A Novice's Escapade: Dedicated HT Room Project

[Bharadwaj Bunga]

Hello everyone,

This is Bharadwaj from Vijayawada, AP. I have been an avid follower of HiFi Vision and gained a lot of knowledge from this forum.

My current HT setup is a Media PC + Boston Acoustics Soundware XS 5.1 + Denon AVR X500 in a spare room.

Though a dedicated HT room bug bit my mind 8 years back I couldn't really give it a serious go owing to various reasons. Finally I took the plunge and planning to build it by May 2022.

Intention of starting this thread is to seek inputs from all the experts here and do a proper planning before I initiate the project. We will take this in a phased manner.

Phase - 1: Room Construction:

I'm planning to build a room on the terrace from the scratch and as per my knowledge I have decided to go by these measurements 24 X 16 X 10 feet.

Now, my first question is, are these measurements supposed to be from wall to wall (inner surface) or after building the drywall?

Also, which bricks are ideal for wall? AAC blocks or clay bricks?

This is the rough depiction of my plan. Please suggest if any changes are needed.

 

[ankitbhargava]

Hello everyone,

This is Bharadwaj from Vijayawada, AP. I have been an avid follower of HiFi Vision and gained a lot of knowledge from this forum.

My current HT setup is a Media PC + Boston Acoustics Soundware XS 5.1 + Denon AVR X500 in a spare room.

Though a dedicated HT room bug bit my mind 8 years back I couldn't really give it a serious go owing to various reasons. Finally I took the plunge and planning to build it by May 2022.

Intention of starting this thread is to seek inputs from all the experts here and do a proper planning before I initiate the project. We will take this in a phased manner.

Phase - 1: Room Construction:

I'm planning to build a room on the terrace from the scratch and as per my knowledge I have decided to go by these measurements 24 X 16 X 10 feet.

Now, my first question is, are these measurements supposed to be from wall to wall (inner surface) or after building the drywall?

Also, which bricks are ideal for wall? AAC blocks or clay bricks?

This is the rough depiction of my plan. Please suggest if any changes are needed.

View attachment 65306

Great start!
If this is 7.X.4 setup with Atmos channels being Top front and Top Middle (since its not a supported format)? or is it Front height and Top Middle?

 

[cmsajith]

If you are planning the room on the terrace, most probably you can use only AAC or Aerocon prefab walls. If it can handle the load of bricks, use solid cement blocks with higher density. You will get better isolation.

What is the reason for laying drywall over the new wall? The inner surface can be left as it is with out thick plastering too. No point in spending on the wall finish as the whole surface will be covered in fabric.

The speakers can be installed on a baffle wall (2-3ft deep), so the net room will be 21-22 x 16ft which is a good size. AAC will be a good choice for the baffle wall too.

 

[Bharadwaj Bunga]

Great start!
If this is 7.X.4 setup with Atmos channels being Top front and Top Middle (since its not a supported format)? or is it Front height and Top Middle?

Hi Ankit! This is going to be a 7.2.4 setup with 4 in-ceiling channels for a perfect atmos experience. I will be adding wiring for front and rear/surround height channels for future proofing sake!

If you are planning the room on the terrace, most probably you can use only AAC or Aerocon prefab walls. If it can handle the load of bricks, use solid cement blocks with higher density. You will get better isolation.

What is the reason for laying drywall over the new wall? The inner surface can be left as it is with out thick plastering too. No point in spending on the wall finish as the whole surface will be covered in fabric.

The speakers can be installed on a baffle wall (2-3ft deep), so the net room will be 21-22 x 16ft which is a good size. AAC will be a good choice for the baffle wall too.

Will check the prefab panels but I feel conventional clay brick wall makes the drilling part easy.

My intention in choosing drywall is to attain a decent acoustic isolation. I'm planning to add mass loaded vinyl -> Rockwool/Synthwool -> PU Foam -> Fabric.

Any pointers on this and baffle wall would be highly appreciated.

 

[flat_listener]

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[cmsajith]

Will check the prefab panels but I feel conventional clay brick wall makes the drilling part easy.

Drilling into these walls is not an issue, it will hold well

My intention in choosing drywall is to attain a decent acoustic isolation. I'm planning to add mass loaded vinyl -> Rockwool/Synthwool -> PU Foam -> Fabric.

Its a myth that adding a drywall which is coupled to the wall can give isolation. Also no insulation material can give isolation rather air gap. You need to decouple the inner wall from the outer wall using isolation clips with rubber on resilient channels so that it leaves an air gap between the walls. Also the walls should not short in any way. Its room inside the room. If isolation is your concern do it properly, else its a waste of money. With high density cement block and sealing the doors with seals, you can get a decent isolation through air. To eliminate the vibration transfer you need to invest a lot. By laying a higher freq resonating drywall or ply coupled to a low freq resonating thick density wall will catch all those vibrations and pass it on to the wall than isolating.

