Another Omaha-area build -- VERY preliminary basement plans - Page 3

Well, I haven't written anything here for a while because I told myself I wouldn't do anything with the basement until I finished my master's degree in May. For Christmas my wife gave me a bunch of speaker wire and wall plates from Monoprice and agreed that I could start in May, much sooner than originally planned. She never wants to talk about my plans for the theater, but she actually did so last night and told me her thoughts for where the theater should go in the basement. That basically means she told me where it's going to go, but I'm just happy that I have an answer and a starting point. That being said, it's not what I started this thread with at all. The picture below gives an idea of what I'll be going with.



The basement is still completely unfinished at the moment. The blue stuff is just roughly where a bedroom, bathroom, and kitchenette will go.

I'd never be allowed to remove or wall over the windows in the theater area. The best I'll get for that is blinds or maybe some velvet curtains. Light shouldn't really be much of an issue anyway since it would generally only be used at night. I'd love to be able to install one of those accordion style folding walls behind the rear seats to shut the room off, but I have no idea what that would cost. I'd probably be able to get away with velvet drapes that I could pull across the width of the room when in use. I know that wouldn't do anything for sound, but it would at least help to make the room feel like an enclosed space. I'd probably put that just to the left of the door to the stairs (as you look at the picture), and the space would be roughly 17'x25' with 8.5' ceilings.

I know this configuration has its drawbacks. It will be a lot more cubic feet, requiring much more in the way of speakers to adequately fill the space with sound. I recently bought two Stereo Integrity HT 18 subwoofer drivers that I planned to put in sonotubes, but I'll probably need a couple more now. There's certainly no value in trying to soundproof anything. And the windows really bother me about what to do for sound treatments. However, there are a couple things I prefer. WIth more space the rear and surround speakers won't be right on top of me, and there will be enough room if I want to bring in more seating for a special occasion.

One question on the screen and screen wall. I've been leaning toward an acoustically transparent screen for quite some time, but it's only 36" from the bare concrete to the window. The false screen wall wouldn't be able to be pulled further into the room than that. Will that be enough? I could forego finishing the back wall to save a few extra inches since no one will see it anyway. Any suggestions?

Anyway, what are your thoughts? I want to start getting plans finalized so I can actually start in May. Any input is appreciated.

Tedd, thanks for the link. I haven't looked too much at it yet, but I know you can't generally go wrong following Big. The window plugs could be an idea worth looking into; I haven't even seen someone do something like that before. As for the rears, I hadn't really thought about in-ceilings. I know if I hung bookshelf speakers it probably would be distracting, but what do you mean about it being easier with the in-ceilings to set surround levels?

Alright, I get what you mean now. I hadn't put much thought into the listening experience for the rear seats really as most of the time it will be just the two of us.