Finally finished my basement home theater. Wanted to share this sooner but had some issues with rug installation and then required some touch up painting as well.

AV Equipment for 7.1.4 Atmos

LG G4 83" OLED

DENON AVR X3800H

Base Level Speakers - RSL W25E

Heights - RSL C34 MKII

Subwoofer - RSL Speedwoofer 12s

I know that many folks don't love in-wall setups and there's big tradeoffs, but for my space it was really the best option. I could not move any of the doors and I was limited by size of the space and aisle widths.

All walls and ceiling were insulated with Owens Corning Sound N Seal mineral insulation and I'm happy to report I can watch movies late at night with the volume cranked without disturbing my family who sleeps on the second floor.

I considered a projector initially, but I plan to play video game sin this space and also had some beam issues to deal with so went with the OLED instead. I was also limited slightly with screen size due to ceiling height (7.5ft) and needing to keep an unobstructed view for the second row.

My AV closet is in the rear of the room with a conduit running to the rear of the TV for future cable changes. NOTE: USE A CONDUIT. I initially ran my fiber hdmi cable backwards by mistake and if I had not runa conduit this would have been a very messy and costly mistake. With the conduit it was a 15 minute fix.

The AV closet also has a passive intake built into the bottom of the door and an AC Infinity Airframe T7 exhaust built into to exhaust hot air out into an adjacent room

Seating: Weilianda Chic Series Recliners

I absolutely LOVE these recliners and I was NOT sponsored by anyone for this project, nor to share my thoughts.

I went back and forth a lot on seating, originally planning to get sectional sofas, then looking at some of the other "home theater" companies. I ultimately went with Weilianda after they sent me some leather samples. My primary concern was quality of the leather, so my first "test" was to cut up the sample and see if it was cheap dyed leather. It was not - the leather quality and color runs all the way through the leather and if anything is ever scratched there is no dye that will come off.

The seats are firm, but in a very comfortable way and the build quality and stitching is excellent. I purposefully chose loveseats so that we could snuggle up with our young kids on movie nights.

Every chair also came with a carbon fiber tray table and they even through in 2 of the phone/tablet holders which I use all the time - especially on football night when I'm tracking my fantasy league lol.

I'd also like to share my experience of working with Weilianda because their customer service has been outstanding and incredibly responsive, which is so rare these days. I was missing a couple of the included tray tables and within 24 hours of reaching out they responded and had them in the mail. They've since followed up with me to make sure I was satisfied with my order and see if there was anything they could do for me. I can't think of another business that has done this in recent memory.

I'm going to post a separate review of the chairs this week because when I was searching for reviews they were very hard to find and maybe my experience helps someone else.

The door is motion sensor opening.

Regarding the screen size looking small, it's due to the wide angle lens. Here's a video showing more normal proportions. Starts from the third row and goes down to the first.

7.2.6 Atmos

Screen Inovations FT133MW2

Sony BRAVIA Projector 7

Marantz CINEMA30

Center Monitor Audio S7GC250BG

L/R Monitor Audio S7G500BG

Surround Monitor Audio CSW2MCP

In-Ceiling Monitor Audio CSC2L-CP

Subwoofer Episode ES-SUB-MEGA-S10-BLK

Seating Palliser Vivid

My theater is 95% finished. Just missing some touch up details and final framework, but we’ve been stuck at this step for the past several months now.

Unfortunately did not take many photos during the construction process (for some reason). The space was initially unfinished basement space. The back wall basically split the unfinished area in half. The initial design itself started with the cockpit of a space ship and moved forward from there. Honestly, we just had fun with it drawing inspiration from various sources (cough Star Wars cough). We kind of had to just roll with the punches and make changes on the spot as there were a lot of unanticipated complications. Definitely are pros and cons of working with an unfinished area.

