Dream Theater Offers Super Widescreen Fun
By Lisa Montgomery
Theater installation battle overcame sloped basement floor to get super widescreen fun

One of the easiest places to install a theater is in a basement. That wasn’t the case in this particular home, however. A sloped floor would throw a huge monkey wrench into the subterranean design plans, as would a brick chimney, and several steel support beams.

After plugging all of these roadblocks and room dimensions into a special computer program, the custom electronics professionals (CE pros) at The OneTouch House, Victoria, British Columbia, decided that the best solution was to rebuild the room, essentially constructing a completely new structure within the existing boundaries.



For this, The OneTouch House would need the help of a seasoned home builder, G.E. Miller Builder and Contractor, who recommended constructing two large wooden platforms and placing them near the back of the room where the floor angled downward.

Although this helped even out the floor, it also shortened the ceiling height to about 6-1/2 feet, leaving The OneTouch House no choice but to place the CinemaScope-size screen at the other end of the room were the ceiling height was a more comfortable height of 7-1/2 feet.

Next on the contractor’s to-do list: hide the brick chimney. Located on the front wall, right where the screen would go, it was a feature that somehow needed to disappear. A false wall built over the chimney did the trick and provided a 2-foot-deep storage area for some of the A/V equipment and the back sides of the front three of the seven surround-sound speakers.

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