Need end-to-end Help in Designing My Home Theater (Dolby Atmos)

[RKL]

Dear member,

Thanks a lot for your response.

Rahul, Don’t make haste dear, follow the advice, make it possible.
In setting up HT always follow the mantra of " Big picture big sound".
The path to audio video nirvana, no doubt is difficult, but a true enthusiast spirit overcomes all obstacles.
With this i rest my case

I do respect and understand your point. Having a projector would be a really great thing for a great HT system in a dedicated media room. One small question, since the room is small 11 ft X 12 ft X 9 ft only, I am not sure how big the screen I can accommodate.
Moreover, the cabinets are fixed in wall, still I am checking possibilities of using a projector.

Regards,
Rahul

 

[RKL]

Dear member,

Thanks a lot for the response.

Hi Rahul....I have just read your post... and got down to typing straight away. If you want to have a atmos 2.0 setup in a 11x12 ft room, then you need small speakers. I have a atmos 7.2.4 system in a 11x17 room. And my speakers are small.

Thanks for highlighting the points, I was also thinking of good satellite speaker packages in it. I have given you a PM.

Regards,
Rahul

 

[Naveenbnc]

may be im just jumping in.... but a projector gives a far better movie experience than tv. Just keep this in mind before buying a tv.

 

[RKL]

Dear member,

Thanks a lot for your response.

may be im just jumping in.... but a projector gives a far better movie experience than tv. Just keep this in mind before buying a tv.

After a lot of thinking and reading the blogs whether OLED or projector, I am putting up my points below -
a. My room size is too small (just 11ft X 12ft) and after putting Cabinet and Sofa, I shall be getting a maximum of 8ft - 9ft viewing distance from display to seating position. It will be like sitting in the front row in a movie hall if I use a projector of size of 40 sq. ft. around.
b. Also, my budget is tight, so getting a 4K HDR projector which can compete with OLED in terms of image quality which will cost me a lot. I am stressing on 4K HDR since, I have some 4K HDR movies and my PS4 Pro supported 4K HDR games.
c. Television will be easy to setup, use and installation than a projector also I shall be getting Netflix / Amazon / Vudu in the box.
d. Since Television display is a self emitting pixel, I will not loose brightness or look dull even if any external light comes in the screen.
e. I shall be using the same display for viewing Satellite TVs. So setting up the set-top box needs additional wiring from box to projector which was not planned earlier and need some modification in the room.

Since all the room is pre-planned and wiring for Atmos were done considering the display option as "Television", it will be difficult to remodel the room considering the display type "Projector" currently. My interior is asking a huge amount for remodeling the same. May be in near future, I will consider changing the same.

I might miss "Wow" factor for projector and miss a great movie experience, but considering my current setup, I have to be satisfied with TV for now and going with OLED

Regards,
Rahul

 

[Naveenbnc]

Well... its not recommended to compare picture quality of a tv with projector. Projector is all about size. But it is very good that you are taking all your practical limitations into consideration. I agree with your points too. All the best !!!!

 

[ItsMe]

I have setup atmos in even smaller room - 12x8x9 and its sounding good. I used two large towers as L&R channels and small bookshelves as surround. Currently using a pair of bookshelves, hanging from ceiling for atmos which is doing okay, but you know - yeh dil mange more....

 

[kmathan88]

Hi all,

I am planning to build my small-room home theater system (Dolby Atmos), and I need help for the same. Below are the details -

Room Size : 11 ft X 12 ft X 9 ft (with built in Acoustic Wall and Acoustic False-ceiling)
Visual : I am planning to buy LG OLED 55 C7.
Receiver : I am planning to buy Denon AVR x1400h.
Player : I already have PS4 pro. Thinking of using it as Blue-Ray/UHD player and gaming console both.
Speaker : I am planning to go with 5.2.2 set up. I have already kept in-wall pipes for keeping speakers / woofers / overhead-speakers wires.
Lighting : Lighting system in the rooms is Philips Hue which can be synchronized with sound effects.
Smart : My current home devices (like Lights and curtains) are managed by Amazon Alexa through voice commands which can be synchronized with the home theater devices.

