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MC's Basement HT
#422236 01/11/17 12:44 AM
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After asking a few questions about my basement HT, I figured I would make a dedicated thread to document the build. I'm super excited about this project, bought my house in 09 and spent all my time/funds on fixing it up to worry about a HT. Although, I did setup my living room really nice in the meantime, which I documented in another thread a few years ago (sorry, all the image links are broken).

Anyway, I finally got around working on the basement last March. I framed everything out slowly over a few months and only finished at the end of November. I hired sheet rockers a few weeks ago and they literally just finished up yesterday. I'll probably paint within the next week and start looking for someone to install a drop ceiling and then finally the flooring. Then it's low voltage wiring (I ran conduit everywhere) and buying all the equipment! Here are pictures of the progress so far. I welcome all comments, advice, and criticisms...lol.


My original quick layout sketch.

Quick render I did in Google Sketch to get a better idea of the room size when sealed off from the other half of the basement. I may go back to this one and add all the room decor.



Pictures of framing and electrical...



The cabinet on the left will hold a slide out equipment rack for all the HT gear.



The screen will be installed on this wall.



This is the wall opposite of the screen.



Here are a few pictures of the spray foam insulation on all the exterior walls. I did use fiberglass insulation on the interior walls, but I didn't take pictures before the sheetrock went up.





That's it for now, I'll take pictures of the room sheetrocked and post them soon.

Re: MC's Basement HT
mikecoscia #422240 01/11/17 03:37 AM
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Farewell - June 4, 2020
Re: MC's Basement HT
mikecoscia #422241 01/11/17 03:40 AM
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I would have loved to use the spray foam for thermal insulation in my basement. Not that I notice any drafts or leaks, but it is also a nice moisture barrier. I will would have gone with full soundproofing of my theater in addition to that, but having that extra barrier would have been nice.

Question, If you have a drop ceiling going in, then why so much conduit? My father-in-law is a huge fan of drop ceilings because you don't need things like conduit to run additional wires, etc.

Not criticizing, just wanting to understand where you are going with that.


Farewell - June 4, 2020
Re: MC's Basement HT
mikecoscia #422247 01/11/17 10:15 AM
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Looks like the conduit is stubbed into the ceiling space and stops to run free air from there. Is the AV cabinet above the sump pit access? Good idea.

Looking good so far! I can see the dog cave. smile

Edit: Dont forget line of sight light switch locations if you plan on an ir control setup and allowing for an ir sensor on your front wall back to a repeater in your av cabinet. smile

Last edited by Serenity_Now; 01/11/17 10:30 AM.
Re: MC's Basement HT
AAAA #422260 01/11/17 08:16 PM
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Originally Posted By nickbuol
I would have loved to use the spray foam for thermal insulation in my basement. Not that I notice any drafts or leaks, but it is also a nice moisture barrier. I will would have gone with full soundproofing of my theater in addition to that, but having that extra barrier would have been nice.

Question, If you have a drop ceiling going in, then why so much conduit? My father-in-law is a huge fan of drop ceilings because you don't need things like conduit to run additional wires, etc.

Not criticizing, just wanting to understand where you are going with that.


I did the spray foam specifically for moisture prevention. It also helps to stiffen up the metal studs. I wasn't sure how thick the spray foam was going to be, so I ran conduit everywhere. Just in case the bays filled up and made chasing wire difficult. I'm a big fan of conduit it too, ran it throughout my entire house. Makes changing a wire a 10 minute job.


Originally Posted By Serenity_Now
Looks like the conduit is stubbed into the ceiling space and stops to run free air from there. Is the AV cabinet above the sump pit access? Good idea.

Looking good so far! I can see the dog cave. smile

Edit: Dont forget line of sight light switch locations if you plan on an ir control setup and allowing for an ir sensor on your front wall back to a repeater in your av cabinet. smile


Ha, thanks. The dog cave was my wife's idea. I was originally going to but the AV cabinet under the stairs, but it would have had to face the screen. I didn't want any distracting lights so I moved it to the corner. I had to build something to conceal the sump, so it seemed like a perfect fit. Although I still need to decided what I am doing with the other sump (opposite corner). I have a few ideas brewing.

