IHOPsOPEN Posted January 30, 2011 Share Posted January 30, 2011 I am working on plans for an open theater room in our basement. Has anyone on here had concrete walls in their theater room? Do you guys have any advice to make for better acoustics? Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuBXeRo Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 all i can really suggest off the top of my head would be to create home made acoustic panels to help break up the waves. Drywall is still dense stuff, in either case you still can deal with wave issues. Building your own acoustic panels can be a cheap thing to do. If you can look at it like this, make the panels now so that when you do drywall you can rehang the panels up. Or Leave it as is and test and then decide. I dont have a HT basement so i cant really chime in per say, but if i were in your position i would first test with bare walls and if i wanted to be a stickler, i would make panels and then drywall later on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cornfedksboy Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 It will likely not sound good at all with bare concrete. Drywall is not teribly expensive and will definately help, but if you don't have the funds, then wait and see. A couple of super cheap solutions would be: Buy the styrophone insulation. It comes in 1" by 8' by 22". It is meant to be glued between 1 X 2 or 1 X 4 studs. It should add some great absorbtion charachteristics for a start and it can be sheet-rocked over. Hang old blankets/towels/curtains around the walls. That won't be pretty, but will definately help with the sound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IHOPsOPEN Posted January 31, 2011 Author Share Posted January 31, 2011 I've thought about the curtains, I don't think it will look to bad and would be pretty inexpensive. Any suggestions on painting the concrete and put up some kind of acoustic paneling? Any suggestions on flooring? I was thinking laying some tile. DIY stuff. Any suggestions on the ceiling? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cornfedksboy Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 I've thought about the curtains, I don't think it will look to bad and would be pretty inexpensive. Any suggestions on painting the concrete and put up some kind of acoustic paneling? Any suggestions on flooring? I was thinking laying some tile. DIY stuff. Any suggestions on the ceiling? Thanks Remember that the hard surfaces are reflective surfaces. Painting concrete will do nothing to decrease the reflectivity of the sound, but can certainly look quite nice. If you aren't going to sheet rock the walls, I'd suggest industrial carpet tile. It can be had at well under $1. per square foot and would absorb some sound. For the ceiling, a floating ceiling is great for running wires, but the metal wire frame as a tendency to vibrate some. It can work just fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete H Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 I have a temp. man cave in the basement while I'm finishing the main floor and have the HT down there with concrete walls and you are really fighting a tough battle without finishing the walls and ceilings and trying to get good sound. I would do what you can with it for the time being, without spending a ton of money, knowing that you will finish it in the future and realize that it will sound OK, but not great until you start finishing the room. Just mho. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IHOPsOPEN Posted January 31, 2011 Author Share Posted January 31, 2011 I've thought about the curtains, I don't think it will look to bad and would be pretty inexpensive. Any suggestions on painting the concrete and put up some kind of acoustic paneling? Any suggestions on flooring? I was thinking laying some tile. DIY stuff. Any suggestions on the ceiling? Thanks Remember that the hard surfaces are reflective surfaces. Painting concrete will do nothing to decrease the reflectivity of the sound, but can certainly look quite nice. If you aren't going to sheet rock the walls, I'd suggest industrial carpet tile. It can be had at well under $1. per square foot and would absorb some sound. For the ceiling, a floating ceiling is great for running wires, but the metal wire frame as a tendency to vibrate some. It can work just fine. thanks for the reply. If I painted the concrete, would acoustic panells help at all? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cornfedksboy Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 Yes, accoustic pannels would help, but not as much as drywall. You really need to set it up, spend very little money helping the situation, and decide if you like/can live with the sound. Drywall is not expensive. glued 1x1s are not expensive. You could probably sheetrock all the walls of the room for under $1000. To finish it righ would likely be another $2000. Of course this depends on the size of your room. Remember that DIY accoustic panels will cost about $10. per...they are expensive when compared to drywall and because they have limited coverage, you will get less benefic if you have nothing backing it. You need to budget for sheetrocking in the future or you will NOT get the full enjoyment of your great HT