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We bought a new home with home theater pre-wired for 7 channel. I am not very familiar with home theater installation (basically, speaker installation). Could anyone recommend a home theater installer?
Appreciate your help
Acoustics, external: you will want to have this space isolated from the rest of the house, so you can really pump up the vol on the base. If you take a standard sheet rock wall, and add an additional layer of sheet rock on each side, and fill the space inside with foam insulation, you get a pretty significant amount of mass that will suffice for low-band attenuation, and it's pretty simple and cheap.
Power Supply & Conditioning: You will want to have the power that feeds this room to be on it's own circuit from your house breaker. Maybe even to feed a sub-panel depending on the room's amp requirements. But that isolates it from transients and such you get when you plug in a hefty motor like a vacuum cleaner.
If you add an extra layer of sheetrock, you need to consider how the electrical outlet boxes are attached to the studs. Most have the nails set at the standard 1/2" exposure, so they would be driven into the first layer of sheetrock instead of the stud. "Old work" boxes may be OK.
I don't understand adding a subpanel provides filtering for transients. It is just another panel fed by a breaker in the main panel. The "vacuum cleaner" filters usually incorporate some sort of a capacitor in them.
We bought a new home with home theater pre-wired for 7 channel. I am not very familiar with home theater installation (basically, speaker installation). Could anyone recommend a home theater installer?
Appreciate your help
If it is prewired, you probably don't need the help from an outside installer. This will save you some $$$$. You can post here as to what you have and what you want to do or you can send me a message and I can point you in the right direction. As said before, the AVSforum webiste is a great resource. It is a very large HT community and almost every subject is covered. You will also find out many more options for equipment that could offer you better performance and/or much less cost versus only looking at local options.
If you add an extra layer of sheetrock, you need to consider how the electrical outlet boxes are attached to the studs. Most have the nails set at the standard 1/2" exposure, so they would be driven into the first layer of sheetrock instead of the stud. "Old work" boxes may be OK.
I don't understand adding a subpanel provides filtering for transients. It is just another panel fed by a breaker in the main panel. The "vacuum cleaner" filters usually incorporate some sort of a capacitor in them.
Two other methods are to use resilient channels or green glue. Best yet, is to use them in combination. You can also consider mass loaded vinyl. When trying to isolate a room, you cannot have any weak points. Drywall joints should be staggered. All joints that come together need to be sealed (at the floor as well). The door to the room should be sealed (I used an insulated garage entry door with my last theater).
There is much more to say and more options available. For those interested, I would check out the ascoustic treatment thread under the AVSform construction section.
Yes, you can have someone do all this for you. However, it is not that hard and you can save huge $$$. At the end, you will have a theater that is better than anything you have seen and heard at a very affordable price.
If it is prewired, you probably don't need the help from an outside installer. This will save you some $$$$. You can post here as to what you have and what you want to do or you can send me a message and I can point you in the right direction. As said before, the AVSforum webiste is a great resource. It is a very large HT community and almost every subject is covered. You will also find out many more options for equipment that could offer you better performance and/or much less cost versus only looking at local options.
janster100,
Thank you for the reply.
I have not bought any speakers yet. I bought a receiver (Denon-1712, 7.1ch) though. Our home has pre-wired (with rectangular boxes - 3 in the front and 3 in the back for surround) locations for the speakers. I am not sure if I need to buy rectangular speakers or rounded ones. If I buy rounded speakers how can they be installed with the rectangular placeholders (I have not opened the covers to the rectangular placeholders). If you need more info I can send the pictures of those placeholders.
Other question I have is can I buy a 5.x ch speakers to go with the 7.1 ch setup that my home has? How easy it will be to get additional speakers if I go with 5.x ch speaker set (as I see mostly 5.x ch speaker sets in the market for less)
I have not bought any speakers yet. I bought a receiver (Denon-1712, 7.1ch) though. Our home has pre-wired (with rectangular boxes - 3 in the front and 3 in the back for surround) locations for the speakers. I am not sure if I need to buy rectangular speakers or rounded ones. If I buy rounded speakers how can they be installed with the rectangular placeholders (I have not opened the covers to the rectangular placeholders). If you need more info I can send the pictures of those placeholders.
Other question I have is can I buy a 5.x ch speakers to go with the 7.1 ch setup that my home has? How easy it will be to get additional speakers if I go with 5.x ch speaker set (as I see mostly 5.x ch speaker sets in the market for less)
Appreciate your time
I am assuming that the rectangular placeholders are what look like in-wall speaker grills. Yes, it would be helpful to have pictures. It is a personal choice to go with 5.1 versus 7.1. (long discussion). Yes, you can add the two additional channels later, but you will want to match the drivers in the speakers.
Send me a message with room measurements (and a diagram if possible) along with any pictures. You mentioned that you are doing this for a home theater. Will you be going with a flat panel or with front projection (and screen)? Do you have a sub or will you need that as well. Also, let me know what you want to spend on everything. Is you home pre-wired only for the speakers or is it pre-wired for the video as well (HDMI, etc.)? I will probably have more questions, but that is a good start.
