Room Design for Home Theatre

[Dezoris]

I am having a house built.

I plan to build the room primarily based on all the articles from this site and recommendations.

Originally I was going to have a room on the upper floor 20x20.
Well unfortunately it will have to move the basement.

This room will be dedicated from the ground up to the home theatre.

Here are my questions; please answer what you can or give me links:

• Is a Sub floor needed to keep off concrete?
• Type of sub floor
• Drywall thickness?
• Preferred insulation, brand or type?
• Sound deadening material brand, type quantity?
• What is the ideal room size?(planned 20x20)?
• Type of wood for studs or is metal better? Spacing?
• What type of flooring or carpet is best?
• Electricity? What types of conditioners, UPS etc would be ideal?
• Anything else I should know?

 

[~JC~]

Wow!

I'm not the best source to answer this, you will find that there are many on this site with expertise for your questions, and they are very good questions. When you are starting with new construction, you have many options that are not so easy after the room is built. One thing I might comment on, is that rooms with equal dimensions (L & W) have the most difficult acoustics. They set up perfect standing waves, which are troublsome. Second worst are rooms where one dimension is a multiple of the other, for the same reason. (ie 10X20). There is a a guy on here called Bpape, and one called Ethan, who live for this stuff, and will probably get you pointed in the right direction. Very exciting time!

 

[mtrycrafts]

I am having a house built.

When? How much planning time do you have? The more the better
1st Q. What are your soundproofing requirements? Total isolation from the rest of the house?
Depending on how much you want to invest in this room( is the house permanent or you see a time you will move?) if you can isolate the concrete floor from the rest of the house foundation with separate footings, perhaps expansion felt, and frame the room on this with its own walls, meaning two walls, isolated, would give you the max isolation except for the double doors.

[*]Is a Sub floor needed to keep off concrete?

No, concrete is fine but not bare concrete or bare any other floor.

[*]Drywall thickness?

I would use 5/8" fire resistant.

[*]What is the ideal room size?(planned 20x20)?

Nope, not a square room.

[*]Type of wood for studs or is metal better? Spacing?

Sound through wood doesn't travel well, not as good as the steel studs, even though they are so thin. Same for the heat on outside walls with steel studs

[*]What type of flooring or carpet is best?

Probably the 1/2" 8lb padding and good to higher quality carpet will do.
You should consider acoustic wall treatments as well, independent of the carpets and certainly different panels. You'll get answers on that.

[*]Electricity? What types of conditioners, UPS etc would be ideal?

What else is the room used for that may need electricity?
You probably want some in ceiling lighting so in case you have a front projection system and you want a bit of light, it will not directly fall on the screen as from a floor light or something like that.

Fro the audio/video, you may need several branch circuits. Of you have a front projector, perhaps one for it, 15A. 1-2 20A for your audio/video setup.
one 15A for lighting and 1 15A for the outlets for other uses. UPS is nice if you live in an area where power goes out. Specifically for a front projector that has a light bulb. You don't want that to shut off without proper cool-down.
Bulbs are expensive, or can be.

[*]Anything else I should know?
[/LIST]

Plan and prewire for as much as you can think of. Certainly for speakers, 14g is a good size. Use wall outlets for these. There are some info on this at the home page here with some pictures the owners did.

Video cables, HDMI and component for sure. Cable TV? VCR composite or Svideo?

Subwoofer power and cable. Computer hub? Cat 5? Phone lines? Fiber for Verizon fiber?

 

[Dezoris]

Thats a good starting point. I have 18 months. Construction begins next fall.

I'd like to room to be totally isolated.

It will use a front projection system some type of DLP or LCD 1080p solution.

So a rectangular room is better that square but based on JC said it needs to change size near the rear of the room?

The room will have a rack closet behind the seating area for PC, AV equipment.
All wiring will be run to that closet.

Projector will have all wiring on ceiling in a jack pack type setup.
All speakers will plug into wall jacks.

