From Simple to Complex we are here for you....
Do you need design help for a Theater you are building yourself? We can do that? Wether you want a simple home theater or media room or if you want a complete package including construction we are here for you! Everything you see here we produced. Not some outside company. It came from our experience. ...we offer full Auto Cad design services for out theaters...we take pride in every detail. Rates start at $95.00 an hour...call us today for your free hour long consult. It might just be the most important call you make about your theater you will ever make....
Here is what one of our clients had to say about that:
"First of all one has to understand the complexity of the audio visual world especially when trying to combine great sound with great picture quality. Kyle has completed several projects for me ranging from a full blown movie theater to several smaller living room systems. To say the least his attention to detail sets him apart from most if not all people I work with in any situation. If you are serious about a project I highly recommend Kyle and I honestly think you are foolish not to at least have a good conversation with him. You will be impressed with his knowledge of the subject. I know I was!" Dennis Goehring of Goehring Dental.
Call us today....512-801-4710
Here is what one of our clients had to say about that:
"First of all one has to understand the complexity of the audio visual world especially when trying to combine great sound with great picture quality. Kyle has completed several projects for me ranging from a full blown movie theater to several smaller living room systems. To say the least his attention to detail sets him apart from most if not all people I work with in any situation. If you are serious about a project I highly recommend Kyle and I honestly think you are foolish not to at least have a good conversation with him. You will be impressed with his knowledge of the subject. I know I was!" Dennis Goehring of Goehring Dental.
Call us today....512-801-4710
Want a custom 2-Channel listening space but can't figure out how to make it sound great and keep the speakers hidden....We can help!
Need to keep sound from moving from room to room. This room utilizes a custom sound barrier and acoustic treatments to help keep sound in the room since it's located a few feet from the kid's rooms. We can help with that!
From This.....
|
To This.... We can Help!
|
Basic Theater Guide Lines:
I thought it would be nice to layout some fundamental principles of Home Theater design for you. I wrote this letter to an architect over 11 years ago but the fundamentals are still the same. It is important when designing a purpose built room such as a home theater that you understand some of the overall fundamentals concerning acoustics, lighting, projection, and mood in order to better design. Also understand since that time some things have been updated. We use more speakers since the introduction of Dolby Atmos and Auro 3D. You need a professional to help you design your space. Were here to help...
Acoustic Considerations:
A. Box within a Box: In effect when designing a home Theater you are trying to build a box within a box. This is important for two reasons. First you want to insulate the room from any outside sound as much as possible. Secondly any sound that occurs inside the room you want to keep it in. We call that Noise Floor or Noise Criteria. The lower the noise floor the less the equipment has to compete with outside elements. When you hear a whisper on a movie you don’t want to have to turn it up to hear that whisper. You really want it to be a whisper. To accomplish this you should do the following things:
1. Double Staggered Stud Wall: A lot of people get this one wrong. First it should be two 2x4 or two 2x6-stud walls with a separate bottom plate and a separate top plate. Many people use a single 2 x 6 top and bottom plate attached to the 2x4 or 2x6 studs. This provides an easy transference method through the wall for sound. In effect it acts like one wall. Treat each part of the double staggered stud wall as a completely separate wall. When insulating the walls insulate them as two separate walls leaving an air gap between them. Do not overstuff them. This actually makes the problem of sound transference through the wall worse.
2. Floor and Ceiling: When constructing the ceiling it would be a good idea to install more floating insulation above the room than normal. 2 times the normal amount of insulation blown in above the rooms is good. You can if you want put up a second set of sheet-rock on top of the existing sheet rock using Z-clips. The Z-clips isolate the ceiling from the supporting studs. When constructing the floor first construct a standard floor and truss construction. Then you can put down a set of rubber isolators and float the second floor on top of the first. This helps isolate the bottom floor from the second floor.