My Expectations
1. Movie experience should be great with audio and visuals both and future-proof.
2. All components should have India Warranty (with extended warranty opt-in) for peace of mind. (service center in Kolkata preferred)
3. I should be able to play sound remotely from other devices with wireless capabilities.
4. Device should be compatible with Philips Hue & Amazon Alexa (for Smart home apps/devices)
4. I have a tight budget for this project, so need to choose component accordingly.

My Questions
1. Can I get a true atmos effect in the said room size?
2. Please advise (pros & cons) with the choice of my receiver and television; should I go for it or rethink? Please suggest if you have other combination in mind.
3. I have choice of two types of speakers (with Denon AVR x1400h); which one should I choose - 80 watt @ 8 ohm /or/ 120 watt @ 6 ohm for the said room size?
4. Please suggest good 5.2.2 speaker package (with tight budget). Please note I also have space crunch for center speaker and two sub-woofers. (Sub-woofer size should not exceed 18 inch X 11 inch and center speaker should not exceed 11 inch X 11 inch)
5. Please suggest wiring AWG cable details. Distance of speakers from my console are listed as - a. SW (both): 3ft (each); b. Center: 3ft; c. Front (Left & Right): 8 ft (each); d. Back (Left & Right): 20 ft (each), e. Overhead (Left & Right): 35 ft (each).
6. Please highlight any compatibility issue, if I miss while buying.

Thanks a lot in advance.

Regards,
Rahul

Hi Rahul,

Your plan looks good. Way to go.
I will be interested to know about your Smart setup plan for your home. It would be great if you can share some details / images.

For lighting, you are using Philips hue bulbs ? Are you going for ceiling mount with this or wall mount ?
Hue strip lights are expensive I believe, what is your choice?

Lighting system in the rooms is Philips Hue which can be synchronized with sound effects.
- How are you planning to do this ?

Planning for sonoff ?

For curtains, which brand / model?

Amazon Alexa, which model ?
So, all devices connect directly to Alexa or some Hub you are planning ? (other than Hue hub)
I want to know this because if internet goes down, we cannot control anything with Alexa I guess (even though all devices are connected to same network).

All this will be DIY or someone vendor is helping you to setup ?

Thanks.

 

[RKL]

Dear Member,

Thanks for your response.

I have setup atmos in even smaller room - 12x8x9 and its sounding good. I used two large towers as L&R channels and small bookshelves as surround. Currently using a pair of bookshelves, hanging from ceiling for atmos which is doing okay, but you know - yeh dil mange more....

Great that you have already done initial set-up and planning for future expansion. It would be great if you can share your current configuration - about AV Receiver and Speakers.

Regards,
Rahul

 

[RKL]

Dear Member,

Thanks for your response.

Hi Rahul,

Your plan looks good. Way to go.
I will be interested to know about your Smart setup plan for your home. It would be great if you can share some details / images.

For lighting, you are using Philips hue bulbs ? Are you going for ceiling mount with this or wall mount ?
Hue strip lights are expensive I believe, what is your choice?

Lighting system in the rooms is Philips Hue which can be synchronized with sound effects.
- How are you planning to do this ?

Planning for sonoff ?

For curtains, which brand / model?

Amazon Alexa, which model ?
So, all devices connect directly to Alexa or some Hub you are planning ? (other than Hue hub)
I want to know this because if internet goes down, we cannot control anything with Alexa I guess (even though all devices are connected to same network).

All this will be DIY or someone vendor is helping you to setup ?

Thanks.

I would be happy to assist you about the smart setup which I already did and planned for near future.

1. Philips Hue lighting system is already set up in the media room and I will be adding some more lights / devices to the existing eco-system.
My current setup includes - a. Hue Hub (Gen 2) , b. Two Hue Bulbs - Color Ambiance and c. Hue Dimmer Switch.
Bulbs are mounted in the ceiling with a ceiling mounted holder (inside false ceiling)
Future addition will be 2 meter light-strip + 1 meter extension (this will work as a cove light as well)

2. As you mentioned, Hue system is expensive, I bought it from Amazon. Waited for some days for the lightning deals to come and bough them.