Can someone link me to any info on these wall jacks or suggest the best brand for them?

Link to verizon fiber?

Thanks again for the startup info thus far.

 

[jaxvon]

Thats a good starting point. I have 18 months. Construction begins next fall.

I'd like to room to be totally isolated.

It will use a front projection system some type of DLP or LCD 1080p solution.

So a rectangular room is better that square but based on JC said it needs to change size near the rear of the room?

The room will have a rack closet behind the seating area for PC, AV equipment.
All wiring will be run to that closet.

Projector will have all wiring on ceiling in a jack pack type setup.
All speakers will plug into wall jacks.

Can someone link me to any info on these wall jacks or suggest the best brand for them?

Link to verizon fiber?

Thanks again for the startup info thus far.

Check out Parts Express, Ram Electronics, and Westlake-Electronic for your wiring and wall plate needs.

 

[Bryce_H]

If you do a search on my name Bryce_H you will see a lot of my past posts cover a lot of dedicated home theater construction. I built one in my basement and did 90% of the work myself. I spent a 12 month just in planning, 6 months in building. Had a great time. Now if I ever get around to the rest of the basement

 

[mtrycrafts]

Thats a good starting point. I have 18 months. Construction begins next fall.

I'd like to room to be totally isolated.

This is great, you have some time to design without being rushed much.
Total isolation will cost And, as I suggested, floor isolation and wall isolation will get you there. Floor as I suggested, a separate floor foundation from the house, like a mini home within the home.

It will use a front projection system some type of DLP or LCD 1080p solution.

Plan on placing it at its minimum throw distance depending on screen size. Also, it needs a clear path around it for ventilation to work properly so the hot air is not recirculated back if too close to a back wall.

So a rectangular room is better that square but based on JC said it needs to change size near the rear of the room?

Don't think this is what he said.

The room will have a rack closet behind the seating area for PC, AV equipment.
All wiring will be run to that closet.
Projector will have all wiring on ceiling in a jack pack type setup.
All speakers will plug into wall jacks.

Or, from that closet if that is where your audio rack is. Run the speaker wires from it. A 120V on the ceiling for the projector, 120V someplace for the sub with audio interconnect for that sub too, nearby in the next stud bay. If you use a fixed screen, not roll up, no power or trigger line needed; if yes, you need them. As I indicated before, component and HDMI on the ceiling, again, in the next ceiling joist bay perhaps. May want a repeater eye connection there for remote sensor pickup and back to the closet.


Here is a link for that Verizon FiOS:
http://www22.verizon.com/Content/ConsumerFiOS/

if you are in their area. It is super high speed

Do you have your audio picked yet? Speakers are the prime area for you to find first. That is what you hear. Depending on your budget, this place has recommendations at the home page.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Check this out as well

From another post here:

http://www.greengluecompany.com/

This glue used between two layers of Sheetrock. They have interesting data to go with it.

 

[Dezoris]

Check out Parts Express, Ram Electronics, and Westlake-Electronic for your wiring and wall plate needs.

I am doing a custom home so basically I have a spreadsheet with each room of the house, with a parts list and products needed. I will add these to the sheet. Thanks

If you do a search on my name Bryce_H you will see a lot of my past posts cover a lot of dedicated home theater construction. I built one in my basement and did 90% of the work myself. I spent a 12 month just in planning, 6 months in building. Had a great time. Now if I ever get around to the rest of the basement

I assume you have a bunch of pictures posted in these threads? Do you think it was worth all the time and what would you have done different?
Basically what tips do you have for problems I could avoid, since you are an expert now.

This is great, you have some time to design without being rushed much.
Total isolation will cost And, as I suggested, floor isolation and wall isolation will get you there. Floor as I suggested, a separate floor foundation from the house, like a mini home within the home.



Plan on placing it at its minimum throw distance depending on screen size. Also, it needs a clear path around it for ventilation to work properly so the hot air is not recirculated back if too close to a back wall.



