Father/Son Team Build Dream Home Theater

Darren Wander recruited his Dad to help create his childhood dream of the ultimate home theater.

Drinks are on Darren Wander—he is the one that built a bar into his home theater. “Cheers” duo Norm and Cliff might want to sit back and wax poetic, but that would just disturb what’s going on up on the screen. However, we’re guessing that on his block, everybody knows Darren’s name.

Wander isn’t the type that can’t get through two hours without a drink. The idea to add a bar was to keep costs down; he didn’t want to add a riser and second row of seats. “I knew I wanted to entertain during football season and needed an area with additional seating and a place to eat without having to worry about a place to set down a plate full of food or a drink,” he says. “The bar was the solution.”

Even though they’re not as cushy as the theater seats, there are three additional stools with a perfect view of the screen.

If the bar action starts to overpower the A/V, guests can step outside the theater door and kick back by the wet bar. This area is just an extension of the basement level’s entertainment. “During parties or football games, I have enough countertop space on the wet bar for several containers of dip, chicken wings, chips, cookies, and drinks,” Wander says. “I have two electrical outlets by the wet bar for slow cookers and will soon add a sink in the future.”

While you are there, make sure to raise a glass—to toast the fact that Wander put this entire area together on his own. “Over the course of three months, I knocked down one wall, put up another, did all the electrical, drywall, painting, carpet, built the dry bar, screen, and curtains.” OK—his mom helped with the curtains, and even his father, a retired construction engineer, lent a hand with the construction.

Having a home theater was a goal Wander, an avid member of AVS forum, had dreamt about since his days of watching “Star Trek” on his uncle’s system. “Using a Pioneer laserdisc player, he fed the video to a 27-inch TV, and the audio into a Marantz Quadradial 4 amp,” he says. “I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever seen or heard.”

A few years later, he saved his paper route money for his own 19-inch TV, a VCR, and a Sony receiver. Friends at Hawkeye Audio in Cedar Falls, IA, fed his need for higher-end products, which included a pair of Paradigm Atoms. The seeds had been planted.

When putting together the theater, Wander paid very special attention to the room’s acoustics. Two layers of drywall, plenty of insulation and staggered stud framing all help to keep the sound in the room. “At reference levels, if the rear doors are shut, very little sound escapes the room,” he says. Both sidewalls have damping, and there are a few other hidden acoustical treatments.

However, it’s not just the room’s acoustics that make this place special. “Personally I find my theater unique because a few weekends my father helped drywall,” Wander says. “Looking back now on the late nights of hanging dry-walling, mudding, sanding and eating pizza while the second coat of mud dried, I know I’ll have those memories for years to come.”

Quick Hits:
Year Completed: 2006
Room Size: 13 x 19 feet
Length of Project: 4 months (plus 2 months planning time)
Total Cost: $9,050

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