How to build a dedicated home theatre

[Prof]

Firstly to clarify, "a dedicated home theatre" means that the room you will be using will only be used for watching movies and perhaps some TV..

A home theatre can range in price from approximately $5000 - $500,000 and more !! Some American home theatres cost over 1 million dollars !!

This tutorial will describe how to build the lower end of the range..

Firstly you will need to find a suitable room..The bigger the better, but it must have four walls and a door..Open rooms connecting other rooms will not be suitable..

The other aspect of a suitable room is whether you need the theatre room acoustically removed from the rest of the house..

This requires an additional construction to the room to isolate it from the other rooms..

I will include briefly what needs to be done, but for the most part I will proceed on the basis that this will not be needed..

There are a variety of building materials that are used to construct rooms in a house..Timber or steel framing with plasterboard walls, or brick or concrete block walls..

Each of them have their own acoustic values..

The stages of the building process...

1. Selecting the room..

2. Acoustically isolating the room..

3. Selecting the wall and ceiling paint or fabric coverings..

4. Choosing the type of floor coverings..

5. Setting up the front of room for screen and speakers..

6. D.I.Y the screen or purchasing a commercially made screen..

7. Adding acoustic panels on the side walls..

8. Adding acoustic panels in the front corners..

9. Adding acoustic panels to the rear of the room..

10. Selecting the front speakers..

11. Selecting the surround speakers..

12. Selecting the subwoofer..

13. Choosing the lighting..

14..Selecting Amplifier/ receiver..and ancillary equipment

15. Selecting Blu-ray player..

16. Programming the whole system..

So as you can see there is a lot to building a dedicated home theatre..But the end result is a very satisfying movie experience.. 

More to follow..

[Prof]

Wow Noyade..sounds like you've been around for a long time as well.!!

It was interesting you mentioning the price you paid for that CD player..I don't even remember what CD player I had or for that matter what my first bit of music was..That was a LONG time ago for me..

Back in the 70's I bought my first VCR..It was a JVC video player which cost $749.00.!!! Even at that price it was a bit of a "clunker" compared to today's 4K blu-ray players.!! 😀

[Noyade]

G'day Prof! 😁

It's not my intention to derail your thread, apologies if it appears that way - it's just that you got me thinking so much about the past, regards ''home entertainment.''

I truly envy what you've created above - but unless I win Lotto - it's never gonna happen for me.

I can't remember our first VCR or our first DVD player - but I do remember renting for a while - not wishing to repeat the CD player experience. I think one VCR was a STEREO VCR - I could record phonograph LPs onto the VHS tape. Dead loss.

I remember carousel CD players. Five hours of nonstop music. Dead loss.

Then there was that 'DVD' system where the discs were as big as LPs. Remember those? Dead loss.

Do you remember in the early 2000s when 42" Plasma TVs were around $20,000? A work mate of mine bought one.

Possibly a stupid analogy, but I always considered Kmart to be the mirror on affordable consumerism in Australia - so when they stopped selling CD/DVD/Blu-Ray players and all the associated discs themselves - I thought it was a big mistake. But now I'm thinking it's a form of Darwinism and maybe they've had their day.

Be a few years back now but I remember speaking to the owner of a large VideoEzy outlet. I put my DVD rental on the counter and asked him what's new.

He said "Bankrupty."

"Pardon!?"

"Yeah, all this will be gone within twelve months".

I didn't believe him at the time but the example he gave me was the TV series section. "See that section over there - no one rents them anymore. You know why? - cause it's cheaper and easier to download and watch at your leisure."

He believed (in the near future) for people who were unable to download - there would be vending machines everywhere that for a cost would dispense a thumb drive with a new movie on it - that would "self-destruct" electronically after three days. Sounds like Mission Impossible.

He wasn't correct on that score - but for the rest of the discussion he was spot on. Last time I saw him he owned an ice-cream shop - but that shop now no longer exists.

I haven't purchased a CD for twenty years - I think it was an Alice Cooper album.

I can't remember the last time I bought a DVD? I think the last Blu-Ray disc was a boxed set of Ken Burns' documentary on The Vietnam War.

I was so unimpressed with the picture quality that I returned it to JB Hi-Fi who graciously swapped it over for a DVD set for half the price.

I did the same with Dr Strangelove. But maybe you just can't convert old war footage and films to Blu-Ray standard?

Cheers,

Graeme

[Noyade]

Sorry, one more random memory. 🤔

"JVC"

Back in '84 when I was looking for my first CD player I walked into a Hi-Fi store in Bondi Junction and the owner looked at me suspiciously (probably thought I couldn't afford one) and asked me what sound system I had.

I told him JVC.

He laughed out loud and then in a sort of hushed fatherly tone told me he couldn't sell me a CD player cause I "wouldn't be able to appreciate the CD sound quality with such an inadequate stereo system."

I think that was his way of telling me to **** off.

I sometimes wonder if that guy ever lived long enough to see the CD system applied to Walkmans, automobiles and these extraordinarily sophisticated devices....

😁

[EricL]

Hi @Noyade 

Those large DVDs were called Laser Discs and they had side A and side B respectively. Let's not forget that side tangent that was VCD, where they managed to put 3 movies into one disc. I remember my family's first VHS machine, it was a SONY top ejecting model. I'm surprised it survived my brother and three sisters. 

