Home Theater Handbook PDF

HOME THEATER HANDBOOK
Volume 1
UNLEASH A MOVIE THEATER
IN YOUR LIVING ROOM
Volume 1: UNLEASH A MOVIE THEATER IN YOUR LIVING ROOM
www.myhometheatersecrets.com
Copyright 2010
All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced,

stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the
prior written permission of Frank Fazio. This ebook may not be lent,
resold, hired out or otherwise disposed of by way of trade in any form
of binding, or cover other than that in which it is published,
without prior consent of Frank Fazio.
The information contained in this ebook is for educational purposes

only. The diagrams and procedures in this ebook are intended to educate
the reader on how to integrate a Home Theater into an existing
family / living room. By reading the pages of this ebook, you acknowledge
that the author takes no responsibility for personal injuries,
damage, or legal trouble caused by following procedures / advice
presented in this ebook.
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Table of Contents
WELCOME TO MY WORLD ......................................................... 5
YOURE GONNA LOVE THIS BOOK .......................................... 8
Non-Dedicated Theater vs Dedicated Theater ........................... 10
THE SECRET shhhhh ................................................................. 11
CHAPTER 1: PLACEMENT OF THE TELEVISION............... 13
Floor Models or DLPs................................................................... 15
Plasmas and LCDs ........................................................................ 17
CHAPTER 2: SPEAKER PLACEMENT ...................................... 21
Placement of the Main and Center Speakers ............................. 23
Placement of the Surround Speakers .......................................... 25
Size of your Speakers .................................................................... 28
Gauge of Speaker Wire................................................................. 29
The Wireless Speaker ................................................................... 29
Placement of the Subwoofer ......................................................... 32
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CHAPTER 3: THE CHARACTERISTICS OF YOUR ROOM . 34
Structure of the room ................................................................... 37
Hiding the Speaker Wires ............................................................ 37
The Live Room Uh oh ............................................................... 40
Windows ......................................................................................... 42
CHAPTER 4: PLASMA + FIREPLACE = GREY HAIR ........... 48
FINAL THOUGHTS ........................................................................ 64
Introducing Volume 2 of my Home Theater Handbook. .............. 65
4
WELCOME TO MY WORLD
Please fasten your seatbelt until we have reached cruising altitude
My brother-in-law decided he needed to be the first to outdo everyone else

in the family and went out and got himself a 50 inch DLP for is family
room. He then subscribed to a Canadian satellite system for the finishing
touch and was pulling in beautiful HD in no time. Of course I had to go
over and help him put his stand together (hes a chiropractor not very
good with building things) and at the same time tell him how great his new
TV was. We discussed where the new TV should go based on the
structure of his room he disagreed with my point of view and placed
it where his wife (my sister) wanted it to go. Funny thing 2 years
later the TV now sits in the exact spot I had recommended.
My father-in-law called me one morning as I washed my car and asked me

to accompany him to go buy a new TV. After I discussed the pros and
cons of each technology with him, he ended up getting himself a 42 inch
LCD for his family room. He subscribed to a Canadian satellite system for
the finishing touch and then began pulling in beautiful HD. It should be
noted that I not only had to build the stand, but hook up the satellite and
preprogram all the local channels.
One night I got a call from one of my wifes relatives who had heard that I
helped my father-in-law buy a TV. I was asked to accompany him so he
could purchase the same TV my father-in-law bought. After all was said
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and done (and visits to 2 different stores), he ended up using my advice

and getting a 50 inch plasma. He decided against the satellite subscription
and went strictly local channels. The TV and stand were delivered and set
up in his house by the delivery guys.
My mother figured it was about time that we upgraded my fathers 10 year

old rear projection television. So once again I headed to the TV store to
decide what type of television would suit my fathers needs. We decided
on a 50 inch DLP with integrated HDTV tuner so he could get the local
channels. We knew that we were not going to hang the TV, so the thinness
of the set didnt matter, and the DLPs are the thickest, compared to the
plasma and LCD. The TV was placed in the worst part of the room, but
theres no arguing with my mom.
A cousin of mine complained that he couldnt get his 5.1 Dolby Digital
system working with his rear projection television. He told me the speaker
layout he preferred, and I was able to correctly integrate his system into
the living room under one condition stipulated by his parents no
holes in the walls and no wires running across the floor. Piece of cake.
(He has since moved out on his own, and his parents have requested that I
removed the surround system from the room).
All these people have one thing in common. No, its not the fact that
theyre all relatives, its the fact that when they needed help understanding
audio/video equipment, they came to me. Thats right they came to me,
because Im that guy I live for this stuff.
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There is no magic bullet when it comes to setting up a home

theater system in an existing living space. What works for your room
might not work for your neighbors room. To measure the success of
your efforts, you should ask yourself the following question when
youre done the setup: Does it look and sound good to you? If you
answer yes, then youve accomplished your goal.
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YOURE GONNA LOVE THIS BOOK
You know that TV / speaker system that you want to incorporate in your
family room? I can show you how to correctly arrange them to create great
video and soundarrange them so your significant other doesnt want to
kill you.
How can I be so confident? I built an eleven person home theater in my

basement after spending many years of my adult life researching and
planning, and Ive learned a few tricks you can use in any room. I should
also point out that Ive made a few mistakes too mistakes that you dont
have to make now.
When I put my mind to something, I work until Im satisfied with the

results and I wanted the best home theater that I could afford. It wasnt
going to be easy, but I did it, and I decided to write this first volume which
contains the theories and practical knowledge that you can use to
incorporate a home theater into an existing living place.
Why would I want to do this? Why put this on paper? Im finding myself
answering a lot of questions these days from people who have seen my
theater and want to set up something on a smaller scale.
The price of good equipment has dropped over the years, and it is becoming
more affordable for anyone to piece together a nice room. I figured if I
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wrote down all these answers I was giving out, I would have a handy dandy
guide for the next person who came along.
Eventually, I noticed that what I was actually doing was taking all the
material I had gathered over the past 10 years, along with my experiences
during the construction phase, and was creating a real-life design,
construction and calibration guide.
Look, I was able to replace my wifes favorite wall mirror with a 50

