Finishing my basement, any help would be great (1 Viewer)

[AcerFC]

I am brand new here and first want to thank all of the people who help the new guys. Just reading some of your responses has been instrumental already.

A little background info: I bought my house 3.5 years ago and the basement was not finished. My wife and I bought the house with the idea that I would finish the basement for my mancave. As you all know, things happen and we are first getting around to the basement now. We now have a child so money was an issue for me. My wife said not to worry about it (I know-she is great), but I cant strap my family for a HT so I tried to be economical.

Here is what I bought in the past two weeks. (I had links but because I am new, I can not add them.

Go to Raymour and Flanningan and type in theater chairs

I got the three in the link and another two. I plan on putting the two on the floor and building a riser for the three chairs behind it (stadium seating)

Soho 4Pc Wall Unit - Entertainment Centers - Home Entertainment Furniture at Raymour & Flanigan:I got the two side pieces and the bottom piece. Left off the top piece and plan on mounting the TV between the two side pieces.

Raymour and Flannigan had a great no interest for 5 years promo

TV
Samsung 52" LCD LNT5265F- I know its last years model and does not have the 120HZ but this was the best bang for the buck. The reviews are awesome so I went with it

Onkyo 7.1- I know from reading thru the forums that people are down on HTIB systems for a number of reasons but I thought that this was a great product at a reasonable price for me. I can always upgrade but for now this should work (I hope)

DVD- PS3. I went with PS3 because there was not a Blu-Ray that stood out and here, I get to play games as well for the same price. I know that I lose something with sound but I conceded that with the purchase. I also got the remote to go with it since no other remotes will work with it.

So I have all of this stuff right now with an unfinished basement. I plan on framing the basement tomorrow. I also want to get a carpet (not thick, thin).

Now to my questions: They are elementary and simple but I really know 0 about this stuff

1) When I am framing the basement, is there anything that I should focus on or make sure I do. I plan on hiding the wires in the wall. Should I put in boxes or close the wall up. Also, should I run the speaker wire behind the walls as well

2) Where should I place the speakers. I know absolutely nothing about it. The TV is not going in the center of the room because I have poles that block off a part of the room. It will go in the center of the space that I am using

3) How many HDMI cables do I need based on the equipment I got?

4) What kind of lights should I get? I am having an elctrician come to wire the basement because believe it or not, there is only 1 outlet down there now.

5) How many outlets should I have the electrician put in and where should the outlets go? (that was a question from a HT standpoint, not a general question. I can figure out how many outlets a normal room needs)

6) Is there anything else that I am overlooking or that you want to share.

Any help/advice is welcome, even if you think I did something wrong with my purchases. Thats why I came here.

 

[schalkt]

I finished my basement last year, so I might be able to help you on a few of your points:

1. How you hide the wires is personal preference, but I would definitely run the speaker wire in the wall as well. Just make sure you get CL2 or CL3 rated wire, and you'll be fine.

2. From the sound of your setup, your center speaker will probably go directly under your TV, and the left and right front speakers in or next to your two side units. As for the surrounds, it's tough to say without a better idea of what your room looks like - generally your two surround speakers will be to the side of your position at ear level (while standing) while your two rear speakers will be behind you. The subwoofer can go almost anywhere, but it's generally best in a corner of the room.

3. Does the Onkyo receiver have HDMI-switching? If so, you might be able to run HDMI cables from your PS3 to the receiver, and then one from your receiver to the TV. If you add any other components, all you need is one cable from it to your receiver. Plus, you'll never have to change the input source on the TV - helps the WAF.

4. I personally love wall sconces. I have both recessed lights and wall sconces, but the sconces give that "theater" feel. Plus, I have them on a $40 Lutron IR dimmer, so I can dim the lights while sitting on the couch. It's a nice touch, I think.

5. Just make sure you have enough around your entertainment center. If you're wall mounting the TV, consider putting an outlet behind it - that'll hide the TV power cord.

6. You can find threads here and at AV Forums with "things I would've done differently after finishing my theater". They can help a lot with ideas and things to keep in mind before you start.
Oh, and good luck!