3. Doors: When designing most Theaters we usually specify a double door system. We also ask that if at all possible you should only have one entrance on a Theater. This is done for several reasons. First a Theater should be a destination not a walkway. One entry point means that this is always the case. Second a double door system cuts down on the amount of noise leakage into the other rooms and vice versa. It also can keep light from streaming in to a dark theater while someone is trying to watch a movie. It can also create a small anteroom that leads into the Theater that can set the mood. Here you can put movie poster in lighted movie cases etc. You can in effect create the mood. Doors must have an STC (sound transmission class rating) of 45 or higher. We prefer doors to have a completely weatherized seal. We also ask for solid doors and not glass paned doors. Although possible you need to tightly control the lighting in the Theater and this will not help to that end. A small round window in the second door at eye level is accepted. You would typically find this in an Art Deco type theater. Doors must close and latch solidly.
4. Windows: None are preferred but if in a given installation there is nothing you can do but use windows you will need to use some sort of heavy two or three layer drapes that go floor to ceiling. They don’t have to be motorized however this would be a nice touch. The drapes should be made of heavy black out material and should completely block out light and as much sound as possible. If needed valances should be installed along the sides and top and bottom of the windows to completely absorb all light.
5. Risers: In order to better layout the sight lines in the room you should include a riser for seating. This riser can be anything from 6-12” in overall height. The higher the riser the better the sight lines to the screen. Risers should be built of 2 cross-grained layers of plywood built on a supporting base of 2 x 6 beams spaced at a maximum of 12” apart. The riser should be floating on rubber blocks that will enhance the bass impact experience. Riser depth is strictly based on seating. If for instance we use Theater type Irwin seating the depth should be at least 48” but if we use Acoustic innovations the depth should be at least 60”. The seats make the difference.
6. Dampening: One of the things we do know about home theaters and studio is that to create a live sound stage at the front of the room you want to minimize reflection. This reflection off of the sidewalls can create all kinds of problems for your perception of sound. If you deaden or dampen the front ¼ of the room with sound deadening drapes or sound panels you can open up the sound stage and recreate a more live environment. You on the other hand want good reflection and in the back sound stage for good diffusion. This will help create the feeling of surround and ambience that you want in a good theater.
7. Room Size: Believe it or not someone has sat down and actually figured out optimum room dimensions for a theater. The basic rule of thumb is not to have dimensions that are multiples of each other. For instance you would not want a room that is 10 x10 x 10. This means that if an 80hz note completes in 10’ then we have a 3db jump at 80hz for every equal room dimensions. This means we have a 9db bump at 80 Hz. No equalizer can correct this. The best way to fix this is to make the room dimensions non-equal. The best room ratios to use are
Height Width Depth
Option 1 1.0 1.14 1.39
Option 2 1.0 1.28 1.54
Option 3 1.0 1.60 2.33
This means for instance if you have a ceiling height of 10’ your room width would be 11.4’ and your room depth would be 13.9’. This will provide you with the best neutral sounding environment to work with. In essence we start with a blank canvas much like a painter starts with a blank canvas.
8. Step-Downs: it is common practice in a Theater to step down the sidewalls at the front of the room to the front wall. This means staggering it in instead of plain corners. This is sort of like putting your hands to your mouth like a megaphone. Although not needed this does help a little acoustically and is very aesthetically pleasing.
Lighting Control:
1. Controlling the light in a theater is so important I don’t know where to begin. You must have black out drapes installed over the windows. We actually prefer to control the Drapes with motors and control the lights via the system installed. If you turn it on to a movie it sets the tone first by lowering the lights and then by closing the blinds and then turning on the sound and starting the movie. Just like a real theater. Lighting Control is important because even today’s projectors cannot output more light than the sun. Your average LED or DLP projector will only put out about the amount of light that a 150-watt light-bulb puts out. To compensate for this we have to darken the room. This forces the eyes to open up and let more light in. It is a matter of dynamic range. The darker the room the brighter the projector will seem.
HVAC 1. One of the most common mistakes in a Home Theater is to underestimate the air conditioning requirements of the room. The room should first be figured at 1.5 to 2 times the normal heat load of a given room.
2. Secondly if you are going to seal the room for the best possible acoustics you will need to install an air return. This provides circulation. Without it you will suffer unless the Theater doors are open.
