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Help with an awkward size/shape for basement theater

3K views 81 replies 7 participants last post by  GregoryGuayMusic 
#1 · (Edited)
Haasienda Theater Build Thread

I am re-purposing this thread I started to be a general build progress thread.

Here is a link to the first major update with framing (nearly) finished: Framing Progress

Original Post:
Hello, I'm trying to plan the layout for my currently unfinished basement. Due to some difficult locations of stairs, mechanicals, etc, it has put some limitations on what area I have available for the theater. My current plans have the theater around 18'x14'. However as you can see in the attached files, it is an odd shape. I'm planning on a screen size somewhere around 100" wide, and I would like to have at least a small second row, but not necessarily reclining. I'm looking for some thoughts from more experienced people on this. Does it seem like the room has enough size to support 2 rows? Can I fit 4 seats in the front row? I don't necessarily have to have "theater seats" as I think an appropriate couch could be acceptable. Thanks in advance.

Note, in the plans, the brown rectangles are stairs.
 

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#71 ·
Column with sconce + surround speaker might be more about how tall the column is, and there being room for
the surround speaker at ear level plus physical space above for a scone. The sconce's physical size and style
would also impact on this. I'd guess one wouldn't wish to see a bare bulb if the scone was elevated, so the shade design
might be something to give thought to.

Might want to take the riser, to whatever wall ends up there, for safety. That small angled section should work fine,
and I'd take it to have proper access to the solar circuit panel. The side surrounds aren't placed optimally for either row,
but that might be the best overall solution possible.

LED might be a good option. I have little experience with it, save for a low ceiling room that went with small puck lights.
Unique and it worked quite well being on one transformer.
 
#72 ·
My ceiling will be around 8'4" high, with the soffit height around 7'4". That being said, I think i'm going to skip any columns, I just don't see where they would go in and look good. Did you mean to include a drawing with some column ideas in your previous post?

Yeah I certainly would take the riser out to the angled wall. I just didn't make that update in the plan.

No, the surrounds aren't optimal, but I have accepted that given my constraints I'll have to make some concessions. But I'm ok with that, I don't need to have a perfectly optimal theater, I'll be happy with pretty good.

What puck lights did you go with? In my soffit to the left of the screen it is hiding a large duct, so without making the soffit deeper than the 10" that the duct requires, there wouldn't be room in there. So I either have to not put lights in the soffit, make the soffit 14" or so deep rather than the 10" I need, or go with very thin LED lights.

Speaking of soffit design, I would also appreciate your opinion on that. I added an overlay showing my planned soffit design. The ones in blue are required to hide the duct work in the ceiling. The rest I designed just to match. Seem reasonable?
 

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#73 ·
No drawing, I just assumed the side surrounds were in columns on that diagram (as you seemed to be going with columns
so much).

A friend used surface mount under cabinet puck lights. 6'9" tall basement and they were hard wired. They weren't LED,
they were low voltage hard wired on a single transformer. Just a unique lighting solution that stood out, and worked with the
low height.

I do have some of those 1/2" thick 4" LED lights to be installed elsewhere in my basement. I noticed one of the threads mentioned
lots of complaints about early failure, so that might be a "gotcha".

I like your room with the seating off the walls, and while it isn't perfectly symmetrical, it is close when you think about being
seated in there. So I would try to continue that theme and go with the mirror'ed soffit.
 
#74 ·
So this room is going to be around 2500 cu ft. There will be up to 5 people, but typically just 2 or 3. I don't have a ton of equipment, just the projector, the receiver, and then an xbox and bluray player. Would I be ok with a single 8" supply and a single 8" return? If I wanted to have 2x supplies and returns, I'd have to make my soffits wider, the point where each side would be 4' with a 4' space between the soffits. But I think that might look odd.
 

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#75 ·
It has been a while since I posted, so I thought I would put up some progress! At this point I am nearly complete with the framing. The only framing working left is to put a soffit around one beam outside the theater. I decided to not just focus on the theater, but do the whole basement at once. I figured if I'm doing framing, I might as well frame it all up while I'm at it! Just as a refresher, here is the current plan for the basement.

