I have my HT in my loft until I finish the HT room in the basement. One thing for certain, is that sound carries to the great room below. When the youngin is watching something upstairs, even at very low levels, it is very distracting downstairs. I suspect you’ll have the same problem. And for your reference, my HT speaker system is a POS Bose system with those little cubes, so I can’t imagine having a need for my M80’s up there. But the other side to this, is you could listen to stereo downstairs if you wish. The sound will definitely carry. As far as pine vrs rock, I have T&G knotty pine on all my ceilings, and rock on the gable walls in my log home. I used a clear latex wood coating with a satin finish on the pine. It is not dark at all. Actually, if anything, it has a slight yellow tint to it and it reflects light from the windows quite well. Even at night when the sun’s down, the house is still light and not dark at as one would expect. With the gables being rock, painted off-white in a semi gloss, the house is unusually bright and airy. I have a lot of windows, which help too.
