Lessons Learned & Links

May 5, 2002

Lessons Learned
I just thought to add this section to compile some of the more useful lessons I learned during this process. So, here they are. I'll add things as I think of them.
Things to Do
·        Measure everything again. Once you have your plans done, measure all your equipment and make sure it will fit. Rework is costly. Also make sure your plans aren't missing anything major, like the sconces in our case.
·        Build a place for a refrigerator.
·        Put your equipment behind a door or cabinet. A lot of equipment these days has fans and is noisy and generates a lot of heat. Ventilate the back of the rack.
·        Build a projector box if you are going to use a noisy projector. Ventilate your projector box.
·        Build plenty of HVAC capacity in your theater. When lots of people are in there, it gets warm quickly.
Things NOT to Do
·        Don't choose the wrong fabric, and don't count on your fabric installer to tell you if you do. We chose a fabric probably too thin and as a result there are uneven sections in the fabric. I would have hoped our installer would have steered us away from the fabric, but they didn't. So you should check around and make sure other people have had good results with the fabric you choose.
·        Don't expect your theater to be quiet in other nearby parts of the house if you don't build a "room in a room." The bass from the sub will travel. You can reduce it with insulation and other techniques, but you will still hear it. Most of the purpose of the sound treatments is to make the theater sound like a real theater and to keep noise out.
Useful Links and Other People's Theaters
Here are some links to sites I found useful for ideas on construction or design.
Atlanta Digital Television Atlanta Home Theater Group  AVScience Construction Pages  AVS Forum  Darren Alcorn's "Academy" Home Theater  Jessika Thomasson's Cinemax