I'm looking to get some advice on layout and room treatments for my soon to be basement mancave. Attached are some drawings I made and some pictures of the room (with the furniture in it that came with the house which is all being removed). The plans as of right now are for a large plasma tv (60"+) on one wall and a pool table in the back of the room with a couch and chairs in between it. The couch I have is like an oversized couch that is really fluffy and cloth covered and I plan on building a pedestal to put it on that rolls so that when no one is playing pool then the couch and chairs can be moved back away from the tv farther instead of being right on top of it. I plan on going with a 5.1 setup (not exactly sure the speakers yet but somewhere around $1000 for all of them and most likely towers in the front) and I'm leaning towards getting an Onkyo receiver in the $500 range.

The room isn't necessarily going to be a dedicated HT room but I would like it to at least sound decent. The problem about the room is that 2 and a 1/2 walls are brick walls and there is a door in one corner of where the tv is going and the corner on the other side of the same wall has an open door (no actual door on it) to be able to get back up to the main level. I plan on either trying to install a door where the opening is if I can find one that fits or at least placing some kind of heavy curtains/drapes over the opening. Also, the entire room is covered with tile flooring and the ceiling is drop ceiling. My wife has agreed to let me decorate the room how I want it which includes me being allowed to put up any sort of wall treatments I might need. I've looked at some of the prices for wall treatments and have decided that I might try to build my own (which I've been reading up on) if possible in order to cut costs. My wife understands the cost of a nice tv and speakers and such but wouldn't be as understanding when I told her I needed $1000+ for wall treatments.

Any recommendations for wall treatments and locations, speaker placements, etc would be greatly appreciated.

P.S. Please ignore all of the wallpaper and the furniture because it came with the house and is the first thing to go when we start working on this room. :) The room is going to be a UT (Univ. of Tennessee) themed room with lots of UT stuff on the walls and UT colors and such.

Why do a 60"+ plasma? I thought I wanted a 60" plasma until I saw what a $1500 projector and a 120" screen could do. People will mistake your 120" screen for a plasma. Projectors have come a long way. You can get lots of pop and sizzle with them now and a MUCH bigger screen size.

Why do a 60"+ plasma? I thought I wanted a 60" plasma until I saw what a $1500 projector and a 120" screen could do. People will mistake your 120" screen for a plasma. Projectors have come a long way. You can get lots of pop and sizzle with them now and a MUCH bigger screen size.

I just prefer a plasma and 60" is plenty for me and my room that I will have it in. But that is neither here nor there. I need help with room treatments and maybe recommendations on where to put the rear speakers for best sound in this room. Most of the time I will be watching the tv with the couch pushed back to the pool table so I want it to sound the best in that location.

I'm looking to get some advice on layout and room treatments for my soon to be basement mancave.

Aside from any treatment, one big problem is see is the main couch seems to be off to one side. A lack of left-right symmetry will certainly harm clarity. That said, All rooms need:

* Broadband (not tuned) bass traps straddling as many corners as you can manage, including the wall-ceiling corners. More bass traps on the rear wall behind helps even further. You simply cannot have too much bass trapping. Real bass trapping, that is - thin foam and thin fiberglass don't work to a low enough frequency.

* Mid/high frequency absorption at the first reflection points on the side walls and ceiling.

* Some additional amount of mid/high absorption and/or diffusion on any large areas of bare parallel surfaces, such as opposing walls or the ceiling if the floor is reflective. Diffusion on the rear wall behind you is also useful in larger rooms.

For the complete story see my Acoustics FAQ. (http://www.ethanwiner.com/acoustics.html)

There's a lot of additional non-sales technical information on my company's web site (http://www.realtraps.com) - articles, videos, test tones and other downloads, and much more.

--Ethan

Aside from any treatment, one big problem is see is the main couch seems to be off to one side. A lack of left-right symmetry will certainly harm clarity.

The reason for the offset is because the tv and front speakers will be centered on the front wall which is smaller then the back wall (due to the stairs on one side of the room). I was planning on keeping everything centered on the front wall including the rear speakers and the couch and such. Not sure what else could be done considering the layout of the room.

* Some additional amount of mid/high absorption and/or diffusion on any large areas of bare parallel surfaces, such as opposing walls or the ceiling if the floor is reflective. Diffusion on the rear wall behind you is also useful in larger rooms.

Will it help to have rugs on the tile flooring? My wife and I have found a large (either 5'x8' or 10'x12') rug that we are planning on buying that will go around the area where the couch is and between that and the tv.

By the way, thanks for the links. I have started to read some but have plenty more to do. I read that having the bass traps in the corners is most effective. Any recommendations for the front corners of my room where the tv will be going? When looking at the tv, there is a doorway to the left which is open (which is where I will try to put a door or at least heavy curtains) and then there is an actual door on the right side right in the corner that opens in towards the room. I did read the following from your article and was wondering if this would be good enough for at least the front of my room as far as bass traps go:

Treating a "dropped" grid ceiling is even easier: Simply lay fluffy fiberglass batts on top of the grid, above the ceiling tiles. The thicker the fiberglass, the better. One foot thick R38 is perfect for this if you have the space. If you don't want to bother covering the entire ceiling that way, at least put fiberglass batts around the perimeter to treat the important wall-ceiling corners. And since the fiberglass is not exposed to the room and doesn't show, you don't need to cover it with fabric.

So could I just put fiberglass above my drop ceiling in the front corners or along the front wall and that be enough to help out or should I try to get something at least on the front walls near the corners?

Thanks for all of your help so far by the way. I can't wait to get home and read more of the articles on your site to try and get a better understanding.

Will it help to have rugs on the tile flooring?

Yes, at least at the speaker reflection points. These are areas halfway between you and the speakers.

Any recommendations for the front corners of my room where the tv will be going?

Yes, bass traps. :D

So could I just put fiberglass above my drop ceiling in the front corners or along the front wall and that be enough to help out or should I try to get something at least on the front walls near the corners?

The more total corner surface you treat, the better. Always.

--Ethan