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..

[Noyade]

Hi Prof @Prof 

It works, but the illumination 'bulbs' have blown.

Stanley 8V 0.3A

Could I source these?

Remembering the receiver cost was less than a McDonald's sausage and egg McMuffin.

[Prof]

Probably unlikely..I can't tell what the base fitting is in the photo..

The first thing you would need to check is if there is any voltage where the bulb fits in..If there isn't then not much point in looking for a new bulb..

The other thing is 8V. is an unusual voltage for a bulb..and they probably don't make them anymore..

[Noyade]

Thanks for looking @Prof 

I think I'll just give it a miss.

I went to the only dedicated Hi-Fi store in town and the salesman was outwardly very pleasant, but his eyes said - "please leave the store!" 😁

[Noyade]

And a sign of the times?

No component systems seen in the store.

Bluetooth speakers only.

[Prof]

LOL..!! Don't give up on it just yet..Those guys don't know anything..they're just salesman..I've come across those type of guys before..🙄

You could take it to an electronics repair shop and ask them to change over the existing socket to a mini 9V. socket.

Providing of course that there is still power going to the socket..

That unit would be a gem if you can get it working..

[Prof]

Yes ..it's sad I know..All people are interested in these days are TV's on the wall with mini speakers either side and hooked up to online streaming.. not even a sub in some cases..and they call it Home Theatre.!!! 🙄

[EricL]

Hi @Noyade 

After a bit of searching, I found that the item you can use to replace it with is called an "LED Lamp Vintage Receiver Fuse Type Bulb Replacement AC8V Warm White". If you do a search it should lead you to several places where you can get them. I believe they come in different voltages and amp levels so just keep an eye on that before you commit.

Eric

[Noyade]

Thanks @EricL  - I'll look into that...

[Noyade]

I decided to just put the Sony into storage.

I went to the 'Tip-Shop' again yesterday despite my wife's strict instructions not to. I just cannot bare to leave these machines there and even the tip-shop guy was happy for me with this one. Maybe I need professional help.

A big Kenwood - $10. You use to pay an arm and a leg for these things.

[Noyade]

Hi @EricL 

A weekend update.

I looked into those LED illumination globes on the net - but thought I should try the Sony out with speakers first.

Absolute garbage. It's now back at the tip.

The original Yamaha from the tip - kept turning itself off - so back at the tip.

The big Kenwood above had this random 'exploding sound' through the speakers - in the garbage bin ready for pick up.

Disappointing result. But I guess they're at the tip-store not only because technology has superseded them - they're actually faulty.

"Maybe I need professional help."

Nope. Cured myself.