Cinema rooms - what have you got?
Discussion
One of the 'must haves' in my next house is a cinema room. It will most likely be a bedroom I think, and I'm thinking big comfy sofa (that converts to a bed so it could still be used as a spare room occasionally), HUGE television opposite, surround sound and whatnot.
One thing I really like the idea of (not sure how easy it would be to create) is a false ceiling with lots of tiny LEDs in, like stars. Think of the Starlight headliners in Rolls Royces - that kind of thing. Even better if they could gently 'twinkle'.
So in the meantime, would love to see anyone's cinema room set ups for inspiration and love to hear any thoughts, suggestions, must haves, must avoids and so forth.
One thing I really like the idea of (not sure how easy it would be to create) is a false ceiling with lots of tiny LEDs in, like stars. Think of the Starlight headliners in Rolls Royces - that kind of thing. Even better if they could gently 'twinkle'.
So in the meantime, would love to see anyone's cinema room set ups for inspiration and love to hear any thoughts, suggestions, must haves, must avoids and so forth.
alorotom said:
I love the idea of the ceiling ... fibre optics might be cheaper and easier though than LEDs
Turns out there are companies that make them so you can just fit them! This one even included occasional shooting stars, that's brilliant! https://www.starceiling.com/
Looks like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sHugPocx2I&fe...
Om said:
This is ours:
A mish-mash of many things from over the years...
The 5.1 surround speakers are a Sony system from way back when via ebay, currently with an Onkyo 5.1 Receiver with a Sony Bluray player for the spinny things and a surface tablet streaming from an old Netgear NAS stuffed with disks. The projector is an Acer 1080p with a 90-ish inch screen - the most we could fit in.
Nothing too exotic, but it sounds decent and is an enjoyable place to spend the evening.
The cinema room is in an old cattle store (under what was the hay loft) so is a reasonable size - about 6m square (low ceiling but that doesn't really matter here). Lights are just strung between the beams due to the height, but they are hardly ever on. We have a big L-shaped sofa that fits us two, two dogs and as many cats as will come in... Smeg gas fire for the cosy effect. Best room in the house.
Also, the nearest cinema is a 80mile round trip away so the room is a real boon for us.
That's a nice ideaA mish-mash of many things from over the years...
The 5.1 surround speakers are a Sony system from way back when via ebay, currently with an Onkyo 5.1 Receiver with a Sony Bluray player for the spinny things and a surface tablet streaming from an old Netgear NAS stuffed with disks. The projector is an Acer 1080p with a 90-ish inch screen - the most we could fit in.
Nothing too exotic, but it sounds decent and is an enjoyable place to spend the evening.
The cinema room is in an old cattle store (under what was the hay loft) so is a reasonable size - about 6m square (low ceiling but that doesn't really matter here). Lights are just strung between the beams due to the height, but they are hardly ever on. We have a big L-shaped sofa that fits us two, two dogs and as many cats as will come in... Smeg gas fire for the cosy effect. Best room in the house.
Also, the nearest cinema is a 80mile round trip away so the room is a real boon for us.
Howard- said:
This is mine. Small room, but it's a great little space and it looks and sounds fantastic. 80" screen (wide-angle lens makes it look like a 50"!)
Since the above photos I've moved the centre speaker onto a wall bracket
This I like very much, thanks for posting. It shows what can be done in a small room (which is no doubt what I will end up working with) and I think it looks great!Since the above photos I've moved the centre speaker onto a wall bracket
Edited by Howard- on Thursday 29th October 21:47
Boom78 said:
I’m In the process of rebuilding my basement home cinema/man cave. I did have optoma projector/av receiver etc but found it all too much of a pain in the backside so sold it all. New room will be 75” smart tv, sound bar, minimal wires one end and my DJ booth/bar the other with my technics/pioneer set up hidden under the counter.
Work so far reboarding and jointing, wall ready for smart tv.
Reference pics for what it will look like
More gentleman’s club/gin bar, the previous dedicated cinema room just wasn’t working for the family, they hated it which surprised me.
I look forward to seeing the 'after' photos - should be great! Work so far reboarding and jointing, wall ready for smart tv.
Reference pics for what it will look like
More gentleman’s club/gin bar, the previous dedicated cinema room just wasn’t working for the family, they hated it which surprised me.
Edited by Boom78 on Friday 30th October 07:45
Howard- said:
They are acoustic panels. Or, more specifically, broadband absorbers. They prevent reverb by drastically decreasing the decay time of reflected sounds. The result is a much less "live" sounding room, i.e. it sounds "dead" when you speak, or clap your hands, and in terms of listening you get a vastly improved stereo image and accuracy, as well as much clearer dialogue from the centre speaker.
There are some things you just can't fix with DSP. Room treatments should be on anyone's radar if they're setting up a dedicated cinema room.
Broadband absorbers are useful down to about 150Hz. I also use a MiniDSP to flatten the response of my sub.
Interesting stuff, noted. There are some things you just can't fix with DSP. Room treatments should be on anyone's radar if they're setting up a dedicated cinema room.
Broadband absorbers are useful down to about 150Hz. I also use a MiniDSP to flatten the response of my sub.
I found this on YouTube, this is almost exactly what I have in mind, right down to the starlight ceiling! Unfortunately the most irritating people in the world presenting it, the link should take you straight to the cinema room part to minimise irritation - maybe watch it with the sound off.
https://youtu.be/RoDd0FNWqBc?t=209
And if you're wondering how two basically children can afford a house like that (I was!), it turns out she has another YouTube channel with over 4 million subscribers and over 100 one million+ view videos on it!
