[Inzane]

Hi Guys,

I'm about to start basement renos. Clean slate, totally unfinished at the moment. The intent is to have a dedicated home theatre room, however there are other rooms being constructed as well. I have a bit of a balancing act, weighing ideal size and dimensions for the HT, vs. usable leftover space for other adjacent rooms.

In the web searching I've done I've stumbled across the C, 1.6C, 2.33C ratio. Meaning C = height, 1.6xC = width, 2.33xC = length. (I'm not sure if this is something the HT enthusiasts in this forum community embrace, or not).

As luck would have it those ratios work fairly well with what I had in mind anyway and what fits in my basement. I have a corner of the house where there are no windows. The vertical measurement from concrete floor to bottom of the ceiling joists is 93" (7.75 ft). I figure accounting for subfloor/flooring and ceiling material, the working height in the room is ~ 7.5 ft, maybe a tad less. Using the ratios above, that equates to a width of ~12 ft, and a length of ~17.5 ft.

That is definitely doable in my basement, and I can work with that in terms of developing the other adjacent rooms into usable spaces as well.

Regarding what contents the HT room would eventually contain:
- I'll definitely want pre-wiring for 7.1/7.2 surround. (not sure if I'd bother with 9.1/9.2)
- two rows of seating, w/ 2nd row elevated on a 10-12" riser.
- projector, and 100-110" wall-mounted screen (16x9, likely not 2.35 anamorphic).

So my questions are: Am I on the right track? Do those dimensions sound reasonable? Are the measurements typically inside surface to inside surface, or center-to-center? How big a deal is it if you deviate a bit from those ratios, plus or minus half a foot either way? I'm realizing if I go with a double-wall configuration for soundproofiing that extra wall width will eat into floorspace a bit.

Thanks.

 

[Inzane]

Good suggestion.

A couple of the projectors I'm considering are the Epson 8350 and the Panasonic AE4000.

To be above the heads of the first row of seating I think that would put the projector roughly ~11-12 ft back from the screen. Does that sound like a doable range, with respect to throw distance and screen size?

 

[Inzane]

The only thing I would say is do the best to raise the ceiling.

I'm not sure how that could be done. The area of basement the HT room will be is directly under the living room. To get more access would mean what... modifying the floor joists somehow?

(Unfortunately I can't change the fact that my wife and I didn't have the foresight to request 9 ft ceilings when our house was under construction 4 years ago).

 

[Inzane]

I guess I am thinking a "dropped" ceiling. I've always known it as a suspended ceiling. (removable tiles for access).

Obviously I will put insulation in the ceiling between the joists.

Are those isolation clips only for a drywalled ceiling or are they applicable to a drop ceiling as well?

 

[Inzane]

Is a drop-ceiling at least better for in-room acoustics? Or not necessarily?

 

[Inzane]

How many seats in each row?

at 12' wide, it might be a bit tight to have the seats centered and aisles on each side.

P

I haven't totally figured that out yet.

I'd be ok with an aisle on only one side, if that can be done and not look bad.

I was thinking 2 rows of 3. However, if its possible to get 4 across in the backrow, I'd consider that too.

If I had to I could go a row of 3 and a row of 2, but I think I'd like to be able to seat at least 6.

 

[Inzane]

Since I started this thread, I've been convinced to go drywall for the ceiling vs. a dropped ceiling.

 

[Inzane]

I've got dimensional conflicts I'm dealing with now.

The conflict is seating position vs. riser depth vs. projector location vs. screen size.

- My room has a depth(length) of 17.5 ft.
- The projector I'm most likely going with is the Epson 8700UB (also considered Epson 8350/9350 and Panny PT-4000AE).
- Practical screen size is likely in the 92-103 inch range.
- 1st row central seating position is likely ~ 10 ft from screen.
- 2nd row seating position up on riser is likely ~ 16ft from screen.
- Riser is likely going to be ~10-12 inches high and 5-6 ft deep from the back wall.

Playing with the projector calculator (on projector central) it seems like I will in fact have a conflict where the "ideal" projector location will be right smack above the aisle way on the riser. (Hence the possible bump your head hazard that was mentioned on the previous page).

I can try minimizing the height of the riser, but I don't think it should be any less than 10inch tall. I can reduce the planned riser depth to 5ft if necessary (down from 6ft).

I have no idea what home theater seating I will have. The room width is 11'-3", so I'm fairly certain I can still get seating for four across the back wall. But there will be steps on either side of the riser, so people in the middle two seats can part ways and exit on their own side.

Room is already framed and electrical and low voltage pre-wire is already complete. (Riser won't be built until post-drywall).

What would you guys do in my situation?

 

[Inzane]

I'm going through similar process - may I ask why you decided on the drywall vs dropped ceiling?

Two reasons. Ceiling clearance (since I don't have 9ft ceilings, every inch will count), and the perception that I'd get better sound isolation with a drywalled ceiling.

 

[Inzane]

Anyone?