# Upcoming build almost blank slate, suggestions?



## memarcus (Jan 28, 2010)

Been meaning to post here for some time but the time is near so had to get something done about that.

So in the coming months I have been "tasked" with finishing our basement. During negotiations with the wife it was decided that I could have a dedicated room if she got one. So she picks a room for her hobbies such as sewing, knitting, mosiac and I choose an HT of course! The decided rules are that only have say in her room in that whatever she gets into has to fit in her room since she has a large collection of yarns, fabrics, and other supplies and in return there is no WAF factor in the theatre room. 

Budget is not unlimited but fairly healthy. Room is about 15'x22'x8'. I have 9 foot ceilings but there's a soffit that was poorly planned so they'll prolly be 8'.

A pic of an inital thought is posted. The idea was to have a shallow box separating the front and back row with 4 IB subs firing into the back of the front row. they would vent under the riser back into a mechanical room and the rest of the basement. However I'm considering 2 LLT's instead. From this layout I would like to flip the room 180 deg.( since stepping onto the riser coming into the room would be dumb) so that the riser is in the west end and I could possibly put the IB subs under the screen, or have the LLT's in the west corners adjacent to seating.

I don't imagine I'll get real crazy with treatments but I do have the backing of a team of excellent seamstresses to make things look nice. Prolly wouldn't go with much in the way of commercial products there like bass traps etc since they sometimes look a bit wonky so I was thinking of drapes and such. The purple columns are just for looks I was thinking of hanging some posters in between with small can lights in the ceiling above.

This layout was just practice with sketchup and I'm not tied to it in anyway. For now I'd like to know more about the infrastructural stuff. I had planned 2 20A circuits to the equipment room but didn't know if there were other considerations.

I'm fairly confined though as the south and west wall are concrete. North wall is load bearing. the east wall has little wiggle room also due to plumbing through the slab in the bathroom on the other side. I can leave the back of a portion of it open to vent and IB setup if chosen though. I do have the option of blocking up the equipment closet and putting it in the east wall and turning the room 90 deg with a wide single row of seating but haven't really thought that one through though.

What would be the best layout for acoustics? All suggestions welcome!


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

Just understand that if you vent an IB into the rest of the basement, you'll have basically zero isolation to the rest of the house. Whatever is in the theater is coming out into the basement just as strong in terms of sub output.

Seating position - try if at all possible not to have the back row against the wall. With 22' of length, you have the opportunity to have 2 good sounding rows of seating.

Treatments should be planned for and are an important part of overall performance. They're also an excellent value for the performance gained vs money spent.


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## memarcus (Jan 28, 2010)

With IB I realized that would be the case however I'm on the fence between it and LLT's. I could do an isolated room but not sure yet. 

The back row is for overflow only, mainly be using the front row only. My thinking was to maximize screen size for the first row. Is it still a bad idea given that information? I would like to size the screen toward the maximum FOV recommended.

Also I'm not against treatments, I just prefer them to not to look like they typically do so I'll have to get creative here. What is typical for coverage for a room this size? Should I plan on a handful of 2x4 panels for reasonable performance or more? 

I'm am still well into planning and if I need several thousand for treatments that should be considered. I would probably shoot for minimal at first and then add as time goes on. Since I'll inevitably run out of money I'd like to get the basics like equipment, furniture, etc and then tweak with time. I can see where one could invest $$$$$ in treatments.


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

The big things you'll need are:

Broadband bass control front corners and a portion of the rear wall.

Dead front wall

Side wall reflection coverage


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## fitzwaddle (Aug 25, 2010)

memarcus said:


> I have 9 foot ceilings but there's a soffit that was poorly planned so they'll prolly be 8'.


What's in the soffit, ducting? Could it be moved, and the soffit rebuilt (along the side wall)?



memarcus said:


> since stepping onto the riser coming into the room would be dumb


Hey! :nerd:


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## memarcus (Jan 28, 2010)

So to create a "dead" screen wall what is the typical coverage? Do the whole thing with panels or just a portion? 1" or 2"? I'm not sure how that'll work as I planned on a DIY screen painted right on the drywall. I suppose I could build a falsy but I'll have to look at the spacing. The entrance door is in what would be the front left corner. Not sure I have the width to do that. Of course the door in that corner eliminates a position for a trap as well

Fitzwaddle:
Soffit is ducting and it could be moved but I'm not wanting to fool with that. Big thing is that it could not be tucked between joists so there's not a lot to be gained by moving it. I suppose I could move it to the side wall and then do something more interesting with the ceiling, like a tray or something.

Your pics are not the same as mine. In mine, when you come into the theatre you have to step up onto the riser and then back down to get to the front row causeing the entrance door to operate in a little "pocket". While yours is somewhat the same it's done over a MUCH larger area. Mine is over a small space and the whole thing can be avoided by spinning the room 180, that's what makes it dumb. Yours looks perfectly sensible, I'm just stuck with a bad door position.


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

Yes. Normally, you would cover the entire front wall other than the screen area. If you are just going to use the wall, then just create a frame as a border and damp the rest.


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