Home Movie Theaters

Since the early 90's,we have dreamt of building a home theater.Our dream was finally realized when we converted our 22 x 22 foot garage into a theater. The actual dimensions of the theater are 22 x 17 due to a small portion (5 x 17) of the garage we saved for storage. While it’s not very large, it’s comfortable and built to exacting specifications to ensure exceptional performance.

My wife Cindy and I purchased our new home in Raleigh, NC in January 2009 with an eye toward converting the large bonus room over the garage into a home theater. We wanted a space that could be used primarily to watch movies but could also serve as a place for relaxing and listening to music. Further, we wanted a space that was different from the rest of the house that would look and feel like a dedicated theater.

When constructing a home theater, the first thing I recommend is cooperation from your spouse. She had (and still does) complete veto power over every single decision that went into the development of this theater. I first had to convince her to turn a spare bedroom in our brand new townhouse into a dedicated home theater. However, what probably took more persuasion was convincing her of the importance to paint the room an unusually dark color such as charcoal grey with black trim. Or painting the connecting hallway Hollywood red, or the third bathroom metallic gold. Of course, the idea of having "exit" signs all about and life size busts of pretty ugly Hollywood characters took some hard selling, too.

This was a retrofit project where the homeowner's existing 300 sq.ft. theater was upgraded with all new equipment, which included a six-zone distributed audio system for entertaining. The theater went from a 5.1 to a 7.2 audio system and outfitted with a top-of-the-line JVC DLA-RS35U projector outputting 1080P resolution at 120Hz. The original 92” screen was replaced with a 115” Stewart Luxus Deluxe Screenwall, creating a far more immersive environment. A single RTI T4 remote controls everything.