# The Owner Builder Theater



## 4020power (Jul 24, 2011)

Well as my thread tittle reads, I am currently in the middle of building my own house so alot of my time is devoted to other priorities around the house. The house is dried in and I have almost finished all the electrical and comm/data wiring. With all the other things going on, this could turn into a long drawn out HT build thread but I wanted to get started with the thread so I could keep track of all my questions and any suggestions that are offered along the way. I'll just throw out what I have planned and if anyone has any ideas or suggestions, please feel free to toss them out here.

*The Room*
The room that I am using is an upstairs bonus room that is 18'x20'x8' and it has a pony wall behind the seating area that has a 10:12 ceiling. Also to the rear and right of the seating area, the adjacent room bumps into the HT room about 2' and has a wall length of 4' I plan on using the green glue and DD method of construction

*Screen*

The screen wall is framed and I have about a 4'x16' area behind the screen, I plan on doing a AT screen with my speakers and one sub behind the screen

*Equipment*

I haven't purchased any equipment yet but I have an idea of what I want, please offer suggestions here if you see an oppurtunity for me to upgrade quality wise for around the same price range as the equipment that I list.

AVR- Denon 4311CI

Speakers- 7 HB1-MK2 with 2 VTF-15

Projector-??? $2000

Screen-??? $400-600

I would also like to purchase a popcorn Hour A-300 but as I type, I have never ripped any DVD's, how hard is it? We have close to 500 DVD's so I think the A300 would be a big assest for our family. 

I would like to purchase 7 power recline chairs with buttkickers and the first row viewing distance will be around 15'

I notice the HSU speakers are offered in either bookshelves or inwalls, I had planned on building a few columns in the HT room, can the the bookshelves be mounted inside a column? If I had to go with inwall's will I suffer any sound quality as compared to using the Bookshelves?

Anyways, thanks for all the great ideas that have been compiled here over the years and I will try and get some pictures of the framed room.


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## Prof. (Oct 20, 2006)

4020power said:


> I notice the HSU speakers are offered in either bookshelves or inwalls, I had planned on building a few columns in the HT room, can the the bookshelves be mounted inside a column? If I had to go with inwall's will I suffer any sound quality as compared to using the Bookshelves?


If your columns are going to be solid timber from floor to ceiling..then no..Not a good idea to mount bookshelves in them..
If that is the case, then inwalls would be a better idea..

If you intend to have fabric covered columns, then you can use bookshelves in them..


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## 4020power (Jul 24, 2011)

Here are some pics of the room while it's under construction.


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## Mopar_Mudder (Nov 8, 2010)

For a screen I would look at http://www.seymourav.com/screens.asp

I have their XD screen and am very happy with it. You can buy just the material and make your own frame to save some bucks.

I have inwall Triads for all my surronds and don't think I have lost anything for sound quality, and the room looks much cleaner with the inwalls.


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## 4020power (Jul 24, 2011)

Here is a shot of the screen wall









This will be the wall that seperates the HT and the attic with all the HVAC equipment in it.









Hallway leading into the room, on the left side of the hallway, I had the wall bumped into the room to give me space for a cady display and popcorn machine.









One more of the screen...









This one is a picture of the outside, the dormer on the far left is located in the HT room, the other two are located in a game room for my kids.


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## 4020power (Jul 24, 2011)

Making Progess...The room is almost painted, the riser is almost finish. If you havent noticed I have alot of "almost complete" projects. I'll attach some pics this evening when I get home. Thanks


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## phillihp23 (Mar 14, 2012)

As far as projectors go..

The Panisonic PT-AE7000U and JVC RS45 are good recomendations. I personally own the Pani. They can be had for $2600 - $3500 respectively. Of recent some have found the JVC for as low as $2850. Of course throw and lumens are of importance and critical based on the dimensions of the room and conditions for viewing, black out or casual lighting.

Member 27dnast has a great review where he compares the two in person and does it very well without bias. Link provided below.



http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/home-theater-projectors/60101-jvc-rs45-panasonic-pt-ae7000u-big-comparison.html


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## NBPk402 (Feb 21, 2012)

Is it me or are all the pics gone?


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## 4020power (Jul 24, 2011)

It's not just you, they are all gone for some reason. I checked out my photobucket album and all my pics are displayed with the red X. I'll have to see what I can do this evening.

@phillihp23...I really have my eye on the PT-AE7000U. Thanks for the link, I'll definitely give it a look.