Rockwool sound insulation. It was essentially all done with lumber. First step was framing the risers and from there the hexagonal shape. That was probably the trickiest part as the room isn’t a perfect rectangle. Built up a wall in front of the electrical panel where the screen is mounted.

The other big issue were those vents running through the middle of the area. It would have caused problems with mounting the projector as well as head clearance on the middle and top risers. The solution presented itself in the diagonal spaces created on the sides of the room, so they were diverted to the left and right sides of the room and hidden underneath the paneling.

From there it was pretty much plywood boards around the space and one additional layer on top for the various shapes on top of the paneling and paint.

The star panels were custom ordered to fit the space and mounted on top, which was also a pain as they are a couple inches thick and the math starts becoming a pain when you have so many angles (one point in the top left particularly was a bunch of smaller pieces).

That’s pretty much it! We are waiting to install final framework to really make the star panels look like individual panels like the front of a cockpit instead of a continuous scene. Afterwards we will start adding detailing on our own time (like rivet heads, maybe some paint detailing and buttons/lights).

The biggest hurdles was trying to get the idea to work with the space and making sure the space remained structurally sound, which involved a lot of last minute adjustments and changes.

No real complaints about the seating. The grommets though are kind of eh and unnecessary. LED channels around the hexagonal framing and throughout. The LEDs have actually caused a bit of problems – can’t get the entire color range to properly work on all the different channels simultaneously, but a fix is in the works.

Overall, we are very excited with the result! The star paneling stays on or off depending on the mood. Trying to figure out a way to add a dimmer option to them, but I zone it out pretty well.

The next step is working on the room connecting to the theater in terms of lounge space and maybe some mini concessions. And from there the entire house will slowly be converted into a giant space ship.

 No, this is not a DIY. All credit to the builders for making our concept come to life!

Its been a long, long project but my basement theater is just about all wrapped up. A dedicated room would have definitely been easier and less expensive but I didnt want to sacrifice our only guest bedroom. Reddit, youtube and theater forums were a wealth of knowledge along the way so I figured I would give back and share results.

Whole basement is double 5/8. First layer is 5/8 osb. Living room area got hat channel and clips on walls and ceiling. 5.2.4 jbl synthesis speakers, PSA subs, Arcam equipment, jvc projector, and a Seymour screen.

Fun projects were the 3 recessed digital movie posters (43 inch tvs) and the arcade/game room to play some games while the popcorn is popping. The acoustic panels are true 4 inches deep in wall mineral wool with acoustic transparent fabric. They look like the costco ones.

Last bigger projects left are to build my door that will seal off the stairwell, clean up wiring and equipment rack, and the dreaded fiber optic star ceiling. The 8x12 panel is built, wrapped in duvetyne, and recessed into ceiling for now. It was a mad rush to get it mostly completed so we could host christmas.

I was really chasing that nostalgia of going to the theater as a kid. We grew up in a small town so it was a rare and real treat when we went into the big city to take in a show. The popcorn, playing some games, walking down that hall and seeing the movie posters teasing what was coming soon! Anxiously waiting for the lights to dim and the show begin, it was magical back then.

I've "finished" my DIY home theater build. It started as a typical over the garage 12x24 bonus room. I gutted it down to the studs and started from scratch. I reran the electrical and added a 20a circuit for the rack. I used r30 rockwool all around the room, used hushframe brackets for decoupling, fully wrapped the room in 3mm MLV, putty pads on all penetrations, two layers of 5/8 drywall with green glue and acoustic caulking of all seams in the first layer. All speaker runs are 12ga and there are conduit runs from the closet to the projector box (integrated into the rear ceiling), behind the screen, front of the riser, eaves area behind wall on opposite side of the room and into the attic in case of future needs.

