How To Build A Home Theatre?
Home theatres are no longer just for the wealthy and famous. Many families are enjoying a real movie theatre experience without leaving their homes, thanks to more cheap technologies. If you’re considering building a home theatre, HGTV can help you through the process.
Building a home movie theatre room is frequently the genuine pinnacle of home remodeling. After you’ve completed the necessary tasks of replacing windows and laying floors, it’s time to focus on more pressing concerns: your entertainment requirements.
A home cinema room Is more than just a couch and a screen in a room. If you want to do it right, you’ll need to meet certain basic requirements, such as managing outside light and casting a large enough image. Follow these guidelines to create a cinema room in your home.
Step 1: Select A Location
A home theatre should be 20 feet long by 13 feet broad and relatively secluded from the rest of the house. “It has to be in a place that does not interrupt the business of the home,” explains Rob Rickel, president of RSR Custom Renovations and Additions. “You don’t want the sound disturbing everyone.”
Good alternatives include:
• Constructing a theatre wing off of the family area
• In the open second-story space above a formal living room, closing
• Creating a second bedroom that is at least 12 by 12 feet in size
Step 2: Build The Framework And Insulate It.
With one difference, creating the shell of a home theatre is similar to building any other addition to your home. You should pay close attention to insulation. An R30 grade is standard for floor, ceiling, and exterior wall insulation, but don’t forget about the internal walls.
R11 packed loosely can help minimize movie explosions from rattling the rest of your house. However, it will not entirely silence the sounds. After you’ve pre-wired the space, you’ll need to install additional sound barriers.
Step 3: Install Surround Sound
A 7.1 surround sound system is standard in most home theatres. One subwoofer and seven channel speakers (left, right, center, two side surrounds, and two rear surrounds) are included. Follow these procedures to pre-wire a 7.1 system:
Make a note of where each speaker will go:
• Just above or below the viewing screen, at the center.
• Left/right – at ear height on either side of the screen.
• Side Surrounds – located on the side walls behind the main row of seating.
• Rear Surrounds – on the back wall (the distance between them depends on the system).
Select a location for the hub, which will hold your receiver and other A/V devices. The hub can be hidden inside the theatre in a cupboard or in an adjacent closet.
Connect audio wires to each speaker placement from the hub. For side and rear speakers, cables should be at least 16-4 (16 gauge, four conductors). For the left, right, and center speakers, use stronger 12 or 14-gauge cables.
According to Michael Fox of Cinema Sound, several home theatres now use 9.1 surround sound. This puts another pair of speakers in the room’s front. “If there’s a helicopter flying overhead (in the movie), you’ll hear that sound coming from those top speakers,” Fox explains.
Step 4: Install A Video Projector
A projector system must be pre-wired for a realistic, large-screen theatre experience. This requires only two cables:
• An HDMI cable is used to transmit high-definition video to the projector.
• A CAT5 control wire for using a radiofrequency (RF) remote to control the projector.
This allows you to begin watching films without pointing at the projector.
One end of these wires should be extended from the ceiling at the back of the theatre, where the projector will be mounted. The other end of the cable should be connected to your equipment hub. Make sure the hub is pre-wired for your cable or satellite feed, as well as high-speed Internet for streaming video.
Step 5: Install Lighting
Appropriate lighting is required to create a movie theatre atmosphere. Recessed lighting in the ceiling and sconces along the side walls are examples of this. Connect each of these sites using simple electrical wiring. By connecting the lights to an RF dimmer, you may control them with the same RF remote that you use to operate the projector. You can also arrange the lights to dim automatically when you push the play button.
If you intend to have stadium seating, you will additionally require floor lighting along the stairwell. Pre-wiring low-voltage lighting that can be left on all the time is one solution.
Step 6: Install Plasterboard And Sound Barriers
Make meticulous incisions through the plasterboard to channel all of your pre-wired electrical and audio cables. You’ll have two main alternatives for further soundproofing at this point:
QuietRock Soundproof Drywall is an example of specialized drywall. This is an extremely good sound barrier, but it can cost up to eight times the price of a regular plasterboard.
• Use regular plasterboard that has been lined with sound-dampening materials, such as high-density vinyl.
• Whatever route you take, make sure you use a solid-core door for maximum sound suppression.
Step 7: Install Video And Audio Systems
After you’ve painted your plasterboard, you may hang your speakers, projector, and screen. The best screen size for a 20 by 13-foot theatre is 110-120 inches. Frame the screen with a proscenium, which is a set of black acoustic panels that hide the left, right, and center speakers.
Use acoustic panels that function as artwork to conceal the remaining speakers. Custom graphics, such as family photos or favorite movie posters, can be printed on these panels.
The receiver in your equipment hub will connect the speakers and projector. The receiver accepts content from a variety of multimedia devices, including:
• Blu-ray disc player
• Cable/satellite connection
• Video game console
• PC for home theatre
A decent Blu-ray player can do much more than just play discs. You may stream high-definition movies from the Internet whenever you want using a pay-per-view service like VUDU. Some Blu-ray players can also connect to your computer, allowing you to view images, music, and home videos in your theatre.
Step 8: Install Theatre Seating
You can equip your theatre with comfortable sofas and loveseats. However, proper theater-style seating is required for the full experience. A 20 by 13 theatre can comfortably accommodate two rows of four seats. Elevate the back row with a pre-built platform for improved views.
