Home theater: how important in new home?
Hudson Valley Carpenter
| Posted in General Discussion on
If you were building a new home for your family, would you put any serious thought and money into a home theater? Or is that just a way to get everyone arguing about what to watch?
Assuming that there’s a good sized recreation room downstairs, where everyone can play and interact, is it wiser to put a medium sized TV in the main floor living area and one in each bedroom?
Edit: Please explain what’s behind your choice?
Edited 3/13/2008 10:32 pm by Hudson Valley Carpenter
Replies
My take as a HO:
This is your home or a spec home? In your home put in a home theatre if you want one, don't if you don't. Keep in mind how much (and where) you watch TV now, and don't expect the theatre to change your habits much.
In a spec home, if it's above a certain price point, make it "home theatre ready". Folks will want to buy their own equipment anyway, if they want the theatre.
I phrased the question so that the answers would reflect the experience and desires of the person responding. I'm trying to guage how significant a single purpose room of this nature is to others, particularly those with families.
My humble opinion.
One central Theater that will accommodate the
whole family, but will be cozy for a couple.
Create away area's that one can be alone.
There are more and more personal, portable media devices,
we won't need a TV sitting in every room, we'll
have our own.
Hey Hudson Valley Carpenter,
Depends on the house, and client.
Current house I'm building has Media Room wired for 8 speakers, MBR wired for 8 speakers, and living room wired for 8 plus 4 on the deck with rheostat volume control outside, for each pair of speakers.
All locations have both cable and Cat-5e located above the fireplaces where the big screens will be located. Also, all media circuits are dedicated ground, i.e. single outlet home runs back to the electrical panels, to minimize grounding interference from stuff on other outlets.
Every room in the house has 2 cable, Cat-5 and phone outlets, at least.
This is what they wanted, this is what they got. They asked about fiber optics, but I pointed out that there is no accepted industry standard, (no 'universal' standard), so they could be buying the 2008 version of a Sony Betamax.
If the house is worth less than a million dollars, I have no idea. I do see a fair amount with a media rooms wired. The trend towards wireless internet is meaningless to a lot of my clientele, many of whom are forbidden by corporate policy to sign in to work on a wireless network. Apparently the corporation can tell, and they can't get on.
skipj
If I were building a house for myself, it would include a "family room".
I might try and incorporate a space in the basement in which to build a home theater somewhere down the road...but it would not be a priority.
Our family room...smaller than what I would build new....is set up to allow (and encourage) my entire family (2 adults, 4 children) to spend time together watching TV/movies, listening to music, lounging by the fire, playing video/board games, and the like.
I plan to wire it for surround sound in the future....but it will never be a dedicated home theater.
The home theater will come down the road aways and will be located off of the wine cellar.
Did I mention my plan to hit the lottery?
J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
Pp, Qq
Thanks J.D.
That's just the kind of answer I'm looking for.
We just moved into our new home, and I gave little thought to a media room or home theater. Everyone has different musical tastes, I don't even have a stereo system or whatever you call it these days. We have a 10-year-old 27" standard TV with a DVD player and VCR attached, in a corner of the living room, and that's it. My oldest daughter has a small portable TV/DVD combo in her room, and my oldest son watches DVDs on his laptop.
We do have a 16x14 "room" under the master bedroom, which in the long term, I do plan on turning it into a home theater or entertainment room of some sort. Basic wiring for surround sound, modest flat-screen TV, basic receiver and components. The soundproofing will be the fun part. Probably let the kids hook up an xbox or whatever the latest trend is at the time. I expect my oldest, who is 16, will be out of the house by the time I get that done.
Thanks Jon, I'm glad to hear that it's not an essential room, one that needs to be on the same level with the bedrooms.
BTW, I have a modest sized LCD HDTV, a 27" from Olevia which I bought from http://www.compusa.com on sale at $400, more than a year ago. It adapts easily to become a computer monitor and will, of course, screen both computer games and X-Box stuff.
I don't have cable, just receive broadcast stations on rabbit ears. It's an amazing improvement, particularly for sports, movies and nature/travel specials on PBS, all of them in HD of course. The TV has a great picture and has worked very well.
