Home Theater Geeks 485: Hobbit Theater

Summary

Podcast Summary: Home Theater Geeks 485: Hobbit Theater

Podcast Information:

• Title: All TWiT.tv Shows (Audio)
• Host/Author: TWiT
• Description: Leo Laporte brings some of the most interesting personalities in technology together to talk about the most important issues. Fun, relaxed, informative, and always entertaining, count on TWiT for the best tech podcasts in the world.
• Episode: Home Theater Geeks 485: Hobbit Theater
• Release Date: June 5, 2025

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Introduction

In Episode 485 of Home Theater Geeks, host Scott Wilkinson delves into the intricacies of creating a compact yet fully functional home theater, aptly named the "Hobbit Theater." This episode showcases a remarkable project by David Chu, who transformed a modest 10ft by 10ft room in his Vancouver duplex into a sophisticated home theater setup. Scott provides a comprehensive overview of the design decisions, technical specifications, and challenges encountered during the transformation.

Floor Plan and Room Dimensions

Scott begins by illustrating the unique floor plan of David's home theater. Despite the room's square dimensions, its diagonal entryway introduces an unconventional layout:

"It's a very oddly shaped area. I mean, it's mostly square, but it's got that diagonal sort of entryway open to the office area." (05:15)

David initially considered placing the screen on the shorter wall opposite the angled entry but opted to rotate the orientation by 90 degrees, a decision Scott endorses:

"David decided it just felt right to flip the orientation by 90 degrees and I have to agree with him." (09:22)

Screen and Projector Setup

Maximizing the screen size within the limited throw distance of 9ft 8 inches was paramount. David chose the Elite Lunette Cinewide, a 106-inch wide, 2.35:1 slightly curved screen. The curvature aids in minimizing pin cushioning, a common distortion at the screen's edges:

"The slight curvature in the screen helps reduce what's called pin cushioning." (12:40)

David also incorporated an anamorphic lens from Panamorph, the Cine Vista, priced around $1,000. This lens allows the projector to maintain a constant image height (CIH) across various aspect ratios, ensuring a consistent viewing experience:

"With the Panamorph lens, the projector can do constant image height, which changes the width of the image without altering the height." (18:05)

Acoustic Treatment

Given the room's proximity to the back wall, acoustic treatment was crucial to manage bass buildup. David employed multiple strategies:

• Super Chunk Wool Bass Traps: Positioned in surround pilasters to absorb low-frequency sounds.
• Fiberglass Base Traps: Installed in the rear soffit and beneath the screen to tackle significant bass energy.
• Roxul Comfort Board: Applied to walls for additional sound absorption, comparable to materials used in professional recording studios.

Scott highlights David’s commitment to acoustic isolation to prevent sound leakage into the duplex:

"David installed another layer of 5/8 inch sheetrock with green glue to isolate the sound and prevent it from transmitting to the other half of the duplex." (25:30)

Speaker Placement

Optimizing speaker placement within the confined space was challenging. David mounted the main front, center, left, and right speakers above the screen using Paradigm Mini Monitor LCRs, directing them downward toward the seating area:

"The speakers are mounted above the screen, pointing down towards the seating position. It's not ideal, but given the constraints, it's the best solution." (30:12)

Due to limited space behind the screen, rear surrounds weren't feasible. Instead, Paradigm Atom Monitors were utilized for the left and right surrounds, maintaining a 5.1 system setup.

Equipment Rack and Hidden Features

One of David's standout features is the hidden equipment rack within a closet adjacent to the subwoofer niche. Accessories include:

• SVS SB12 Subwoofer: Custom-fit into a niche for optimal bass performance.
• Fabric-Covered Equipment Door: Maintains the room’s aesthetic by concealing technical components.