inch plasma television in our family room over the fireplace. If I can do
that, imagine what I can help you do
You dont need to be a genius to set up things correctly, but I want you to
understand a few things before we start so listen up.
If you feel that you want to try something listed here in this volume
but are uncomfortable because you are not the handyman type,
then I suggest that you either get someone to help you, or hire a
professional. I want to give you the knowledge, but I dont want you
to hurt yourself, or destroy your home. So get help if you need it
Im stubborn, and yet I asked for help when I needed it; dont be a
hero.
If you are convinced you want to complete the setup in one day,
make sure you do the majority of it during business hours. What Im
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getting at is this How would you feel if, during your setup, you
ran out of speaker wire and it was 7pm? Too bad for you, the
store is closed. I had this happened to me, and it sucks.
What you will not find in these pages is all the stuff you see in the manuals
that you get with your equipment. I will not insult your intelligence by
photocopying hookup diagrams from your manual pages I dont want
to waste your time, or your money. Ive finally learned how to use my
architect software, which I used to create the family room diagrams, so use
the techniques in the book with the owners manuals of your equipment.
Non-Dedicated Theater vs Dedicated Theater
You may, from time to time see me reference the words dedicated and
non-dedicated when referring to home theaters.
Simply put, the major difference between the non-dedicated and

dedicated home theater is the room itself. The dedicated home theater is a
custom room designed to reproduce audio/video just as the movie director
intended, and the non-dedicated home theater is a setup integrated into a
living space that is used for purposes other than watching movies.
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THE SECRET shhhhh
When it comes to setting up your TV and surround system in a room that is

also a living/family room, your options are limited when it comes to the
placement of the TV and surround speakers. Sure, you have a pretty good
idea where the TV is going to go, but if you really want to enjoy great
sound when you watch a movie, will that TV placement let you maximize
the sound of your speakers?
Setting up an audio system in an existing family room is difficult because

you dont have a lot of choices with speaker placement. You basically have
to work around furniture that is already there. Your significant other is not
going to let you move around the plants they strategically placed around the
room to achieve the correct fung shui (and dont go emailing me to ask
what that is google it )
The secret to incorporating a home theater into an existing family room is

to create a sweet spot you know, a place where youre going to sit to
experience the best picture and sound.
You do this by concentrating on one spot in the room where the chosen
one will sit (thats you), and to do this successfully, you must focus on 3
different aspects of your setup; your TV, your speakers (front speakers,
surround speakers, subwoofer) and the room itself.
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By creating this sweet spot, at least three different scenarios are created:
1. When you want to enjoy a movie, and youre alone, your sweet spot
will give you the best possible audio and video available.
2. When you want to impress someone that comes over, make sure they
sit in the sweet spot so you will get the oooohs and aaaahs out of
your friend. You can sit wherever you want in the room youre not
trying to get the best out of the audio or video at that time, you want
your friend to experience it.
3. The seats directly beside your sweet spot will be the next best
choices for your spouses / friends.
Now, lets set up that sweet spot!
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CHAPTER 1: PLACEMENT OF THE TELEVISION
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There will always be someone out there with a bigger TV and a

better sound system than you, so deal with it. Eventually, youll
come across someone that had a bigger budget and got a better deal,
so dont get discouraged when you see their 100 inch flat screen.
They may have the money, but not a clue on how to use it. You have
no idea how many times Ive been in a dedicated home theater, and
the owner has no clue how to turn on his picture in picture
function.
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PLACEMENT OF THE TELEVISION
Whether youve got a floor standing model (DLP, rear projection) or a flat
panel (LCD, plasma) keep in mind that your TV will look the best when
viewed from straight ahead and the center of the screen is at eye
level. This isnt usually a problem with the floor standing models, but if
you want to hang that flat panel on the wall with a TV wall mount, youll
have to come as close as you can to eye level. Also, dont forget the most
wall mounts will allow you to tilt the screen down towards your sweet spot.
Where do you think the most popular place to hang this flat panel? Thats
right, even though it isnt at eye level, most people mount their flat panel
above the fireplace.
Also remember that glare is possible depending on where your windows

are in relation to your TV. Floor standing lights and ceiling lights can
also cause havoc with reflections off the TV screen, so be careful.
Floor Models or DLPs
The floor models can be placed anywhere within the room, but your goal is
not only to have your TV in front of your sweet spot but also to have the
center of the screen at eye level. Here are some things to consider when
dealing with floor models:
15
There is a viewing distance chart that will help you get an idea of
how far the TV should be from your sweet spot to get the optimum
picture quality. It wont be much use here, as you really dont have
too much leeway in moving around the living room furniture to
accommodate your TV.
About 12 years ago, an interior decorator came to our house and

walked toward the family room where he was greeted by my 48 inch
rear projection TV. His suggestion to my wife? The TV should not
be the first thing you see when looking into a room, so he
suggested that I move it out of the corner it was in and place it in the
opposite corner where it wouldnt be seen until you entered the
room. Now I guess youre wondering what I did it was early in
my marriage I moved it.
Even though you may be able to buy a floor model that is relatively
thick (rear projection models), do not place any of your
components on top of your TV. Over time, this will warp your TV
screen and that is not something you want to do purchase a
cabinet or use the TVs built in stand to house your components.
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When you eventually find the ideal place for your TV (whatever
looks best for you), find a seat that is directly infront of the TV (or
closest to the direct front), and focus all your speakers to that spot.
When dealing with DLPs, make sure you leave enough room
behind the set for ventilation. These TVs tend to pump out a lot of
heat from the rear, so be careful. Some people I know have also
noticed the hum of the fan within the set itself. This can be
annoying make sure you see/hear the TV in action at the store
before you buy.
If you have small, curious children/pets, try to place the TV out of

the way of high traffic areas. You dont need your screen scratched
by a toy or inanimate object when someone walks by. I have seen
people temporarily place hard to crawl over objects such as a
plants or decorative sculptures infront of the TV to prevent their
children from getting to the screen. Just make sure these objects are
short enough to see over you dont want to block the TV screen
from view.
Plasmas and LCDs
Here are a few things to consider with flat panel (LCD, Plasma, etc) models
that are going to be mounted on a wall:
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TV wall mounts can be fairly expensive depending on the size of the

