Hi,
In a few months my family and I agreed to do little renovation in our basement.
We are planning to dedicate one of the rooms for Home Theater/my man cave/seasonal clothes room.
Right now it is our trashy store room.
Our plans look somewhere like this:
I would be happy to hear your feedback regardless of any work that needs to be done for 7.1 setup. I don’t know what speakers/surround receiver/any audio stuff I will use in the future (right now I have none). My path will probably look like this: 2.0 --> 2.1 --> 4.1 --> 5.1 --> 7.1.
I would love to hear your thoughts on possible speaker placement, how to plan cables etc.
Should I spend money on acoustic panels for walls and similar things.
I’m certain I forgot something. Feel free to tell me what you think.
Sorry for any grammar mistakes.
other more informed people can correct me, But I feel like you will want to use matching L,R, and center channels as for back channels and L,R side channels you can get away with having speakers that do not match the fronts but they should mach each other. What speakers you choose comes down to budget, room size, and use case. I would say start buy getting the room cleared out and cleaned up. then take a long think on placement of furniture as that will be important for where you find the best place for a sub or subs to go.
My family really enjoys our “movie” room basement. I can give you a “wish I did this” so maybe you can plan better than I.
Take your time. I rushed ours and didn’t really think things over. I originally thought a soundbar would be good enough. By the time the reno was over, I regretted a lot of things.
If you plan to open up any walls, run any and every wire you might need. Speaker wires, rca’s, hdmi’s, lan cables, power outlets… etc…
Visit avsforum.com to get some additional ideas. They have 2 sections you can browse around depending on how far you want to take your HT setup.
Baby steps. I really like your approach of 2.0->7.1. That is how I started as well. I started with 2 bookshelfs, then added a sub. I did more research and settled on L/C/R from the same company. IMO, don’t skimp on the center channel.
If you are handy, there are some DIY speaker/subwoofer kits you can make yourself to save some $$. You can find these on avsforum as well.
This was my basement during the reno. It was all OPEN for me to run everything but I didn’t.
This will be fun to watch. Keep posting when updates.
Overall budget or budget at each phase, question also is.
How big you want to go, how “big sound” for that room? Something that is good to plan or think.
Usually the ideal speaker location is following.
The question really is are planning the 7.1 OR 5.1.2 system?
-To be on floor level or does it include 1 pair of upper surrounds?
You will have the 7.1 speaker on the floor as SBL / SBR or 5.1.2 on the wall FPL / FPR
The receiver is what gives the sound to speakers. Selecting one with the needed audio and video specs will help, what you will need and want to use.
Usually Marantz, Denon and Yamaha make the top / best models.
Yes, if possible.
There are plenty of DIY acoustic panel information available if you have little bit of handyman.
Never the less, in what order to move.
You will need to select a AV-receiver, suitable for ur choice of speakers.
passive speakers with basic copper cables
active speakers, self powered monitors, signal cables + power.
Speakers and sound you like.
Subwoofer to them.
Since the room is going to be cleared.
Acoustics is great place to starts, they the thing that comes near the walls and everything else after that.
Depending of how well you want cables to be hidden. This also a good thing to do with panels or other ways in the room. Nothing is in the way and if with monitors the power needs to planned.
Possible furniture, decor and more stuff / acoustics.
Then you need the receiver.
4.1. Plus the possible speakers for 2.0.
4.2 Screen or TV
Then comes probably the hardest part.
*** Can you have Front Center Right speakers to be the same or even beef up the Center?**
TV or screen kinda helps that. With TV it’s inpossible to have similar center.
Would you also like the system to be good with stereo / 2.1 music.
Then the front’s should be good speakers. Selected choice comes hard with the center speaker, unless center can be same or better.
What type speaker sound you like. Only you know this at the end.
Speaker sizes. Big towers front or smaller bookshelf types.
Best end result, similar surround sound everywhere is if every speaker is the same model / same series. Specially on LCR.
Subs have more selection but having bit of BEEF and grunt is nice with movies and settings to integrate it with the rest of the system and fine tune.
Depends how far down the HT rabbit hole you go. What color are the walls and carpet in a commercial theatre ? Part of room treatment, the visual side of home theatre. Black velvet curtians on a track is an alternative to painted walls.
“Black velvet the new religion will bring you to your knees, black velvet if you please.”
(Sorry its been a year in stir)
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