Improving room acoustics?

vijay_ditango

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Anybody has any suggestions on improving the room acoustics?. Does plastering the walls (plaster of paris) or wall papers improve room acoustics. I know there are these acoustic tiles but i am looking for a cheaper solution. Suggestions are welcome. thanks.
 
Cheapest solution IMO is to glue sheets of thermocol. Cut them in various shapes, color them, make a theme and cover the walls. I don't think anything beats that for a cheap solution.

Some people consider egg crates. I find them unfeasible because (1) egg crates wouldn't be allowed inside all houses, and (2) even if some will, they would look really pig ugly stuck on the walls. I won't cover my walls with them ever.
 
Use Foam available at any matress shop. You can cover it with fabric to make it look good / neutral. Eggcrate foam is also available but this is relatively more expensive and thicker but much much better than normal foam.

Cover the first reflection points, corners (wall/ceiling) and wall immediately behind the speakers and your listening position.

To find the first reflection point, position your speakers and sit in your normal listening seat. Ask someone to hold a mirror on the side wall. The point where you can see the tweeter in the mirror is where you would want to put foam. So this for left and right.

For the corners cut triangles and stick or velcro them on.

Behind each speakers put a piece about 1.5x the length and width of the speaker. Behind your listening area a 3' x 2' piece should suffice. The further you are from the back wall, the larger this would need to be. Put this such that it is directly beind your head.

Please try this and post.
 
Side wall & roof - You can cover sidewall and roof with 1.5-2 inches thermocol sheets framed with wooden structure and then cover it with medium thick carpet. It give you absalute damp & your system sound would not distort at high level.

Same as for Floor but the carpet thickness should be dubble then sidewalls carpet.

Surrounding area of the roof attached to the wall appears in tringle shape can fillup with glasswool.

Use heavy & thick curtains having 6 inches spaces to window or doors.

Simple & Best.
 
Mini Theatre Acoustic & Sound Proofing

In my mini theatre i have fair share of glass wool on the walls (2" to 4" thick), plywood with varied sized holes (diameter corresponding to diameter of speaker drivers) from top to bottom for specific frequency band absorption, and acoustics tiles by armstrong for the ceiling.

2" glass wool is used for high frequencies and 4" glass wool is used for low frequencies (Sub Woofer). On Ply wood i have pasted a thin foam, the foam has been cut where there are varied sizes of holes, than covered with a red colour special fabric, which is laced with in-direct holes so that the glass wool can catch up with the sound of my system.

I have several show pieces, which also helps on acoustics front, as the show pieces are not flat and neither are they hard by material, the show pieces have several gaps, curves, square box types, etc. Since my reclyiner chair is huge, that too helps on acoustics.

I have no glass items in my theatre, other than 3 glass shelves, in-fact i had a huge sliding window, with a great view outside, as i am staying on the 10th floor, i had these sliding windows removed and plastered it into a wall, instead of using on floor marble or wood, i have used carpet half a inch, wall to wall, importantly below the carpet i have used a half inch white sheet. On the doors and on certain edges i have used high quality rubber sealings, so that the sound moving out of the room is to the minimum.

In-fact there are acoustic wall papers available in the market.
 
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Unleash, the attachment was quite informative, thank you very much.

I must say people like you and many others in this forum, you'll have so much of a knowledge, i wish when my mini theatre was at a grass root level, and till the theatre was ready, i should have taken a lot of assistance from you'll, that way, i am sure my theatre would have been much better, no doubt most of them have liked me theatre to the core, having said that, i very strongly feel that if anyone wants to make a mini theatre, than one should seek advice from members of this forum.

I have done the acoustics with advice given by some very knowledgeable people, i hope there has not been anything much wrong, etc.

Thank you very much.
 
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Vinay,

Your HT is one of the best I??ve seen in India. It is indeed very modest of you to say that it could have been better. The passion with which you made it happen and helping others also achieve similar dreams with good and impartial advice is really very appreciative. I??m sure your HT is now a reference model for many in this forum.

Best Regards.
 
Mini Theatre

Unleash,

Indeed my mini home theatre is among the best, in-fact i am given to understand that it is among the top 5 in India, among the people who have given their theatre pictures to the magazines, having said that, i am sure there will be home theatres which are extremely good, but they have decided not to show the theatres to public or to magazines, like for example rekha the film actress, her home interiors are very good, but she does not allow the pictures to be taken. I have seen the pictures of sharuk khan's home theatre, where there do not seem to be room acoustics, there is so much of glass, flooring is marble based, huge sliding windows, etc, and as usual the theatre is in the living room, my theatre scores the most because it is a dedicated theatre cum music room.

I am not modest that my theatre could have been more better, it is a hard fact that if i would have taken selective advice and related from many leading people at the forum, the theatre would have come out more better.

Indeed the passion was very high, more than a lac of rupees just got wasted with the trial and error, and let me not forget, that the original budget was 7 lac rupees, and finally it costed me over 20 lac rupees.

It has been my strong desire to showcase my theatre so that others can also achieve a theatre better than mine, in due times, and yes it could be strongly true that my home theatre is a reference model for many in this forum, which was even said by the owners of this hifivision site, in-fact there would not be a single member who would have not seen my theatre's pictures, which gives me great joy.

Thank you very much.
 
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