TV in a log home

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Chris Wood on June 14, 2010 at 9:54am

Katy,

Acoustic design in any home takes some planning. The Great Room is ideal with a backup plan for kids and their friends (video games, late night, etc.). A trip to "Best Buy" or another box store with a sound room can help you determine speaker size and locations. Better to rough out and conceal the wiring during initial framing. In addition to the TV speakers, two in front corners, two from the side (or back corners) and a subwoofer are norm. They (Bose) have some great ceiling speakers for dropped basement ceiling applications too.

Mixing soft surfaces (furniture, rugs, etc.) with plants and irregular wood surfaces (beams, rafters, wall logs, chink) helps break up and absorb the sound. You should consider insulating interior walls and ceiling/floor (fiberglass) around this "game room" and using acoustic tiles as last resort. If you have a floor plan and need some help, I'll be happy to oblige.

cwood@hearthstonehomes.com

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Tim Bullock on August 11, 2010 at 6:18pm

Katy, I agree with Chris on the sound absorbing materials......One of my clients installed the screen in the floor......press a button.....flooring is hinged........watch a game........hide away.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Terry & Shelley S on August 11, 2010 at 7:45pm

Katy, Congratulations on building your new log home! We're big football fans too and we love our music. We opted not to have a TV in our great room because we wanted the focal point to be the fireplace. Our TV is in the loft area. I guess you could say good acoustics was exactly what we were looking for. We already had in mind where we wanted the speakers, so we ran the wires before the T & G was hung. Hope this helps. Best of luck to you.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Kathryn (Katy) A. Dycus on August 12, 2010 at 9:37am

Thanks, Terry & Shelley! It's great to get ideas from others who have done this already!

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Lee & Sondra Kraley on August 12, 2010 at 1:24am

We put ours in the great room. We have a very 'open' floor plan, so it can be watched from multiple rooms. Our prow is our focal point, and it DOES take away from that.

I can tell you what NOT to do...don't put the kids/grandkids and all their toys, TV, and video games up in the loft? That carries through the whole house! Not a quiet moment to be had in the entire house when they're all up there.

We've now finished off the walk out basement and they have a great TV, video game, and toy room down there. The loft is now the 'quiet' room.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Kathryn (Katy) A. Dycus on August 12, 2010 at 9:35am

Thanks, Lee & Sondra - I had envisioned the loft as the quiet area as well. I think the TV will be in the great room and we'll just deal with getting speakers that don't overwhelm the spaces. We now have three courses of logs up - and that's a miracle considering the weather has been 95-102 degrees here in west TN over the past couple of weeks. Hope it cools down soon. Thanks again for your thoughts on the TV topic!

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by David Ramey on December 10, 2010 at 11:16am

I always wanted a personal screening room, but I don't think I will be rich enough to do this in my lifetime. Flat screens are cheap now added to a 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound system would sound awesome in a log home. Nothing to rattle much but the windows.

 

There is always sound insulation that you can buy if you want to separate the sound from different rooms or if you don't have the money for that the normal fiberglass insulation is better than nothing. I would do that to the bath rooms for obvious reasons.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by TerryLBaker on March 4, 2011 at 2:03pm

I've checked out a few home theater design places and many of them have great DIY ideas or at least give you a clue on where to get started.  If you have a chance to check it out this place really caught my interest.

http://www.home-theater-design-concepts.com/index.html

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Dave and Julie Christiansen on March 5, 2011 at 10:34am

Hi Katy:  I see a lot of people chose to put their tv in the Great Room.  I chose to put my big screen in the walkout basement family room.  I like to keep the great room and main floor free of disractions of the outside world.  I want peace and solitude when I'm at the cabin.  I built my cabin to enjoy the atmosphere of the frontier life.  All my modern technolgy stuff is reserved for the basement. :)  Dave

• ▶ Reply