Home Theater Forum - View Single Post - Drop ceiling help

Vin_G · 04-22-2008, 10:10 AM

Brad,

Don't do it! Drop ceiling that is. As Robert mentioned you will not be able to contain the bass in your room. When I built my first home theater I built drop ceiling so that I could have later access and drop ceiling does not allow sound to pass through as it is de-coupled from the floor joists above. However, I had the worst sounding HT ever! The bass just escaped the room. I may as well had been sitting on my driveway for the quality of bass sound.

I have spoken with many HT designers since and #1 is to make your room as strong and airtight as possible. This will allow the bass to pressurize the room as Robert mentioned. I know people say "you get more reflections" and that is true...for bass. The high frequencies reflect off of everything smooth anyways.

So the philosophy is make it strong and airtight (i.e. double drywall on walls and ceiling and outdoor entry doors), then deal with high-frequency reflections using a bit of acoustic paneling where needed.

As far as access, what I am doing on my current project is running good size conduit where video cables run as video cables are always improving.

04-22-2008, 10:10 AM	#4 of 4
Vin_G *Vince G.* Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Local Time: 11:55 PM Local Date: 10-12-2008 Posts: 98	Re: Drop ceiling help - ARGH!! Brad, Don't do it! Drop ceiling that is. As Robert mentioned you will not be able to contain the bass in your room. When I built my first home theater I built drop ceiling so that I could have later access and drop ceiling does not allow sound to pass through as it is de-coupled from the floor joists above. However, I had the worst sounding HT ever! The bass just escaped the room. I may as well had been sitting on my driveway for the quality of bass sound. I have spoken with many HT designers since and #1 is to make your room as strong and airtight as possible. This will allow the bass to pressurize the room as Robert mentioned. I know people say "you get more reflections" and that is true...for bass. The high frequencies reflect off of everything smooth anyways. So the philosophy is make it strong and airtight (i.e. double drywall on walls and ceiling and outdoor entry doors), then deal with high-frequency reflections using a bit of acoustic paneling where needed. As far as access, what I am doing on my current project is running good size conduit where video cables run as video cables are always improving.