Zoned in

June 1, 2007

Technology or so to speak
by Mike David

My journey started so long ago, I can scarcely remember a time when I wasn't trying to make my goal complete. Yes, I am talking about the designing, building, fortifying and outfitting of an actual movie theater/video game room.

 
For those of you out there who have dreamt of owning such a piece of high priced real estate, my advice is this: Be patient, even when construction is under way, the entire process seems to go by at a snail's pace. Oh, and it completely stinks how slowly the process rolls.
 
This particular room by the way, started out as so many other things, you see, we have been building a two story addition to our house for quite a while now, and the downstairs room was originally slated for an extra bedroom for visiting in-laws. But then things began to work my way. My wife and I were at Best Buy shortly after Christmas when I saw a set of Yamaha floor standing speakers for the unbelievable price of $68. Well even she could see the value in that. Now just so you know, I have the undeniable addiction to buy AV equipment, I am constantly looking at things I simply do not need for no other reason then I think they are cool. But when I got them home, I started getting 20 questions; where are you going to put those? Why did you get them anyway? Blah, blah, blah. So I replaced my rear speakers in the family room with the floor standing ones I just bought and quietly stacked my older speakers in the corner with another center channel, an additional receiver that I picked up earlier and a couple other sets of speakers.
 
Fast forward a couple of months and we had some friends over at the house checking out our build-out progress. I had spoken with my friend (the husband) and told him how cool it would be if I could convert this lower room to a movie theater room. He agreed and the seed had been planted. My friend told his wife (my wife's friend) how the room was designed acoustically well and how cool it would be to turn that lower room into a movie theater room. Surprisingly, his wife thought so as well and she in turn, told my wife (we are taking root now).
 
Next, my in-laws were in town and asked about the pile of stereo equipment in the corner of the family room collecting dust. I merely replied (with everyone listening) that I intended on wiring up our master suite (the heart of the addition we were doing) to include surround sound in the bedroom. I could see my wife looking at me from the corner of my eye and she had the look of terror on her face. I then went on to say that since we were building from the ground up, that I would be able to run the speaker wires in the wall (a professional trick for home theaters) and eliminate those unsightly wires. My wife, who can't stand all the wires, said well, we will see. I don't know if I want a bunch of speakers in my bedroom. I in turn said nothing (starting to grow).
 
A couple weeks later we were at a local home improvement store that was going out of business and saw that there were can lights on sale for like 75% off. I picked one up and said to my wife, "Wouldn't these be cool in a movie theater room?" I then set them down and walked away. She picked them up and looked at them for a couple of seconds and said, that we should buy them anyway since they were so cheap (poking out of the dirt). Afterwards I grabbed a really sweet dimmer switch and tossed it in the cart, my wife said nothing.
 
As we were putting the insulation in the walls downstairs, my wife and I asked our contractor if we should put it in the ceiling as well. He began to inform us that we did not need to, but if we did the room would become more insulated from sound both upstairs and down. We agreed only because we didn't want anyone being annoyed by the other party from idle chatter or regular TV noise. It was at this point my wife said that she thought it might be alright if we set the downstairs room up as a movie theater room that doubled as a spare room for guests. I agreed with her and praised her for her brilliant idea of making a combo movie/guest room (aha, the plant is growing well now).

 
Now, I did indeed run the wires throughout the room, prior to the drywall being put up, only now it was in the downstairs room rather then our master bedroom. Using 14 gauge speaker wire I ran eight different speaker lines. Three along the back wall, one on either side of the room and then three in the front. My thinking was because I had a surround sound system that would cover seven of the speakers, it was only a matter of time before they started making 8.1 surround sound systems. And although I know they already do, I was thinking in the range that is more befitting a video game reviewer. It is still a few years off.
 
Now, once the room was drywalled and taped and mudded, it was time to paint. I in all honesty was just going to go with an off white color, but my wife (who is awesome) came up with the idea of painting the ceiling a dark (almost black) grey, the walls a dark, deep red and then getting grey (almost black) carpeting. So off to the store we went and several coats later, my room was painted. I ordered up a high traffic, low pile carpet for the room and put it on a 12 lb. carpet pad for some cushion, since we were on a concrete slab. I then got some floor trim from the store and painted it using the remaining ceiling paint, put it up with my three year old handing me nails and broke down in tears when I saw it completed in all it's glory (not really but it was pretty flippin cool).  Next I ordered a room darkening shade and installed it upon arrival. Yes, it really does do the trick. Even at noon, that room is pitch black (full blossom).
 
Then I began bringing in the speakers, I had no TV or receiver in there yet, but darn it all, I wanted my speakers in there. Fortunately I had the hindsight to label the gaggle of wires coming out of the wall with tape listing where each one ran so that I could avoid a potential migraine headache. Then I set about trying to figure out which TV I would put in the room. A 47" widescreen that has been in the family room for the past few years or the 36" (230 lb.) Sony wega upstairs in the living room. Now don't think we are all about TV's here at the David house, I used to work for a large retail company that sold TVs and had a decent employee discount. I'm not made of money, I just knew a good deal when I saw one (it's bearing fruit).
 
Fortunately, my wife knew that I also had been looking to buy a motorcycle, so this past holiday weekend (Memorial Day) everyone and their grandma was having sales on TVs and my wife saw an opportunity to not have to explain to her children that Daddy is wearing a body cast 'cause he wanted a motorcycle. She took me to the local electronic specialty store and encouraged me to buy a 60" mammoth HDTV complete with stand and three year warranty (they threw that in free, 'cause I never buy those). That night I built the stand, and put the TV on it, plugged it in and watched "The World's Strongest Man " competition until 2:30am.

 
Now, I have the surround sound system set up and moved my Lazyboy recliner into the room. We haven't found a couch that we like yet (it has to be a sofa sleeper for guests) but I will tell you that the room is pretty much sound proof. It is 10' by 14' and produces some really great acoustics. The speakers all seem to hum and I can really crank up the sound even late 'cause the room is practically it's own wing of the house, off of the garage. The kids love it and the other day I went in there only to find my 6 year old, my 3 year old and my 13 year old niece watching TV and veging IN MY CHAIR!  Needless to say some rules have now been put into place and a lock with a deadbolt has been put on the door. We have yet to have our first movie night in there as this was only completed this week and no one can stay up as late as I can to put the system to the test. Plus that dimmer switch is really impressive, it lowers the light on my four can lights just like a movie theater does. It is pretty cool. Lastly, I have a rotweiller that I let sleep out there at night so as to discourage any unwanted guests. No fooling, I take this stuff seriously and one of my dogs just got an upgrade as to where he sleeps.
 
I have put my original XBOX out there and am contemplating putting my PS3 out there as well, for no other reason then to put one of the newer generation systems on the new TV. I probably will do that this weekend. Now I know that this isn't a typical writer's block article, but if any of you out there are looking to do this to your own place -plan out accordingly. I had in my mind what I wanted to do all along, it was just a matter of getting all parties involved on board. And by the way, my wife thinks the room kicks butt as well. The TV was a bonus, but I had prepared earlier for all other parts by buying up speakers and wires and other goodies. Having a room like this is what all us game players hope for, I wish you luck if this is something you wish to undertake.  Jjust remember, I started on this project last August and it only just got finished.