Other factors affecting sound

Hubbel receptacles look decent, not sure what Industrial vs. Hospital grade is. On amazon you can get them quite cheap, $20-40. 

I would suggest a whole house surge suppressor in your main panel.  (uses 2 spaces). Secondly, one or two dedicated 20Amp circuits to the site of your equipment stack. Third, I have used rockwool insulation in several recent remodeling projects. It comes in flat panels and batts. It has thermal insulation, fire resistance, water resistance, and sound dampening all-in-one. Usually available at HD and Lowes, but sometimes can be special ordered in larger quantities for a better price. Consider using rockwool above (between the joists) to lessen the sound bleed through to the rest of the house.

A basement can have heating issues, water leakage, flooding, musty smells, etc. Make sure that deal with all that as best you during your remodel.  best of luck.

@mike_in_nc thanks for the sound rock tip.

Most definitely, though they are rare today. I was raised in a New England house with lath, horsehair, and plaster walls, and you can tell the difference just walking into the room. The random thicknesses of the plaster (and maybe the horsehair) reduce resonances, I guess. Wallboard is just a huge drumhead.

I think it is related to wall stiffness(?).The plaster is so much stiffer than drywall.
The good part about drywall is that the skirting boards (baseboards) pull the drywall to the board as much as the board to the drywall, when one is using screws..

On plaster they both need to be straight.

I did not take measurements when I did a counselling room with thick 5/8” drywall and green glue. But it sounded also most like a plaster wall at that point in terms of sound coming through the wall. It was really the solid core door that was dominant at that point.

It is great that the @ei001h is doing this electrical stuff now…

I would probably add in some conduits for ethernet, fibre, etc… One can always suck through a string with a vacuum to pull a different cable later if there is a conduit in place in the guts of the wall.

great recommendations on insulation and conduits. 

I was planning to get a barn door for aesthetics, is this a bad idea? 

any specific recommendations on whole house surge protectors? 

Relentless horn blowing doesn't improve fidelity.

      I concur!