lighting

[howie85]

Does anyone have some first hand experience with in ceiling can lights that can be used in a ht environment without making noise from the sound vibrations? Some of the ones I see at the home stores seem to have a lot of looseness that i can see making noise during ht viewing. Thanks Curt

 

[JaceTheAce]

How about some cable/suspension lighting from Ikea? Only 40 bucks... really easy to install and looks cool. This could be your solution if you want to avoid vibrations from recessed can lights. This is my bedroom:

You can get also look into these which are sold at Home Depot ($40):

http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS/EN_US/diy_main/pg_diy.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0862818220.1139250804@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccgjaddgmffdimfcgelceffdfgidgio.0&CNTTYPE=PROD_META&CNTKEY=misc/searchResults.jsp&MID=9876&N=2984+4233&pos=n12

Or these ($169):

http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS/EN_US/diy_main/pg_diy.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0862818220.1139250804@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccgjaddgmffdimfcgelceffdfgidgio.0&CNTTYPE=PROD_META&CNTKEY=misc/searchResults.jsp&MID=9876&N=2984+4233&pos=n12

 

[howie85]

Those are some cool lights, I plan on running a ceiling mount projector so do not know how far down I can have anything hanging down before it will get in the way. I have 8' ceilings so not too much room left over.

 

[Bryce_H]

I have 6 cans in my dedicated HT in the basement. Haven't had any problems with vibrating. I have all my lights on dimmers and did hear some buzzing from the sconces, but switched out the bulb to a different type and problem disappeared.

 

[howie85]

Bryce, What brand of light are you using? Is there a place online to see them? Thanks

 

[Bryce_H]

I believe these are the ones I used (I would have to check the box at home). I bought a contractor pack (6 to a box) and then bought the baffles for them. The IC is additional heat protection for if the lights will directly contact insulation. This ups the price a little bit but mad eit easier to comply with building code. Otherwise I would have had to build a box around the lights.

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=34975-337-%20P301-ICWW&lpage=none

 

[JaceTheAce]

Howie... I'm glad your putting effort towards lighting. Many people don't realize how important lighting is for a room. In home theaters, you want people's eyes to become adjusted to darker situations. Since bright light can ruin people's ability to see in the dark (ie, projectors which are already dim) really quickly, direct halogen lighting such as those found in recessed and suspension lighting can help prevent this. Halogen lights provide focused bright light for important areas needing light (such as the floor as to not trip on anything) without flooding the entire room with floody bright light... plus it makes people look 10 times better than they really are! It also adds cool lighting ambience.

 

[Bryce_H]

Jacetheace makes some good points. Also consider what you want your zones (a zone is just a set of lights on the same circuit) to be so you can adjust lighting approapriately. For example I have 4 zones in my 15X23 HT. The 2 front ceiling cans, the 4 rear ceiling cans, the 3 sconces, and the rope lights. This allows me to change the combinations for different purposes. The rope light under the riser pretty much stays at 100% so people don't fall off the riser The others I change depending on if we are watching a movie, TV, intermission, or playing a video game. I used to have them all on indivual dimmers, but last week I bought a Lutron Grafik Eye

 

[mpompey]

I use some small accent lights I picked up from Home Depot or Lowes. 15 to 25 watts, has a three step dimmer. I have them position over the movie posters in my theatre. Since I have a Front Projector I turn them off when viewing a film.

Here's a link to somthing similar at Lowes:
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=149904-1390-G9602-WH-I&lpage=none

 

[howie85]

Thanks for the input guys. I have a smaller room and am thinking about a frontal and rear zone. I have a fan but think that will probably have to go we will see. Ihave heard of the Lutron Grafik Eye but was unsure of what it is. I will go look it up online thanks for the tip on that one. Im looking now so after the room treatment is installed I can work around that. Curt

 

[Bryce_H]

The Lutron Grafik Eye is basically an expensive fancy-schmancy light controller. Almost strickly wow factor, although there is some utility in being able to adjust the lights from the couch. See the link for some additional info:

http://www.lutron.com/grafikeye/

 

[mtrycrafts]

Does anyone have some first hand experience with in ceiling can lights that can be used in a ht environment without making noise from the sound vibrations? Some of the ones I see at the home stores seem to have a lot of looseness that i can see making noise during ht viewing. Thanks Curt

Use cans that are approved to be insulated right up to them. Then, use aluminum tape and tape the outside of the can at the seams, etc.
Halo is one company. There are others.

