Thought I would bring this back up to see if anyone else has input.

More Room Info:

13' x 19' will finish approximately 12' x 18'.
Double Wall Construction with 4" between wall and subwall. 2 walls are exterior(poured concrete), and 2 are interior. All construction will be done 2"x4".

I am up to suggestions as far as insulation, room accoustics is new to me.

The walls will be covered with dry wall and then fabric wrapped mdf panels with a 1/4" to 1/2" of ridgid foam insulation between the mdf and fabric.

There will 2 columns on each of the longer walls, one of which will hold the main surrounds. Hoping this will help diffuse sound. Also, there will be lighted poster boxes and various other theater decor on the walls.

The first of row of seating will consist of 3 or 5 leather lazy boys or possible real luxury theater seating, depending on how much of the budget goes into gear and construction. The second row of seating will be on a 12" riser and will probably consist of a leather sofa or loveseat.

The front of theater is still up in the air. I have a 65" Widescreen HDTV that will be built into the wall. I would like to raise it up and build a stage and put the center channel and sub(s) under it, but that depends on what size sub(s) I end purchasing. I haven't decided what else I am doing as far as columns and the like in the front. The equipment will be hidden behind the area where the HDTV is. This already accounted for in the dimensions. The actual room is 24' long , but the room/closet will be 5 wide.

The door is a standard 32" interior door. It is currently hollow core but will be replaced with a solid core. The door is located to what will be the viewers far left hand corner.

The ceilings are currently 8'9" from floor to bottom of rafter so I figure they will finish off at around 8'. I will be doing a suspended ceiling, tile choice is up in the air, any input would be great. The reasons I am going with suspended ceiling is; 1. I will have the ability to easily install a projection system when the time and funds become available and 2. The ability to run wiring. What have no clue on is how to insulate the ceiling, which is a must. My currently 2 month old daughters room is directly above the theater. I know, but it was the only furnace, water heater, water meater, sump pump free area in the basement. Other than the 14' X 19' area that was finished when we moved in and that just happend to be the perfect size to be my pool/game room. So I really need advice on sound proofing the ceiling.

The floor will be basic carpet pad & carpet. Short of building a subfloor I am not aware of anything that can be done to make the floor more acoustically friendly.

Lighting will consist of cans in the suspended ceiling, sconces on the 4 columns and rope light used in various applications. Possibly a star field fiber optic setup if I can find one that doesn't cost $500.

If someone is willing to work with me more directly on the room design I would be more than willing to supply scale drawings etc.. Because it is DIY I don't have blue prints. Of course I would be willing to compensate with a free life time pass to the theater. Ok, small monetary payment too, if required.

Otherwise, for all of you professionals out there it is time to educate. God knows you must have more information than the morons locally (Green Bay, WI...That explains everything).

Sounds like your trying to put together a pretty top notch theater.
I would- without a doubt, reccomend ya look into the B&K ref 50 processor, and Genelec active monitors 206's for the front three and 205's for the rear will be a damn fine setup ,,, but 208's for the front w/ 206's for the rear will be even better. (( or even 210's for the front. - Not cheap speakers but they have their own amps built in for each individual driver and as such they will amaze you at how wicked fast their response, and transients are. Very Very well sutted to being built into cabinets. - and yes they do have in-walls as well.
http://www.genelec.com/ <--- genelec's web site

G' luck - drop me a line in ya have any Q's

All of the above suggestions sound workable, truth is, there's really not all that much difference between them (though even I am intrigued by the Genlec active products). Way more important than the equipment choice; make sure the physical locations of the seating, speakers, and display are the best possible choices, and that you have wired for any equipment you might later choose. And get rid of as much incoming noise and ambient light as possible, each of these will have a far greater impact than what receiver, etc...

BTW, Raising a rear projection tv can be a very bad idea. The screen on most rp sets works as a lens, focusing the strongest light output directly ahead. Go look at one on display, sit or kneel in front of it as if you were seated, then stand up. You will notice the significant drop in brightness. Now if your seating is raised, or you plan on watching standing up, then that's another matter.

jcmitch

Building a 65 in widescreen into the wall? Sounds like a lot of trouble to go to for a clean look. Do you have control of the ambient light in the room? If so why not go BIG SCREEN. W/ a digital projector? W/ a retractable screen your video system goes awat when not in use.

My philosophy is BIGGER is BETTER.

p.s. I disagree w/ an earlier comment about components. IMHO buy the best speakers you can afford. Then as you upgrade your components. (and you will) Your speaker performance w/ improve. Even a Levinson setup w/ krell monoblocs w/ sound bad on bad speakers.

Just my 2c.

Furthermore, since im talking speakers let me throw 2 more suggestions into the mix. B & W. My favorites. Try the CDM line or the Nautilus series. Or THIEL. One caveat w/ Thiel. They tend to be a bit amplifier demanding. That is while they are very efficient, they like good quality amplification. When you have that ......WOW they are Dynamite sounding speakers.


Have you demo'ed any speakers yet. If so what and what do you think???

I respectfully disagree w/ that.
I lean towards the "garbage in, garbage out" view....
and I've been pretty amazed at how good some less expensive speakers sound running off great gear. One of my co-workers has a set of Sony speakers running off a B&K 101, wired w/ Mit interconnects , and Mit AVT 1 speaker wires. ( the wires cost almost 3 times what the speakers did ) But it all makes those sonys sound pretty impressive

This message was edited by Caffeinated on 08/06/03 08:56.

To each his own. My ears are very sensitive to harshness in the upper ranges. I find that cheap speakers tend to deliver just that.

as the french say "Vive le Difference"

I cant really disagree w/ ya on that.... I just think it's better to make sure your components & interconnects ( just as important as the gear ) are as good as possible , and then find, or upgrade the speakers as ya go .... i think it's easier to swap out speakers than dismantle a system (( excluding in-walls)) AND- in the meantime (while ya save up) ya may be surprised how good your "cheap" speakers sound off good gear.

Now my thought is different. Electronics Technology seems to change faster than speaker tech. And i think a good pair of speakers w/ cover some of the sins of the weaker components.

Since EMDAWGZ1 mentioned the French... try out JM Labs Chorus (should be a dealer near you.

As far as the receiver... we've had better luck with an Integra DTR9.1U2 than Denon... RS232 on board.

I agree with impaqt on Global Cache

if it were mine to do, i would go with NHT towers with a sub amp, and a Denon 3803. the 3803 has the new componant up-conversion feature and the higher models dont have enough extra features or power to justify the extreme jump in price. there has been several sony references but be carefull - sony, and others, has a bad habit of listing wattage in peek power in stead of continous power.

after doing many custom installs and CEDIA shows, i have yet to hear a speaker i like better than NHT.