Blank Canvas Home Cinema Build

[john_smith]

I've had some plans drawn up to knock down an old utility room and single car garage and replace it with a larger utility and what will eventually become our home cinema.

It's not happening tomorrow but hopefully the building work will take place at the back end of this summer.

This thread will be documenting it and hopefully used to choose the best kit. It's not a blank cheque book build so we will need to be sensible. A friend did a similar build a few years back, his setup looks and sounds great so i'll be using his kit at a starting point for discussion so you'll know what i'm looking at.

His Kit:


He says "Amp wise you’d look at the 6800 now with a Dirac license" So we'll pencil that in as the Amp we'll start with.

My Room plans:


I might be able to make it 1m longer on the front. Unfortunately i'll have to put some PC equipment and my sim rig across the back side due to having nowhere else to put it.

Ok, that should do for opening the thread.

 

[hornetstinger]

Those are in wall and in ceiling, you're getting them all fitted? There are pros and cons of those types of speakers

Expensive for what they are
Not standard size, so if you change / upgrade later will require work
Probably more difficult to sell
Once installed can't be moved without expensive rework
Will require backing boxes
Cables will be installed inwall/ceiling so difficult to upgrade/replace
Subwoofer will require careful pre install testing to determine best location of each subwoofer
Some people like having lots of speakers, subs visible since they look cool, high quality finish etc
Low WAF , so you get divorced since you have lots of speakers, then you can enjoy your system and have stress free life.

Neat and tidy install
Don't protrude into room
Cables are out of the way not a trip hazard, not ugly
Less likely to be damaged, not knocked over etc.
Higher WAF factor.

 

[hornetstinger]

Aware of the thing with LCD bulbs?

Ci200QSb-THX

View KEF's wireless HiFi audio system speakers. Drawing on decades of acoustic expertise, each provides outstanding clarity with several connectivity options.

uk.kef.com

£850 for that for two passive subs? Plus needing £950 amplifier? What a rip off. 8" subwoofer, with barely low end performance.

 

[john_smith]

Good info. As the room will be being built some of the conns for in the wall won’t be an issue. I’d run the cable in ducting allowing it to be replaced / upgraded.

However in wall isn’t essential. I think I have the space to have the speakers in the room. Obvs, I assume, the atmos speakers will need to be ceiling mounted?

 

[hornetstinger]

For atmos you have the following options

1) Tower speakers with built in upfirers, ie Klipsch and Monoprice
2) Upfirers placed ontop of tower/standmount, ie Kef Q50
3) Atmos or regular bookshelf/onwall speakers placed on the wall, as high as possible, with option (or test it) to aim speaker
3) Atmos or regular on wall speaker placed on the ceiling (joists) again option to aim to test
4) In ceiling speaker

Make sure HDMI cables are replacable.

 

[john_smith]

Lovely. Yes all cables, if buried, will be in ducting allowing replacement.

That kit above cost him ~£12k a few years back. I assume prices are up from then….so giving yourself a budget of ~£15k in my room, wwyd?

Cheers.

 

[hornetstinger]

Not really into in-speaker setup.

But that subwoofer is a joke almost £2000 for 8" driver and 40hz low bass.

Best to get dedicated subwoofer they will reach to 20hz

 

[john_smith]

Ok. Thank you. Like I said this is early days so this thread is only a tiny seed at the moment that will grow as I research and learn more.

The sub “issue” is a good start.

Cheers.

 

[Simmz]

If you live anywhere near St Alban's (or it's worth the drive), then I'd book yourself a demo in with:

SeriouslyCinema | Bespoke home cinema installers - Seriously Cinema

SeriouslyCinema supply, install and calibrate the world's finest bespoke home cinema and music systems.

www.seriouslycinema.co.uk

They have different rooms ranging from a £5k setup, a £15k setup, £30k setup all the way up to a £200k setup. No rush or hassle or hard sale etc. They'll happily let you demo and spend a good hour or two playing around (need to obviously book a slot in).

 

[john_smith]

Thank you. 120m away, but probably worth a day out.

 

[Mr_Sukebe]

Some thoughts for consideration:
- sound proofing. If it’s a build from scratch, you might aswell update the interior panels to also have sound proofing capabilities
- lay in at least one additional dedicated mains spur
- have a think about colours and lighting in the room. Certain paint is significantly less reflective than others and IMO helps with the use of a projector
- build in not just speaker wires, but also Ethernet. Cat 7 should be viable

Ref the AV kit, do you want it all brand new?
Will the room be primarily AV, ie movies and similar?
If you’re going to use it as much for music listening, how you allocate funds might be best spent, could change

 

[john_smith]

Thank you.

I'll be buyilding out of concrete blocks rather than timber frame. I'll do soundproofing etc.
Power, yep. My brother is an electrician and when we moved in (2019) we did a complete rewire so it's all upto date.
My friend did his all in "a black". I'll dig out photos, but that's my plan.
House has >30 ethernet points in it right now. There will be some more added here and run back to my cab.

New - Not essential, but I like modern tech. I dont want to be chasing around for months looking for a suitble rear speaker to fit with others i'd previously bought. Id prefer to get to the point of purchase and then just go all in.
Yes it will be AV, not much of a music listener.

TY

 

[john_smith]

His room:






Like I said above, when you're sat there it looks and sounds great. He put on the start of Top Gun : Maverick. I was sat there with my wife, both of us smiling and thinking. Yep, we need one of these.

