Any regrets???

Interesting, but No, I do NOT regret that I didn't make my theater a "multi-purpose" room.
Reasons:
1) I have a friend who has the "multi-purpose" option. I love his room, but theatrically, it just isn't the same! He needed to make some compromises that just weren't acceptable to me, ie, sound placement, speaker placement, and seating arrangement.
2) My theater is MY THEATER...It isn't meant to be anything else. I can also do some little "staged" activities in my theater, and seating, sound, and lighting are supportive of all. No cramped spaces, no compromises on sound or lighting.

I do NOT regret my choice for NOT making a "multi-purpose room".
Having said this, I CAN appreciate said room for people with kids!!!

All cats are gray in the dark and - IMO - all rooms are the same with the lights out and the big screen lit up.

Please, no offense - "little staged activities"? Someone steps up on the stage and gives a speech or sings a song? For Real??

Whatever creates the Theater experience to the user's satisfaction is what is important - we like multi-purpose - no little staged events - and we don't have specific screening Occasions with a Cartoon and movie trailers - of course the other half of our space has a large bar, pinball machines, foosball, coin-op dart machine and that in combination with projector, screen, HD TV and a lot of comfy seating which is what floats our personal "theater" boat.

If someone prefers trying to create an imitation commercial theater with a ticket window and concession stand (even a kid in a tux with a flashlight as a faux usher) and that makes the movie watching experience somehow better to them then by all means make it that way and enjoy!!! The "Enjoy" is what it's all about and we're all such different critters.

Seriously, we should all be glad we enjoy our setups and can have the luxury of a Theater in the Home visual experience. So very many don't have the space, financial or other resources and being still a kid at heart I still get a genuine WOW every time one of my favorite movies fills the screen.

Best Wishes and Good Movie Watching!

I live in a townhouse so my basement might not be as big as most. I have always wanted to have a bar and more recently a theater with a projector. I guess it would have been nice to have a second row of reclining seats but people pull up bar stools behind the seats and seem to be fine back there.
I did not have to make any speaker or equipment placement compromises so it all worked out.

The way I look at it, is whether you have a multi-purpose room, or a dedicated home theater/cinema room is just be glad you have something.

For me a multi-purpose room works out better for my life style, and though I wish I could have laid my room out a little differently (long way vs. the narrow way) I would still prefer having it a multi-purpose room as I entertain poker nights, and such, so I can have guys over playing cards, hang out at the bar, or playing 360 or watching a movie or whatever after loosing at cards and keeping it all in one area.

Maybe having a combo, like a poker/game room that has french doors that open up into a theater room so you can close it off and make it feel more like a dedicated space at the same time would be great but don't know how feasible that is for most people.

for me I don't regret it because its a space I use every day and wouldn't have it any other way.

- Josh

No regrets here either. I also like to entertain, and it's nice when you can have a sporting event, etc, on the big screen, and also on the flat panel over the bar and have people hanging out, shooting pool, darts, shuffleboard, whatever all in one general location.

But if I were to do it all over again, I would buy a bigger house, and have a multipurpose room, like I have right now, with a 60"+ plasma, and then also a motorized screen/projector setup as well, but also have a seperate dedicated theater for movie watching...this way I could build such a room with a much larger 2.35 screen....why not have both ...if you can...

Old.

I really wanted to go with the dedicated theater when we started our basement project. I wanted the theater seats, sound isolation as well as accoustic treatments. Well I lost the battle with my wife because she wanted the multipurpose room mainly for the ability to entertain. With that said, even though I lost the battle I have absolutely no regrets now that I've complete the project. I love the fact I can entertain at the bar while watching football or nascar. I also love that fact I can put in a movie and get the theater experience on the 120" screen. No regrets at all.

RWB, where in the wabash valley are you located?

I am at my bar watching sports/cooking shows on the LCD, the wife is sipping her margaritas in front of the 120" screen watching her chick flicks....life is good!

