Ideal design for a new music room
Mini split (obviously lots of others make them but this is a good explanation) http://www.fujitsugeneral.com/us/residential/what-is-a-mini-split.html Acoustic soffit https://www.acousticsciences.com/products/acoustic-soffit |
@encore, Here is a straightforward and perhaps unorthodox way of how I built my room. I built a combination home theatre stereo listening room. I built my room based off years of practical listening experiences, research on the Internet, and having experience of program oversight of building secure compartment facilities for the government. None of this compares to listening to music in various and different rooms and settings. Those listening experiences alone led me to have my own impressions of what I wanted. Number one, I can’t stand carpet in a dedicated stereo listening room, or home theater for that matter. I would rather spot treat reflection zones and use diffusion after I have made measurements. I have added carpet in front of speakers to be fair, but they serve a purpose. I prefer a natural decay of the reverberation time (RT), a measure of the amount of time it takes a specific or series of sound to reach a predetermined distance, otherwise known as RT60. It is the decay of the sound that is measured....with too much damping, carpet on the floor, padding along the entire walls, the natural sound of the music can become light and dry. You also don’t want too much, then you have echoes. So, I built a room using the knowledge that I have and what I know from experiences. This is a dedicated room, not a studio, although some say it’s a studio because of what I did. Some rooms are full of carpet and sound good, but it’s a different good...for me, my benchmark is natural tone, and I lean towards that for my musical listening efforts. For others, perhaps not so much. Basement room, concrete floor, 3 walls concrete 1. Room size: 33 feet long x 19 wide x 8 high. Okay, not golden ratio, but a longer room will offset some low bass anomaly’s. 2. 7inches high density of spray foam under joists. 3. Roxul 16” Safe and sound under spray foam, and all walls (note: concrete walls had air barrier membrane that we left in place and put the Roxul on top of) 4. Resilient channel on ceiling and walls 5. Quiet rock 530 on ceiling and all walls. Another quiet rock layer 510 on ceilings. 6. Double back wall with 4 layers of quiet rock 510, 2inch gap between wall assemblies. 7. Bamboo floor over concrete. 8. Natural stone wall behind speakers (adds natural diffusion to the soundstage) 9. 2 sets of Stone wall pillars along the left and right walls ala home theater style, but again, purpose built for diffusion, and not looks, but, it does look good. 10. Ceiling painted a low emmittance black, low light reflectivity value (3) 11. Walls same low value orange red brown, 12. 5 20 amp dedicated circuits (1 for amps, 2 for subs, 1 for sources, 1 AV rack) 13. Led color changing lights (with app) in ceiling around custom built crown molding. 14. 13 foot wide acoustic transparent screen with speakers behind. In wall speakers built into quiet rock wall assemblies 7.1 channel. 15. Various mix of diffusion and bass absorbers from Vicoustic and GIK. Sound, wow, as you described what you wanted, a massive and immersive soundstage, that is what you get. Images float in space, and the reverberations of music are relaxing and a pleasure to listen to. A combined two channel and home theater room is really the best of both worlds. It’s the culmination of all of your years investment in music and stereo gear that really get a chance to shine here. I was fortunate to move into a new build house and had the ability to build out the basement the way I wanted. So, I told the builder to leave the basement as is, with only the bar, game room, bathroom, and a bedroom being built. This gave me the chance to apply all of my knowledge gained over the years to build a room the way I wanted. Could have spent more or lesss, but I determined that for me, what I spent was just right, also, since it was a new build, I was able to do the wiring infrastructure at the same time. The listening room contractor was really good...when he ran power to a home theater riser cut through the concrete, I knew he was good. Now he is building a home theater for some very well known east coast football player. If you search my handle in the analog section, you will find my report of a MC cartridge, but, I describe how the sound explodes and emits from nowhere and in a uncanny way makes you feel as one with the music. I would like to think that my room has allowed me to appreciate music even more. The room should be considered a part of the stereo system...and tuned to your liking. Good luck. I hope this short write up helps you a little. |
