the surround channel. Not 2 or 4 speakers for 5.1 and 7.1. You go into a smaller "boothless" cinema today you'll see at least more surrounds that most have in their homes.

Also the windows might need some covering up as they might rattle or buzz?
 
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The steel is for supporting the screen frame and also to act as additional bracing to the prefab wall panels…The old screen was kept aside for a very long time... just checking the retracting mechanism.
For screen size it's all about taste…. I could easily see a 120-150 inch 2.35:1 in that space…. project against the wall first THEN adjust to taste and decide which screen size works best …which will be 18“ away from the front wall to accommodate behind the screen speakers.

I didn't want to see my speakers…. I'd prefer that they be hidden, but I did not want to sacrifice the sound quality or spend a fortune on speakers. I also wanted to start out with a 5.1 setup but future proof it to accomodate new formats in the future. Dolby 9.2? That does not even exist....but when it does I wanted to be ready for it. My initial 5.1 setup consists of 3 front speakers (left/right/center), two rear surround speakers, and a two subs. To be honest, I felt that this setup enough for a room this size. However, I wanted to plan for adding additional speakers in the future. Perhaps two additional front effect speakers, two side surrounds, and a second sub. With this functionality in mind I was able to accomodate this into my design and construction.

Yep, a topic that I have spent a lot of time looking into…. there are several options of space saver theater seats out there. I guess if you have the old fold up type theatre seats it could work….I wanted every seat in the theater to be enjoyable. Sitting in the back row should have an unobstructed view of the screen regardless of how many tall people are sitting in front of you. A riser platform provided this functionality and it also added to the overall room's appearance.
Planning for 9 seats with two rows of seating…risers 4” and 10” with built in subs.
Option of chairs:

if-1.jpg

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I wanted to retain both windows to make the HT a part of my home….not a separate and isolated room…. for acoustic purposes I will build separate door and windows from inside to blend with interiors.
I am starting with DIY amps, a new Sherbourn PT-7020A , used speakers, existing projector and a big screen. As time goes by, and as my finances improve, I will slowly replace my components. I chose not to design a contemporary style theater. I wanted my home theater to remain true to my great memories of a traditional movie theater.
 

andySu

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Apr 7, 2006
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I do like that read seat. :) I like the cosmetic design of the angles for cup holders. The blue one is bit like my cup holder on my Irwin stadium rockers.

You can fit some bass shakers the smaller ones into the seat buckets of the seat as the seat cushion lifts up from the seat bucket. I have x6 Dayton Puck fitted in mine and they provide a vibrate rumble and crossover at THX 80Hz.

If I was to come around your home cinema I'd like to sit in those red seats. Are they rockers do they recline back?

9.2 or 7.4.2 what ever it is that will be released later in the year. I'm trying to save up as I don't want to buy a new AVR costing £1000.00. £800.00 or less or I'll wait a few years for one to sell on ebay for a few £150.00, not in a hurry for it, I have heard it at the cinema last year and it was okay? It doesn't have stereo below surround so its not all that special.

From looks of the good weather your having if that is what you like? You must be drinking lots of water each day. :D
 
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Jul 1, 2014
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Framing work completed and AV cabinet in place….cabling almost done but for one sub signal cable. Got 30 Rock wool bags delivered yesterday.
There was a leak from one point of the slab joint side…. getting the pressure grouting done today.
Entry door to the theater on the left:


Bags containing Rock wool slabs:
AV cabinet built into the window:
Ceiling panels getting ready:

Insulation panels being fixed :



Ceiling Panels fixing:




 
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Jul 1, 2014
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Got few sample seats today... my folks liked the red one, the design part of it and not the fabric though. Actually it is wider by 2” and comfortable than the other two.

Decided to order seven seats with individual arm rests… and different cloth material which I have to select.







 

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