Since you said you have the tech side down, here are a few non-tech considerations for converting a top floor, unfinished space in to a HT.
Acoustics, external: you will want to have this space isolated from the rest of the house, so you can really pump up the vol on the base. If you take a standard sheet rock wall, and add an additional layer of sheet rock on each side, and fill the space inside with foam insulation, you get a pretty significant amount of mass that will suffice for low-band attenuation, and it's pretty simple and cheap.
....
Power Supply & Conditioning: You will want to have the power that feeds this room to be on it's own circuit from your house breaker. Maybe even to feed a sub-panel depending on the room's amp requirements. But that isolates it from transients and such you get when you plug in a hefty motor like a vacuum cleaner. And on that circuit, make sure you have a quality lightning surge suppressor. If you aren't loading up the room with power hungry equipment and only have a flat screen + DVD + amp, then the power requirements may be low enough for you to utilize a computer type UPS battery/surge system. The prices for the big units have come way down, and at least you can be confident on the surge capabilities.
Quote:
Originally Posted by don6170
If you add an extra layer of sheet rock, you need to consider how the electrical outlet boxes are attached to the studs. Most have the nails set at the standard 1/2" exposure, so they would be driven into the first layer of sheet rock instead of the stud. "Old work" boxes may be OK.
I don't understand adding a sub panel provides filtering for transients. It is just another panel fed by a breaker in the main panel. The "vacuum cleaner" filters usually incorporate some sort of a capacitor in them.
Good catch about the concern for extra-thick walls. I know there must be a good cheap source for outlet boxes to go in double walls, as I work with architects who specify double-layered walls all the time for commercial buildings (kicks up the STC rating, used a lot in bathrooms, conference rooms and equipment rooms).
Adding the sub panel means that your sensitive equipment has a clean, unshared (fat-copper) wire back to the building ground so it's less subject to spikes when some heavy load is abruptly added. Also, most residences are wired for so many wall outlets per circuit, and so many circuits per box, but they are also designed for a total max amps per circuit that will probably be exceeded for a 'normal' circuit as used in a HT.
Adding the sub panel means that your sensitive equipment has a clean, unshared (fat-copper) wire back to the building ground so it's less subject to spikes when some heavy load is abruptly added. Also, most residences are wired for so many wall outlets per circuit, and so many circuits per box, but they are also designed for a total max amps per circuit that will probably be exceeded for a 'normal' circuit as used in a HT.
A sub panel is connected to the main panel using 4-conductor cable. The conductors are commonly known as hot, hot, neutral and ground. The sub-panel will contain individual breakers, the same as in the main panel. Each cable to a 120V outlet contains three conductors - hot, neutral and ground. There is no difference if that cable is fed from the main panel vs a sub-panel. Actually, there may be a slight difference. Adding the sub-panel adds resistance and losses, so it may actually be better to feed directly off the main panel (depending on cable sizes, run length and total voltage drop across the circuit).
The NEC makes no restriction on the maximum number of outlets per circuit. The maximum load is based on the breaker protecting that circuit. For outlets, it is typically a 20-amp breaker, meaning a maximum continuous load of 16 amps. In residential construction, they usually run circuits based on the location - eg a 20-amp circuit for each bedroom, etc.
The one thing a sub-panel does provide is the ability to run many more circuits than you may be able to feed from a main panel. For a HT, this could allow you to run several individual circuits to the equipment instead of having them share a single 20-amp circuit.
A sub panel is connected to the main panel using 4-conductor cable. The conductors are commonly known as hot, hot, neutral and ground. The sub-panel will contain individual breakers, the same as in the main panel. Each cable to a 120V outlet contains three conductors - hot, neutral and ground. There is no difference if that cable is fed from the main panel vs a sub-panel. Actually, there may be a slight difference. Adding the sub-panel adds resistance and losses, so it may actually be better to feed directly off the main panel (depending on cable sizes, run length and total voltage drop across the circuit).
The NEC makes no restriction on the maximum number of outlets per circuit. The maximum load is based on the breaker protecting that circuit. For outlets, it is typically a 20-amp breaker, meaning a maximum continuous load of 16 amps. In residential construction, they usually run circuits based on the location - eg a 20-amp circuit for each bedroom, etc.
The one thing a sub-panel does provide is the ability to run many more circuits than you may be able to feed from a main panel. For a HT, this could allow you to run several individual circuits to the equipment instead of having them share a single 20-amp circuit.
I'm not going to go back and fourth on the details of components or even design the bloody system for the OP. I was only trying to offer suggestions to him on items he should consider when looking into his HT. I presume he'd get a proper electrician (and probably a HT consultant) to do the room right.
I've never designed a Home Theater, (I have designed quite a few rooms housing sensitive and EXPENSIVE computers, and figured the concepts were pretty similar - except the OP probably isn't concerned about getting Tempest compliance! )
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