[PaulFolbrecht]

I am very seriously considering putting a theater room in the basement - now completely unfinished.  I have next to no idea what this is going to cost, all up.  Are there others here who have done this?

Talking about construction cost only, not equipment, though I'd like to include projector and screen mounting and side/rear speaker alcoves.  Would like seating for, say 8-12, 2 or 3 rows or 4, probably stadium style.

I'm going to start calling contractor when I make the decision (this year - depends on how the bonus turns out) but would love to hear some numbers from people who've done it.
 
TIA.

[PaulFolbrecht]

Hello?!

I was expecting like 10 replies by now.   

[JoshK]

Hello?!

I was expecting like 10 replies by now.   

Its slow on the weekends, most people surf AC during the week when they should be working. 

[Rob Babcock]

I envy you a purpose built theater room.  Eventually I'd like to do that but it's probably a few years off.

[PaulFolbrecht]

Mine may also be a year or two off.  I just want to get a ballpark idea what it'll cost me (construction).

[PaulFolbrecht]

Ok, here's a %^&! uncanny observation:  Note how close Josh & Rob are in post count!  Whew!  Approaching 6K each and yet within .5% of each other. 

[lonewolfny42]

A few links to read....might help.

Here...
And here.....
And....the AVS site......

This was posted before....big project.

[PaulFolbrecht]

This was posted before....big project.

A tad gaudy for my tastes.  And is that real gold? 

Basically, I just want comfy seats and GREAT acoustics and picture.

And, my equipment will be out in the open, for everybody to see. 

[PaulFolbrecht]

A few links to read....might help.

Here...
And here.....
And....the AVS site......

And I was just about to GO TO BED!  aa

[lonewolfny42]

A few links to read....might help.

Here...
And here.....
And....the AVS site......

And I was just about to GO TO BED!  aa

Sleep is overrated Paul....read on.  

[Rob Babcock]

Ok, here's a %^&! uncanny observation:  Note how close Josh & Rob are in post count!  Whew!  Approaching 6K each and yet within .5% of each other. 

And Lonewolf, too.  Guess none of us have lives.

[lonewolfny42]

Ok, here's a %^&! uncanny observation:  Note how close Josh & Rob are in post count!  Whew!  Approaching 6K each and yet within .5% of each other. 

And Lonewolf, too.  Guess none of us have lives.

Sure we do....we just live it to it's fullest.....

[Rob Babcock]

I actually spent the evening watching football, which honestly is a rarity nowadays.  I wanted to see what kind of start there'd be to the "Jay Cutler Era."  It was the debacle you'd expect, though.  I felt he was awful.  Further I think they'd have had a good chance to win with Plummer.  Oh well.  I imagine Cutler will improve over the rest of the season, and Plummer will undoubtedly be the starter somewhere else.

I suggest Minnesota!

[ctviggen]

If you want great acoustics, you might want to pay someone to draft a plan for you.  That takes a lot of the guess work out of the idea.  Somebody like Dennis Erskine:

http://www.designcinema.com/

There are others too, although Dennis is one of the more prominent.  Also, you need to determine whether you want to lessen sound from getting into other rooms.  That can add to the complexity (dual walls, green glue, etc.).  I'd love to be in your position, though, and have a house where I could do this. 

[zapper7]

Room size, power requirements for your equipment, types of acoustic treatments desired (aftermarket or during construction) are some of the variables you need to deal with. Are you capable of doing any electric, stadium level floor framing, low voltage wiring, simple wall firring or 2nd ceiling dropping

Are you going to fir out your existing concrete walls, ad 2nd ceiling framing. What type of wall and ceiling coverings are you concidering?

A lot of the second wall/ceiling features are not just to keep the sound from the rest of your house, but also to keep the house sounds from entering you dedicated room.

A quiet room starts with keeping the house sounds from entering you dedicated room. There is nothing like going into your new room and having as close to complete silence before  queing up and music/movies . The room acoustic treatments are, I believe, more for controlling the sounds being made by your equipment within in the room, not so much the foreign sounds entering from the house.

