# Home Theater Capsule?



## hddummy (Mar 9, 2007)

Now that I am planning my home theater, a whole bunch of new ideas have been bouncing around inside my head. I wanted to get some opinions on the idea of building a home theater "capsule". This would be a very small, 2 person room that could be completely isolated from any house structure except the basement floor. I feel like you could really control the environment a lot more by doing this small room with a no holds barred focus on theater and accoustic optimization. It wouldn't be expensive or flashy. You wouldn't need as much amp power or screen size. Indeed you could have a very bright projector or more likely use a very large direct view screen. I think in room bass response would be incredible since room gain would be significant in such a small volume. Part of the reason I like it so much is that I'm the only theater enthusiast in my house. While it would be cool to have this big flashy theater, it may not be the most practical. What are your thoughts?


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## Ted White (May 4, 2009)

Build a room within a room? http://www.soundproofingcompany.com/library/articles/room_within_a_room/


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## Mark Holmes (Oct 12, 2006)

Talk about a dedicated home theater.:gulp:

One thing I would do is go with a three man room, with the center seat in the sweet spot. You would need a couple of feet to either side for clearance. So that may be up to 12 feet wide. Then the depth would be what you want for acoustics. Don’t want a square room, right?

So I am not really thinking a comfy capsule.onder:

What would the minimum dimensions end up being for a cozy capsule? For two seats, with minimal clearance on the sides, let’s say 8 feet. Then for the length, 8-12 feet from the screen to the seats. Then I would think you would want some clearance behind the seats. So that would be about 15 feet ninimum. Then 8 foot ceiling. Is that bigger than what you are thinking?


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## Andre (Feb 15, 2010)

When you say Capsule, I think of a pod where you get in and close the door (screen would be on the inside of the door). Is that what you are thinking about? If so, imho DON"T build it, one fart and.....

After 27 years of marriage I can say what my wife would want the most and its all about seating. I am on one end of the couch and she is lying down on my lap and I play with her hair of the whole movie. She couldn't care less about Anything else...


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## hddummy (Mar 9, 2007)

You're right...capsule is not really the right term. We'll call it a mini theater. I was picturing something on the order of a 9 ft long, 7 ft tall, and just wide enough for a love seat. The seat could be 6 ft from the screen.


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## Andre (Feb 15, 2010)

Ok, Just so you know I am play devil's advocate here.

next question when you say it will be complete isolated from the rest of the house, so your building box within the box which is the basement. Will the be room to walk around the outside of this box or will you be building it to almost the same size as the basement wall but leaveing 6 inches.


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## hddummy (Mar 9, 2007)

Andre said:


> Ok, Just so you know I am play devil's advocate here


I welcome it! I imagine it to be a completely isolated structure that has four walls and ceiling joists not connected to any existing house structure. A complete room in a room design. To be honest, I'm not even opposed to building a floor structure and placing the entire thing on rubber isolators....assuming strong enough ones can be found. It would be built into one end of the basement, so you may not be able to walk all the way around it, but I would leave at least a few inches on each side for the decoupled walls.

I just looked up the width of a love seat ~60". So the room would have to be about 8ft wide.


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## hddummy (Mar 9, 2007)

Also, by not trying to maximize the size of the room, you could be more flexible with the shape. It would be quite easy to build non-parallel walls to minimize room modes.

Better yet, let's take this hypothetical to the extreme and make it a room for only one occupant. The ultimate theater for one...what would you do? 60" plasma. 6 ft viewing distance. completely blacked out. Optimal speaker placement and sound treatments. Could you imagine how immersive that could be?


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## MatrixDweller (Jul 24, 2007)

Complete black out can be a bit fatiguing on the eyes. Sometimes completely dark is nice, but all the time might be too much. If you can have a little ambient light that doesn't affect the screen it's better.

If you can go a bit wider it would give you more walk around room. 1' on either side is not really enough. 2' to either side would be better. If you can't make it 10' wide then maybe 9' is a compromise. You would want the length to be a little longer than 9' then however.


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## hddummy (Mar 9, 2007)

Well...I meant light complete light control. You could use any lighting scheme inside the room.

The actual dimensions of the room are not important at this point....it's the concept I'm interested in. Is there any actual benefit of doing this kind of room? Would it be significantly cheaper? Could it be a significantly better experience?


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## Andre (Feb 15, 2010)

I thought it would be interesting for a "pod" such as this With the ability to walk along the outside. It would make and excellent test bed for Inwalls since you could actually swap them out with ease. All your electronics could be outside the room, all you would need inside is a remote and IR repeater. Depending on the available room your could even have rear projection.


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## Ted White (May 4, 2009)

If sound isolation is a goal, I would suggest not using in-walls.


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## Andre (Feb 15, 2010)

It was a thought. It would minmize need for space inside the room, the areas behind the inwalls could have a removeable box structure to serve and an enclosure. Since you have access to the whole outside, everthing else can be spray foamed so that you have a large sounddeaden "packing peanut". probably get stuffy inside though.


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## hddummy (Mar 9, 2007)

well, you could easily do a air transfer vent through a muffled duct. Call me crazy, but wouldn't this be a good application for a good Yamaha Sound Projector? It is small. regular shape etc. Might even be better by not having surround speakers too close to your head.


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## hddummy (Mar 9, 2007)

Let's call it this for now.


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## Mark Holmes (Oct 12, 2006)

Interesting acoustic considerations. The equidistant surrounds would be an advantage. But wall interactions in a closed space might be problematic. Although an AVR with room correction may be the answer.


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## Andre (Feb 15, 2010)

probably could be built as a modular unit that could be sold as a kit.


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## hddummy (Mar 9, 2007)

Andre said:


> probably could be built as a modular unit that could be sold as a kit.


Or at least a set of build plans.


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## hddummy (Mar 9, 2007)

HAHAHA...gives new meaning to Home Theater In a Box


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## Mark Holmes (Oct 12, 2006)

I know where you can get a 52 inch Sammy real cheap.


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## hddummy (Mar 9, 2007)

"The Committee" put the kibosh on any further consideration for this plan. The big full up theater is going forward.


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## MatrixDweller (Jul 24, 2007)

"The Committee" meaning WAF? My wife seems to think she has veto power over everything. What's mine is her's and what's her's is her's...


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## hddummy (Mar 9, 2007)

Yes...the wife. I was on the fence about this plan, and she tipped the scales away.


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