Building a New Listening Room on a Budget


My wife and I have been considering our next home, and recently signed a PA agreement with our builder.
The basic layout of the house is set but not finalized, which should be done within the next week.
I will have a dedicated room for my audio needs.  It measures approximately 25' x 14', and is not a perfect rectangle.  Doing my best to describe it, there is a 14' x 14' square section on one end and a 11' x 9' section on the other.
I plan to set up in the larger section, and use the smaller section for record/music storage.
The utilities room for the house is in the adjacent room, and I plan to have the internet router in that room and run a LAN cable from there into my listening room for streaming purposes.  I already plan to have at least one dedicated power line installed.  Should I add a second?  And, should I do 20 amp or 15 amp?
I'm planning to insulate the ceiling and walls adjacent to other rooms inside the house to avoid disturbing my family with the noise.  The floors will have carpet and walls will be traditional drywall.  
Beyond these things, what should I focus on that will not cost a ton?  I have read Robert Harley's article on his dream audio room build, but he spent way more that I'm willing to.  If I had to put a limit on it I would say around $10K.  
What other areas should I focus on?  
Thanks in advance!
Peter
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Showing 1 response by millercarbon

On that kind of budget I would do only the few things that make a huge improvement for almost no additional cost: 

IF you sheetrock anything, 5/8" blocks sound about 15dB better than 1/2" but costs almost nothing more.  
Use a solid core exterior type door. You can buy architecturally designed interior doors made for sound abatement, but they can cost a small fortune and be hardly any better than an ordinary solid core or exterior door. The exterior part matters because you want weather stripping. This one thing right here costs very little but makes a huge difference. 

ONE SINGLE 20A line.

That's it. The only construction I would do is if your layout makes it cheap and effective to add an interior wall for sound control. The space between could then become a bass trap. But you have to find someone who understands acoustics and balance that with your floor plan and use.  

Honestly from everything I have seen going from planning to construction and then ongoing system improvement, I know everyone loves to go on and on about the room but my experience is you get a lot more bang for your buck from things like Synergistic HFT, Townshend Podiums, Cable Elevators, and wire, than anything you can do to a room for the same amount of money. 

So not saying don't spend money on the room. Those few things I mentioned are huge. Mega. But anything beyond that, if it means not having money to do these other tweaks, then you have shot yourself in the foot, committed own goal, and put the cart before the horse.