TV. I picked up a newspaper flyer today, and TV mounts started at
$600. You want to buy a good one, because the last thing you want
is for that TV to fall off the wall. So spend the money here.
Make sure you know what the wall is made of before you start
mounting, as not all building materials are suitable for hanging.
Masonry and brick might not be able to withstand the weight of the
TV if you dont have the right screws.
Try to mount the TV at a reasonable height in relation to your sweet

spot. Youre not going to enjoy the picture if youre constantly
looking up.
If youre going to mount the TV over the fireplace, make sure you
fire up that fireplace and measure the temperature of the wall where
the TV is going to go. If the temperature is over 85 degrees
Fahrenheit, you might want to pick another place, as the heat will
damage your TV. In my case, the gas fireplace is not used and is
more for decoration. Just be careful here, I dont want you to ruin
your TV because you needed to place it above the fireplace.
If you feel that you need a professional to hang that $3000 flat panel
TV you just bought, it might be a good idea to go back to the TV
store and talk to a customer service agent. These stores either have
18
installers on their payroll, or will call an installer from one of their

contracted companies.
Although hanging a flat panel on the wall looks sharp and saves
space, you also must remember that youre going to need a place
for all of your components that will be located away from your
TV. You will surely have a cable/satellite box, or even a VCR/DVD
player. With a floor model, you can place your components in the
attached built-in stand, but with flat panels on a wall, you dont have
that luxury.
When hanging a flat panel, remember to have hidden access to an

electrical outlet behind the TV to plug it into. Sure, you could run
a long extension cord from the back of the flat panel all the way to
an electrical outlet along the wall, but that isnt going to look very
good, is it? You might want to consider having an electrician install
a new power outlet here your TV is going to hang so you can tuck
the cord behind the TV and make things look neat.
No matter how much you plan and design, there will always be the
unknown waiting around the corner to make things interesting. When
planning, try to assess your situation by taking a long hard look at
your environment, but come up with more than one plan just incase
you run into obstacles. This will also save you time and money if you
need to quickly switch to an alternate plan.
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You can get more Tips and Tricks regarding buying an HDTV in my
other ebook called Start Here, Start Now: Build your own Home Theater.
Its here: http://www.myhometheatersecrets.com/starthere.php Its
FREE.
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CHAPTER 2: SPEAKER PLACEMENT
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The home theater system you buy today will be half the cost in a
few months. This will upset you to no end dont look at prices for
a while after youve made a major purchase: It will drive you nuts.
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SPEAKER PLACEMENT
If you go to the local movie theater, nearly every seat will have excellent
audio therefore you can choose a seat based on how close you want to be
to the screen. Whether you choose the front row, or the last, your ears
should hear exactly what everyone else hears.
Well, Im sorry to break it to you, but it is virtually impossible to position

your speakers so that every seat in your living room reproduces the
sounds that the director wanted you to hear (the rear speakers will not
be behind everyone sitting in the room, therefore those viewers will not get
the correct rear surround effect).
This is why we are trying to create a sweet spot. Since we cant possible
have every seat in your living room get the best audio, lets focus on one
seat in the room and sit there when we want to experience the best sound.
Placement of the Main and Center Speakers
Setting up your front speakers is pretty straightforward. The left goes on the
left side of the TV, and the right goes on the right side of the TV. You can
experiment with the sound by listening to them as you point them
directly towards your sweet spot, then angled slightly away. See what
sounds best for your room.
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Your left and right fronts are supposed to be at the same height as your ear,
but you may not have that opportunity based on the layout of your room.
You also want to have smooth consistent sound from one side of the room
to the other. You do this a couple of ways
Make sure that your speakers are all from the same manufacturer.
This is called timber matching. You want the same sounds to flow from
each speaker. So when something on the TV travels from left to right, you
want the same sound to travel from left speaker to center to the right if
the speakers are from different manufacturers, you can lose that sense of
consistency over the 3 speakers.
Since the center speaker is used primarily for dialogue, it should be

placed above or below your TV, and centered if possible. There may be
an opportunity to use your TV speakers as the center speaker... I have seen
it done, but requires a little more work than can be described here.
You also might wan to experiment with the distance of the speakers
with respect to the sides of your TV. You can put the left and right up
against the sides of the TV, or you can move them farther away see what
sounds best for your situation. The speakers dont have to be inline with the
front of the TV either you and bring them slightly forward, or back.
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Placement of the Surround Speakers
This is where were going to have some fun
Most people think that the surround (rear) speakers need to be hung behind
and above the head of the listener. This is not necessarily the best place. For
one thing, there is no way you can guarantee that you even have back walls
behind your sweet spot to hang those rear speakers.
Ive experimented with surround speaker placement, and there are a number
of different places you can put them:
Figure 1 Surround speakers on rear wall
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Directly behind the sweet spot and three feet above the listeners
head. This is used if you have a wall directly behind the listener and
can mount those speakers on it. This is the most common setup.
(Figure 1)
Figure 2 Surround speakers mounted on side walls
Directly on each side of the sweet spot and three feet above the
listeners head. This can be used if you dont have a wall behind the
sweet spot. (Figure 2)
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Figure 3 Surround speakers mounted on ceiling
Mounting the speakers on the ceiling a few feet behind the sweet
spot and pointing them at an angle to the listener. This can also be
used if you dont have a wall behind the sweet spot. (Figure 3)
Figure 4 Surround speakers placed on floor pointed towards ceiling
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Behind the sweet spot on the floor pointing up toward the ceiling.
You can use this one if you have a wall behind the listener but dont
want to drill holes in the wall to hang the speakers. This will run the
sound up along the back wall and then bounce down off the ceiling
toward the listener. (Figure 4)
Size of your Speakers
Some of the speakers these days are small in size, but deliver a ton of
sound. If youre deciding on what size speakers to get for a family room
and dont have a lot of space to mount regular size speakers, Id suggest
going for the small bookshelf speakers.
The reason I say this is because the last thing you want to do is upset your
significant other by bringing home huge tower speakers and placing them
smack dab in the middle of the family room. I did this, and to get revenge,
my wife constantly put things like plants and knickknacks on top of my
towers. Not good.
With small speakers, you can incorporate them better into an