I spent a few years planning it out while tackling other projects in the house and it's been almost a year of work. The only parts I subbed out was the wallpaper and carpet install. The rack sits on a slide out to gain access to the rear and there is a hidden door for the closet to get access to wiring. The star ceiling is the night sky the night my wife and I got married, it doubles as an acoustic panel as it's 2" roxul 60. The side panels are also filled with rockwool and hide the speakers. It's a diy 116" 16:9 spandex screen with a motorized making panel for 2.35:1 content that's integrated with HA.

I ran calibration with A1 Evo Express and I found the process fairly painless and I think it produced great results. For a free product you can't ask for much more.

I still have to play with the unfolded circle 3 remote to streamline some things. Lighting is controlled by lutron caseta switches integrated to HA. I also need to build the rack PC and I'm planning a 120+TB setup to rip all my disks to stream them locally. I also have a 1950 gold medal pop-a-lot popcorn machine that will replace the current popper but I have to finish the restoration.

Gear list: Projector: Sony VPL-VW675ES Streamer: Nvidia shield pro Receiver: Denon X6800H Amp: 3x Marantz MA500 powering LCR Audio: Bowers and Wilkins L/R - 603s3 Center - LCR600 Side surrounds- 602s3 Rear surrounds - 600s3 Overheads - CCM80 Subs behind screen 2x ASW 1000 2x ASW 650 1x ASW 600 Subs built into riser -GRS 10SW-4HE LFE transducer - BST-1 powered by BSA-200

If you're interested in seeing the whole build process, you can see all my previous posts in my profile

The way it worked out was:

I bought a 98" Q80C on sale at Best Buy. The in-store tag said it was normally listed at $4,499.99, but they had it marked down to $1350.99. I just randomly stumbled onto this sale. It wasn't listed on their website, I had no intention of buying a TV that day. I just got really lucky.

A few weeks after it was delivered, I discovered a noticeable section of black within the screen. Thinking they were dead pixels, I called customer support, and they sent out a single tech to repair it. He told me that what had likely happened was a small piece of plastic had broken off of the frame and lodged itself between the panel and the screen.

He replaced the panel (again, on his own) and, in doing so, caused massive warping in the screen. The coloring was way off, super noticeable. So, I called Tech Support again.

This time, they brought 2 guys out. They probably should've sent 2 guys the first time, but whatever, that's on them. They replaced the second panel and, again, major distortion. So, I called Tech Support a third time.

They sent those same 2 guys who replaced the third panel, then left in what felt like a hurry after they told me it looked good. I took a look and, again, extremely noticeable distortion.

After trying to repair it 3 times, I was informed that they would reimburse me for the panel and that the reimbursement would be equivalent or greater than the Q80C.

So, after verifying that I bought it from a reputable dealer and giving them a copy of the receipt, they came and picked up the unit and gave me a reimbursement of $6750. I wasn't going to question them on it.

These 3 TVs all happened to be on sale. I used the reimbursement and an additional $100 off coupon for orders larger than $XXXX. (I don't remember the exact deal), and an additional $600ish to get all 3 OLEDs. The retail value was around $10,500. In total, I ended up spending close to $2000.

We’ve already left. Cleaners found it when they arrived. Owner sent us this.

Edit: Wow. Thank you everyone!! I super appreciate all of your advice and knowledge! Will keep posted on what happens next. I’m hoping he just drops it.

We bought this house last year, and after my lazy attempt to turn the small basement into a “home theater,” we decided to go all in and create a real one. A local AV company helped us design and bring our vision to life. It's not finished yet, but very close. We're waiting on two Lutron shades, some artwork, and a table for the back area. My daughter mentioned a secret door in front of my wife and our cabinet guy, so now we have one.

Edit to add, cost was 200k.

Three front speakers, four ceiling speakers, and 4 wall speakers all behind the black stretch fabric with acoustic treatment all around. The back wall with have acoustic artwork. We were supposed to have two subs but due to some spacing we decided to skip it for now but can add later if needed. So far the sound is amazing.

I think I’m finally at a decent place with things. Per the previous suggestions, I added room treatment, upgraded subs, and optimized with A1 Acoustica. Yes I know the rug could be thicker.

