Need Help Designing a Dream Room

ozfly: what a fortunate man you are. i dream frequently of doing what you now have the chance to do for real. sean is absolutely right. it is no small undertaking to design an aesthetically and sonically pleasing room; it takes either expertise or much trial and error. i prefer the former. there are many things to consider, in addition to those you note. for example, you ought to choose very quiet heating and cooling sources and the kind of lighting least likely to cause interactions with your electronics. employ an expert in HOME acoustics. don't make the mistake in hiring an acoustic engineer used to designing sound enhancements for hockey arenas. ask and ask and ask before you begin. there are many who have knowledge to impart. one person to whom i'd recommend your speaking is alan goodwin of goodwin's highend in waltham, MA. i spent a rainy afternoon last november talking with alan about the design of acoustic spaces; he is a fountain of knowledge, gotten the less preferred way-- trial and error. do have fun and please try to convince your wife of the beauty of wool oriental carpets to cover a part of her wooden floors, especially in front of your speakers. i envy you your puzzlement. -kelly

First, I basically agree with your room dimensions except that you might change the length to between 32 and 36 feet, to reduce standing waves in the ultra deep frequencies.

Second, put in as many dedicated lines as you can afford. My sound system has twelve dedicated 120 volt lines and two 240 volt dedicated lines for the stereo alone. Lighting and outlets are additional and separate from those. Be prepared to fight with the electrician on this, he will say it is totally unnecessary.

Many US amplifiers may be configured to run on 240 volt, and generally perform better ( fewer step up windings in the transformer, and half the amp draw for the same power ).

Consider using at least two, possibly three layers of five eights inch sheetrock on ALL the walls and ceilings in the room, and use liquid nails or silicone between each layer to eliminate flexing.

If possible, box the floor and walls into 18 inch squares in the framing process. This is also referred to as fire blocking. This almost completely eliminates flexing and will improve bandwidth and imaging.

Use liquid nails when installing the floor, and if pier and beam, use MicroLam beams, which are laminated (man made) beams that are epoxy pressure formed wood. Frame the MicroLam with galvanized brackets, in addition to the toe nailing with the nail gun, using plastic coated nails.

The best floor (under your proposed hard wood) is called sturdy floor. It is tongue and groove, and measures one and a half inch thick, is laminated (epoxy bound) and should be attached with liquid nails and deck screws to the Micro Lam during construction.

This will form a foundation that will not flex, squeak or vibrate, regardless of weight, placement or SPL produced by your system.

Put all the analog (or digital if your not an analog guy) on the high side of the electrical system. You can meter the two feeds from the power company, and determine the high side. Run the rest of the house on the low side, and separate the grounds between the two. I had a 200 amp (Square D) electrical panel divided into two sides, high and low. The stereo was all on one side in a solid row, and labeled. The rest of the house on the other side.

If you live were you can demand three phase, get it. Run your air conditioner (and / or swim pool equip.) on it. It will reduce your electrical bill and further remove noise from entering the stereo system.

If you can order a large "pass through" electric meter, DO SO. This type meter does not run the electrical feed through the metering equip (the meter read by the electric co.). Instead, there are solid copper bars that pass through the meter (same as your drop) and the electric companies meter is an Amprobe design. That is, it reads by "clipping" around the copper rods, rather than breaking the circuit!

You may have to fight for this type meter, and it is usually only in larger sizes. Mine is a 750 Amp. The utility is required to provide this upon request, provided you state that you intend to up your usage to require this at a later date. This may require meeting with a supervisor from the utility. It is usually a long wait on the phone, but in the end, is a FREE upgrade if they agree.

Separate grounds may be accomplished by using plastic AC outlet boxes, and running separate THHN ground to cold water pipe or copper ground rod. The rest of the house goes to the panel ground on the master box. If you are one that is concerned with ground potential, you may run a separate eight gauge ground from the panel ground, back to the same cold water pipe.

If you use metal screen under the wood floor and float the foundation (either pier and beam or slab) run a solid copper ground wire completely across the room, corner to corner, and attach to a ground rod before the concrete pour is done. This will form and RF cage, removing much of the received radio and microwave transmission that bombards our homes every day.

