TP's Theater / Game Room build

I want to start by saying that I have been reading this forum for years... not only have a researched equipment I was going to buy, I also have dreamed and lived vicariously through many of you buying equipment I could only dream of... and building theaters in your basement that would make me never want to leave home!!!

I recently moved to Atlanta GA, and have decided to start finishing my basement and build a theater and game room (one big room). This thread will document my build although it will span a long period of time, because I am building what I can afford when I can afford it.

I started framing out my office that will hold my equipment and HTPC. This room will be nothing special... a box with some soffits, and will serve as my learning how to frame... (basic walls are easy, figuring out how to connect a soffit to the wall and have the proper place for drywall gave me some trouble I will post pictures when I can get home and begin to officially document my slow progress.

The entire project is permitted (I want to be able to sleep at night... for safety and for following the law) So I will also surely be asking questions like... is this code I am having the HVAC installed Tuesday... I am not even going to attempt to do that myself!


Along with posting progress I hope to also be able to ask my many questions in this thread... the first of which is:

I am going to build a false wall about three feet inside the end of the room for an acoustically transparent screen, and put my Klipsch RF-83 / RC-64 front sound stage behind that. If I build a stage, can I focus on building the stage only in front of the false wall / screen and place the speakers directly on concrete behind the screen (unfinshed space will be full of bass traps, etc)(on speaker spikes). Will that have any negatative side effects to the sound? If the speakers are too low, could I build small boxes (think speaker platform) behind the false wall as speaker stands and only fill those up with sand... and the stage with insulation??? I am sure pictures would help explain this... I will try to get my idea documented and post it up.

Thanks for everyone's help over the years... you have given me great ideas and the encouragement to try and tackle this myself!

OK... sorry for the delay, here are some pictures of the space I am working with. I got really lucky with the house, the basement layout is almost perfect for a theater / game room. I have always wanted a dedicated theater, but this space lends itself better to a more open feel


This picture is looking from where the pool table will be, into where the theater will be built. The room is about 17' x 50'... it is really long.


Here is the reverse view. You can see that I am going to have to build a soffit around the entire basement (other side will have the new HVAC installed on Tuesday).




This room is directly to the right of the theater screen wall. I am going to turn this into an office with my HTPC and all of my equipment. It will be rack mounted in the wall... with all of the connection in the area behind the screen wall. You can see where I have temporary equipment hung... image that pushed into the wall. (That is controlling my TV and 5.1 system upstairs with an RF remote... pretty slick, no wires upstairs) You can also see the I have started "practicing" framing walls and soffits here.


This view is standing inside the office, looking down the hallway... the big theater / game room is on the other side of the wall on the right. (BTW I know the issue with the soffit on the left not having a bottom brace for the lookouts. I made that first... looked at it and said... crap I will fix that this weekend... easy fix when you screw your framing together!


Here is a close up the screen wall, you can see the wood laying on the floor where the false wall will be. It is about 3' out from the wall... plenty of room for speakers, subs, bass traps, and the back of the equipment... this is where I am asking about the speakers directly on concrete (not finishing the space...)


This will be a game room with poker table and dart board (this is next to the pool table area of the big room. To the left of that will eventually be a bathroom (phase two)



View from bathroom into the utility room... there will be another heat pump in there. You can see the stairs just to the left there. On the right is my workshop, you can see the plastic I put up to get the saw dust in there... not working since I am now finishing the basement and cutting all my wood in the middle of the space



Finally standing in the game room, you can see the full layout... theater / pool table on the left... hallway to my office and the stairs to go up. bath and everything else is to the right.



I would love to hear everyone's thoughts and recommendations. Also looking for anyone to speak up if they see a code violation (I am doing this legally).

I am stuck on an area and would love to hear people's thoughts. Running down the right side of the theater is a bunch of duct work, drainage piping, and a gas line. If I were to build a soffit around that area, it would measure a good 32" into the room and about 17" tall.

What should I do?

Options...

1 drop ceiling under everything... not a good option
2 build the soffit around the stuff and that is it.
3 build the soffit around the stuff and mimick the same design on the other side and make it looked balance... and like a really big trey ceiling.
4 build the soffit around the duct work and then drop the ceiling to cover up the gas line (would lose about 4" inches of ceiling height)
5 build the soffit on an angle ___/ that would cover everything up and make it seem like the soffit was smaller... but that would be alot more work!


