Blank Canvas Home Cinema Build

john_smith

john_smith

john_smith

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19 Oct 2010
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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.
 
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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?
 
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.
 
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.
 
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
 
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
 
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.
 
I think I have the space for speakers in the room. In the wall isn't essential or a requirement.

I'm assuming L&R are floor mounted with the other 7 (if I got for 9) on wall brackets. Then 4 ceiling with 2 subs (front and back?) both on the floor.
 
I don't want all of the surround speakers on stands around my seating position. Whilst that might be what's needed for perfect. I think that would compramise the room and lead to them getting knocked over.
 
Understood. Maybe we go for 7 main speakers. I started with 9 because more is better, right. :-)

Maybe 9 is overkill for my room size and 7 will be plenty.

Cheers.
 
Simmz said:
Where you need to go demo stuff. A better quality 7.2.4 system will still out perform a cheaper 9.2.4 system and certain brands can be a lot harsher than others which depending on how sensitive your ears are can change the way things sound.
Click to expand...

Agree. My location makes popping into places to demo stuff difficult, but nearer the time i'll certainly do this.

jaybee said:
I enjoy threads like these. Please keep us updated with all the building work. :)
I am jealous of your space and budget to allow such a room! It's kind of refreshing to see that it can still be doable/nice in even a smaller dedicated room. I always think of having to have a massive house for this kind of thing to work. I guess you'd want a detached house though ideally, or a detached room to minimize noise problems with the subs for neighbours. What sound proofing methods are you using?
I have a very tame AV setup in my lounge in comparison. I can't roll with these Lambo driving, dedicated AV room OCUK forum goers. ;)
Click to expand...

I'll keep it updated. I'm detached, I dont think i'll be doing any sound proofing to stop the sound externally. The regs now for buildings means the walls will be as think as a castle! No Lambos here, i'm tight and efficient. I like to build things myself hence this thread for me to learn. I could just give a company £100k but i'd prefer to do myself for £25k. I drive a leaf and my wifes x3 has a knackered front transfer box. So I've removed the front prop, it's 2wd now but it still works :)

hornetstinger said:
OP needs to go listen to few brands, choice of brands is overwhealming I could name 20+ off the top of my head. For Hifi it's even more, go to Hifi /AV show and most of them never even heard of. Then for subs, you might find specialist sub makers better rather than the same brand as the speaker. ie Q Acoustics subs, pretty bad.

Also for the OP he should decide if wants to be a hobby, ie starting off with a cheaper system, enjoying it, upgrading L/R, replacing other bits, buying movies, upgrade sub, remote control etc. That's part of the hobby.

Ie you could start off with this, and a cheaper AVR, everything there for about £1000
www.av.com

Wharfedale Diamond 9.1 5.1 Home Cinema Speaker Package, Black at AV.com

Wharfedale Diamond 9.1 5.1 Home Cinema Speaker Package, Black at AV.com
www.av.com www.av.com

Keep it for a year or two, enjoy it, go and learn more about this, go to Hifi/AV stores, shows etc, when or if you decide to upgrade move the speakers to a bedroom, workshop, PC system, kids room etc. Probably safer that way, imagine you spend £10000 on a Klispch speaker system and wondering why your ears are bleeding after a movie....and then find out the Klipsch sound signature. Also learn how to connect, setup and wire up yourself.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I don't want this to be a hobby. This will be my 3rd "home cinema". In 2021 I bought my 1st. A Toshiba 50" Rear Projection TV, Sony DVD and 6.1 Amp with a Mission speaker set. I later upgraded it with a Denon Amp and 55" Samsung LED. So this will now be a final one done really well. Cabling, plugging in, etc. No issue. I work in IT so i'm comfortable around tech and enjoy getting my hands dirty with it.

EDIT. I still have both amps in storage and the sony dvd player. It's a player than does SACD so was quite good at thew time.
 
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ok. Tiny updates, but some positive progress none the less. My archictect sent the plan, tweaked, to the local building inspector today, he called back and has no issues with what we're wanting to do.

My builder has gven a start date of August.

Plan:


The Shanty Town:



5 mins ago I read about Golden Ratio (1 to 1.6 to 2.6). So I put the numbers in from the plan. Magically they are not far away. But if I goto 2.7H internally it almost comes perfect.
 
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