Do not install dimmers in the room.

Plan on spending some money on area rugs so you are not exposed to 100% hard wood floor.

Avoid any glass or doors on the walls behind the speakers and the walls immediately beside them.

Design the room with channels under the floor. PVC pipe is cheap, and may be purchased in every size. Place them between the equipment and speaker ends of the room before the pour. After construction, you have access to pull any size or brand of wire between your front end and mono amplifiers behind the speakers.

Fill ALL the walls, REGARDLESS if interior or exterior, with Owens Corning sound proof and basement R11 Fiberglass before installing the sheet rock.

I built a floor to ceiling bookcase in my listening room that attached to the foundation and roof structure. Within this space, I use solid Maple butcher block shelves two inches thick, and mount them with KV shelf bracket hardware.

This arrangement allows placement of stereo equipment where it is the most convenient and attractive, while providing adjustability for future upgrades incompatible with fixed spacing. This shelf has outlasted a dozen equipment changes, and saved thousands of dollars in (not) replacing racks and stands!

I have other suggestions, as I am currently doing this to my own living room. I know this all sounds a bit over the top, but I assure you that everything added together will not add as much to the price of your home as the price tag of a decent mid line amp.

In the end, these room improvements will have a decidedly larger effect on your listening pleasure, without becoming obsolete or requiring audiophile upgrades.

Later on, much of this would be difficult, if not impossible to implement at any price. Best luck.

One thing I would recommend is to try to design the openings in the room symetrically. I have used rooms with unsymetrical opening into other rooms and due to varience in sound pressure levels it created a floating image that drove me nuts. Hardwood floors can actully be great if you use an area rug.

I would also wires several plugs wired directly form the fuse box using hospital grade wireing.

Good luck with the new house. I envy you buiding a specialized room.

Actually, I WOULD NOT recommend you using 3 layers of sheetrock INSIDE the actual listening room, as the other gentleman suggested!!! you do't want the walls that unforgiving and stiff ideally! if you do put 3 layers, or the likes, you should do it on the OUTSIDE of the room, allowing for the room to have some give (instead of soundig hard and unyielding!), and let bass be naturally absorbed better, and simultaneously keeping sound out/in, etc.!!!
Anyway, i'm sure there's some good ideas that were mentioned here. And, as a custom home theater/room designer/acoustical engineer myself by trade, may I suggest you either get a professional to do the actual design work of the room (too easy to make big mistakes if your serious about your endevor, and a novice at the same time!?), or do lot's and lot's of home work!!!
Still it's hard to attack all the variables, if you don't have experience in to what does what, when you do this and that! Some things help, others make worse!...and so on.
There's no substitute for experience in this case (as many), and you'd do well to get some assistance from someone with the right expertise (my advice anyway)!
Actually, if you did want to get into it the correct way yourself, and wanted to do your own design work on this project, you should try to attend "Russ Hershelman's" work shop in San Francisco next month!!! I think there's still seats available, but the price is $750 (well worth it for what you're going to get, and what your investing in!!!). If you don't know who Russ Hershelman is, he's non other than the top Custom theater/room designer/engineer/ in the world!!!! He designs and egineers for all the biggest clients, and works with the biggest custom theater installers in the biz! Anything to do with designing sound rooms, and he's probably the man to listen to!!! He also runs articles in 3 top magazines (Home Theater, Stereophile's Guide to HT, and AV Interiors I belive (?). He's on going articles in most I think, and his knowledge in these area's is second to none!!(although I like to think I'm close to his league!!!...?). Anyway, best wishes on your endevor! Audioalexander....

I do not know the gentleman who you so deeply respect that does home theatre. The person who believes that multiple layers of sheet rock are not good.

My advice is not from my own experience, but rather from Russ Burger, the studio designer. Russ did Whitney Houston's studio, the acoustic work for Woody Allen and the new CBS recording studio. He is currently working on NFL studios, and in the short breaks between, has been kind enough to advise me on my room acoustics.

You are welcome to dismiss my opinions on audio, but as for acoustics, I prefer the advice of the guy that is responsible for music rather than theater.