micthurst
Do you have a high basement unfinished ceiling at present? When we had our house built I knew I wanted a basement listening room so I had the builder put in an extra course of concrete block to allow for a reasonable height for my listening room. I have an insulated drop 7'6" ceiling. As it is, you can hear little sound above in our dining room. One thing I did was I decoupled the speakers and subwoofers from the room. The subs used to rock the upstairs but the decoupling was magic! in that regard. My family members say that they hear music coming to the upstairs via the heat/AC metal ductwork but only to the extent that they know I am down listening.
I think the drop ceiling is key as the sound is not vibrating through the wallboard to the upstairs floor joists. By their nature the ceiling tiles absorb sound.