established room. They can be placed on shelves, on fireplace mantles, on
window sills or even hidden in that fake plant you got as a house warming
from your-inlaws.
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Youre probably asking yourself how small can these speakers get well,
in 2007, Sony released a speaker so small, it fit in the palm of your hand.
Dont be fooled about the size, because each of these little speakers can
crank out 50 watts. So boys, in this case, size doesnt matter.
Gauge of Speaker Wire
For the family room, I wouldnt worry too much about the gauge of wire
(thickness). You have to worry about the gauge of wire when it comes to
running long lengths because there is significant power loss over long runs.
For lengths of 80ft or less, Id stick with 16 gauge.
For more detailed information on speaker wire, please see my website:

http://www.myhometheatersecrets.com
The Wireless Speaker
If youre not handy, or you just cant be bothered with running wires
throughout your family room, there is another option the wireless
speaker. There are a number of companies out there including Pioneer,
Sony, Kenwood, Jensen, Advent and Acoustic Research that understand the
frustration and extra effort you might encounter when it comes to hiding
speaker wires.
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Lets try to break this down into the pros and cons so you can decide
whether this is the right option for you.
PROS
No speaker wires to hide.
Speakers are easily moved if the room gets re-decorated. Lets say
your significant other decides that the current family room is just not
doing it for them anymore, and they want to not only change the
furniture, but the layout too. He/she now wants to put a mirror
smack dab right where one of your surround speakers is. No
problem no wires just move the speaker.
You can put more of these wireless speakers in different rooms of

the house, so you can enjoy the audio elsewhere.
You may be able to pick up headphones that lock onto your

transmitting frequency this will allow you to enjoy the audio
privately from anywhere in the house, even while doing chores
outside. You may say so what, but how many times have you
wanted to watch a sporting event, when you knew you had to pull
the weeds? Now you can listen to the game while you pull the
weeds!
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CONS:
Interference. See what the transmit/receive frequency of the speaker
is and then take a look around your house. Wireless hardware to take
into account that may cause interference: computer networks (not
only yours, but the neighbours too), x10 cameras, telephones,
microwaves etc.
These wireless speakers transmit up to 200ft in ideal circumstances.

This means that your neighbors might be able to pick up the audio
signal on hardware such as radios, wireless phones, scanners this
shouldnt be a big deal, unless youre into watching naughty movies.
Once again, place the speakers in a position to envelope the sweet spot with
ambient noise. Whatever sounds the best to you is your best bet.
Surround speakers are relatively small, so you can also buy speaker stands
if you want to be able to move the speakers around. These stands are about
2-3 feet high and will allow you to place the speakers anywhere behind or
beside your sweet spot without any permanent mounting. (see figure 5)
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Figure 5 Wireless surround speakers placed on stands (without rear wall)
Placement of the Subwoofer
Once youve created your sweet spot with the front, center and surround
speakers, its time to figure out where the subwoofer should go. The rule of
thumb for subwoofer is the following: if you place the subwoofer in the
correct position, when you watch a movie, you should not be able to tell
where the bass is coming from.
So, how do you figure out where that subwoofer should go? Well, heres a
trick that I learned from my research: Wire up your subwoofer as directed
by your manual with enough speaker wire so that your sub can physically
reach your sweet spot. Place the subwoofer in your sweet spot and play
some music with a very low bass track.
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At this point, walk around the room and see where the bass sounds the
best remember, there is no right and wrong here whatever sounds best
to you. Once you find where the bass sounds the best, thats where your
subwoofer should go.
Now of course if it sounds best in the middle of the room, you just cant put
the subwoofer there, youll just have to place it as close as you can to that
spot. Here are some other places to place that subwoofer if you just want it
out of the way:
Under an endtable
Behind / beside the sweet spot
Behind / beside the TV
In a wicker basket private joke for one of my readers.
Whatever you do, make sure that hole on the back or side of the subwoofer
is free of any obstacles, as it is used to move air in and out of the speaker. If
it is covered, the sub will not be able to reproduce the bass that is in the
movie.
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CHAPTER 3: THE CHARACTERISTICS OF YOUR ROOM
34
Good speakers will sound horrible in an untreated room, and bad

speakers will sound half decent in a treated room
35
THE CHARACTERISCTICS OF YOUR ROOM
There is a saying that states Good speakers will sound horrible in an

untreated room, and bad speakers will sound half decent in a treated room.
Although it should be not taken as the gospel, that saying has truth to it.
A room that has a number of reflective walls can make your speakers sound
like crap. Even a reflective floor, such as tile or hardwood is not a great
room for sound. You can do something about it though its called
treating the room.
Now youre probably thinking, treat the room? What the heck is he
talking about? What I mean is for you to take a look at wall those things
that make your room unique. You know, make a note of the following:
structure of the room