3. In Philips Hue mobile app, there is a third party app called "Hue Disco", and you can synchronized music with it. For TV / Movie synchronization - you have to use another third party app called "Hue Camera". The main objective is, you will get the scary effect in Horror movies or lightening effect etc in movies which will make your experience more immersive. Again, for using both the apps you need to use your mobile device as interface. I am trying to develop one dashboard with raspberry pi for better efficiency. I have also heard that, Philips will come up with in-built solution of Movie-Music-Game sync in near future.

4. Sonoff - No plan yet.

5. My curtains are not synced to Alexa yet, I have made it motorized. I shall make it automated soon and will add to Alexa and will update you in detail.

6. Alexa - Using Echo Dot (Bought from Amazon when they were giving 50% off)

7. You need to have a Wireless router which can add Hue Hub. From Hue app you can add lighting accessories. Then from Alexa you can add Hue.

8. I have not faced any internet connectivity issue yet, since I am having a Wired Broadband (BSNL) connection, a Cable broadband and couple of mobile broadband providers. And, one of them keeps my system alive round the clock

I have not got a chance to take photo yet, since I am out of home. I shall share the same with you sometimes soon
This is a complete DIY project for me. For curtain, door and other automation I may take some service from ProFX.

I tried to cover as much as I have info. Please feel free to ask me, if I can help you further.
Please share your experience also. I shall be happy to gather more knowledge about it.

Regards,
Rahul

 

[unleash_me]

My Expectations
1. Movie experience should be great with audio...

M&K Sound

 

[kmathan88]

1. Philips Hue lighting system is already set up in the media room and I will be adding some more lights / devices to the existing eco-system.
My current setup includes - a. Hue Hub (Gen 2) , b. Two Hue Bulbs - Color Ambiance and c. Hue Dimmer Switch.
Bulbs are mounted in the ceiling with a ceiling mounted holder (inside false ceiling)
Future addition will be 2 meter light-strip + 1 meter extension (this will work as a cove light as well)

2. As you mentioned, Hue system is expensive, I bought it from Amazon. Waited for some days for the lightning deals to come and bough them

I am using LIFX bulbs and Hue bloom lights, and used normal wall mount setup in rooms and a table lamp in the living room. Still looking for a good ceiling mounted holder. Chandler will also do, but limited 3 bulb and E27 mounting model

3. In Philips Hue mobile app, there is a third party app called "Hue Disco", and you can synchronized music with it. For TV / Movie synchronization - you have to use another third party app called "Hue Camera". The main objective is, you will get the scary effect in Horror movies or lightening effect etc in movies which will make your experience more immersive. Again, for using both the apps you need to use your mobile device as interface. I am trying to develop one dashboard with raspberry pi for better efficiency. I have also heard that, Philips will come up with in-built solution of Movie-Music-Game sync in near future.

I am using v1 hub, so Philips hue entertainment update won't be available for me. Using mobile camera is not a convenient option, once you implement raspberry pi, please share more information. Check this.
I was also looking at Lightpack 2, but it is very expensive. For now, I just used a cheap RGB strip attached to the backside of the TV as a bias lighting.

5. My curtains are not synced to Alexa yet, I have made it motorized. I shall make it automated soon and will add to Alexa and will update you in detail.

Please share the model and pricing for the same. This is in wish list

6. Alexa - Using Echo Dot (Bought from Amazon when they were giving 50% off)

7. You need to have a Wireless router which can add Hue Hub. From Hue app you can add lighting accessories. Then from Alexa you can add Hue.

Even I am using Echo Dot, but lot of skills are not available yet. Still waiting for Logitech Harmony, Samsung Smartthings, Hass.io skills to be published for our region. Hue, LIFX works fine though.

8. I have not faced any internet connectivity issue yet, since I am having a Wired Broadband (BSNL) connection, a Cable broadband and couple of mobile broadband providers. And, one of them keeps my system alive round the clock

I used to have multiple ISP before, connected via TP-Link TL-R470T+ (multiple wan) to have my system alive. Now with Google Wifi and ACT connection, I never had a down time in past couple of months.

Thanks for your response. Keep us updated on the progress.

 

[kmathan88]

Receiver : I am planning to buy Denon AVR x1400h.

Even I got Denon x1400H, as of now I don't see HEOS skills in IN. Hopefully, it will be added later.
For now, I am planning to use Yonomi skills to control the devices connected via Logitech Harmony Remote.
I read good reviews for Broadlink RM too.

