New Ht Room

[IndyJnr]

Hi guys,

I posted a topic last year regarding converting the garage to a HT room. I started by rendering the garage to kick things off and the wife liked it so much that I ended up rendering the entire house so 5 months latter I'm back to start the indyjnr-plex project.

Dimension are 5 by 5.5 with a another room 2.3 by 2.6 attached at the back. I've started by placing steel to hold together the brick work as its got some fine - medium cracks (weather) and closing up the car entrance.

I'm planing the following:

Bring in the wall to 4.8 and building some shelfs into the walls.

Timber frame 90*45 and to be 20mm from the brick.

New colour bond roof with rock wool.

Furring Channel with reilient mounts for the ceiling.

2 layers of 10mm sound check plaster boards for walls and ceilings incoporating fat batts.

Split level at the rear with thick wool carpet.

Windows to be installed with 10mm glass and drapes.

Wires to run via pipes to speakers with a 7.1 design.

So is there anything i'm missing or has anyone any suggestions or tips. I've heard a bit about bass traps but still a bit up in the air as to what there meant to do?

Cheers

[JoshH]

Hi guys,

I posted a topic last year regarding converting the garage to a HT room. I started by rendering the garage to kick things off and the wife liked it so much that I ended up rendering the entire house so 5 months latter I'm back to start the indyjnr-plex project.

Dimension are 5 by 5.5 with a another room 2.3 by 2.6 attached at the back. I've started by placing steel to hold together the brick work as its got some fine - medium cracks (weather) and closing up the car entrance.

I'm planing the following:

Bring in the wall to 4.8 and building some shelfs into the walls.

Timber frame 90*45 and to be 20mm from the brick.

New colour bond roof with rock wool.

Furring Channel with reilient mounts for the ceiling.

2 layers of 10mm sound check plaster boards for walls and ceilings incoporating fat batts.

Split level at the rear with thick wool carpet.

Windows to be installed with 10mm glass and drapes.

Wires to run via pipes to speakers with a 7.1 design.

So is there anything i'm missing or has anyone any suggestions or tips. I've heard a bit about bass traps but still a bit up in the air as to what there meant to do?

Cheers

A big queation there... ahelluva lot depends on your budget and what you ultimately want to achieve. You can read my blog for some preliminary info on acoustic treatments - what I have done in my theatre - it will give you an idea of costs.

If you have the budget - treating the room acoustically will be the best thing you ever do.

[Guest EZYHD]

Hi guys,

So is there anything i'm missing or has anyone any suggestions or tips. I've heard a bit about bass traps but still a bit up in the air as to what there meant to do?

Cheers

If your installing a PJ and Screen put in some timber across the beams to take the weight.

Good idea to use wall plates.

http://www.cliff.com.au/products/wallplates/wallplates.htm

Cables for long runs.

http://www.htcustomcables.com

http://www.lindy.com.au/cables_audio_video_cables.htm

Soffits (bulkhead) around room look good and can instal rears into them.

Rears

http://adigitallife.com.au/home_theatre.html?cat=27

[IndyJnr]

A big queation there... ahelluva lot depends on your budget and what you ultimately want to achieve. You can read my blog for some preliminary info on acoustic treatments - what I have done in my theatre - it will give you an idea of costs.

If you have the budget - treating the room acoustically will be the best thing you ever do.

Just had a read and you have gone to some lengths to create a cracker of a room. My budget for my room is around the 5k mark, just to cover materials as I will be doing all the work myself. The budget for the system will be around 10k, I'm starting of small and will work my way the HT equip ladder.

So back to your bass traps are they placed along the walls after the room was completed or somehow intergrated into the structure? Also you metioned absorber wall panels are these just panels placed on the wall?

Thanks for the links foxtail will prove most valuable.

Cheers

[IndyJnr]

Hi Guys,

Here is a link to some 3d renders I just completed on my HT room. Any feedback would be great.