entryways or doors
floor/ceiling
windows
objects you cant move: furniture, fireplace, etc
objects you can move: plants, mirrors, etc
amount of light in the room
All of those things make up your room
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Structure of the room
One thing you might want to consider when deciding on the position of
your TV (which in turn dictates where your speakers need to be) is where
the entryway into your family room is. If youre sitting in your sweet spot
watching a movie, and the only way for someone to get into the room is by
walking in front of you, youre not going to be a happy camper when they
enter the room.
You may also encounter distractions if the entryway is in your field of view
while sitting in your sweet spot someone is bound to walk by that
entryway on the way to the other side of the house. This is not what you
want. If you can, try to arrange your TV in such a way that the
entryways are behind your sweet spot if there is movement near the
entryway, you dont see it.
Hiding the Speaker Wires
Youre going to have to run speaker wire from the receiver to all of your
speakers. For the front ones, you wont have to worry about hiding these
from view because theyre close to the receiver and can be tucked away
behind the TV but what about your surround ones?
37
The length of wire to the surround speakers depends on placement, and

youre going to have to figure out how to keep these hidden from view. If
this is a room where you do a lot of entertaining, then youll want your
setup to look as professional as possible.
When you first set up your surround speakers, you shouldnt worry about
hiding the wires (leave them laying on the floor) just worry about the
length of wire that youre going to need and add a few feet more.
Remember that when you permanently install your speakers that it is easier
to cut a long wire to fit the required length rather that end up with a
short wire and try to figure out how to lengthen it. So use a generous
length when you start out.
Sit in your sweet spot and listen to a movie soundtrack. Try different
locations for your surrounds, keeping in mind that you are trying set them
up according to your ear, no one elses. Once you have decided where your
surrounds are going to go, run the wires along any baseboards or obstacles
that will be used to conceal them. Once youre satisfied with the placement,
you are ready to permanently mount the speakers and hide the wires.
Now this is where its going to get interesting try the following tips:
If you have a crawl space or basement under your family room, try
drilling holes into the floor near your equipment and send the
38
speaker wires down through the holes. Once underneath the floor,
run the wires and send them back up through new holes into the
above family room where your speakers are going to go.
If you have a room that is carpeted, and you wish to drill a hole into the
floor to accommodate a speaker wire, make sure you cut an X into the
carpet with an exacto knife first, pull apart that X to expose wood
underneath, and drill directly on that wood. If you try and drill a hole
directly into the carpet, the fibers of the carpet will hook into your drill
bit and you will unravel your carpet. I learned this one the hard way.
If you have an area rug, try running the wires underneath it and in a
spot where there isnt too much traffic. Speaker wire is quite
durable, and will be able to take someone walking on it.
If youre handy, you can run the wire behind your baseboards. When
placing the surrounds in the back of the room, make sure you run the
wire along your baseboards to measure how much wire you actually
need. Then after you have decided where the surrounds are to be,
carefully remove the baseboards, tuck the wires in the spaces below
your exposed drywall, and then place your baseboards back.
If you have carpeted baseboards, you can peel it back from the wall
just enough to tuck a wire behind. Now from my experiences with
39
this, it is sometimes difficult to pull it off the wall not only do the
carpet installers use glue, they also use small staples, and if one of
these staples is in a stud, then youre going to have to use a little
elbow grease to pull that baseboard back. Make sure you have some
sort of glue on hand to re-position that baseboard after.
There is a company called Recoton out there that markets a new type
speaker wire for pre-existing rooms. Its an ultra thin, ribbon like,
paintable speaker wire with a self-adhesing backing. You run this
wire right above your baseboard, or just below the ceiling, and all
you do is stick it and paint over it with the same colour as your wall.
Voila!
The Live Room Uh oh
Okay youve created your sweet spot, pointed your front and rear
speakers as you saw fit, and the subwoofer is tucked away ready to bounce
out some bass. You start up your favourite movie, and become quickly
disappointed. The sound is muddy and your ears are quickly becoming
confused, as they cant discern where the direct noises are coming from.
Welcome to the untreated live room.
Simply stated, sound travels to our ear as waves, and these waves like to
bounce off of solid objects until they lose energy and eventually die out
40
solid objects like walls, the ceiling, and the floor. Bouncing waves is not
something you want in a home theater. You need to absorb these waves the
best you can in your room.
You know you have an untreated room when you clap and you hear an
echo. Echos are a no no.
If you enjoy movies, and you really want to get a good sound out of your
speakers, then you need to get rid of any echoes. If you cant be
bothered, and think things sound okay, then you really dont have to do
anything.
Remember, these are tips and tricks that Ive studied you dont need to
implement them, but they might help somewhere down the line.
If your floor is covered with carpet, youre cool, as it wont reflect the
sound. If it isnt carpeted then throw an area rug down in front of the TV. It
will help absorb some of the sound coming from your front speakers.
If your walls are bare and parallel to one another, then youre going to get
reflections off of those too. Not much you can do there except hang things
that you think absorb sound. Hanging mirrors and pictures with glass
frames wont help, as they also are highly reflective.
41
A flat ceiling is going to be reflective regardless. Nothing you can do

