Chad Dyess’ Blog

Since my blog is geared toward home theater and digital media, I decided it would be a good idea to spend a little time talking about my own home theater, how I set it up, and what kind of equipment I’m using.

One of the things I had always wanted was my own home theater, separate from the living room of course, since having blacked out windows and a giant TV screen in the living room has a decidedly low WAF (wife approval factor.)

I had come fairly close in my first house, which had a small loft with no windows.  Unfortunately, it was open to the living room below, so it wasn’t possible to get it completely dark.   Still, it worked fine while I was a bachelor, but once my wife-to-be moved in, it was impossible for me to watch a movie upstairs while she tried to watch something else downstairs. That was only a short term problem though, since we soon started looking for a new house to start our new life together.

Under Construction

We decided early on to have a house built, since housing developments were coming up everywhere at the time, and we wanted the benefits of choosing our floor plans and options.  This was also when I knew I’d finally get that home theater I’d been dreaming of.  Before long I found a perfect floor plan that had two adjacent rooms that would be the perfect size for a small home theater, so we bought the house with the stipulation that the builder remove the wall separating the two rooms to make one large room.  This gave me a theater roughly 13 x 21 feet.  One of the added benefits of having the house built was that I was able to sneak in and run cables while the house was still being framed.  I ran CAT-5 cable for networking, and speaker wires for the surround sound.

The Transformation

Once we moved into the new house, I cut into the drywall, pulled the wires out that I had run, and installed wall plates for all the speaker plugs and network jacks.  The next task of course was to transform the bright white walls into something darker and more suitable.  I painted the ceiling charcoal grey, and painted the walls dark blue.  To block the light from the windows, I covered them with a type of insulated foil, which also served to prevent radiant heat coming through the windows.  For anyone concerned about how this looks from the outside, the windows have mini-blinds in them, which is what you see from the outside.  The foil was only visible from the inside, until I covered the windows and the white closet doors with dark blue drapes.

A friend helped me build a platform for the second row of seating, and we covered it with carpet matching the rest of the room.  Final touches on the theater were to hang movie posters on the walls, and add track lighting to cast indirect light that didn’t create glare on the big screen.  I also added rope lights around the riser so that when the room is completely dark, guests wouldn’t trip when trying to get to their seats.

The Equipment

Here’s a quick run-down of the equipment I’m using:

• Mitsubishi WS-65869 1080i HDTV
• DirecTV HR20-100 HD DVR
• NMediaPC 288BA HTPC with Windows Vista Media Center
• JVC RX-8000V Receiver
• JBL surround speakers
• Sony 120 watt subwoofer
• Philips Pronto Pro TSU7000 touchscreen remote
• X-10 for controlling lights and ceiling fan

The Finished Product

I’m very happy with how everything turned out.  Sure, there are things I’d like to do to upgrade my theater a bit, such as replacing the couches with leather theater chairs, and replacing the 65″ TV with a 1080p projector, but I’ll get to it eventually.  Now, as the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, and since this entry is long enough already, there’s nothing left to do besides leave you with a gallery of photos showing off the final results.

Related posts:

1. Set Up Home Theater Demos with My Movies for Media Center