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Building a Home Theater Room

Currently, I'm in the process of building a home. I've dedicated the bonus room as my home theater getaway. The room is located above the garage. It is the only room upstairs.

What would you recommend in the initial rough in of the room with respect to construction? What do I need to do early in the construction phase that will save me money in the long term?

So far, I have asked that 2 seperate dedicated 20 amp circuits be placed in the room. My speaker wire will run on both sides of the room to my surround and rear speakers (Transparent Cable - In wall). I plan on adding a extra sheet rock for the side walls. The floor will have carpet with heavy padding.

The dimensions of the room are as follows: 8 ft. ceiling, 17 ft. width and 20 ft length. Room is a little funny with knee walls coming in at 6 ft high.

I realize that measurements will be necessary for the acoustical treatements. But, my main concern is getting the basics done in the early construction phase.

I look forward to your ideas on this subject.

Thanks
quantum_zero
quantum_zero OP
2 posts
 
I have only 1 small window in this bonus room. This window will have shutters. In addition, I plan to put a entertainment center in front of the window. This will eliminate all possible light into the room. Making the room smaller on the sides should not be a problem, I have knee walls that are 5 ft high which should eliminate the parrell wall issues. Forgive me on the extra dedicated circuit lines, but why do you need more than two. If you dedicate one for video and one for audio, would this be enough? Finally, I have the every room in the house with structured wire (CAT 5). In the bonus room, I have multiple TV cable and phone lines for my TiVo.

Also, should I do anything to the floor?
stehno
1,453 posts
 
QZ, you would be amazed at the sonic improvements when having one dedicated line per component does. The amplifier should have it's own 20 amp dedicated line, while the cd player and preamp should have their own 15 amp circuits/lines.

The cd player needs it's own line because of the digital noise it injects back into the wall. If your preamp and/or amp share the same circuit/lines, then they will be infected with this digital noise and your sonics simply will not have quite the pristine sound they may be capable of.

The amplifier needs it own circuit/line to provide enough dedicated power for those dynamic passages. Especially if you have a high-current drawing amplifier. Sharing this circuit with even a 36 watt consuming pre-amp may be just enough to flatten the macro-dynamics enough to strip away the life of the presentation.

Everything else can share lines, but to maximize your minimums, these three components should have their own circuits/lines.

And since you are building from scratch, it should cost you about $100 bucks to do so.

-IMO
quantum_zero OP
2 posts
 
Thanks for the input, one more question about the dedicated circuit/lines. Given my HT room will have 4 walls, I plan to put all my electronics except my DLP projector at the front of the room. If I add 2 more circuits up front and one in the ceiling for my projector, would this cover me for a 7 channel system?
stehno
1,453 posts
 
The more dedicated circuits/lines you incorporate, the better potential sonic and video benefits you'll get.

But the greatest benefit of dedicated circuits/lines is still for the 2-channel equipment as previously stated above.

-IMO
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