[patterr]

First off, I greatly appreciate anyone reading this and providing feedback. This community is nothing short of sublime. I've tried to be brief and to the point.


Captured below are two proposed layouts for the space in the basement that is 15x20x7'4" Tall. The room will be multi-purpose as I wish to have a 2 channel room as well as a 7.2 theater. That being said, all of the 2 channel gear will be on the front stage and the theater gear will be in a rack elsewhere in the theater.


I already have the two channel gear (Von Schweikert towers) though I am changing amps so there will be two Rogue Audio M-150 tube monoblocks on the stage.



There are three "issues" with the space:

1. There is a drain cleanout near the bottom wall but I can hide it in the wall.

2. There is a drain pipe (green circle in the middle of the room). I'm having a plumber move that into the wall in the middle (near main I beam support for house running width-wise)

3. The main HVAC supply trunks run along the bottom of the drawings. They come out 3 1/2' wide x almost a foot deep.

Proposal A - Deep

This was the original layout that I came up with for this second go around. The main thing that irks me is the asymmetry in the room with the HVAC soffit that I'll have to build in (it can't be moved). I can't mirror it on the other side because that's where the entrance is because then the entry door(s) would have to be cut to 6' high which is undesirable. Entering from the rear means entering on the riser which again causes a potential height problem. I also don't have a spot for the subs in the front though they could go in the rear. Yet, I have to stash the rack somewhere as I don't want to rob space from the surrounding entertaining space.





Proposal B - Wide

This dawned on me just today and it is growing on me. The HVAC "Soffit" can sort of look deliberate, and I can now neatly tuck the rack into the side storage area on the left. I'm not sure which seating that I will get, so I wonder if I could squeeze in two rows to have seating for 8 or 10. It's really not necessary to have that many (family of 3-4) so the bar top in the rear may be enough.






Thoughts/comments?

 

[blazar]

Either look like they would work but... I would setup the main speakers in both configurations and listen.


If you can measue where your major bass nulls are in each configuration it will likely be of help.


Getting a great stereo image would be one of my priorities too

 

[BIGmouthinDC]

In the wide version you have the outside seats sitting outside the edges of the screen, not ideal. so really there are only 3 decent seats.

 

[patterr]

Thanks for the comments. Good points.


I tried flipping the "Deep" theater (proposal A) which solves the rack location issue, but now has you stepping into the riser area of the theater. The green circle in the middle is the pipe that will be stuffed into the wall north of it in the drawing so I can't have the entry door there. Plus, the surround left speaker is where the door would actually be "best" suited. I also redrew the seating to make them representative of the seats that I am considering (they are smaller). With the room being an audio room as well, that leaves me needing a center seat so I can only have 3 or 5 seats... the room (and screen) are too small to do 5.


As far as the giant soffit on the side of the theater, I could build a smaller one (as tall but not as deep) on the front wall above the screen, but I won't want to take away a foot on the opposite side where you walk in. That giant soffit is a pain.


Here's this option:



Better?

 

[Craig Peer]

I have a wide theater like your proposal B. Works great with a low gain screen with a wide viewing angle and a bright projector. Also, wide channel speakers work well in that setup. Look at my theater photos under my signature - my theater is 23' wide x 17'6" - minus 3'3" for my projector closet. We sit 12'6" from a 106" wide / 122" diagonal 16"9 screen and a 118" wide / 128"diagonal 2.35:1 screen.

 

[blazar]

Between main speakers and the listening position, an equilateral triangle is approximately what you need to get decent imaging. I suggest factoring that in if you care about stereo music a lot.


The ability to move speakers side to side is helpful in this respect. About 2-3 feet from the wall is a generally good main speaker position for floor towers.


I would seriously consider a center behind the screen with a acoustic screen... I wish i had done a plan with this. It improves the movie "illusion". You can always eq the high end of the speaker response to compensate.


Consider access panels or something to make future adjustments easier. Consider a power outlet in every place you have a main speaker just in case you need to place powered speakers or extra subwoofers or whatever.