# My dedicated Home theater questions...



## fschris (Oct 31, 2009)

Folks, I am going to be getting I hope a new house in less than 2 years. I want to start a thread for myself where I can throw out some random questions out that I cant really find answers for or maybe I need more understanding on this....

This is what the room could look like. I think we may take the 3rd garage and instead of a garage it will be a media room with no Windows no garage door. 

Would you have 8 foot or 10foot ceilings? would you go vaulted or tray ceiling?

I may even have builder not finish room since I want to add some sound proofing like roxual...plus green glue another layer of sheetrock.... 

Dedicated power for some extra beefy Amps, Projector


More air Conditioning? 


This is what I think some of the gear will have:

106 inch screen (estimated) 2:35 I guess is std for movies? I dont watch sports.
1 x Emotvia XPA2
1 x Emotvia XPA5
1x UMC200 Processor ( Upgrade to XMC1)
4 Subs
L/C/R
Surrounds 4
Heights ?
Atmos 2 or 4 (Future)

I already have a Statement center channel and plan to build the Left and Right Statements.


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## fschris (Oct 31, 2009)

The HT would be 15ft by 23ft


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## eclipse911t (Jan 8, 2013)

I'd suggest high flat ceilings. 9-10 is awesome. 

A/C is a concern depending on the size of the crowd. My projector and I don't warm up the room, but 10 people sure do. My room's 17x23. 

I think if I could do it over I'd put my projector in a box and not have my equipment in the room. 

I can hear my projector and xbox, and see some equipment lights. 

Do you need double drywall if you are isolated from the house by being in the third garage bay? Insulating walls is great, but adding mass reduces LF absorption by the walls, so do it if you need it (I did). However if you don't need it you could save money and potentially get marginally better LF response in room.


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## Owen Bartley (Oct 18, 2006)

If you can have the room unfinished, it would be a TON easier to run all of your low voltage wiring. I would definitely prewire for at least 7.2.4 (including 4 ceiling locations for Atmos). If having extra outlets (on their own breakers) in the location is an option, it would also be helpful.

I love the look of the Statements, but I've never been able to hear them. Great speakers to build around, if you have the room to keep them out from the front wall (if I understand correctly they need a few feet to breathe).


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## NBPk402 (Feb 21, 2012)

I too can hear my PS3, and NAS... I think I will move my NAS ti the room next door since it is on 24x7. My projector is pretty silent IMO, but we will see what it is like after I move the NAS, and the room gets quieter. A hush box is a good idea as long as you can keep it cooled... The only problem I see id that if you buy a different projector later you might have to relocate the projector, and build a new box.


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## fschris (Oct 31, 2009)

Okay this is what it could potentially look like... with that being said I may just want to sound proof the wall on the west side and maybe even get a heavy door to sound proof. All the exterior walls could just be a single layer of Sheetrock and insulation.


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## eclipse911t (Jan 8, 2013)

Can you double drywall the house side of the studs on the house side wall? This would allow you to maintain symmetrical walls internally.


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## rab-byte (Feb 1, 2011)

Code may require a window or other exit be placed in the room. FYI. 

I'll 2nd double drywall and if you want to take it a step further decouple the room completely. 

Boxing in the projector with museum glass can really give a finished look especially with a trey ceiling and equipment in a closet.

I'd prep for Atmos since your still in the planning phase. You'll also have time to build the room out to avoid many issues with room acoustics. You may even want to build a faults wall to hide your speakers behind the screen. 

While you're planning take some time to decide if you want a singe electronics closet to house all AV equipment for the whole house. 

At this point you're plans are open. Depending on this being a 1 or 2 story building and with respect to basement/attic access you may want to look at how wires can be pulled in the future as your needs change.


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## fschris (Oct 31, 2009)

What are peoples thoughts on going with a ductless ac unit for the room ? This way there is not Freq's passing down through AC vents to the rest of the house ?

https://www.goductless.com/Samsung-Ductless-Air-Conditioner/cat22098.ac


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## eclipse911t (Jan 8, 2013)

I have. Fujitsu unit in my office addition and it's fantastic. I'd love to have a dedicated climate control in my theater, but as quiet as it is, it wouldn't fly in my theater at all. Too much noise. I'd suggest some oversized flex duct with some zig zags in it and you should be fine.


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## fschris (Oct 31, 2009)

I was thinking about just leaving the room unfinished with the builder... and then doing it all myself... 

