Cheapskate Theater Build #2

Well it's time for round 2.

About a year and a half ago I made my first go at a dedicated theater room above my garage. Everything turned out very well considering the circumstances, but I'd always planned to build a better theater downstairs. Well, it's time to start. Here's some pictures of my current theater for reference.





Here's some screenshots of a layout my wife and I came up with in Visio so far. The theater will be about 15' wide by 21' long with an extra 2' in the back behind the false wall (15' x 23' total).

Blank


Finished


Some caveats:
1 - My basement is below my septic tank so I have to use a special toilet with an attached pump and maceration. So that means anything that requires a drain has to be on the same wall as the toilet.
2 - In the pics you can see the landing at the bottom of the stairs has a single step going to the ground floor on either side of it. Well, I'm actually only going to drop half the distance for the kitchen, then the last step will drop at the entrance to the game room area. This allows the bar stools to be higher at the back of the theater.
3 - My wife and I don't care about sound isolation (obviously because we want the large window at the back for overflow seating).

Now here's some pictures of the basement in its current state:
Down the stairs

Looking to the left

Looking further to the left

Looking to the right from the landing

Looking further to the right

View from screenwall


The walls in this basement are insulated forms. There are plastic studs every 8" just behind the foam. So I plan to use furring strips on any exterior wall before drywall. The ceiling is nominal 9' (it's actually a little less from concrete to bottom of joists. I plan to put in a soffit around the entire perimeter of the theater to hide the beam and ductwork on the one side. Also, not drawn in the Visio screenshots is a riser and a stage. Nothing too fancy. The riser will probably be about 12" high and the stage about the same, each with an intermediate step. I also would like to put in the small columns throughout the room to hide the surrounds. The columns will probably only stick out about 4". Lastly (for now), my wife really likes the starred ceiling in the center so we'll be doing that, so I need some ideas.

Now here's some pictures of other theaters I've seen on this board from which we borrowed ideas:

Rear Window and Stage

Ceiling

Columns

Screenwall w/ Curtains


Equipment List:
Epson 8100 projector (for now)
Denon AVR 790
JVC XV-BP1
HTPC
Polk Monitor 70 II's for front left and front right
Polk CS20 center channel
Bookshelf speakers for the surrounds (sides and rears) by TSC

Need to buy/build:
Subwoofers (thinking about dual 12", possibly as an IB)
DIY 12' wide AT screen (2.40:1)

Some questions I can think of already:
1 - Should I even consider an IB sub in this configuration with no sound isolation?
2 - Should I even bother with base traps in this configuration?
3 - I don't have any experience with amps, but I'm assuming I'll need some. Can anyone recommend me something or at least educate me a little? I'm thinking about separate amps for the front LCR's, then letting the Denon power the surrounds. Does this sound reasonable..... or even possible?


So let's hear your thoughts. I'm sure I left out a lot, but I can't stand typing anymore.

Update:
I was able to build one wall yesterday, which is good considering how miserable I've been after this college bowl season (I'm a Michigan Alum). So far so good, but while I was up on the ladder I felt a nice draft of cold air leaking into the basement. I always thought about sealing it up and insulating the sill plate better, but this just confirms it for me. I'm going to probably spray foam the entire perimeter of the basement before drywall.

Also, I just received some incredible news that my wife is 3 weeks pregnant with our first. Not the best news with regard to the theater though. I hope progress doesn't slow too much, and now we may reconsider the sound proofing.

2 walls are up now. Not very secured, but they're standing on their own. The back wall is going to be tricky because I can't build it the conventional way and stand it up (pole in the way). I think I'm going to build it in the middle of the room and slide it into place.







So does anyone have anymore advice for me regarding subwoofers? I'm pretty handy, so I'd be all for building an IB. I just don't know how. Nor do I know where to get good components.

Also, about the starred ceiling. What's the conventional way? I think I've seen people do it with drop-in ceiling tiles, but I'm worried that the gridlines holding up the tiles will show up as an obvious pattern in the sky. I don't want that. I want it to look like a homogenous sky. No lines. I thought about using some kind of smooth plywood or particle board, but I'm worried about how to attach it to the ceiling. If I just use black screws straight into the floor joists above, does that mean I have to avoid running the fiber optic cable between the plywood and the joists? If that's the case then I'm stuck with the same problem as a drop ceiling where I have very distinct lines that I can't put lights on, which I'm affraid will show up. Any ideas?

So far so good. All of the walls are up and about half the soffits.







I'm giving some serious thought towards building an IB. I made sure there was a stud cavity dead center on the back wall, and I opened it up a little wider than normal for better air flow. Also, it looks like I'd be able to do it for less money than just buying a couple 15" pre-made units.

Any thoughts on sound treatment inside the room? Will it be much of a benefit to incorporate bass traps and wall treatments if I'm not going to be doing the DDGG and isolation clips? Also, is there much need for sand in the stage if I build an IB?

I remember seeing a build where someone had a post in the room and they just painted it the same color as the walls. That seemed to "hide" it the best. I'm not wrapping mine at all. It's just getting painted.

Maybe it wasn't clear at first, but only one of my posts will be in the room. The other one will be hidden in the false wall.

Wow it's been awhile. I haven't updated this thread because I'm too lazy to put in the effort. My wife and I had a baby in September 2011 so progress slowed on the entire basement for a little while, but it picked back up this past winter. I've now finished pretty much everything in the basement other than the theater. We recently picked up everything and cleaned up all of the saw dust so I decided to take pictures:
Mudroom and Office

Kitchen

Gameroom

Theater Entrance

Left side of theater

Right side of theater

Unfinished ceiling (will someday be a starfield)

Stage (litter boxes won't be there when it's finished)

Riser and rear window


The last big things on my to-do list are the false wall, fiber optic ceiling, and carpet. There's still plenty of small odds and ends.

All I did was make rectangles out of 2x4's. Those columns stick out 3.5" from the wall, and they are about 13" wide.

The entire room is about 15' wide by 22' long, but 2' of that length will be lost to the false wall. In the center it's a couple inches shy of 9' tall. Riser is 14" tall. Stage is 12" tall.

What is the fabric of choice these days for false walls? GOM was popular, then I found out about DMD............I'm wondering if anyone likes something else? Cheap is the first priority.

Also, I need some black fabric for the ceiling panels. This doesn't have to be acoustically transparent, but to save on shipping I was considering using the DMD stuff throughout the theater (aside from the screen).