Building A Home Theater? Start Here. (2 Viewers)

[Bob Bielski]

Hey Brian

I have been wracking my brain trying to figure out the best way to treat my room to get better sound. I have been reading about reflections and applying absorption panels to tame them. I bumped into a site that was saying the wrong absorption can act like an equalizer, by absorbing select frequencies more than others. The site stated that it throws off the frequency balance from the initial signal so the reflection changes the sound. Seamed like a dilemma. The site also said using diffusion correctly maintains the original frequency balance and energy level or loudness but spreads out the reflections so they don't beam right to the ears and create a nice non localized reverberation. I just found a company that builds tube traps and they are very scientific about how to get better sound. I am going to post the link, it is a good read on room gain, decay rates and modes. I think they really have the treatment thing down. Hope this helps all to better understand how to use treatments to get better sounding rooms.
https://www.acousticsciences.com/high-end-audio/bass-traps

 

[Brian Dobbs]

Hey Bob. I couldn't get the link to load.

 

[Bob Bielski]

Sorry Brian
I will work on it Saturday morning.
Will post a few pics of downstairs apartment, using Roxul safe and sound inside walls and ceilings and R23 Rockwool for outside walls. Getting more and more quiet. The link goes to the finest treatment company I have found so far. Been researching for a long time, this is the real deal.

 

[Bob Bielski]

http://www.asc-home-theater.com/index.htm

Try this one Brian. You can navigate to parts 1-5 Let me know if it works for you.

 

[Brian Dobbs]

http://www.asc-home-theater.com/index.htm

Try this one Brian. You can navigate to parts 1-5 Let me know if it works for you.

Yes, thank you. It works. I've added it to my original post.

 

[Bob Bielski]

This one is also good to add.
http://www.linkwitzlab.com/rooms.htm
Thank you Brian for such a treasure trove of information, any one building a home theater can use your posts as a complete guide.
I took the cheaper way out to improve the STC in my first floor apt. I used ROXUL Safe and Sound in all the inside walls and the ceiling, and applied sound board on the ceiling before the sheetrock. Not as good as resilient channel or decoupling the walls but less expensive and better than without.
My favorite magazine of late Widescreen Review has morphed into a theater design magazine as well as equipment and movie review.
Room acoustics will be much less of a mystery and the common man will be able to improve the listening room without hiring professionals.
Here is a few pics of the insulation.
I will post some pics of the sound board soon I have to load them onto the computer from my phone first.
I chose this insulation because of the dual benefit with the fire proof characteristics as well as the sound dampening. It is also easy to work with. If you can read a ruler you are all set. I also watched videos on You Tube to make cut outs for the electric wires and light fixtures.
I hope this information helps everyone.
And I wanted to include that the little boombox I was listening to while doing the work sounded clearer when all the insulation was exposed.
I wish I was stronger so I could lug all my big speakers and amps downstairs to experiment, it would have been real interesting to hear the difference with all the absorption of the reflections.
Once again thank you Brian for all the information, it helped me a great deal.

 

[Bob Bielski]

This is a picture of the sound board underneath the sheetrock. I was first going to use Quiet Rock but the sound board is much less expensive and the STC factor isn't much less after the sheetrock is added.

 

[Brian Dobbs]

Thank you Brian for such a treasure trove of information, any one building a home theater can use your posts as a complete guide.

You are most welcome sir. I am very happy you have been able to put the information to good use! Photos look great!

 

[Bob Bielski]

Your posts have helped countless people and will help many more to come, great job gathering it and sharing it.

 

[Bob Bielski]

Brian what do you think about Iso Acoustics. I am going to try to incorporate their products on my floor standers as well as my sub. I hope it will do somewhat of a decouple to the floor. Another short cut but hopefully a benefit.

 

[Brian Dobbs]

Brian what do you think about Iso Acoustics. I am going to try to incorporate their products on my floor standers as well as my sub. I hope it will do somewhat of a decouple to the floor. Another short cut but hopefully a benefit.

Oh interesting. I haven't seen IA before. I suppose anything you can do to mechanically isolate or decouple unwanted vibrations the better. Not sure about the sub though. Vibrations can be good sometimes! ;-) I'll add IA to the list.

 

[Bob Bielski]

http://www.isoacoustics.com/
They make stands for the sub as well.
I will eventually acquire a stand for the 4 floor standers and my sub. Not sure yet about the center channel. I will post my results when I get it done. Looks to be at least a year away.
Once again thanks for organizing a vast collection of information to help all the theater buffs on the site.

 

[Jeffreybomb]

My wife and I are finally getting into a house that we don't have to gut and has a fantastic, unfinished basement -- hooray for blank slates!