here unless you want to hang fabric banners from your ceiling (next time
youre at an arena, look up youll see fabric banners up there). This idea
might not go over well with your significant other.
What else can you go to quiet down a live room? Furniture. You know,
things like sofas, loveseats, pillows, blankets fabric is a great absorber of
sound.
Windows
There are two problems that windows can create in a family room home
theater The first is when sound bounces off them (which creates an
echo), and the second has to do with glare on that really nice big screen
youre trying to watch.
Okay, lets look at the echo problem first. There are two ways to minimize
echoes off your windows. The first would be to move your speakers around
so they arent aimed directly at the windows, and the other would be to
treat the windows.
Moving your speakers doesnt do you any good because youve probably
spent a lot of your time strategically placing them so the sweet spot is
giving you the best sound. So lets treat those windows with some drapery
42
to absorb and diffuse any sound that hits them that solution is more
practical.
The other thing you need to be concerned about is glare. I know what
youre thinking I have shades in my room, and Ill just close them.
Yep thats what I thought.
The problem I encountered was what I like to call the glare from hell.
You know, that glare that still appears on the screen even though youve
closed your shades. This stems from the fact that the shades are okay to
block the direct sunlight from entering the room, but not thick enough to
block the ambient light. This sucks.
This is the exact thing that happened to me after I spent a ton of time
hanging my plasma. I sat down to enjoy a movie and after I closed the
shades, I still had light entering the room. The glare was still there and
slowly starting to frustrate me.
Now, not every seat in the room had the glare problem, but I knew darn
well that there were certain popular seats in the family room that did... and I
did not spend $3,000+ for a plasma TV to have a glare problem.
I decided to break the news to my wife We need new shades, theres a

glare on the TV. My wife did not take this news well. Not only did she
give up the spot over the fireplace, but now she had to go through all the
trouble of getting new shades? No way she said.
43
Here we go again how the heck was I going to darken the room if I had
no control over the shades? As with most things in life, timing is
everything. I was in luck. My wife had already contacted someone to treat
the windows on the other side of the house.
I needed to be around the house when this drape guy was to make his
appearance, which is exactly where I was.
I talked to the drape guy during his visit and after a lengthy conversation,
we both decided that changing the shades was not the way to go we
needed to add an additional darkening shade underneath the existing
shades. This way, I could darken the room with my shade, and my wife
could close her shade (plus ambient light) when she wanted privacy
(Figures 6 and 7). Wife agreed to the compromise, and we were good to go.
Excellent.
It should be noted that when I close the darkening shade, it gets really
dark in the family room so dark that my wife has labeled the family room
the cave. I dont care, Ive solved my glare problem, and it was not
expensive to do.
44
Figure 6 The darkening shade sits underneath the normal shade
Figure 7 Once closed, you can see the normal shades still let light in the darkening one wont
45
Moveable Doors
A buddy once asked me about the surround sound speaker placement in his
open concept family room. He was worried that his room was too open
behind his sweet spot, and that the sound would travel into the adjoining
rooms.
He was fortunate in the fact that he was doing renovations in the room, so
he wanted to see if there was some way he could create a movable wall
behind his sweet spot.
The problem here comes from the fact that anything flat that he places
there will reflect sound back at him. He wanted to put French doors that
he could open and close, but I talked him out of it too much glass. I
instead suggested that he put up heavy drapes that could be dragged across
the back of the room.
It sounds a bit weird, but if youre adventurous, you can create a

professional looking cabinet on one side of the room with a track in the
ceiling. When you want to watch a movie, open your cabinet and drag the
drape thats in it across the back of the room along the hidden track in the
ceiling: A simple solution to a complicated problem.
Yes, I can just imagine what youre thinking If you think my significant
other is going to let me put a drape in our family room, youre crazy.
46
Okay, Im not totally out of touch with reality, but Im not sure how good
you are at persuading your better half
If youre not very good at it, then go with the French doors just treat
those doors with some sort of fabric to absorb sound.
47
CHAPTER 4: PLASMA + FIREPLACE = GREY HAIR
48
K.I.S.S (Keep It Simple, Stupid) When planning a setup, the best

method is usually the simplest one dont overthink your
installation
49
PLASMA + FIREPLACE = GREY HAIR
I bet you never learned that in math class well, let me tell you, after the
fun I had hanging my plasma, thats a valid calculation.
Up until now, Ive given you many ideas on how to properly set up your
home theater in an existing living/family room. So now its time to give
you the details on what happened when I mounted my plasma over my
fireplace here is a real world application enjoy!
This is a perfect opportunity to share a story a story about the day I

decided to hang my plasma television over the fireplace. The problem, you
see, is that the wife owned this valuable territory. This was where she put
that huge mirror of hers and she wasnt about to move it.
I needed to secure that prime real estate owned by the wife (Figure 8). After
some deep thinking, I decided to make a deal with her stipulating that one
day I would change the faade of the brick fireplace to either stucco or
stone.
You see, my wife always liked her mirror over the fireplace, but she never
really liked the look of the fireplace brick was never her thing. So, by
offering to change the brick one day, she gave up her mirrored space for
future faade considerations.
50
Figure 8 This was the prime real estate I needed to acquire
Having secured the promised land, I called over my buddy Kim to help
me mount it. Like I said in the beginning of this book dont be afraid
ask for help when you cant lift that 200 pound flat screen by yourself.
I also wanted his opinion on some theories I had floating around in my
head and I wanted to borrow some of his more special drill bits.
After taking some initial measurements, it became quickly apparent that

this was not going to be a 2 hour job. There wasnt any easy way to run the
audio, video, and power cables behind the brick. It wasnt impossible, but
51
really how is someone supposed to hide 5 cables through brick to the

corner of the room?
We decided to remove one of the square air vents that were on each side of
the faade to see what hidden options we could explore.
What did we find? Heres an idea of what you might find behind a
fireplace: steel. Thick, cold, hard steel. The fireplace had a layer of thick
steel under that brick faade my wife hated so much I was beginning to
hate it too.
Kim and I sat down and just looked at each other. It wasnt supposed to be
this difficult. I had Plan A worked out in my head use the vent to run
(and hide) the cables to the right side of the room where I would have my
equipment. Nope, not possible: too much concrete and steel.
Okay everyone put your tools down were switching to Plan B.