You already have a shop?
If your view never changes you're following the wrong leader
Nope. That's first, then the entertainment room. Right now that space is filled with lumber and tools.
Shop annex.
If your view never changes you're following the wrong leader
Hudson
I kind of agree with JD's down the road approach building a house is expensive to start, The one thing I would do is prewire the room for speakers 5 or 7 surround sound before sheet rock so a system can be added in the future. If it is to be a dual purpose room like a family room, design it so the shape and ratio of length and width is favorable to a home theater, I have no idea what that would be.
For resale value remember DVD sale and rental receipts out did actual box office sales last year. For a family of 4 going to the movies at non discount times can run us 50 bucks, in your area probably more like 75. Makes a red Box dvd look like robbery at a dollar a night.
You also need to think how you watch tv my wife and I tend to do it while doing other things making dinner, cleaning house, folding laundry etc. The kids sit and watch movies more then us.
Wallyo
Edited 3/14/2008 9:46 am ET by wallyo
Don't prewire, just install conduit.
If your view never changes you're following the wrong leader
Good idea Dan, can you use the blue flex stuff for that or is rigid plastic or metal better?
...my wife and I tend to do it (watch television) while doing other things...
Same here. I'm not a big movie guy myself, so I'm sure that has translated to my kids viewing habits. Every now and then, we'll have a "pizza/movie" night and rent one of the animated/Pixar flicks. Aside from that..most of my television watching consists of sports while I'm reading.
I love the idea of a home theater....a room dedicated to an oversized screen, with incredible surround sound....watching the latest blockbuster with a bucket of popcorn. But reality is, it would likely end up receiving as much use as the jacuzzi (that I talked my wife out of) would have.
J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
Pp, Qq
JD thank for the clarification on the "DO IT" part! With out it we would sound pretty sad!Wallyo
LOL.
It didn't catch my attention when reading your post...but when I cut and pasted your quote, I was like whoa! Better clarify that line out of context.
J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
Pp, Qq
Thanks for the info and your point of view Wallyo,
My new home will have a lot of space available on the walk-out basement level so I've been considering how to best use it. Recreation room/gym, home theater, work shop; how much space to devote to each?
I'm inclined to leave a large space, say 16X24, for the multi-purpose workshop, installing an 8' garage door for limited access by cars and other motor driven vehicles.
That would leave a similar sized area for a home theater and a recreation room.
Only the workshop is of real interest to me during the first couple of years so I could easily leave the other side unfinished.
This thread is an attempt to understand how strongly people feel about having a high tech home theater and where it would best be located.
I would be inclined to believe that a room set up for a home gym....even if only minimally adorned....would be of greater interest to potential buyers in this day and age, than would a home theater.
Unless of course you are going to completely outfit the theater room and include its components upon sale of the house.
J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
Pp, Qq
At this point I'm only planning on living in this home for two or three years. Like you, I'm more interested in a gym space than the home theater. And I wouldn't put any money into setting up a theater.
I'd leave the 16X24 space open for whatever purpose became important; gym, recreation, TV..whatever fit.
It's worth noting that the living room on the top/main floor will also be 16X24 and probably contain a TV as well.
BTW, after getting well reasoned opinions about the significance of natural light in secondary bathrooms, yours among them, I decided to start this thread to help me decide where to place the home theater.
I had previously assumed that younger people were serious enough about high tech viewing that the home theater should be placed among the bedrooms, on that level. As it turns out, you all are showing me that it's not that significant so I can place it in the basement.
That change makes it possible to rearrange the four bedrooms so that both of the children's bathrooms will be private and have a good sized window. Only the guest bedroom will have a windowless bath, not a big deal IMO, particularly considering that it will be dedicated to that bedroom.
Edited 3/14/2008 10:46 am by Hudson Valley Carpenter
That change makes it possible to rearrange the four bedrooms....
Sounds like a win/win.
I can't imagine that too many folks would prefer the theater room on the same level as the main living quarters.
At this point it's still a luxury for MOST people.
