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Help please in constructing our new HT.


I am finalizing plans with the architect to build our new home, and we have an area that is just begging to be transformed into a theater. I’ve browsed the forums, read the “Building a Home Theater? Start Here.” and “Things I wish I would have done differently in my project” threads, drooled over your setups, and could use some professional help to make sure I don’t mess it up on the front end. I’d love to hear your recommendations.


1. Function

This will primarily be a movie/tv theater with occasional sporting events. No gaming. Occasional pure audio listening. It will also double as a tiny drama theatre with raised stage for acting and karaoke.


2. Components

Projector (possibly 4k), 10+ foot diagonal screen, Dolby Atmos pre-wired, 7.2.4 speakers (no Atmos enabled; 4 in ceiling for now), microphone, LED lighting


3. Space

This is the most critical aspect for now as we are hoping to finalize the main plans in the next couple of weeks. I am eyeing the space under a suspended 2-car garage: approximately 22x20 feet with a ceiling height of 9-10 feet. Looking at optimal room dimensions, I’m considering bringing in the walls to get it closer to 15x20 or so. The back wall and one of the side walls are foundation walls. The front and other side will be framed.





I anticipate that we will have a small stage and curtain in the front with a motorized drop down screen. Behind the stage we will have a small opening to the side to get to a dressing room and to the AV rack. I’d like two rows of raised seating for 4 each, and possibly a third row in the back. Hopefully the ceiling height will permit a small vault for decorative and lighting purposes.


4. Sound insulation

I’m thinking of building a double wall on the side and front, isolating the ceiling from the garage floor and then reading up on the articles here for other insulation suggestions. How does the entrance into the theater work. Do you recommend a specialized acoustical door to keep sound in and out?


5. Questions

So many questions. Where to start? What do you think about this high level description? What are the glaring problems? What else should I consider?


For equipment and wiring, I plan to budget $10,000-$20,000 and am basically starting from scratch. I’m probably going to hire a local professional for most of the install. Construction and seating are extra.


What are your recommendations for the screen, projector, receiver and speakers? Can I get close to the same quality with a lower price point? Can I enhance it by a large margin with a slightly higher price point? What is an approximate budget for the sound insulating materials?


Thanks in advance for your help. If I missed details to help guide your response, please let me know.


Andreas

1) Curious as to the drama/karaoke aspect of the theater. Why no gaming?


2) Consider a standard flat screen television if you can, in addition to everything else.


3) What are the proposed dimensions of each room you've drawn out?


4) I plan on doing some specialized door myself, although I haven't looked into this too deeply. Ideally, you want two doors, but I may not even go that far. Here are a few links to get you started.

• http://www.acousticalsurfaces.com/acoustic_doors/soundproof_doors.htm
• https://acousticalsolutions.com/?s=door

5) HVAC and Electrical. Do you have any special plans for them? Don't worry about the electronics now. That's the easy part.

Thanks for the response. Appreciate the kind people here.


1) My wife is a professional actor and wants to have a little space for her friends to play and sing. We don't really game in our family, but I'll set up a flat screen in the adjacent rec room for the more social entertainment.


2) Gotcha - and will do in the rec room.


3) This is still open. The main theater proper can be up to 22x20x10. Would you recommend reducing any of the dimensions for functionality and better acoustics? I would like to get at least a 10 foot screen up front with some clearance on either side. The back stage and dressing room can probably be up to 14x16.


4) Come on. You know you need to have two doors. Or make it three! Thanks for the links.


5) I haven't thought this through yet. What would you recommend?


Andreas

1) Very cool.


2) Maybe you can consider hanging a tv on the wall, hidden with a piece of artwork, or on the side wall that you can then fold out.


3) http://www.odometer.org/misc/ht/


4) Haha, still haven't committed yet.


5) Need some sort of supply/return, and throw in extra circuits so you aren't overloading any existing circuits tied to other parts of the house.

You mentioned a lower price point. Have you thought about a fixed mounted screen, with curtains in front? The cost of a fixed screen, especially one you build yourself, will be somewhat lower than a powered retractable screen.


It sounds like you haven't started building yet, and are still in the design phase. You might want to also consider running one or two separate power circuits into the room, for lighting and AV equipment. Your HVAC system should have some provision to limit sound going into the theater area and back out from the theater area into the house. As far as further sound insulation from the house, this may depend on where the area is located in relation to the house. If it's under the garage, and not under the rest of the house, it may be less of an issue. As far as doors, one thing I found that isn't mentioned much in most of the stuff I've read is sealing the door. I found weather stripping in the frame, abutting the door when it's closed has a considerable effect. I also used solid exterior grade doors for 2 of the three doors in the construction, and a smoked glass door for the opening into the equipment area. The latter was custom made a local shop.

Thanks for your help with this. Since we haven't yet dug the hole for the foundation, I obviously still have time to work out many of the details, but I do want to decide on some of the more critical elements up front.


I appreciate your advice about the supply/return, multiple circuits and a fixed screen. Would you have a moment to review the following?


This updated schematic shows my latest thinking on the space.





