By the Seat of My Pants Theater...

I have a very difficult time following a plan so this is my "By the Seat of My Pants" Theater. Keep in mind this is pretty much a blank slate basement. Ive in the process of finishing the entire thing.

Equipment I already have:
Epson 8350
Energy CF70 (2) Left and Right speakers
Energy CC10 (1) Center
Energy CB20 (2) Left and right surrounds
Energy CB10 (2) Left and right rears
Denon 1611

At the moment im thinking an AT screen in the 106" range. The pic shows 8' (96") for the screen just because thats about the width of a 106" diagonal screen.

Im also considering In-wall speaker for my surrounds just to avoid the speakers hangin on the walls. Who knows?

Projector will be mounted at the rear of room and throw distance should be around 14ft.

I did my picture in colors to help with seeing what everything is.

Heres the color key:
yellow--acoustic panels.
red--AT screen
Blue--screen wall
Black---speakers and sub behind seating
Purple--equipment rack. No taller then the height of the seating
Orange--entry door
Green Dot in the lower left of room is a support pipe for the Beam in the basement.


The room depth in my drawing ends up 16"6" but im pretty sure it will end up 17". Some how my drawing ended up off by 6". I plan to have large removeable panels in front of the left and right front speakers for access to behind the screen wall. One problem I have at the moment is that my exterior walls are already studded and are NOT decoupled from the floor joist. They ARE decoupled from the walls though. The studs have about a 1" gap between them and the foundation walls. SOOOOO... do I leave the coupled walls as is or do I cut them down to put clips in??? Im not looking for a crazy acoustically sealed room.

The room will be wired for 7.1. Im not sure im going to use the 2 rears but I will wire for it. Also as previously stated I may opt for In-walls to avoid surrounds protruding from the walls plus with the screen wall hiding the 3 front speakers I think it would be nice to have In-walls so that all speakers are "hidden."

Oh ya... Ceiling height...From my unfinished floors to the bottom edge of the joists are 104". To the bottom edge of the beams is 94.5". There is 2 beams that will be in the rooms ceiling, one where the green dot/post is and runs parallel to the back wall and one that runs directly inline with the "12'" dimension line in front of the screen wall. Im gonna do my best to make the ceilings as high as possible.



Read more: By the seat of my pants theater - Home Theater Forum and Systems - HomeTheaterShack.com

oops...here we go I hope

Attachment 238921

Heres another design I made . This is more of my favorite because I gain a large equipment closet. Plus I have access to behind the screen wall through the closet, secret squirrel style.

I plan to do all the treatments necessary.


This plan just forces me to move my pool table a few feet. No big deal really.

Attachment 238934

I was at work today and thought the same thing... why not put all 3 speakers behind the screen. My brain doesnt work as good as it used to so it takes me longer to think of the obvious.

Also a good idea I never thought of...flipping the room end for end.

Concerning the last design I posted, with the room in the "North South" orientation...

I technically could go as deep as I want as the basement is I think 48 feet deep. So if I really needed to steal another foot or so then I will. The WAF will have to deal with.

Oh ya, I only put the subwoofer behind the seating because I thought it might give a better bass feel being closer to the seats. Whatever is best is where I will put it.

What about this so far? Im not sure what to do with the pole? The pole is at the 12'3" dimensions. Its hard to see since I made the pole and dimension lines all green.

Also i didnt put any surrounds in yet. I think this layout lends itself well to in wall surrounds, atleast on the sides.

Attachment 239184

Keep in mind my Epson 8350 projectors throw distance is gonna be in the 13'6" range.

Im thinking so too. If I go that route I may steal an extra foot from outside the room which would make the room 14'wide. Also I re-measured and it looks like I may be able to stretch the room to about 17'3" deep.

Im going to do another design based on the new ideas.

Funny you say that...Ive been drawing up just about that exact thing. I dont want to have the AV rack in the back upper corner because I dont want the area at the bottom of the stairs to get too tight and make moving furniture in and out of the basement too difficult.

I have a removable panel(blue line) to the left of the screen to allow access to behind the screen. Also the rear corner acoustical treatment I did that shape simply because it would bury the pole inside of it. Also I think In-Walls for the surrounds will help with space getting around the seating for entry and exit of the room.

My biggest concern is my throw distance is going to end up under 13' for around a 110" screen. Is that an issue? The Projector Central calulator for my Epson 8350, a 13' throw is about the minimum recommended and it puts my screen size at 97".

Attachment 239215

As far as the hush box for the PJ...Ill have to see what room there is. My main trunk for the HVAC runs along the back wall also. Put it this way, the back wall is "sandwiched" between the HVAC main trunk and the I beam. Its probably not too much of an issue because I have 9ft ceilings in the basement.
I also have an idea that will gain me about 8-10" of depth in the room.

On the 2nd subwoofer note. My AVR is only 7.1, what would I need to be able to have 2 sub signals? Nevermind, I didnt think it would be as easy as using a Y-splitter.

At the least there will be soffit along the back wall where the pole is and in front across the opening of the alcove. Theres an I-beam across there also to close in.

I would like to soffit all the way around and add moulding with the rope lighting inside. My intentions are a black drop ceiling surrounded by the soffits.

Finished ceiling height... From my floor joist to my unfinished floor is 104". From the I beams to the floor is 94.5. So Thats what Im working with. The depth being twice the height..How close to these dimension have to be when it becomes an issue? If my room ends up 17' deep and my ceiling ends up say 8'4". Does having the soffits counteract this issue?

By dropped ceiling I meant the grid style. I simply didnt want to seal off any ducts/pipes/ wiring/etc from easy access. I will be adding insualtion in the floor joists.

Another benefit to having my AV rack where it is is that I can make it "double sided" and put my 2nd AVR facing into the rest of the basement for music if entertaining outside the theater room.

Maybe I could put a second AV rack for the rest of the basement on the left of the theater room and put a bar with seating spanning the gap between the 2 AV closets for nice seating by the pool table.

As far as the ceiling goes...I suppose the only thing up there will be a HVAC duct. Ill wire through the walls. Drywalled ceilign will look much nicer and easier to paint and resist reflections especially on the grids framing .

I just went downstairs and laid out the floor plan on the concrete with tape. I think my final drawing is a go. Also building a hush box at the back that will actually be partially outside of the room seems like it will be a non issue. So thats good.

I have one question. This is gonna open me up for some jokes but I can think of a better way to word it. Say I have 6" of wiggle room , am I better off using that to go from say 3'6" to 4' between my head and the back wall or going from 2' to 2'6" between the screen wall and front wall to give my front speakers a bit more breathing room? Did that make sense?