# First Timer - Basement Home Theater Build



## shayne54 (Jun 20, 2014)

Hello Everyone - 

I am in the process of finishing my basement to include a dedicated home theater room. I have done a lot of research online (mostly this forum) but still would love the community's input.

The room will be 13' 6" x 23". The ceiling is 8'. It will be used exclusively for home theater with 100% light control. As of now I have purchase nothing towards this build. We plan on starting next week. This will be 100% DIY. My brother who is excellent with construction/building will be handling the majority of the work.

My current construction plans include:


2 layers of drywall for improved soundproofing
safe & sound or equivalent in the ceiling
carpet and padding on the cement floor (really don't want to build a false floor as we plan on moving within the next year or two and would like this room to be usable for the next occupants as a bedroom/etc.
false wall in the front of the theater to hide the speakers behind acoustic material / acoustic screen
Acoustic wall treatments
7.2 speaker wire run through wall before construction
sub-woofer wire ran for 4 different locations

I plan on having (2) rows of 4 seats. I am looking at Palliser Auxiliary loveseat with a recliner on each side since they are only 9'5" wide. That doesn't really give me a lot of space on the sides of the furniture for isles, but should work.

Also in the plans are the JVC 4k projector.

Here are a few questions that I have in regards to my plans:


What size screen should I do in 2.35?
What screen is a good value?
My Budget for speakers is around 5,000. Any input on brands you would recommend? I am leaning towards the AVR-4520CI w/ an external amp.
How far back from the screen should my rows of seating be? 
I plan on a riser for the second row. What is the ideal height for the riser?
Anything that I might be overlooking?

Thanks so much for any help that you can provide me! I am looking forward to this build.


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## vidiot33 (Dec 12, 2013)

Congrats on your new home theater build! Your room dimensions are very similar to mine. I also have a riser, it's about 5 feet from the back wall (so the rear speakers have some breathing room) and 8 inches high (the standard is 6 to 12 inches). I will be sitting about 11 feet out into the room and bought an DALITE screen with it's own stand that I can move out into the room to allow some space for the front speakers. Your receiver (is that a Denon?) should work well. I went with a Yamaha 3030. As for speakers, lots of good choices in that price range. I went with Ascend Horizon center and Ascend Sierra 2's for the front, with Axiom Quadrapoles in the rear and two Rythmik 15" subs, which I placed in opposing corners. Paradigms are also well regarded, as well as Golden Ear Tritons, and Wharfdale is also worth looking at. Best of luck with your build!


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## vidiot33 (Dec 12, 2013)

For screen size, I went with 119", but the THX recommendations say that's too big. Might need to settle for around 100" if you want to do it by the book...


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## Mike Edwards (Mar 10, 2011)

for screen size it's all about taste. I could easily see a 120-135 inch 2.35:1 in that space. project against the wall first THEN adjust to taste and decide which screen size works best


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## NBPk402 (Feb 21, 2012)

I agree with Mike on the screen size, and would suggest projecting it on the wall, and see what you like, then get your screen... Or you can do like we are and get the biggest screen you can fit on the wall and make masking panels to make the screen smaller if needed. If you go the max size screen route it will give you a nice black border for the whole wall around the screen... Which will improve your contrast.

As far as the AVR... I have the Denon 4520 and i love it. Sonnie used to have one and he sold his Emotiva amp since the Denon was so capable of driving his Martin Logans. If you get speakers that are at least 90db efficiency you shouldn't need an external amp unless you want to run more than the 9 channels the Denon can do IMO.


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## Prof. (Oct 20, 2006)

The first thing you need to determine is how far out from the front wall will you need to build the screen wall?..This will depend on the size of the speakers and sub/s you plan to use..
Generally about 3' will be enough for most LCR and sub..

With a good quality 2.35:1 AT screen and a good quality projector, you can go quite wide on the screen size and sit as close as 2.0 - 2.5 x the screen height..Something to bare in mind when determining your front row seating..

For example..If your screen was 10' wide the height would be approx. 48"..multiply that by 2.5 = front row seats at 10'..That leaves 10' for the second row to the back wall..Just enough room (if you're using recliners for the back row) to give you some space behind the back row seating..


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## shayne54 (Jun 20, 2014)

Thanks so much for the suggestions guys. I am still doing some research and if I have more questions I will fire away.

Shayne54


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## rdcollns (Oct 13, 2013)

I always max out my screen size to the size of my wall (within reason). I prefer to rotate my head to catch the action from side to side to provide a more immersive experience, especially with 2.35:1. The only time this backfires is with films shot with hand held cameras, but those aren't very pretty anyway, so we just zoom in. With 4k I don't see any reason to limit the size.


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## Owen Bartley (Oct 18, 2006)

Shayne, as you'll find, things are mostly relative as far as layout and size measurements. There will be a few things that have a minimum value, so start there and then see how much space you have left. Prof gives great advice starting with the screen wall and going from there.

Riser heights are generally 8" or more, and that will depend how high your screen is and how tall your front row seating is. You have good ceiling height, so plan for at least 8", but if possible to mock up a little plan that would be your best bet.


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

Have you considered building your own AT screen. I built one for my brother with spandex and it turned out great. I was impressed with the picture quality


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## shayne54 (Jun 20, 2014)

I haven't thought about building my own screen. I am interested though. Do you have a build thread for the spandex screen?

Also, I went to Chicago this weekend and got to demo some speakers at ABT. Heard some pretty impressive Bowers & Wilkens CT7.3-LCRS. Does anyone have any input on these speakers? 

Thanks,

Shayne54


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## orion (Sep 18, 2009)

I did post it in a thread "another new home theater" it was my brothers theater that we completed last fall. I can't post a link from my phone but you will be able to find it. Super eassy though. We used primed mdf from menards for the frame because it is straight and I think the spandex was from spandex world. Total was around $100


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## shayne54 (Jun 20, 2014)

UPDATE:

Well the build is coming along well. We have all the framing done, most of the wiring run and should by ready to drywall later this week.

I do have a question for the forum. I picked out my speakers (Atlantic Tech 8200 series). I will be running a 7.2 speaker setup as I also picked up (2) PowerSoundAudio XV30Fse's. Let's just say that I am a little excited and can hardly wait to get this setup running. Here is my question though...

I plan on building a false screen wall to house my Left, Center, and Right speakers. Originally I was planning on placing both subwoofers behind the wall also. Well after carefully measuring, the subwoofers are about 8" too deep to fit behind where I planned on building the screen wall. I have a few options.

#1 Build the screen wall a little deeper. This might work, but if I do this the screen wall will stick out about 5" further than the soffit in the front of the theater. I don't think this would look that great.

#2 I can place them on the front sides of the theater (not behind the screen wall)

#3 I can place 1 in the front side and 1 in the back of the theater

Any ideas as to what would be my best bet?

Thanks

Shayne54


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## mpednault (Dec 20, 2012)

Do the sub crawl after you get the room done. Place them where they sound best. OR, I suggest one at the front of the room and one at the back to even out the response better.


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## shayne54 (Jun 20, 2014)

Originally I planned on using Dricore under my carpet in the home theater area. Now I am considering skipping this and just going with extra thick padding and carpet. I planned on utilizing the Dricore for acoustical purposes only (no history of water in our basement in last 10+ years).

With that said, does the Dricore really make that much of a difference? The carpet I picked is pretty thick and when added to the thicker padding I assume it would absorb most of the sound that could cause issues against the cement flooring. Anyone have any input?

Thanks


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