I need help from those of you with a basementplex (1 Viewer)

[Fred DeGrandis]

I need help from those of you with a basementplex

OK, after 3 years, we are finally finishing the basement. We are putting drywall all around, carpet, and either a drop or drywall celing. My first question is:

do I split this rather large room in half for better sound out of my Paradigm reference setup? I have a Marantz SR7000, and I dont want to do the basement and not have it loud enough.

I plan on insulating the ceeling, so that isnt an issue, but the type of ceeling to get is. What do you think is a good idea to go with, a drop or drywall? If I did drywall I could do some recessed lighting which would look great.If I do a drop, then I have access to things all of the time.

I have been wanting to do this for awhile,(thats why I bought my 55'HDTV) and its finally happening. I dont want to get anything wrong, so If any of you can help that would be great.

Also, If you can think of other ideas, or fun stuff to do with a theater, that would be great too! ex. It might be cool if you did recessed lighting(I know I already mentioned this, but I cant think of anything else) so Please help!!!

Thanks again, Fred

 

[Fred DeGrandis]

If this helps:

The Basement is kind of a rectangle.

I have the choice of cutting it in half for a theater of 15feet(North to South, TV is on the North wall)/18feet wide(East to West), or I could keep it the way it is, 28feet(North to South)/18feet(East to West). The biggest concern of mine with the bigger room is, Will the Paradigm Reference/Marantz SR7000 setup be loud enough, and still sound great in the large amount of open space. Or do you think it is a better idea to go ahead and spit the room in two?

Please help me

Thanks again, Fred

 

[Glenise]

My room is 11.50' wide by 37' long.
I didn't want to cut my room in half.
My screen is 58" high x104" wide.
I would keep the bigger room.
Everyone dreams of a bigger room.
At least with it being too long you can always shorten the room.
If it's too short lengthwise your stuck.
I think I have my seats starting at 19 feet.
I did this so I couldn't see the screen door effect.
I have a Sanyo lcd.
FYI, I also went with a drop ceiling so I could have access to speaker wires and cables.
I'm using sconces for my lighting.
I was going with recessed lighting but changed my mind since I'm using ceiling tiles.
If I had used a sheetrock ceiling, I'd probably used recessed lighting.
It's a good thing too because there's a hum from my subwoofer.
So the installer is going to have to go back into the ceiling and move it away from the electrical wires or use pvc tubing.
As far as your setup being good enough for the size of your room, I think you should keep it 18' wide by 28' long.
If you ever decide to buy a video projector, you will have enough space for chairs and/or couches.
This way you won't regret not have the room long enough.
If you decide to go with a very large screen in the future, you might need the 28' long room.
What's the power of your setup?
Watts per speaker, watts per receiver, etc.?
If you decide to shorten the length of your room to 15', you could always use the extra 13' to create a dvd storage area.
Here's a picture of my room:
It doesn't look this way anymore.
I need to take new pictures.

 

[RAF]

I would opt for the bigger room. 18' x 28' would be fine and allow you the flexibility of elbow room which you never think you are going to need, but always want to have after the project is completed. My room is 15' x 22' (see HT site in link below) and if I was to do one thing differently, I would have liked it more than 15' wide because the effective width is only about 13'8" after shelving was installed, etc. It works, but it is a little tight in getting all the front soundstage speakers and 8' wide screen in place and keeping the shelves accessable. But this was not an option due to the construction of the addition to my house.

And 28 feet is not too long, especially when you decide to add some extra chairs, etc. It also allows more flexibility for Front Projector placement and gives you a lot of options for future technologies. My 22' length is fine for my needs but it would also have been nice to have room for a third row of chairs (I have 6 directors' chairs in addition to the kiddie chairs that I press into service when needed and right now I squeeze them in at the sides since I'm out of room in the back where my computers are located.)

As to the drop ceiling/drywall ceiling issue I really didn't have a choice. With only a 7'6" ceiling height in my HT a drop ceiling would have taken away too much headroom. I'm very satisfied with my drywall ceiling/recessed lighting. Also, I've heard that one thing that you have to be careful of with drop ceilings is the rattling that can occur if you populate your theater with a good subwoofer (an absolute must!). It may not rattle at first, but there will probably some maintenance down the line as things settle in.

Of course, the advantage of a drop ceiling is instant access to all the wires, etc. so you have to weigh the options. I took care of this access issue by routing a lot of extra cable tubing for possible future changes. Of course, one can never completely predict the future, but a drop ceiling was not even an option for me.

Good luck.

 

[Fred DeGrandis]

Glenise,

YGM

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

Hey Fred,

When you get done, drop me an email- we have a NE Ohio HT Enthusiats club, and were always lookingfor new folks who want to show off their theater!

-Vince