Haywood's New Theater Project

[Haywood]

I am going to the house I'm trying to buy tomorrow for the house inspection, but I am going to do a lot of measuring while I am there. High on the priority list is the 11x15 room that I need to cram my home theater and at least four seats into. This is NOT going to be easy. The room is really too narrow to put four seats across comfortably and two short to put in two rows of seating, unless the second row goes flat up against the back wall. The TV and the front three speakers should be easy, but finding room for the subwoofer and surrounds is going to be a problem.

I am going to need a LOT of advice as I embark on my first attempt at a dedicated room in what may turn out to be the room from hell.

 

[Haywood]

I am seriously considering in-wall surrounds, due to space constraints. I'm guessing that would work reasonably well, so long as they have adequate power handling and are a reasonable match for the front three. Am I nuts?

 

[MakeMineVinyl]

You can get pretty good in-wall speakers now, so that may be the way to go for the surrounds. I would bet you could get more capable in-walls than discrete cabinet ones in your space.

 

[Flint]

First off, CONGRATULATIONS!!! This is gonna be fun and I hope you get tons of enjoyment from the dedicated room.

My thoughts:

• I would personally go for putting the TV on the wider wall, the 15' wide wall that is. This will ensure a good stereo width image, if nothing else.
• The room being small means the amount of power you'll need for high SPLs will be much lower than people with larger rooms. This is good. It also means smaller speakers will give you the SPLs you need.
• Also being a small room, the bass will be very strongly reinforced. This means you could go with a smaller subwoofer and still get substantial output levels. Likewise, a true fullrange main speaker could also potentially be more than enough so that a subwoofer won't be necessary. Are you buying new speakers? If so, a strong main might alleviate the need for a sub.
• In wall surrounds would be fine. Try to match the tonality of the mains, of course. But even a mismatched surround speaker is usually better than no surround speaker if you are really a fan of surround sound.
• Why four seats?
• Acoustic treatments can make a HUGE difference in a small room in terms of reducing the claustrophobic character they sometimes create. Seriously think about some absorption panels.
• The bass will have strong modes or nulls in the bass and mid-bass region, but few in the low to sub bass region. So deep, deep bass will be strong and solid without the common issues most people suffer from, but mid-bass will be tricky.

 

[Haywood]

• The budget for this project is very limited. I can afford some seating and some modest surround speakers, but that is it. I plan to use my current display, subwoofer and front three speakers. It is probably massive overkill, but it is what I have and an SVS PB12-Plus/2 in that room should be hilarious.
• Acoustic treatments are key to the plan and I will be seeking lots of advice on that.
• I need at least four seats, because there are four people in my family and movie nights are kind of our thing. More seating would be better, but I don't think I have the space.
• My initial thought was to put the display on the short wall, so I could get some more distance between the seating and the rear surrounds. I'm not married to the idea, but I do want to end up with a great sounding 7.1.2 setup.
• Timber matching the Paradigm Studio/40 mains and Studio/CC (v.2) center with the surrounds could be a challenge. I do not have a huge budget for speakers and I have no way to listen to them in advance. I've read good things about the Dayton Audio ME825W in-walls, which are currently on sale (https://www.parts-express.com/dayto...medium=cpc&utm_campaign=pla#lblProductDetails). I've also read good things about some of the in-walls Monoprice sells. Recommendations are welcome. I'm flailing about it bit on this one.

 

[Flint]

I wouldn't stress on matching the surrounds. That would not be a top priority.

What about a sofa wide enough for four to fit tightly or one to sit on the floor on a large cushion? That way family movie night still works, but the rest of the time it is more ideal for you.

That sub will blow you away in such a small room, but there's a reason they have volume controls, right?

 

[Haywood]

I am considering going with something like this for seating (row of four, middle loveseat). The loveseat in the middle is nice for snuggling with the wife, but also great for sitting in the sweet spot while listening to music. I won't know if this will work until I measure out the room and figure out exactly where the windows and doors are.
https://4seating.com/seatcraft-theater-seating/seatcraft-home-theater-seating-windsor.htm

This is the room. The windows and closet are going to make this difficult. I suspect the windows will end up buried under acoustic panels, which will also conveniently block out the light. The display will not be a projector, but I'm not a fan of reflections during daytime viewing.

