Developing my basement. Must haves?

[suntan]

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Mine was just the suggestion on roughing in water and a drain to allow for a wet bar down the road if he doesn’t put one in himself up front.

Don’t think anyone would suggest doing that for a full bathroom no.

Ah I was just referring to full bath rough ins before basement is developed.

Still, you might want the basement contractor to put in the rough ins rather than the builder.

[killramos]

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Ah I was just referring to full bath rough ins before basement is developed.

Still, you might want the basement contractor to put in the rough ins rather than the builder.

Totally.

[schurchill39]

I'm just wrapping up my basement development. I added 1 full bathroom (shower not tub), a bedroom/office, and a living area. I also have my unfinished utility room and a decent sized storage room but I don't count those into the square footage. I did everything myself except drywall and carpet and I believe I'll be a touch over $14,000 for about 550 sqft finished. No wet bar though but I did go to the place that did my kitchen cabinets and other vanities in the house and had them make me a matching one... so that was my "baller" expense.

Your buddies quote at $30k would probably be a little more accurate if you subbed everything out entirely. But obviously doing it yourself will save huge costs.

[shakalaka]

Since I did this recently, I will post some pics to give you an idea of what I did. I basically split off an area of the basement in a way that through an entrance you're in a hallway which leads you to a bedroom/walk in closet a washroom and a room which is empty right now but is meant for either a golf simulator or a games room or something of sort. Prior to getting into that area though I have open planning and one side of the basement has the projection screen and the opposite side of that room is the wet bar. With a see through window gym with floor to ceiling mirrors all around across it.

The idea of the sort of split hallway was such that if someone is actually ever occupying the basement bedroom they should have some privacy in that section if there are bunch of people in the bar/theatre area hanging out outside. Also my basement theme is completely different than the upstairs portions. The interior designer and my wife picked out super modern/contemporary light coloured everything and twin shaded kitchen etc for the contemporary theme but since I could do what I wanted with the basement, I did darker flooring w/ a little rustic type of wood for the bar. Works well together and apparently as per the designer is completely fine to do in a house as it's a different area of the house.

[Darell_n]

If the basement floor is not heated, put in an insulated subfloor. It will never be warm down there otherwise and it will deter you from spending time down there in the winter. Even if it’s only subconsciously. I’m down in my basement in bare feet all the time and with carpet it’s more comfortable than being on the hardwood on the main floor.

[GTS Jeff]

My theatre room in the basement was pre-planned as follows:

-room dimensions speced to minimize standing waves (you can find calculators online)
-sound insulated walls and ceiling
-door in the back, away from critical speaker placement. Solid core, swing door, no bullshit barn door to let sound escape or rattle.
-dark paint, no windows
-pre-wire for Atmos 7.2.4 following Dolby technical whitepapers. I spent a bit more time on this part, calculating the exact placements of speakers.
-calculated the screen size and placement at ideal level, following THX specs
-projector placement and mounting point, with proper throw ratio. Projector placed as far back as possible to minimize fan noise.
-Pre-wired 3x CAT6 and HDMI from front of theatre to projector location. The CAT cables allow you to futureproof against newer HDMI specs with use of balons.
-media stand below screen because I want to show off nice gear, not hide it.
-I used in-ceiling speakers and wall-mounted external surround speakers.
-Had front speaker tower and dual sub jacks pre-wired as well.
-set the in-floor heat on a separate circuit from rest of basement

I'm overall pretty happy with the setup but there are things I would do differently as this was my first time designing a dedicated theatre room:

-use a laser ultra-short throw projector instead of ceiling mounted to cut down on noise even further and to have improved brightness and contrast
-do in-wall surround speakers instead of external wall-mounted for cleanness
-not bother pre-wiring front speakers because the run is short and this way you can use fancy thick gardenhose speaker cabling.
-build in bulkheads into all corners to improve acoustics further
-no in-floor heat at all in theatre room, just not needed
-extra ventilation for room, as the components can all generate a lot of heat.