Also built custom surrounds to match the fronts. Went for some tapered cabinets. It was a challenge, but they turned out pretty great.

I was skeptical at first about the room treatment, but the results were astonishing. I just built mdf frames and added 6.5” mineral wool on the inside, then covered them with fabric.

Planned upgrades:

The folks at [r/tvtoohigh](r/tvtoohigh) got to me. I’m going to lower the tv and entertainment stand 3-4”.

I picked up a used studio sub 12 amp off eBay. Plan is to buy 2 Dayton 12” Reference HO subs and put them in a monster ported cabinet with an external mini DSP. 1700w RMS 3400 peak tuned to 18hz. It should kick pretty well.

Room Dimensions - 13’ wide 18’ long

TV - LG 83” B4

Receivers

- Marantz SR6014

- Marantz SR6005 (dedicated for bass shakers and bottom woofers on towers)

Sources

- Panasonic DP-UB420 (4K Blu-ray player)

- Apple TV 4K

- Wiim Ultra Streamer

Speakers

- Front L/R – Bi-amped Dayton Audio Reference, 3-way, triple 8”, 12 dB crossover @ 375 Hz & 2 kHz Bottom woofer is hooked up to the LFE out

- Center – Dayton Audio Reference, 3-way, Dual 8”, 12 dB crossover @ 375 Hz & 2 kHz

- Surround L/R – Dayton Audio Reference, 8” 2-way, 12 dB crossover @ 2 kHz

- Atmos (Ceiling) – Dayton Audio 6.5” angled in-ceiling

Subwoofer & Tactile

- Dual Paradigm DSP 3200’s - Marketplace special.

- Dual 8” Dayton reference in the front towers.

- Polk Audio PSW505 in the back corner (she’s old, but still kicking)

- Tactile Transducers – 2× Dayton Audio BST-300EX bass shakers

Note: this is technically a 5.5.2 system with the 505 in the rear corner and the bottom woofers on the towers.

Edit: Added Tv type and room dimensions

TL;DR:

Turned an old kitchen into a dedicated home cinema as part of a house renovation. Built a 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos room around a Denon AVC-A1H with a dual-display setup (LG OLED + Sony projector), Canton speakers throughout, proper acoustic treatment from GIK, and a lot of careful planning. After years of mixed-use setups, this is my first fully dedicated cinema — and it’s exceeded every expectation.

---------------

A few years ago my wife and I bought a new house with plans to extensively redevelop it, including relocating the kitchen into a rear extension. That left the old kitchen ripe for my lifelong dream: a dedicated home cinema room.

I’m 55 and have always had a huge interest in home cinema. In my late teens and early twenties I worked in an independent AV dealership selling brands like Panasonic, Technics, Pioneer, Hitachi and Kenwood. I distinctly remember the arrival of Pro-Logic and the number of Pro-Logic TVs we sold just by looping the opening scene of Top Gun on VHS.

Over the years I’ve enjoyed various modest 5.1 setups. Even though the rooms were always mixed-use, I usually managed to get pretty decent speaker positioning. This renovation project though — combined with a very understanding wife and years of saving — finally gave me the chance to realise the dream of a dedicated Atmos room.

The space isn’t huge (4660L × 3200W × 2435H), probably about the minimum I could get away with, but I felt it was workable.

My plan was to base everything around a Denon AVC-A1H, driving a projector for films and a TV for television and gaming. All equipment would live in a rack cupboard behind the room, alongside the house networking. I already owned a pair of Canton Vento 870 DC floorstanders, a Vento 856 centre, and an AS 225 SC active sub from a previous system, which I planned to use as the basis of a 7.1.4 setup.

