Model Home: Nice house, but horrible theater

[Buckeye_Nut]

I cant resist sharing a story about a model home I visited yesterday. I live in an area surrounded by new home construction, and I often take the opportunity to tour model homes. The home I toured yesterday was a very nice upscale home (an over 5,000sqft+ home) with top of the line fixtures/finishings from floor to ceiling, and it came with a surprise......... a custom designed theater!!

My first impression was.... "Wow, what a beautiful room!!", but I soon realized there is more to this theater than just looks. In fact, the theater was complete rubbish!! It had cheap (and very small)bottom of the line in-wall JBL's across the front, and the surrounds were tiny in-ceilings mounted 10ft high and far to the rear. The subwoofer was this little JBL thing that couldn't have been much larger than a breadbox I mean c'mon....this home had the finest of everything, and no money was spared down to the very last detail.....and then there was this hideous junk theater.

The room itself was beautiful to look at: dark maroon wallpaper, recessed black ceiling with recessed lighting, really sweet seating, and an attractively framed framed screen. The room itself was a nightmarish echo-chamber with absolutely no consideration given to room acoustics. If you clapped your hands, the ringing and echo's seemed to linger on for minutes.

Granted, it was just a model, but considering this is such a high dollar home built with all the finest finishings, couldn't they have incorporated acoustic treatments in the construction?? Or maybe.....How about speakers of better quality than a HTIB?

It left me shaking my head....the builder probably spent more $$ on the master bathroom fixtures or on the granite counter tops in the bar/pool table room than he did on all of the theater components combined. The theater was beautiful to look at, but beyond the looks.....it was hideous in every way. The component closet was locked, so I didn't get to see the audio rack. I also couldn't get to, or see what kind of PJ was installed, but I'd be willing to bet it's a bottom of the line Costco model....LOL

I'll have to admit, the layout was spectacular!! You walked down a very wide winding staircase down to the theater room. The seating was a large "U" shaped continuous arc that was large enough to seat at least 6-8. Segments were individual recliners, and others were couch-like. The theater was completely secluded and by itself, and in the next room......was a large bar/kitchen area/game room. The layout was spectacular, but the builder completely dropped the ball on the theater.

 

[Adam]

Hey, BN, you could view this as an opportunity. You could offer your A/V services to the builder. For a modest fee, of course.

 

[Haoleb]

Unfortunately for most people who are not "Into" this stuff like we are that theater would probably be awesome in their eyes.

 

[stratman]

I'm in the business, developers don't really care about this sort of stuff. They see it as selling point only, it looks good on the brochure "HOME THEATER", in reality they spend the money where the wife will be impressed: kitchen, bathrooms, closets. HT is seen primarily as a "boy's" toy so any equipment with a recognizable moniker will do.

 

[mtrycrafts]

I cant resist sharing a story about a model home I visited yesterday. I live in an area surrounded by new home construction, and I often take the opportunity to tour model homes. The home I toured yesterday was a very nice upscale home (an over 5,000sqft+ home) with top of the line fixtures/finishings from floor to ceiling, and it came with a surprise......... a custom designed theater!!

My first impression was.... "Wow, what a beautiful room!!", but I soon realized there is more to this theater than just looks. In fact, the theater was complete rubbish!! It had cheap (and very small)bottom of the line in-wall JBL's across the front, and the surrounds were tiny in-ceilings mounted 10ft high and far to the rear. The subwoofer was this little JBL thing that couldn't have been much larger than a breadbox I mean c'mon....this home had the finest of everything, and no money was spared down to the very last detail.....and then there was this hideous junk theater.

The room itself was beautiful to look at: dark maroon wallpaper, recessed black ceiling with recessed lighting, really sweet seating, and an attractively framed framed screen. The room itself was a nightmarish echo-chamber with absolutely no consideration given to room acoustics. If you clapped your hands, the ringing and echo's seemed to linger on for minutes.

Granted, it was just a model, but considering this is such a high dollar home built with all the finest finishings, couldn't they have incorporated acoustic treatments in the construction?? Or maybe.....How about speakers of better quality than a HTIB?

