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Dedicated listening room design

I've been searching this site for how to create a decent listening room, but there's so much it's difficult to whittle down what's really useful and/or correct from what's not. I say decent because I don't believe I have the time or $$$ to create a balls-out perfect room, so I'm trying to at the very least avoid making any major mistakes that would be hard to correct.

As per recommedations I ordered Get Better Sound and Everest's Master Handbook of Acoustics to get some ideas and learn some of the fundamentals, but any further resources you guys could recommend would be much appreciated. Also, any specific materials/products you used for walls, ceilings, floors, lighting, etc. that work particularly well would be very helpful, as well as any installation techniques/materials to optimize their performance (sound absorption, soundproofing, noise/rattle avoidance, etc.). My room is in a medium-sized, open basement that will also be serving as a laundry room and exercise room, and I'm basically starting from scratch as I'm installing french drains (damned hurricane) and re-doing heat pipes so all the walls will be coming down in the process. I already have two dedicated lines (with the help of some folks on this site) and will likely add a third, so that part is pretty much covered.

Anyway, I hope that's enough to go on, and any thoughts or hard-won experience you could share would be most appreciated.
soix

Showing 1 response by transaudio

transaudio
96 posts
 
Summit, well said. Sound proofing only keeps the sound inside a room, nothing about making the sound inside the room any good!

The basics are to avoid parallel walls, hard (reflective) surfaces where the speakers project sound (usually the side walls). Using commercial grade absorption from any of the major companies on the sides and behind the speakers can really help. Many companies offer room kits, which is perhaps the ideal starting point for most of us, really simple and a huge improvement.

Being from the pro side, I cannot help but chuckle a bit when I see folks with these extremely expensive systems, hi end power cables, CD vibration isolation etc, speakers near side walls, all in an untreated room. That's like $10,000 in tires on a 1971 ford pinto!
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