Cheers

http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?showtopic=48531

[JoshH]

So back to your bass traps are they placed along the walls after the room was completed or somehow intergrated into the structure? Also you metioned absorber wall panels are these just panels placed on the wall?

Bass traps are in the rear corners of the room and the front corners of the room in my theatre. there are 4 traps in the rear - 2 in each corner on top of each other - these are broadband 100-200 hz traps. In the front two corners I have 4 traps also but these are tuned to specific problem frequencies in my room - there are two more traps where the front wall meet the ceiling similiarly tuned.

absorber panels are placed on the wall at strategic points - be careful with absorbtion. Its easy to over damp a room and end up with a nasty sounding overdamped room that is uncomfortable. A well designed acoustic room should be a wonderful place to just sit and have a conversation because it just sounds so 'right'.

[Thudd1503560234]

So is there anything i'm missing

IB subwoofer!

Consider running two cable runs to each speaker point for future bi-amping.

And a lesson learnt from my room. I exited the cables for the equipment rack in a series of holes running down the wall with wall plates for each group of cables. If I was doing it again, I'd bring them all out in one big bunch into a breakout box on the wall then seperate them from there. It would have made it much easier than trying to coordinate an octopus of cables through the holes as we fixed the panels up onto the wall.

If you put any insulation up in the walls, make sure you've got all the cables/powerpoints/etc in place on both sides of the wall before the insulation goes up! We ran into the problem where we wanted to take down some shelving off the wall from the room that backs onto our lounge/HT after the lounge walls had been done - and discovered that the screws holding the shelves in bound up in the insulation when I tried to unscrew them, and I had to literally cut them out. Indeed, I ended up just ripping the shelves off the wall and banging some screws that I just couldn't get out back into the wall then plastering over the top of them!

[glennb]

Hi Guys,

Here is a link to some 3d renders I just completed on my HT room. Any feedback would be great.

Cheers

http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?showtopic=48531

Indy, what software are you producing the pictures with?

Also, you might want to consider having your LCR speakers away from the wall a bit to improve the sound quality.

[IndyJnr]

Indy, what software are you producing the pictures with?

Also, you might want to consider having your LCR speakers away from the wall a bit to improve the sound quality.

Thanks for the tips guys. Bi-amping does sound good but I will need to see if there is room in the budget for a doubling of the cables.

Wacko I'm using Maya for the 3d stuff, I've been doing digital stuff for a couple of years more characters than buildings, only took a couple of hours to create plus I have all the frames in place and shelfs so I know what im doing. I've added some more pics.

I can say its cool to move things around to see where you want things to go.

http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?showtop...mp;#entry640478

[Guest EZYHD]

This is one of the nicest and neat HT's I've seen.

http://hdworld.iforumer.com/viewtopic.php?...;mforum=hdworld

[JoshH]

This is one of the nicest and neat HT's I've seen.

http://hdworld.iforumer.com/viewtopic.php?...;mforum=hdworld

Colors are ok - but room layout and equipment layout is not the best. Very nice on the eye - but I doubt it sounds all that good. LCR speaker positioning is far from ideal Looks like the centre chair is centre of room - a big No No. Subwoofer is floating around somewhere between centre and side - what the? etc.. Still it looks nice.

[pajames]

Colors are ok - but room layout and equipment layout is not the best. Very nice on the eye - but I doubt it sounds all that good. LCR speaker positioning is far from ideal Looks like the centre chair is centre of room - a big No No. Subwoofer is floating around somewhere between centre and side - what the? etc.. Still it looks nice.

Actually it sounds fantastic, I have been into HT for over 10 years and during that time I have listened to many, many different HT rooms and I am more than satisfied with the sound I get from mine, is it perfect, of course it isn't, do I have the money to spend on having 'HT experts' come out and charge me hundreds of dollars per hour to put the room through the acoustical ringer and then charge me through the nose to put a million bass traps and the like in to get that 'perfect sound', no I don't. I doubt there's many people at all whose HT rooms have achieved the perfect sound or as close to it as possible without spending tens of thousands of dollars on it.

