AirForce1s
I just bought a new home. And am thinking of turning the basement into a movie theatre..got the idea from a store called ovations...I'm in the middle bracket as far as purchasing money wise...So nothing top top of the line but nothing cheap. What is all the stuff you need...and the best brands to roll with..the room is a average living room size...2 rows of 4 leather seats with cup holders i have that set up..and some movie theatre posters in frames on the wall ;) Some of the projector screens i saw had frames around them which was nice..and there was a projector hanging from the ceiling. All i have is the seating and pictures around the room. Your help is appreciated thanks
Answer
That sounds so cool! I don't know what your exact budget is but I do have an idea as to the system you can use. I'm a Radio Shack Associate and Recording Studio owner since 1966. You need a home theater system. Obvious. Get one with at least 100 watts/speaker. The basic is a 5.1 system. That means 5 speakers...left, right and center (preferably over the screen) plus two rear. Rear does not mean directly behind you against the wall. They should be positioned above head level when seated, aimed at the listening/viewing area and close to the left and right walls. You'll have to experiment with placement to get the best "surround" sound. The .1 part is the sub-woofer. They usually have their own built-in amp so a power outlet must be provided for it. The main amp should have a single feed (RCA connector). It can be placed almost anywhere but on the floor front and center is best. Low frequencies like bass are non-directional as opposed to the speakers which project. Front speakers can be adjusted and focused also. Since the listening area is a "focal point", find the center then map out a triangle so the distance between the left and right front is equal on the other two sides to the center of the audience. Both front speakers should be turned inward to focus on that point. The center should be parallel to the seats. As for brands, I like Yamaha. Sony has a great system. LG is OK. Depending on your budget, Radio Shack has some separates that would give outstanding results. Yamaha has a speaker package. Great. Team that up with a home theater amp sold separately. Total cost would be under $800. Of course you could buy a Sony or LG for under $300 and use the speakers included in the package. Regardless, LISTEN TO IT FIRST and ask the associate to really crank up the volume! If you like what you hear and the price is right, buy it, take it home but by all means before you place those speakers in a final position, experiment for the best sound.
One last note. You don't say anything about the accoustics of the room. If there are a lot of hard surfaces on the walls, you might want to break them up with some absorbant material but that is another subject! Contact me if you have questions. I'd be happy to help.
That sounds so cool! I don't know what your exact budget is but I do have an idea as to the system you can use. I'm a Radio Shack Associate and Recording Studio owner since 1966. You need a home theater system. Obvious. Get one with at least 100 watts/speaker. The basic is a 5.1 system. That means 5 speakers...left, right and center (preferably over the screen) plus two rear. Rear does not mean directly behind you against the wall. They should be positioned above head level when seated, aimed at the listening/viewing area and close to the left and right walls. You'll have to experiment with placement to get the best "surround" sound. The .1 part is the sub-woofer. They usually have their own built-in amp so a power outlet must be provided for it. The main amp should have a single feed (RCA connector). It can be placed almost anywhere but on the floor front and center is best. Low frequencies like bass are non-directional as opposed to the speakers which project. Front speakers can be adjusted and focused also. Since the listening area is a "focal point", find the center then map out a triangle so the distance between the left and right front is equal on the other two sides to the center of the audience. Both front speakers should be turned inward to focus on that point. The center should be parallel to the seats. As for brands, I like Yamaha. Sony has a great system. LG is OK. Depending on your budget, Radio Shack has some separates that would give outstanding results. Yamaha has a speaker package. Great. Team that up with a home theater amp sold separately. Total cost would be under $800. Of course you could buy a Sony or LG for under $300 and use the speakers included in the package. Regardless, LISTEN TO IT FIRST and ask the associate to really crank up the volume! If you like what you hear and the price is right, buy it, take it home but by all means before you place those speakers in a final position, experiment for the best sound.
One last note. You don't say anything about the accoustics of the room. If there are a lot of hard surfaces on the walls, you might want to break them up with some absorbant material but that is another subject! Contact me if you have questions. I'd be happy to help.
Home Theater?
Eric James
I just bought a new home and it has an office in the basement that I would like to convert to a home theater of sorts. The size is 16'8 x 15'. First of all can I do it with a room this size? If so what are some good websites or dealers to look up? I'm clueless so I need all the help I can get!
Furniture is taken care of. I just need to ideas for projectors, screens and surround sound.
I don't have a defined budget but I know I don't want to spend more then $5K.
Answer
Here's some things I would look at when putting something like that together:
TV type and screen size -
Since you're putting this home theater together in a basement, I'll assume low lighting, even during the day. So, you can go with either a plasma or LCD (or DLP, for that matter). If it were a bright room that gets lots of ambient light, I would recommend against the plasma, because it has a glossy screen and would reflect too much glare.
As far as screen size, there's a formula for what's called optimum viewing angle. Basically, this means that there is an optimum viewing distance for a given widescreen TV size and, conversely, an optimum TV screen size for a given viewing distance. The rule of thumb is this: For a 40-inch screen, you should watch it from about 10 feet. For a 50-inch screen, you should watch it from about 20 feet. So, depending on how far back your furniture is from the TV, you're looking at about a 42- to 46-inch screen. And, a projector would probably be overkill in a room that small.