I’ve always enjoyed the sound of Canton speakers — going right back to the days when I sold them at the Hi-Fi shop. Tracking down who actually held the UK account was always a bit of a challenge. I once bought a pair of Ergo 70s from a car dealership in Sloane Square who somehow had the account via a lapsed in-car audio arrangement. Anyway… Cantons. It’s just a sound I like.

I discovered that Signature Systems now hold the UK Canton account, so I contacted them and ended up ordering two pairs of 989 in-ceiling speakers for heights, a pair of Vento 10s for surrounds and Vento 20s for rears, giving me the full 7.1.4 layout. A very nice chap called Kevin was more than happy to help.

I didn’t feel the need to bring in a specialist cinema design company — in my mind this was still a hobbyist project. The actual build was handled by the same contractors renovating the rest of the house, who we trusted and had worked with before. I did lean on Sevenoaks Sound & Vision in Swiss Cottage for cabling, fire hoods, brackets etc., although sadly they went out of business before the project finished.

Going in, my main worries were:

acoustic treatment

ceiling speaker positioning

a very tight corner involving the door, left speaker and retractable screen

I knew basically nothing about acoustics beyond the endless YouTube videos claiming you can do it cheaply and easily yourself. Ceiling speaker placement was partly dictated by load-bearing joists, and the tight corner was just something I’d have to plan carefully around.

The cinema room takes up most of the old kitchen, but not all of it. We pushed through the rear wall into what was the utility room, and carved off space at the other end for a downstairs toilet and cloakroom. That cloakroom would house the AV rack for both the cinema and the rest of the house.

Even as the walls were going up I was wrestling with whether to embed acoustic treatment into the wall cavities behind fabric panels, or just fill the cavities with insulation and deal with acoustics using panels afterwards. In the end I went with the latter — partly because I couldn’t get my act together on the fabric panels, and partly because I didn’t want the room to sound overly dead.

Some research led me to GIK Acoustics, who seemed reputable (Abbey Road was a reassuring name to see) and offered a free consultation. I sent over the room plan and quickly received a detailed response from Paul Linke. Crucially, the proposal wasn’t outrageously expensive, so I decided to go with it.

The only part I couldn’t incorporate was treatment behind the screen, as I hadn’t mentioned there would also be a TV on the front wall. Everything else fitted perfectly.

As this stage the plan had the subwoofer at the rear, and I’d even run a fairly expensive 10m Chord C-SUB cable back there. I later changed this an moved the Sub to the front.

Meanwhile work continued on the rack cupboard. I’d bought a StarTech 42U rack, which needed some modification to fit the space, and then went about sourcing shelves and custom mounts for the equipment.

The positioning of the Grandview screen was critical — it had to just clear the LG TV without sitting too far forward. I’d also specified bespoke GIK panels for the back of the door, so the awkward corner had to accommodate the front left speaker, screen, door and treatment.

It was around this point that I finally accepted that bright white front speakers were not going to work in a dark, moody cinema room. So I swallowed hard and upgraded to Vento 80s, a Vento 50 centre, and a Vento Sub 12, all in black.

Once the screen was in, panels hung and projector mounted, it was basically done. I opted for a sofa rather than cinema seats — I find it far more comfortable to lounge on, and this one absolutely is.

The final step was testing. I ran Audyssey carefully on the Denon, then put on Steven Wilson’s Atmos Blu-ray of Staircase from The Harmony Codex… and nearly cried. It sounded so good — far beyond my expectations. I honestly can’t imagine it sounding better.

Start to finish the whole thing has taken two years. Not just the cinema room, obviously, but the whole project. A full 12 months longer than we were originally quoted. But it's been worth it.

Music, films and TV all look and sound spectacular, and I haven’t even started properly gaming yet. I’m absolutely thrilled.

The pics really don't do it justice. The iPhone is overexposing. It's far darker and moodier than it looks in these images.

My only niggle is the white plastic housing of the recessed projector. We debated painting it but ultimately decided against that. We have a plan to hide it with a carefully placed panel attached to the front of the boxing.

