To some people, the thought of building a home theater from scratch is enough to send them running to their local A/V store for help. Others may not mind doing the construction, but can’t handle the technical side of things. It is the rare bird who is ready, willing, and able to deal with the technical installation as well as the construction, and do it with as much zeal as homeowner David Adey of Newfoundland.

“I don’t mind tackling construction like this. I have always been more or less inclined to do things myself, and actually love it,” says Adey. “I have always been interested in stereo equipment as well. I put computers together as a hobby, so the technical part of the theater was easy.” David takes a “baby steps” approach to installing his theater, making small purchases here and there to compile a complete high-performance system.

While Adey has always been interested in A/V, it wasn’t until relatively recently that he began considering a dedicated room in his own home. “I started seeing a lot of these rooms online, and I decided when we moved into our new house to have it wired for a projector,” says Adey. And the projector did seem like a logical place to begin when he was ready to start building his dream theater. Selecting that projector was also one of the most challenging aspects of the job. Adey didn’t want to spend a lot of money on the projector, and weighing the pros and cons of various models, such as bulb life and the high cost of 1080p models, made it difficult for him to choose a model. “I finally settled on one that was not a 1080p, the Sanyo PLV-Z5, but you’d never know the difference. The picture is unbelievable. When we watch the Eagles’ concert DVDs down there, it is like you can reach out and touch the band,” says David. Again, his philosophy is a gradual approach to getting the best possible audio and video. He plans to upgrade to 1080p a few years down the line. “This was more or less my first projector, and it gives me an idea of what to look for in the next model. Things like: Are the blacks as black as they can be?” Concerned with wearing out the bulb, David reserves his theater usage to primarily watching movies and concert DVDs. 

Luckily, the shell of the room was already completed when he moved in, so the construction was not as complicated as it would have been, say, on an unfinished basement or a garage remodel. David did, however, want to hide the center-channel speaker in custom cabinetry, and wanted the Carada screen to be flush with the wall. This meant a lot of measuring… and measuring again. Then, Adey drew everything out on paper, built the cabinets, and had his son, Paul, help him install them—all of which took about a month. “The center channel cabinet’s panels come off and the doors open up,” says David. “It’s all made with speaker cloth so remotes can work through it and the sound can come through without being affected.” The custom cabinet also hides much of the A/V equipment, a lot of which was repurposed from previous A/V systems. 

David continues to upgrade his theater, with the help of resources like AVS Forum and Electronichouse.com to find good advice on great, affordable gear. “I am in the process now of changing the front speakers and getting a bigger center channel, which will mean I need to redo the cabinetry slightly,” says Adey. He also plans to add a receiver with HDMI, as well as a Panasonic or Pioneer Blu-ray player and use his old HD DVD player to upconvert standard-definition DVDs. “I’m almost where I want to be in terms of performance, and am really happy with the aesthetics,” says David.

Only $10,000 later, Adey, his wife Pam, and his family are truly enjoying the theater, watching “anything that will get the speakers pumping, whether action movies or concert discs,” says Adey. And with these small upgrades planned for the future, the theater will only get better. 

Quick Hits:
Dimensions: 12 wide x 16 long x 18 high
Initial Budget: None
Ending Budget: $10,000
Length of project: 7 months (April-November 2007)