You were in a similar situation to me. For basement insulation questions, I would visit http://www.buildingscience.com/resources/homeowner.htm
They seem to have approached the issue scientifically if you can imagine that!
As for acoustics, there is a lot out there explaining how you can install metal channels that keep your drywall away from the studs. I went lower tech. First, for my concrete walls, I followed the advice of the Building Science guys. I put rigid pink foam against the concrete. Then, I installed 2x4 studs (lying flat) against the concrete so that the wood studs do not touch the concrete. They are attached with Tapcon screws through the pink foam. In addition, between the studs, I installed more rigid pink foam. On top of all that I installed 5/8" drywall. The result is very solid feeling outer walls (i.e. if you pound on them, they sound solid and not hollow).
The left wall separates my basement into two halves. On the other side of the wall from my HT, are all my utilities, furnace, blower, etc. I built that wall as a standard 2x4 frame. Between the studs, I stuffed fiberglass insulation (but with NO paper backing because it is not necessary because it is not an outside wall). I used 5/8" drywall on both sides of this wall.
For the ceiling, with only a 7' ceiling to work with, you'll probably have to go with drywall (as opposed to a hanging ceiling) like I did to meet local minimum height codes. Again you can use metal acoustic channels to keep the drywall from the joists. Instead, I went with a product called Homeosote between my joists and 5/8" drywall. I was able to get Homeosote at HomeDepot. Its a lightweight fiberboard type material that is supposed to be good for that. Its a pain in the a** to work with and you must use a mask or something.
How does it all work???
Well, overall, I would say the room is somewhat 'bright' in that it doesn't absorb the higher frequency sounds. It is still smooth, flat drywall all around afterall. I would like to try some acoustic panels (e.g., simple fabric covered material) on the walls to try and decrease the brightness sometime but that's down the road.
The wall between my HT and furnace area works great! I can barely hear the furnace and blower which are less than 10' from my HT sweet spot.
The ceiling works ok as far as I can tell too. You can certainly hear loud low frequency sounds upstairs but its not that bad.
This is a quick summary and I'm sure I'm forgetting some things but I'm busy listening to the Cleveland Browns loose again.
Good luck and let me know you have any more questions...
