Room Acoustics - Questions from a Noob (1 Viewer)

[aklewe]

I am so glad I found this site...and I would be so grateful for some help. My husband and I are installing a home theater/media room in our basement. The room is a nook...its 16'wide and 23' deep and open in the back. The area was already finished (drywalled and carpeted) when we bought the home, so we are doing our best to make the space work without having to rip holes in the finished walls. One question I have really been noodling over is room acoustics...my husband is installing 7.1 surround sound. I have been reading a lot of things about sound reflection and absorption, and am just wondering how much acoustic treatments we should consider? I know I can easily hang some acoustic wall panels on the side walls. We do have carpet as I said, and the seating will be a microfiber (our dogs would just kill leather), and I was planning on installing a nice sliding curtain since the room is open in the back (theater-style!). Should I worry about treating the ceiling? Should I consider bass traps? I just don't know how far or how little I should go with all this.

 

[Robert_J]

Start with what you have. I have nothing but drywall on my walls and ceiling and I don't notice any ill effects. I've thought about adding some panels to my walls to stop the first reflection but it hasn't bothered me enough to put out the effort to build the panels.

I was planning on installing a nice sliding curtain since the room is open in the back (theater-style!).

Other than for light control, the curtain will do very little.

 

[Jason Charlton]

I agree with Robert - no need worrying about solutions to a problem that may very well not exist in your space. After you have everything set up, if you feel there are problems, you can address them at that time.


Good luck with the project!

 

[Norm Varney]

You are way ahead of most people by considering acoustics! Without knowing the scope of the project, I'll agree that you can most likely address the sound quality issues (room modes, 1st reflections and reverberation times) later, but now is when you want to look into potential noise control issues. Remember that noise is a two way street, structural vibrations can travel the length of the house, and small unsealed penetrations will negate an otherwise high performance noise partition. Curtains can have a big impact the reverberation times, depending on the density, coverage, etc. Be careful that you don't end up with a room that sounds too dead in the mids and highs, and still does not address the first order reflections and room modes. Controlling the acoustics equals a great experience.

 

[aklewe]

Thanks for all the advise! You're right...it should be easy enough to identify problems and add fixes as necessary later - sometimes I get ahead of myself! For anyone else who is interested in this, I found a great article online after I posted this topic which helped explain a lot about room acoustics: http://www.crutchfield.com/S-mdAxZ3P2wa0/learn/learningcenter/home/speakers_roomacoustics.html?rurl=%2flearningcenter%2fhome%2fspeakers_roomacoustics.html&page=3