I am about to close on a house of my own :):):) and I am planning on finishing the basement out with a semi-dedicated theater. In looking at the floor plan that I drew up during the inspection I have come to the conclusion that my situation may be less than ideal, but fairly good.

As drawn in my preliminary plans the first reflection points are going to be in the stairs leading up to the main level and against a window that I will likely cover up with a temporary wall. If I put in a wall for the window I will likely put some absorption on it, but in the stairs I don't know what to do. The sound will be diffused fairly well on it's own by the time it gets to the listener, but not absorbed. I am planning on wood treads for the stairs so I won't even have carpet over there to help out. Any ideas about what I can do would be great.

The basement is only partially finished as of now. The room labeled "Craft" is the only finished space, the walls for the WC, Laundry, Snack and Theater areas will all be added by me. The walls of the craft room appear to be structural from before the house and basement were expanded (it's cinder block.) Ultimately I could adjust the layout to be more ideal, but the stairs and cinderblock wall limit my options.

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t100/bfauska/floorplan.jpg

Would you consider putting up a wall by the stairs instead of railing and ballisters? If so you can add your absorption there.

I'm with Wizard on this one, a wall could handle your absorption issue as well as diminish any more ambient noise coming from the laundry area.

I'm with Wizard on this one, a wall could handle your absorption issue as well as diminish any more ambient noise coming from the laundry area.

and coming from (or going to) upstairs

It's probably cheaper and easier too, but that doesn't mean I won't be frustrated about the closed in feeling on the tight stair case.

Damn, I thought that may be the suggestion and I've considered doing it. It would make the sound better and even though the master bedroom is in the attic two floors up the stairs to it are right above the ones in the drawing so I've been worried about the sound transmission when I'm watching movies or gaming at night with the wife asleep. The stairway is narrow and a little steep so I was hoping to avoid it. But it probably is ultimately a better idea.

IF I did the rail though, do you think the sound will be noticibly muddy?

Here's the other option I was looking at. It would allow me to have the railing, but makes the diffused sound come from the rear rather than the sides. I could treat the first reflection points with this layout, but the seating can't be quite as far back and I'm going to be running my 4805, so too close to the screen can be a problem. What do y'all think?

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t100/bfauska/floorplanrotated.jpg