[sethhobrin]

We put in an offer on a 3 year old beautiful colonial house. The basement has a 18x12 rec room with 2 walls being poured concrete(it almost looks like bricks but its not, not the cinder block type of basement) and 2 walls are drywall(needs to be taped and mudded as it is rough.


The floor is concrete.


I am trying to determine what would need to be done to finish this off and turn it in to the a small home theater.


What do you do with poured concrete walls like that? Can/do you just typically paint them? Can you nail or hang anything in to them? As far as the basement floor do you just lay a layer of subfloor and then carpeting? How does the poured concrete walls affect the sound quality of the room? Is it a bad thing or good thing? Are subwoofers less impactful in a basement threater with 2 concrete walls and concrete flooring with carpeting?


Is 18 ft a good enough throw for a projector? What kind of screen size can you fit on the wall in an 18x12 room?


I promise to come back with a build thread as long as they accept our offer and we move in.

 

[badata2d]

There's plenty of others to handle the acoustics. The 18 feet is fine, as is the 12. My room is 18 deep and I'm using a Pany3000 projector. My stage is 12 feet wide, although the room widens to 15 where you enter. I have soffits so my project is actually mounted 15 feet from a 110" screen. Best wishes on the house...

 

[sethhobrin]

Excellent. Interested to hear what others do with acoustics with poured concrete walls that are brick like and a nice concrete slab floor. I wish it was a little bigger but at least I am getting a dedicated theater room!


I hope they accept our offer. Looking forward to doing a build thread on this baby! We rent right now and I've been reading these dedicated build threads for 4+ years now! Finally going to be able to make one myself in our dream home!!!!

 

[BIGmouthinDC]

First if you have the $$ you should turn it into a real room. Real walls with insulation, framing and drywall in front of the concrete walls. If you are handy you can DIY for less than $400. That means you have a 17.5 x 11.5 room.


Then you need carpet.


OK then you have a room now you need to think about making it a theater. You start with planning soundproofing before the walls go up. You need to pre-wire, plan for extra HVAC, plan seating and whether you want two rows with a riser for the second row. Then there is theater decor and lighting. Design of the front end. Selecting equipment. Plan for the equipment location.


Just when you think you have your mind wrapped around it you need to plan interior acoustical treatments.


and YES YOU CAN DO A NICE THEATER IN 11.5 x 17.5. It will be smaller than many but it can be very nice.


Come back after you are under contract and we can get started.

 

[Scopeguy]

If you haven't already check out the small theater build thread

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=996973


My theater will be 11 by 21 and I am putting in a 120 inch 2.35:1 screen, which with the frame will be touching the side wall acoustical treatments.


The main factors on screen size will be whether you will need room on either side for your left and right speakers or you will have an acoustically transparent screen and whether you are doing one or two rows of seating. A very large screen might be hard to watch from a front row at 9 to 10 feet back.


You will need to think about all the things Big posted (and More!). Reading a few build threads can help you get ideas.


Good Luck with the offer!


Greg

 

[sethhobrin]

Thanks for dropping in. This has been my inspiration. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...=982083&page=6


I will return and get further input once I am sure we are under contract. We offered there asking price but they might have some conditions. I want to get a bunch of pictures as well as more detailed dimensions. There is a huge beautiful workshop in another part of the basement as well as another huge storage area. I may be able to take down or move a wall since it is just framing and drywall hung. No mudding or taping done yet.


I am not sure what kind of a budget I will have. Probably only 15k including projector and screen and furniture.(i have all of the audio equipment already in my sig) Definately just 1 row of seating. I was thinking of some side bench or leather couch seating and berklines for the main loveseat making a U. Not sure. I'm sure I'll get a forum member with an amazing idea once I post pics and I'll go in a totally different direction.