Scott commends the ingenuity behind the hidden rack:

"I spent an inordinate amount of time figuring out how to make the equipment rack door completely hidden. But he worked. It works. Beautiful job there." (35:45)

DIY Aspects and Costs

David undertook the project himself, significantly reducing costs. The overall expenditure was approximately $12,000, evenly split between equipment and building materials. Reusing furniture and existing equipment from a previous theater further economized the budget:

"The active planning phase took about three months and construction took another four months at a total cost of only $12,000." (40:10)

Scott encourages DIY enthusiasts, noting the personal satisfaction and cost savings of self-installation:

"If you want to save money and you're handy, doing it yourself can really save a lot of money and be very satisfying at the same time." (42:30)

Technological Upgrades Since 2013

Reflecting on the original setup from 2013, Scott speculates on potential upgrades David might have implemented over the past decade:

• Audio Enhancements: Upgrading to Dolby Atmos and adding overhead speakers.
• Visual Improvements: Transitioning to a 4K projector for higher resolution and better image quality.
• Modern Sources: Incorporating current gaming consoles, streaming devices, and advanced media players.

Despite technological advancements, the core design and acoustic treatments established by David remain effective and adaptable:

"The fundamentals of the room didn't change, and I think he treated those extremely well. So now hopefully he has atmos, he's got some speakers overhead, he's got a 4K projector. But the room is the room and the room is great." (48:50)

Conclusion

Scott Wilkinson wraps up the episode by applauding David Chu’s exceptional work in transforming a small space into a high-quality home theater. The blend of thoughtful design, effective acoustic treatment, and strategic equipment placement serves as an inspiring blueprint for enthusiasts with limited space.

Scott also invites listeners to engage by submitting questions for future episodes and promotes accessing Home Theater Geeks content on YouTube, offering ad-free options through TWiT’s subscription service.

"I applaud David Chu for doing such a great job with so little space." (55:20)

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Notable Quotes:

• "David decided it just felt right to flip the orientation by 90 degrees and I have to agree with him." – Scott Wilkinson (09:22)
• "The slight curvature in the screen helps reduce what's called pin cushioning." – Scott Wilkinson (12:40)
• "David installed another layer of 5/8 inch sheetrock with green glue to isolate the sound and prevent it from transmitting to the other half of the duplex." – Scott Wilkinson (25:30)
• "I spent an inordinate amount of time figuring out how to make the equipment rack door completely hidden. But he worked. It works. Beautiful job there." – Scott Wilkinson (35:45)
• "If you want to save money and you're handy, doing it yourself can really save a lot of money and be very satisfying at the same time." – Scott Wilkinson (42:30)
• "I applaud David Chu for doing such a great job with so little space." – Scott Wilkinson (55:20)

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Timestamp Key:

• 05:15 - Floor plan and room shape discussed.
• 09:22 - Screen orientation decision.
• 12:40 - Screen curvature benefits.
• 18:05 - Anamorphic lens functionality.
• 25:30 - Acoustic isolation techniques.
• 30:12 - Speaker placement constraints.
• 35:45 - Hidden equipment rack.
• 40:10 - Project cost and timeline.
• 42:30 - Encouragement for DIY projects.
• 48:50 - Speculation on technological upgrades.
• 55:20 - Final commendation to David Chu.

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This detailed summary encapsulates the essence of Home Theater Geeks Episode 485, offering listeners a comprehensive understanding of creating an efficient and aesthetically pleasing home theater within a constrained space. Whether you're a seasoned audiophile or a casual movie enthusiast, David Chu's "Hobbit Theater" serves as an inspiring model for maximizing small spaces without compromising on quality.

Transcript

[Scott Wilkinson]

In this episode of Home Theater Geeks, I talk about a home theater fit for hobbits. So stay tuned.