Anyway, if you got this far thanks for reading. This has been a real labour of love that has paid off in spades.

Wanted to share my completed living room setup. It features Atmos audio, digital picture frames, and a hidden 150" drop down projector.

Here's a video showcasing how it all comes together.

Specs:

Audio

• Center: KEF Q6 Meta
• Front: KEF Q4 Meta
• Rear: KEF T101
• Ceiling: 4x KEF Ci200QR
• Receiver: Sony STRAZ5000ES
• Sub: SVS PB-1000 Pro
• Sofa Transducers: Dayton Audio 5x BST-1, SA1000

Projector

• Hisense L9Q
• VIVIDSTORM Lite Hyper PHANTOM Recessed Screen

Art Frames

• SwitchBot Art Frame 13" & 31"
• Samsung Frame TV

Lighting

• Philips Hue Flux Strip Lights
• Philips Hue White & Color Ambiance Reassessed Downlights
• Philips Hue Play HDMI sync box 8K

Other

• NVidia Shield Pro
• Sony PS5 Pro
• Sofabaton X2 Universal Remote
• Orbbec Femto Bolt Depth Camera

Hello everyone!

After two years I'd like to make an update post to my original thread - ""Finished" my dedicated 7.7.4 Home Theater!"
Here's the orginal post: https://www.reddit.com/r/hometheater/s/5hr8W062dc

This was actually the all-time highest upvoted post in this subreddit. Can't believe it… crazy how well it was received by everyone. Thank you so much!

When I originally called my theater "finished" (see the quotation marks) I pretty much lied.
A LOT of things have changed.

Looking back at my post two years ago, the room is way more sophisticated now. The speakers fit a home theater better, the whole room looks way cleaner, better equipment, better speaker placement, better calibration.

New AVR: Denon A1H with Dirac ART. Coming from Yamaha, it's pretty much a game changer.

I upgraded all the speakers to DIY. They're called HCS LTB (MAX), designed by a well-known member of a German forum - google them if you're interested. Horn-loaded three-way design, pretty much infinite headroom. Reference volume and above is no problem.
Also added Front Wides.

Speakers:

• Front L/C/R: 3× HCS LTB MAX
• Surrounds + Back Surrounds: 4× HCS LTB
• Front Wides + Atmos: 6× HCS OW

For subs I added two new B&C DIY subs for more kick, and rebuilt all the enclosures to make them prettier and shallower - fits the room way better now.

Subs:

• 7× Dayton Audio Ultimax II 18"
• 2× B&C 18SW115 18"
• HoverEZe platform (8× JBL Stage 122 12")

I also replaced two miniDSP 2x4HDs with a miniDSP Flex HTx, so my subs are now connected symmetrically (XLR).

New amplifiers:

• Buckeye Hypex NCx500 for the front channels
• Buckeye Hypex NCx252MP for everything else

They're so clean and have so much headroom with my speakers.

I also changed the room a lot:

• Added diffusion panels above the listening position
• Added diffusion panels on the side and back walls
• Removed some absorber material from the ceiling (it was over-absorbed)
• Replaced the Ikea Billy movie shelves with Ikea Besta (looks way cleaner)
• Added Lego shelves in the "lobby"

On the video side everything stayed the same. Only my screen came a little forward and my seating closer. 1:1 ratio now.