And one further thing to add to the discussion: avoid in-wall fronts and center if you care about sound quality at all. Definitely go for standalone towers or even bookshelves on stands.

[Mitsu3000gt]

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And one further thing to add to the discussion: avoid in-wall fronts and center if you care about sound quality at all. Definitely go for standalone towers or even bookshelves on stands.

There are actually some pretty incredible in-walls available but they aren't cheap and you need to go about it properly:

https://www.paradigm.com/en/architec...custom-install

[raceman6135]

Give some thought to the floor above the basement: for example, ever thought about changing from an electric range/oven to natural gas? Now might be the best time to pipe in a rough-in.

Depending on the age of your house, you may only have 2 wires going to your thermostat. Now would be the time to fish 5 or 7-wire cable in anticipation of getting a smart thermostat.

Same goes for any other main floor changes/upgrades.

Then, sound insulate the basement from the main floor. And insulate the furnace / mechanical room from the rest of the basement.

That allows you to put a finished ceiling in the basement: flat drywall, knock-down stucco, look, etc. To me, suspended ceilings scream 1970s basement and always look like crap.

If your basement currently has the air registers and returns roughed-in in the ceiling, now is the time to properly place them down on the walls.

And I second the votes for insulated and heated floors: insulated at a minimum. SO MUCH more enjoyable to spend time down there.

[suntan]

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There are actually some pretty incredible in-walls available but they aren't cheap and you need to go about it properly:

https://www.paradigm.com/en/architec...custom-install

Paradigm is all I have. Great value.

Apparently they're also popular in Britain.

[Mitsu3000gt]

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Paradigm is all I have. Great value.

Apparently they're also popular in Britain.

Their reputation since the beginning has been performance far exceeding their price point. Everyone gives me a hard time for recommending them frequently, but you don't have to look very hard to see why and the reviews speak for themselves. The icing on the cake is their industry best room correction and subwoofer correction, which most people don't talk about but ends up making way more of a difference than if they spent double the money at better speakers with no correction. Their sound research facility out East is one of the most advanced in the world and they have access to all kinds of things other manufacturers do not. Their prices have creeped up over the years but at standard cost + 10% pricing they are still amazing value. Also it's kind of nice that they're a Canadian company.

[suntan]

I've converted many a person to them. Had friends chuck their entire existing setup and go full Paradigm.

[blownz]

Is there anywhere in AB to listen to Paradigm?

I have a Klipsch 5.1 system that is 20 years old. Still sounds great, but I am due for something new. Probably will look around $10K for speakers and a new receiver. So ~80% of that for speakers. But I haven't looked at all in years so I have really no idea if that is enough or not.

[Mitsu3000gt]

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Is there anywhere in AB to listen to Paradigm?

I have a Klipsch 5.1 system that is 20 years old. Still sounds great, but I am due for something new. Probably will look around $10K for speakers and a new receiver. So ~80% of that for speakers. But I haven't looked at all in years so I have really no idea if that is enough or not.

BASE Electronics. I buy everything from them and they are doing my current basement theater - great people and prices. Their showroom is small (they are a custom install shop) but they have a fair bit of Paradigm stuff on the floor. They also have really good relationships with the vendors so if you have a problem it's much easier to rectify.

General Audio and Sounds of Music also used to carry it, but to my knowledge both are out of business - in both cases, the products they pushed were the absurdly high margin products like B&W, Cabasse and Focal, $100K Runco projectors, and amplifiers that cost as much as a car, and that market just isn't very large or sustainable haha.

Gibby's Electronics out East also sells them and sometimes you can snag a great deal if you already know what you want.

$8K on speakers and $2K on a receiver will get you an absolutely incredible setup, especially within the Paradigm lineup. In fact you could probably spend a lot less than that and still be thrilled, but that is for you to decide. For receivers I always recommend Pioneer Elite, you can get something like the LX-704 for $1500-1600 and it will handle a 9.2 Atmos setup with ease.