Any other options / thoughts... please help, I am a bit stuck!!!

I agree that matching soffit would look good, I am just concerned at the overall size of the soffit and then to replicate it on each side... it is really tough to picture. I will try to get a better picture of exactly how big the soffit would be.



Mayhem, as for building a DIY sub... I have gone that route once before and was happy with the results, but I think that I am leaning towards the HSU VTF3 MK3... potentially two of them.

What would the concave dome behind the screen do? I was planning on installing bass traps in behind the screen and completely insulating the wall behind the screen... never considered building a concave back there. I will get some more pictures of the progress up soon, I start the skeleton of the screen wall yesterday and the HVAC is going in tomorrow, so I will know exactly what soffits I will need to build to cover up this ugly duct work!

what sort of footprint would the two 18" s have? I have slightly redesigned my screen wall... and the subs would have to be split (one in each corner behind the false wall).

Are there plans out there that detail the build so I can get an idea of what I would be in for. I built the Adire Tempest sub and was happy with it, but it wasn't the most musical... it felt a bit slow and not very punchy (like my HSU I have now). How would the 18" s compare. Are they punchy / OK for music... or only good for explosions I really watch mostly movies... but also enjoy watching live concerts / jazz on TV too. Thanks again for your advice

For those who might be following this thread.

The HVAC got installed today... at least all of the duct work did. I went with Reliant Heating and Air... great people, great price and a very clean install!!! I can't recommend them enough if you are in the Atlanta area...

As for the soffit, I figured out the plan after searching a bunch of pictures and trying a few things out, I have decided to try and make the soffit look like a trey ceiling. Once I made a template for the dimensions, I went to work cutting the 100's of individual pieces and putting them together. Having the wife as a helper made the production much easier!!! This picture makes my ceilings look really low... but I am 6'7" and was fully stretched out...


I am sure there are easier / faster methods to build a trey ceiling... but this is how I felt comfortable doing it. First I set up a stop block on my chop saw and ran through the 400 cuts to cut the 3 different length pieces I needed.

Then I assemble the two differnt "7" pieces together using a little jig to hold the pieces tight and square. You can see the little area I left open so I could screw the pieces together. (If you can't tell I am pretty proud of this... took the time to make a setup to make the overall assembly easier... I normally "rush" things, I am learning taking your time actually speeds things up!


Here is about a quarter of the pieces


Then I created another jig to hold the two assembled pieces together


Here is a picture with the pieces inserted ready to be fastened together.


And a stack of the end result


Once this part was complete, the first three section of the trey went together so quickly it was almost scary... unfortunately the wife and I ran out of steam... I fly to Cincinnati for the rest of the week for holiday with the family... so progress will stay here until after Thanksgiving...

Also... here is a picture of the new screen wall design. Actually the wifes idea to push the screen in a little bit and have some angles on the wall to give it some character. I am very lucky to have a wife who is into this stuff, willing to help, and understands that sometimes it is worth spending money in order to get the "experience".




As for getting rid of the Klipsch... not going to happen anytime soon, I really like them, I don't find them to be harsh / bright with my NAD equipment... so for now they are staying... however the DIY sub route (dual Maelstom's) is a real option... you can see my first DIY sub (adire tempest) is being used as my work area (rebuilt and finished it in a nicer box later on)

I am going to do the other side and the back as well. After seeing the first side up we really don't lose that much space, and I think the balanced look will be worth it.

We don't have kids yet... I am sure the Mrs. wouldn't be as helpful or as accepting of the noise if we did. That is why I want to get the basement done quickly...

I will keep posting pictures of the progres... hopefully I can help one person with their builds... then I will feel like I gave something back after the years and years of benefit I have gained from the forums.

The wife waving was because she was going to get her nails done... a little break from the action. The funny part was, right after she got her nails done, she came back and got right back to work... I thought that was funny.

As for the TV down there, I hooked that up to watch the OSU / Michigan game while I worked (I am from Cincy)... and then after that is has been on HGTV for her... non stop. Funny to see people complete entire projects in 30 minutes while you make cut after cut after cut...