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[Scott Wilkinson]

Hey there, Scott Wilkinson here, the home theater geek. In this episode I'm going to feature a home theater that I profiled on AVS Forum all the way back in 2013. It's a charming, tiny little home theater that I thought was really cool for what he did with very limited space. We'll put the link to the article in the show notes so you can check that out. The owner is named David Chu and he has a very small room to work with, roughly 10ft by 10ft in his duplex in Vancouver, British Columbia, and it's a great example of what you can do in a very small space. He started by figuring out the maximum screen size and projector throw distance that he could accommodate in that room and based everything else on that. So we'll start with the floor plan. As you can see, it's a very oddly shaped area. I mean, it's mostly square, but it's got that diagonal sort of entryway open to the office area. The throw distance is only 9ft 8 inches. The original plan was to put the screen on the short wall opposite that angled opening, but but David decided it just felt right to flip the orientation by 90 degrees and I have to agree with him. The next graphic we can see the back of the basement room where the theater is. It has a recessed window which will be completely covered up and provide a bit more throw distance for the projector. The projector can sort of get stuffed into that little window alcove thing. So in the next one we can see these. This blue tape marks the boundaries of a 16x9 and a 2.35 to one screen. The wider screen one, because I guess he watches mostly movies. If you watch mostly TVs, TV shows, then 16x9 would be fine, but if you watch mostly movies, you really want a 2 2.35 to one screen. The screen that he installed is from a company called Elite. It's the lunette cinewide. It's 106 inches wide, 2.35 to 1. It's a slightly curved screen, which we'll see in a, in a photo here in a minute. And that curvature in a screen that big is a good thing, especially at a close seating distance like he has, because it helps reduce what's called pin cushioning. When the projector projects a big wide image on a flat screen, the edges can be somewhat distorted and. And having a slightly curved screen helps that. Okay, so next graphic we will see the subwoofer niche, which was built custom to fit an SVS SB12 NSD12 inch powered subwoofer. Also in this photo you can see the partial frame of the small curved stage at the bottom, which is a feature that most home theater owners like to put in their home theater. Next graphic we can see the tray ceiling, which it will have rope lights around the boundary of this tray ceiling, which you'll see the effect of in, in a couple of graphics from now. And in the next one we can see what are called the surround pilasters, which are these corner units. They're mostly filled with rock wool forming what are called super chunk wool bass traps. The surround speaker is going to be in the upper portion of that column that's triangular column called a pilaster. Now, within this room, acoustic treatment was of particular importance, especially bass buildup in the listening position at the back of the room because the couch had to be very near the back wall. And that's going to build up some serious base energy. So in addition to the bass traps in the surround pilasters, he also installed fiberglass base traps in the rear soffit in the area of the tray above the tray ceiling, which reaches back more than two and a half feet. So you can trap some really low bass brass frequencies in that, in that much space and the space beneath the screen as well where there's not a subwoofer or the equipment rack. He also put in this fiberglass and he treated the walls with something called Roxul Comfort board is installation which has very similar absorption characteristics as Owens Corning 701 material used commonly in recording studios. And here we see the walls lined with that rock Sol comfort board is. Now, David doesn't list listen at reference levels, he said to me. But he does want to be concerned about acoustic isolation to a certain degree because that wall that we're see in this photograph is shared with the other half of the duplex he lives in. So he wanted to be a considerate neighbor and I applaud him for that. So he put in some, some serious sound Isolation material there so that, you know, he didn't start a neighborhood war. Although I, he did say that, that that wall is already decoupled with two stud walls, insulation and 5,8 sheetrock. And he installed another layer of 5,8 inch sheet sheetrock with this material, the sound of damping compound called green glue. And that, that really helped isolate the sound in the room and prevent it from getting transmitted over into the other half of the duplex. So if we look at the next graphic, we can see that there is very little space, especially behind the screen. Normally when you have a projection screen like that, you would put the speakers behind the screen, but there wasn't really room to do that. So. And there's a closet behind that screen wall as well that he, he didn't want to get rid of. So he couldn't put speakers behind an acoustically transparent