Home cinema/snug basement conversion Diy help

hwg10iar

Novice Member
Joined
Apr 16, 2020
Messages
10
Reaction score
1
Points
2
Age
33
Location
Edinburgh
Hi all

Long time lurker first time poster. We are right in the middle of our basement conversion and extension build.
One of the rooms in our basement is going to be a cinema room/snug.
I plan on having a 85” Samsung tv recessed into the wall with a electric fireplace underneath. Some stud work is already complete , but I have left the tv area just now as don’t want to rush it and thought I would ask for expert advice on here! I have a fair idea of how to recess the 85” into the wall after doing research and reading through countless threads on here.
However I have no idea what speakers and surround sound to put in. I am really just after something not too costly that will provide decent sound and effects.
I really have no clue on how surround works as I have never done anything like this before. Would be grateful if someone could guide me to a good set up at a reasonable price. The room is approx 4.2m long x 2.4 wide. We will be sitting approx 1.4m from the tv as the sofa is 1m deep. I have attached a pic of room as it is, and a guide I stole from a thread on here for my recessed 85” just so I can use the sizes. Any help would be appreciated and I look forward to documenting my build on here !
Thanks
 

Attachments

  • 66D682C6-D034-44CD-BE8E-D5FCC9BD7A9D.jpeg
    66D682C6-D034-44CD-BE8E-D5FCC9BD7A9D.jpeg
    270.8 KB · Views: 159
  • C5D54105-CD2E-4C78-A0B7-56B94DA583B2.png
    C5D54105-CD2E-4C78-A0B7-56B94DA583B2.png
    472.7 KB · Views: 147
Last edited:
Here is the wall where the tv is going to go. As you can see the room is narrow 2.4m to be precise.
 

Attachments

  • 768FE489-976A-4D6A-BF63-A417B3B6E36C.jpeg
    768FE489-976A-4D6A-BF63-A417B3B6E36C.jpeg
    407.9 KB · Views: 129
  • 6B43F06E-7B81-4710-9619-50C888676AB2.jpeg
    6B43F06E-7B81-4710-9619-50C888676AB2.jpeg
    368.8 KB · Views: 118
Best practice is to have all your bed layer speakers at about ear level. Only Atmos speakers go in the ceiling. A sound bar can work well for LCR with in-or on walls for side surround. Most sound bars come with amps and a sub woofer as an entire system.

The next step up would be a receiver with in or on walls for LCR and surrounds with a powered sub or two. You could also add rear surrounds.
 
M&K Sound loudspeakers are our go to speakers for cinema and media room projects.

A good range of options at different price points but all with serious performance.
Rich@SeriouslyCinema
 
Thanks for all the replies. After doing more reading on here and getting to grips with the basics have decided to go with

wharfedale dx2 5.1 package
2 Atmos ceiling speakers (recommendations would be appreciated)
Denon 2700 avr

updated pics below, framing for recessed Samsung 85” nearly complete and framing for front left, right and centre speakers. Also some recessed shelving behind sofa will have Philips hue Led gu10 in here 2 in each shelf area
 

Attachments

  • 198F0C99-2C7A-480E-94BE-9EF64946781E.jpeg
    198F0C99-2C7A-480E-94BE-9EF64946781E.jpeg
    361.3 KB · Views: 105
  • F98F4C60-BEA0-4D82-BAEB-74EF6CF7539A.jpeg
    F98F4C60-BEA0-4D82-BAEB-74EF6CF7539A.jpeg
    297.9 KB · Views: 102
Are you still gonna put electric fire under the center speaker....just following your build as my friend thinking of building similar with smaller TV and projector screen coming down in front of tv.
 
Are you still gonna put electric fire under the center speaker....just following your build as my friend thinking of building similar with smaller TV and projector screen coming down in front of tv.
After fitting recess for 85” I soon realised there will be no room for fire. There will be a built in electric fire under 43” recessed tv in another room in the basement. After more research last night, I am also going to have to change my speakers. Apparently not a good idea to recess standard speakers as it messes with the sound. When I started this project I didn’t even know what surround sound/Atmos or an avr was so learning everyday. So now going to go for monitor audio in walls. A lot more expensive than the wharfedale package but may as well do it right .
Wasted a good couple hours building the boxes for the speakers but at least I noticed the mistake now before it was too late.....
New speaker package will be

4 x monitor audio W180 for left/right and surround
1 x monitor audio w250 centre channel
1 x monitor audio in wall sub iws-10
2 x Atmos ceiling speakers not yet decided probably go for monitor audio as well to keep all the same

Done some dwanging yesterday in the cinema room. Won’t be much more movement in there until next weekend as working 7 days straight from today . Wife is documenting the full build on Instagram number64_renovation if anyone is interested
 
I thought the original speaker you where thinking was sealed so I thought wouldn’t be a problem unless it has port at the back? Sealed and front ported so long that you are not going to recess them past the front of the speakers is fine I think? I could be wrong....
 
