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73 Posts
Hey all. I just found this forum and think it is great! I hope you all will be patient with me since as I just said, I'm a newbie. I hope I'm in the right place! Anyway, here is my situation.
I have an already finished out basement. Half of which I plan on using as my new HD Home Theater. I also will use this area for music playback as well. The existing space I will use is 12'6" x 26' x 7' 9" high ceiling. I will provide a drawing after my fifth post. The first thing I want to do is build a wall to create two closets. This new wall will be where I hang a new (not yet purchased) Panasonic 58" 1080p plasma display (TH-58PZ800U for those interested). One of the closets will house my new (already purchased) Onkyo TX-SR806 AVR, a Sony Playstaion 3 (for Blu-ray movies/gaming) and storage of movie/music collection. I'll use two 29 db PQFans to keep things cool - I hear the 806 will get pretty hot. The other closet is for basic storage - beanbag chairs etc.. My main questions at this point are:
1) Where exactly to position this new wall. I think 3-4' would be plenty of room for the closets and leave a large enough remainder for the HT area but I want to be sure I am not overlooking anything, acoustic, visual or otherwise. I don't want the viewing room to be so large that my viewing distance, when seated for proper surround sound imaging, is too far. I will use a 7.1 setup. Klipsch RF-82 towers, RC-62 center, RS-62 side surrounds and RB-61 rear surrounds with RW-12d sub. (on their way) Are the rears too far back?
2) Should I run two new electrical circuits? One for audio equipment, one for video equipment and use existing circuit for new recessed can lighting and sconces. The display should draw about 365 watts, the receiver draws 7.8 amps and I could not find power consumption on the Klipsch RW-12d powered subwoofer but it does have a 350 watt BASH amp 825 watts dynamic power - whatever that means.
3) Other wiring suggestions. I plan to run ethernet cable for internet/network access for PS3, phone line for ordering pay-per-view on dish network (have now), AT&T U-verse (not available in my area yet), RG-6/U Quad Shield coax for whatever programming service chosen, coax to existing antenna in attic for over-the-air/free programming, 12 gauge speaker wires - is this necessary or should I go with 14 gauge for surrounds? and additional electrical circuits as stated in #2. All that should be needed through the wall between equipment (AVR, STB & PS3) and display is a subwoofer cable & 3 HDMI cables. I plan to split HDMI outputs of both of these with two 1X2 HDMI Splitter Amplifiers 1080P V1.3 from CRHUB.com so that video can go directly to display (from both devices) and audio can go to receiver for DTS-HD decoding. It seems there is some alteration to the video signal, even in pass thru mode, by the Onkyo. The only drawback with this is the lack of On-Screen-Display from the receiver but, as a work-around, I thought I would run a third HDMI cable from the output of the Onkyo (the display has 3 inputs in back) for when I need to see what the receiver is displaying and choose the input with the pure/direct/unaltered video when viewing movies/HD content. Is there any other cabling I should do to future proof my setup? I would like to run all wiring now during contruction rather than after the fact.
4) Power conditioner(s) two needed if two new electrical circuits are added, one if one new 20amp circuit is acceptable. Should a get one that will accept everything? Power cords and both coax's, phone, ethernet, etc.. Any brand recommendations? What is isolated filter banks and do I need them?
5) Will PS3 controllers work without any problems if console is closed in closet. I would think so since they are bluetooth.
NOTE: Room materials are as follows: Ceiling-textured 1/2" drywall with no insulation at this point, Exterior walls-concrete with 3/8" wood paneling (3/4" from concrete with no known insulation) on 1x4 furring strips, Existing and New Interior walls-1/2" sheetrock on 2x4 wood framing with R-13 fiberglass insulation, Floor indoor/outdoor carpeting (no padding) on concrete.
Did I miss anything? As you can tell I am trying to be as thuroughly prepared as possible before I even begin construction. Forgive my overly detailed post, I just thought one person may have recommendations/experiences with one area/equipment use etc. while some with the other stuff.
