| Re: buying new home, need some advice
- Run conduit and lots of it. Even if you're happy with 5.1 run conduit for 7.1 because you might change your mind later. Run a 2" or larger conduit for your projector from your built-in cabinet. Run extra conduit for stuff like bass shakers, subwoofers, etc.
- Have the electrician run one or more dedicated 20amp circuits to your AV cabinet and a dedicated circuit to your projector.
- Plan your lighting well in advance and use a multi-zone remote controlled dimmer (if in your budget). If you let the builder do what they normally do, you'll end up with one or two lights in the room. Wall sconces and step lights add a good effect also.
- Measure and plan your furniture before completing your room design. A 10'6" room is fairly narrow (my room under construction is 10'3" after drywall). I can fit a standard sized couch and have room to pass on one side, but some of the fancier theater chairs will not fit.
- Insulate the ceiling and interior walls for added soundproofing. It's not something that is feasible to do after construction is complete. Not only do you not want to upset the wife upstairs with your loud movies/music, you don't want you wife upsetting you when her and her friends are gabbing in the room above you.
- Run HVAC ducts to the floor level if you can. Also when designing a house placement of the furnace in the basement can be vital in eliminating unwanted bulkheads and can maximize the room available. The builder will want to place the furnace close to the center to reduce the amount of ductwork and size of the furnace. A better spot for maximizing space is a corner or near the stairs. You might be able to give yourself more room by redesigning the basement layout.
- Pre-wire your house for CAT5e (or CAT6). It makes sense this day and age to not just run cable TV and phone line to every room. Even though wireless networking is getting better, it's still not 100% secure and is not nearly as fast as a wired network. Modern home theater electronic are starting to incorporate networking features.
|