I thought it would be fine as well but after reading many threads think if i recess speakers which are not meant to be in wall speakers, the whole wall technically becomes the “baffle” Maybe need someone on here to clarify this....
 
2 Atmos ceiling speakers (recommendations would be appreciated)
I would highly recommend that you consider 4 x atmos speakers to give you the best effect, especially as you are at building stage and it is easy to incorporate. I moved my build form a x2 Atmos setup to a x 4 Atmos setup after recommendations and research...

A picture below and link to Dolbys website here

1612683452378.png


I would also think about future upgrades..

In my first build, I had a similar idea for setup (soundbar ect) and never considered anything in relation to future upgrades and I really wished I did..

I am now busy with my second build and learned a lot out of my mistakes but also from advice on here..

You might not want anything more now....

Consider running cables for adding speakers in the future. (moving from a 5 speaker to a 7 speaker setup ect)

You might want to consider having more than one sub potentially in the future (power cables)

I would recommend that you also think about a projector possibly in the future. If this is the case then consider running HDMI cables to where potentially the projector will be mounted (also have power ready in the location.)

You can use this website to give you an idea of throw distance by using a specific projector model and also potential screen size. I have populated it with some figures just to give you an idea.

Have you considered internet? (apologies if this is teh case and you already mentioned it)

Just my 2c worth :)

Goodluck and enjoy :thumbsup:
 
Thanks flyboy some useful tips. Will definitely run some extra speaker cables in case I do want to upgrade. As for projector, my throw distance would only be 2m as the room is only 2.4m wide. Would I not struggle to get a bigger screen than 85” with a throw distance that short ? I know you can get short throw projectors but the cost does increase quite a bit does it not. Router will be in this room also so will have internet.
Where to place all my equipment is giving me a slight headache. Was thinking of building cabinet in the room behind where the tv is going to be. This would house avr, firecube tv, skybox, ps5. Keep hidden out the way. Anyone give any advice on where they put their av equipment and anything to keep in mind when doing so?
 
Hi, can I ask a question about the actual build.
Noticed you've installed a membrane on to the walls, does your cellar suffer with damp or water ingress?
 
Yes it has suffered both in the past unfortunately. Certain rooms were always damp and neighbour had a burst drain once, resulting in major water ingress through the floors (hydrostatic pressure) Absolutely no chance of it now though. I installed a French drain system with sump pumps. Basement fully tanked as well. Basements are below ground most of the time and your external walls will have soil packed against them hence why they should always be damp proofed. See picture below of our dining room fully tanked with drains. It’s another minefield if you want any info on it I’m happy to help
 

Attachments

  • 31ABECFA-EBA7-42D8-A0E9-B060BEC7D9CD.jpeg
    31ABECFA-EBA7-42D8-A0E9-B060BEC7D9CD.jpeg
    260.6 KB · Views: 109
Last edited:
Yes it has suffered both in the past unfortunately. Absolutely no chance of it now though. I installed a French drain system with sump pumps. Basement fully tanked as well. Basements are below ground most of the time and your external walls will have soil packed against them hence why they should always be damp proofed.
I am about to re-do mine for the 3rd time. 1st time I cut to many corners, 2nd time thought I'd had it done properly but unfortunately only lasted about 3 years. Although my cellar doesn't suffer with water penetration the problem was humidity.
This time I will be installing a membrane on all external walls then building a room within a room with stud walls. Also installing a PIV ventilation system.
 
It’s such an important part of the job when doing a basement . I researched for months and months , there did seem to be cheaper ways to do it , but as you said I didn’t want to cut corners and have more problems down the line so just installed the best system I could. To do the whole basement was around £6000 but that was just the materials , membrane , membrane plugs, drains, pumps with no labour costs, if I was to get specialists in to do the work it would have been £10,000+ easily.
 
It will all be worth it in the end, starting mine (again) next month hopefully. Keep up us updated with pics.
 
Little update on the build. Whole conversion going well, nearly ready for boarding . Cinema room is now insulated all speaker cables run apart from my left centre and right as not done the tv wall yet. Made the mistake again of running normal speaker cable to my sub location and after reading up realised I should run actual sub cable so had to re-do that bit. Sub will be housed under neath the recessed shelving area. I have ran a hdmi cable and Ethernet cable into the bottom recessed shelf and there will be a socket there also. Reason for running hdmi and Ethernet was incase I wanted to plug laptop into hdmi or Ethernet. Will post more updates as it goes on . Thanks for looking
 

Attachments

  • F71D362A-E0F0-4925-9502-81F3A3CE3A41.jpeg
    F71D362A-E0F0-4925-9502-81F3A3CE3A41.jpeg
    335.6 KB · Views: 57
  • BD70A279-D67A-4012-812A-DD2C367F7B7B.jpeg
    BD70A279-D67A-4012-812A-DD2C367F7B7B.jpeg
    352.4 KB · Views: 56

The latest video from AVForums

TV Buying Guide - Which TV Is Best For You?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom