Dedicated Home Theatre- Worth it?

[vivek00001]

Hey everyone,
I know this is a pretty subjective question, but I’ve been second-guessing myself lately and thought I’d reach out for some perspective.

I’m currently in the planning phase of building a dedicated home theatre in an unused terrace space. Right now, I have a 65" QLED in a largely open living room setup, paired with a Denon 1600H AVR and a LCR speaker arrangement. It’s decent, but I’ve always dreamed of having a more immersive, dedicated space.

The estimated cost for the new setup is around ₹13 lakhs, which includes constructing walls with Aerocon panels, some decent acoustic treatment, and all the necessary AV equipment and furnishings.

Now that I'm getting closer to execution, I’m starting to get cold feet. Is it really worth investing this much for a dedicated HT room? The terrace space is otherwise unused, so it’s not a space constraint—it’s more about whether the return (in terms of experience and long-term satisfaction) justifies the spend after the initial excitement fades.

Would love to hear from those who’ve built a dedicated HT—do you still feel it was worth it? Any regrets or things you’d do differently?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

 

[hardcore_gamer99]

Hey everyone,
I know this is a pretty subjective question, but I’ve been second-guessing myself lately and thought I’d reach out for some perspective.

I’m currently in the planning phase of building a dedicated home theatre in an unused terrace space. Right now, I have a 65" QLED in a largely open living room setup, paired with a Denon 1600H AVR and a LCR speaker arrangement. It’s decent, but I’ve always dreamed of having a more immersive, dedicated space.

The estimated cost for the new setup is around ₹13 lakhs, which includes constructing walls with Aerocon panels, some decent acoustic treatment, and all the necessary AV equipment and furnishings.

Now that I'm getting closer to execution, I’m starting to get cold feet. Is it really worth investing this much for a dedicated HT room? The terrace space is otherwise unused, so it’s not a space constraint—it’s more about whether the return (in terms of experience and long-term satisfaction) justifies the spend after the initial excitement fades.

Would love to hear from those who’ve built a dedicated HT—do you still feel it was worth it? Any regrets or things you’d do differently?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

bro if you build from scratch, kindly tell me all the material required and step by step how it was built if you do in future thanks

 

[ajuvignesh]

Hey everyone,
I know this is a pretty subjective question, but I’ve been second-guessing myself lately and thought I’d reach out for some perspective.

I’m currently in the planning phase of building a dedicated home theatre in an unused terrace space. Right now, I have a 65" QLED in a largely open living room setup, paired with a Denon 1600H AVR and a LCR speaker arrangement. It’s decent, but I’ve always dreamed of having a more immersive, dedicated space.

The estimated cost for the new setup is around ₹13 lakhs, which includes constructing walls with Aerocon panels, some decent acoustic treatment, and all the necessary AV equipment and furnishings.

Now that I'm getting closer to execution, I’m starting to get cold feet. Is it really worth investing this much for a dedicated HT room? The terrace space is otherwise unused, so it’s not a space constraint—it’s more about whether the return (in terms of experience and long-term satisfaction) justifies the spend after the initial excitement fades.

Would love to hear from those who’ve built a dedicated HT—do you still feel it was worth it? Any regrets or things you’d do differently?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

if you watch a lot of movies, it is definitely worth it. but if you watch, say 1 movie a week or so, you can consider it but your current setup is good enough. Thats just my opinion.

 

[Spinekar]

but I’ve always dreamed of having a more immersive, dedicated space.

Just for this you can go ahead and do it if you can afford to, if you are someone who enjoys a movie theatre experience then you will surely enjoy your personal HT setup a lot more, with proper screen size and sound
when i bought an apartment there was a room for HT already there and i set it up, i enjoy it a lot and all the trouble was totally worth it

 

[Naturelover]

A big YES

It's a huge step up from watching movies on a large screen TV in the living room.
It all depends how much do you and your family watch.
Since you have already started on it, I expect you can afford it.

 

[prateekatasniya]

Peaceful movie time
Immersive experience
Destress - forget the world for 3 hours.
There's a reason many dream for this - because a living room or any multipurpose space might match the performance but the overall experience is unmatched..

Remember - 99% of dedicated home theatres are screwed because of absorption all around - avoid this.

And even if we are enthusiasts looks ( aesthetics) still matters for an all round experience

 

[vivek00001]

Remember - 99% of dedicated home theatres are screwed because of absorption all around - avoid this.

Could you please elaborate ?

This area has been quite confusing for me actually and it’s great that you highlighted it. So my walls are made of Aercon Panels. And just as you said, the installer is planning 1 layer of 1000gsm 50mm polyfiber wool and then perforated acoustic gypsum board fixed to the frame finally covered with acoustic fabric. For ensuring reflection he said he would add whole gypsum boards instead of perforated gypsum board in around 1/3rds of the area. Additionally he said he would add 4 bass traps. Is this a good solution? Diffusion panels are very expensive, though he said that could also be added according to budget.

 

[prateekatasniya]

Could you please elaborate ?

This area has been quite confusing for me actually and it’s great that you highlighted it. So my walls are made of Aercon Panels. And just as you said, the installer is planning 1 layer of 1000gsm 50mm polyfiber wool and then perforated acoustic gypsum board fixed to the frame finally covered with acoustic fabric. For ensuring reflection he said he would add whole gypsum boards instead of perforated gypsum board in around 1/3rds of the area. Additionally he said he would add 4 bass traps. Is this a good solution? Diffusion panels are very expensive, though he said that could also be added according to budget.

Ask him what will come behind the fabric and the perforated gypsum board?
What type of perforated gypsum board ?

There are many ways to design and implement low cost diffusers.. have been reading in depth and research this stuff since 5 years..

But yes .Ready made diffusers are super expensive..

Use absorption to bring the RT60 to desired level and use diffusion to treat first reflection...

Note- enough distance is needed between listener and diffuser to work properly.

 

[rwnano]

Not worth it..white elephant

 

[dandysandy]

Go through this thread: Thread. You might get some insights.

 

[vivek00001]

Ask him what will come behind the fabric and the perforated gypsum board?

50mm thick layer of 1000GSM Polywool comes behind the fabric and the Gypsum Boards.

What type of perforated gypsum board ?

He said its the Generic acoustic type gypsum Board. So his Design is to add 2/3rds of Perforated Gypsum Board(for absorption) and Balance 1/3rds Full Gypsum Boards(for reflection).

So to summarise his plan: A 50mm layer of 1000 GSM polywool is placed behind the acoustic fabric and the gypsum boards. The gypsum boards is a mix of around 70% perforated gypsum boards (for sound absorption) and around 30% regular gypsum boards (for sound reflection)

 

[prateekatasniya]

50mm thick layer of 1000GSM Polywool comes behind the fabric and the Gypsum Boards.

He said its the Generic acoustic type gypsum Board. So his Design is to add 2/3rds of Perforated Gypsum Board(for absorption) and Balance 1/3rds Full Gypsum Boards(for reflection).

So to summarise his plan: A 50mm layer of 1000 GSM polywool is placed behind the acoustic fabric and the gypsum boards. The gypsum boards is a mix of around 70% perforated gypsum boards (for sound absorption) and around 30% regular gypsum boards (for sound reflection)

You didn't get my point..
Layer 1- fabric
Layer 2 - gypsum
Layer 3 - 50mm polywool

Am I right ?
Is there any 1cm foam between layer 1 fabric and layer 2 gypsum ?

OR is it 50mm polywool behind fabric and also behind gypsum board ?

 

[vivek00001]

You didn't get my point..
Layer 1- fabric
Layer 2 - gypsum
Layer 3 - 50mm polywool

Am I right ?

Yes you are right.

Is there any 1cm foam between layer 1 fabric and layer 2 gypsum ?

No there is no foam planned in between these 2 layers of Gypsum and Fabric. I could insist on that if required.

 

[prateekatasniya]

Yes you are right.

No there is no foam planned in between these 2 layers of Gypsum and Fabric. I could insist on that if required.

No no.. that's what is not to be done...
But what type of gypsum board is being and how much it will absorb it the question..
If there's lot of absorption then the reverberation drops severely making the room sound dead

 

[vivek00001]

But what type of gypsum board is being and how much it will absorb it the question..

Attaching details of the panel shared. Generic gypsum acoustic panels.

 

[prateekatasniya]

This is not a great plan...

 

[prateekatasniya]

View attachment 91496Attaching details of the panel shared. Generic gypsum acoustic panels.

Mono pattern holes don't behave like a good diffuser at higher frequencies.

And There's much more to this.

 

[Raahul]

Hey everyone,
I know this is a pretty subjective question, but I’ve been second-guessing myself lately and thought I’d reach out for some perspective.

I’m currently in the planning phase of building a dedicated home theatre in an unused terrace space. Right now, I have a 65" QLED in a largely open living room setup, paired with a Denon 1600H AVR and a LCR speaker arrangement. It’s decent, but I’ve always dreamed of having a more immersive, dedicated space.

The estimated cost for the new setup is around ₹13 lakhs, which includes constructing walls with Aerocon panels, some decent acoustic treatment, and all the necessary AV equipment and furnishings.

Now that I'm getting closer to execution, I’m starting to get cold feet. Is it really worth investing this much for a dedicated HT room? The terrace space is otherwise unused, so it’s not a space constraint—it’s more about whether the return (in terms of experience and long-term satisfaction) justifies the spend after the initial excitement fades.

Would love to hear from those who’ve built a dedicated HT—do you still feel it was worth it? Any regrets or things you’d do differently?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

Hey everyone,
I know this is a pretty subjective question, but I’ve been second-guessing myself lately and thought I’d reach out for some perspective.

I’m currently in the planning phase of building a dedicated home theatre in an unused terrace space. Right now, I have a 65" QLED in a largely open living room setup, paired with a Denon 1600H AVR and a LCR speaker arrangement. It’s decent, but I’ve always dreamed of having a more immersive, dedicated space.

The estimated cost for the new setup is around ₹13 lakhs, which includes constructing walls with Aerocon panels, some decent acoustic treatment, and all the necessary AV equipment and furnishings.

Now that I'm getting closer to execution, I’m starting to get cold feet. Is it really worth investing this much for a dedicated HT room? The terrace space is otherwise unused, so it’s not a space constraint—it’s more about whether the return (in terms of experience and long-term satisfaction) justifies the spend after the initial excitement fades.

Would love to hear from those who’ve built a dedicated HT—do you still feel it was worth it? Any regrets or things you’d do differently?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

It's TOTALLY WORTH IT..!! If you build it from scratch, it's gonna be your baby..n you're gonna be proud of it..!! N surely you're gonna leave going to the cinema..!! I'd also recommend that you get a projector..!!