3. Third all vents should be oversized by 2 times the normal size. This cuts down on the amount of wind noise that you will hear when you are listening to a quiet scene. Also vents should have at least two bends in them to help reduce direct sound from the motors etc.
4. All vents and returns should be worked into a room if possible instead of just dotting the ceiling with them. You could build a light soffet and include them in there or use a more stylish long rectangular vent along the sidewalls. In any event you should attempt to minimize the noise of the HVAC and work it into the architecture of the room.
Equipment Selection:
1. You can select equipment ranging from low end to high end. To an extent this will determine the amount of sound control and ideas you incorporate into your Theater. I can design a Theater that will fit your budget however I would definitely recommend that before any construction begins you take some time to select equipment. This will greatly speed the design process. The projector for instance and screen size must be selected ahead of time to properly lay out the room and the projector location. The same applies to speaker selection. If you want to build the speakers in then you need to know how big they are and where they should go. So many Theater designers get this wrong I can't even begin to stress how important this is. Speakers should never be 7 feet in the air. Speakers have tweeters in them. Tweeters are highly directional. 7' feet in the air means you miss all the detail. By the same token speakers should never be on the ground. The reflections form the floor alone will destroy any image it could produce. Speaker placement is critical. Speakers come in lots of sizes and shapes. Your screen also can be built in to the wall. To do all of this requires strict attention to detail. A theater is a purpose built room like a car is purpose built to drive. Just like in a car you must pay attention to physics the same applies to car design. Seating and couches also play a role in room design. If you want to optimize the sound then we need to know where you’re going to sit and what you are going to sit on and how many people you would like to seat. All this matters. More often than not I put in systems in untreated living rooms. Although this works we often have to overcompensate with more power than is needed and more speakers to make them sound good. Even with all the extra money tied up in good gear we can never achieve good movie theater style sound. A good home theater is not just good equipment but a good environment and good equipment. Your room is at least 50% of the sound performance. Lower the quality of your gear and fix your room first. That way everything sounds good.
Equipment Placement:
We typically like to place the equipment in a separate equipment closet. This in of itself cuts down on the noise and heat inside the room. All of the equipment can be controlled remotely and should be for ease of use is put onto one controller. The only consideration is that to put in media you will need access to the front of some of the equipment so don’t make it to hard to get to. Also you need to have an air return and an air conditioning vent on this room. This should be figured as the at 2 times the normal heat load of a conventional room.
Projector Box:
Projectors make an awful lot of noise. They have fans that are required to keep the lamps of the projector cool. They run almost constantly. This noise can be avoided by building a place or a box for the projector. This box must be slightly larger than the projector. The box should have an inlet vent for cool air and an escape vent for hot air. The projector can sit either on the floor as a coffee table or as a ceiling mount projector. We usually recommend ceiling mount. This means that the ceiling will need to be reinforced at that point with extra blocking.
Finish Selection:
In keeping with the idea of controlling light we usually ask that when selecting colors for your theater the darker the better. Please try not to choose flashy colors. Red for instance although a popular color in theaters is not a good choice unless you want all of the actors to appear flush. You should attempt to choose neutral colors that won’t make the movie look sick or angry. Browns and blacks are good. The screen wall itself could be a darker color (prefer black) to in effect shadow-box the screen. You could also do fabric walls or buy prefabricated acoustically correct fabric covered panels.
Furniture Selection:
In keeping with your color scheme furniture should be along the same color lines. Please try not to use a glass coffee table or any highly reflective surface. This can be distracting during a movie. I would also take this opportunity to point out that Theater seating is available. It is specifically designed with the Theater in mind. They are Very comfortable and low backed for the best surround sound.
