room design help

Using the "golden ratio" for room dimensions seems quite popular and I feel it has merit. It is 1 : 1.618. Also, I want to add that IMO it shouldn't be a very large room. A large room looks nice and impresses friends but it eats up a ton of power and requires big speakers, both of which limit your equipment options substantially. My future room will be 14x22 and no more.

A local hifi friend of mine has experimented a HUGE amount with room treatments and he has settled on DIY Corning 703 absorbers. You can buy it for about $10/lbs direct from a Corning distributor (check you yellow pages) and it does seem to work very well. I am going to make some bass traps for my system soon this way. Good luck! Arthur

I built a new house a few years ago and had real fun doing a dedicated audio room.

Dimensions are 20w x 30l and 15ft ceiling. Lots of places can give you 'ideal' dimensions for any size room.

Best thing I did was put the room on the ground floor with a poured concrete floor and radiant heating (no sound of heat system, no baseboard etc.) under carpet. I did not put in a baffling system for the air conditioner; on the other hand I don't spend a lot of time indoors with the system in the heat of summer. When the ac is on in summer I do have some increased background noise. Oh well.

I also used 3/4" wall board. I used standard spacing 16" on the frame but have since heard from folks who used a 12" spacing claiming better results.

I did not put in sound proof windows. My builder felt I might not need them and I think he was correct. I do have one window near my a/c compressors which might benefit but I doubt I'll do it (never say never)

I also put in a dedicated a/c panel, hubble outlets and lines. I did not use any fancy in wall wiring (budget consideration). Lighting is all separate from audio. This was a very good idea. System is dead quiet, no hum, no hiss, no line noise... you get the idea.

As you are a carpenter you might think about integrating room treatment into your design. This is one thing I will do the next time I build a house. :)

You might want to contact Rives Audio (www.rivesaudio.com) for assistance. Consulting with a sound engineering firm like this is another thing I think I would do differently.

Live and learn.

One final thing: the doorway between your audio room and house is a critical choice. I lucked out finding a huge double door at a salvage sale. A poor choice here will be heard! (pun intended)

Have fun!

hints for ceiling, floor and wall treatments - Auralex.com.

Also - search the archives. There's lots on this subject.

Look at "The Complete Guide to High-end Audio" by Robert Harley. This book has a simplified formula to the science of acoustics. A far superior source is "Sound Studio Construction on a Budget" by F. Alton Everest. This is a terrific source to learn how acoustics work and how our systems work with the room to produce what we here.

Arthur has good intentions with the Golden Ratio, but it has nothing to do with acoustics or audio. I understand there are products being sold using the "Golden Ratio" as the science behind it. This is hype, the "Golden Ratio" is a description of how our body's relate to scale and space. Our body is the "golden Ratio" (Height to width) and in architectural design it tends to be most pleasing. That however has nothing to do with wire or acoustics. Sorry.

Lastly if you do not actually want to learn, find "Rives" on Audiogon. He designs acoustic space for a living and has a huge depth of knowledge.

Jade

I second Andy's comments....make sure the room dimensions are not a multiple of the ceiling height.

Wooden frame is good as it will leak the bass out ...producing less reverberation or room modes. If you are going to such trouble you may also consider soffit mouting the speakers, as I have done. It means you need to renovate when (if) you change speakers, however, in theory and in practice this gives the most accurate sound by removing all the comb filtering that you get from bass reflections off the rear wall. An examination of facilities at most high end professional studios will show you that more than 50% use soffit mounted speakers for mains....so don't simply take my word for it.

Also check out Ethan Winner's website on how you might build walls that absorb LF energy....the rear wall behind your listening position and the ceilings usually require the most absorption treatments.

Good luck. Projects can be fun and perhaps you can share photos of your progress (I did)