[Rx8Doc]

We just moved into a new home here in beautiful Springfield Mo. It had a nice finished basement but that leads to a few problems.


I have done a temporary setup to try out the room, pics down below.


The room I have is roughly 12' x 20' with 8 foot ceilings.


It is fully finished so I have to renovate. Plus figure out how to run Cat6 from the other side of the basement. Plus cable.


Quick questions that come to mind. Should I remove and reverse the door to the room so it opens out into the hall?


Do I build a soffit to hide all the wires, since ripping down the sheet rock and starting over scares the willies out of me.


Do I flip the room around and put the screen on the wall that has the window?


Do I need an air return added?


Is there a better plan for this room?????

 

[Stew4msu]

1. Yes, I'd reverse the door.

2. You could make a soffit, or run it under the carpet near the baseboards or run it in crown molding.

3. I'd leave the room the way it is.

4. There's no air ducts of any kind now? Yes.


On a side note, that's almost the exact same dimensions as my room (including that little niche up front), and I went with that exact same screen size (126"). Mine is 12.5' X 20', but my ceilings are 10'.


If you want to see how mine turned out, go HERE

 

[Rx8Doc]

Ok, so far I will reverse that door. It was a pain having it hit the speaker.

I have only one air duct in the room, right behind the projector. It seems that it would not provide enough air movement in the room if the door is closed and if I put the popcorn popper back in the room.


According to the riser calc. I should build a 13" tall riser. That worries me a little, since I have 8' tall ceilings and I am 6'4". I can raise the screen 6".

And yes those are fluance speakers. I am thinking of changing to inwall and in ceiling. anyone care to comment?

 

[pmeyer]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Rx8Doc /forum/post/15524677


Ok, so far I will reverse that door. It was a pain having it hit the speaker.

I have only one air duct in the room, right behind the projector. It seems that it would not provide enough air movement in the room if the door is closed and if I put the popcorn popper back in the room.


According to the riser calc. I should build a 13" tall riser. That worries me a little, since I have 8' tall ceilings and I am 6'4". I can raise the screen 6".

And yes those are fluance speakers. I am thinking of changing to inwall and in ceiling. anyone care to comment?

Be aware that making the door open into the hall might violate code. Not the end of the world, as long as you are aware. Reversing the door so it opens into the room, but with the hinges on the other side might solve your problem without violating code. Can't tell from the pictures if the door edge would clear the speaker.


Definitely add an air vent if there is none. You'll likely want the door closed during movies and with a bunch of people, projector, and equipment it will get warm fast.


Adding a soffit just to run wires seems like a lot of work. If you are building a riser, you can run wire in that (or just put in a big conduit when you build it). It might be a lot less work to get some big hollow baseboard and run speaker wire/cat5/cable in the baseboard.


The other possibility is to build a simple light shelf around part of the room and run the wires in the light shelf.


Do you know which way the joists run in the ceiling? It would be a lot less work to knock a few holes in the ceiling and fish wire through there then it would be to build soffits.


A true 'soffit' typically means drywall and paint, matching the walls/ceiling. Looking at your room, if you can avoid drywall work it will simplify things and speed up the process a lot.


Many people here build soffits, but in many cases it is because they are finishing a basement ceiling from scratch and need to hide air ducts, etc. They have no choice, and they were going to drywall the ceiling anyway. I'd avoid it unless you want the look or can't find an alternative for wiring.

 

[dr350x]

rx8doc,

i took the liberty of modding your drawing.

i would flip the dorr and the screen to the other side of the room.

make a soffit around the room and a cove ceiling. add stars ceiling to center of room.

provided your mechanicals are not in the ceiling of your room.

riser, calculator is more of a guideline, i tend to do what fits me.

just a thought.


good luck......

 

[Rx8Doc]

Wow great ideas so far. I kind of want to flip the room so I can make a false wall for the screen. That would make speaker install easier. I would love a starfield. I was thinking of using the TRIM-TEX soffit with rope light, just trying to find the price.

 

[Stew4msu]

Keep in mind that if you flip it, you'll have the entrance where the riser is. This means you'll have to either not extend the riser all the way to the wall or you'd have to have a step up into the theater from the outside (which would mean raising the door as well).


I'd leave it as you have it, layout wise.


Not to mention, that I would hate having a doorway behind me. I know that's a personal preference thing, but it would bug me.

 

[dr350x]

rx,


if you want to, get a 3d design program. lay oout the room the way you want it in 3d, make all the mistakes there... save you a bunch of $$$..

i hired screen name: REAPER to my 3d work. spent a few hundred and i saved currently about 8-9 thousand on my build.


your room will look great in either way, flipping or leaving the way it is...


fun stuff, eh!!!!

 

[pmeyer]

You'll be amazed what you can do yourself with Google Sketchup. Use that for all the easy 'what if's'.


Then, if you have difficult decisions to make on color/carpet/wood, etc. you can hire somebody to do the 3-d renderings for you.

 

[Rx8Doc]

Ok, Flipped room. Building false screen wall to hide speakers, equipment, stuff.


Now do I put the surrounds in the ceiling to keep the room looking clean?


I am hiding the wires in a vinyl ceiling molding with a built in Rope light channel.


This is existing finished room retrofit. I am trying to damage the existing drywall as little as possible.

 

[Rx8Doc]

Start of screen wall

 

[BIGmouthinDC]

Building cubicles for you speakers creates a host of cavity resonance issues that you should be prepared to address if you continue down that path. A false wall is typically a minimum number of framing members supporting frames with acoustically transparent fabric. The more you can avoid shelves and dividers the happier your speakers will be.

 

[Rx8Doc]

WAF is going to take a hit, but I guess its all about the sound.

Plan B. False wall with panels of black Joanns speaker cloth.

I may be good at sketchup by the time this is done.