A Word or Two about THX:
You have probably heard about THX. THX standards are set forth as some of the preeminent standards for designing a home theater. These standards should in my professional opinion be followed. They help to achieve an overall effect of a good home theater. (Since then we have introduced Dolby Atmos...a new set of rules we must follow. E-mail me for more detail)
The Theater Mood:
One of the most common misconceptions about a home theater is that it is simply a bunch of equipment and speakers that make noise in conjunction with a movie. This is not true. A good home theater is kind of like a mood-altering drug. If it works right your mood should change when you enter the room. When you walk in all your senses should tell you where you are. You should feel like you’ve dressed up and gone out to the movies. You should have the popcorn machine, the movie posters, and the double doors the riser steps in short all the things you have grown to expect from a good theater. You should be able to sit down and watch a movie uninterrupted from start to finish and be totally absorbed by it.
I hope all of this helps. I would request a meeting with you and to go over the possible options within the Theater. I cannot get much more specific on the design until I have narrowed down the possible equipment selections. I will at that time provide for you a more specific design that includes correct placement of items and proper implementation of the system. Please call me with any questions that you might have. I sincerely appreciate the opportunity to be involved in this project.
Sincerely,
Kyle Griffith
Custom Audio Video Designer
I thought it would be nice to layout some fundamental principles of Home Theater design for you. I wrote this letter to an architect over 11 years ago but the fundamentals are still the same. It is important when designing a purpose built room such as a home theater that you understand some of the overall fundamentals concerning acoustics, lighting, projection, and mood in order to better design. Also understand since that time some things have been updated. We use more speakers since the introduction of Dolby Atmos and Auro 3D. You need a professional to help you design your space. Were here to help...
Acoustic Considerations:
A. Box within a Box: In effect when designing a home Theater you are trying to build a box within a box. This is important for two reasons. First you want to insulate the room from any outside sound as much as possible. Secondly any sound that occurs inside the room you want to keep it in. We call that Noise Floor or Noise Criteria. The lower the noise floor the less the equipment has to compete with outside elements. When you hear a whisper on a movie you don’t want to have to turn it up to hear that whisper. You really want it to be a whisper. To accomplish this you should do the following things:
1. Double Staggered Stud Wall: A lot of people get this one wrong. First it should be two 2x4 or two 2x6-stud walls with a separate bottom plate and a separate top plate. Many people use a single 2 x 6 top and bottom plate attached to the 2x4 or 2x6 studs. This provides an easy transference method through the wall for sound. In effect it acts like one wall. Treat each part of the double staggered stud wall as a completely separate wall. When insulating the walls insulate them as two separate walls leaving an air gap between them. Do not overstuff them. This actually makes the problem of sound transference through the wall worse.
2. Floor and Ceiling: When constructing the ceiling it would be a good idea to install more floating insulation above the room than normal. 2 times the normal amount of insulation blown in above the rooms is good. You can if you want put up a second set of sheet-rock on top of the existing sheet rock using Z-clips. The Z-clips isolate the ceiling from the supporting studs. When constructing the floor first construct a standard floor and truss construction. Then you can put down a set of rubber isolators and float the second floor on top of the first. This helps isolate the bottom floor from the second floor.
3. Doors: When designing most Theaters we usually specify a double door system. We also ask that if at all possible you should only have one entrance on a Theater. This is done for several reasons. First a Theater should be a destination not a walkway. One entry point means that this is always the case. Second a double door system cuts down on the amount of noise leakage into the other rooms and vice versa. It also can keep light from streaming in to a dark theater while someone is trying to watch a movie. It can also create a small anteroom that leads into the Theater that can set the mood. Here you can put movie poster in lighted movie cases etc. You can in effect create the mood. Doors must have an STC (sound transmission class rating) of 45 or higher. We prefer doors to have a completely weatherized seal. We also ask for solid doors and not glass paned doors. Although possible you need to tightly control the lighting in the Theater and this will not help to that end. A small round window in the second door at eye level is accepted. You would typically find this in an Art Deco type theater. Doors must close and latch solidly.
4. Windows: None are preferred but if in a given installation there is nothing you can do but use windows you will need to use some sort of heavy two or three layer drapes that go floor to ceiling. They don’t have to be motorized however this would be a nice touch. The drapes should be made of heavy black out material and should completely block out light and as much sound as possible. If needed valances should be installed along the sides and top and bottom of the windows to completely absorb all light.
