Dedicated listening room design

The most critical time of any major project is at the beginning, when the biggest decisions are made, and paradoxically when you know the least. Apparently you are aware of this, and seeking to learn as much as possible at this early stage, which shows good judgment.

"Premium Home Theater: Design and Construction", by Earl Geddes, was written with Soix in mind. Totally worth the price, even for two-channel guys.

If you decide to seek professional assistance, I highly recommend Jeff Hedback, of Hedback Designed Acoustics. He can help make all the right things happen in YOUR specific room by a combination of remote measuring and professional analysis.

Duke
dealer/manufacturer

Since you will be using basement space, the key will be to isolate the sound of all the mechanical equipment and its duct work. Hard to do. Until you get that right I would suggest not spending any money building the room itself. Also, read Floyd Toole's book 'sound reproduction'.

I did a similar project in my last home. I focused on 3 main points:

First, fir out the walls (if necessary) to acheive a good length x width ratio. IIRC, 1.4 to 1 was the recommendation in the book (similar to the Geddes book Duke cites) that I used.

Second, Try to break up parallel wall surfaces with some "ornamentation". Light fixtures in columns, shelving, etc. I also used a center ceiling drop and stadium seating so that ceiling and floor weren't parallel.

Third, I mixed absorbtive and reflective material. Wood panel wainscotting from the floor up to +/- 3' and a canvas-like fabric backed by acoutic foam the the 3' "beltline" to the ceiling.

The result was drop dead gorgeous and great sounding, but....

This was a stupidly expensive project. I suspect that you can probably get to a similar place on a lower budget while still employing these ideas.

Good Luck,

Marty

Thanks so much guys, and by the way I should probably mention this is first and foremost a 2-channel audio system (our home theater is upstairs) although I may run some surround channels at some point in case I ever start experimenting with multi-channel music. I'm absorbing all of this and will get the books and contact at least a couple of the people you recommended. Duke's first sentence pretty much summed it up nicely, and what I know about construction in general (much less construction of a good listening room) could fit on the head of a nail. So all this info. is fantastically helpful, and by all means keep it coming.

So, for several reasons (cost, I might not be in this house for a long time, etc.) I've decided to do this on my own (with a contractor) without using an audio room design expert. I got all the books and have begun going through them. There's a lot there and I've got a lot more reading to do, but even at this early stage I had some major questions I was hoping some of you may have some thoughts on.

- I have to decide what materials to use in constructing the walls and ceiling. It would be particularly helpful if you could recommend specific products that have worked well (i.e. wall type/thickness/installation techniques, ceiling tiles type/installation, acoustic caulk, flooring tiles, carpeting, etc.) and where's good to purchase them.

- I'd also like to incorporate some sound isolation to the extent that I can, although I probably don't have all that much in the budget to do it. The ASC Isodamp system seems like a good one, but wondering if anyone has experience with this or if there is a lower cost and/or easier way to achieve a lot of those benefits? Also seems like it may eat up some space in my room, which is not a deal breaker but not optimal. Specifically I'm wondering if there's some kind of acoustic damping material I can just apply between the studs and walls(and between two wall boards if doubling up is recommended)/ceiling tiles to achieve at least some kind of isolation if something like the ASC stuff is out of my range.

- After I have the walls and ceiling up I'll need to incorporate some room treatments. Anyone have any opinions on ASC products versus RPG (or any others for that matter)? They seem to use different technologies that affect sound differently. Also is one significantly more expensive than the other to accomplish similar results?

- I'm getting mixed signals on the floor. Some prefer some form of wood flooring with area rugs while others prefer tiling/cement with wall-to-wall carpeting. I'd prefer the latter for practical reasons, but wondering what your experience is.

My first priority is sound quality in the room, but if I can achieve a good amount of soundproofing without adding several thousands to the cost of the project that would be a big bonus. Thanks again for all your thoughts and help.