# What would you have done differently



## Steve Williamson (May 11, 2006)

Please post all the things you wished you had hind sight on when you put together your home theatre set up. It can be anything from wrong room to wrong colour, or choice of equipment.

Hopefully, everyone can learn from other people's mistakes, cheaper that way :T 

Might even make it as my first sticky.


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

This could indeed turn out to be a good one and worthy of a sticky.

I'd say my first and foremost mistake was not going ahead and taking advantage of my entire garage. My wife had actually okay'd it, but I felt like 1/2 was enough. This is not necessarily to have more seating space as much as I believe I could have improved on acoustics with the proper size and shape room. I can live with what I have for now, but it would have been nice to build it to recommended specs the first time around.

I just learned about color selection... or should I say still learning. That is more easily corrected, but it is aggravating to re-paint.

I would have ran my pipe straight up into the attic, left it open over to the projector and then ran another pipe down to the projector area. This would have made fishing wires much simpler. However minor, I would have still done it differently.

Another minor thing would be to have went ahead and built a CD case into the rear wall. I'm about to do that now, but again, much easier in the beginning. I was in too big of a hurry. I was trying to beat the Super Bowl date. Now I don't even have regular TV out there... just DVD.


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## Steve Williamson (May 11, 2006)

In my last cinema set up, I wished I had never mounted the PJ directly over my seating area, loudest part of my projector was directly under the fan opening when you inverted it for ceiling mounting.

Should have sited it over rear seats instead. :devil:


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## JCD (Apr 20, 2006)

A few things:

1) I would have probably gone with Studio 20's all around -- especially in the rear. Easier to place. 
2) SVS sub instead of the Paradigm PW2200 -- a good sub, but an SVS is better/cheaper. Two things that appeal to my accounting side.
3) Different TV -- either smaller or an LCD or DLP rear projection. It would just make seting up my equipment a lot easier (using the equipment stand as a tv stand)


Things I'd like to do if I were able to do whatever I want in my house:
1) Accoustic Panels -- I've been in a room that was treated properly. It was truly a relevation.
2) Better layout of my equipment -- it's so horrible right now it makes me want to cry. Absolutely no imaging whatsever. No way to fix it with the current house -- it just is what it is.


I'm sure I'll think of some more stuff later, but that's what I've got so far.

JCD


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## nova (Apr 30, 2006)

I think I would have gone separates instead of the 3805. And maybe dual SVS subs instead of my 1212-SE.


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## Tommy (Apr 20, 2006)

What I would have done differently,
I would have paid someone else to do it....


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## dynamowhum (Oct 3, 2006)

First of all I did not design my room addition to originally to be a HT but rather a pool room. It was only after I had my room blacked in that I stumbled on to the HT idea. So I had two 3X5 windows and two double french doors that I would have done without. I also made the area 15X20 I would have gone 18X24 for the extra couch and riser. Ran 4 circuits to the room but only 1 to the rack should have run 4 cirucuits to the rack. Found out the hard way about ground loop hum issues using the pro amp with the reciever. Would not have used ceramic on the floor but we have alot of allergies so I don't know what else we would use that would not be a hard surface. 
Would have mounted the lighting switches in a better area. Would have run a couple of more cables from the rack to the front of the room for my temporary CRT setup till the projector and screen go in. I know there are some other things in there but at 3:45 in the morning that's all I can think of.


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## khellandros66 (Jun 7, 2006)

My faith in Yamaha was poor choice on my part. We have had so much success in this house with Sony; DVD Players, Receivers, Cameras, etc 

My HT in my room has been down since September 20th cause my Yamaha RX-V1300 crapped on me. It been in the shop since. The trouble is they had to order part directly from Yamaha, since they are pretty much built from ground up in house by Yamaha. :hissyfit: 

Never again will I go with Yamaha, we gave my grandparents my old Pioneer VSX-D608 to replace the Kenwood one from their HTIB.. The VSX-D608 was in tha ttic for 4 years...

What else oh yeah Harman Kardon, total **** there, cause I bought the FL8380 in two months of owning it I sent it in cause the DAC died or something and then 1 1/2 years later it just would start skipping all over the place so screw them as well.

So the brands to stick with on my list are 

Sony 
Pioneer
Definitive
Polk
DIY

~Bob


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## Guest (Nov 15, 2006)

Don't paint ceiling tiles...they're sponges and soak up too much paint that they grow in size and then don't fit properly in the railing when do try to put them back.

I should have rebuilt the common wall that divides the laundry/workshop from the theater as it rattles when the sub is pounding.

I should have run conduit to the projector to make cable runs easier.


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## yphs_mst (Nov 11, 2006)

I should have repaint the wall ... it's white now >_< not really happy with it.

Hadi


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## SHMO (Nov 23, 2010)

I would have ordered my attic trusses over my garage with a 2 foot rise to them. The additional height would have made for taller knee walls and a TON more space for a screen. Right now, my proposed theater room over the garage is in limbo debating whether it would even be worth the build. It sucks having a 12'x25' foot room with ceilings that completely limit your screen selection. :scratch:

SHMO


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## DougMac (Jan 24, 2008)

I spent a lot of time planning my HT and it paid off in the long run. There are few things I would do differently. Yet, here are some things I wished I'd done:

*More subwoofer drops* I have two outlets in the front for subwoofer connections. There are some advantages to using two or more subwoofers. I wish I had some subwoofer drops on the side and rear walls to provide some flexibility in placement.

*Another 20 amp circuit in the equipment closet* Someday I may use external amps. I've got a dedicated 20 amp circuit in the equipment room now that should be fine, but while I was there and it was easy and cheap, I wished I'd have added another circuit. All is not lost, I can add another circuit from above since I'm in the basement. I've got some empty slots in the circuit panel.

*Made the screen a little larger* I struggled with screen size. I have a DIY 120" diagonal screen with the seating area 11 feet away. Since I have a 720p projector, this is really at the limit of screen size and according to charts, the angle of view is just about right. However, if I upgrade to 1080p I think the screen could be 1 to 2 feet wider. This would especially help movies in wide screen formats, like Cinemascope.

*Made the theater bigger* I bet almost everyone wishes their HT was a little bigger. Right now, the size is just perfect for my wife and I and 80% of the time it's just us two using it. It seats 5 comfortably and can realistically accomodate 10, but that's it. I don't have a second row. I could have possibly made the room longer by reorienting it, but I would have had to give up some precious storage space to do so. I'm not sure the tradeoff would be worth it given the few times we have more than six people in the theater.


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## usrsld (Feb 3, 2009)

yphs_mst said:


> I should have repaint the wall ... it's white now >_< not really happy with it.


Yep. It took some convincing, but I talked my wife into black walls (we call it the Dark Hole) and we are both happy with the results. You can see it here...

http://www.blu-ray.com/community/gallery.php?member=usrsld

I also wish I had a larger screen. I hope to add a projector at some point for movies and stick with the TV for sitcoms, news, etc.


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