Room design - home theater


Hi all,

I am in the process of building an extension, 14 by 21 feet. I am deciding on the following ceilings..

1) Vaulted Ceiling, 8feet wall to 11feet center of the room
2) 9 feet Flat ceiling
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3) Cuffered ceiling with 8 feet on 4 sides and 9 feet center.

Please let me know if you have any inputs on differences between all these 3 ceilings in terms of music and home theater experience.

This room will be 80% music and 20% movies.

Thanks in advance.

Rodney
rodney01
PVC is an extremely easy material to work with if you want greater choices in wiring used 'in wall' for either power delivery or signal delivery.

otherwise power lines ought to be shielded at least.

I've noticed folks like JPS and others sell upscale electrical and signal wire expressly for use with 'in wall' situations.

There are 'socks' too out there for covering spkr wires and ICs, if needs be which will more closely match up with the flooring colors and decor.

There are also base board stand offs for racing wires behind it.

Another choice for racing wires across the surface of a wall or ceiling is the use of raceways. They can be painted to match the color of the surface they are affixed to and very easy to installÂ…. If things come down to that.

Lending creedance to the above post on overall room size, IF that's cast in stone now, simply adding free standing shelving on the rear wall might help there and add storage for software too, as well as doing triple duty for sound difusion. Too late for me there... my shelving - storage units are built into the rear wall and covered by drapes. Drapes also cover the same span on the opposite end of the room behind the main speakers.

you can hide a lot behind curtains! Stuff you wouldn't necessarily want exposed like sound panels, bass trap panels, a big screen, shelves, etc., and it's a nice look too.

They also difuse the sound if there is sufficient material to develop pleats and of course, the material's own degree of transparency... plus IMHO it makes the room far more natural and home like than recording studio looking.

On a ten foot wide length think at least double and better yet, triple that, for the drapery panels needed to cover it properly. Pleated and hooked are best suited for access behind them, but simple threaded or tabbed panels can do the job very well.
Thanks for the advice about curtains, Blindjim. I have a 100" screen that I'd like to cover when not viewing.

I built a small stage in front of the screen that my LCR amp sits on, so cabling to and from it can be hidden under the stage. For flexibility, small U-shaped channels that can be painted to match walls/baseboards do a nice job of hiding cables, and allow easy access when a change is needed. Cleaning up clutter in a HT/listening room greatly adds to its enjoyment IMO.

I've never seen the term cuffered ceiling, always coffered. I used a coffered ceiling with faux cross beams. The beams hide PVC that carries cables. Ceiling mounted spots controlled by a dimmer provide illumination yet don't wash the screen. The wall around the screen is covered in charcoal colored carpet as is the stage; the ceiling in front of the screen is covered in heavy black velvet.

db
db

Plenty of great ideas there...

it all sounds very nice. I am afraid to cover the screen wall with anything sound absorbent though.

My screen is hinged. It's bottom edge lifts up to expose double louvered bi-folds which open to a storage area in which... at some point... I'll migrate my HT or stereo gear.... once my dedicated ckts get moved.

A clean esthetic goes a long ways to make for a pro looking environment, no doubt.