What feature to discontinue on my pan to save money

Does your budget include purchasing equipment as well or is that just for the room build itself? That's going to change peoples suggestions a lot. Also, is there a room already there or are you working with an unfinished basement?

If your total budget is 10k and you're starting from scratch with equipment and room, I think you're going to find you aren't going to get many "extras" depending on what you are expecting to end up with. What are you expectations from your AV equipment and your room? I know people whos minds would be blown with a $700 onkyo HTIB and a fixed frame screen with a 5 year old PJ....others turn their nose up and anything not top of the line.

So where do you stand?

You'll be just fine. Assuming your not an AV snob (it doesn't seem so) and you are willing and able to do some work yourself, you can put together a great room for 10k. You've just got the be smart about where you invest your money.

In my opinion, if this is a home you plan on staying in, sink the majority of your budget into the room and plan ahead. It really easy to upgrade equipment down the road assuming you've planned accordingly up front...its VERY difficult (and expensive) to try to mod your room after the fact.

I think the biggest decision you've got to make right off the bat, is what size room, and are you going to sound proof or not.

Sound proofing is awesome, but expensive and time consuming. There are things you need to think about, are you single? Married? Kids? Lifetime bachelor? If you've got young children or a wife thats a light sleeper, you may want to consider it, but its really kind of an all or nothing thing....sort of soundproofing kind of defeats the purpose...If the kids are gone and there is no one else to bother with the noise or you dont mind keeping the volume down late night, you could save a chunk by not soundproofing. Make the decision first and foremost...as it will probably effect your budget and planning more than anything right from the get go and it is NOT something you want to change your mind on mid stream or heaven forbid after the fact.

Some of your other wants can be skipped over for now and added later if you plan accordingly...for instance your fabric frames...you could stick with drywall and paint for now...and later as money comes in you could add your fabric frames late, your bathroom could be roughed it but not finished if finances are an issue.

You should grab google sketch up and give us a layout of the basement, if you are unsure of what direction to go...folks here are usually pretty good at suggesting good layouts. They've all seen lots of basements.

Sounds like a plan. As long as you're flexible and good with your hands, worry not, you can put a theater together for 10k.

One thing you have to remember is that the $10,000 you are proposing to spend.has a lot to do with what part of the country you are in. I am in Michigan which was hit hard by the auto industry almost going under. A couple of years ago I bought a really nice condo/townhouse for $65,500. That $10,000 seems like a small fortune to me. I am in the process now of building my home theater in my basement. For a while I was buying up and storing the building materials I will need when ever I would see them on sale but have stopped doing that as building material prices are still continually falling here. The only exception to that is anything with copper in it. I am fortunate in that there is a lot of competition here as Home Depot, Lowe's, Menard's, Direct Tools, and Harbor Freight are practically across the street from each other.

A 2X4 at Menard's here is $1.89. I know there are no Menard's as far east as NJ but I am sure there are other discount places. Home Depot will match prices. I have had Home Depot match Menard's prices several times. Home Depot is closer to me and I don't have to haul materials back on the expressway. Oftentimes what Menard's will do though is make something unique about their item so it can't be matched and makes it worth the extra effort to purchase it from them. Although Menard's is my favorite home center they do have one practice that drives me up the wall. Several of their items come with a rebate but that rebate check can only be used at one of their stores.
Edited by macfan - 12/6/12 at 10:34am

Look for local lumber/building supply stores. Prices and service are going to be MUCH better than the big boxes.

Having said that, the lumber for framing was probably the CHEAPEST part of the my build.

As noted earlier, you really don't want to go back redo the room. Upgrading equipment is much easier. And keep in mind that the REAL reason to "soundproof," i.e. clips, channel, double drywal + Green Glue, is to lower the noise floor inside the room. So, if I was on as tight of budget as you are, I would spend the money on clips to decouple the stud walls and cieling and use the adjustable outlet boxes and then do a single layer of drywall. As funds are availble, you can go back and extend the outlets and add a second layer of drywall and Green Glue. Then as additional funds become available, add the fabric panels to the wall. If you plan well enough, you could probably build the panels to be removable and do those BEFORE the second layer of drywall. Just be sure to account for the future layer of drywall when measuring for the panels.

Just my $.02.

Good luck.

As a general rule I would agree with you on the buy local. However, I live in a Detroit, Ann Arbor, Flint, Saginaw suburb, my big box stores are about a third of the size of the big city stores, and mostly staffed by local people. The prices are fairly good. They don't always have what you want in stock but usually can get it for you in a day or two (I have even had them have an employee drive to the big city store to get it for me) at no additional cost and are good about matching the prices of the competition. Like I said earlier, it all depends on the area you live in. I know others will disagree with me but it also depends on how ridicules you want to get on the sound deadening and design services stuff. I have been in this discussion before here but I really think most of that stuff is like the emperor's new clothes.

PS: Something interesting. My local big box stores had everyone of the Black Friday specials in stock when I went at noon. Menard's in particular was packed and had very few places to park but had every item. There was no need to get up at 5am.
Edited by macfan - 12/6/12 at 11:03am

Most likely, the only reason not to buy the channel HD would be price. As it happened, HD was the fastest, easist place for me to get it. Otherwise, it's the exact stuff you want.

A recent Dennis Erskine home theater design seminar stressed to design the best room possible. Then bring it to budget.

Seems to me, you have a great handle on this, and are way ahead of the learning curve, by carefully wondering where to place your money.

You could frame the 1/2 bathroom (and treat it as storage closet for now). That's exactly what I am doing. The fabric frames could be added at a
later date easily. That $1K pj and cheap receiver are options, as is skipping theater chairs for now. Those can be upgraded down the road easily.
You might just find that a $1K projector in a well designed room, exceeds your expectations.

Exactly my thoughts.