And I don't see the windowless bathroom off of the guest bed as quite the issue the two childrens bath may have presented.
J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
Pp, Qq
To me a 16 x 24 space sounds like a real good proportions for a future home theater should one want one. Incorporate Dans conduit idea, I can see the realtors flier "family room is pre conduited for home theater system".Though Frenchy is right there are wireless speakers, higher end systems still use wire, I guess less interference from other cordless devices.Here 80% of houses have crawl spaces, footing bottom needs to be two feet down. People are starting to realize space under there house is valuable and people are starting to ask for basements, as land prices, rise smaller lots and they want bigger houses. With height constraints they only way is down. But my point is in my location that is why you find BONUS ROOMS/ HOME THEATERS on the second floor because of the crawl space. A lot of house plans used have two story house with one story garage. The garage area becomes the "BONUS ROOM ABOVE GARAGE OPTION hence second floor home theater.If it is Okay to use the blue low voltage flex conduit all you need is one or two loops wrapping around at a given height then someone could cut in anywhere if drywalled and put in a low voltage frame and pull wire to it. leaves options open for TV placement. Sounds like you will leave the space unfinished so more for the next guy reading this.Wallyo
Wallyo
Edited 3/14/2008 11:55 am ET by wallyo
Wallyo, the simple way to approach the home theater questions; when, where, which direction, how big, etc., is to just leave the area unfinished.
WAs editing my post to address that some what, while you posted this we overlapped.Wallyo
As long as the BI and the electrical inspector will let me live with an unfinished basement, I'll be OK.
If not I can simply hang the rock with screws but leave it untaped. If I do it with 8' stand-ups, it'll be easy to remove and replace.
I have my basement mostly finished. The pool table and "big screen tv / surround sound" are all in the same room. If I'm running that tv, most likely it's gonna be a party going on and therefore, the space is needed. The speakers are all prewired and wall/ceiling installed. But there is still access to the back of that room (thru a drop ceiling on the other side of the wall) for future issues.
Besides a spare bedroom or two, really think about how it will be used. Besides a shop area, storage rooms, and extra closets, we guys need a poker room. Good ventilation, lighting, refrigerator at arm's length, multiple tv's up at the ceiling line all around ther room, a sink/bar facility. Something like this:
View Image
There's a refrig just off to the right and another tv over it... From the opposite view:
View Image
All you gotta do is send in a modulated feed from the security camera for the street traffic, and you're all set.
That's the nicest card room I've seen.
It's important to make it a destination.
I'd guess that depends on who's winning. ;-)
Yeah, your standard home theatre setup is a very cold and rigid environment. The pictured room, OTOH, is warm and inviting, and you can envision people going there to simply talk and "hang out". Some folks would add a pinball machine, foosball table, or video game space, depending on your personal poison, but there's room to do that without having to special-case the capability.
If your view never changes you're following the wrong leader
It is like a Jacuzzi -- something that for most people is more for show than for actual use. Unless your lifestyle is to have a dozen friends over to watch a movie or game, and you don't tend to do anything else during such activities, then a more general-purpose room would seem a better choice. You can still have one wall cleared for a screen and have a projection TV if you want, but skip the theatre seating, etc.
If your view never changes you're following the wrong leader
That is what swivel Lazy Boy recliners were invented for. One couch two of them and you can set em up in a square coffee table between them. So when talking playing board games everyone can face each other, turn on the big screen those in the recliners turn recline watch TV and fall asleep ( because us old married folk would be in the recliners the youngsters on the couch we get the recliner because we paid for them and its our house).
IMHO, less important is a 'home theater' room and more important is that there are a few rooms prewired to accomodate it down the road.
IMHO, less important is a 'home theater' room and more important is that there are a few rooms prewired to accomodate it down the road.
I'm getting the message about pre-wiring the entire house for various purposes and it makes good sense. Thanks.
HudsonValley Carpenter.
Careful about doing just that!
The problem according to my son in law who does installs of home theatre systems, and extreme high end stereo systems is two fold.. finding the wires and they never are where they need to be..
