Finishing my basement. Got a couple of ?'s

[Hunted Duck]

I am in the process of finishing my basement and wanted to ask a few questions. There will be 13 ft between walls where the tv and couch will go and the couch will also be up against the wall. For my rear surround sound speakers would it be ok to just put them above the seating area or should I look to do something else with them? I have cerwin vega 5 1/4" right now but thought of putting the speakers in the ceiling. Is that a better idea?

Thanks. This will probably be the first of many questions. I just wanna get this done the best way the first time....lol

 

[teachsac]

Ask away. Lots of great people here. If you're doing 5.1 they should be placed to the side of the listener. 7.1 the extra 2 go behind.

S~

 

[navychop]

Yep. That's what I did for my 7.1 as the dining room is behind my sofa and is completely open.

 

[jayn_j]

I am not a big fan of ceiling speakers. The sound is too difuse and and isn't coming from a natural spot. I agree with teachsac with putting them on the sides, even with the seating position if possible.

What size is the TV? With a 13' viewing distance, you need a fairly significant screen. As an example, I am at 11' to primary seating with a 120" screen via a front projector. That is probably an extreme, and others say I may be too close, but I prefer the enveloping feeling. On my family room plasma, I am running a 50" plasma with about 8' viewing distance.

 

[teachsac]

I'm about 13 feet with my screen.

S~

 

[Hunted Duck]

I don't have a tv for the basement yet. I have a 50" Samsung plasma upstairs that I am very happy with (after the bin file update). On the speakers on the side shouldn't be to bad cause eight above our heads will be the wrap from the duct work that I can attach the speakers to. I cab just out them facing each other about 10 ft apart. Sound like a good idea?

Next question would be what type of insulation would be good in my ceiling? 14.5" wide and 7.5 inches deep. Will have drywall for the cover. Probably go with 5/8' s

Thanks again

 

[teachsac]

Yep. That's what I did for my 7.1 as the dining room is behind my sofa and is completely open.

Unfortunately, by LR is completely open on the side, so I had to rear mount and turn/tilt the speakers.

S~

 

[teachsac]

I don't have a tv for the basement yet. I have a 50" Samsung plasma upstairs that I am very happy with (after the bin file update). On the speakers on the side shouldn't be to bad cause eight above our heads will be the wrap from the duct work that I can attach the speakers to. I cab just out them facing each other about 10 ft apart. Sound like a good idea?

Next question would be what type of insulation would be good in my ceiling? 14.5" wide and 7.5 inches deep. Will have drywall for the cover. Probably go with 5/8' s

Thanks again

You might consider acoustic tiles? It will make the biggest difference in AQ.

S~

 

[John Kotches]

Behind and above for rear speakers in a 7.1 setup could work well.

With the ceiling, nothing beats mass. Double layer, 1 5/8 over 1 1/2 with horizontal / vertical staggering so that seams don't align. Standard r30 batted insulation helps cover sound transmission. Then you have to deal with interior acoustics.

Jay:

You arent too close to resolve 1080p fully. I sit 10 feet from my10 foot wide 2.35:1 cih setup.

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[John Kotches]

If you are using inwalls you need to remember the back boxes.

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[jayn_j]

There is an important point being brought up here in acoustic design and tuning. You need to set some goals in this respect. There are three different goals in acoustics and they require somewhat different actions.

1. The theater sound leaking out into the rest of the house
2. Exterior sounds leaking into the theater
3. Tuning the theater acoustics to optimize absorbtion and reflections in order to get the best possible sound.

My own theater concentrates on #3. I live with 2 teenagers and am willing to live with some sound leaking out. The theater is in the basement and not too much external noise leaks in. However, I have done some acoustical treatments in order to reduce some nasty reflections and plan some more in the future. There is a lot of good info out there on building cheap bass traps and acoustic panels that we could discuss here. I think if we are talking full envelope rooms with isolated HVAC and double drywall with green glue, it might be better to steer you to other sites that have more expertise in doing the over the top theaters.

John - Yeah, I know. I find that 11' is perfect on the 16:9 120" screen to get that 10th row feeling. I thought I was 10', but that was distance to the seats, not to the ears and I had to adjust it back a bit.

 

[John Kotches]

Jay:

Items 1 and 2 are covered by the same treatments, generally speaking if you keep theater sound from propagating elsewhere you will keep sounds from elsewhere intruding on the experience.

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[jayn_j]

Mostly agree, but external sounds from outside the building can be handled by mass as well by placing the theater in the basement. If upstairs or in a walkout, you need to address windows and exterior walls. Since these are exterior features, they matter mostly to incoming sound as you don't worry too much about noise leaking out into the back yard. And yes, I do realize that's a big simplification.

 

[Hunted Duck]

Good info here. Thanks for the info guys. I just had a drywall guy come today to give me a quote.