Planning my HT Room

[GeorgeO]

Folks

Havng seen what Santhosh has done, I have decided to start on my HT room. The broad considerations that I have in mind are:

1. Room is in the basement,unlike Santhosh, so insulating sounbd from other adjoiing rooms is not an issue.

2, Size of hall is 15 X 15, with a 10X 8 extension at one end open to the floor on theupper floor and with a skylight. The entrance is vaii\ staircase that leads down-along the 13 ft wall. The two parallel walls are 15ft long and the 10 X 8 alcove is along the wall op[positge the staircse.

3. The room is to be used for audio/vio as well as a lounge for entertaining, so it will not be a dedicated HT room and should not look like it. Accordignly the acoustic absorption panels will be placed on the sides only, upto 4 ft height, and I dont plan any panelling or treatment above that at this time. Floor will be carpeted. Santhosh and I discussed this and decided that the roof will be done later, depending on need.

4. I have a direct line from the electricicity board coming in and plan to install a dedicated pure sine wave on line UPS for the equipment.

I will post photographs of the room in a day or two.

Any suggestions welcome.

George

 

[GeorgeO]

Contd

The floor are of alcove is not to be used as but is adjoining the HT room.

I had initially discussed this with Viren Bakshi a couple of years ago and while the architect planned ot have a glass sliding door installed to seal off the HT Room area, Viren suggested that it was best to avoid that, and if needed to just place a curtain there. The idea of leaving this court as it is is to to make use of the entire area when using it as a lounge and not reduce it by a sliding glass door..

I plan to cover the cement floor of the court with terracotta tiles and have a wooden strip across the entire width to delineate this area from the rest of the room. There is a large wooden unit that is placed in the court, and this area is visible from the dining area on the ground floor, so it is more about aesthetics.

George

 

[santhosh]

Contd
I had initially discussed this with Viren Bakshi a couple of years ago and while the architect planned ot have a glass sliding door installed to seal off the HT Room area, Viren suggested that it was best to avoid that, and if needed to just place a curtain there. The idea of leaving this court as it is is to to make use of the entire area when using it as a lounge and not reduce it by a sliding glass door..

Plenty of advantages of going in for a thick curtain as a seperator between your HT and the Court:
1) Whille entertaining guest, you just slide away the curtains and it makes your room look larger
2) While watching movies, use the curtains to prevent natural light entering through the sky window
3) While listening to music, depending on your listening position, you can either turn on the curtains(to minimise reflections) or slide them away to get a larger soundstage
4) Having a glass door will adds a reflective surface which is also prone to vibrations
5) While watching a movie, it makes way for more seating when you have more guests(than planned)

I am assuming the screen will be fitted on the end where the lift is and the projector towards the court.

 

[venkatcr]

The open skylight is something you have to take care of. That will act as a large sieve through which sound will travel and may disturb people sitting upstairs.

Cheers

 

[GeorgeO]

Santosh

The plan is to fix the projector on the left as one comes donw the steps-i.e. if one is facing the lift door, then on the right. The throw will be 13 ft.

Venkat, since most of the time it's only my wife and me at home, we arent too much concerned about the noise going upwards.

George

 

[santhosh]

Santosh

The plan is to fix the projector on the left as one comes donw the steps-i.e. if one is facing the lift door, then on the right. The throw will be 13 ft.

George

So, the projector and screen would be just the way we had it for Venkat's preso during our HFV meet. We were easily getting a 80 us inch screen with around 10 feet throw that day.

The open skylight is something you have to take care of. That will act as a large sieve through which sound will travel and may disturb people sitting upstairs.

Cheers

Venkat, I am wondering what effect the opening will have on sound? Wouldn't it act as a resonator? If so, we would require the inner walls to be absorptive isn't it? Something that will have sufficient WAF.

 

[Unique Solutions]

Have a Look at the Monitor Audio RX Series Also. If Intrested

Folks

Havng seen what Santhosh has done, I have decided to start on my HT room. The broad considerations that I have in mind are:

1. Room is in the basement,unlike Santhosh, so insulating sounbd from other adjoiing rooms is not an issue.

2, Size of hall is 15 X 15, with a 10X 8 extension at one end open to the floor on theupper floor and with a skylight. The entrance is vaii\ staircase that leads down-along the 13 ft wall. The two parallel walls are 15ft long and the 10 X 8 alcove is along the wall op[positge the staircse.

3. The room is to be used for audio/vio as well as a lounge for entertaining, so it will not be a dedicated HT room and should not look like it. Accordignly the acoustic absorption panels will be placed on the sides only, upto 4 ft height, and I dont plan any panelling or treatment above that at this time. Floor will be carpeted. Santhosh and I discussed this and decided that the roof will be done later, depending on need.

4. I have a direct line from the electricicity board coming in and plan to install a dedicated pure sine wave on line UPS for the equipment.

I will post photographs of the room in a day or two.

Any suggestions welcome.

George

 

[venkatcr]

Venkat, I am wondering what effect the opening will have on sound? Wouldn't it act as a resonator? If so, we would require the inner walls to be absorptive isn't it? Something that will have sufficient WAF.

It certainly will. Since it is small squarish area as an extension to the main basement room, the sound waves will travel into that area, reflect off the walls again and again and create a weird effect. On the other side, we have the staircase opening. Both these have to be handled effectively.

Cheers

 

[GeorgeO]

Have a Look at the Monitor Audio RX Series Also. If Intrested

I have already got my HT speakers ready and tested. It is at this time only the main L-R and center channel. I will condier the other channels later, or just buy a pair of ready made surrounds). Mine is a diy job, the design is by Joe D'Appolito, and is known as the Audax HT speakers, and it supposed to be high end diy!