Of course I'm a long way from being done but I am looking forward to watching "Thirsty Traveller" from the bar, so no regrets for me.

Eric

I think that pretty much sums it up!!!

I always consider my theater 'semi-dedicated'.... with it's L-shaped configuration the the theater portion is adequately separated from the rest of the basement while still being great for general entertaining.

Most of the time when we have people over, it's to play rock band... so it works great having some more general purpose entertaining space in the back as well as easy access to snacks/beverages while keeping the front of the theater nice a dark for the screen.

I dont regret haveing a multipurpose room. Its my only choice as im poor and cant afford building on or any other options right now...Probably never will.

So that would put you in the Shepardsville or Syndicate Hill area. I actually grew up in that area. I'm now just across the Wabash from you. 3 miles south of the Park / Vigo county line. What a small world.

YES,

I started building a large Multi-room with the intention of doing a Pioneer RP built into the wall. Then after the room was drywalled decided to up the anty to a FP. Then decided to try to use many of the theater building/acoustical practices including sand stage, riser, wall treatments etc. Most people like it but I look forward to the opportunity to build a true dedicated room to be able to fully contain the sound and better control acoustics and the surround sound field.

Knowing now what I've learned here and after visiting several other theaters documented in various build threads I would have designed my basement a lot differently and there would be a dedicated theater space.

Big,

I must be dreaming - Did I just hear you say that you have regrets with your fabulous space.....?

I could have done it better.

Yes, I suppose I do. As you can see from my linked HT thread, I started off wanting a multi-purpose room and have slowly moved into dedicated territory. I found that I was using the space almost exclusively for HT so the changes have been positive if expensive. At this point, the room is a compromise in that it is neither a Theater nor multi-purpose. I have succeeded in making it a true hybrid.
I am still resisting going to full theater mode but that may change with time.

My reno isn't finished but I know I'll have no regrets. I'm using the living room, which has been my de-facto 2 channel music listening room for years (because the rest of the family "lives" in the family room, basement etc) and renoing it into a projection based home theater that also will do my 2 channel audio duties. It's not a dedicated theater exactly and it is not isolated. But it is exactly what I'd want nonetheless. I like the connectedness to the rest of the house aspect and even though I'm having many headaches in the design associated with not using a dedicated room, like a basement, I'd still choose to do it this way.

I wanted a dedicated theater in the basement, but my house is so small, I could not justify taking up that space for just movies.

I just kicked off my build which is an open space with a few dedicated tendencies. I'm sure there will be regrets now matter what. But really - whatever I end up with will be a lot better than what I have now which is a slab and two light bulbs.

I don't have regrets about making the theater part of a multi-use room at all. We love to entertain and watching sports in the theater is phenominal! Being able to see if from the gameroom area allows more people to enjoy the experience as well. However, the one regret I do have is not making a larger screen wall so I could go with a 2.35 to 1 screen.

I'm actually thinking of boxing in the end of the barrel ceiling and installing a drop down 2.35 in front of the existing 16x9.

Before my build, I couldnt decide on making a gaming room or theatre room. I decided on the theater room, and yes, I do have regrets about not making a game room. Honestly though, I would have had regrets either way. I love gaming and movies, but I really enjoyed the intimacy of gaming on a 22" monitor versus a 110" screen. Most times, bigger is better, but I actually liked playing on the small monitor better.

What I dont regret is watching a movie, kicking back in my theater chair with a drink and popcorn and not having the urge to go to the real movies since I built it. I will force myself to go to the movies this summer to go see some kick ass flicks, but for the most part, I'd rather wait to enjoy it at home.

BTW, I absolutely love how peoples jaws drop everytime they step into my room. It fills me up inside!

My only regret is that I didn't use a bigger space in my basement. My current theater is an open space, and I love it, but if I would have used a bigger room I could have sat more people as well as had more of it open to the rest of the basement.

maybe for some (i.e. myself) having the room labelled as "multi purpose" was a WAF dictated compromise for getting a projector.