Bimmeup

Kde, Are you choosing between a plasma or projector because you don't want a tv sticking out from the wall? Just curious because it seems that the newest rear-projection tv's have all the quality etc. etc. of plasmas but are a lot cheaper size for size. They have also made them a lot thinner as well so if you have the option, you could build in a spot for a rear-projection! As Picky said though, you will see how crappy regular tv looks on a HD display. But that being said, I bought a Sony 55" rear-projection lcd HDTV about 3 months ago (my first HD tv) and yes, regular tv looked crappy. But it seems that I've gotten used to it now so it doesn't really bug me anymore. Besides, the HD channels that I'm getting through DirectTV are worth it. Discovery HD has some great programming too. DVD's look great as well! I know that the newest Sony Grand Wega SXRD lcd rear-projection tv's have got a ton of praise in recent articles because of the resolution. Each silicon chip for the RGB is 2 million pixels of resolution!!! As far as the LCD & DLP debate goes, it's pretty much a personal preference on which one you like and which one's annoyances you can deal with. My dad has a 60" Samsung rear-projection DLP and the picture in HD is great and smooth but lacks color clarity in my view whereas on my Sony 55" LCD, the picture seems a little crisper and more colorful. But again, it's all a personal preference because some people like the crisper look and color but others like more of a smooth picture that the DLP offers. You just have to compare. Hope this helps, Bimmeup Matt

Hey Merkin, I just thought of one other thing. You said that you also want to protect your projector on this as well! You know as well as everyone pretty much here, that projectors have a "cool down" time when they're turned off where the fan continues to cool the lamp. If you were to have a power outage or lightning strike etc. that shuts off the power, your projector will not be able to go to it's cool down cycle! Since I'm going through the design phaze of my new HT in my new home, I decide to use a Conditioner/Surge with Battery backup so that I'll have time to correctly shut down my projector and give it the cool down time it needs if the power shuts down for some reason. This should save the life of the lamp as well which is pretty pricey as most are! Just another thought for you to consider! Bimmeup Matt

Merkin, First of all, nice car in the pic! As far as whether there is an advantage of using Power Conditioners vs. Strip Surge Protectors, the answer is yes! Surge protectors do exactly what they say, protect your electronic equipment from a big surge spike when lightning strikes etc. which if unprotected, could fry your electronics. Surge protectors though don't protect your equipment from the small spikes that are fairly normal in the home. A power conditioner/surge protector gives you the same protection against surges, but then helps level out the voltage in your home and keeps it at a steady rate! Here's an example for you. Before I had a Power Conditioner hooked up to my setup in my living room, I would notice "waves" going across the tv from time to time and sometimes the "snowy" effect. And then if my wife stuck something in the microwave and started it up, I would get a quick static spike on the tv. After putting the conditioner/surge protector inline, I no longer have these problems because it levels the power and keeps it steady. I've also read that these small spikes can slowly do harm to your electronics. So, in a nutshell, yes these things help. I ended up buying the Monster strip conditioner/surge protector at Best Buy! Here's the link http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=6418753&type=product&id=1077627972545 Hope this helps! Bimmeup Matt[]

Thanks for the advice Tom! I've attached an updated layout of the room with the newest changes. I'm using Continental Seatings new Tsunami chairs due to the smaller headrest that will allow sound to come around them rather than block it off completely. You can view them at http://www.continentalseating.com/bravo_tsunami.html Regarding the seating, I've decided to go with curved rows vs. straight just so people aren't having to keep their heads turned for an entire movie! Also as Tom was mentioning the problem with space for 2 rows of chairs, I decided to use the wallsaver recliners for the front row so that when fully extended, the chairs will go forward rather than back. Then for the back row, I'm using regular recliners so that when extended, the chairs will go backward rather than forward. You can see on the pdf that I posted how the chairs will work! The gray outline areas of the chairs indicates the fully reclined positions for both rows! As far as the layout is concerned, I've changed the design a little bit since getting some info from Dr.Who and others on here. The Left & Right speakers will now be angled in. The Subs I'm still trying to decide on what to do? I know according to Klipsch, the subs are meant to be placed together, but others are saying that I should place them apart and to the sides! They are built into the wall and flush mounted although still on the floor, not up inside the cabinet! Also, since I'm using the Quietrock throughout the entire room, I've decided to have the speaker niches fully walled with the Quietrock as well. I'm guessing that this should isolate the speakers somewhat. I'm still making sure there will be enough space to place the speakers on some sort of small stand inside the niches and also have enough room for the foam. Anyway, that's the update for now. Bimmeup Matt Raptor Room quarter inch curved rows.pdf

JulieHeartKlipsch, The Raptor is about 9' long from tip of nose to end of tail. It stands 6' high at the head, 10' tall at the tip of the tail which swoops up. And then it's about 3' wide with the arms extended. The sculptor's name is Michael Trcic, a very nice guy and friend of mine. I had known him for years before I even found out it was him who did the TRex from Jurassic Park. Funny thing was, when I found out that he did that TRex, I went home and got out my dvd of Jurassic Park and went to the making of section and sure enough, there's Mike in the background sculpting the head! If you want to visit his website, it's www.trcicstudio.com . Actually, if you go to http://www.trcicstudio.com/tsbronzes/trcicbirdlife.htm you can see the actual Raptor that I'm getting. Hope that answers your questions. I'll definately post some pictures of the room once it's done in about 10 months. Bimmeup

DrWho, Thanks again, this is really helping! I've already met with my architect regarding the toe-in for the outer speakers and I've also made a few other changes. The double doors will now be opening outward so that the 2 rows of seats can move back a little over a foot which should help. As for the subwoofers, I'll take your recommendation. Just so you know, the subs are also built into the wall but on the floor. All the areas where the speakers will be placed in the walls are about an inch oversized all the way around so room for acoustic foam should be no problem. Another question for you! As far as stands go for the speakers themselves, would rubber feet work to keep vibrations from transferring or do you have any other suggestion? Thanks again, Bimmeup

formica, I've looked at the pdf manuals for the THX Ultra's and haven't seen anything that talks about placing them in a wall! Now that being said, I remember reading somewhere that, like you said, they could be either placed into a wall or placed on a stand to be freestanding. The company I'm buying these speakers from actually took me to a model home that they installed the HT in. They had the Ultra's on stands but told me they could also be placed into a wall. If anyone has any info on this, that would be great. Thanks, Bimmeup

damonrpayne, Yes! I'm not sure when they said they'll first be available but it was supposed to be within the next couple of months when they're released. The company I'm buying the Sony from is also the company that's selling me the THX Ultra 2's and other HT equipment as well. Very cool guys as they have given me a great deal on everything! This company is also doing my Elan Home System and so they gave me 7% off by combining my HT equipment with the Home System equipment. And that was 7% off the cost they were giving me on the HT equipment, not 7% off retail! After looking over everything and checking other prices elsewhere, they're treating me right and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to anyone. Bimmeup[]

Thanks a ton! You're being a great help. I think for sure I can have that front wall done like you said with the toe-in angled for the seating position. As for the speaker to be sitting on it's own speaker stand inside the wall, I don't think I'm following you there. Are you saying that the KL650 I'm placing for the fronts should be placed on some sort of stand inside the wall, yet it can't touch the cabinet that's around it? And even the acoustical foam itself shouldn't touch any part of the speaker housing? I just don't think I'm understanding so please be patient with me. But I really do want the advice so I can make the right changes now. As for the diagrams, that would be great. Thanks again DrWho. Bimmeup

Thanks for the advice DrWho! My house is already into the full fledge building stage and the slab is going to be poured pretty soon here. So, the room itself is already set in stone as far as the rectangular design goes. I might try to do a couple of things different inside the room if I can but I'm not sure how that'll affect everything else! The length of the room shows 19' but after talking to my architect, he said it's more like 18' overall! The seating will be 2 rows of 3 chairs. One row right between the 2 steps and the other right behind it basically in front of the entry doors. I originally had thought about placing the screen on the left wall but decided not to because of the placement of the surrounding rooms just outside the HT. Now you said that if I did place it on the left wall, it would make me a prime candidate for the Heritage HT system? I'm not real familiar with the Heritage so you might be able to help me there! As far as the THX Ultra 2 speakers go, they'll all be built into the main screen wall as I've spec'd that into the construction. I wanted them built in to give it a cleaner look without having speakers on stands. Also it's better that way because of my 5 kids as it keeps them away from accidentally being pulled over or messed with. I'm already pretty strict but you never know! Anyway, thanks again for your help. I guess I'll start calling all you guys on the board here the "Klipsch Guru's" Bimmeup

Thought I'd post a picture of the design of my new Home Theatre and see what everyone's thoughts were. I sent a rougher sketch of this layout to Picky about 4-5 months ago and emailed back and forth with him quite a bit from time to time! So anyway, I decided to put it up on here to get everyone else's thoughts as well. The HT is a themed one somewhat. A local friend of mine is a sculptor who does dinosaurs and so I talked him into a life size raptor made out of resin that he'll custom paint for me. He was actually the key sculptor and puppeteer for the T-Rex in the first Jurassic Park. Anyhow, I'm putting this monster in a recessed side of the HT for kicks and so I've called my HT "The Raptor Room". I'm hoping the size of my room works pretty good and it seems like it does! Other than that, on the pdf layout is also the equipment list. Let me know what you guys think? BIMMEUP

Hey everyone, it's me Bimmeup, the one who started the thread. I guess this turned out to be an exciting thread afterall and very informative. As for the Quietrock use in my home theatre, I did decide to use it since I'm in the construction phase and it seemed cost effective to me to have a drywall replacement than to put the cost of labor into resilient channels and layering the room with all sorts of other things. And yes, in new construction, the Quietrock is used in place of drywall and is not layered over existing drywall unless you have an existing room where you want to use it! As for me, I wanted the room to be as quiet as possible both from inside and out since I have a family of 5 kids! My main goal is to be able to have friends over and go into the theatre to "Rock Out" until whatever time I want and not worry about waking up my wife and kids who are upstairs. And after researching every method that's out there, it seemed to me (and I could be wrong) that Quietsolutions was the best "tested" method out there. It also seemed to me that a lot of companies are out there trying to sell their products as sound deadening and sound absorbing, but just don't have any testing to back it up. So, in a nutshell, I'm giving it a go! I'll also let you know what I think when it's up and running in about a year from now! And hey PICKY, it's me Matt from Arizona. I probably should have put that on my signature from the getgo!!! Anyhow, I'm out Bimmeup Matt

I'm currently in the process of having my new home built including a dedicated theatre room! During the design process, I had a new product called Quietrock spec'd for use in the theatre room (visit www.quietsolution.com). Has anyone here heard of it or used it because I'd like your thoughts? Essentially, the Quietrock is used in place of drywall and if used according to the spec sheet, can have a STC rating of as high as 80. The Quietrock itself seems pretty cool. It's basically drywall with a very thin metal plate sandwhiched in between it. Anyway, thoughts would be great! Matt

Hey Rich, Sounds like you're getting a pretty good deal on those chairs. I think my dad ended up paying around 2k each and that was with full leather but manual recline. I think the dealer he bought them from jacked up the price quite a bit. At least now he realizes that he spent way too much. As for me, I'm starting construction on my new home next month and I also have a dedicated HT room. I've been doing a ton of searching for theater chairs and like you, I found the Berklines a little on the chinsy side but not crappy. I did call the local LA-Z-BOY dealer and got samples of their leather in. Their top grade leather looks and feels awesome. I'm waiting for them to get a few chairs in so I can go and test them out. From what I hear, it seems the Lazboy's are a step up from the Berklines but I'll have to get my own opinion when I test them. The other chair I'm wondering about is the Palliser. But I have nowhere around here that I can check them out. I am getting quotes from www.leathershoppes.com and the prices seem reasonable with the transducers installed. Anyway, good luck with your chairs! Matt

Hey Rich, My father actually has Premiere's in his theater and as you stated, they are very plush and nicely built. The only problem I have with his are the recline mechanisms in the chairs. He has the manual recline in the chairs and when you lean back, the chair wants to go all the way to the fully recline position so it's kinda hard to have the chair in a mid-recline for watching movies. My guess is that the auto-recline would solve that problem. Other than that, the price is about the only other problem I'd have with getting them. What were you quoted per chair just curiously? Bimmeup Matt