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agile1966

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Curious if everyone here is similar to me in that one of the first things you look for in a new home is the potential for a theater setup. I relocated to Missouri a couple of years ago after a divorce. The thing that is difficult to get used to is there are very few basements in this community. That greatly affects my ability to have a dedicated room. Have others been faced with this delima? How do you manage the fact that the equipment may be in an everyday living space.

Pre-divorce I had a decent dedicated home theater setup. Unfortunately, I walked away with just my THX speakers. JVC projector, Onkyo 3007, and Emotiva XPA-3 are gone.

Would love to get some advice.

Thanks.

Mark

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Actually, most every basement that I've seen on this forum--almost without exception-have ceilings lower than I'd like to live with.  Eight feet or less is just a little too low, IMHO. Nine to ten feet is much, much better.  I'd look for rooms with higher ceilings. 

 

Secondly, I've found that room width and length are pretty big factors, too.  I'd recommend something at least 15 feet wide and as deep as you can afford--such as 30 feet or more.  You may not be able to afford this, but the acoustics of the room as a listening space will be much improved if you do - and something that you can grow into when you decide to upgrade your THX speakers--when that day comes. 

 

How many people will live in your new household?  This is also a big factor.  Empty nesting, I've found that I can peacefully coexist with my wife (...most of the time..) but we have doors that can shut off the den/kitchen (15.5 W x 39.5 L x 9 feet) very well.  Curtains do the rest to keep the light out when watching movies, and the light, the birds at the bird feeders, and the beautiful outdoor plants are nice to look at when just playing music only for listening. 

 

I'm a big believer in one very good multipurpose setup and room for this sort of thing - not a multiplicity of lower fidelity (and lower cost) setups scattered throughout in the house.

 

YMMV.

 

Chris

Edited by Chris A
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When we were shopping I never once saw a dedicated theater room or even something that seemed like it would be perfect for such a thing. I only know of two houses that were in the $400K range that had basements that could be converted. It's just not a popular thing around here. Most people are obsessed with having more bedrooms or having a huge kitchen. Even I admittedly scrimpted, I should have made mine bigger plus shouldn't have put in a window, but at least I have one. I had to build to get it.

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If you can afford it, time and money wise, build a house.  Basement space is probably the lowest cost per square foot of any other space in your home (of course depends on how you finish it....)  Just a thought.  Good luck.

 

Use the web for searching and put in filters on the various websites like realtor.com to find a local home with a basement and other amenities you desire.

Edited by jimjimbo
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Depending on the water issues you might be glad to not have a basement.  You could always consider building and if the site will handle a basement you don't have to build a full basement... part could be slab or crawlspace.  A basement doesn't add much to the cost really until you start finishing it.  Most newer homes I've seen have bonus rooms over the garage that could be used as a HT.  Those ceilings tend to be vaulted and/or shorter than I would like.  

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Chris - There will be 4 of us in the house. My new wife's 21 year old son and 15 year old daughter. I love your room.

Scrappy - Live between Columbia and Jeff City off 63. Maybe 10% of the homes have basements in this area. Amazing the amount of money they want to but a basement on a new construction. I built my first 3 homes, so still an option, but not sure I feel comfortable with the builders around here. A couple are just not good.

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I should also point out I live in a community of 3,700. Moved here after living in Lincoln and Omaha Nebraska for 25 years, so a little bit of a culture shock of living in a smaller community. Also greatly reduces the homes on the market.

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Depending on the water issues you might be glad to not have a basement.

Basements are just asking for trouble especially if your lot is flat. My manager built one on a slope and his is already leaking after only 10 years. My uncle built one on a fairly flat lot and his leaked so bad he had to redo all the drywall and start over. I have seen one that was eaten up by mold. It's not like they make great storm shelters either, they're a death trap if a tornado comes. Perhaps they're the lesser of two evils but plenty of people die in basements during tornadoes. We just built all on the first level due to this.

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I find that my son (when he lived here until graduating UT Arlington) really lived in the HT when he had the time (doing thumb exercises...).  My daughter has grown into liking it - but probably because her husband (married 1 1/2 years ago) is a musician and really appreciates the sound experience.  She does too now, but fortunately they all live someplace else now. :D

 

SO, I understand that you'll need a space for HT that can be isolated from the other folks.  I'd recommend a 3 bedroom with a study (if you can afford it and can find one).  Studies usually are split off from the main living areas of the house (kitchen, den, living room). 

 

You can also think about taking in a garage bay, especially if the garage is separate since this facilitates watching movies when everyone else is asleep, or buying and bringing in a prefab building in the back yard.  I didn't buy another building for the back yard because my wife was afraid that she'd never see me (and she's right on that point). ;)

 

Chris

Edited by Chris A
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I look for corners when shopping for a home, Khorns, y'know.  I do recall one house I looked at that had an enormous and cavernous space beneath the garage.  The home was built into a hill and this one room was fully enclosed, 2 stories tall and at least 30 X 40.  That space was unfinished and begging to become a home theater. Tried to buy that home but failed.  Who knows what happened to that potential?

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I did see a new construction that had a basement and it had a room excavated under the garage. Three car garage to boot. I thought the same thing. Great bunker for a home theater. Heavy door and it would be very soundproof.

If I can have my way, I would do a home theater and 2 channel in the same room. Would love to have some Khorns for 2 channel with some tubes. I almost bought a pair of Khorns in 86, but bought an engagement ring instead. Man hindsite really is 20/20...

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It's not like they make great storm shelters either, they're a death trap if a tornado comes. Perhaps they're the lesser of two evils but plenty of people die in basements during tornadoes.

 

Forgive me, but that is like saying that it's better to be thrown free than to wear seat belts. It takes an EF4-EF5 to make being underground not any safer than being above ground, and tornadoes that strong are very rare, even here in Tornado Alley.

 

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun/?n=safety-severe-homesafety

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/faq/tornado/safety.html

 

We now return to our regularly scheduled thread.

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It's not like they make great storm shelters either, they're a death trap if a tornado comes. Perhaps they're the lesser of two evils but plenty of people die in basements during tornadoes.

 

Forgive me, but that is like saying that it's better to be thrown free than to wear seat belts. It takes an EF4-EF5 to make being underground not any safer than being above ground, and tornadoes that strong are very rare, even here in Tornado Alley.

 

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun/?n=safety-severe-homesafety

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/faq/tornado/safety.html

 

We now return to our regularly scheduled thread.

Wasn't it Oklahoma a year or two ago where most of the people who died were actually in the basement? 7 kids actually drowned in one.

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It's not like they make great storm shelters either, they're a death trap if a tornado comes. Perhaps they're the lesser of two evils but plenty of people die in basements during tornadoes.

 

Forgive me, but that is like saying that it's better to be thrown free than to wear seat belts. It takes an EF4-EF5 to make being underground not any safer than being above ground, and tornadoes that strong are very rare, even here in Tornado Alley.

 

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun/?n=safety-severe-homesafety

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/faq/tornado/safety.html

 

We now return to our regularly scheduled thread.

 

Wasn't it Oklahoma a year or two ago where most of the people who died were actually in the basement? 7 kids actually drowned in one.

 

I guess you can say that people die in basements sometimes just like sometimes a person can be killed by a seat belt.  Most of the time they will save you though.  I'm sure my friends in Joplin would have liked to have made it to their neighbors basement before the tornado hit.  

 

Agile, you aren't far from the Missouri river... what are the flood chances?  I know it can be staggering how far those floods can reach!  

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