Help needed to Build Dedicated Home Theatre Room

[Vipersting]

Hello guys.. I'm in the process of building a dedicated home theatre room and this is my first post here. Before that, I would like to thank everyone for sharing their knowledge in this forum. Been reading many posts from a week and the info is just awesome.

Ok now.. I am keen on building a dedicated home theatre room in a pent house apartment that is being constructed. I looked up at suitable room dimensions for better acoustics and zeroed on a 12 X 20 ft room with 9 feet ceiling. After the acoustic ceiling, I guess it'll come down to 8 ft. The room has been constructed with one door and one window. Initially I wanted no windows but decided in the end to provide one for emergencies and ventilation when the room wouldn't be used.

Now, here is where I need your valuable suggestions and expertise. I need to tell the builder about the wiring provisions to be given in the wall. I shall be going for acoustic false ceiling and wood wool wall construction. I've learned from browsing this forum that I should decide the speaker placement before hand and provide sufficient cabling. My doubt is whether all the cables should run inside the wall or is it better to have them between the wall and the acoustic wall panels ??

Please let me know how to go about this room from now on. How many electrical boxes should I provide in the wall and where ??

Please check out the below pics of the room at its current state..

 

[GeorgeO]

I suggest you havea preliminary chat with your electrician and do a simple layout diagram. You can easily run concealed conduits for speaker wires. You dont need tp have the entire wall panelled. PM me for more info, I've done a dedicated HT room in my house(basement).

 

[RajithKumar]

Here are my few opinions..
Discuss with ur electrician clearly what u are going to do... (tell him where u r going to place the TV & AVR and view Directionetc.,..what is u r speaker setup i.e, 5.1 or 7.1 etc..u can do it on piece of paper first and discuss)tell him the speaker position (type of mounting either wall mounted or floor standing speakers etc.,)
U can run the speaker cables wire either inside wall or inbetween wall & acoustics panel (only thing u should check with acoustics panels dimension ..any practical difficulties is there or not for mounting).
But take care there should not be any electrical wires run along with ur speaker cables.

U can keep one electric box near your TV setup ..then provide one provison for using Power surge protector (minimum 6 socket).This will protect ur entire HT system from any Power surges..
Run good quality speaker cables.
U can also use some carpets on floor which will alos give some good result for acoustics.

 

[breadyoures]

then provide one provison for using Power surge protector (minimum 6 socket).This will protect ur entire HT system from any Power surges..

 

[theironhorse]

you can get the electric wiring done in the walls itself. however for speaker wires, hdmi and other audio video cable i would suggest between the wall and acoustic panels. much safer than running in wall itself to prevent from moisture/humity in terms of long term usage. as being pent house . will ber exposed to rain/sun on 3 sides and and extreme temperatures so between wall and panels the temp drop will be significant and less moisture/etc.

also you have change to remove panels change/upgrade cabling.

get lots of sockets 5amp/15amp .

keep ac wiring seperate as it might give a quick surge sometimes while on/off cycles under load.

 

[Vipersting]

I suggest you havea preliminary chat with your electrician and do a simple layout diagram. You can easily run concealed conduits for speaker wires. You dont need tp have the entire wall panelled. PM me for more info, I've done a dedicated HT room in my house(basement).

Thanks George.. I don't see how I can PM u in this forum.. can't find the messaging button anywhere.. **scratching head** ..

 

[Rupam]

Thanks George.. I don't see how I can PM u in this forum.. can't find the messaging button anywhere.. **scratching head** ..

Click the round bullet button right beside the forum member name.

 

[Vipersting]

Guys..

Thanks for all the inputs.. I think I'll go for electrical wiring inside walls n the rest of the wiring in between the wall and acoustic panel.. Adding to that, the plastering guys working on the complete apartment are waiting for me to show provisions in the wall for electrical sockets so that they can close them n finish their work in this place. So I thought I'll complete the inside wall wiring part asap and finish the rest while doing the acoustic panel thing.

So for only doing the electrical wiring inside walls, are these things sufficient ??

1. A big box near AVR with surge protector
2. Projector power wiring
3. Speaker power wiring
4. General wiring for lights and AC

Thanks..

 

[Vipersting]

Hello all..

I wanted to update everyone the status of my New Home theatre room.. I've got the pipes installed in the walls for Speaker cables and everything is going to be concealed. Take a look at the attached picture.

1. Five 1" inch conduits for speakers cables
2. One 2 inch pipe to carry HDMI and one coaxial cable for video.
4. Seperate 1" pipe to carry sub-woofer cable n a seperate power point near its location.
5. 5 electrical points ( Two 15 amp n three 5 amp ) near the AV receiver.
6. Seperate switch near the door for the projector

The total HT room will have separate earthing.

My next question is whether we'll find something in India to guide the cables coming out of the wall and make it look neat. In the USA, they have something called Low Voltage Cable Wall Plate. What did you guys do for your HT room cables ?

 

[GeorgeO]

Ok I got myself a set of wall plates from Monoprice but finally ended up wiring all the speakers with long runs without using any of the Monoprice stuff! Look carefully and analyse what value you get from using wallplates, you may actually dispense with them. If you still want them, I may be able to help...

 

[rdksrk2013]

Gearge stated it correctly.

i had also the same impression and gone ahead and purchased the wall plates from Amazon. The LV wall plates are convenient for fitting on wooden walls as in US houses but is not usefull for brick walls.

If you are more serious you should terminate the concealed conduits to a junction box which is also embeded in the wall and use this wall panel to cover the box.

I had finally utilised them for the LED TV wooden panel to conceal Cables(picture attached)

 

[Vipersting]

Gearge stated it correctly.

i had also the same impression and gone ahead and purchased the wall plates from Amazon. The LV wall plates are convenient for fitting on wooden walls as in US houses but is not usefull for brick walls.

If you are more serious you should terminate the concealed conduits to a junction box which is also embeded in the wall and use this wall panel to cover the box.

I had finally utilised them for the LED TV wooden panel to conceal Cables(picture attached)

Yeah.. These things are direct fit onto drywalls like in the USA..

However, Can't we just leave a box like hole in the wall where the wires are going to come in from the concealed pipes and then fit the LV wall plate covering the hole. Why is the junction box necessary ?

 

[Vipersting]

Ok I got myself a set of wall plates from Monoprice but finally ended up wiring all the speakers with long runs without using any of the Monoprice stuff! Look carefully and analyse what value you get from using wallplates, you may actually dispense with them. If you still want them, I may be able to help...

I understand but How did u cover the hole in the wall where all the cables come out ??

Basically, I want to future-proof the wall to look neat in-case I can't get the acoustic paneling on the entire wall as u suggested. If I get the entire wall paneled, All the mess will be covered and there will be no problem.

 

[ravidharap]

Wall plates with concealed boxes for brick work are available in some shops at Lamington Road, Mumbai

 

[GeorgeO]

What I did was to get plastic ethernet cable ducting since my conduits were not working, and tun them along the floor, just above the carpet. I am sure you can figure out ways and means to conceal the points with carpets, your rack etc..At the speaker end the cable sare slightly visible here and there.