Surround sound -
Do you want 5.1 sound, 6.1, or 7.1? The ".1" is the subwoofer in all of these formats. For 5.1, you have left and right front speakers, a front center speaker, and left and right rear speakers. For 6.1, add a rear center channel. For 7.1, you have L/R front, front center, L/R side, and L/R rear.
Personally, I think 6.1 and 7.1 are overkill. I have 5.1 and it sounds great. 6.1 and 7.1 alxo will incur more cost for the speakers (the receivers are more expensive, too. Plus, I have enough issues with running the rear speaker wires for one pair of surround speakers with the 5.1.
Speakers -
I always recommend Klipsch speakers. There are a couple of sites on eBay that are authorized Klipsch dealers. They offer the Klipsch Quintet plus powered subwoofer (SW-10 or SW-12) for about $500 and $600, respectively (plus shipping, no tax). I have the Quintets and the SW-12 running off a basic Yamaha 5.1 surround sound receiver. They sound great and would really fill up the room in your home theater. The subwoofer has a variable output adjustment, a variable cutoff frequency (60 Hz to 140 Hz), and an output phase control (0 to 180 degrees). So, it can be tuned to match your exact speaker setup and room accoustics.
Also, consider that you have to run speaker wire to the rear surrounds. Since you're building the theater, I'm assuming you can do a bit of remodeling. If possible, run the speaker wires for the rear speakers through the ceiling and down to a jack where the speakers will be placed. Use thick, stranded speaker wire (12 gauge).
Lighting -
I recommend recessed or track lighting on a dimmer (think of how movie theaters look). Track lighting is nice, because you can get individual spots and point them at the wall for an indirect lighting effect. You might also consider cove lighting, where you build about an 8-inch cove in the ceiling and hide lights inside it, firing upward at the ceiling. You could combine the halogen spot track lights with fluorescent cove lighting for a great effect.
Also, paint the walls a relatively dark color. This minimizes the amount of reflection and glare you'll get while watching the TV.
There are many more considerations for a home theater. But, that should get you started.
Here's some things I would look at when putting something like that together:
TV type and screen size -
Since you're putting this home theater together in a basement, I'll assume low lighting, even during the day. So, you can go with either a plasma or LCD (or DLP, for that matter). If it were a bright room that gets lots of ambient light, I would recommend against the plasma, because it has a glossy screen and would reflect too much glare.
As far as screen size, there's a formula for what's called optimum viewing angle. Basically, this means that there is an optimum viewing distance for a given widescreen TV size and, conversely, an optimum TV screen size for a given viewing distance. The rule of thumb is this: For a 40-inch screen, you should watch it from about 10 feet. For a 50-inch screen, you should watch it from about 20 feet. So, depending on how far back your furniture is from the TV, you're looking at about a 42- to 46-inch screen. And, a projector would probably be overkill in a room that small.
Surround sound -
Do you want 5.1 sound, 6.1, or 7.1? The ".1" is the subwoofer in all of these formats. For 5.1, you have left and right front speakers, a front center speaker, and left and right rear speakers. For 6.1, add a rear center channel. For 7.1, you have L/R front, front center, L/R side, and L/R rear.
Personally, I think 6.1 and 7.1 are overkill. I have 5.1 and it sounds great. 6.1 and 7.1 alxo will incur more cost for the speakers (the receivers are more expensive, too. Plus, I have enough issues with running the rear speaker wires for one pair of surround speakers with the 5.1.
Speakers -
I always recommend Klipsch speakers. There are a couple of sites on eBay that are authorized Klipsch dealers. They offer the Klipsch Quintet plus powered subwoofer (SW-10 or SW-12) for about $500 and $600, respectively (plus shipping, no tax). I have the Quintets and the SW-12 running off a basic Yamaha 5.1 surround sound receiver. They sound great and would really fill up the room in your home theater. The subwoofer has a variable output adjustment, a variable cutoff frequency (60 Hz to 140 Hz), and an output phase control (0 to 180 degrees). So, it can be tuned to match your exact speaker setup and room accoustics.
Also, consider that you have to run speaker wire to the rear surrounds. Since you're building the theater, I'm assuming you can do a bit of remodeling. If possible, run the speaker wires for the rear speakers through the ceiling and down to a jack where the speakers will be placed. Use thick, stranded speaker wire (12 gauge).
Lighting -
I recommend recessed or track lighting on a dimmer (think of how movie theaters look). Track lighting is nice, because you can get individual spots and point them at the wall for an indirect lighting effect. You might also consider cove lighting, where you build about an 8-inch cove in the ceiling and hide lights inside it, firing upward at the ceiling. You could combine the halogen spot track lights with fluorescent cove lighting for a great effect.
Also, paint the walls a relatively dark color. This minimizes the amount of reflection and glare you'll get while watching the TV.
There are many more considerations for a home theater. But, that should get you started.
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