 

[SethH]

Another consideration for outlets. Make sure you put an outlet next to wherever your subwoofer will go. Most subs these ays are powered and require an outlet nearby. I would run all speaker wires in the walls (away from electrical cables) and would also pull a subwoofer cable (RG-6) in-wall to wherever your sub will go.

 

[Steve Lucas]

You didn't ask this, but maybe it's something to think about anyway.
You said you were going with a "thin" carpet. I used a commercial grade, low pile, or "thin" carpet too, that I found on sale. But in order to make sure I had enough sound absorption over my concrete floor, I had them install a double pad beneath it.
Put more outlets than you think you'll need wherever your equipment rack will be. They're cheap and it's a lot better to have more than you need than not enough.
Have the electrical wire all the receptacles that your system plugs into (TV, receiver, PS3, sub, etc.) on one circuit to avoid ground loop issues.
Since wire is cheap, and it's very expensive to tear out walls later if you want to change the layout of the room, try to imagine any other possible layouts you might want to use in the future. Someday you m ay want to upgrade to a front projector set-up...would that change your layout? Anyway, before finishing your walls, run speaker wires and electrical outlets that would accommodate any future rearranging of your room. You can terminate them inside a box and just put a blank cover over it to hide them, but they will be easily accessible if you ever need them.
You sub is one component that you may very well want to move. The best location for a sub is something that usually takes some experimentation to find. It wouldn't be a bad idea to run some RG6 cable to different corners parts of the room to accommodate potential sub locations.

 

[Allan Jayne]

Almost step by step: Constructing a Basement Home Theater

You may need to pull a permit from your city or town to do this project. In some cases you must, and you probably want to anyway, put electric outlets no more than 12 feet apart all around the room with an outlet within 6 feet of every doorway without stretching cords across the doorway. (This is what the code specifies and almost guarantees that your subwoofer will have power wherever you put it.)

Don't forget that the speaker wires inside the wall need to be rated for in-wall installation. Romex type cable works equally well for speakers as does speaker wire.

One thing I put in that is quite unusual is an electrical circuit serving a few selected areas of the room including for a ceiling projector location and which terminates in a "male receptacle" in the wall instead of at the electrical panel. This is to accommodate a battery backup unit that in turn plugs into the nearest (regular) receptacle.

I know that my setup is very lacking in sound insulation. Namely I do not have double studding with insulating batts weaving back and forth inside to protect other parts of the basement; the heating ducts are shared with the rest of the house and let the theater sound go to all corners of the house; and the basement ceiling has only the original insulation and sound comes up into the kitchen above.

A floor covering is almost a must to keep the heating bill down in winter. I am trying to decided between just a (reasonably thick) carpet versus a built up floor using such materials as Dricore. But too many layers of carpet and padding could result in moisture buildup followed by mold on the concrete floor when that is cooler than the room temperature. This would vary from one house to another.

I chose to not relocate any pipes or ducts, working around them and leaving some exposed whichever was easiest to do.

Dehumidifying in summer will probably be needed.

 

[AcerFC]

Thanks for responses so far.

What kind of speaker wire is best to use. 14 AWG, 16 AWG, 18AWG. Dont know much about it. I will make sure that it is safe for in wall though.

Also, what kind of HDMI cable to I need for my PS3 and TV. Male-Male, Male-Female.

There are so many options of HDMI cables, I dont want to get the wrong ones

 

[Allan Jayne]

For speaker wire I used 12 gauge in the wall terminating at wall mounted binding posts at both ends.

Some experts say that for runs of 20 feet or more, including the part outside the wall and leading to the speaker unit, you need 12 gauge wire, especially if you have 4 ohm speakers and want good volume. I would say that 14 gauge is sufficient up to 30 feet and few people could hear any difference.

For video cables including HDMI, you should have as few joints as possible. This means, for in wall installation, having enough cable coming out of the wall to reach the equipment, instead of having jacks at the wall surface. I would go with male-male. Some folks run a conduit (usually plastic pipe nowadays) in the wall and decide later what kind of cables to string through it.