system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IHOPsOPEN Posted January 31, 2011 Author Share Posted January 31, 2011 I'm gonna set it up tomorrow with bare concrete walls and see what happens, then go from there. I think an easy think to do is put up curtains across the walls and when the funds come I can put up dry wall and have it done right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IHOPsOPEN Posted February 2, 2011 Author Share Posted February 2, 2011 So today I set up my rf-35s and sub12 with bar concrete walls and floors. It did not sound horrible, but it definately didn't sound great. The most obvious thing was very booomy bass. I'm looking into curtains and carpet tile for now. If I do curtains, I'm not sure how I would put up a screen, any thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cornfedksboy Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 I assume since you used the word "screen," that you are referring to a projector screen. If I am incorrect, please let me know...use a ceiling mount screen and mount it 6-12 inches in front of your back wall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluBitRates Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 start saving your empty egg cartons Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IHOPsOPEN Posted February 2, 2011 Author Share Posted February 2, 2011 I assume since you used the word "screen," that you are referring to a projector screen. If I am incorrect, please let me know...use a ceiling mount screen and mount it 6-12 inches in front of your back wall. I think I asked a dumb question. I kept thinking there is no way I could mount a screen to the concrete wall.. Didn't think about useing a ceiling mount screen. If I put up curtains, How would Mounting my rs-35s work? I'd like to stay away from getting a stand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted February 2, 2011 Moderators Share Posted February 2, 2011 If I put up curtains, How would Mounting my rs-35s work? I'd like to stay away from getting a stand. I have a double sliding glass door and curtains right where I needed to mount my RS-35 side surrounds. I had a friend weld me a custom mount that mounted to the wall up high above the curtain, came down behind the curtain and then through the curtain where the side surrounds would be able to "float" in front of the curtain. You can see the drawings of it here and the actual mount here. Since that time, I replaced the RS-35's with the RS-52's using the same mount. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cornfedksboy Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 You can absolutely mount a screen to a concrete wall, if you so desire. You just have to use a concrete drill bit and concrete wall anchors. I think I'd just mount to the ceiling though. For your surrounds, as Youthman suggested, ceiling mount them from the floor joyces, or the concrete wall anchors will do the trick. I mounted my 46" LCD to a brick fireplace using the anchors, and it worked fantastic (other than the holes in my brick if I ever remove it). Another thought, I am going to be mounting my surrounds to a concrete wall, and I just put up a 1 inch thick board directly on the concrete (of course this is going to go under sheetrock and it was mounted using concrete screws). I am interested to see how this turns out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IHOPsOPEN Posted February 2, 2011 Author Share Posted February 2, 2011 Youthman- That looks great! While looking at it I got the idea of just drilling a hole in the concrete, putting a nail or something like that into the whole, sealing any open spacearound the nail with glue and mounting the speaker on that. I might try this tomorrow. I'll take a few pictures and show you what I am talking about. I am still contemplating on a 73' mits dlp or a projector and screen. My viewing distance is about 10-12 ft. I'll watch blu rays, and movies onDemand from AT&T U-verse. I think a TV would be easier, but a 100" would be great. What do you guys think?.. I'll post some pictures of the space when I get all of the **** out of my basement! (5 full trash bags already) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cornfedksboy Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 I contemplated the 73 inch Mitsubishi, but I will be getting an Epson 8350. About $300.00 for a mount and screen up to 135 inches. That is roughly equivalent to the cost of a stand, then the projector itself would be $1200. That's a full 11 foot image and it looks great even in a poorly light controlled room. No 3D, but should be cheaper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IHOPsOPEN Posted February 2, 2011 Author Share Posted February 2, 2011 but should be cheaper. http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&cs=19&sku=A4186750&baynote_bnrank=1&baynote_irrank=0&~ck=baynoteSearch $1100. Hard to beat. Costco has some projectors online. Havn't looked into them yet, but costco adds another year to all manufacture warranties. http://www.costco.com/Common/Search.aspx?whse=BC&topnav=&search=projector&N=0&Ntt=projector&cm_re=1_en-_-Top_Left_Nav-_-Top_search〈=en-US Has anyone used one of these? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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