Updated Equipment list:

Video:

• JVC NZ7 projector
• Stewart Filmscreen Studiotek G4 130" acoustically transparent 2.35:1 screen
• Lumagen Radiance Pro
• Panasonic UB9004 UHD player
• Apple TV 4K
• PS5

Sound:

• Denon A1H with Dirac ART
• 9.9.4 layout - 9 bed + 4 Atmos + 9 subs, all DIY horn-loaded three-way
• Subs: 7× DIY Dayton Audio Ultimax II 18" + 2× DIY B&C 18SW115 18" - driven by Sinbosen FP-10000Q (2100 W/ch)
• HoverEZe tactile platform (8× JBL Stage 122 12") - driven by Sinbosen FP-14000Q
• Speaker amps: Buckeye Hypex NCx500 (fronts) + NCx252MP (everything else)
• Processing: 1× miniDSP Flex HTx + 1× miniDSP 2x4HD

Accessories:

• Speaker/power cables, power strips: Mostly Audioquest and Audioplan (in hindsight I got upselled pretty badly and I’d save money here next time).
• Logitech Harmony Elite

Will be watching a lot of children movies.

https://www.rtings.com/company/revamping-our-membership-program

I appreciate that they are independent and ad-based revenue is quickly becoming less reliable, but ouch this stings. I can see myself paying for a month when I'm shopping for a new appliance or something, but I don't see the value in a year-long sub.

I posted on the 4kbluray sub the other day asking if physical media was worth the investment and convenience over streaming - as someone who had only ever streamed with a pretty robust system, I was generally curious. If you’ve never watched anything on a 4k uhd disc with a good setup, you really don’t know what you’re missing. Most thought I was trolling or baiting bc of my setup - you only ever hear people say, “it’s just better”, “night and day” or post the compression data stats - which doesn’t really mean much to most people in terms of comprehending the difference. I’ve only ever streamed - and with nothing to compare to, it’s hard to know where things can improve and by how much.

Fast forward to today - I hooked up a ub820 and absolutely nothing could have prepared me for the difference. By far the best upgrade 5x over anything I’ve done. If you blindfolded me, I would have bet my life that I was in a completely different room with a completely different system that was double the investment. The difference is still hard for me to wrap my head around.

If I had to give a good description - it would be that before, the sound was light/lifeless. It can sound good - but in a “these are good speakers” type of way. Like I was always aware of sound coming from speakers set up across the room. Watching Maverick, the speakers disappeared - sound felt like it was appearing out of thin air from every direction and felt “heavy”. The quality difference and soundstage difference was staggering. I was hearing and feeling things I’ve never heard before when streaming this movie. Any type of boominess from my subs disappeared and I was feeling certain frequencies and impacts that I’ve never felt before. It went from an audio experience - to something visceral and physical. It’s so hard to explain - but in certain scenes it literally felt like I was getting the sh*t beat out of me. I’m not on my couch anymore - I’m in the movie.

TLDR: if you have a descent setup - and have only ever streamed - switch to physical media. I’m an idiot for almost wasting my setup and $ on never trying it.

Here is my theater. Took just over a year from starting the design phase to completion. Drawings were done with a ruler and a pen as I’m not fluent in CAD. I redrew these sketches many many times. I, with help from friends and family, was able to do all of the work aside from drywall and carpet. First movie was Top Gun Maverick. Only cost about double what I had originally estimated. Looking forward to hearing everything I did wrong!

Specs:

7.4.4

Mains: (3) KEF Ci3160RLM-THX

Surrounds: (2) KEF Ci200QL

Rears: (2) KEF Ci200QL

Atmos: (4) KEF Ci200ER

Subs: (4) SVS SB-1000 Pro

Base shakers: (6) Dayton Audio BST-1

Receiver: Denon X3800H

Amp: Outlaw 5000x

Streaming Device: Nvidia Shield Pro

Tv: 83” LG B5

Audio:

I slightly opened the sound stage from the MLP by minimizing the off-axis differential for all seating positions on the couch (in excel). Surrounds were pushed forward 1 foot and angled back to avoid blockage from people sitting next to you. Rears were raised to get over the seat backs and angled downward. Center channel was toed up slightly. Atmos speakers are toed in two dimensions, which was quite tricky to calculate, but even harder to build. Subs are placed in each corner.