I really need to start thinking about power needs... extra amps ... bigger breakers. maybe some dedicated balanced power~~!!


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## rab-byte (Feb 1, 2011)

fschris said:


> I was thinking about just leaving the room unfinished with the builder... and then doing it all myself... I really need to start thinking about power needs... extra amps ... bigger breakers. maybe some dedicated balanced power~~!!


Dedicated 20amp for your gear and you'll have no problems.


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## eclipse911t (Jan 8, 2013)

Are you a bass head? Do you have a thing for inefficient speakers?

I run 3 dedicated 20A circuits, all same phase in my equipment closet. One would certainly not be enough for me. Not sure about you. 

If you run separates you'll likely want more than one.


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## Owen Bartley (Oct 18, 2006)

Better to have more power sources and not need them than to be wishing for them down the road. I'd plan for 2 or 3 dedicated outlets near the equipment closet and one in the ceiling for a projector at least. A couple more throughout the room in case you add powered subs placed in the room or want to charge devices.


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## fschris (Oct 31, 2009)

Okay we are narrowing down a house.

A couple good things... I wont have the HT in a FROG.... I was really worried about building a HT in a FROG with sloped ceilings, heat etc... 

How does a 18 x 22 room work with 9 ft ceilings?

2 walls will be exterior walls 2 walls are interior.

I was thinking about ROXUL on the interiors walls and Maybe 2 layers of sheet rock with green glue on the 2 interior walls only to sound proof from the rest of house.

I will have the builder add roxul. I may do the second layer of sheetrock after we move in.

I have no idea where to drop a line for Projector power as I have never installed a PJ. Maybe on back wall or ceiling...


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## NBPk402 (Feb 21, 2012)

fschris said:


> Okay we are narrowing down a house.
> 
> A couple good things... I wont have the HT in a FROG.... I was really worried about building a HT in a FROG with sloped ceilings, heat etc...
> 
> ...


I would lower the ceiling a bit as from what i have read you never want a room dimension with multiples (i.e. 14x28x7)


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## eclipse911t (Jan 8, 2013)

Agreed the 9 and 18 are going to cause headaches in your bass response. 

Will you be doing risers? That could also have an impact. 

If you can narrow the room by two feet that would help as well. I'm keen on high ceilings. However with risers this may not be the best solution either. 

I'm at 17x21x8 and it's not too bad. 

I notice you would like four subs. If you include a minidsp or some processor you should be good.


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## fschris (Oct 31, 2009)

the plan is to have 4 subs.

i would think I would have a riser for the back couch. i was thinking 2 rows of chairs.

maybe the back row will have 3, the first row 2

so 17 x22 foot is better with 9 foot ceilings? 


I will have Mini DSP.... If I have mini dsp is 18x22 with 9 ft ceilings going to be okay? i can also do room treatments if needed.


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## NBPk402 (Feb 21, 2012)

fschris said:


> the plan is to have 4 subs.
> 
> i would think I would have a riser for the back couch. i was thinking 2 rows of chairs.
> 
> ...


I would say 17x22x9 would be even better as there is no common multiplier.:T


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## rab-byte (Feb 1, 2011)

fschris said:


> Okay we are narrowing down a house. A couple good things... I wont have the HT in a FROG.... I was really worried about building a HT in a FROG with sloped ceilings, heat etc... How does a 18 x 22 room work with 9 ft ceilings? 2 walls will be exterior walls 2 walls are interior. I was thinking about ROXUL on the interiors walls and Maybe 2 layers of sheet rock with green glue on the 2 interior walls only to sound proof from the rest of house. I will have the builder add roxul. I may do the second layer of sheetrock after we move in. I have no idea where to drop a line for Projector power as I have never installed a PJ. Maybe on back wall or ceiling...


Power for the projector will depend on projector placement. If you know your desired screen size I'd hit projectorcentral.com and use their calculator to get an idea for how far back different projectors need to be from the wall. If you have access after construction is done you could also opt to put that power in, along with video and control wires, after the build is done.


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## fschris (Oct 31, 2009)

I am thinking I want my 2 or 3 amps for the HT in the front of the room under the Projector screen .... is this a dumb Idea? I know people like closets for gear but I like to fiddle with stuff a lot and the idea of it neatly stacked and hidden seems like voodoo to me. I want to see it!! 

I am thinking about maybe just putting the amps in the front of the room and running balanced cables from the pre pro to the amps. I will have the rest of the gear in the back of the room.


