It has been too long since my last update. Much has changed and this dream has never felt closer to reality than it does now.
Our superstar contractor Mike has largely completed framing the space, so as the post title implies, we now have the bones in place to build this theater space upon.
This room has always presented some challenges because it was not built specifically for the purpose of being any kind of theater or media room. Just a basement with an outlet under the stairs. I had an electrician add an additional outlet to the wall shortly after we moved in, but that's about it.
The wall adjacent to the stairs will be where our screen goes. I originally wanted to use the opposite wall because it spread across the entire span of the room and offered some intriguing options for screen width. However, seating in that area right at the bottom of the stairs would be a challenge. I intended to have a second-row riser so that everyone can see, but the HVAC runs right there, so the head clearance would be dreadful. So, my wife and I opted to flip the room a full 180 degrees and it solved most of the problems.
The second-row riser works perfectly and the soffit for the HVAC theoretically will not impede the image throw from the projector on the opposite wall. Another benefit to this layout is that I can use a full-throw projector and not a short or ultra-short throw to achieve the image size I'm going for. On that wall, which will be fully closed on the right side where it was previously open, my measurements say I can fit approximately 135 inches in the 16x9 aspect ratio.
Why 16x9 and not a wider cinema scope ratio like 2.35:1 or 2.4:1?
Both movies and television will be consumed in this room. Yes, mostly movies, but it comes down to which black bars are more objectionable on a regular basis... top and bottom or left and right. The taller 16x9 makes better use of more of the wall space and most friends and family I think will be more used to letter box bars rather than pillarbox bars. Also, every Blu-ray player and streaming device uses 16x9 for every interface from the operating systems to the menus and apps. To go, say 2.35:1 and have to deal with lens memory changes, anamorphic lenses, or advanced video processing are too great of a financial investment than I am able to commit to the video portion of this project for now. Plus, with how more filmmakers and streaming services are using non-standard aspect ratios, the 16x9 screen offers the greatest flexibility.
I have a 42U Strong-brand rack ready for delivery from a local A/V integrator company in town called EQ Technologies. It will house not only my A/V equipment, but also my "pro-sumer" grade networking equipment that drives my home network. That entire rack closet space will be framed in on the riser platform level. The rack is great because not only is it on casters, so I can wheel it in and out of the space for service as needed, but it also has a smoked glass door, so I can just use basically door casing trim around the opening to create a nice aesthetic while allowing direct access for IR remote controls and easy access for loading Blu-rays and things like that. That area posed a challenge because we have the water line and meter coming into the house and a pump for our basement bathroom because the lines run below municipal sewer level. Both of those need to be accessible, but out of sight and out of mind. We worked with our contractor to create a nice hollow space that can be insulated for sound, but kept accessible for servicing should the need arise.
One issue with the rack space is that not every backbone ethernet line and coaxial line that make up the home network has enough slack on it to reach that area. I could go on for days about how substandard I felt that the builder's nonelectrical wiring contractor company was. We had to have them back out to the house after moving in to correct a number of things that were not done to spec or done incorrectly. Like not using the correct keystones to terminate the ethernet. At one point, I had my brother help me re-terminate some of the very bizarre coaxial connectors that used a side-screw connector instead of the industry standard compression connectors. Just a bad company and I'm glad I never have to do business with them again. Anyway, I have a plan to implement a simple two-gang wall plate with keystone couplers for all of the lines, allowing me to have total control over that final run to the rack so I have enough slack to do everything. I'm thinking I will detail that work in a post of its own once that phase gets underway.
For the audio, this was a challenge in this space. I really wanted to go with regular box loudspeakers because they are cost-effective and you can get really good sound quality for the money. There are too many space constraints though and to accommodate aisles for the second row (which are obviously a must), speakers sticking out of the wall were a no-go. Plus, towers and/or speakers on stands in the front of the room limited my screen size ambitions and did not offer a clean, ideal solution for my front soundstage. With that in mind, the decision was made to bite the bullet and go with in-wall and in-ceiling speakers. That feels like a separate post about what I'm choosing and why. We will be largely using a drop ceiling solution, so fitting in-ceiling speakers should not be too challenging.
The next step will largely consist of my wife and I pre-wiring for our 7 main channels, 2-3 potential subwoofer locations and four height channels. I'm using 12AWG 2-wire, oxygen-free stranded copper speaker wire. The tougher plenum-rated stuff was somehow cheaper to buy at the time I made the purchase (I think it was pre-pandemic price hike inventory that hadn't been sold off yet), so that's what I'll be pre-wiring with. A little overkill for in walls, but I'm not mad about it, that's for sure. For the subs, I'll be using quad-shielded RG6 coaxial cable and then terminating the ends to RCA with plans to either run through a brush plate to the subs or use a wall plate with a keystone coupler. I haven't decided that final aesthetic part yet. I do not foresee ever doing XLR connections to my subs. It's not a huge room. It's about 19' deep by what will effectively be 13' wide, although it is wider at the bottom of the stairs, then narrows in the seating area. Either way though, the caliber of subwoofers I am looking for to create tight, balanced low frequency effects will probably only accept RCA connections anyway. I say 2-3 locations for subwoofers because I have a few placement options and I figure it doesn't hurt to have options wired before drywall goes up.
A look at the progress so far with framing in place enabling things to move forward as time and budget allow.
Anyhow, this post has gotten long enough as it is. I'll check back in down the line when the prewiring gets underway (which is a deceptively expensive phase of the project even when doing some of the labor yourself). I also hope to share a post about some of my specific equipment in the near future as things move along, as well as design details like paint and fixture choices.
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