DIY Network

Project Home Theater Tour View DIY's finished built-from-scratch home theater. From "Home Theater" episode DHTW-105

In this final segment of Home Theater Workshop, homeowner Peter Moore finally gets a look at his dazzling new home theater!

After much hard work and fun, it's time for host Corey Greenberg to unveil the project home theater to homeowner Peter Moore, but first here's a capsule of how this unique space was built from scratch:

• The home theater was started from scratch with a concrete basement floor and bare walls.

• Then Corey, engineer Mark Midyett and Peter came up with a layout for the room and decided which wall would become the front of the room--the location of the big screen.

• The seating positions were figured out--two-thirds back from the big screen and one-third from the side walls.

• Media storage was put in the back and the video and audio components were placed in an adjoining room--out of site of the big screen.

• The room was framed, electrical wires run and equipment cables were installed for the projector, surround-sound system and all the electronics.

advertisement

	Figure A
	Figure B
	Figure C
	This is what the room looked like "before" the home theater project began, and...
	this is Peter's finished home theater!

• Alternating batt insulation (figure A) was used with panel insulation in all the stud bays, which does a better job of absorbing high frequencies in the room.

• Instead of attaching the drywall to the studs, "resilient channel" was used to make the walls more flexible.

• Layers of drywall were applied to give the walls and ceiling more mass to help with bass absorption in the room.

• A "floating floor" (figure B) was built to increase isolation, which improved the sound quality. The walls, floor and ceiling do "not" touch.

• With the basic construction completed, the walls were painted dark colors to reduce the reflection on the big screen.

• Thick carpeting was added to aid in the sound absorption.

• The doors were treated with sound barriers to keep the audio from leaking into other parts of the house.

• Basic plywood cabinets were constructed to house the subwoofers and media.

• To help tame the low and high frequencies in the home theater, acoustic treatments were built and installed (figure C).

• Surround sound was hooked up and the electronics were installed in a metal rack.

• The big screen went up.

• The front projector was hooked up.

• The projector and speakers were calibrated.

• And finally the remote control was programmed!

Q: [From Corey]--Well Peter, here we are--the finished home theater. How do the final results compare to your original dream?

A: Well, from the initial drawings on the screen porch to this--it's pure elation!

This finished room took careful planning, a little hard work and the dedication to create an incredible home theater--and the best part is that it's a project that any do-it-yourselfer can accomplish using tips from DIY's professional experts.

For more information on Home-Entertainment Upgrades, check out Fine Living's (one of DIY's sister networks) C/Net package!

RESOURCES :

Don Fillers & Assoc.
Website: www.dfasolutions.com

McDougall Bros. Construction, Inc.
Website: www.mcdougallbros.com

Belden CDT Electronics Division
Website: www.belden.com

Kinetics Noise Control
Website: www.kineticsnoise.com

Middle Atlantic Products, Inc.
Website: www.middleatlantic.com

Terratex Fabrics
Website: www.terratex.com

Lutron Table Lamp Dimmer with Remote
Lutron Electronics, Inc.
Website: www.lutron.com
Website: www.crutchfield.com

GUESTS :

Mark Midyett
Engineer/Designer
Don Fillers & Assoc.
1003 North Broadway St.
Knoxville, TN 37917
Phone: 865-523-4470
Website: www.dfasolutions.com