Can I spend eighteen thousand dollars just on acoustically treating the room as you have done, no I can't. I'd love to spend that amount of money on my room and it's equipment as you have obviously done on yours but unfortunately I don't have a blank cheque book so I can't. I have done the best job I can with the money and available resources to acoustically treat the room and set out the room. Judging by your sig it probably would never reach the dizzy heights of your expectations anyway. But for what it's worth the photos were taken last August and since then the left & right speakers have been moved closer to the center and away from the walls.

I have two rows of three seats all joined, the rear row on a step up riser, how else am I going to have them?? The room is only 3.6m wide. Of course they have to be centered unless I want one side jammed up against the wall, the room would look of putting if the seats were off center, besides I can sit in anyone of them I like. Also you would know that subwoofer placement is not critical to one particular position and that it can be moved to give the listener the best bass response for their sitting position, for me I get that with the subwoofer placed between the center & side speakers. Also cosmetically I like it where it is and I don't want it up against the wall.

Paul

[Azz123]

Hi Guys,

Here is a link to some 3d renders I just completed on my HT room. Any feedback would be great.

Cheers

http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?showtopic=48531

Hi Indy..

As someone else has asked, please let us know the software youve used for the VR.. Looks great....

Your room is looking fantastic!! As youve asked for comment, I'll add my 99 cents worth with just a couple of comments about the speaker positioning..

From the VR's, the mains appear to be quite elevated?? Performance and sound wise, I'm not sure this is such a great idea.. In the perfect world (where is this bloody perfect world we keep hearing about??) Your tweeters should be aligned across the front of your room. elevating your mains is going to magnify the fact that your centre channel is way down below under the screen. Something that cannot be overcome without going to one of those fandangled screens that you can have speakers behind. EDIT: I'm remembering something about tweeters being as close to possible to seated ear height as well *shrugs*

Your surround speakers - they appear to be aligned with roughly the rear of the front row of seats?

Grab yourself a Dolby/THX speaker layout chart (Google is your friend) or have a look at the advised speaker placement in the manual that comes with your receiver. I know for a fact it's in the Yamaha manuals, can't speak for other brands... It's my understanding that they should be mounted on the side walls (as you've done), though mounted behind and no further forward than the listening position.

I was unfortunate enough to experience some time in a guys HT room where he had the surrounds in front of the listening position so he could squeeze in the surround backs so he could have a 7.1 system, and to me, it sounded like a dogs breakfast.. Granted if your hot seat is in the front row, this may not be an issue, though if you have guests, and forfeit your seat for the row behind you, listening to some material that youre familiar with, I'm sure you'll scowl a little...

RE Bass traps, As you've got windows, as many of the guys will attest here, full length 100% blockout drapes with a pelmet make a considerable difference to room reflection. They might not resolve all issues, though hanging them will certainly make an acoustic difference within your room.

You may find you only need a couple of bass traps (read less $$) rather than walls of them after..

Not sure if it's been mentioned, don't forget to run some CAT6 network cable in for "just in case".. even if you leave the bulk of it in the ceiling, it will be routed to a wall outlet if required.

Good luck with it!!

A

[IndyJnr]

Thanks for the comments A. I have created 2 new renders with the speakers in white so you can see where the are placed. I have gone for a 7.1 set up just for cabling purposes as I only have a 5.1 system at the moment but want to run the cables for future needs.

I do want the front speakers elevated a bit as the rear of the room will be on a higher level. But as you have suggested I will only raise them to a point where they dont overpower the centre speaker (this will be angled slightly upward).

Actually the only cable that will be coming from the house will be a cat5 cable, mainly to use with the xbox which is connected to the desktop.

Also just looked up what bass traps look like some sort of foam, do these need to go into the walls are just in the corners?

I will start posting some pics of my progress as I get started.

Renders ahead. 2nd pic did not load correctly.

http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?showtopic=48531

Cheers

[50mxe20]

Renders ahead. 2nd pic did not load correctly.