 

[samratsarkar]

Hi Rahul,
Can you share some pics of your Room ? I have done one HT room in Kolkata . May be I can help you with some Ideas for Budget AV Room.

 

[rajesh srinivas]

Bulbs are mounted in the ceiling with a ceiling mounted holder (inside false ceiling)

How did you do your false ceiling diy or commercial..???

 

[RKL]

Hi all,

Hope you all are doing good! Sorry for the long delay.

Update
Finally, I got my OLED TV delivered. Initially I took LG OLED 65C7 for home demo, but later purchased 55E7 due its picture-on-glass design.

Below are some images -


My Initial Reaction
Picture Quality is simply amazing (perhaps the best in 55 inch I watched so far). Its great to watch 4K HDR films (I tested through Netflix). I am yet to setup all my other components.

Due to the budget constraint, I will be buying home theater components one by one (not all at a time) over next six months. I have decided to go with Polk Audio Signature series (Bookshelf speakers) with Denon x1400h.

I shall post detailed review of this TV soon.

Regards,
Rahul

 

[RKL]

Hi,

Thanks for the post.

Regarding your question,

How did you do your false ceiling diy or commercial..???

False ceiling was done by my interior but the planning and the design was given by me. I have consulted one of the audio designer here and he prepared a layout for best sound throw.

Regards,
Rahul

 

[Dr.Lakshay]

Even I am using Echo Dot, but lot of skills are not available yet. Still waiting for Logitech Harmony, Samsung Smartthings, Hass.io skills to be published for our region. Hue, LIFX works fine though.

I do see the Samsung smartthings and harmony available as a skill in my alexa app.
Though hass.io is still unavailable. What's the benefit of hass.io?

I used to have multiple ISP before, connected via TP-Link TL-R470T+ (multiple wan) to have my system alive. Now with Google Wifi and ACT connection, I never had a down time in past couple of months..

How does this work? Like both the ISP would work cumulatively or one at a time?

5. My curtains are not synced to Alexa yet, I have made it motorized. I shall make it automated soon and will add to Alexa and will update you in detail.

Hi could you please share the complete details for motorizing the curtains? I have roller curtains that I want to motorize but seems to be pretty costly, costlier than the whole cost of the curtain when installed. The cheapest option I found is on Aliexpress for about 5k.

I have recently started my own thread on my home automation journey. It's just started and will progress slowly.

 

[kmathan88]

Samsung smartthings and harmony available

Wow, Thats a good news. I am yet to check.

hass.io

I never got to setup Hass.io completely. It is more advanced than what we get with stand alone Smartthings setup. I want to have everything run in my home, instead of heavily relying on Smartthings cloud for any execution. With Hass.io, the number of device supported is also good comparatively.

cumulatively or one

Load Balancing router can be configured to work multiple ISP simultaneously or as a failover connection. I used in Load balancing mode where it can route traffic through multiple ISP at the same time. I benefited mostly in torrent download than anything else.

 

[Dr.Lakshay]

Wow, Thats a good news. I am yet to check.


I never got to setup Hass.io completely. It is more advanced than what we get with stand alone Smartthings setup. I want to have everything run in my home, instead of heavily relying on Smartthings cloud for any execution. With Hass.io, the number of device supported is also good comparatively.


Load Balancing router can be configured to work multiple ISP simultaneously or as a failover connection. I used in Load balancing mode where it can route traffic through multiple ISP at the same time. I benefited mostly in torrent download than anything else.

Thanks for the details. So I would need two separate modems first for each of my ISP and then connect them to the load balance router and then to a WiFi router? Or the load balancing router can be used as a modem for both the connections?

 

[kmathan88]

Thanks for the details. So I would need two separate modems first for each of my ISP and then connect them to the load balance router and then to a WiFi router? Or the load balancing router can be used as a modem for both the connections?

You need a modem. But in case of ISP providing you with Ethernet input (PPPoE), you can connect directly to the WAN port of load balancing router using ISP provided username and password. I tried both and it works. But expect issues when you are in load balancing mode especially when you have two WAN with different speed. I didn't try any of the advanced load balancing option related to speed and bandwidth allocation between multiple WANs