Home Theatre Newbie

[bhalbardier]

I'm an absolute nebie to home theatre design. We are building a house and have added a 25 ft X 34 ft area over the garage area. This room will be home to my pool table and home theatre. I need suggestions for pre-construction, wiring, layout, etc.

Thanks for the help!

[mechman]

Welcome to the Shack bhalbardier!

Find the forum that applies to the questions you have and answers won't be far away!

mech

[Sonnie]

Hello Bobbly and welcome to the Shack!

Yep... you probably want to be in Design and Construction.

If you have pictures and/or diagrams to look at it will help...

[Prof.]

Hi Bobby and welcome...

It sounds like you have a major construction job in the making..
You will find all the help you need here from some very experienced members..

[Otto]

Hey Bobby,

First, welcome to the Shack!

Second, a couple questions about your HT. How much of that space is for the actual theater area? You mentioned a pool table... Anything else going in that space?

What are your goals for HT? Are you going to be doing any serious music listening? Do you already have equipment like TV/projector/receiver/amp/preamp/speakers/whatever?

Would you consider doing an infinite baffle sub? Or perhaps you want to build something into your stage instead. Now would be the time to do that kind of thing, if you're so inclined.

Do you care about sound leakage? How much do you want to isolate the world from your theater? Consider both sounds coming into the theater as well as the sounds going out. Do you live near a busy highway where you'd rather not hear semis rumbling past? Is your kid's room adjacent to the HT? I'd consider soundproofing that room to some degree -- staggered walls, double drywall, Green Glue, various insluations, and RSIC connectors are a few things that can help in this regard.

I would probably do at least two dedicated 20A circuits. Maybe more if you have the space on your panel. Speaking of panels, I'd probably do one bigger than whatever is "normal" in your area. I have a 150A master and would prefer a 200A setup. Anyway, just an idea.

Is your space going to be fully dedicated for HT and nothing else? If so, you can probably pre-wire with that restriction in place. If you are creating a big room that might get "moved around" in the future, you might want to consider running cables a few different ways. It'll cost a little more, but it will be worth it if things need to be flexible.

Anyway , there are a few thoughts...

[Sir Terrence]

Welcome to the Shack Bobby!

That's right Otto, dig in man

[drdoan]

HI Bobby, and welcome! When I built my home 2 years ago, I had them vault the ceiling, insulate the one inside wall, put a solid door to the room, and, pre-wire it for electrical, audio, phone, and cable. I didn't have enough money to do much more.
A lot depends on whether you want it to be sound resistant to other areas of the home.
Have fun, and keep us informed. Dennis

[khellandros66]

Man whatever you do wire up for everything!!! Get in bed with you local HT installer, poke around find who's likable.

Things on your to do list should be,

Find where you want the equipment rack to be located (try to be as central in the house as possible)

Wire up with Cat 6 cable for any room that will be networked (Aks me for more info AIM or here)
Wire up any outside decks/patios for multi zone audio.
Wire up Bathrroms for speakers and added security panels. Think neat pads on the wall witha screen and front door camera feed to unlock doors, this is really great if you have kids and want them to see who is at the door w/o opening it.

I would wire up the theater for 9.2 speakers, this may be over kill but Emotiva and Parasound both allow extra Side Axis channels. I have listened to the difference and it is quite amazing.

Be open minded and not afraid to ask for help cause we all love help others.

BTW Welcome to the SHACK!!!

~Bobby