screen. So he did commandeer some of the closet space for the equipment rack in the corner of the room and a subwoofer niche below the screen. And he put this main front, center, left and right speakers above the screen. They're paradigm mini monitor LCR speakers. And as you can see here, they're mounted above the screen, pointing down toward the seating position. It's not ideal, but given the constraints of the room, it was probably the best solution. Certainly I agree with keeping the speakers all in a line rather than having say, the left and right above the speaker above the screen and the center below the screen. That would not have been good. In the next one we can see the sofa, which was brought from a previous theater, works perfectly well here. And in the next picture we can see the niche created by the now sealed window, which gives the projector a bit more throw distance. You can see also the anamorphic lens sitting in front of the projector. It's in a fixed position, it doesn't move in and out of the way. And the projector processes the video according to the image's intended aspect ratio. David discovered this anamorphic lens from a company called Panamorph. It's the Cine Vista and it costs about a thousand bucks, which is not too bad for an anamorphic lens. High quality glass is always going to be expensive, always. Camera lenses, any kind of high quality glass is always going to be expensive, expensive. So with this pan, with this panamorphic lens, the projector can do something called constant image height or CIH, which changes the width of the image from 4 to 4 by 3 for older style TV shows, 16 by 9 for HDTV and 2.3, 5, 1 for movies all have the same height, which is a very common and worthwhile way to do images of different aspect ratios. In the next graphic, you can see the little curvature in the screen, which again, helps with this issue of pin cushioning, which is when the projector's image is either too. I think it's too high for the, for the screen, at the edges of the screen. And the curvature helps solve that problem. In the next graphic, you can see the equipment rack, so to speak. It's pretty small. It doesn't have a lot of. It's behind a fabric covered door next to the subwoofer, and the connections are managed in the closet behind the wall, which I. That's a pretty cool idea. I like that. He says he's especially proud of the hidden equipment rack. He says, quote, I spent an inordinate amount of time figuring out how to make the equipment rack door completely hidden. But he worked. It works. He did it. Beautiful job there. So in the last picture, we can see the. See the theater with some kids enjoying a movie. You know, there you can see in the corner the, the pilaster with the surround speaker and the acoustic treatments. All the walls are fabric covered. It's a really beautiful theater in such a tiny space. It's. It's really good. I, I like it quite a lot. He says the active planning phase took about three months and construction took about another four months at a total cost of only $12,000, which is really, really good. Now, granted, this is 2013, and he said that was equally divided between the equipment and the building materials. He already owned some furniture from his previous theater, so, you know, he brought that along and, and some equipment as well. So, you know, he was able to save money on all of that and he did all the work himself. I love these DIY projects. I mean, sure, if you have the money to hire a professional installer, great. I'd say go for it. But if you want to save money and you're handy, doing it yourself can really save a lot of money and be very satisfying at the same time. Now, in 2013, the system was only 5.1. No Atmos, no rear surrounds. He couldn't have rear surrounds in that setup anyway because the couch is almost virtually up against the back wall. As I said, they were paradigm mini monitors for the front lcrs and Paradigm Atom monitors for the left and right surrounds. And as I mentioned, the SVS SB12 12 inch subwoofer. At the time, he was using an onkyo receiver tx nr818, which was very good for the time. And the projector was the epson Home Cinema 8350, which was 1080p. Okay, this was 2013. Remember sources. He had the Sony PS4 for playing games and Blu Ray discs and an Apple TV3. So we've come a long way since then. Equipment changes very quickly, and in the last 12 years, it's changed a lot. And I'm sure David must have upgraded the equipment by now, but the, the, the fundamentals of the room didn't change, and I think he treated those extremely well. So now hopefully he has atmos, he's got some speakers overhead, he's got a 4K projector. But the room is the room and the room is great. So I applaud David Chu for doing such a great job with so little space. So on this show, we often answer listener questions. If you have one for me, send it along to HTGWIT TV and I'll answer as many as I can right here on the show. Now, all of the episodes of Home Theater Geeks are Now available on YouTube to view for free with ads. If you want to go ad free, join the club, just go to Twit TV Club Twit and join up. You'll be able to see all the Twitch shows with no commercials. So I hope you will do that. Until next time, geek out.