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Need Help Designing a Dream Room

The company I work for got acquired and I'm moving to the new headquarters in Charlotte. We're having no luck finding an existing home meeting our unusual needs (smaller house since we are almost empty nesters, but big listening room on the first floor), so we're building a new home. Hot dog! I finally get to design a dream room!

I'm not an audio engineer, so all I know (and it might be wrong) is that one should use the 1.618 ratio rule. Therefore, I am planning on a family room which is 11x18x29 (nothing is set though). The floors will be hardwood (my wife, who is generous, gracious and loving enough to go through this process instead of buying a perfectly fine regular house, insists on the flooring). I have very large speakers: Montana KAS's. I love many kinds of music: Jazz, blues, classical and rock.

How should I design this room? Separate electrical box? Dimensions? Materials? Rounded corners? This will open into the kitchen and eating area (separate rooms) so we can enjoy the music there as well. Thanks in advance. I look forward to your advice.
ozfly
cornfedboy
1,645 posts
 
ozlfly: i quite agree with albert about the importance of a sound foundation (pun intended) before applying acoustic treatment. two of the best rooms i've listened in have quite different foundations. the first applied construction much as albert has suggested but uses dual stud walls; this system employs room-within-a-room construction with two 2x6 decoupled stud walls, each covered with double thicknesses of 5/8" drywall and each wall lined with acoustic dacron "insulation." a 2" air void between the walls adds to the sound isolation in both directions. the second "foundation" is comprised of brick laid inside two-foot thick stone exterior walls (not practical, agreed, unless you've bought a cottage in the cotswolds). check out the chord audio listening room (in kent, england--no, not the cotswolds) for an example of a "brick interior" sound room:

http://195.40.133.90/website/main-gallery.htm.

i particulaly like the way the ceiling is treated. don’t know how it sounds but it sure as hell looks great. again, have fun, you lucky..... :^} -kelly
albertporter's avatar
albertporter
4,949 posts
 
Kelly, I regret that I cannot apply one of these more complete solutions in room acoustics to my own space.

I have no doubt they are more advanced than what I have planned, but I believe the improvements I outlined will make a tremendous difference. The key word here is affordable. The people who are doing my acoustic did the Morton Meyerson Symphony Center here in Dallas. Obviously, my budget is poor compared to that masterpiece. Still, the acoustic work ( beyond the mechanical work outlined in my post) , will run another $15,000.00.

It would be nice to be able to do everything just perfect, and I would if budget permitted. I am certain that room construction and acoustics play as big a role in musical reproduction as the hardware we audiophiles pile in after the fact.

It is certainly less expensive to get the room right than spending for equipment in a never ending attempt to apply a band aid to the situation later.
danvetc
527 posts
 
Here is a link to an article by RE Greene with some formulas for bass frequency reflections within a room:

http://www.avguide.com/how_to/index.html

You lucky dog. Charlie
cornfedboy
1,645 posts
 
albert: i've absolutely no doubt that your sound room will rank among the most sonically pleasing i'll ever get the chance to experience. oh, i did tell you, didn't i, that i'm planning a little trip to dallas to participate in one of your tuesday night get-togethers, just as soon as you've got things all cranked up and dialed in? i have never heard anyone take more care than you in designing and overseeing your new soundspace. ozfly would be wise to emulate you. BTW, where are all those digital pics of the construction process you've taken with that whizz-bang new nikon? -kelly

ps- the chord electronics url in my last post won't work unless you leave the period off "htm" sorry. -fks
sean
6,231 posts
 
Albert, an "rf cage" can only be achieved by doing what is called a "screen room". This is a room that is COMPLETELY covered in a tightly meshed conductive screen that is grounded, much like some "avid" ham radio operators do when building a "ground grid" in the yard around their house. In order for this to work properly, you would have to do the floor, ceiling, all walls, doors, windows, etc... Shielding certain areas between adjoining rooms or the floor above a basement MIGHT help if there were nearby devices producing low level RF, but since RF propogates by "floating", anything less than "blanketing" the room with a some type of ground shunted "shield" is just about useless. The RF will simply "float" around, above, below, etc... the shield and find its' way into the circuitry and wiring. Sean
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