5. Risers: In order to better layout the sight lines in the room you should include a riser for seating. This riser can be anything from 6-12” in overall height. The higher the riser the better the sight lines to the screen. Risers should be built of 2 cross-grained layers of plywood built on a supporting base of 2 x 6 beams spaced at a maximum of 12” apart. The riser should be floating on rubber blocks that will enhance the bass impact experience. Riser depth is strictly based on seating. If for instance we use Theater type Irwin seating the depth should be at least 48” but if we use Acoustic innovations the depth should be at least 60”. The seats make the difference.
6. Dampening: One of the things we do know about home theaters and studio is that to create a live sound stage at the front of the room you want to minimize reflection. This reflection off of the sidewalls can create all kinds of problems for your perception of sound. If you deaden or dampen the front ¼ of the room with sound deadening drapes or sound panels you can open up the sound stage and recreate a more live environment. You on the other hand want good reflection and in the back sound stage for good diffusion. This will help create the feeling of surround and ambience that you want in a good theater.
7. Room Size: Believe it or not someone has sat down and actually figured out optimum room dimensions for a theater. The basic rule of thumb is not to have dimensions that are multiples of each other. For instance you would not want a room that is 10 x10 x 10. This means that if an 80hz note completes in 10’ then we have a 3db jump at 80hz for every equal room dimensions. This means we have a 9db bump at 80 Hz. No equalizer can correct this. The best way to fix this is to make the room dimensions non-equal. The best room ratios to use are
Height Width Depth
Option 1 1.0 1.14 1.39
Option 2 1.0 1.28 1.54
Option 3 1.0 1.60 2.33
This means for instance if you have a ceiling height of 10’ your room width would be 11.4’ and your room depth would be 13.9’. This will provide you with the best neutral sounding environment to work with. In essence we start with a blank canvas much like a painter starts with a blank canvas.
8. Step-Downs: it is common practice in a Theater to step down the sidewalls at the front of the room to the front wall. This means staggering it in instead of plain corners. This is sort of like putting your hands to your mouth like a megaphone. Although not needed this does help a little acoustically and is very aesthetically pleasing.
Lighting Control:
1. Controlling the light in a theater is so important I don’t know where to begin. You must have black out drapes installed over the windows. We actually prefer to control the Drapes with motors and control the lights via the system installed. If you turn it on to a movie it sets the tone first by lowering the lights and then by closing the blinds and then turning on the sound and starting the movie. Just like a real theater. Lighting Control is important because even today’s projectors cannot output more light than the sun. Your average LED or DLP projector will only put out about the amount of light that a 150-watt light-bulb puts out. To compensate for this we have to darken the room. This forces the eyes to open up and let more light in. It is a matter of dynamic range. The darker the room the brighter the projector will seem.
HVAC 1. One of the most common mistakes in a Home Theater is to underestimate the air conditioning requirements of the room. The room should first be figured at 1.5 to 2 times the normal heat load of a given room.
2. Secondly if you are going to seal the room for the best possible acoustics you will need to install an air return. This provides circulation. Without it you will suffer unless the Theater doors are open.
3. Third all vents should be oversized by 2 times the normal size. This cuts down on the amount of wind noise that you will hear when you are listening to a quiet scene. Also vents should have at least two bends in them to help reduce direct sound from the motors etc.
4. All vents and returns should be worked into a room if possible instead of just dotting the ceiling with them. You could build a light soffet and include them in there or use a more stylish long rectangular vent along the sidewalls. In any event you should attempt to minimize the noise of the HVAC and work it into the architecture of the room.