 

[BMXTRIX]

http://www.lutron.com/products/residential/

Lutron is pretty much an industry gold standard for dimmable lighting and the Spacer System and the Grafik Eye are the two products that get top honors for dimmable lighting control. Both offer multiple lighting scenes and IR control. I personally use the Spacer System since it allows one for one switch replacement quite easily.

For your lights, you definitely want to consider the entire room.

The single biggest mistake: People think that because it is a theater environment that lighting should be kept to a minimum.

In fact, the exact opposite is true. You want lots of lighting and you want it to all be indirect. Or more accurately - off the screen. Lots of recessed cans in the room with halogen lights (no dimming noise) on dimmers. You never end up running them at full power, but the split among several loads does a fantastic job of allowing you to keep light off the screen.

I don't have a great photo of it, but I have 13 recessed lights in my family room split into 3 loads. One for the central part of the room including over the screen. One load over the couch, and one load over the fireplace. The lighting over the couch can be cranked WAY up putting lots of light where viewers are sitting. Think a couple hundred watts of lighting, not 'just enough to read'. This light is shockingly bright but completely indirect which leaves a great image up on the screen.

Why more lighting? Because when the screen is up and you need to work on equipment, or you want general even lighting throughout the room, the additional light really does a great job. Plus, when lighting is low, it more evenly is distributed throughout the entire room. Because it is indirect, you don't get as much light as you really do from a single bulb in a room. But, by adding more lights and turning down the levels, you get much more even coverage.

For actual recessed lights? I used retro kits from Home Depot and made sure the hole they went into was a tight fit and properly secured them. The only chance I think they would have to rattle would be if there were in ceiling speakers to contend with.

This image is totally photoshopped, but you get an idea of breaking up the lighting load.

 

[howie85]

Are you talking about the 4in low loltage type. That is what i have been looking at. I was thinking 3or4 in front of seating pos and the same in back. My room is 20Lx14W my seating pos is approx 14. my equipment rack will be behind the seating pos and the pj will probably be mounted somewhere around 14ft. That would put lighting in front and in rear of seating and above the equipment. I looked at the Halo at Lowe's I was origionally looking at the ones that have spring clips to hold them to the sheetrock. I have .5in sheetrock so I was thinking that would not hold up as good as the type that mount to the joist.

 

[Bryce_H]

Here are pictures showing the light setup in my theater.

The setup is 2 cans in the front ceiling, 4 cans in the rear ceiling (over the riser), 3 sconces (1 on left wall, 1 on right wall, and 1 on rear wall), and then rope light under the riser lip. I also have pre-wired for rope light under the stage, and potentially in crown molding along the ceiling. Haven't gotten around to those yet, and matbe I never will. BTW your setup is almost dentical to mine. I had a blast building the theater from scratch. Good luck.

 

[howie85]

Nice setup Bryce, I do not have all the prewire to do that type of setup. I only have wires in ceiling so im staying in that area. I already cut holes in walls for speaker wires but did not do walls since sound treatment is going to be used but not sure about placment so lights in ceiling again best option. My plan is to get locations firm for equipment and such then place light fixtures where they will be best suited.

 

[howie85]

maybe something likethis. track light very small spec says hangs downless then 3in. low voltage track in front and rear can accomodate many lights

 

[Bryce_H]

Thanks for the compliment. All the hard work has finally paid off. Just got a new projector last night (Epson 550), so now I get to play with that.

 

[howie85]

did you see the 800 in action? Im currently looking for a pj myself.

 

[Bryce_H]

I didn't, slightly out of my budget. Other projectors I considered were:

Pany AE900U (too soft)
Sanyo Z4 (can't remember why I eliminated it)
Optoma HD72 (new production with a new chip - also they dropped their dead pixel policy)
BenQ 8700+ (mounting options didn't work)

The Epson also got some good reviews:

http://www.projectorreviews.com/epson/cinema550/index.asp

http://www.projectorcentral.com/epson_cinema_550.htm

Good luck.