I took some time off in the summer of 2007 and constructed a dedicated HT room for the family. Considering this was my first serious attempt at a renovation project, I am pleased by the way things have turned out.
The room is 21x15 with a relatively low ceiling which unfortunately did not allow for a tiered seating arrangement which is one my greatest regrets. There's a deep cavity behind the wall-unit so I built a bass trap behind the screen. A sub-panel was installed with 8 dedicated 20A lines for all the gear but unfortunately the light dimmers throw a lot of noise on the power line, but I felt it was a necessary evil for this room. Let me know if anyone has a better solution for dimmed lighting, but usually the lights are off during movies anyways.
I don't have ambitious audio priorities for this room, but would like to eventually get a processor with all the latest HD audio codecs. Something along the lines of the Cary Cinema 11a would be ideal but I'll wait until it is more mature.
Have to admit that most visitors are more intrigued by the HT room than the 2ch room including my own family. I only have one chair in the audio room anyways.
Hi Chris I would put the surround speakers higher with the tweeters somewhere around ear height when standing. The rears in HT are responsible for the ambient sounds so you want the sound to be more diffusive and not so direct. My set up with the four 1Cs do sound a bit like they are coming from the speakers but it would have been a big eye sore to raise them in my room. You have a lot higher ceiling so it is ideal.
I never tried the VCC1. Since you have the Quatro, I would favour the VCC5. If you look at Vandersteen's forum, he always recommends the VCC5 with 3As and up as they have much greater dynamic and sonic capabilities than the smaller VCC1.
Acoustic treatments are a good idea and one of the most effective upgrades you can make. For a HT room, you want to control the reflections as much as possible so I would also add some side and rear wall panels. I originally started with the ASC 1/2 rounds at the first reflection point, but I recently added additional ASC CinePanels and the sound become more focused with better clarity. It is a lot easier to understand dialogue and the sound is just more natural and less fatiguing. The CinePanels look great, are easy to install, and relatively affordable.
Hi Nikki I am setting up an HT in 17*23 room (ceiling hight not fixed yet (although I am limited to 13.5 ft) with Quattro's in front, 2CS's rears, VC1 center and Vandie sub. Did you have any problem with floor standers in the rear (many people advise me to change to wall mounts?)? Did you use the VC1 before VC5? Huge change?? The rased rear platform was built as a bass trap and further traps would be added to teh four corners. Any feedback would be great Regards Chris
System edited: Replaced PS3 and Oppo DV-981HD with the Oppo BDP-83. The BDP-83 is an incredible value and a significant step forward in audio quality compared to the DV-981HD. Load times are just as quick as the PS3. Also added more ASC CinePanels which significantly improved intelligibility with dialogue.
