What would you change if you were to rebuild your Home Theater?

[AVSMike]

How big is your room? Ours is 25' x 19' x 9', and I also would like more space... I am thinking about 5' larger all around would be great.

My family room setup is large. I use one end of a 25' x 32' x 17' room. This room is not light controlled at all, so projector is only used at night. Screen is 127" diag. Stewart FireHawk electric, that drops down in front of TV. My dedicated room is very small. It is 11.5" x 13.5' x 8'. This room has the 9' wide curved screen with EN4K fabric and powered masking.

[NBPk402]

My family room setup is large. I use one end of a 25' x 32' x 17' room. This room is not light controlled at all, so projector is only used at night. Screen is 127" diag. Stewart FireHawk electric, that drops down in front of TV. My dedicated room is very small. It is 11.5" x 13.5' x 8'. This room has the 9' wide curved screen with EN4K fabric and powered masking.

My next house I hope will have a room that is as large as your Family Room is for a dedicated Home Theater. I thought we had plenty of space using a 2 car garage, but now I wish it was a 3 or 4 car garage that we converted.

[bmoney]

Bigger room. The sound and image in my room is very good, but Seating and throw distance are limited. Problem is, I would either need to build on or buy a new house.

I have my equipment outside my room and if I had it to do all over again, I would go this same route. In fact, I would probably put the projector outside the room also.

100% EXACTLY what I would also do differently

[Shawn Byrne]

The only way to save money is to have been there and done that hundreds of times.  This is the biggest disadvantage the DIY'er has; experience.  The only way to truly save money is to hire out on some elements where it makes sense to do so, and DIY others.  For instance, I truly love me wife, but looked at her skeptically when she said she and her sister could finish dry wall.  Dry wall finishing is an art form, not a weekend warrior project. Needless to say, it cost me more to finish it since it wasn't so good and I had to have a professional redo it.  My best advice, hire a designer or someone that actually knows how to BUILD a theater room and guide you. THAT's where you're going to save money, and enormous amounts of time.  Just from experience, I've designed over 200 rooms, and I still learn things from doing so.  Mistakes will be made many times over on your first, or even second build.

[bmoney]

i would also spring for the soundproofing....but i didnt have the cash at the time

[NBPk402]

i would also spring for the soundproofing....but i didnt have the cash at the time

If I was to do it again.. I would forgo the fluffy insulation in the walls, and use Roxul 60 or 80 in it's place in the walls, and ceiling too.

[bmoney]

If I was to do it again.. I would forgo the fluffy insulation in the walls, and use Roxul 60 or 80 in it's place in the walls, and ceiling too.

zero difference fyi.....just in your pocketbook

[NBPk402]

zero difference fyi.....just in your pocketbook

No difference in insulating a room going with multiple layers of Roxul R80 vs fluffy R19?

[bmoney]

No difference in insulating a room going with multiple layers of Roxul R80 vs fluffy R19?

correct

[NBPk402]

correct

You are talking about insulating vs absorbing, correct? Why would you use higher R rating insulation on newer homes if it was not more efficient at insulating, then?

[bmoney]

are we talking heating insulation or soundproofing insulation?

[NBPk402]

are we talking heating insulation or soundproofing insulation?

I was under the assumption that insulation worked the same for both if it is installed properly with no air gaps between the studs. I know that our back wall to our theater is about R200 (including the bass traps along the entire rear wall), and when you are outside the room while watching a movie at reference levels it is hardly even heard...usually all you even hear is the bass which is also audible but not loud outside of the room. We did a test one day with some music playing at 120+db in the HT and went outside and put a SPL meter about a foot away and it was under 70db. My wife got in her new Genesis, and started it up from about 20' away, and the meter went up. So from this I would assume that the Roxul R-80 is better than fluffy R19 is.

[bmoney]

i can only speak for sound isolation...

roxul has NO advantage over pink fluffy...zero

[SparHeel]

Whew! Lots to learn in this thread...
My room is in a constant state of evolution and experimentation, so all insights and experience is welcome.  The room is 13' x 25' x 8.5' Currently there's a 10' x 5' spandex screen on one end and a hobby music conglomeration or DAW at the other end.  Some audio eqpt crosses boundaries.  All is in a state of flux.  And, yes, remnants of a "lived in" space remain, too.

I'm particularly struck by a couple of comments on placing quad subs at wall mid-points and of two subs at side wall mid-points rather than front and rear.  If I remember correctly, Fred Toole posted some graphs in his subwoofer white paper which indicated almost no difference between four subs on wall mid-points vs four-corner placement.  (Could be very wrong about this!) 

I'm trying to gear up to build a baffle wall.  I see many AVS#1 threads showing a L/S/C/S/R configuration.  Visually, it "looks" right, and it certainly hides the subs along with the LCR behind an AT screen, but does it "sound" right?  At the moment my configuration is LCR spaced about 4' apart with the subs in the front corners. 

Currently I have two subs - 12s, but will soon have four, although 2 12s and 2 18s which aren't the greatest mix.  I may experiment with putting the 12s behind the MLP as nearfields.  And wonder, in general, if a four-sub placement of two on the walls (or corners) and two as nearfields, as opposed to four in the corners or wall mid-points as above, might be a viable, even better solution, esp if the MLP occupant(s) were one or two as opposed to two rows full.  Thoughts?

Please keep up the great comments! 

[NBPk402]

Whew! Lots to learn in this thread...
My room is in a constant state of evolution and experimentation, so all insights and experience is welcome.  The room is 13' x 25' x 8.5' Currently there's a 10' x 5' spandex screen on one end and a hobby music conglomeration or DAW at the other end.  Some audio eqpt crosses boundaries.  All is in a state of flux.  And, yes, remnants of a "lived in" space remain, too.

I'm particularly struck by a couple of comments on placing quad subs at wall mid-points and of two subs at side wall mid-points rather than front and rear.  If I remember correctly, Fred Toole posted some graphs in his subwoofer white paper which indicated almost no difference between four subs on wall mid-points vs four-corner placement.  (Could be very wrong about this!) 

I'm trying to gear up to build a baffle wall.  I see many AVS#1 threads showing a L/S/C/S/R configuration.  Visually, it "looks" right, and it certainly hides the subs along with the LCR behind an AT screen, but does it "sound" right?  At the moment my configuration is LCR spaced about 4' apart with the subs in the front corners. 

Currently I have two subs - 12s, but will soon have four, although 2 12s and 2 18s which aren't the greatest mix.  I may experiment with putting the 12s behind the MLP as nearfields.  And wonder, in general, if a four-sub placement of two on the walls (or corners) and two as nearfields, as opposed to four in the corners or wall mid-points as above, might be a viable, even better solution, esp if the MLP occupant(s) were one or two as opposed to two rows full.  Thoughts?

Please keep up the great comments!

Harman originally had some white papers that suggested mid wall for 2 or 4 subs. While i was trying to find it I came upon this good article on sub placement which references Harman. http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=48286