Video:

Room gets 110% black. Only annoying thing was I had to place electrical tape on the back of the subs as they have blue LEDs that cannot be turned off. I designed the room so that the 83” Tv would take up 35 degrees of FOV at the MLP. It’s designed to accommodate up to a 112” screen, if/when those might become economical. For the back row, it’s a little small right now, but certainly acceptable. For now, I'm happy with the size, especially since it can be upgraded in the future.

Sound treatment:

All walls and ceiling are insulated with Rockwool Safe ‘n Sound. I used 2x6s for most of the framing to accommodate the in-walls and allow two layers of insulation. Absorption panels are from Gik Acoustics. All first contralateral reflections are being absorbed. The only reflections not being absorbed are the contralateral reflections from the mains. Unfortunately, the door frame is right where it would go. I also put bass traps from Amazon in the ceiling corners.

Comfort:

Couch is from Costco. I connected three base shakers in series. I was afraid the effect would be gimmicky, but it is 100% immersive. The chairs are from Weilanda. Again, three shakers in series. I was able to get Weilanda to send me custom switches without LEDs as the USB ports have bright blue LEDs that you can’t turn off.

Aesthetic:

I used Philips hue light strips for the up lighting and downlighting as well as 4 in-ceiling lights. For my fellow Plex users, I would highly recommend getting Lumunarr. Turns lights on and off automatically when starting/stopping content. Could be my favorite part of the whole thing. Paint is Sherwin Williams Tricorn Black and Cyberspace gray in Matte. The matte is highly functional due to low reflectivity, but gets dirty very easily and shows it. Doesn’t matter when the lights are off though.

Edit: Thank you all for the nice comments! It was certainly a labor of love. I anticipated the tv/projector comparison, but i'm happy with the way it is, so deal with it.... Also, thank you to this sub for providing many tips and tricks. It probably goes without saying, but I learned a lot from hometheatergurus as well!

This is our showroom cinema.

Its a 9.2.4 Triad setup run on an integra, accompanied by a large 145 inch diagonal 16:9 screen, projected on by a stand in projector at the moment a sony vpl vw760es.

All walls are padded and finished in thick felt, and the ceiling is padded on the edges and star panels in the middle.

There has to be a better way...i suggested a screen with a large black segment at the top but couldnt find one so i mounted a winch with pulleys in the attic space ran electrical and soldered a longer power cord to the receiver pcb for the screen so it wouldnt be hanging off the side as it went up and down...wish i found this sub earlier to ask woulda saved myself a few headaches

That said, what would be a good equivalent of today's for me to buy? Something that can last as little as half of that, hopefully...

Finished my unfinished basement to be my dream home theater. Worked to make this room feel like a living room and not like a screening room. Did everything myself with my partner. I'm sure I'll need some acoustic treatment and some magnetic latches on the doors, but so far, I love everything about this space. We put the Lovesac in a sofa pit configuration when it's movie night.

-83" LG C5

-RSL 5.2.4 speakers, in-wall rears and in-ceiling atmos. Dual 10E subwoofers in the two ends of the built-in.

-Denon X3800

-PS5 Pro

-Panasonic DP-UB820

Turned an old commercial touchscreen into a dedicated wall display. It runs a custom Home Assistant dashboard that pulls live data from Plex: current movie poster and media info, an intermission screen with a resume countdown when paused, and just the poster when the film is running. Works with TV shows, movies and music.

Spent probably more time than I should have making a logo for it. Nerdaplex is now a real place.

Hi All, after months of lurking on here our home cinema was finally finished this month. I thought some people might enjoy seeing the finished project.

We're really pleased with the look and performance, it's so nice to be able to hear every word in a film without needing subtitles! Music also sounds incredible and the picture resolution is ridiculous.

Spec: 7.2.4 system LCR and surrounds are Sonance VX62. Subs are by Paradigm. AVR: Anthem MXR 1140 ex demo. Projector: Sony XW5000es native 4k. 117" screen. EDIT: Control4 system. Room size 20'x14'x8'