We are working with basement space under a suspended garage, and the builder says that we will not have any sound or vibration issues from above. I do plan on using double wall framing on the interior walls. We now have up to 15x30 feet of space with ceiling heights varying from about 8'6" at the rear entrance to 9'8" for the middle tier of seats, to 10'10" on the ground level. The stage will be raised 28" to get back to the same level as the rear entrance and to permit exiting on stage left to a small dressing room.


Louden ratios say that this is not the optimal set of dimensions, but I'm not really sure how to best set up the space since I'm limited in my width and want to accommodate three rows of seating. What do you think? I could bring the front seats in a bit and reduce the total length of the room, but then might sit a bit close to the ~10' screen. I'm also unsure about the "riser" sizes. For now I have 6 feet of depth for the middle row and 8 feet for the back. Each row will be about 14" higher than the previous one. What are your thoughts about this?


Next comes the screen. The stage will have an opening to accommodate the screen in the middle and be boxed in on the sides and the top for a more theatrical look. Do you think a fixed screen, recessed in the back, is doable without causing visual obstruction from the outer box? Or would a drop-down screen in the middle of the stage work better? We'll have a curtain that will close along the center of the stage.


On the sound issue, do you have resources to determine the level of sound and vibration from the floor of the garage? I'm debating whether to install an extra set of ceiling joists.


Thanks so much for your help. I'm quite excited about this project.


Andreas

Good plan. Concerning Louden (or other) ratios, most of us have to work with what we have. Even multiples tend to create harmonics, but this is also influenced by the composition of the surfaces in the area. Most of the rooms people use for home theaters are relatively small, and the sounds that are most audible tend to be lower in frequency. These can be attenuated somewhat by having a surface that tends to absorb or attenuate low frequencies. A suspended double dry wall with a viscoelastic adhesive between (double dry wall with green glue, mounted or suspended on hat channel) on at least opposing walls can attenuate low frequency sound this way. You can also use bass traps, acoustic surface treatment and irregular surfaces to diffuse and attenuate sound. The contents of the room (seats, people, furry animals) also have the same effect. One other thing to think of. Garage size isn't written in stone. You could probably have some leeway in the size or length of the area under the garage by changing the size of the garage. My wife and I designed our house. She wanted one of the rooms adjacent to the garage to be larger than the usual dimensions allowed. We made the garage deeper. It was useful for placing things like deep freezes and storage shelves in back, and parking a pickup truck in the same space. Incorporating changes in the plan before construction is the best way to go. The additional space is minimal in cost. Regarding sound coming from the garage, there won't be much traffic in and out, and the mass of a steel reinforced concrete floor should insulate sound fairly well. Shouldn't have to worry much about tornadoes, either.


Screen placement and size are a matter of taste. There are recommendations from THX and formulas for "optimal viewing, but I'd view them as recommendations, and not absolutes. I based my screen size, seating and placement on an experiment I did with my wife. I took her to a movie that wasn't very good, at an early showing. Its sole attribute was an aspect ratio of 2.4:1. The theater was nearly empty. We got up and moved several times during the showing, and found the spot we liked the most. After the lights came on, I paced out the screen width and the distance we sat from the screen, and duplicated the ratios for my theater. We sit 10' from a 2.4:1 aspect screen that is 144" in width for a 155" diagonal size. I like it, and nobody that has been in my theater thinks it's too big. Since you will have a working stage, you may or may not be able to use a fixed screen on the back wall. I'd suggest picking out a movie that is likely to have little or no attendance, and doing the same thing. Once you have and idea of your screen size see if the sight lines from the seating are clear, with a scale drawing. If they aren't, then your original idea of a powered screen closer to the front of the stage may be best. This may also allow using the drop of the screen and the stage curtains to be used as masks for the border of the screen. While some may argue that masking the screen size in a dark room is unnecessary (I'm one of them), I think it's a nice touch. You probably want the viewing height from the primary viewing position to be in the approximate neighborhood of the junction of the middle and lower third, of the image height. The level of the op of the screen is also a consideration. If you are using a projector that allows shifting the image, the amount of correction to either side will also be limited further if the vertical correction is extreme. Also, if you are using a projector that corrects the image for aspect ratio, your screen and projector placement may have certain requirements. Given the space you have to work with, this is not likely to be a problem.


I have a single row of seating, and didn't need a riser. However, step height on most stairways is about 8"-9" . Going up and down levels in the dark might be better if it felt like a normal stairway step height for visitors. That's about where you are. The height of the room is not likely to be a problem, since most people will be sitting and not block the image coming from a projector. You might want to think about what kind of seating you will be using, and how much space in front and behind will be required. If the seats recline, you will need to allow for space in front, and depending on the design, in back. If they don't, you might want to leave space for some ottomans. The manufactures web site frequently has the information and dimensions required. You will also need space for somewhere to put things like drinks and snacks. If these aren't built in to the seating, you may want end tables or something similar. Lazyboy Furniture used to have an application on their website that was handy for drawing layouts with furniture. I never bought the furniture from them, but the drawings turned out to be pretty accurate.