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## fschris (Oct 31, 2009)

ellisr63 said:


> I would say 17x22x9 would be even better as there is no common multiplier.:T


Im kinda stuck with 18 x23x9ft ceilings.


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## NBPk402 (Feb 21, 2012)

fschris said:


> Im kinda stuck with 18 x23x9ft ceilings.


You can make the room smaller can't you? 17x23x9 would work...


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## fschris (Oct 31, 2009)

on the other side of that 18 foot wall is the kitchen... 

i think the internal dimensions will be a tad under 18 like 17'5 ... i will look at the plans


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## NBPk402 (Feb 21, 2012)

fschris said:


> on the other side of that 18 foot wall is the kitchen...
> 
> i think the internal dimensions will be a tad under 18 like 17'5 ... i will look at the plans


What I am getting at is you could make one wall thicker. :T


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## fschris (Oct 31, 2009)

haha okay... i was going to double up the interior walls with another layer of sheet rock/green glue so that should do it...


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## fschris (Oct 31, 2009)

i also need to build a platform for the second row...


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## fschris (Oct 31, 2009)

Should I paint this entire room black including the ceiling ? Is that crazy?


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## NBPk402 (Feb 21, 2012)

fschris said:


> Should I paint this entire room black including the ceiling ? Is that crazy?


That's what i did, and now I am covering the walls with fabric panels (mix of black and blue), and covering the ceiling with black velvet, and black acoustic panels.


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## fschris (Oct 31, 2009)

ellisr63 said:


> That's what i did, and now I am covering the walls with fabric panels (mix of black and blue), and covering the ceiling with black velvet, and black acoustic panels.


what is your flooring ? Is it carpet? what color? What type of carpet ?

I would like to get a black carpet...


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## fschris (Oct 31, 2009)

Things may be starting to move along with the building of our house...I need to find a list of some of the important things to consider for my room (within budget). I believe I will have the room inside wall lined with ROXUL sound proof and green glue 2 layers of sheetrock.

What would be some of the biggest improvements for the buck in building process ..... stuff i can do later can be done later...


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## eclipse911t (Jan 8, 2013)

I would pull in a small conduit to your front three speaker locations. You never know if you're going to be running speaker wire or powered speakers down the road. 

Also a good size conduit to the projector/display location. 

Aside from that plenty of power and try to have your electrician keep the theater all on the same phase.


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## fschris (Oct 31, 2009)

eclipse911t said:


> I would pull in a small conduit to your front three speaker locations. You never know if you're going to be running speaker wire or powered speakers down the road.
> 
> Also a good size conduit to the projector/display location.
> 
> Aside from that plenty of power and try to have your electrician keep the theater all on the same phase.


Do you have a diagram as to how to keep power on the same phase ? I figured I would have a power drop for the PJ and then 4 x 20amp outlets in the media rack area.


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## fschris (Oct 31, 2009)

I really need to see if i can duct some ac cooling to the equipment rack area....


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## fschris (Oct 31, 2009)

Let me throw this out there.... 

I need some help in designing my home and where the best place for the HT would be. Right now we have a house plan picked out. It is a ranch style home with an open floor plan. All the bedrooms are on the right side and then you have the living room/kitchen in the middle and on the left side we have an 18x 20 room for the HT( estimated). It will share a wall with the kitchen. If we are on a crawl space is the room just going to resonate through the entire home? Should I think about doing this in a Room over the garage instead ? Can I isolate the floor myself and not break the bank ? 

We don't want to be on a slab and we really cant afford a basement.


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## DqMcClain (Sep 16, 2015)

Isolating the floor yourself can be tricky business. You may even find that it's mechanically feasible, and not too expensive, but getting it to conform to local building code may be a nightmare... and/or code compliance will completely kill mechanical/financial feasibility. 

It could be something as simple as having a damping layer (e.g. mass-loaded vinyl) on your base layer, then whatever flooring surface on top... but the other extreme would be a completely decoupled floor. If you want to go this route, you're signing up for some pretty serious research first (since you only get one shot at it). 

Another approach to consider: if you're worried about noise bleeding into the rest of the house through a crawl space, why not put some sort of barrier between the HT and the rest of the structure and have an access hatch? Might be less expensive and possibly more effective... a block or concrete wall across the foundation, under the wall that separates HT from Kitchen... just an idea.

Also, what about attic space? Will that present the same issue as the crawl space?