You may think that this wall is where the TV should go and that wall should be where the speakers are.. Reality, when the designer comes in or she-who-must-be-obeyed what happens is the wires will be in the wrong location.. then there is just as much if not more work getting them where the will ultimately go..
Or they aren't the right size wires. They need 6 guage wires for those speakers and you ran 12 guage. Maybe you have the right wires in the loam but you need a return run or a fiberoptic but not that kind of fiberoptic..
Maybe the wires are too short by just a little and you try to stretch it enough and break it. or worse it self retracts and pulls the speaker crooked.
He once came into a house where the blue prints clearly showed wires running into one room and exactly which stud bay they were in.. after tearing apart every single piece of sheetrock the homeowner called my son in law in and he found the wire loam............ in the bathroom adjacent to the bedroom.. someone read the plans wrong.
Frenchy,
I'll probaly just leave that area of the basement unfinished. I'm more interested in wiring the house for security and communications anyway.
Hudson,
Now that makes a lot of sense.. definate plans for wiring when finished you can draw out what actaully got wired rather than what was planned for but changed due to the unforseen.
Access from the bottom or attic and it's nearly as easy to run wire for a experianced crew.. plus you don't have costs for the what if that may never happen.
You're going to be forced to make compromises though so you might just put that on the list so that when she-who-must-be-obeyed asks you can point to something and say,, see I gave up this <grin>
I will say that prewiring is a bit of a crapshoot too.I'm finishing my small basement right now. Using smurf tube and dropping wires on every wall. I soon realized if you want to accomodate future folks' preferences, you end up with a LOT of prewiring. I have dropped 4 surround speaker wire outputs. Cat-6 on 5 walls. Coax on each wall, and then a couple of empty boxed near the fireplace in case future owners want to mount the TV there.In the end, though, I doubt I'm actually covering every scenario.If I ever build a new house, I think the ideal set up would be to to treat it like an office space. Either leave a crawlspace behind each wall, or float the floor and use that as your chaseway.If you do prewire, use Cat-6 instead of Cat-5. Minor cost increase but likely worth it.All that said, I believe the last 9 out of 10 times I went to the theater I was dissapointed. Either a crappy movie, or, more likely, just getting fed up paying $4 for a 12oz. coke and then having to sit through 30 minutes of Commercials only to then watch a movie surrounded by texting teenagers. So, I can see the appeal of putting that money towards a nice big TV.
I think a bowling alley would be good also.
Can you fit that in also?
Hudson Valley Carpenter,
I really gave that idea a lot of thought.. frankly I love to watch movies and enjoyed the interaction between my children and us during commericals on normal channnels..
Popcorn anyone? I'm going to the refrigerator anybody want a can of pop?
Yet I refused to make a dedicated room. My "family" room I wanted views of the lake and the amenities of a living room.. Once TV's were replaced with flat screens I knew I'd made a wise choice. Sound is making massive leaps and bounds.. what once required massive speakers is rapidly being replaced with electronic wizardry capable of reproducing that same theatre surround sound with far more modest sized speakers.
The newest technology doesn't even require speaker wires at all!
I'm not technosavy enough yet to know or understand the limits computers will have on TV viewing so I watch that big black box waiting for prices to drop even lower and technology to make the next broad step.
In the end I realized that a media room would simply be too limiting and decided to incorporate new technology into the family room.. (we used to call them living rooms)
(we used to call them living rooms)
Yes and no. I think living rooms became family rooms out of necessity.
Todays family rooms though are a bit of a hybrid combination of several rooms.....living room/media center/den. In many instances, even incorporating portions of the kitchen.
My living room is distinctly different from my family room and serves a completely seperate purpose.
J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
Pp, Qq
Frenchy, It looks like we're all arriving at the same place.
I've always enjoyed watching TV in a comfortable, familiar room with a fire going and all the other amenities close at hand.
Why should we isolate ourselves from each other in a dark room, just to have a more intense experience of a movie?
I'm of the opinon that a home theater isn't all that desireable. As you point out, the technology is now making it possible to have that experience in a more friendly setting.