Here were the steps to Plan B (figure 9):
1) Remove a brick from the center/above over the fireplace

2) Pass the cables through the missing brick hole to the right vent
3) Drill a hole from the right vent to the outside
4) Pass the cables outside
5) Run the cables along the outside wall of the house
6) Pass the cables back into the house to the family room
52
Figure 9 The black arrows detail the path we were going to take when running the cables to the
outside of the house. This view is from inside the house.
The removal of a brick meant I would have to kick my wife out of the
house for a few hours.
I pulled out a black marker and put a big X on the brick that was halfway
between the two air vents. This was the brick we needed to remove so we
could run the cables from behind the TV, into the brick wall, and then pass
the cables outside the house. The brick we would remove would be directly
behind the hanging TV, so no one would ever see the missing brick.
My wife tends to get bent out of shape when she sees me hang a picture
with a nail and hammer, so I thought it would be best that she didnt see me
pull an entire brick out of her family room call me crazy.
53
A word of advice when removing a single brick... you should start by

drilling out the cement around the brick first. This will protect the
surrounding bricks when you start working on the victim brick. The act of
drilling out concrete with a concrete drill bit will create an immense amount
of dust and fine concrete sand (which will pile up beneath you). Another
reason why I sent my wife out of the house.
It would be a good idea to have a shopvac handy at this point When

youve removed the surrounding concrete, get out a small sledge hammer
and start tapping away at that brick. It should come apart in pieces.
ALWAYS WEAR PROTECTIVE EYE GEAR WHEN WORKING

WITH BRICK. Pieces will fly everywhere and youd be surprised where
things land.
After carefully removing the X brick, we ran our cables behind the brick
faade and into the air vent (Figure 10).
Once all the cables where in the vent, I had Kim drill a hole through the
back of the vent to the outside. We passed the cables through that hole and
ran them down the side of the house.
54
Figure 10 Kims left hand is in the hole we created by removing the brick, and his right hand is in the
vent. He carefully fed the cables from missing brick hole to right vent.
Once outside, we ran the cables along the outside wall until we came to the
spot where we needed to drill another series of holes to send the cables
back into the house. (Figure 11)
55
Figure 11 The black line shows the path we took as we ran the cables along the outside of the house,
and then back into the house. The inset circles are pictures of what it looks like in real life. This view is
from outside the house see Figure 9 for the inside view.
So basically we couldnt hide the wires inside the house, so we hid them
outside the house. Sounds kinda funny eh? Its hard when you hang a flat
panel on a wall you cant get behind you dont want wires hanging
everywhere, you want a nice clean job.
We took the unorthodox idea to push the wires through an available air vent
to the outside. Always think outside the box.
56
It is very important that you drill slow and take your time a brick can
only take so much stress. Figure 12 is what the brick looked like after we
drilled the holes and passed some of the cables through.
Figure 12 After running the wires outside, we sent them back into the house the brick broke
Keep the pieces of brick because they need to be siliconed back into place
as best as possible. If you cant put the pieces back, you can cover it with a
receptacle box found at your local hardware store.
As we passed all our cables through the drilled holes, we hit our next
problem. The HDMI cable that was to run between the TV and satellite
57
system was only 6 feet long. Long enough for Plan A, but too short for Plan
B, and if youve been paying attention, were on Plan B.
Of course it was a Saturday, and 4:50pm. Funny thing happens here in my

hometown on Saturdays stores tend to close at 5pm. I kid you not. So
there I stood looking at the hole in my brick wall, tools everywhere, dust
covered most of the room, and I couldnt finish hanging my plasma because
the HDMI cable that I had was not long enough. Gosh, I hate it when this
happens.
My wife was going to kill me.
I made a call to the local audio/video place and told them to stay open until
I got there they said they would wait 10 minutes after closing time for
me. I took my young daughter, gave her a piggy back ride to the car, and
drove down to the audio/video store where an attendant was waiting.
Once there, we walked into the store and I proceeded to pay $230 for a 16
foot HDMI cable. Yep $230, cables can be expensive, especially when
the store knows you need one really bad.
As I spent a wad of cash on one cable, Kim was back at my house trying his
best to clean up all the bits of brick that were embedded into my carpet.
Thank God my wife hadnt gotten home yet.
58
This is why you might want to do the majority of your work during some
sort of time when you know the stores are open. I know some of you out
there arent going to care, but some of you wont want to wait until the next
day to complete your setup with all your tools lying around and your
significant other hovering over the mess they want you to clean up. Suit
yourself, but it is a good tip.
Since I was exposing my cables to the outside weather, I tucked them as