Genuine leather theatre seating with cupholders in the armrests is available in a variety of styles. These are the kinds of seats that invite you to sit back, relax, and enjoy the movie!
Step 9: Make Your Movie Room A Dedicated Space
A dedicated home cinema room is an area dedicated only to watching films on a large screen. This means that, other than screening-related activities, little else happens in that home movie room. And, with streaming services like Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Hulu joining Blu-ray movies, video gaming, and traditional cable TV, screening means far more than it ever did.
The cinematic experience is diminished when the home movie room shares space with other activities. Cooking sounds and scents infiltrate the non-dedicated home theatre, which shares open floor plan space with the kitchen. When the movie room is also the living area, other people may intrude, and light control is difficult.
Spare bedrooms work well as specialized movie theaters. However, they must be long enough to maintain a reasonable distance from the screen, especially when using video projectors. A projector requires approximately a 14-foot throw distance to cast a 150-inch diagonal image, while short-throw projectors are available.
Step 10: Control Ambient Light
Unwanted light is ambient light. Ambient light refers to light that comes from sources outside of the movie room, such as windows, under and around doors, and artificial light within the room.
Most house remodeling projects aim to increase natural light. Home movie rooms are places where you want to do the inverse. You prefer less light than more.
Light bleed devastates video projection visuals. Even significantly brighter flat panels benefit from lower room lighting.
If you have some ambient light that you cannot control, you will require a video projector with a high-lumen rating. However, the simplest strategy to deal with ambient light is simply to prevent it from occurring in the first place by selecting an area that already has little light, such as a basement. If this is not possible, reduce the amount of light with light-blocking curtains and shades.
The A/V stack in your movie room is frequently the dominant source of ambient light due to its plethora of flashing and static light displays. All of that unwanted light can be eliminated by constructing a closed-off, ventilated A/V room.
Step 11: Control Ambient Sound
Ambient sound is the undesired sound that comes from outside your home movie theater. Even if you do manage to find a separate place for your home theatre, outside noises can spoil the viewing experience.
Ambient sounds that can crash in and disrupt your home theater’s audio include the dishwasher, laundry washers, and dryers, people in other rooms, kitchen noises, plumbing noises, and sounds from outside the house.
The first step In limiting outside noise is to create a separate location. However, you must go a step further than that:
• Soundproof your room by installing a second layer of plasterboard or replacing it with sound-absorbing foam or wallboard such as QuietRock.
• Solid doors should be used instead of hollow-core doors.
• Install heavier curtains that will both block light and absorb sound.
• Caulk is used to fill cracks.
Restriction on Reflective Objects
Anything other than the screen that reflects light at the viewer should be minimized or avoided.
This means that you should keep your paint in flatter sheens, preferably matte or flat. In the critical zone between the screen and the viewer, shiny doorknobs, hinges, light fixtures, recessed light trim kits, countertops, heating registers, and fireplace inserts should all be avoided.
If you have reflective objects, consider spray-painting them with dark-colored matte paint to reduce their shininess. Lightly sand the outlet and light switch wall cover with fine-grit sandpaper to decrease glossiness, then thoroughly clean them. Then apply two light coats of matte spray paint.
Another option is to sand the wall covers rather than paint them. Sanding removes the visually distracting sheen.
Conclusion:
Creating a home theatre isn’t as difficult, high-tech, or expensive as it sounds – though you can spend thousands of dollars if you wish. However, you must pay attention to the design and technological features, especially ensuring that the surround sound noise created by it does not disturb the rest of the home.
Frequently Asked Questions(FAQ’s):
Q: How Much Is It To Make A Home Theatre?
Ans: All things included, the average cost of a home theater is between $10,000 and $50,000 with the mode being around $17,000. It’s important to keep in mind that this is just an average and the cost could be higher or lower depending on your specific needs and preferences.
Q: Why Are Home Theater Systems So Expensive?
Ans: More expensive equipment tends to have more elegant curves and better finishes. More important, is the sound quality. Put simply, the best sound is measured according to how close a piece of equipment can get to reproducing an audio signal exactly. You want to hear exactly what the musicians intended, right?
Q: How Do I Make Dolby Atmos At Home?
Ans: To add overhead sound, you can use two or four speakers mounted in or on the ceiling, or use Dolby Atmos-enabled speakers that fire sound upward toward the ceiling, from where it’s reflected to the listening area. There are also simpler systems, such as sound bars, that deliver the Dolby Atmos experience.
Q: What Is A Good Size For A Theatre Room?
Ans: That being said, the experts at the Home Theater Academy recommend a room size of 24 ft X 15ft with a standard ceiling height of 9ft for a fully immersive experience. A larger room allows you to perfect your seating arrangement and acoustics for the optimal experience.
Q: What Do Good Speakers Sound Like?
Ans: Clarity and Detail
The first thing you should listen for in speakers is clarity. It sounds simple, but it’s easier said than done. To do this, play a song or an album you’re familiar with. Make sure everything sounds cohesive, without any parts standing out or being disjointed.
Q: What Are The Three 3 Major Theatre Styles?
Ans: Every theatre is unique, but, with few exceptions, theatres, both Western and Asian, can be categorized into four basic forms: arena stage theatres (also referred to as theatre-in-the-round); thrust stage (or open stage) theatres; end-stage theatres (of which proscenium theatres are a subset); and flexible stage …