I'm not trying to replicate what he has built, but as a starting point it needs to be *at least* an equal to his his in looks and performance.

Side quest: Could anybody recomend good sites / magazines (?) for reading please? It makes sense for me to start investigating the market to learn. Also any good sites for building the room kit wise, speaker placement, screen size, seating distance etc.

ty

 

[hornetstinger]

Just wait until you demo a proper sub a couple of 12" ported, in Top Gun on every after burner thump/turn/boom it literally feels someone is kicking your sofa, I get the pressure wave feeling (and have been to air shows in the past, the same "air cracking feeling" from jet engine blast, from the airshow at home)

First off decide if you want in wall speakers, or just regular speakers. Or you could have a mix, ie LCR regular speakers, with in wall ceiling and surrounds.

4.2 x 6 is decent size room so I'd be considering two 12" in there.

Also decide what channel number you want ie. Would you want to add more to front wide later? What about more subs ie that Denon supports two, but if you want four then either need denon 800 line, or add a minidsp HD. I'd probably get cinema installer to work out where best place for subs are, 1-4 etc so in the future you can play ahead (ie have RCA/XLR terminal plates, or trunking to allow you to feed cable through after it's painted)
.
5.1
5.2
7.1
7.2
5.1.2
5.1.4
5.2.2
5.2.4
7.1.2
7.1.4
7.2.4
9.1.4
9.2.4
x.3.x
x.4.x

etc

 

[hornetstinger]

Probably good idea to have a demo of a few speaker brands to get idea of sound signature you like, from laid back, neutral to bright

personally I'd be looking at speakers with bigger drivers than the 4" ones in them Kefs

Not sure in wall offers great value for money tbh I'm looking at prices and I can't understand why they're so expensive.

 

[Demon]

Some good advice in this thread!

From my perspective and experiences

Light control - paramount, the biggest improvement you can make to the IQ is light level:
1. Provision for proper black out blinds, I can recommend BlocBlinds, they do ones with side channels and have brushes in those, and on the bottom of the blind so it really will allow an inky black room..
2. Paint the entire room/ceiling in a low reflective dark grey. I think we used Storm Grey, it almost perfectly matched the anthracite radiator, so dark grey but just the right shade to not look oppressive.

My Mrs was very sceptical about painting the room storm grey, especially the ceililng, but it actually looks much nicer than expected, I have a friend who was doing his and came around to see it as there is no way he'd consider it on a dual purpose room but was suitably impressed and painted his the same colour.

[edit] looking at your brothers setup (Which looks good!) if you want to improve:
1. Walls could darker for sure (this is a must IMO)
2. I am not a fan of tiered seating like that, it compromises height/side speaker placement, I think your room is wide enough for a single row of 4 seats (also you want your sim-rig behind it)
3. Instead of in-wall, you can look at things like the DALI Oberon on-wall.. they do a range of on-wall speakers that are quite reasonable with very good sound quality, their Alteco C1 height speakers are super flexible.
4. The PJ is always stuck on the ceiling.. consider a room wide bulkhead (even if in the middle of the room, a strip across), a great place to hide PJ/Amp/PC/Networking stuff, etc..

Here's mine mid-build, just started painting the storm grey walls/ceiling, bulkhead was in place, all speaker cables / sub cables/ Screen remote etc all cabled to the bulkhead:

You can easily walk under the bulkhead, so could be freestanding in the middle of a much larger room.. The front is now covered in acoustic cloth panels (magnetically attached), the acoustic cloth is easy to source, and I use 2 x 20cm Noctua USB fans that come on with the projector/amp to allow plenty of air-flow.


I also have an electric in-ceiling screen, so it's all largely hidden when not in use, I use the room for VR stuff, and will bring my sim-rig down once I get a motion setup.. my goal was not to have too much false panelling that takes up floor space. We all have different goals, but I can convert the room back to a normal room without too many issues, the in-ceiling screen would just stay in place and remove the blackout blind from the main front window and remove the bulkhead with minor remedial repairs required.

Oh, just spotted you look to have a flat roof above the room? IF so, might have to avoid ceiling speakers if they breach the vapour barrier.

 

[john_smith]

Beautiful post. Thank you.

There's going to be minimal windows, and the ones that are there will be blacked out. painting it all balck, yep i'm on board with that. Storm Grey sounds awesome.

 

[john_smith]

Not sure in wall offers great value for money tbh I'm looking at prices and I can't understand why they're so expensive.

I would assume you're paying for the clean install look?

 

[john_smith]

9.2.4 looks like it's sexy. If i'm doing it, I wanna go big and do it "right" from the off.

9.1.4 Overhead Speaker Setup

Optimize your home theater's sound with your Dolby Atmos 9.1.4 overhead speakers by learning the role and position of your speaker system.

www.dolby.com

 

[hornetstinger]

I would assume you're paying for the clean install look?

You need to decide if you want in wall speakers, or just regular speakers (in the room)

1723-speakers hosted at ImgBB

Image 1723-speakers hosted in ImgBB

ibb.co

108604935-148801136863447-2228998055603359715-n hosted at ImgBB

Image 108604935-148801136863447-2228998055603359715-n hosted in ImgBB

ibb.co

For example if you upgrade LCR after 3 years, it will take 15 minutes to do this with regular speakers, with no room modification needed.