# Carpet on concrete?



## igl007 (Jul 25, 2011)

I am building a HT in the basement. I am wondering if I need to build a floor on the concrete or if I can just install a good carpet with a vapor pad. I KNOW you should, both for sound proofing and the sub will be more effective on a wood floor. However I guess what I am really asking is has anyone put carpet on a basement concrete floor, and if so how do you like it? I just don't know how much of difference it makes. Just trying to keep a tight budget


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

How tall is the ceiling going to be? While a subfloor will help with warmth as well as providing a little more 'feel' to the bass, it's rarely a good tradeoff if the ceiling height is already relatively low.

Bryan


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## igl007 (Jul 25, 2011)

bpape said:


> How tall is the ceiling going to be? While a subfloor will help with warmth as well as providing a little more 'feel' to the bass, it's rarely a good tradeoff if the ceiling height is already relatively low.
> 
> Bryan


Thanks for the speedy reply!
The ceiling is 7.4' and I was worried about that too. I want to do a 2nd row on a 12-14" riser, and thought it could get cramped with a floor too. 

(btw, I want to go 12-14" on the riser because I would like to have 134" 16:9 screen and need to get over the 1st row heads.) 
Room Dim. 21'x12x7.4"


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

I would definitely not do a subfloor if the ceiling is already that low. 

134" diagonal screen is VERY big for a room of that width. If it's not an AT screen, that's pushing your speakers basically right against the side wall which isn't a good thing. That coupled with a 14" riser basically leaving a tad over 6' of headroom for the riser seats is going to be very cramped and the rear seating ear position closer to the ceiling than to the floor. Add in the projector hanging down somewhere and it's not really feasible in my opinion.

As an example, I have a 21' long room and run a 100" diagonal screen. Yes - it could be a little bigger but even in my 17' width, I wouldn't go that wide without going AT.

Bryan


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## igl007 (Jul 25, 2011)

Thanks for the input.
Sorry for the huge noob question but what is a AT screen?


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

No problem at all. I shouldn't abbreviate. AT is Acoustically Transparent which allows the speakers to be placed behind the screen instead of having to be outside the screen perimeter.

Bryan


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## igl007 (Jul 25, 2011)

thanks for the advice. I am not going to build a floor now. I moved the wall out in my plans to get a little more width. now it will be 21x12'6". Not a huge difference. I was not planning on going with a AT screen but I am not opposed to it either, especially if it will get me to the 134" screen. I was thinking the 1st row would be at 14' and the 2nd row at 20'. Is 14' OK for a 134" screen?


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

Not really any OK to it. It's what you prefer - as long as you're not compromising performance on the audio side to do so.

Even with the new width, I still think it's too wide if not AT.


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## mnhokie (Dec 2, 2008)

12-14" inches sounds a little tall on the riser, especially with that ceiling height. I don't see any reason why 10" wouldn't work. Also, be sure and plan enough depth on your riser to provide room in front. I think I did somewhere around 6-7 feet on my last one. 

I have to agree with Bryan on the screen size. That's a really huge image for that room. Speaker placement was already mentioned, but one other thing to consider is the brightness on the screen, which is going to be slightly diminished on a screen that size.


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

The riser height requirement is purely a matter of how high you need to get the rear row eye position to see over the front row and get to the bottom of the screen. Obviously, the larger the screen, the lower the bottom will be and the higher the riser will need to be.

Bryan


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