I'm pretty new to all of this (don't let my join date fool you). Thank you for the work you put into these write-ups.

 

[Brian Dobbs]

My wife and I are finally getting into a house that we don't have to gut and has a fantastic, unfinished basement -- hooray for blank slates!

I'm pretty new to all of this (don't let my join date fool you). Thank you for the work you put into these write-ups.

You're welcome sir.

 

[nohackmove]

Hi All,

I have a Marantz AVR NR1607 and Canton CX 85 5.1 system build together for my home theater system.
Recently I moved to a new flat, it has a living room which has 8mx3.21m room size.
As you can see from graphic I draw basically, I placed the system for TV system primarily to use.
I want to set it somehow when need to use Projection system I can move Center Speaker to mentioned place and I wonder is it possible to make a setting like Zone 2 to command AVR to change function of other environmental speakers according to Projection mode.
Is that possible to make a setting to switch between TV mode to Projection mode?

 

[Angal Faria]

Guys, you are fantastic, and your collections are excellent. Thanks for your brilliant input.

 

[Bob Bielski]

Brian set us all up to save money, AND get a wonderful DIY theater. Once again hats off to Brian.

 

[Angal Faria]

Hi All,

I have a Marantz AVR NR1607 and Canton CX 85 5.1 system build together for my home theater system.
Recently I moved to a new flat, it has a living room which has 8mx3.21m room size.
As you can see from graphic I draw basically, I placed the system for TV system primarily to use.
I want to set it somehow when need to use Projection system I can move Center Speaker to mentioned place and I wonder is it possible to make a setting like Zone 2 to command AVR to change function of other environmental speakers according to Projection mode.
Is that possible to make a setting to switch between TV mode to Projection mode?
View attachment 57788

Nice graph.
Thanks

 

[Bob Bielski]

I have a general question. I am winding down on my home construction and almost ready to attempt to ceiling mount very large speakers in an Atmos system. I know it is overkill to many but I want the best sound I can get. I have ADS L1290/2 speakers, 5 of them ear level and want to mount 4 on the ceiling to match. These are rather large for ceiling mounts but Dolby states that the best sound comes from total matching of all speakers. All the channels, and I know it is object based not channels, but all speakers receive full bandwidth signals and to put small speakers that are different on the ceiling is not the best way to go sound wise.
My question is should I mount them with the tweeters all pointing to the center of the room, or the woofers towards the center? I know high frequencies beam straight down and was wondering if the spatial qualities would sound better with the tweeters on the outer side near the walls to get some reflections off the walls.
I am not an acoustic engineer and don't want to have to experiment using both setups, tweeters in and tweeters out to hear the difference, since these are heavy and it would be a pain in the ass. Not sure if Dolby would comment or not. The speakers are the usual set up for a three way, with double woofers on the bottom then the midrange then the tweeter on top when standing upright on the floor. Any input would be greatly appreciated. I will post my findings and pictures when the project is complete. Thanks ahead of time to all and Happy New year to Brian.

 

[Brian Dobbs]

I have a general question. I am winding down on my home construction and almost ready to attempt to ceiling mount very large speakers in an Atmos system. I know it is overkill to many but I want the best sound I can get. I have ADS L1290/2 speakers, 5 of them ear level and want to mount 4 on the ceiling to match. These are rather large for ceiling mounts but Dolby states that the best sound comes from total matching of all speakers. All the channels, and I know it is object based not channels, but all speakers receive full bandwidth signals and to put small speakers that are different on the ceiling is not the best way to go sound wise.
My question is should I mount them with the tweeters all pointing to the center of the room, or the woofers towards the center? I know high frequencies beam straight down and was wondering if the spatial qualities would sound better with the tweeters on the outer side near the walls to get some reflections off the walls.
I am not an acoustic engineer and don't want to have to experiment using both setups, tweeters in and tweeters out to hear the difference, since these are heavy and it would be a pain in the ass. Not sure if Dolby would comment or not. The speakers are the usual set up for a three way, with double woofers on the bottom then the midrange then the tweeter on top when standing upright on the floor. Any input would be greatly appreciated. I will post my findings and pictures when the project is complete. Thanks ahead of time to all and Happy New year to Brian.

Yes. YES! Killer plan! I've dreamed of mounting very large speakers on the ceiling.

I mounted 4 bookshelves to my ceiling. All facing straight down at the floor. 2 directly above the front row of seating, and 2 directly above the back row.

If I had more ceiling speakers to mount, in positions ahead of me and closer to the screen, I would consider aiming them slightly towards the seating area.

Does that help?