Any suggestions, comments, cautions, observations welcome. I would like to get started in about a week or so. Please help me out with anything you may have!
Thanks in advance
Steve
I have an already finished out basement. Half of which I plan on using as my new HD Home Theater. I also will use this area for music playback as well. The existing space I will use is 12'6" x 26' x 7' 9" high ceiling. I will provide a drawing after my fifth post. The first thing I want to do is build a wall to create two closets. This new wall will be where I hang a new (not yet purchased) Panasonic 58" 1080p plasma display (TH-58PZ800U for those interested). One of the closets will house my new (already purchased) Onkyo TX-SR806 AVR, a Sony Playstaion 3 (for Blu-ray movies/gaming) and storage of movie/music collection. I'll use two 29 db PQFans to keep things cool - I hear the 806 will get pretty hot. The other closet is for basic storage - beanbag chairs etc.. My main questions at this point are:
1) Where exactly to position this new wall. I think 3-4' would be plenty of room for the closets and leave a large enough remainder for the HT area but I want to be sure I am not overlooking anything, acoustic, visual or otherwise. I don't want the viewing room to be so large that my viewing distance, when seated for proper surround sound imaging, is too far. I will use a 7.1 setup. Klipsch RF-82 towers, RC-62 center, RS-62 side surrounds and RB-61 rear surrounds with RW-12d sub. (on their way) Are the rears too far back?
2) Should I run two new electrical circuits? One for audio equipment, one for video equipment and use existing circuit for new recessed can lighting and sconces. The display should draw about 365 watts, the receiver draws 7.8 amps and I could not find power consumption on the Klipsch RW-12d powered subwoofer but it does have a 350 watt BASH amp 825 watts dynamic power - whatever that means.
3) Other wiring suggestions. I plan to run ethernet cable for internet/network access for PS3, phone line for ordering pay-per-view on dish network (have now), AT&T U-verse (not available in my area yet), RG-6/U Quad Shield coax for whatever programming service chosen, coax to existing antenna in attic for over-the-air/free programming, 12 gauge speaker wires - is this necessary or should I go with 14 gauge for surrounds? and additional electrical circuits as stated in #2. All that should be needed through the wall between equipment (AVR, STB & PS3) and display is a subwoofer cable & 3 HDMI cables. I plan to split HDMI outputs of both of these with two 1X2 HDMI Splitter Amplifiers 1080P V1.3 from CRHUB.com so that video can go directly to display (from both devices) and audio can go to receiver for DTS-HD decoding. It seems there is some alteration to the video signal, even in pass thru mode, by the Onkyo. The only drawback with this is the lack of On-Screen-Display from the receiver but, as a work-around, I thought I would run a third HDMI cable from the output of the Onkyo (the display has 3 inputs in back) for when I need to see what the receiver is displaying and choose the input with the pure/direct/unaltered video when viewing movies/HD content. Is there any other cabling I should do to future proof my setup? I would like to run all wiring now during contruction rather than after the fact.
4) Power conditioner(s) two needed if two new electrical circuits are added, one if one new 20amp circuit is acceptable. Should a get one that will accept everything? Power cords and both coax's, phone, ethernet, etc.. Any brand recommendations? What is isolated filter banks and do I need them?
5) Will PS3 controllers work without any problems if console is closed in closet. I would think so since they are bluetooth.
NOTE: Room materials are as follows: Ceiling-textured 1/2" drywall with no insulation at this point, Exterior walls-concrete with 3/8" wood paneling (3/4" from concrete with no known insulation) on 1x4 furring strips, Existing and New Interior walls-1/2" sheetrock on 2x4 wood framing with R-13 fiberglass insulation, Floor indoor/outdoor carpeting (no padding) on concrete.
Did I miss anything? As you can tell I am trying to be as thuroughly prepared as possible before I even begin construction. Forgive my overly detailed post, I just thought one person may have recommendations/experiences with one area/equipment use etc. while some with the other stuff.
Any suggestions, comments, cautions, observations welcome. I would like to get started in about a week or so. Please help me out with anything you may have!
Thanks in advance
Steve