It left me shaking my head....the builder probably spent more $$ on the master bathroom fixtures or on the granite counter tops in the bar/pool table room than he did on all of the theater components combined. The theater was beautiful to look at, but beyond the looks.....it was hideous in every way. The component closet was locked, so I didn't get to see the audio rack. I also couldn't get to, or see what kind of PJ was installed, but I'd be willing to bet it's a bottom of the line Costco model....LOL

I'll have to admit, the layout was spectacular!! You walked down a very wide winding staircase down to the theater room. The seating was a large "U" shaped continuous arc that was large enough to seat at least 6-8. Segments were individual recliners, and others were couch-like. The theater was completely secluded and by itself, and in the next room......was a large bar/kitchen area/game room. The layout was spectacular, but the builder completely dropped the ball on the theater.

Do the finished homes come with this HT setup or that is an extra item?
Was the design amenable for acoustic treatments? How large was the room and screen? Price of the house? Just curious.

 

[Seth=L]

At least it wasn't In-wall Bose with an acoustimass module.

 

[markw]

This ties in directly with the "Exploring the Depths of Format War Ignorance" thread below.

Just like most muggles aren't impressed so much with HDTV as they are with the size and flatness of the screen, I don't think the actual quality of the sound coming out of those five, six or seven speakers matters so much as that it comes at 'em from all directions from apparantly invisible sources.

We're a breed apart.

[edit] Thinking more about it, I think a visible Bose mini-system might actually improve their preception of the system. It's a name most are familiar with and is associated with quality, at least in most muggles eyes.

 

[Bryce_H]

we look at models as well and also do the "Parade of Homes" (we only go to houses over a mil. Of the 50+ new houses I have seen over the last 4 years (probably 20 HTs), I have only seen one HT I would call worthy of being called a home theater. It was in a 2.15 mil house. It was a large room (most are small) 2 rows of seating with the second row on a riser, projector was projecting through the back wall where a small room acted as the component room. Nice set-up.

Most of the "home theaters" I see in these houses (even the one's over a mil) are small square rooms, with base model inwall speakers, and very bad acoustics.

Just makes me appreciate mine all the more

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

My boss has a custom-build home & home theater for about a year now. He was really proud of his Pioneer plasma TV. He said his entire HT was custom built by an audio company for $15,000. So I asked him what kind of speakers they used, & what kind of HD player they used. He had absolutely no idea what kind of speakers they had put in his HT. He just knows that the speakers are "small". He had no idea if they had put in an HD DVD or Blu-ray player. For all I know, he probably just has a regular DVD player!

For $15,000, all he knows is that the TV is a Pioneer plasma?

Edit: Oh, and he had no idea what kind of AV Receiver they put in!

 

[GlocksRock]

I think most people that are really into Home Theaters would rather have their own equipment installed into the room, and wouldn't want to spend money on equipment that is already there when they just plan on taking it out anyway, so it's not all bad that they had bottom of the line stuff in there. But I agree about some acoustial treatment, that should definitely have been used.

 

[Joe Schmoe]

If the speakers had been freestanding, and thus easy to change, it would have been OK. The fact that they are built-in is what really bites.

 

[GlocksRock]

but they can also be replaced, at least the wiring is already there.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

but they can also be replaced, at least the wiring is already there.

The next question is, what kind of wires did they use?
20G Wal-Mart brand?

 

[stratman]

In a semi-custom spec home (expensive, usually cookie cutter, either part of a complex or a few units) what you see is what you get, if you read the brochure most of the time what you get is cables, the developer might offer upgrades (as seen in model homes, they might see BOSE as a "premium" upgrade) or you can come to an agreement for a credit and you supply the kind of wire and equipment you want, if they deem the equipment too difficult to install (they'll have to sub out install instead of project electrician) get ready for upgrade cost. If you're building a custom home (a one-off) it's just a matter of money and what you feel like putting in.

Developers want what makes them money, is quick to get, install and sell fast.

 

[stratman]

The next question is, what kind of wires did they use?
20G Wal-Mart brand?

I've seen telephone cable being used for speaker wire.

 

[GlocksRock]

what it they had used lamp cord for speaker wires

 

[stratman]

what it they had used lamp cord for speaker wires

It wouldn't surprise me.