Give these types of things thought and remember, the wall coverings, aftermarket acoustic treatments, decorating, equipment can be changed, but the electrical wiring, framing, and the like are far more difficult after completion.
Spend the extra time and money for more dedicated circuits, running a 2" minimum conduit from projector location to equipment location for changing cabling connectors, running extra speaker/interconnect wires for changing subwoofer and surround speaker placement options.

Of course lighting on dimmers or automation with you equipment power on and off is another feature that can be wired, even if not completed at first.

It is fun to have space to do this type of thing. Think through as far as possible, and have it be a place everyone likes to go.

[ctviggen]

As for costs, the costs are too variable for anyone to give an estimate.  I've seen home theaters that top 100k for just the basement and equipment.  Are you going to do all/most of the work yourself?  Are  you going to pay someone for a design?  Are you going to put your electronics in one "room" while you're in another?  If so, how much access do you want for the electronics?  Can you get behind the electronics?  Do you need a pullout solution for your electronics?  Do you have to have an electrician wire everything?  Do you need to upgrade your electrical service?  Do you want a really "fancy" home theater, or a no-so-fancy one? The answers to each one of these (and many other) questions are highly variable.

[Inscrutable]

As for costs, the costs are too variable for anyone to give an estimate.

Which is why I've not jumped into the fray.  Your best bet might be to browse members theaters at someplace like AVS, find one comparable in size and style, and ask them for input.  There is a fellow locally who has done something that on the surface sounds similar, and/but did all the work himself.  I could find out what he has in it for materials ... you could double it for labor, and add any desired design services to it.  That might get you in the ballpark.

[avahifi]

Make it dead, stiff, and quiet.

Stiff for good bass - - double layer wallboard and ceilings should do it.  Concrete floor?  Great

Dead for good mids and highs.  Acoustic fabric on the walls, thin Sonex on the ceilings, heavy carpet on the floors should do it.

Quiet - - insulation in the walls and celling.  Be carefull of noisy electrical circuits, run new for the AV stuff if possible, amplifiers on their own circuits.  Be careful of dimmer switches, cheep ones can radiate a ton of RFI into everything.

It won't cost all that much to do it really well.

Regards,

Frank Van Alstine

[Bob in St. Louis]

Cost is relative, kind of like building a race car, "how fast do you want to go?"
Drywall and 2X4's are cheap, and fancy things can be done with them. "Fancy" takes time and therefor cost money if your paying someone to do it for you.
I did a few things I regret.
I thought stuffing insulation in every nook and cranny would be enough. It's not.
Decouple the ceiling of the basement room from the above floor is the way I WISH I'd have done it. One more advantage to that is snaking wires around is easier to.
Run conduit for everything. Every surround channel, the projector, all of it. Funnel them all to the rack system. Don't be skimpy on the size of conduit too. Remember wires have terminations on them. If you want to push/pull a wire you'll have to remove the terminations if they don't fit inside the conduit.
Recessed lighting is cool. Very nice effects if you use the remote style lighting, however my fixtures resonate like hell. I think it would take an entire day for me to isolate/couple/de-couple my thirteen fixtures. 

Got some pics in the signature to give you some design ideas.

Bob

p.s. Oh, bye the way.... DON'T think your cool and put a wet bar in the H.T. room.
REFRIDGERATORS MAKE NOISE! 
That's another one I regret.

Bob

[JLM]

A couple of years ago before we built I asked a custom HT place in town for ideas.     For a true HT they threw out a number of $50,000.  I decided that a modest 5.1 system with some sort of plasma or LCD direct view screen would be just fine.   

The 1st consideration is ceiling height.  Three rows of seating requires stepped floors and the screen set high enough so that everyone has a good view.  You're probably looking at 10 to 12 feet clear height, minimum.  That precludes nearly every residental basement I've seen.

Agree with the double drywall, absorption, insulation, and isolation (especially in the ceiling, avoid recessed light fixtures!) comments.  Plan on using an insulated fiberglass door.  Run dedicated power circuits to the equipment.  Avoid dimmers.  Longer and wider the room the better.