As a refresher, here is the layout for the basement and theater:
Floor plan Plan Architecture Drawing Artwork


From the bottom of the stairs:
Room Property Wall Building Floor


Looking to the north past the furnace:
Floor Building Room Basement Beam


Looking back to where the stairs are:
Basement Room Beam Building


Looking at the cedar closet and the furnace, theater is behind the cedar closet:
Room Building Floor Basement Wood


Entrance into theater:
Wall Room Building Beam Basement


Hallway into theater, looking at where the AV equipment goes
Electrical wiring Room Floor Wood Electrical supply


Looking into theater, screen wall on right. (other side of the cedar closet):
Room Building Wood Basement Interior design


Screen wall from back row:
Room Wall Ceiling Floor Beam


Storage entrance from theater:
Wall Room Floor Beam Building


Looking back at theater hallway and AV rack:
Room Beam Building Log cabin Wood


Garage door at rear of theater:
Ceiling Beam Room Basement Building


Back corner with Circuit breakers, AV rack area, and entrance from hallway:
Wall Room Beam Basement Ceiling


I'm pretty pleased with the results so far. I've just been working at night once the girls are in bed, so it's slow going, but I don't have a particular time schedule I need to meet.

I'm ready to move on to wiring, and here is my plan for lighting, I would appreciate inputs:
Plan Land lot Floor plan Line Map

The red cicles represent ultra-thin LED "recessed" lights running on 12v and the red squiggles are LED strip lights going around the soffit perimiter, and along the riser edge. The three lights in front of the screen will be controlled separately from the other ceiling lights. There will be three lighting zones including the led strip lights, and all will be individually dimmable. I'm not planning on automation, and will have the dimmers at the bottom of the drawing, not at the entrance to the theater. The LED lights will be 60w equivalent. I'm not doing sconce lights because I just don't see places that would be well suited for that. Does that seem like it would be enough light? Any mistakes I'm making?

I also wanted to ask about the AV rack area. It is a space about 2'8" wide by 2'5" deep. I am picturing making shelves the full width, but making the opening just a little wider than the equipment, and then putting a glass door on the front. At the floor level I would put some more shelving for movies, video game controllers, etc. And I would hide the opening with some acoustic panels to match the rest of the room (whatever I end up doing with that). I would make the shelves not full depth to allow for wiring, and for heat to move. What do you guys envision for this space? Unfortunately I don't really have access to get at the equipment from behind.
 
#76 ·
Well, it has been over a year since I last posted...but I'm happy to say the basement is complete! It took me about a year from start to finish to do the entire basement, but it was largely complete since around April '17, it's just those last finishing touches that take the longest! Plus, once the theater was usable, I got less motivated to finish the rest of the basement! Overall, I am thrilled with the outcome, especially the results of the noise cancelling. The first few times I watched a movie with the kids sleeping upstairs, I rushed to turn it down when it got loud. But I did a few tests, and even as loud as I would want to listen, you can only hear a distant rumble up on the 2nd floor...nothing that would ever disturb a sleeping kid. So great to not have to worry about it! In a nutshell, for soundproofing I isolated all the walls from the ceiling joists, hung the ceiling on hat channel, and did 2 layers of 5/8" rock on all walls and ceiling with green glue in between. For doors I just went with standard 1 3/4" solid core doors and haven't worried about the thresholds.

For the movie posters, those are acoustic panels that I made following a great thread on this forum. We were impressed with how big of a difference they made, and also impressed with how great they look!

For sound I have Paradim all around: Titans in front, CC-350 for center, Atoms for surround, and ADP-170 in the rear. I bought a RBH I-12 sub and love it. So without further ado, here's the finished result! (I also added some pictures at the end of the rest of the basement just for bonus content!)
 

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#81 ·
In no small part thanks to your advice! Chalk up one more theater you helped to a successful completion! Just watched star wars episode 7 in anticipation of the new one coming out!
 
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