Bonkers.
https://youtu.be/RoDd0FNWqBc?t=209
And if you're wondering how two basically children can afford a house like that (I was!), it turns out she has another YouTube channel with over 4 million subscribers and over 100 one million+ view videos on it!
Bonkers.
OldSkoolRS said:
I've put pictures up elsewhere of mine, but here are a couple: This is the third iteration of a home cinema room, so I learned a bit from my previous mistakes, but one of the main requirements was that the room didn't look like a branch of Richer Sounds. I also wanted the room to look like a regular living room when not in use for films, since realistically I only get to watch films on Saturday nights, during winter.
It's 7.1.4 with 2 x 15" DIY subs and only the side surround speakers visible, the rest are behind the screen or hidden in the pelmet I built round the room. The AV rack is outside of the room, under the stairs.
This is the view for day to day TV watching:
For film nights, the TV goes down on a lift, we move the ornaments and pull out the black velvet side curtains and various covers (all important to really get the best out of the JVC projector).
View of one pair of the Atmos speakers (they are 'on wall' MK Sound MP150, so a little OTT for this job, but I got a deal on their top model MPS300 for the LCR, so I recycled the MP150 rather than get gouged on selling and then replacing with something worse.
I did a lot of measuring with a program called 'REW' (which also has a simulation option I used to help with the initial planning and positions of the subs as I started with 4(!)). I've got the entire area behind the screen covered with thick Rockwool slabs. That and some in the pelmet, plus a thick rug, thick curtains and a fabric sofa really help to tame any echo.
This is the rack under the stairs:
I've got a smaller rack for my subwoofer, bass shaker amps and DSP device, you can just see it to the right of the main rack in the picture above. This was when I was assembling it:
Having the gear outside of the room ensures I've got no LEDs lighting up the screen, so the room is totally dark. The sub amps are quite noisy too, so that helps from a noise level aspect.
This is a view to the back of the room. The projector is in the pelmet behind a door:
I've got a build thread over on AVForums, but there is a lot of DIY sub building stuff and REW measurement talk on the first pages, so maybe go past that for the build and later updates:
https://www.avforums.com/threads/when-worlds-colli...
Let me know if you've got any questions I can help with and good luck.
That's really impressive, like it! It's 7.1.4 with 2 x 15" DIY subs and only the side surround speakers visible, the rest are behind the screen or hidden in the pelmet I built round the room. The AV rack is outside of the room, under the stairs.
This is the view for day to day TV watching:
For film nights, the TV goes down on a lift, we move the ornaments and pull out the black velvet side curtains and various covers (all important to really get the best out of the JVC projector).
View of one pair of the Atmos speakers (they are 'on wall' MK Sound MP150, so a little OTT for this job, but I got a deal on their top model MPS300 for the LCR, so I recycled the MP150 rather than get gouged on selling and then replacing with something worse.
I did a lot of measuring with a program called 'REW' (which also has a simulation option I used to help with the initial planning and positions of the subs as I started with 4(!)). I've got the entire area behind the screen covered with thick Rockwool slabs. That and some in the pelmet, plus a thick rug, thick curtains and a fabric sofa really help to tame any echo.
This is the rack under the stairs:
I've got a smaller rack for my subwoofer, bass shaker amps and DSP device, you can just see it to the right of the main rack in the picture above. This was when I was assembling it:
Having the gear outside of the room ensures I've got no LEDs lighting up the screen, so the room is totally dark. The sub amps are quite noisy too, so that helps from a noise level aspect.
This is a view to the back of the room. The projector is in the pelmet behind a door:
I've got a build thread over on AVForums, but there is a lot of DIY sub building stuff and REW measurement talk on the first pages, so maybe go past that for the build and later updates:
https://www.avforums.com/threads/when-worlds-colli...
Let me know if you've got any questions I can help with and good luck.
Edited by OldSkoolRS on Sunday 1st November 12:28
Need to build a new one
Davetheraver said:
Pretty much any control system will do that.
I use Control 4 with Alexa. The lights come up to a set scene whether the film is paused via Alexa, the control4 remote, the phone or my watch.
Also when the doorbell rings. Everything pauses, lights come up, and the doorbell camera comes up on the screen
That's fantastic! I use Control 4 with Alexa. The lights come up to a set scene whether the film is paused via Alexa, the control4 remote, the phone or my watch.
Also when the doorbell rings. Everything pauses, lights come up, and the doorbell camera comes up on the screen
WindyCommon said:
Outgoing cinema setup below. Room is 4.4m wide by 6.6m long. Acoustic treatment to internal walls and ceiling. Out of shot are a pair of Meridian DSP3100’s used as surrounds, and a Meridian MF10 projector. And a five-seater Boconcept Mezzo in soft black leather.
New setup (very different..!) to follow in two weeks time when I’ve set it all up.
Time's up! New setup (very different..!) to follow in two weeks time when I’ve set it all up.
WindyCommon said:
Ari said:
Time's up!
A very “consumer” setup, easy for my family to use.
LG Nanocell 86” screen
LG UBK90 disc player
Sonos ARC (will be wall mounted)
Sonos Sub
Sonos One SL x2
SkyQ x3 and Apple TV via matrix over Cat6 (in tech hub)
Lighting (4 circuits) control is Rako
Boconcept super-comfy sofa
Still some tidying up to do, but working for Christmas as promised...
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