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## 4020power (Jul 24, 2011)

I am not for sure what the problem was yesterday with the pictures, I am guessing photobucket was having some issues. Anyways, I'll try get some more up here in a few.


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## 4020power (Jul 24, 2011)

Just a few updates....I went ahead and pulled the trigger on a seymour centerstage XD 2.35 115" screen. I have read nothing but awesome reviews about these screens and cant wait to try it out for myself. The crown and base was all installed yesterday and I finished up the riser on Sunday. Sorry these pictures are so dark, I dont have any electricity yet but that should be fixed this week.


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## BD55 (Oct 18, 2011)

This looks like it will be a great theater room! The popcorn A-300 looks really nice, but ripping really isn't too bad. DVDFab rips well, and you can use an old computer or any number of HTPCs running a variety of open source media programs such as XBMC (which I think is the coolest looking) for pulling your media from a home server or hard drive.


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## 4020power (Jul 24, 2011)

Good afternoon all, I went ahead and purchased the Denon 4311 AVR. I got this thing in the mail last week and it's huge. This is my first AVR ever, so I am really stoked. I wanted to ask for some help with the wiring of my Leviton SMC. I am not really sure what all the componets do insided a structured media cabinet but I was hoping I could list what I have invisioned and maybe someone could guide me in the right direction of obtaining all the proper equipment.

First of all this is how I have my house wired.

I have 4 bedrooms that will all have TV's. Each room has 2/RG6 and 2/Cat6 runs. All the runs terminate upstairs in my HT room's media cabinet.

What do I need as far as Data/Video/Phone/Security just for a basic setup? 

I have satellite cable and OTA coming into the Leviton cab as well.

I also want to be able to store DVD's on a hard drive and access them from any tv in the house by using a media server.

In addition to the 2/cat6 and 2/RG6 runs, my TV in the living room also has a HDMI cable that runs from the Denon 4311 that is also located in the media closet in the HT room. 

Sorry for all the rambling, I am trying to learn as I go, just hoping some might be able to tell me what my options are with my current setup. Thanks a bunch:wave:


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## 4020power (Jul 24, 2011)

I have some new pics to add this morning. Most of the trim is up but still alot of painting and touch up to do. I need to do alot of cleaning, it just seems like the trash is breeding overnite, it's everywhere all the time no matter how much I pick up. Anyways, the new screen is schedule to be here on Thursday and once I get the frame together I can get the rough opening framed in and start the finished trim work on the screen wall.


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## 4020power (Jul 24, 2011)

This is off topic but my wife and I are acting as owner/builders on our new house construction, that's why the progress on the HT room is really slow. I get to work on it a couple hours a week. Anyways, I wanted to show you guys the acid stained floors that we did down stairs. It turned out really wild looking but we love the look.


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

Looking good mate! And, I hear ya on the trash - the rest of my basement seems to be in a complete state of disarray all the time!


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## 4020power (Jul 24, 2011)

Still moving forward, finally have the room painted and getting close to hanging the screen.


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## Prof. (Oct 20, 2006)

Looking very good! :T
What colour is that on the walls? Photos don't always show the colours correctly..


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

Prof. said:


> Looking very good! :T
> What colour is that on the walls? Photos don't always show the colours correctly..


+1 - looking very nice!


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## phillihp23 (Mar 14, 2012)

Coming together nicely!


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## dguarnaccia (Jul 17, 2008)

Comming along nicely. I love the color you chose for your walls, I bet that's going to look great when it's done. Great work so far.


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## 4020power (Jul 24, 2011)

Thanks all for the kind words. Both colors are a flat finish and the doors,trim and ceiling paint color is tuxedo black and the other color is called "The battery"


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## HTB2015 (Nov 24, 2010)

4020power said:


> Good afternoon all, I went ahead and purchased the Denon 4311 AVR. I got this thing in the mail last week and it's huge. This is my first AVR ever, so I am really stoked. I wanted to ask for some help with the wiring of my Leviton SMC. I am not really sure what all the componets do insided a structured media cabinet but I was hoping I could list what I have invisioned and maybe someone could guide me in the right direction of obtaining all the proper equipment.
> 
> First of all this is how I have my house wired.
> 
> ...


Hey man, lookin good! I'm subscribed and can't wait to see the finished product. I've been following mcascio's Cinemar Home Theater Thread and he is using Cinemar for home automation. It looks pretty sweet and looking at their website they have reasonable prices. Check it out, then check out his amazing build.

As far as projectors, under the $2K budget, I've been researching the Epson 3010 and the Panasonic PT-AR100U. 

Best of Luck!


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