closely as possible into the corner of the house to protect them from the
sunlight, rain and snow. For added protection, I went to the hardware and
bought pipe insulation, which should keep them warm in the winter.
(Figure 13) You can get different lengths of this pipe insulation depending
on your needs.
Figure 13 Cables protected from the weather by pipe insulation
59
After your cables have been run, hooked up and finalized, you should put
silicone in the holes to stop little critters from crawling in. Dont worry
about using too much, as the more the better just dont think youre
going to use that hole for any other cables. That silicone isnt going to
come out easily.
Before we lifted and secured the TV into place, we needed to mount a brace
to the wall that the TV was going to hang on. The brace we used came in
two parts (they fit together to secure the TV to the wall). One part bolted to
the wall, and the other bolted to the back of the TV, as the TV had threaded
holes for the mounting screws. In fact, the brace came with many different
screws to fit a number of TV models. (In Figure 10 you can just see the
bottom of the wall brace over Kims left hand).
Figure 14 The TV is lifted into place and wires are connected
60
After we put the brace on the back of the TV, we turned our attention to the
brace that was to go on the wall. We measured from the ceiling to the point
where we thought the TV should go and made a level line. Make sure you
measure a number of times, and when dealing with brick, try to find a
brick line that you want to match the bottom of the brace to.
Before you start drilling to mount the wall brace, MAKE SURE YOU ARE
LEVEL, OR AS CLOSE TO THE BRICK LINE AS POSSIBLE. When we
were confident that we were somewhat level, we marked off where the self-
tapping concrete screws should go.
Kim had marked a number of spots where I was to drill and we attached the
wall brace with 8 Tapcon screws. We carefully hung the TV and got out
our level to make sure everything looked good.
When using a shopvac to remove drywall/brick dust, make sure you get
the proper filter bag. There is a filter bag that you can get designed for
fine dust if you use a different bag, you will blow all the dust back into
the house through the shopvacs exhaust fan. If there isnt a fine dust
bag available, you can place the shopvac outside and run the hose into the
house to clean the mess.
61
Figure 15 All the wires were tucked into the brick we removed. This view is looking up from the
fireplace
Remember that even though the TV may be level, it may not look level if
the brick lines are not level. Make sure when you deal with brick, that the
bottom of your TV matches a brick line. It will look a lot better than if you
just rely on a level.
The TV went up, the wires were attached, and the TV came to life. It was
utter beauty. The clarity was unbelievable. This was my familys first
exposure to HD but it amazes me how my kids still want to watch cartoons
in analogue.
62
Make sure you have patience and are willing to spend a number of hours
when it comes to hanging a TV what Kim and I thought was going to
take a few hours took are you ready for this 7 hours.
Figure 16 Success with no wires showing
63
FINAL THOUGHTS
I hope I shed some light on a few things that you might not have thought of
when trying to incorporate a home theater into a family room. Now you
know why I said earlier that what works for your neighbor might not work
for you.
Rooms are different sizes and have different characteristics, so if you want
to work on getting the most out of your equipment, then you must have the
knowledge and the patience to want to do it. I have given you a little
knowledge, but the patience part is up to you.
It should be noted that you can still hang that plasma in your family room
without adding the home theater receiver and speakers. The sound from the
TV speakers will be adequate for normal television viewing.
Remember that you should base the success of your setup on how good
things sound.
Take care, good luck and have fun.

Frank Fazio
www.myhometheatersecrets.com
64
Home Theater Secrets Revealed... Website
This website contains the following:
- Optimizing room dimensions

- Blueprints
- Construction of the front wall
- Raised flooring so every seat has a great view
- What you can do with your ceiling
- Absorption, deflection and reflection where and why
- Gauge of speaker wire
- Paint colors for your room
- Placement of your subwoofer(s)
- Sound dynamics, what and why
- How to absorb first reflections
- Acoustic paneling building vs buying
- Sound insulations in walls and ceiling
- Make your floor shake bass shakers for your floor
- Ventilation it gets warm real fast what to do
- Lighting
- Viewing distances for your TV
- Seating how I found my theater seats
- Added touches curtains, movie posters, props
- Surge suppressors, power bars are they worth it?
- and much more
http://www.myhometheatersecrets.com
65

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HOME THEATER HANDBOOK

All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced,

The information contained in this ebook is for educational purposes

WELCOME TO MY WORLD ......................................................... 5

YOURE GONNA LOVE THIS BOOK .......................................... 8

Non-Dedicated Theater vs Dedicated Theater ........................... 10

THE SECRET shhhhh ................................................................. 11

CHAPTER 1: PLACEMENT OF THE TELEVISION............... 13

Floor Models or DLPs................................................................... 15

Plasmas and LCDs ........................................................................ 17

CHAPTER 2: SPEAKER PLACEMENT ...................................... 21

Placement of the Main and Center Speakers ............................. 23

Placement of the Surround Speakers .......................................... 25

Size of your Speakers .................................................................... 28

Gauge of Speaker Wire................................................................. 29

The Wireless Speaker ................................................................... 29

Placement of the Subwoofer ......................................................... 32

CHAPTER 3: THE CHARACTERISTICS OF YOUR ROOM . 34

Structure of the room ................................................................... 37

Hiding the Speaker Wires ............................................................ 37

The Live Room Uh oh ............................................................... 40

CHAPTER 4: PLASMA + FIREPLACE = GREY HAIR ........... 48

FINAL THOUGHTS ........................................................................ 64

Introducing Volume 2 of my Home Theater Handbook. .............. 65

Please fasten your seatbelt until we have reached cruising altitude

My brother-in-law decided he needed to be the first to outdo everyone else

My father-in-law called me one morning as I washed my car and asked me

and done (and visits to 2 different stores), he ended up using my advice

My mother figured it was about time that we upgraded my fathers 10 year

There is no magic bullet when it comes to setting up a home

YOURE GONNA LOVE THIS BOOK

How can I be so confident? I built an eleven person home theater in my

When I put my mind to something, I work until Im satisfied with the

Look, I was able to replace my wifes favorite wall mirror with a 50

Non-Dedicated Theater vs Dedicated Theater

Simply put, the major difference between the non-dedicated and

THE SECRET shhhhh

When it comes to setting up your TV and surround system in a room that is

Setting up an audio system in an existing family room is difficult because

The secret to incorporating a home theater into an existing family room is

Now, lets set up that sweet spot!

CHAPTER 1: PLACEMENT OF THE TELEVISION

There will always be someone out there with a bigger TV and a

PLACEMENT OF THE TELEVISION

Also remember that glare is possible depending on where your windows

Floor Models or DLPs

About 12 years ago, an interior decorator came to our house and

If you have small, curious children/pets, try to place the TV out of

Plasmas and LCDs

TV wall mounts can be fairly expensive depending on the size of the

Try to mount the TV at a reasonable height in relation to your sweet

installers on their payroll, or will call an installer from one of their

When hanging a flat panel, remember to have hidden access to an

CHAPTER 2: SPEAKER PLACEMENT

Well, Im sorry to break it to you, but it is virtually impossible to position

Placement of the Main and Center Speakers

Since the center speaker is used primarily for dialogue, it should be

Placement of the Surround Speakers

This is where were going to have some fun

Figure 1 Surround speakers on rear wall

Figure 2 Surround speakers mounted on side walls

Figure 3 Surround speakers mounted on ceiling

Figure 4 Surround speakers placed on floor pointed towards ceiling