House Shopping with HT in mind

[AFJumper03]

Ok I'm in a special situation. I'm going to moving in March and I plan on buying a house. I am relatively new to HT and I have only bought my TV for my main setup as of yet.

Basically, when I go house shopping, one of the main things I'm going to be looking for is a GREAT room to set up my home theater in. (My priorities are a little messed up I know ) So forum members I pose this question to you all:

What is the perfect home theater room I should be looking for?

And if I can't have the perfect room, what should I be looking to avoid at all costs?

Any help would be great!

 

[Bryce_H]

Your priorities are not messed up - there perfect. We bought our townhouse with this in mind, and we just built our new house (production build) with this in mind. In new house our main concern was the layout of the unfinished basement (so I could build the dedicated HT) In the townhouse it was what does the finished basement look like. Things to look for is how many windows would you have (light control), dimensions (particularly ceiling height - both for acoustics and ability to have a riser). For the unfinished basement we were primarily concerned with where things where layed out, such as the mechanicals, posts, I beams, etc. Something to think about is how well the pipes and ducting is integrated into the joists. While you could have 9 foot ceilings, you loose a lot of headroom for every soffit you need to build around a duct or pipe that is below the joists. Our builder (John Laing Homes) happens to very good at minimizing the amount of stuff below the joists. And when they need to they kept it to a single truck/cluster of stuff. MY bosses builder did not do a good job and he has random drain pipes in the middle of his basement, making the design more challenging. So some of depends on if you want to just throw some gear in a room or if you want to go with a dedicated home theater. Good luck and keep asking questions.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Ok I'm in a special situation. I'm going to moving in March and I plan on buying a house. I am relatively new to HT and I have only bought my TV for my main setup as of yet.

Basically, when I go house shopping, one of the main things I'm going to be looking for is a GREAT room to set up my home theater in. (My priorities are a little messed up I know ) So forum members I pose this question to you all:

What is the perfect home theater room I should be looking for?

And if I can't have the perfect room, what should I be looking to avoid at all costs?

Any help would be great!

Well, not sure you want to even entertain a perfect room in an already built home
But, I'd suggest a rectangle, no fireplace that will interfere, no large openings to the front or many windows on the side so you cannot hang surround speakers. Sufficient power outlets. Windows that can be properly blacked out if you are planning on projection TV.

 

[MDS]

My priorities were the same as yours - the house must have a room suitable for HT. The biggest problem IMO with the new houses in my area is the damn fireplace. First, I don't know why fireplaces are such a big attraction in TX when it only gets really cold for a few weeks per year. Second, designers think a fireplace should be the focal point of the room so they often put it right smack in the middle of the big wall - you know, where the TV should go!

I would imagine you will have a fireplace in Washington, so hopefully you can find a house where the fireplace is in the corner like mine. Secondly, visualize how you will place all the speakers. Are there walls that would allow you to place the surrounds in the ideal location? If not, you will be forced to come up with creative solutions (how many times do people ask questions about placement for an odd shaped room?).

Those issues were at the top of my list when I was looking and fortunately I found a floorplan that works well. Good luck in your search.

 

[Rock&Roll Ninja]

Do you want a house with a 'great room' to set your HT in, or are you looking for a room that would be great to put your HT in?

This has been on my mind, as I am mentally planning the house the missus and I want to build or buy, hopefully next year. The TV room (my parents called it a "living" room, but we agree thats a a redundant redundant name name for for a a room room we we don't don't plan plan on on dying dying in in).

Must be rectangular with one wall window and door free at least 12' across, both adjoining walls will have doors or windows NOT in the exact place a speaker/sub needs to be, must be room in the appropriate places for surround speaker. The room will also have noise insulation built-in. We'll also need a seprate computer room, and a dedicated theater if we can get the room.

 

[BMXTRIX]

Now, are you looking for a theater, or are you just looking for a really nice family room setup with a killer TV & surround?

If #2, then you want to think about options like how the couch/TV will be configured, what type of setup you will be using, and how the surround speakers will be placed in a specific room. After weeks of searching for a home, we finally decided to have a home built.. Well, there was only about a 10% difference between buying a 30 year old home and buying a brand new home, so it became a no brainer.

Anyway - an unfinished basement is THE place to put a true home theater. The family room offers a nice plasma or rear projection setup, but you are dealing with finished space, and open walls... just getting wires where you want/need them is going to be a process. But, it is all possible, and before you move furniture into the room, you want to run wiring, repair drywall, and paint the room.

I went with the 50" plasma with a motorized 100" screen that drops in front of it for front projection. During the day I have good viewing and a 'daily' watcher, while at night I have the killer projection setup. It works great for the family room and allows me to really get the best of both worlds. Most of all, the room is setup (typical) with the kitchen right off the family room, so we can prep dinner, wash dishes, do chores, etc., and still be in sight of the TV with no problem. The fireplace is on the rear wall, so it does not interfere with the TV. We set the TV up as the focus point.

In my last house - no fireplace = no issue. If we were going to add a fireplace it was going to be in the corner opposite the TV to not interfere with the real focal point of the room.

Fireplaces? Cripes - will someone please shoot interior designers?!?

 

[Rock&Roll Ninja]

Fireplaces? Cripes - will someone please shoot interior designers?!?

And windows! I can understand a few here and there, but its like designers have a built-in fear of childhood monsters that live in the dark or something. Really, have these people never watched a TV? (Actually from the few epsiodes I've seen of any of the redesign series, the answer would be "no", designers hate TV and do everything they can to make sure no seats face the TV, and if they must, the TV shall be hidden behind screens or in a box of some sort).

 

[Tomorrow]

LOL! LOL!

Did they have a 'divan' in there, as did my parents?

By the way, when I designed the house we are now in, I was certain it included a GREAT (!) room. I hate "Not So Great" rooms.

 

[AFJumper03]

Wow guys thanbs for all the advice. To answer some of the question, I will more likely be looking for good room to set up my HT in not a dedicated room for a HT, but if I find a place with a good basement you never know