I plan on using a Harmony RF remote, they are my go to universal remotes. No direct line of sight needed smile.

Last edited by mikecoscia; 01/11/17 08:18 PM.
Re: MC's Basement HT
mikecoscia #422267 01/11/17 11:32 PM
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What are you doing for lighting control? lutron casetta?

Re: MC's Basement HT
AAAA #422305 01/12/17 05:47 PM
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Originally Posted By Serenity_Now
What are you doing for lighting control? lutron casetta?


I use a bunch of different home automation hardware (nest, echo, leviton, myq, blink, etc). I coordinate it all with a smartthings hub and run a few custom device handlers. This way I am not locked into any one company. Right now I am in the process of switching all my dumb toggle light switches with leviton z-wave switches. They are expensive, so doing a room at a time.

I control them via voice, my harmony remotes, phone app, etc. Going to do the same in the basement. This way I can just hit an activity on the harmony remote and all the lights go off when watching a movie.

Re: MC's Basement HT
mikecoscia #422308 01/12/17 06:14 PM
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A few more pictures...

I found one of the screen wall before sheetrock!



Here is the whole room with sheetrock. Got a few areas I need to touch up. Overall they did a decent job. I'm a little worried about the corners inside the dog house cracking with people going up and down the stairs. I'll see how it holds up. Worst case I install some of that stick on reclaimed wood and really make it look like the interior of a dog house...lol.





I don't know if you can notice, but I ended up notching the 2x8 joists and pushed the electrical conduit and plumbing flush to the ceiling. The ceilings are only 7' and I want to get the drop ceiling as tight as possible.



Still thinking about what I want to do with this sump. Again, I did not want to build a cabinet, as I wasn't sure what type of seating I was going to purchase. A cabinet might get in the way of any reclining function. I have a few ideas.

I would love to get a second row of seats on a riser, which would easily hide the pump. However, the room is not that long and the first row would be like 7' from the screen. It's doable, but I would have to install a smaller screen. I'd rather have less seating and a larger screen. So, I don't think this one is happening.

Another option is to build a small riser just to cover the pump only. Say 4-6" high, then put an old fashion popcorn cart or something on it. You won't see the riser from behind the seating anyway.

The last option (the one I am favoring), is to build an open back/side bookshelf (can't support any real weight with those metal studs). I have a lot of movie memorabilia that I would like to display anyway and should easily hide the sump. I could also build it around a horizontally configured EP600 smile.

Hmmm, actually. I wonder if I can just put a metal plate over the sump and put the EP600 right over it. Although I assume subs in corners are never good.


Re: MC's Basement HT
mikecoscia #422337 01/13/17 09:43 AM
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If you need a row of flex seating a sofa table works well. We opted for that because of space and cost concerns. Its a good place to eat and move ahead to sofa when snacks are done.

Other thoughts, if you cheat your front row ahead you are looking at increasing the loudness difference between the first and 2nd row. At short distances from speakers there is a greater initial spl fall off vs being deeper into the rooms soundfield. Being 7' off the front wall on stuffed furniture may feel really crammed and never get used. Then you are stuck with a poorly sized screen for favoured 2nd row. I think you are right. One optimized row. smile

The front to back distance is 13'6"?

Re: MC's Basement HT
mikecoscia #422339 01/13/17 10:31 AM
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The room really looks great. Nice dog too smile

If you need occasional second row of seating it's hard to beat beanbag chairs. Being low to the ground makes the screen seem further away (so room feels less cramped) as well. When the beanbags are not being used you can dump them in the corner as bass traps.

You won't get ideal sound that low to the ground but generally there is only one person in any HT room that actually cares about getting perfect sound, for everyone else the "good enough" threshold is a bit lower, so the folks in the beanbag chairs will still think the sound is awesome.

Speaking of prime listening positions, every dog I know has an uncanny ability to identify the prime listening position and adopt it for themselves.

EDIT - for anyone wondering about the "bulk but not ongoing contributions" text in the initial post that was from an ongoing argument with Legal about the merits of scanning our open source contributions with a tool that identified open source code. What we call the "lemon chicken" scenario.

Last edited by bridgman; 01/13/17 10:35 AM.

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