What a great case report, Audioquest4life. The best part is reading how much fun you seem to have had designing the room and then the satisfaction of enjoying the result. Inspirational! What is a source for your transparent screen? Is it similar to the screens used in IMAX theaters? Are the speakers you've built into your rock wall within conventional enclosures? I plan to use 1 foot thick rammed earth walls with concrete ceiling and floor. The dimensions will be symmetrical but with angles more than 90°. This will provide a rigid acoustic space of about 10,000 cu. ft. that will no doubt require sound treatment to achieve a balance between unwanted and wanted effects. This discussion has persuaded me I will need professional help to fine tune the room. I like what Audioquest4life set as objectives and the result. |
The screen is from screen innovations. It is a series 5 fixed, 2.35 aspect ratio. Have to dig into if it’s a .8 or 1.2 gain. But with a dark room, contrast or brightness is not an issue. Here is some information https://www.sydneyhificastlehill.com.au/shop/projection-screens/screen-innovations-5-series-maestro-... Also, you may be tempted to go for a curved screen, but, I saw that the overhang of the curved left and right sections protrude into (about 3-6 inches from back wall) the off axis sound of the two channel speakers (Left and right) which could cause sound contamination, and more chance of the sound to bounce around, disturbing the soundstage. Also, the sound would probably get congested in the center of the curved screen, going against the idea of having a large soundstage with elements of the music floating in space, and essentially throwing all the work done to the room away. The space behind the screen is about 4 feet deep, a small enough pocket for power, a light bulb, and the speakers. Behind screen speakers are a pair of B&W 804 diamonds, HTM1 center, and velodyne sub. The only pain is if I ever have to get behind screen, I would have to move the black velvet underneath the screen and crawl in, or with the help of someone, lift the screen and move aside and do the work. The sidewall speakers are also B&W inwall series, CWM7.3’s, 4 each. Also added prewiring for Dolby atmos in the ceiling. The AV rack sits outside the listening room adjacent in the technology and AC room with conduit ran to each of the speaker locations, and extra conduit to the 2 channel source area so that I have playing options if I wanted to use a 2 channel source from the AV rack to the stereo directly, or send a signal from 2 channel to AV rack, just having options is nice. I ran CAT 6, HDMI, XLR, and digital coax from AV room to the 2 channel stereo wall. The AV rack is a Middle Atlantic and McIntosh prosessor and 7 channel amp. The 2 channel system is all you see in the listening room, except for the fixed screen, in wall speakers, and projector. 2 giant McIntosh MC2301 tube amps with PS Audio P10 power regeneration drive B&W Nautilus 800 speakers, also have Aesthetix IO Signature tube phono stage, Transrotor Apollon turntable with two SME V arms, Soundsmith MK Sussaro II, Benz LPS, and Benz Ruby Z round out the cartridges. Octave Jubilee reference tube preamp, Clearaudio Montblanc turntable stand (massive 200 plus pounds of stainless steel poured inside with concrete), and McIntosh MVP SACD/blue ray for two channel digital. All sources have a PS audio P5 power regenerator device at each location, AV rack, 2 channel rack. Als forgot to add, that during the build, I also applied Greenglue abundantly throughout, and added wall outlet damping as well, can’t forget the holes. I will update my gallery with new pics soon. I thought adding the component list would help you visualize someone, a DIY guy like me, who virtually designed, contracted a home theater builder, and specified the materials for the build. I also pulled my own general building permit, which includes electrical, for the design, saving me some money from the contractor getting the permits. Just had to submit the design plan, really a sketch, identify plumbing, none in my case, egress windows, none in my case also, as it is a media room, and 125 dollars later, you have a permit. Make sure your contractor who does the build is also a licensed electrician...makes it a lot easier. Good luck |
One solution we’ve used is linear diffusers. They permit visual integration with complex ceiling planes and are fairly unobtrusive. They are readily integrated into the architectural design and since the air handling is remote, the ventilation is essentially silent. https://i.ibb.co/q1GbR7R/LINEAR-EX1.jpg [mfr image] |
