Advice on new cinema room

mole

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My garden office/cinema (6m x 4m) room is being built over the next month. I'm currently planning for electrics/wiring etc and was wondering whether anyone could offer any pointers beofre construction starts. I'm looking at a ceiling mounted Sony VPL-HW45ES Projector with an approx 100 inch screen and a Q Acoustics Q7000i 5.1 setup. I'll be seated appox 3.2m from the projector screen.

1) Should I channel a 2 inch plastic pipe into the ceiling space for cabling from the projector to the AV Receiver (HDMI cable) or is there a wireless way of doing this?

2) Should I conceal the speaker cable within the wall space or is this overkill?

3) I don't want a batcave as I'll also be using the space as an office also - would just painting the projector wall a dark colour help with the picture quality?

I'd be grateful for any further suggestions which I may not have thought of. I'm still learning, so anything that may help pre-construction, would be appreciated.

Cheers
 
1) Yes. Epson does wireless models, not Sony.

2) Yes. Why should it be an overkill?

3) Get a projector screen suitable for ambient light like Draper ReAct. Paint will never give you the optimum quality. You can have electric screens which disappear into ceiling when not in use. I have the Sony HW40 with Draper ReAct screen. It's superb. Check my home cinema pics.
 

Frank Harvey

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Personally, I'd use a wireless option as a last resort. If you can physically connect to the PJ, you won't suffer any video issues, barring faulty electronics/cables. It is surprising how many wireless items your house has when you add them up - don't add to the burden! There's nothing more annoying than losing the flow of a film to video gremlins...
 

Benedict_Arnold

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Having just finished wiring up my 1st floor media room. Well, re-wiring, as I didn't like the 14 gauge speaker wire the builders put in...

1. Definitely.
2. Yes. Remember to pull a string (or TWO) through all conduit as you install it and leave one spare string for next time. If your room is outside I wouldn't run a spare HDMI cable in case the mice get at it. There will be a next time, believe me.
3. Not sure. I'm still using a telly.
Make sure you use 12 gauge speaker wire throughout.

Other tips:

I had the good luck that my room has an attic above, but I made sure to run one spare speaker wire capable of reaching any of the speakers up through the plasterboard into the Attic.
Also, if you can, put plastic tube, hosepipe even, in the walls behind the plasterboard and pull your cables through that. It will make replacing them a whole lot easier next time.
Those "auger" things - like a 6 ft long bendy drill bit - are best avoided. They go everywhere EXCEPT where you want them to.
Practice your plastering and plasterboard repair techniques.
W
Buy a stud and cable finder. Check for horizontal and diagonal studs as well as vertical ones.
 

mole

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Thanks for all the replies, much appreciated.

Richer sounds have included some speaker wire on the quote, Cambridge Audio Ultra Micro £3 per metre. Is this ok?

I've taken a look at the Draper ReAct screen but its out of my budget. Is there a fixed screen recommended at <£500?
 

Frank Harvey

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mole said:
I've taken a look at the Draper ReAct screen but its out of my budget. Is there a fixed screen recommended at <£500?
Screen recommendations under that price point will use standard materials, and therefore benefit hugely by trying to darken the room as much as possible, otherwise, contrast will be affected.
 

Benedict_Arnold

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I used Mediabridge 12 AWG (that's 2.05 mm diameter 3.31 mm2) 165 strand 6N wire bought off Amazon USA for $84 for a 200 ft roll. It's not audiophile "proper stereo" speaker cable, but it's fine for surround sound.
Better to put thicker cables in now, than to regret not doing so later, ripping out the plasterboard again to replace it.
Remember home theatre cable runs tend to be quite long and not very direct, so thicker cable reduces power loss.
Also, figure on using at least 50℅ more than you bargain for.
 