Even if you're opposed to a slab for the rest of the house, what about a slab JUST for the HT portion and have it be slightly lower than the rest of the structure? That might even buy you some vertical space (or allow for multi-level seating). 

Obviously, feel free to throw any of these ideas away... it's your house.


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## fschris (Oct 31, 2009)

Those are some good ideas... thanks and I will need to look into some of them.... Cost is a factor so some of the extreme ideas as decoupling is probably out of the question. I guess I am looking to to just limit....not entirely block everything.,,, that would cost a lot. I could ask about a slab under that side of the house I guess. I am on a slab now and I am not crazy about it for some reason. People seem to say crawl spaces are better.


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## NBPk402 (Feb 21, 2012)

fschris said:


> Let me throw this out there....
> 
> I need some help in designing my home and where the best place for the HT would be. Right now we have a house plan picked out. It is a ranch style home with an open floor plan. All the bedrooms are on the right side and then you have the living room/kitchen in the middle and on the left side we have an 18x 20 room for the HT( estimated). It will share a wall with the kitchen. If we are on a crawl space is the room just going to resonate through the entire home? Should I think about doing this in a Room over the garage instead ? Can I isolate the floor myself and not break the bank ?
> 
> We don't want to be on a slab and we really cant afford a basement.


We converted our garage to a HT (room within a room), and then built a 4" raised floor to retain the feeling of bass in the floor. The bass in our setup doesn't transfer through the floors to the rest of the house which has a crawl space. If you do the HT over the garage I think it is going to get pretty expensive to get it fully isolated. What you could do is have the builder isolate the framework for the room, and use Green Glue between double layers of drywall to help stop the noise from traveling through the house. I would do this for the ceiling too. I also would use Roxul R80 on all the walls, and ceiling of that room.


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## NBPk402 (Feb 21, 2012)

fschris said:


> Those are some good ideas... thanks and I will need to look into some of them.... Cost is a factor so some of the extreme ideas as decoupling is probably out of the question. I guess I am looking to to just limit....not entirely block everything.,,, that would cost a lot. I could ask about a slab under that side of the house I guess. I am on a slab now and I am not crazy about it for some reason. People seem to say crawl spaces are better.


The brackets for decoupling are not expensive...not sure what your builder will charge though. :T


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## DqMcClain (Sep 16, 2015)

I'm on a slab... but I'm in Vegas and it's near-impossible not to be. It has it's advantages, like being able to stain and epoxy-coat it and have the lowest-maintenance floors ever. 

There are a few disadvantages, mostly related to the quality of the work done in the initial construction... if the ground isn't properly leveled and compacted, the slab can crack... nightmare. If you've got plumbing under it and there's a leak... nightmare. But aside from those two life-ruining events, it's not that bad. Your floors will never creak...

Another thought I had is that if you have 2x6 floor joists (insulated or not) and loose dirt under that, that's an horrible environment for transmitting sound over large distances. The soft/convoluted surfaces will eat resonances in a big hurry. It might not really be a big issue in the long run.


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## Lumen (May 17, 2014)

The big issue with a slab is it squashes the tactile quality of really low bass (below around 60Hz, but especially below 24Hz). I have a 750W down-firing sub in a roughly 13x9 room on a slab and generally have to concentrate to feel bass transmitted through the floor or listening seat. You'll need at least two high-output subs for best bass in your planned 18x20 room, irregardless of floor construction.


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## NBPk402 (Feb 21, 2012)

Lumen said:


> The big issue with a slab is it squashes the tactile quality of really low bass (below around 60Hz, but especially below 24Hz). I have a 750W down-firing sub in a roughly 13x9 room on a slab and generally have to concentrate to feel bass transmitted through the floor or listening seat. You'll need at least two high-output subs for best bass in your planned 18x20 room, irregardless of floor construction.


That is why we made a 2x4 raised floor when we converted our garage...to get the tactile response. :T


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## fschris (Oct 31, 2009)

I will be putting upgraded insulation in the walls/ceiling and then after the build I plan to use hat channel and isolate the room and double up the ceiling with green glue. I was just worried about the floor...but it sounds like not a huge issue.


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## NBPk402 (Feb 21, 2012)

fschris said:


> I will be putting upgraded insulation in the walls/ceiling and then after the build I plan to use hat channel and isolate the room and double up the ceiling with green glue. I was just worried about the floor...but it sounds like not a huge issue.


I wonder if you could insulate the floor and seal it off with OSB or some other material...


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