Home theater design help


Recently I discovered that a wall I did not I think I could move is actually removeable and thus I can more than double my current home theater room into a much larger home theater/ media/ entertainment space. I engaged what dealers remain in my area but none seemed all that interesed or capable of managing design and construction changes especially since I have most of the equipment already. Anyone have any ideas on how to pursue this?  I roughly know what I want but also know there’s likely a lot I don’t know around design, sound tailoring, decorating, acoustics etc.   kind of at an impasse currently. Thanks! 
esthlos13
The best advice I can give is to read Premium Home Theater by Earl Geddes. It’s by far the best book I’ve read on room construction and acoustics because it explains theory in an approachable way and then covers in detail how to construct a room and even what materials are best to use. Even if you're hiring someone to design and build a room for you, I'd highly recommend reading this book so you have a working knowledge of what they're proposing.  I’m not handy at all, but if I had the time I think even I could build a great sounding room using only this book, so any contractor should have no problem. No expert design needed. Here’s the link, and best of luck...

https://www.amazon.com/Premium-Home-Theater-Design-Construction/dp/B0041SUL2E

I'm currently on my third home theater room, having moved twice and been at this for about 17 years.  The one piece of advice I can give you anecdotally is that oddly shaped rooms tend to sound better.  My current room is L-shaped, and seems to have magically resolved the acoustical issues that my former rectangular box-rooms created.  This with very little acoustic treatment, just one 2'x4' absorptive side wall panel and a panel behind.  The installer confirmed that has been his experience too - the non-box shape solves a lot of problems.
Agreed.  Another thing to avoid is rooms that are nearly square shaped.  You really do not want a perfectly square room.  If you cannot do an "L" shaped room, make sure the room is longer than it is wide.  In other words, home theater works better if you put the screen and front speakers on the small wall.
Thanks for the responses.  I’m actually debating how to shape the room there are a few options.  If a perfect rectangle the room would be 16x 33. However there are bay window cutouts at each end so in the middle it’s about 36 long. As well on half of the room gets 5 feet wider for about 16 feet but there is a support pole at the 16 ft width mark. I had considered walking off this space to make an equipment and media storage space but that put me back in rectangle land which many have advised against. Another option I weighed as putting wall in front of the bay window cutout and putting equipment behind there so a projection screen and flat screen would have a flat wall behind. I’d like to try to isolate the room to some degree (room within a room kind of thing) but I have people telling me this could run 50k or more which seems crazy as in some parts of the country you can build a house for that. I’m thinking I’m likely going to have to design most of this myself and then find a contractor who at least understands this a little as I want a full electrical panel with numerous 20 amp outlets, conduit for wires in case I need to make changes, etc. the target is a hybrid theater/2 channel/ entertainment space and I can’t go full on black walls black ceiling so I’ve been trying to find online examples to get ideas with moderate success. Any continued thoughts appreciated. 
I reiterate to buy and read Premium Home Theater (applies just as much to music as it does to HT).  If you build the room properly then shape will not matter as much.  Better sound can work hand in hand with isolation as methods such as using resilient channels and various thicknesses of drywall (among other things) can dramatically improve both sound AND isolation at relatively little extra cost.  And again, any semi-competent contractor could easily understand and follow the instructions in the book.  Sorry to be redundant and maybe a little annoying. 

The room doesn't have to be a "perfect" rectangle, so having 36 feet instead of 33 feet is not going to make much of a difference.  I think I remember reading at some point that the "double-rectangle" is not the best solution.  It seems to me that the best shape is more like a 50% longer length than width.  So if your room is 16 feet wide, the length would preferably be something like 24 feet long.  Don't take this as a hard recommendation because I don't know for sure.  In actuality, smaller rooms have more bass problems because of the room nodes cancelling out bass frequencies.  So a larger un-even room will help in this case.

That room, even at 16 feet wide, is considered a large room.  I would make sure you had enough amplifier power as you will need a lot of watts or speaker efficiency to fill that room.  Getting smaller 100 watt per channel amps should be avoided if possible.

I would recommend that you have the electrician use 10awg romex.  Many will use the smaller 12awg romex, even for 20 amp circuits.  I have heard others that like to use larger 8awg or 6awg wire, but everything at that size is going to be stranded wiring.  10awg romex is the largest solid-core solution.  Just add as many direct circuits as you can.  Use high grade audiophile outlets, such as Porter Port or PS Audio, or even Furutech rhodium (which is best in my opinion).  VH Audio and Audio Sensibility are vendors that sell cryo-treated 10awg romex, if you want to go that far.

I wouldn't worry too much about the bay windows.  You can probably get projector screens that have solid-black backing.  Otherwise, you'll need light blocking material on the window behind the screen.

I don't think you need to black-out the entire room.  In my opinion, the most critical is the wall that holds the screen.  Most of that front wall should be blacked out. You can do this with curtain type material if you want.  A small amount of the side walls can be blacked out to help (maybe 5-7 feet if you really want).  The idea is to black-out the area around the screen so that your brain doesn't translate the "screen" as just a television.  Blacking out the area around the screen will help your brain "perceive" only what is shown on the screen.  Having a white/reflective area around the screen will distract your brain and you will lose the "immersive" effect of movies.

I would make sure the entire floor is carpeted (at a minimum).  Then you can play with certain types of sound panels at different locations if you really want to.

So the recommended book is on its way.  To note the bay window cutouts in the basement are not actual windows. It’s just the hexagonal half shape that breaks up a flat wall. The room and basement actually have no windows.  Do these forums let one upload pics?  Would be much easier to show the space and the questions I have around design 
16 x 33 is a beautiful size for stereo/theatre room!  Space to breathe and decorate. Lovely!! Don’t worry about “filling the room with sound”. A pair of 88db efficient speakers and a solid 200 watt amp will give all the sound sane people can use. Some will want powered subs. I haven’t and my speakers were about 5 db down at 32 hz. You could describe your room giving exact measurements starting from a corner. Call your viewing wall North. I’m interested. 
Hi PTSS-  when I have some time in the coming weeks I’ll get the dimensions written up. A picture is worth 1000 words here....

wrt your suggestions on speakers and equipment, I have almost everything already ( so the local stores weren’t really interested in helping me since I wouldn’t be buying much equipment ). The major addition with the room config change would be a front projector and screen but not an immediate requirement. I’d wire for I though or at least run wire conduit to make retro fitting simple. 

Equipment
middle Atlantic fan cooled rack
oppo bdp103
audiquest diamond hdmi to processor
marantz av8802a
(2) Lexicon Rx-7 amplifiers
revel ultima studio 2 (bi-amp) mains
revel ultima voice 2 (bi-amp) center
revel ultima gem 2 (side surround)
(4) revel c583 in ceiling atmos speakers
(2) JL Audio fathom f212v2 subs
tivo mini
jvc-hrs5900 svhs vcr
shunyata viper zitron power cables
audioquest slip 14/4 and 14/2 all around (had to be in wall rated)
panasonic vt-65 plasma
panamax pm-5300
3 dedicated 20 amp outlets for amps and processor/sources