There is a long ( now reaching 87 pages!) detailed, but very interesting thread on AVS forum by someone who built this over here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=170942

George

 

[GeorgeO]

I dont have a problem placing some sound absortption tiles in the alcove to absorb any sound that goes there. to minimise reflections.

George

 

[cmsajith]

If you wont mind in reducing the overall area (temporarily when watching movies), you can try a sliding or a folding light weight door (openable at the middle) with acoustics done at the inner side, to close the extension area. With this you wont have to sacrifice on anything. Only thing you need to do is to make a small plywood structure fixed to the ceiling to hold \ to accommodate the sliding channels for the doors.

For the staircase, you can try with either the acoustic tiles with thick curtain or a door for the HT room.

 

[santhosh]

Have a Look at the Monitor Audio RX Series Also. If Intrested

Is this series used for room acoustics? How much is it per square feet?

 

[cmsajith]

Is this series used for room acoustics? How much is it per square feet?

:lol::lol:

 

[raj]

George
What type of acoustic panels are you planning to use? I have a similar need. I want to use one of the guest bed room as the HT room. So, can't make it like a theater. I am planning to treat the ceiling and part of the wall.

Based on Santosh' experience, I contacted Anutone (Praveen) a couple of weeks ago and visited their factory in whitefield. They have many varieties of tiles on display. He quoted Rs 70/sqft for Subtex 15mm tile. I think Santosh got the tiles for a little cheaper from them. It is worth a visit. They have a great looking wooden panel for sound treatment. It is quite expensive (around 700 Rs/sqft). Here is some more info on their tiles:
Anutone :: Quick Guide

I also visited Vinardax in kanakapura road. They have only two types of tiles (as you can see in their website) and they quoted 25-30Rs/sqft. The NRC values are much lower than the anutone tiles. The guy who showed us around did not seem to know much. I am leaning towards going with Anutone for the ceiling in my room.

For the walls I am planning to cover them partially with wall hanging panels. From a little bit of research, I have found that you can have unwoven cloth material (like polyester) printed with designs and use them to wrap the panels. I need to find some place who would print custom designs (like paintings) on the cloth I provide.

I read about RoomEqWizard in this forum. I tried it using my laptop and found that there is a lot of resonance in my listening room. :sad: I need to do some more data collection before I start the project.
Santosh: Where did you get the starlight from and what was the total cost?

 

[GeorgeO]

Hi Raj

I am considering Anutone as well, will make a trip to Whitefield. Santhosh mad e aminro goof, which he recgtifies, while ordering the panels-his arpenter gave him measurements in feet and he made the underlying frame of wooden beading using measurements in feet and inches.When he went to ordeer the panels Anutone said they use the metric system! Luckily for him, their panels are pressed and then trimmed to exact sizes, so he managed to get it appx in feet! I believe Santhosh paid around Rs 60/sft, and we can do a joint purchase to negotiate a volume discount, if you and I can firm up on Anutone. Satnhosh has covered is acoustic boards as well as plywood panels above them in raw silk, and they look nice.

I'm also looking at something on similar lines as what you are plannign, but in my aesthetics is as important as acoustices, so it is a bit of a challenge.

George

 

[santhosh]

The only time you really need "acoustically transparent" is with speaker grill cloth in front of a tweeter. With an absorber panel, if the fabric absorbs a little more on its own, no harm is done. So what really matters is that the fabric doesn't reflect mids and highs.

--Ethan

Above mentioned quote by Acoustics Guru by Ethan Winer will come a huge relief to those who are planning a Home Theater\Listening Room. Especially to those whom Aesthetics are as important great sound. I struggled a lot to get a fabric which is not only acoustically transparent but also looks good. I settled for raw silk(Dhupion) as the kind of weave used allows some air to pass through. Also it does not shine like Poly Silk, which is one of the requirement for a good absorber of mids and highs.

Source and more info can be found here: http://www.gearslutz.com/board/bass...acoustic-room-treatments-fabric-questions.htm

 

[santhosh]

below is my idea of a room (which I guess is wife friendly too!).

Lovely room audio_engr. Fantastic aesthetics and WAF. Can you please post more info/pics or a link about this build.

Is this room also used for HT? About two fronts, is one for HT and the other for Stereo or just two pairs for different genres/moods? Absence of a Center channel suggests it is a dedicated listening room. I could be wrong though as the center could be behind acoustically transparent screen(?).

@Raj: Go with Anutone even though it costs a little more than other brands. Simply because Anutone is more scientific in their approach. Since you have seen their facility, you will also know about their Quality processes and interest/focus in the field of acoustics. They also has better NRC across the spectrum.

 

[sidvee]

@raj,
during your visit to anutone did you notice any diffusers - especially the 2' x2' kind that can be dropped into a grid ceiling?
Thanks
Sid

 

[aneelr]

Hi,

For those who are willing to spend some money on their HT room, check out the AV MAX's Jan'10 HT room section, a guy from Hyderabad has done his HT room costing a whooping 1.5cr, which includes a Bar behind, but one thing is he has used Glass on the back side of the room, not sure why.



cheers.

 

[aneelr]

below is my idea of a room (which I guess is wife friendly too!).

Hi,

This room looks aesthetically good, but is it good acoustically also. Like the side wall's, is it just a plane wall with curtains?? or is it acoustically treated walls with curtains.


thanks.