Under manage your attachments, you can delete the offending pic.

[quijibo]

Why only 2 seats in the front row?

If viewing angle is the reason, surely 3 would fit well enough.

[50mxe20]

Equality of sweet spot?!?

[IndyJnr]

Why only 2 seats in the front row?

If viewing angle is the reason, surely 3 would fit well enough.

I will be only going with 2 intitialy and the rest will be bin bags until I can budget a few more. I just created two blocks and copied them 6 times I don't really know why.

[alfalfa]

But for what it's worth the photos were taken last August and since then the left & right speakers have been moved closer to the center and away from the walls.

Good to hear as that is the biggest thing wrong with the setup in the photo.

I would even suggest moving them further forward onto the main floor as opposed to the platform they are on. You have the room for it and the further from the walls the better.

Anyway its a nice setup so congrats.

[50mxe20]

Equality of sweet spot?!?

And WAF.

[IndyJnr]

Hi,

I've started to buy the timber required and will start on the frame soon, maybe next week.

I need some help on the floor, currently the floor is a concrete slab 3 inch top is smooth. Which of the following would be my best option for HT and budget?

1. Paint the concrete with paving paint and install carpet.

2. Glue Green tongue flooring and then carpet on top.

3. Install a timber frame on the concrete and then the green tongue floor - carpet.

Any help would be great.

Cheers

[IndyJnr]

Hi Guys,

Just a update on my progress with the HT room. Framing is finished and plaster boards arrived yesterday and going up this weekend.

I went with poly sound insulation for the interior and sealed up the entrance of the garage with harditex.

I now have a dead zone in the HT room as all noise falls flat. I put in two windows at the back of the room with 10.38 lam glass,

I’m happy with the sound performance. I will be bringing in the sub, dvd and amp tonight to test for any rattles.

I’m only using one layer of sound check as the room is detached from the house.

Also in terms of lights I went for 3 downlights above the screen and 6 in the ceiling. I will build some ply wood boxes to house them in.

Also as I wanted to showcase my movie collectables I have built 8 display cabinets in the walls and plan on treating these with some insulation

as the big cabinets are located at the first reflection points. Bought some velvet to dress to the cabinets and its looks special

The bulk heads or soffits will be installed after the plaster and will have the rope lighting. Anyone have any suggestion on what type to use,

needs to accept 240V?

I’m planning on going with a 2.35 screen, 3.22w by 1.37h and will build some masking curtains for 16:9 viewing. Initially will be going down

the zoom route for the 2.35 but plan on buying a lens down the track. In terms of the projector looks like the Sony VW60 is on the cards

from price japan. Also really want the monitor audio silver series fronts and might go for in wall rears.

I will post some pics soon.

Cheers

[IndyJnr]

http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?showtop...mp;#entry802784

Ok 2 renders and the actual wall with a fake screen. Do the speaker placements look correct,

I'm about to run the cables for a 7.1 setup. As soon as I finish the plastering I will put the bulk head in.

I'm looking around at the moment for the speakers, I like the monitor audio sliver or bronze FX range.

Any suggestions on in wall speakers, BOSE in wall have a nice sound and not bad on price.

Edited October 8, 2007 by IndyJnr

[Trigg]

looking great!

[glennb]

http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?showtop...mp;#entry802784

Ok 2 renders and the actual wall with a fake screen. Do the speaker placements look correct,

I'm about to run the cables for a 7.1 setup. As soon as I finish the plastering I will put the bulk head in.

I'm looking around at the moment for the speakers, I like the monitor audio sliver or bronze FX range.

Any suggestions on in wall speakers, BOSE in wall have a nice sound and not bad on price.

The MA range (silver included) have in-wall and in-ceiling models, so if you like them for the mains and center, then you can go MA all the way around the room if you like.

Also, you will need to pull the front speakers out from the wall a bit to prevent boomy bass from them.

Edited October 8, 2007 by Wacko02