 

[Flint]

I saw on FB that you were looking at the Parts Express 8" in-wall speakers. I don't think you need 8" speakers in a room that small. I'd go with 6.5" at the biggest, and 5.25" wouldn't be too small. Make it easy, after all.

Think of it this way...

• The surround speakers don't need to make sound below about 80Hz, so bass extension doesn't matter.
• The speakers will be much closer to you than what most HT setups offer (likely less than 5.5 feet away), so the power needed to produce acceptable levels will be much lower than in a typical room.
• The sound quality of a 1" silk dome tweeter will be the same regardless of which mid-woofer is used.
• Save your money for acoustic treatments.

 

[Haywood]

After the house inspection, plans have changed. It turns out that the entire basement remodel was done by the homeowner without permits. This was not a huge surprise, as I noticed a bunch of big clues when I looked at the house the first time. The problem is that the bedroom down there does not have a second path of egress in the event of a fire. It is not a legal bedroom and is unsafe to boot. My daughter cannot stay there.

The current plan is to turn that downstairs bedroom into a home theater. I have to rip out two closets and possibly move the door to a better location, but the room is roughly the same size and only has one small window to contend with. It should be a lot easier to lay out, because of that. My daughter is still going to use the "kitchen" area down there as an art studio. I am going to move the door, so that you can enter the room from the bottom of the stairs. The existing door requires you to go through the family room, through the laundry room and through the "kitchen" to get there.

I will eventually have to gut the rest of the basement and do it properly. I'm hoping that I won't have to mess with the theater. I wouldn't mind making it bigger, but there are pillars and stairs and such to content with and expanding it correctly could get pretty spendy.

 

[Haywood]

I saw on FB that you were looking at the Parts Express 8" in-wall speakers. I don't think you need 8" speakers in a room that small. I'd go with 6.5" at the biggest.

I can get three pairs of the 6.5" version of the same speaker for $209.25, which is great if they sound decent. That would allow me to do 7.1.2, which means I can use the Atmos capabilities of my receiver. I suspect my amplifiers are going to get bored in this room.

 

[Flint]

I suspect my amplifiers are going to get bored in this room.

Chances are good you will learn the meaning and value of the term "noise floor" in regards to amplifiers.

 

[Haywood]

When I lived in Florida and had a 15x22 room with an 11.5' vaulted ceiling, I could run my system cleanly at full reference volume. My subwoofer could pressurize the room enough to make the glass in the windows bow. This room is half the size and less than half the volume. I'm going to have to turn the gain WAY down.

 

[Haywood]

Assuming I buy the house, I plan to move the door into the new theater from the former in-law suite to the bottom of the stairs. That is also right next to the family room. The room is about 10.5 feet wide and 15.5 feet long. I am going to orient the room on the long wall, which will give me better audio performance, while also enabling me to put in a slightly curved row of five comfy reclining theater seats.

The first big decision is whether to gut out all the drywall, so I can insulate and more easily run wires. I am leaning toward not doing this, because I am not going to actually move any of the walls and the electric is fine. If I rip out the drywall ceiling and put in a drop ceiling, I should be able add insulation to cut sound transmission to the upstairs, as well as run any wiring I need and install lighting. It is possible that I missed something, but this seems the way to go.

The second decision is whether to build a gear cabinet in the cupboard under the stairs or to just use my existing TV stand and run everything to the front of the theater. The latter is definitely easier, because I don't have to do anything with the electrical and it would make wiring to the speakers a bit easier. I'm not sure it is the right move in the long run though, because it could limit screen size. Input in this area would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Batman]

I’d make as many sensible changes that can be done within reason from both a budget and difficulty standpoint, it’s nice to have the option to change things should the need ever arise.

 

[Towen7]

IMHO, Getting the gear away from the front stage makes a big, big difference in the feel of the space.