FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
Q: What areas in my house are suitable for a dedicated Home Theater?
A: The most common areas used for @HomEscape theaters are finished basements and bedrooms or bonus rooms over garages. Attics, single or double bay garage conversions or little used offices, dens, or libraries make excellent theater locations too. Experience tells us that after your @HomEscape Theater is installed you will be spending more time in this new "family room" than anywhere else in your house except your bedrooms and kitchen/dining areas, so it needs to be properly climate controlled with heating and air conditioning too.
Q: What size space do I need for a Home Theater?
A: An @HomEscape theater is very size flexible and can make virtually any room look and sound better for home entertainment. A single bay garage conversion or guest bedroom at 9’ x 12’ can make a nice intimate theater on the small side, up to a double garage or large basement at 20’ x 30’ or more which can seat a large family or group of friends for Idol cut down night or the NCAA finals.
Q: My basement has a low ceiling; can I still use your soffit?
A: @HomEscape soffits were designed with a form factor pleasing to the eye and to allow maximum flexibility and useful options. For low ceiling basements, our 8” soffit height is ideal for clearing doorways and allows installation with ceiling heights down to 7’8” and sometimes even a bit lower.
Q: I have an existing finished room, what about wiring?
A: With the @HomEscape soffit system and columns, virtually all of the wiring can be easily hidden in a retrofit installation. AC power for recessed soffit lighting and sconces can be routed from existing wall outlets into adjacent columns and can use any remote dimming controls on the market. The low voltage wiring to the to the surround speakers as well as the as well as the projector wiring can all be routed and hidden in the soffit system. This provides easy future access for upgrades without cutting into walls or fishing wires.
Q: If I use a high ceiling space like my garage or bonus room, can I still have a complete @HomEscape theater?
A: Yes. We engineered our columns so that they may be extended for ten foot or even higher ceiling heights using our standard soffit. Depending on the overall room size, we may recommend mounting the soffit system below the actual ceiling height for a more proportional look and balance to your theater room. Custom double soffits are another option as well as ceiling panels to visually lower the height of the ceiling and for some minimal acoustic benefit if using ceiling-mounted front of room speakers.
Q: The corners in my room are not straight; do I need expensive custom soffit parts?
A: Generally not. We engineered our Tray-Corner connectors as a flexible corner system which can accommodate several degrees of builder error in each corner without special parts. Our modular soffit fits where others will not. No special templates or field modification is necessary.
Q: How do you achieve the desired acoustic properties for my theater?
A: Your @HomEscape theater will sound much better than your typical local Cineplex. Our acoustical panels absorb excess sound energy and control reverberation. Additionally, the grand 3” custom wooden panel frame typically provides 4 to 5 ft² per panel of excellent diffraction and diffusion of sound traveling along the walls which is especially important in surround sound areas of the room. Both the columns and soffits provide additional uneven surfaces for diffusion while some drywall is left exposed to reflect sound and to keep the room from becoming lifeless or dead sounding. Upgrading to two-inch acoustic material in panels can help control low frequencies below 1000Hz for a more balanced response with high-end audio systems.
Q: Can I hide my speakers from view and will they still sound good?
A: Yes. Our exclusive Cinergy fabrics were designed to allow sound to pass through while achieving a high-end, residential look never before available. Unlike many other panel products created by gluing multiple panels on top of each other, our acoustic panels can be easily modified at installation for in-wall speakers.All of our columns, 12” and 18” and even our corner columns were designed to hold speakers, both box and in-wall can be hidden inside behind the removable grill panel. The same is true of our soffit, with it’s wide 15” lower surface, it is ideal for hiding in-wall or ceiling speakers in the soffit itself without cutting the ceiling of the room.
Q: How long does it take to get a theater interior installed?
A: Generally about eight to ten weeks from first look to completed in your home. This allows time to select options, and let your dealer provide you with an estimated build cost for your specific room. You will be asked for a $2,000 refundable deposit and we will provide your dealer with CAD drawings of exactly how your room will lay out and look as well as a final cost. You may also see a 3-D rendering of the room at this time. Once the details are set, you sign the drawings and 3-D, your dealer returns them to us with your second deposit and we will build your theater. We ship to the dealer or your house a few weeks later and the dealer’s custom install staff completes the theater and electronics installation in the last few days.
Q: What kind of lighting does the theater come with?
A: Most theaters feature low-voltage halogen recessed downlights in the soffit located over each wall panel (except front wall) and your choice of decorative sconces on columns on the sides, rear corners and rear walls. There are color and style options for each of these as well as a delete option if they are not desired.
Q: How much will this new family room (theater interior) cost?
A: @Home Theater Rooms specializes in providing a high quality, complete, architectural millwork theater interior at a fair value. These rooms cost about the same as the fitting out of a fine formal dining room in an upscale residence, but will get used a hundred times more often! Theater seating and electronics selections are often much more a variable than the actual theater interior and installation which usually costs between $20,000 and $35,000. A complete installation with seating and high quality electronics can cost as little as $50-$75K. Make sure you compare apples with apples, nothing else even comes close to what we offer in value.
Q: What are my options for theater seating?
A: While @Home Theater Rooms has invested a substantial amount of capital to support the manufacturing of our ClassicA panels and our @HomEscape theaters, we currently do not manufacturer theater seating. This means that since we can not easily control the quality of the finished product, we have decided at this time to noe`4"tively promote seating as part of our product offerings. However, all @Home Theater Rooms dealers carry theater seating and they can help you select the correct seats for your needs. @Home Theater Rooms can also provide assistance in selecting the correct seating vendor for your specific application, or if desired we can source home theater seating from many of the available manufacturers and provide it as part of an overall theater interior solution.
Q: What kind of electronics can I use in my home theater?
A: Many people already have an existing “theater” in a drywalled room. By adding an @HomEscapes interior they can clarify the sound and create an inviting place to spend more time with their family and friends for a very reasonable investment. Your local @HTR dealer can provide the best advice for upgrading or selecting the proper components for your needs. Most true home theaters today use a large front projection screen and projector for the video, individual components for the electronics, and a matched set of 7.1 speakers for the audio. For instance our 18” wide columns were designed to hide most of the in-wall subwoofers available today, your dealer can even offer you the option of hiding two or even four subwoofers (considered by most to be the optimal number of subs) in your theater.
Q: How accurate do the room measurements have to be? I’m not a carpenter by trade and neither is my @Home Theater Rooms Salesperson!
A: We have engineered our ClassicA panels and our @HomEscape theater interiors for real-life. In general, we ask that you take the time to get the room height, width, and length accurate to within 2” in each dimension, which can be achieved by using either a normal tape measure or a laser version of the same. Similarly, existing locations of the wall switches, central vacuum outlets, HVAC registers, receptacles, and anything else that might interfere with the placement of panels, columns, or soffit sections need to be located on each wall within that same 2” margin of error.