Custom Homebuilding
On a new house, isolation, conduit and rack space cost a fraction of what they cost as a retrofit.
Custom Homebuilding →→Approach
The performance is in the walls, not the equipment.
A room that sounds right is doing three things at once: keeping its own sound in, keeping the house's noise out, and controlling what happens to sound inside it. None of the three is bought. They are framing, mass, decoupling, sealing and surface, decided during construction and difficult to change afterwards. Equipment can be upgraded in an afternoon; the room cannot.
That is why this work belongs with the builder. Conduit and cable pathways run during rough-in, so the system can be replaced twice over the life of the house without opening a wall. Rack locations are planned with ventilation and service access, because a cupboard full of amplifiers is a heat problem. HVAC is routed and sized so the room is quiet when nothing is playing.
None of it needs to announce itself. Most of the rooms we build are media rooms rather than theaters — a room the family actually uses, with a large panel, good sound, motorised shades and light that dims to something civilised. The dedicated theater is worth building when someone in the house genuinely wants one, and worth skipping when they do not.
What is included
Any combination of the below, coordinated with the framing and services schedule rather than added at the end.
Home theaters
Dedicated rooms with sightlines and seating distance set before the walls are framed, screen and projection or large-format display specified together, and a riser where a second row earns it.
Media rooms
The room the family uses daily: large panel, capable but discreet audio, shades and lighting on one control, and furniture nobody is afraid to sit on.
Whole-home audio
Zoned audio through the house and out to the loggia, with speakers positioned during framing and volumes balanced room by room at commissioning.
Smart home and automation
Lighting, audio, video, shades, climate, access and cameras on one platform, with a wired backbone and network hardware sized for the house rather than the router the carrier supplied.
Acoustic treatment and isolation
Double-stud or resiliently decoupled walls, two-layer board with damping compound, solid-core sealed doors, isolated ceilings, and absorption and diffusion placed against the room's own measurements.
Projection and display
Projector and screen where the room can be made dark, large-format panel where it cannot. Throw distance, screen gain and viewing angle resolved on the drawing.
Lighting control and motorised shades
Scene-based lighting, sconces and cove light on separate circuits, and blackout shades in pockets detailed during framing rather than surface-mounted afterwards.
Wine rooms, bars and game rooms
Sealed and insulated wine rooms with correctly sited vapor barrier and dedicated cooling, bars with real plumbing and refrigeration, and game rooms with the floor and lighting for what happens in them.
How a media project runs
The whole sequence hinges on rough-in. Everything decided before it is inexpensive; everything after it is a compromise or a rebuild.
- 01
Consultation
What the room is actually for, who uses it, how loud it gets, and what the rest of the house should hear. A costed range follows.
- 02
Design
Sightlines, seating, screen size, speaker positions, isolation strategy and control scope, drawn and priced with the room.
- 03
Pre-construction
Equipment specified, conduit and cable schedule issued, rack location and ventilation agreed, integrators booked into the program.
- 04
Build
Framing and isolation, rough-in and conduit, HVAC routing, board and damping, finishes, then equipment installation.
- 05
Handover
Calibration, scene programming, a walk-through of the control interface with everyone who will use it, and written documentation of what is wired where.
Selected details
Select an image to enlarge. Arrow keys move between images, Escape closes.
Six decisions that set the ceiling on the result.
These come up in every one of these projects, usually too late. Here is where we stand on each and why.
Isolation is mass and air
Sound is stopped by weight, separation and seal. Two layers of board with damping compound on decoupled framing does far more than any product marketed as soundproofing paint or foam.
The door
A hollow-core door undoes a well-built wall entirely. A solid-core door with perimeter seals and a drop seal at the threshold is the single highest-value item in an isolated room.
HVAC noise
A theater needs air, and moving air makes noise. Oversized ducts at low velocity, lined runs and offset returns keep the room quiet at rest. This is designed with the mechanical layout, not afterwards.
Rack heat and access
Equipment produces heat and needs service access. Racks get dedicated ventilation or cooling and are sited where a technician can reach the back, not sealed into a cupboard under the stairs.
Conduit for the next system
Pathways from rack to screen to speakers cost very little during rough-in and mean the system can be replaced twice without touching a finished wall.
Platform longevity
Choose a control platform on how well it can be serviced locally in five years, not on the demonstration. Wired backbone, documented cabling and standard protocols age better than a proprietary system with one dealer.
Questions
Related work
Interior Design
Finishes that satisfy the acoustics and the eye at once, specified alongside the construction.
Interior Design →→
Outdoor Living
Weather-rated audio and video run out to the loggia on the same control system as the house.
Outdoor Living →→
Tell us what the room is for.
Whether it is a theater, a room the family uses every evening, or both in sequence. We reply within two business days. Based in Dallas/Fort Worth and available for projects outside the Metroplex.
214-901-3655