Movie Room Build

Ok, so I finally got around to converting our little used “bonus room” into a dedicated movie room. I am not making structural changes, so I have to live with it as is. This means that it’s not sound insulated nor is it completely closed from the rest of the house. But it’s close enough.

About the Room

The room itself is about 20’ x 14’ with 8’ ceilings.

The Setup

Due to seating placement and room size, I went with a 110” screen. It’s acoustically transparent so I can place the front LCR speakers behind it, like in a theatre. The projector is ceiling mounted about 11’ from the screen. I plan on having 2 rows of seats with the second row on a riser about 8” high.

The Tech

I’m using mostly new gear for the setup because I wanted a 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos configuration. Because I’ve had good luck with Definitive Technologies, I stayed with them to reuse a couple speakers I am currently employing as front LR Speakers. The rest will all be in-wall or in-ceiling. I’m also reusing a small Boston Acoustics sub. That will probably be replaced in the near future as it’s a little undersized.

Amp

I went with the Denon X6500. I’m currently using an Onkyo and I liked it, but decided to try out Denon. I almost went with the higher end Marantz, but decided the cost wasn’t justified.

Projector

I wanted true 4K, but the cost just hasn’t come down enough yet and the Epson models consistently get rave reviews. So I went with the 5050UB. The room is pretty dark, so it should work out well.

Screen

For this, it was a completely new area to me so after some research I opted for the Silver Ticket 110” AT screen. I had the screen space so I didn’t go borderless and saved myself some money. Through Amazon it was shipped quick. And the online instruction for assembly seemed pretty simple. Some people talked about wrinkles and such, but also said support was great. I’ll update once I’ve gotten it assembled and mounted.

Speakers

As I said earlier, I went with Def Tech for my mains. I had considered going with the Monoprice Monolith series as they are THX certified, but they are also 4 Ohm and I didn’t want to drive the receiver that hard. I’ve also enjoyed Def Tech for the past 10 years, so I stuck with what I knew. One more thing, Crutchfield has some great outlet deals from time to time, so you can save a good deal if you pick up a “scratch and dent” model. Oddly, not a single one of the S&D I bought had anything wrong that I could see. And they are all in wall/ceiling, so all you see is the magnetic grills.

Because I didn’t want to do wall work, I went with the DI 5.5 LCR for the fronts, DI 5.5S for side surrounds and Di 5.5R for ceiling. They alL passed the FAF and they are the same drivers as the ProMonitor 1000 I’m reusing as rear surrounds. I debated using a pair of bipolars I have as tears, and I may still swap them out.

The sub is currently the weakest part, a Boston Acoustics 10” down firing unit with only a 100W amp. I’ll eventually upgrade that to maybe a SVS PB2000. Or a Hsu. That’s still TBD.