Equipment Selection:
1. You can select equipment ranging from low end to high end. To an extent this will determine the amount of sound control and ideas you incorporate into your Theater. I can design a Theater that will fit your budget however I would definitely recommend that before any construction begins you take some time to select equipment. This will greatly speed the design process. The projector for instance and screen size must be selected ahead of time to properly lay out the room and the projector location. The same applies to speaker selection. If you want to build the speakers in then you need to know how big they are and where they should go. So many Theater designers get this wrong I can't even begin to stress how important this is. Speakers should never be 7 feet in the air. Speakers have tweeters in them. Tweeters are highly directional. 7' feet in the air means you miss all the detail. By the same token speakers should never be on the ground. The reflections form the floor alone will destroy any image it could produce. Speaker placement is critical. Speakers come in lots of sizes and shapes. Your screen also can be built in to the wall. To do all of this requires strict attention to detail. A theater is a purpose built room like a car is purpose built to drive. Just like in a car you must pay attention to physics the same applies to car design. Seating and couches also play a role in room design. If you want to optimize the sound then we need to know where you’re going to sit and what you are going to sit on and how many people you would like to seat. All this matters. More often than not I put in systems in untreated living rooms. Although this works we often have to overcompensate with more power than is needed and more speakers to make them sound good. Even with all the extra money tied up in good gear we can never achieve good movie theater style sound. A good home theater is not just good equipment but a good environment and good equipment. Your room is at least 50% of the sound performance. Lower the quality of your gear and fix your room first. That way everything sounds good.
Equipment Placement:
We typically like to place the equipment in a separate equipment closet. This in of itself cuts down on the noise and heat inside the room. All of the equipment can be controlled remotely and should be for ease of use is put onto one controller. The only consideration is that to put in media you will need access to the front of some of the equipment so don’t make it to hard to get to. Also you need to have an air return and an air conditioning vent on this room. This should be figured as the at 2 times the normal heat load of a conventional room.
Projector Box:
Projectors make an awful lot of noise. They have fans that are required to keep the lamps of the projector cool. They run almost constantly. This noise can be avoided by building a place or a box for the projector. This box must be slightly larger than the projector. The box should have an inlet vent for cool air and an escape vent for hot air. The projector can sit either on the floor as a coffee table or as a ceiling mount projector. We usually recommend ceiling mount. This means that the ceiling will need to be reinforced at that point with extra blocking.
Finish Selection:
In keeping with the idea of controlling light we usually ask that when selecting colors for your theater the darker the better. Please try not to choose flashy colors. Red for instance although a popular color in theaters is not a good choice unless you want all of the actors to appear flush. You should attempt to choose neutral colors that won’t make the movie look sick or angry. Browns and blacks are good. The screen wall itself could be a darker color (prefer black) to in effect shadow-box the screen. You could also do fabric walls or buy prefabricated acoustically correct fabric covered panels.
Furniture Selection:
In keeping with your color scheme furniture should be along the same color lines. Please try not to use a glass coffee table or any highly reflective surface. This can be distracting during a movie. I would also take this opportunity to point out that Theater seating is available. It is specifically designed with the Theater in mind. They are Very comfortable and low backed for the best surround sound.
A Word or Two about THX:
You have probably heard about THX. THX standards are set forth as some of the preeminent standards for designing a home theater. These standards should in my professional opinion be followed. They help to achieve an overall effect of a good home theater. (Since then we have introduced Dolby Atmos...a new set of rules we must follow. E-mail me for more detail)
The Theater Mood:
One of the most common misconceptions about a home theater is that it is simply a bunch of equipment and speakers that make noise in conjunction with a movie. This is not true. A good home theater is kind of like a mood-altering drug. If it works right your mood should change when you enter the room. When you walk in all your senses should tell you where you are. You should feel like you’ve dressed up and gone out to the movies. You should have the popcorn machine, the movie posters, and the double doors the riser steps in short all the things you have grown to expect from a good theater. You should be able to sit down and watch a movie uninterrupted from start to finish and be totally absorbed by it.
I hope all of this helps. I would request a meeting with you and to go over the possible options within the Theater. I cannot get much more specific on the design until I have narrowed down the possible equipment selections. I will at that time provide for you a more specific design that includes correct placement of items and proper implementation of the system. Please call me with any questions that you might have. I sincerely appreciate the opportunity to be involved in this project.
Sincerely,
Kyle Griffith
Custom Audio Video Designer