Benedict_Arnold

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If you're planning on using in-wall and / or in-ceiling speakers, plan on boxing them in behind / above the plasterboard. Make some silightly over-sized bexes out of 3" x 1/2" pine boards for the sides with 1/2" or thereabouts backs. Drill a small hole for the speaker wire. FIx these where you're going to put the speakers before you put up the plasterboard, and if you can, use plastic conduit with nice big radius bends (not sharp little elbows) to run the speaker wires through.

The boxes keep the rodents out, keep insulation from gumming up the speakers' internals and help project sound out into the room. BTDT. Works a treat. Especially if, like my house, you have that horrbile blown cellulose insulation not proper fiberglass or mineral wool. You don't need to be an expert cabinet maker, using nice dovetail corners and all. THese things will be hidden behind the plasterboard, after all. Remeber to allow for lips or rims around the front of the boxes if the speakers you're planning on using have those lugs that turn and lock in behind the plasternboard though. Either put 1/2" x 3/4" strips rond the front edges of the boxes or make the boxes 1-1/2" too big in each direction and cut the holes in the plasterboard to leave the lips round the edges.

Inside your speaker boxes leave an extran 18 inches to 2 feet of speaker cable to enable you to fit the speakers without being hampered by too short wires and / or to allow for re-terminating later.

Conduit will make running speaker wires easier the first time and the next time, and keep rodents at bay.

Run all you speaker wires to a single wall plate (off Amazon, for example) and then make up some jumper cables to go from the wall plate to the back of your receiver.

The HDMI cable, on the other hand, sould go directly from the back of the receiver to the projector with as few connections as possible. Allow a good 3 to 6 feet sticking out the wall at the receiver end. Also look at those HDMI cables with built-ins ignal amplifiers. They do help over longer runs.

And despite what anyone says, don't skimp on the HDMI cable. Imagine buying a 50 quid special, then going through all the aggro and expense of installing it, hooking it up, etc. Then it's the Grand Opening Night at your own personal Odeon, the wife's there, the kids are there, your mum and dad, the in-laws and that annoying sister and her even more annoying husband have all invited themselves, and....

oh dear, crummy picture because you should have spent an extra 50 on the HDMI cable to begin with.
 

mole

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Thanks for the advice.

My 3 front speakers will be wall mounted (Q Acoustics Q7000i) to the left/right/rear of the projection screen. My intention was to project the image onto the wall temporarily before I decide on the size of projection screen. But this leaves me with the problem of where to locate the speaker wall plates for each of these front 3 speakers. Do you usually locate the the speaker plates together behind the screen and take a wire to each speaker or do you have have a plate behind each speaker for a cleaner look? Another option could be to use speaker stands for the left/right. Without knowing the screen position yet its difficult to plan ahead for this.

I've been quoted for a QED Performance 5m HDMI (£45) - I'm guessing this will be sufficiently well built?

Cheers
 

Benedict_Arnold

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Because those speakers are quite small and because wall plates are quite big (and would show) I would avoid using wall plates at the speaker ends and just leave pigtails of speaker cable sticking straight out of one of the wall behind each speaker. You then connect the cable directly to the backs of the speakers. You can, no doubt, find some cover plates or something in B&Q, Maplin or on line to tidy up the holes if you wish but they're as likely to be visible as a pukka wall plate.

I think those speakers have proper binding posts, but I would double check and double check your speaker cable will fit. If they're going against the wall, consider using fork-type speaker terminations rather than banana plugs.

At the receiver end I would run all the cables to the back of a speaker wall plate (again from B&Q or Maplin or on line) and either use spade type terminations or screw the "nuts" on the back of the binding posts down tight against bare wire ends. Be sure that there are no stray wire strands though, as they could short out something or at least rob you of a lot of power going to the speaker. The I would run jumper cables out of the same (or better) speaker wire from the wall plat to the back of the receiver. You could just have cables coming out of the wall running to the back of the receiver, which has the possible advantage of fewer connections in the wires, but it isn't as dis-connect / re-connect friendly as using jumpers.

O
 

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