The stuff in the corner is actually the receiver, cable box and PS3 for upstairs in the living room. I had this set up really nice, but had to take down all the shelves to frame the wall... so now it is just quickly set back up so we can use it again. One of the things we wanted to have upstairs was a nice clean install, and still have good sound and picture... So the result is here:


So it is so far away, but it is the only picture I have of the room finished right now. You can see that the TV has no wires showing and the speakers are in the wall, the only thing left to hide is the sub. I then control everything with the Harmony 890 and it works like a champ! This stuff was done the first week I moved into the house
If you are referring to the white box and blue light on the floor, that is the wireless router that fell off the shelf, that I haven't picked up yet. It is amazing how lazy I can get when I am focused on something else.

mayhem, thanks for the tips on the pine... I would definately do that, but I don't even have my projector yet I am thinking about going with the Panasonic 3000 but don't want to plunk the money down yet... because I will be tempted to hook it up and sit.

For those following, I got back from holiday in Cincinnati, and have got back to work. The HVAC is installed and I can now really progress on the soffits. The past two days I spent making the soffits on the ground and the wife was good enough to help me get them hung tonight. Only three more left until the main room soffits are done (with the exception of blocking in the corners).

Next will be to frame the soffits in the rest of the basement, build the bathroom wall (to close off the bathroom for phase 2) and then work on the screen wall and riser. I am still excited and look forward to work on it everyday I get home from work... I am hoping that feeling doesn't fade. It definately helps to have the wife as a motivator. Pics to come.

So I decided to post pictures tonight, rather than procrastinate and never post them...

Here is a shot of the new AC... again, I can't say enough how good of a job they did, and how thoughtful they were to my project...


That big pile of trey ceiling pieces is getting smaller and smaller... and I am getting happier and happier


Here is a pic standing from the screen wall looking toward where the pool table and countertop will be


and a little closer look, still need to fill in the corners.


And finally... my black friday deal. I woke up at 5:15 with my Dad and brother in law, it was a great morning We found a 20V li-ion drill, 7.25" saw and light, two batteries... normally 399 on sale for 199. Can't beat that, since my other set (7 years old) just died.
Here is a pic of the drill, saw is still in Cincy, I willl picked up when I drive their for Christmas.

Thanks... I knew it was going to be a lot of work... and chosing to do the trey ceiling didn't help make the project any easier. I am really enjoying it... so far I am not going to finish the bathroom right away, so that took one element out of the picture.

I really enjoy my Klipsch as well... can't wait to get them set up in basement and really use them again. They are just sitting quietly in my office upstairs... staring at me every day!

OK... so I got home from work today and still felt sick. I figure I would go down and just putz in the basement and do some "figurin". Next thing I know 2.5 hours have past and the bulk of the trey is done. I still have to go through and brace it and fill in the corner... and then decide how the trey will intersect the screen wall (I will need some help there... ideas, etc.) Hopefully by the end of the weekend I will have made some progress and have updates.

I am definately going to hang the drywall... not sure if I am going to hire out the mudding or not. I have mudded before and am not a big fan. That will all be determined on timing and budget... (as is almost everything)

Well... there goes another weekend spent down in the basement making sawdust. I really enjoy working on it and the hours just fly by. It is slow going, but I am happy with the way things are turning out. Here is what I was able to get done this weekend.

I built the wall to seperate out the bathroom, and will have a single door in it. To be honest when I went downstairs to take pictures of the progress, I forgot I did that (explains no picture) just dawned on me while I was typing that I did... maybe progress is faster than I thought!

I finished up the trey ceiling all the way around the main area... I also went through and added vertical bracing to tie it to the ceiling joists. I also built up the screen wall, before it was just a shell, but now I have the other vertical pieces up and tied into the trey. And I also built the frame for the curve above the screen... thank goodness my wife is tough... because that was really heavy and hard to get up there. She was able to lift it and put up with my cussing the whole time through!


I also started my DIY rack (just shelves built into the wall). This will flush out to the office and all of the wires, etc. will be behind the screen false wall. When the drywall is up, I will go back through the rack and built fillers to face up the front of it. Might try the DIY sheetmetal fronts like I saw on this forum... they turned out really slick.


Another picture of the construction... nothing fancy, but it is really solid and will do the job.


finally, a picture of the frames out screen wall from the perspective of the concrete...


Next up will be to finish up the standard soffits in the other rooms, build the stage and then riser with bar back, and then start to think about electrical and maybe plumbing, still not sure if I want a wet bar or not.