Design options - suggestions requested

[Karp]

I am in the planning stages of my HT, which I plan to place in my basement. Of course, I have several hurdles to overcome - My smallish cape-code home's basement has a footprint of approx 28X33' and the ceilings are only 7' high (luckily I am only 5'6" !). The stairway is in the middle of the space and I also have HVAC ducts and plumbing that while I can cover, I really can't relocate.

My plan is to use this room for 75% movies and 25% watching sports in HD. I do not plan on hosting a large number of guests, but I do want it to be comfortable as possible.

No matter which way I arrange the room, the maximum width is only 11'. Below are jpegs that I created of my current basement floorplan and a few proposed rooms. Please let me know which one you feel is the best floorplan and any changes or suggestions you would have.

This is my current floorplan:



Here is the first proposed setup. Alternately, I thought of closing off the "shelf area" in the upper left hand corner of the HT and using the space as a closet for the laundry area or possibly placing my equipment rack there.




Here are two variations of a different setup. Note the different entryways into the laundry room. I am not sure there is enough room to comfortably enter/exit the other room in the second variation.




I also considered dividing the HT area off "up and down" to the right of the stairs, but I would have quite a bit of plumbing to reroute and would have to cover the heating ducts, which would be a PITA. I also feel that it would be less space-efficient and I would loose my workout area. It would isolate the HT from the rest of the basement better though.

[David Meek]

Option #1 would be my choice. It's symmetrical for the mains and center channel area (no offsets or open areas to calibrate around), and you have more horziontal room for the main and center channel speakers to work with than in option #3. Also, you'll love having rear-cabinet access to the equipment. My room is set up with something similar and I couldn't be happier. I'd go one step further and close off the front of the storage shelf area and use that as the equipment rack/media rack area. You've got plenty of depth to get behind the equipment, and enough width to put in shelves beside the equipment to hold a lot of DVDs, CDs, etc.

One thing with this layout though. You'll need to be careful calibrating the rear surrounds. You'll get some corner loading on the one that won't be present with the other. It can be balanced out fairly routinely, but do keep it in mind.

Pretty cool Greg! :T

[Karp]

Thank you for your insites David. I believe that I will turn that area into an equipment rack. My original thought was that if I placed it directly behind the screen that the infrared signal could be bounced off of the screen to operate the equipment, but I will probably go with an inexpensive IR repeater. I also may move the rear wall back another foot and perhaps center the door to the laundry room so that I can move the right rear surround in a bit. I just have to make sure I can get the washer/dryer through the door and past the bar if need be!

[aud19]

I liked the other two options better myself :lol: The layouts seem more open which will likely make the room seem bigger and leave the laundry room more accesible plus the seating is that much further away from the noise of the laundry room.

[RobP]

I would go with the first layout also, first, High traffic areas and speakers usually dont mix, imagine someone walking by with a load of laundry and possibly knocking over a speaker... OUCH!, Plus the speakers are more symmetrical and would sound better. Looks real nice, good luck with it.

[aud19]

Really though, it doesn't matter what any of us, including you, think. What does your wife want? :lol:

[Snap]

Really though, it doesn't matter what any of us, including you, think. What does your wife want? :lol:

:agree: That is some of the best advise any one can give. See what she thinks then find the stuff to make it work. The stuff is out there.

AUD you are so right! :agree:

[David Meek]

Well, hopefully you are in a relationship that allows BOTH of you some give and take. Absolutely you want to include your SO in this as much as she wants to be, but you should be able to put forth your opinions/choices and have them be of equal weight. So much for marriage counseling. . . .

[Karp]

:agree: That is some of the best advise any one can give. See what she thinks then find the stuff to make it work. The stuff is out there.

AUD you are so right! :agree:

If I was still married, designing a new room wouldn't be an issue since my old house was much larger and was already finished! Of course, she got the house.

[Snap]

Sorry to hear that Karp, but hopfully there are a few people that needed to hear that! :lol: You would be supprised how many Plasmas are installed simply because they "Look" Pretty.

Sorry off topic! :nono: bad snap bad snap......

option 1 for my vote.

[David Meek]

Going waayyyyyy off topic here:

Jim, my all-time favorite bumper sticker reads "When it absolutely, positively has to be destroyed overnight, call the US Marines."

Back OT.