New Member Here - Sharing My Current HT Build

[dcookatx]

Hey everyone,

I’m David—after years of following Audioholics mostly through YouTube, I’m finally jumping in and joining the forum community. I’m currently in the early-to-mid stages of building my first dedicated home theater, and I wanted to introduce myself and share a bit about the project so far.

Current Status
I just finished the full demo phase—ripped out all the drywall and carpet myself, no contractors involved (yet). All of the A/V gear has arrived, and I’m now moving into the next phase: wiring, installing sound isolation (HushFrame), then cement board and drywall, followed by a pair of communicating IsoDoors (HD + standard) at the entrance.

Room & Build Details

• Dimensions: ~21' x 13' x 9'
• Layout: Single row with 3 seats
• Soundproofing Plan:
  • HushFrame decoupling (floor, walls, and ceiling)
  • Double-layer cement board and drywall
  • Communicating IsoDoors (HD + standard)
• Acoustic Treatment:
  • Sonitus mid-tier package (absorption, diffusion, bass traps)
• Power:
  • Dedicated 20-amp circuits to the A/V rack and theater room
• Design:
  • All layout and design done in SketchUp to optimize speaker placement, sightlines, and sound isolation

Audio Setup

• Speaker Layout: 7.4.4 Atmos (pre-wired for future wides)
• LCR: Perlisten R5i In-Walls
• Surrounds: Perlisten R4i
• Atmos: Perlisten R3ic (×4)
• Subwoofers: 4× 15" Hsu Research VTF-TN1 4 corners--thank you Mr. Welti
• Amplification:
  • Buckeye 8-channel Hypex NC502MP (bed layer)
  • Buckeye 6-channel Hypex NC252MP (heights)
• Processor: Marantz AV10

Video Setup

• Projector: JVC NZ800
• Screen:
  • Currently have a 150" Stewart Filmscreen Harmony G3
  • Planning to upgrade to a 150" StudioTek 130 G4 UltraPerf for improved gain and HDR performance
• Throw Distance: Estimated 15'–17'

Rack & Control

• Sources:
  • Apple TV
  • PS5
  • Panasonic DP-UB420-K UHD Blu-ray
  • Kaleidescape (planned)
• Rack: Strong 27U with Wattbox power management and AC Infinity cooling
• Control: AVA Cinema Remote

This build is really the culmination of everything I’ve picked up over the years from places like this forum, the Audioholics YouTube channel, and other YouTube channels such as Matthew Poes’, as well as fundamentals from Floyd Toole’s Sound Reproduction book.

I'm looking forward to asking questions (and hopefully helping others) as I keep moving forward!

– David (Dallas, Texas)

 

[TLS Guy]

Hey everyone,

I’m David—after years of following Audioholics mostly through YouTube, I’m finally jumping in and joining the forum community. I’m currently in the early-to-mid stages of building my first dedicated home theater, and I wanted to introduce myself and share a bit about the project so far.

Current Status
I just finished the full demo phase—ripped out all the drywall and carpet myself, no contractors involved (yet). All of the A/V gear has arrived, and I’m now moving into the next phase: wiring, installing sound isolation (HushFrame), then cement board and drywall, followed by a pair of communicating IsoDoors (HD + standard) at the entrance.

Room & Build Details

• Dimensions: ~21' x 13' x 9'
• Layout: Single row with 3 seats
• Soundproofing Plan:
  • HushFrame decoupling (floor, walls, and ceiling)
  • Double-layer cement board and drywall
  • Communicating IsoDoors (HD + standard)
• Acoustic Treatment:
  • Sonitus mid-tier package (absorption, diffusion, bass traps)
• Power:
  • Dedicated 20-amp circuits to the A/V rack and theater room
• Design:
  • All layout and design done in SketchUp to optimize speaker placement, sightlines, and sound isolation

Audio Setup

• Speaker Layout: 7.4.4 Atmos (pre-wired for future wides)
• LCR: Perlisten R5i In-Walls
• Surrounds: Perlisten R4i
• Atmos: Perlisten R3ic (×4)
• Subwoofers: 4× 15" Hsu Research VTF-TN1 4 corners--thank you Mr. Welti
• Amplification:
  • Buckeye 8-channel Hypex NC502MP (bed layer)
  • Buckeye 6-channel Hypex NC252MP (heights)
• Processor: Marantz AV10

Video Setup

• Projector: JVC NZ800
• Screen:
  • Currently have a 150" Stewart Filmscreen Harmony G3
  • Planning to upgrade to a 150" StudioTek 130 G4 UltraPerf for improved gain and HDR performance
• Throw Distance: Estimated 15'–17'

Rack & Control

• Sources:
  • Apple TV
  • PS5
  • Panasonic DP-UB420-K UHD Blu-ray
  • Kaleidescape (planned)
• Rack: Strong 27U with Wattbox power management and AC Infinity cooling
• Control: AVA Cinema Remote

This build is really the culmination of everything I’ve picked up over the years from places like this forum, the Audioholics YouTube channel, and other YouTube channels such as Matthew Poes’, as well as fundamentals from Floyd Toole’s Sound Reproduction book.

I'm looking forward to asking questions (and hopefully helping others) as I keep moving forward!

– David (Dallas, Texas)

Welcome. I can see why you went with in walls as the room is very narrow.

My only suggestion is to hold on the room treatments, like the bass traps. You really have to see how the room sounds before applying acoustics treatments. You often don't need any, and what you do can make it worse without knowing how it sounds without the treatments. I don't use them and have never found a need to use them. One thing I do know is that if not used with care, they will make matters worse, and often a lot worse. You have a room longer than it is wide, by a significant margin and that is usually a good start. My experience is that if you have a room with poor dimension ratios, it will be pig, no matter what you do.

 

[Wardog555]

Did you use the protractor tool for sketchup?
I find people often just blindly guess and doesn't do this critical step.