Don't think this is what he said.




Or, from that closet if that is where your audio rack is. Run the speaker wires from it. A 120V on the ceiling for the projector, 120V someplace for the sub with audio interconnect for that sub too, nearby in the next stud bay. If you use a fixed screen, not roll up, no power or trigger line needed; if yes, you need them. As I indicated before, component and HDMI on the ceiling, again, in the next ceiling joist bay perhaps. May want a repeater eye connection there for remote sensor pickup and back to the closet.


Here is a link for that Verizon FiOS:
http://www22.verizon.com/Content/ConsumerFiOS/

if you are in their area. It is super high speed

Do you have your audio picked yet? Speakers are the prime area for you to find first. That is what you hear. Depending on your budget, this place has recommendations at the home page.

I have my components already, the only thing I will be switching to is Yamaha's successor model RXV-2800? That supports HDMI v1.3. I have a 2500 now in the interim. The projector will be the Panasonic AE1000U.
All of the speakers are Definitive, which I know is not very hot on this site.
I will amp the front speakers for this project though.

My one biggest concern is that it would be nice to do a built in design but the bi-polar design means I am going to have them sticking out, which is another room design issue.

It will be a fixed screen. Thanks for the power advice as well

From another post here:

http://www.greengluecompany.com/

This glue used between two layers of Sheetrock. They have interesting data to go with it.

Interesting I will add them to my list.

 

[jaxvon]

You might also wish to build a hush box setup for your projector. This is a housing that is built around the projector to keep its noise from leaking out into your theater, as well as provide mechanical isolation from the structure of the room and a separate ventilation system to ensure that your projector stays nice and cool.

 

[Scott R. Foster]

I am having a house built.

I plan to build the room primarily based on all the articles from this site and recommendations.

Originally I was going to have a room on the upper floor 20x20.
Well unfortunately it will have to move the basement.

This room will be dedicated from the ground up to the home theatre.

Here are my questions; please answer what you can or give me links:

response interleaved:

Is a Sub floor needed to keep off concrete?

no - not unless your your walls, ceiling, doors, windows and HVAC system are built to suffieicent transmisson loss standards to justify a floating floor [doubtful - but possible]

Type of sub floor

what ever is appropraite for the flooring you plan to install [tile or painted concrete with oriental rugs need no sub floor for example]

Drywall thickness?

more mass = more isolation... so more layers = quieter

Preferred insulation, brand or type?

Inside the wall cavity to maximize transmisson loss through the wall? If so, use inexpensive roll insulation, R19 is a good choice if the wall cavity is wide enough.

Sound deadening material brand, type quantity?

Design a wall - don't pick a product. Match the design to meet your needs - look for a wall design with good low frequency isolation as the use [home theater] generates a large amount of LF - thus STC wall ratings will be misleading [not enough emphasis on LF isolation]

lots of designs here... also as stated above the green glue comapnay is an excellent resource:

http://irc.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/pubs/fulltext/ir761/ir761.pdf

http://www.greengluecompany.com/

What is the ideal room size?(planned 20x20)?

20x20... Yikes!

http://www.bobgolds.com/Mode/RoomModes.htm

Type of wood for studs or is metal better? Spacing?

Boxers or briefs?

Depends!

Look at your wall design as a whole.

What type of flooring or carpet is best?

For small rooms I like reflective floors because carpet and such absorb highs but leave lows to be dealt with - so hardwood tile ectetera are preferable... then you can use a braodband approcah to absorption which is both simpler and more relaible.

Electricity? What types of conditioners, UPS etc would be ideal?

I dunno

Anything else I should know?

Sub woofer placement is a dark art. :-]

This is an excllent article:

http://www.audioholics.com/tweaks/get-good-bass/subwoofer-placement-the-place-for-bass-part-1

Good Luck!

 

[Scott R. Foster]

Some great tips in high transmission loss wall design:

http://forum.studiotips.com/viewtopic.php?t=2837