[blownz]

After I posted that I was searching and just noticed that Audio 5.1 in Edmonton carries them and that is actually where I got my speakers 20 years ago and they wired house! I remember at the time listening to Martin Logan speakers there and then having to "cheap out" and buy the Klipsch lol

I have updated TV/receiver/dvd/bluray many times over the years, but those original speakers are still great (think they were around $4K 20 years ago).

I better not go too soon as I will just impulse buy and my wife is currently redoing the kitchen. I need to wait for her to finish and then she will be so happy she won't notice a new system.


*edit*
@Mitsu3000gt - were you the guy recommending I buy a NAD receiver ~10 years ago? I think it was someone here that convinced me to get one...

[A790]

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I would definitely put in a wet bar, or at least rough it in, it doesn’t have to be huge but it’s a big selling feature imo.

This.

My dad has a wet bar for his walk-out basement and it's honestly the best thing ever in the summer.

[Mitsu3000gt]

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After I posted that I was searching and just noticed that Audio 5.1 in Edmonton carries them and that is actually where I got my speakers 20 years ago and they wired house! I remember at the time listening to Martin Logan speakers there and then having to "cheap out" and buy the Klipsch lol

I have updated TV/receiver/dvd/bluray many times over the years, but those original speakers are still great (think they were around $4K 20 years ago).

I better not go too soon as I will just impulse buy and my wife is currently redoing the kitchen. I need to wait for her to finish and then she will be so happy she won't notice a new system.


*edit*
@Mitsu3000gt - were you the guy recommending I buy a NAD receiver ~10 years ago? I think it was someone here that convinced me to get one...

Hmmmm it's possible, but I would guess that it wasn't. I certainly don't remember that far back either haha. NAD is kind of a niche company and honestly price/performance just isn't that appealing to a lot of people, at least in the current market. They do have a small following though in the HT community, certainly not a bad product, but you can get more for less money elsewhere IMO without sacrificing any quality.

I like Pioneer Elite because on most models they are using D-class amps so they run ice cold (great if you stuff is in a cabinet or a rack) and they perform a lot better than most other units when all channels are being driven. They tend to have great support for the latest codecs and good future-proofing. They have also updated their room correction pretty dramatically from what it used to be. I believe they are still made in Japan too, but I will have to check mine when it arrives to confirm.

If you like your existing speakers, there may not be any need to replace them - just updating the receiver and adding some more channels might be all you need. Depending on how old your current receiver is, with updated room correction on the newer units, it can make a bigger difference than going out and spending thousands on new speakers.

If you do buy from Edmonton or somewhere else, I would recommend at least grabbing a quote from BASE for comparison. You should be able to get cost + 10% from them on anything you buy which will likely translate to 15-25% off Paradigm, depending on the product. If nothing else you can use that as a bargaining chip if you live in Edmonton.

[you&me]

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This.

My dad has a wet bar for his walk-out basement and it's honestly the best thing ever in the summer.

The thing with wet bars is in order to make them functional, they really need to be mini kitchens, IMO...

The sink (that makes a bar, 'wet') is likely the least useful part of a bar... You really need a small fridge (for the drinks), ideally a freezer (for ice) and with all that plumbing, might as well throw in a dishwasher so you're not having to haul all the dirty glasses up to the kitchen...

[ExtraSlow]

agree, if you have a sink, put in a dishwasher.

[shakalaka]

Lol are you guys ever spoiled. It's a bar...it's not supposed to have dishes. Just a few glasses, which I wouldn't think should be too hard to wash in the sink. And if there are dishes, since they will be going back up to the kitchen anyway, what does it matter.

Here's my bar below when it's normal and when I wanna party and when I party the screen has stuff playing on it with 2 subs.

[ExtraSlow]

I drink my River Valley beer from fancy glassware.