Going to start building my media/audio room

So, we meet with the architect on monday and will be looking to custom build our home in Dallas, TX as we hope to close on the house build on March 20. I have a preliminary drawing for a 14x20 foot media room in the first floor away from the master bedroom.

I was initially thinking I was going to use it purely as a 2 channel listening room but my wife keeps bugging me about making it into an HT room.

I think I will have to comply and do in-wall speakers for the HT stuff and then also have my 2 channel system in there as well. Probably will go with a 60" LED TV instead of a projector.

Do you guys recommend any particular type of in-wall speakers? I want the HT part of the room to be as stealth as possible.

And I'm planning on running multiple dedicated 20 amp lines (at least 4) in the room.

I was going to have RIVES design my room but I decided I'd rather save the money. I figured that a dedicated room is pretty good to start off with.

Btw, is there a particular dry wall that I should get for the room? What kind of ceiling should I have the builder install? Should I have him install a tray ceiling, a half-dome ceiling? What's best?

Thanks!

Btw, here's a crude sketch of the 1st floor of our house.

I've been thinking for a while about running a totally separate HT system to my 2 channel. I've been tinkering with a ML HT system for a while, but if you want tubes for 2 channel, it seems a waste burning up tube hours just for movies.

I've been looking at the Bose Acoustimass 15 as a starting point - perhaps running these with my Denon 3313ci. My Martin Logan's would be reserved for 2 channel listening. The plus with the Bose speakers, is that they truly disappear. The sound can be very good if you set them up right. I think they're also quite inexpensive for what you get. I definitely wouldn't consider the 'lifestyle' systems - I think these do suck for the money.

It's hard to audition Bose speakers without the prejudices setting in. I went in for a listen with the view that I might get a nice surprise. And I did, kind of. I wouldn't be happy if I had to rely on the Acoustimass 15 for my music. For movies - great.

Just something to consider...

Any recs on in walls?

ML has a product line of in wall speakers. The mains for the HT could be the same for
your stereo. The Montis works well for both. Center speaker like the Stage x could be above the TV on the front wall.

It is possible to design very good subs that are built n the walls. However you must make sure that is part of your design.
Great 5.1 channel music so be sure your in wall designs provide sufficient quality.


In my case I would go mixed rear, surround, sub in wall, mains and center as suggested above.

Why is it so important to have in wall speakers?

Dallas climate is a bit different than Chicago so AC design is very critical to ensure there are enough vents to cool and not be heard.

Joel

Aperion Audio has very good in wall/ceiling speakers and they are inexpensive. You can try their speakers for 30 days in home without any cost.

Good to hear the house is moving along. I am just finishing my dedicated listening room. Mainly just adjustments in acoustic panels.
If I was not able to build the room and all of the panels myself I would have probably hired someone to give general perimeters as to how the room should be built. If your room has difficult dimensions or some difficult room modes you could spend a sizable amount of money trying to correct them. I created the best room proportions I could given the existing foot print I had to work with and decided to treat the entire room with panels and bass traps with the assumption that I would add more reflective surfaces if necessary. The ceiling had much more echo that I had imagined it would once finished and I added extra panels for an almost continuous panel from front to the back.

Sound transmission was not an issue for me though for you it may be. If not done properly could become a big issue with your room being a HT room also.

I guess what I am saying is the money spent up front may be less than corrections later. It depends on how much you want to put into figuring it out ahead so your contractor will create what you are looking for.

As far as in wall speakers I used ML's Helos 100's for sides and rears in our living room. I am very happy with them. They blend well with the Electromotions and Logos I am using for the front 3 channels even though they are not ESL's.

Good luck keep us updated on your progress.

Welcome back, Joey! I can't give you much construction advice, but don't forget to start off by reflecting back on what you USED to have...
http://www.martinloganowners.com/fo...ening-session...&p=75468&viewfull=1#post75468

sleepysurf said:

Welcome back, Joey! I can't give you much construction advice, but don't forget to start off by reflecting back on what you USED to have...
http://www.martinloganowners.com/fo...ening-session...&p=75468&viewfull=1#post75468

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Alan... that brought back a flood of memories... thanks my friend!

The House Habit

Joey_V said:

Any recs on in walls?

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Hi Joey,

Welcome to the wonderful world of home improvement. Once the home habit has struck you will be hooked for life.

I am deep in the process of remodeling - combining two small bedrooms to make a new 11' x 21' HT / Music room. I just paid over 3K for a electrician, carpenter and then a dry-waller / plaster do their bit for my HT / Music room. Their work turned out great and really looks amazing and I believe it will sound even better. :music:

For the wall at the back of the old closet in my new HT / Music room, which is the wall next to my guest bedroom, I used special foam core sound proofing boards 4' x 8' x 2" on top of the existing dry wall covering the entire shared back wall. I then had installed on top of that sound proofing - sound board dry-wall 4' x 8' x 1/2" over the entire wall. But I did not stop their, I just completed installing 64 "Auralex" 1' x 1' x 2" foam sound damping panels over the entire wall and over much of the entry door to the new HT / Music room.

I believe what you put on top of the dry-wall is very important to the purity of sound as well. I would recommend ATS Acoustic wall treatments. I have ordered six ATS sound absorbing panels 24" x 48" x 2" in navy blue microsuede and beveled. I hope they will be delivered Monday.

In going through this process of creating a dedicated HT / Music room have discovered it is as important a component to beautiful sound as our ML speaker and as expensive.

I will post the complete process of my HT / Music room creation in my member system #57 thread when I am completed, hopefully by March 2013 or sooner, God willing and the creek don't rise.

Good luck with your project Joey.

Welcome back - enjoy building your second system.

Thanks guys.... I'm thinking in-walls for HT just to keep the media room de-cluttered and then a large 60 inch tv. After that, I was hoping to just fit in my 2 ch stereo in there, unless I get relegated to the game room upstairs. Or maybe I should enlarge the study and use that as my man cave.

At first, I was was supposed to get the entire media room for myself as a 2ch nirvana paradise, but my wife began to wonder if that was truly the best use of the space so I decided that it should be used as a public area. I think... that's the right thing to do.

OK... so several dedicated 20 amp lines, some cat5 cabling, in walls... a recessed room w/ some can lights in the right areas. What else? A ceiling fan to keep cool?

Joey,

Check out Triad in walls if you can.

GG

PS: There's a Triad dealer in Dallas called Theater Advice. Sounds like full fledged HT store complete with design capabilities, consulting, etc. Have fun.

Joey_V said:

I think... that's the right thing to do.

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I don't think that's the right thing to do. Media room can be anywhere. TV is just as enjoyable in the kitchen. In fact, your wife would probably prefer to be able to see the TV from the main rooms of the house.

I would definitely use whatever you decide as your freestanding mains as the l&r in the HT. I don't think there is a good reason not to and they will obviously sound far better than any cheap options. If you didn't, your in walls would end up behind your towers and would have terrible problems, I would think. Grab a good center for mounting over/under the screen and do in wall for surrounds.

Hocky said:

I would definitely use whatever you decide as your freestanding mains as the l&r in the HT. I don't think there is a good reason not to and they will obviously sound far better than any cheap options. If you didn't, your in walls would end up behind your towers and would have terrible problems, I would think. Grab a good center for mounting over/under the screen and do in wall for surrounds.

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Problem is that I cannot swing the purchase of a pair of Wilson Sashas right from the get go.... I think I may really need to fill the media room with in-walls for now, then fit the Wilsons in later on.

Wilsons, ugh!

well, if you want to combine systems, then the in-walls need to be placed high enough to clear the floor standing speakers. So that limits choices in both. For sure no gen 1-sized MLs

One way to assure no interference between HT and 2-ch speakers is to go all in-ceiling using good quality units from Triad or these from GoldenEar Invisa HTR7000

Do consider room treatments carefully, as supporting two modes of use in the same room can be tricky.

I usually prefer to do a single system, optimizing for what's most important. In my case surround audio. that results in a fairly clean system with room treatments optimized for that config.

An all same vendor set of quality L/C/R across the front can usually be paired with lesser 'stealth' in-walls as long as the HT setup supports a good Room Corrector (e.g. Audyssey MultEQ XT32). Many newer 2-ch pre's support HT pass through modes.

So couple a Marantz 8801 pre-amp with something like a Parasound P7 might do the trick, here's a thread on pre's with HT bypass

Joey_V said:

Problem is that I cannot swing the purchase of a pair of Wilson Sashas right from the get go.... I think I may really need to fill the media room with in-walls for now, then fit the Wilsons in later on.

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What?! No Martin Logans !! Are we going to have to banish our favourite kid from this forum?

You could always buy a pair of speakers for 2-channel and use headphones for HT. :music:

Jonathan, any comment on what Ivor Tiefenbrun used to maintain ? - That you should never have speakers in addition to the ones to which you are listening in the same room. I think that's what caused some retailers to set up single-speaker demonstration rooms.

Bernard said:

What?! No Martin Logans !! Are we going to have to banish our favourite kid from this forum?

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Shall I 'push the button' !! ......hey Joey, 'Pops' here, don't make me take you to the woodshed !

twich54 said:

Shall I 'push the button' !! ......hey Joey, 'Pops' here, don't make me take you to the woodshed !

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LOL!!! I knew that'd get your attention, Pops!