Eric

[Prof]

Hi Graeme,

" Do you remember in the early 2000s when 42" Plasma TVs were around $20,000? A work mate of mine bought one."

Yes I do remember those and at the time I thought " Who in their right mind would ever buy one of those.!!? " Even if you had the money..

Mind you I can't really put down anyone for doing that because I did something similar myself..

I bought the first widescreen TV to arrive in Australia.!! It had been specifically imported from Philips Holland by this specialist Hi-Fi store..

It was the "be all and end all" of TV's..It had a massive 32" wide screen.. Hahaha back then of course that was big !!..Picture in picture..Zoom image..Freeze image..Countless image controls..A built-in subwoofer..and surround sound..and I don't mean a sound bar..this TV came with surround speakers..!!!

It worked well for a couple of years and then one day the image just went crazy.!! I contacted the local Philips service people and told them the problem..

Well as it turned out..they didn't have the parts that were needed to fix the set and would have to import them from Holland.!!! 😮

I just told them to put it back together again and I'll pick it up...

So that was the end of my super TV.!!

A funny antidote to the whole scenario..I put the set out on the foot path for the Garbo's to collect and within a half hour the set was gone.!!

Some one thought they had just grabbed a free widescreen TV.!!😄

Talking about Kmart..I bought my first Blu-ray player from them..Likewise, I don't remember the brand either..

It was a pity they stopped selling that type of gear..

" I haven't purchased a CD for twenty years "..Hahaha..I can beat that..I haven't purchased a CD for over 45 yrs..!!! and at my age now, there's no way that I could remember what the last CD was little alone my first CD.!!

Cheers...

[Prof]

Back when ever it was.!  When I bought the JVC VCR..I got a similar look as well..

I looked young for my years and the guy probably thought "he's not going to able to afford that VCR.."

So I said to the guy " Yes I'll take it and I'll also take that $1000.00 subwoofer..

The answer was when he picked his jaw off the floor.." Yes Sir..Certainly Sir..Three backs full Sir.!!! LOL

[Prof]

PROGRAMMING THE WHOLE SYSTEM..

This will be the last stage of the whole Home Theatre System..

This is perhaps the most complicated aspect of the whole setup..

To be able to press one button on your programmable universal remote for "Watch a Movie" requires numerous operations from the original remotes and numerous sequences programmed into the universal remote..

It takes a lot of work and some technical knowledge to do all this, but the end results are well worth it.!!

This is the usual scenario..You are sitting in your chair with universal remote in hand and you press the button.."Watch a Movie"..

For this to happen..1..Your AV Receiver is switched on and is then set to BD (in this case )

                               2..Your Blu-ray player is switched on ( A BD previously loaded )

                              3..Your projector is turned on and set to HDMI with aspect ratio set to 16:9..

These three aspects are programmed in to your universal remote by you using the disc that was supplied..which you have loaded into your PC..

And then with the image on the screen the start image of the movie is shown and you make your selections..

You then press "Play"..The blu-ray player begins to play..The projector changes the aspect to 2.39:1..The light controller gradually dims the theatre lighting and you sit back and start to watch the movie..

To do all this you need a good programmable universal remote..

Logitech Harmony remotes have been the universal choice for many home theatre systems across the world..

Logitech has been " The remote" for many decades..Sadly, Logitech is not making anymore remotes..They are continuing to provide programming for most of the range..but when the stores have sold their stock..that's it.no more.!!!

There are alternatives but I can't comment on how they perform..

I've had several Logitech Harmony remotes over the decades..and they always do a good job..

A little while back they changed their operating program completely and I had to start all over again learning how to program my current remote.!!

Unfortunately..they left some things out of the new program (why I have no idea ) which has made it even more difficult to have everything operating correctly...

Because this is very complex and individual to plan programming..I won't include any here..

If any one needs help to do this, you can let me know with a post..

I hope I have given all of you the help you need to set up your Dedicated Home Theatre..

[MitchellMc]

Many thanks, @Prof, for going to the effort of putting this remarkably detailed guide together for our members. I and I trust many of our members have been waiting with bated breath for every instalment. I must say I am a little saddened that it's come to an end, but as they say, it happens to all good things. 

Being a renter, I can't say that I'm going the whole hog any time soon. Still, you've certainly given me plenty of ammunition to encourage my significant other to allow me to at least invest in a surround sound system. Hopefully, I can put some of your tips to good use and set up a somewhat decent viewing experience.

Many thanks once again, and I look forward to hearing about your next project.

Mitchell

[Prof]

Hi Mitchell and thanks very much for your very kind words...

It was a labour of love for me to put it all together and I quite surprised my self that I remembered it all from over the years..

At my age now..I can't remember what I did yesterday.!!! 😀

With the number of views that are showing on the front page..I hope I have at least helped a few people..

hopefully you will be able to put together something where you are now that will give you a good movie experience..

If you ever need any help just let me know..

Prof...

[KatieC]

Hi @Prof,

You have taken us on a wonderful journey to building our own dedicated home theatres in such an easy-to-follow way. Thank you for sharing your expertise and advice with the community, you have undertaken a huge job! You have helped so many already and more to come as the community grows. Soon we will need your movie recommendations 😉

Katie