Hi SNers,

 

I am currently finalising the design of a music listening room for a new home build and wanted to reach out to this learned group of enthusiasts and professionals. My wife would say that SN is a cult…

 

Where we have landed up is a space that is going to be 4m (width) x 5.7M (length) x 3m (height). 3 walls will be brick with the exception of section that is opposite the 4m width being glass sliding doors.
 

The brick end of the 4m wall will have a wall-mounted TV together with floor standers positioned  away from the wall. I am starting to consider floor materials, heavy curtains in front of the sliding glass together with possibly installing wooden battens on the side walls and bass traps on the corners behind the floorstanders.
 

You may have gone down this path before, I was hoping to pick your fine minds on differences between:

- Concrete vs engineered wood vs carpeted floors

- Acoustic panels vs architectural wooden battens on walls

- Plain ceiling vs acoustic clouds. 
 

Really happy and and thanks in advance for feedback and suggestions. 
 

M

Hey Merrill,

 

I wish I had been bitten by the HiFi bug prior to building our house 11 years ago. I have reconciled myself to needing to build a detached room, for which I have space, and that will ultimately function as a HT, games or entertaining space for future owners.

 

The size looks quite good ... I believe the 'Golden Ratio' is 1(h)x1.6(w)x2.56(l). When you say brick walls do you mean exposed brick or just that they will be external brick walls with timber frame and gyprock? If that's the case I have heard that two layers of gyprock bonded with 'Green Glue' is a good solution and I stumbled across this fixing system a while ago https://kineticsnoise.com/isomax/sound-isolation-clips

 

I am no expert here and I hope you get some more educated responses but if I were making the decisions you've posted now ...

- Concrete vs engineered wood vs carpeted floors ... carpeted with thick underlay

- Acoustic panels vs architectural wooden battens on walls ... acoustic panels would give more options for effective absorption and or diffusion

- Plain ceiling vs acoustic clouds. ... treating the ceiling would probably be better than not

 

As I'll be doing a specific new build I'm looking at doing a skillion roof so I can get a ceiling rising in height towards the rear of the room.

 

Good luck, I'll follow your thread with interest to see what comments others make. There's lots of interesting info in older threads in this Room Acoustics forum.

14 hours ago, Mez said:

- Concrete vs engineered wood vs carpeted floors

I've heard a somewhat well known acoustician in the US Matthew Poes (https://www.poesacoustics.com/) voicing against carpet. He calls it a poor absorber and that it's better to treat other areas in a room and perhaps just a rug somewhere on the floor.

18 hours ago, Kirby66 said:

Hey Merrill,

 

I wish I had been bitten by the HiFi bug prior to building our house 11 years ago. I have reconciled myself to needing to build a detached room, for which I have space, and that will ultimately function as a HT, games or entertaining space for future owners.

 

The size looks quite good ... I believe the 'Golden Ratio' is 1(h)x1.6(w)x2.56(l). When you say brick walls do you mean exposed brick or just that they will be external brick walls with timber frame and gyprock? If that's the case I have heard that two layers of gyprock bonded with 'Green Glue' is a good solution and I stumbled across this fixing system a while ago https://kineticsnoise.com/isomax/sound-isolation-clips

 

I am no expert here and I hope you get some more educated responses but if I were making the decisions you've posted now ...

- Concrete vs engineered wood vs carpeted floors ... carpeted with thick underlay

- Acoustic panels vs architectural wooden battens on walls ... acoustic panels would give more options for effective absorption and or diffusion

- Plain ceiling vs acoustic clouds. ... treating the ceiling would probably be better than not

 

As I'll be doing a specific new build I'm looking at doing a skillion roof so I can get a ceiling rising in height towards the rear of the room.

 

Good luck, I'll follow your thread with interest to see what comments others make. There's lots of interesting info in older threads in this Room Acoustics forum.

Thanks Mark. Will share plans as they get developed further. I do like the concept of the sloping roof as it will deal with standing waves. 

The current construction plans call for the internal walls for the room to be built with brick. I can either render, gyprock or possibly add wooden battens to improve the acoustics. 
 

All the best on your build as well. Keen to hear more on how you are planning to implement acoustic treatment. 
 

M

Thanks Merrill, the project has sat dormant (awaiting funds) for a couple of years - now it looks like it might possible in the near future. My goal, being a greenfield build, is to manage as much of the acoustics as possible in the design / build and thereby minimise the amount of additional treatment required.

 

@Satanica Paul's note re: floor covering is well noted as a tiled floor (or maybe even polished concrete) would provide more flexibility for other room duties.

 

Electrical wiring at the build stage will also allow me to make it HiFi friendly ... separate fuse box / circuits for audio only and better power cabling for high current needs etc.

 

There's a long list of HiFi considerations ... not least of which is that I'm 90% certain I've already chosen the 'sweet spot' seat !!!

 

Making some progress on the project!

 

The architect has stretched out the room to now be 6.3 x 4.0 metres. 
 

I have specified for a dedicated power line for the GPOs. 
 

Floor will be polished concrete with a rug covering a large portion. The rest of the level where the room is located in will be polished concrete and it was was simply easier to manage the levels that way. 
 

Side walls with the 6.3m lengths will be featuring wooden battens in the brick work which should help with higher frequency dispersion. 
 

Ceilings will be insulated for noise and damping.  I’ll see if I am allowed to install some acoustic clouds for first reflections on the ceiling..

 

M