HT room new construction - room treatments, etc


I am building out a basement AV room. I want to devote as much attention to the room as to the electronics, as I am CERTAIN that most untreated rooms completely mask and/or overcome the qualities of all this high end gear we spend so much time and money on. I know this simply from moving the same system into 3 or 4 apartments and/or houses over the years, and noticing the dramatic differences in performance based solely on what's going on in the room. I also know it from playing in a touring rock band for years -the room is far more important than, for example, this high quality amplifier versus that one.

ASC makes a wall isolation system (ISO-Wall) that de-couples the sheetrock from the framing. Benefits are said to include greater noise reduction in the room, as well as prevention of all that low frequency from getting out of the room. Before I invest $2,800.00 in additional building materials and add labor costs, somebody please tell me this stuff actually works as described.

Part II - tube traps and diffusors. Who can speak to the before and after of having employed these room treatments? Was it dramatic? And by dramatic, I mean more so than, say, changing out speaker cables and/or interconnects, because my ears are generally not golden enough to consider these differences "dramatic." (For those who care, the guts of the system will be Anthem AVM-20, Aragon 2007 200x7 amp, and Paradigm Reference matched set of speakers: Studio 100 mains, Studio CC center, Servo-15 sub, etc).

Thanks for the wisdom.

Jeff Warncke
jswarncke

Showing 1 response by islandflyfisher

Jeff,

I recently constructed a sound room/HT and built my own room tunning devices. I also isolated my sound room from my family and neighbors. The best way to keep the sound from escaping is to build a room inside a room. I did this and left a 1" gap between them. I also used a sound dampening product that is carried by Home Depot. It's the same size as sheet rock and is composed of cardboard and horsehair. If I remember, the stuff was made in Canada and was about $10 a sheet. Use 5/8" sheet rock, 2x6's with R19, ton's of sheetrock screws and don't forget to leave that 1" gap.

I believe that most all room tune devices are very simple and inexpensive to make, but do take some time. Most people can build a tube trap, but will have major difficulties designing a loudspeaker or putting together an amp. I'd spend your money on electronics and have some fun experimenting with room tuning devices. The one device that made the most difference were Room Lenses. They take up little space from a room and can be very easily moved around to suit your needs. By moving them an inch or so, makes a difference in sound. It is recommened to have at least three. Here is a link to Argent Room Lens article my Doug Blackburn of Soundstage.

http://www.soundstage.com/noisy14.htm

If you are interested in building them let me know and I'll direct you to step by step directions and pictures of my finished products if you like. I also added some wall panels that were also of the DIY nature by John Risch. Have fun during your constuction and enjoy your finished product.

Denis