acoustics/sound deadening in concrete walled basement (1 Viewer)

[Eric Huerter]

I have my home theatre set up in a basement in an alcove with concrete back and outer walls that come out about 6-7 feet, then it opens up into the basement. The ceiling is a suspended ceiling.

I want to improve the acoustics and secondarily wouldn't mind decreasing sound to the upstairs.

I don't want to do dry wall because I prefer not to make the room that much smaller.

I had wondered about building a frame to hold somesort of material that could act to improve acoustics, any suggestions/ideas?

 

[Dave Poehlman]

I'm sure that concrete sounds pretty "echo-y". If you don't want to drywall, you may want to look at damping the walls with some fabric... curtains maybe. Or, you could spray them with that texturing foam used on walls and ceilings. If they are brick walls, you may want to fill the joints in before spraying the stuff on the walls as they will probably show through.. even after the texture is applied... and it might look kinda funny.

 

[Eric Huerter]

I had thought about building a 3 walled frame with walls about 1 inch thick. I considered building a frame, that I could fill with insulation, then cover with black fabric to create a black back drop and sides for viewing.

Would this help with sound?

 

[Ross_Henderson]

Eric,
I know you got my email. Thought I'd post the link here for others. I have a similar basement problem and am researching this.
http://www.asc-soundproof.com/
Check their site in detail. They have LOTS of good technical info and take you out of the "old construction wive's tales" about sound insulation.