Don’t know if this is really appropriate for you drmurray, if not just ignore…
Well since I’m not much of an audio/HT expert and can’t contribute much I’ll give my two cents worth here, as I’ve recently been through a damp basement. A good way of seeing if your basement has a moisture problem is to duct tape down squares of plastic on a number of areas on the foundation walls and floors. When the ground outside is good and wet check the “plastic pockets”. If you see moisture you’ve got a moisture problem… If your basement is damp you most likely have a drainage problem. Try getting the perimeter drains cleaned out this can make a big difference. Any attempt to fix a damp basement from the inside is pretty much futile. Hydrostatic pressure is a force to be reckoned with! You can try sealing the inside walls with a cement sealant which can help a bit but wont solve the problem. The only effective way of dealing with this is from the outside. Most older homes like mine have a perimeter drainage system that collects water from around the house when the ground water level rises to the level of the perimeter pipes and collects it way from the foundation. However, usually the down pipes from the roof feed the water from the roof into the perimeter drain where the water empties out into the surrounding ground around the foundation. It’s only when the ground water level reaches the level of the perimeter drain is it really ever carried away. What’s the whole point of this? Well likely 80% -> 90% of the moisture in the ground around the foundation is being collected by the roof and being deposited around the foundation, via the downpipes. Code where I am now stipulates two separate drainage systems, a perimeter drainage system and a closed system that only collects the water from the roof and carries it away from the house. Now, to do it right you could dig up the ground all around the house and put in a new system but that’ll cost you, and hardly worth it for anything but a new home. The quotes for my house were $20,000.00! I did it myself, but I’d never do it again. It’s back breaking work. IMHO a great compromise and a reasonable summer project is to simply put in a closed system that collects all the water from the roof and carries it away from the house. All that needs to be done is dig a couple feet below ground along the side of the house and lay sealed pipes that connect to the roof’s down pipes, and drain the system away from the house’s foundation. This way you’ll eliminate 80->90% of the water around your foundation and drastically improve ( if not fix ) your basements moisture problem with minimal effort and cost. Even to pay a contractor to do this would only be about 5K. That’s another 15K left to spend on audio / HT gear.
If your in the process of finishing a basement I noticed this product while looking for #705 compressed fibreglass paneling for sound dampening.
http://www.owenscorning.com/around/insulation/products/basementwall.asp
Hope this is of help, El