The proper way to isolate is to have a high density walls using cement solid block with an air gap and the gap gap be filled with loose insulation material. To reduce the low frequency transfer from this thick wall set you need a damping wall using drywall or ply on resilient channels and isolation clips so that it vibrates of its own and its damped by those isolation clips. This should be done to all surfaces and should not be touching each other. This is expensive.

If you don't have that budget the best is cement block construction if the existing structure supports the weight else AAC block or Aerocon walls (same as AAC).

Any pointers on this and baffle wall would be highly appreciated.

Baffle wall is to avoid boundary interface and the nulls caused by that for the LCRs. You can use a good inwall or onwall speaker without baffle correction circuit or even normal speaker (will have more bass, but can be adjusted in the calibration). This will not only eliminate all issues related to the boundary interference of the speaker but also give a 3db boost (free amplifier). There are many more benefits too like crisp imaging, more cohesive sound from the screen and many more. The wall should be strong enough so that no waves are passed through, best is to use ACC blocks or walls itself and embed the speakers by properly isolating from the speaker edges. Drywall can also be used, but need multiple layers to block the low freqs (depending on the lcr crossover cutoff freqs)

 

[cmsajith]

Couple more points since the build is from the scratch. If possible you can plan for a pit in the floor for a 6" deep so that the floor first order reflections can be eliminated, you can't do once the room is constructed.
Risers can also be built with solid blocks, insulating a wooden riser will still resonate. However the sides can be built with ply but with holes so that it acts as a big bass attennuator.

 

[Bharadwaj Bunga]

If you don't have that budget the best is cement block construction if the existing structure supports the weight else AAC block or Aerocon walls (same as AAC).

There is no existing structure as of now. I'm yet to build the room itself. So, I'm open to all options but don't want to burn a lot on isolation alone.

Looking for a budget friendly solution.

 

[cmsajith]

There is no existing structure as of now. I'm yet to build the room itself. So, I'm open to all options but don't want to burn a lot on isolation alone.

Looking for a budget friendly solution.

I am talking about the building structure, esp if it's a load bearing you need to have proper beam underneath for any kind of load using brick or block. If not, aac or aerocon are the only options.

 

[cmsajith]

Looking for a budget friendly solution

Proper isolation is not budget friendly. As I mentioned earlier by having a high density wall with sealed door will reduce air borne sound transfer. However blocking vibration is expensive and going after those myths mentioned earlier wont give any result too, so choose accordingly.

 

[ankitbhargava]

Hi Ankit! This is going to be a 7.2.4 setup with 4 in-ceiling channels for a perfect atmos experience. I will be adding wiring for front and rear/surround height channels for future proofing sake!

Oh ok
That's a great idea.

For me in my 7.2.4 , Top middle and Front height is giving best result. This way I can use the same config for DTS X also.

 

[Bharadwaj Bunga]

Proper isolation is not budget friendly. As I mentioned earlier by having a high density wall with sealed door will reduce air borne sound transfer. However blocking vibration is expensive and going after those myths mentioned earlier wont give any result too, so choose accordingly.

After digging a bit deep, I'm now considering a staggered stud wall construction which is a decent compromise between double stud wall and having no isolation. Kindly share your views on this.

Also, what if I go with the high density wall without any added isolation materials? will this suffice an entry level HT project? Since this is going to be a separate room on the terrace, there's no problem with neighbors and all. Only thing I'm concerned about is outside noises creeping into the HT room.

 

[cmsajith]

staggered stud wall construction

This is a decent solution if you are having a hollow wall construction.

Also, what if I go with the high density wall without any added isolation materials?

This is what I had mentioned earlier. Having a high density wall using solid cement blocks with an outer plaster layer along with an air tight solid core door (no flush doors) will give a good amount of isolation. You can use rubber seals to make the door airtight. A double door with airgap will give a better isolation too.

outside noises creeping

Depending on the noises that you want to isolate. You can't sound proof blindly as 100% isolation is practically not possible. Usually it's done by studying the noises that are to be isolated and treat accordingly.

In general, soundproofing design involves several steps right from selecting the best location for the room which is the quietest location of the building, if there is any possibility to find a quieter location do that as the primary step. Once the location is finalised you need to find the sounds that can come in during most noisy period of the day over a few days, this will give you an idea about the requirement. If you don't have any heavy machinery sound next to the room, in most cases mitigating all airborne noises should be more than enough. Room should be air tight without any airleaks, if air can pass the sound can also.

 

[jbkar]

Seems a very good HT room. Very spacious with adequate number of speakers. Don't settle for AVR. It won't do justice to your effort and investments. Go for separate pre-power. All the best

 

[Bharadwaj Bunga]

Seems a very good HT room. Very spacious with adequate number of speakers. Don't settle for AVR. It won't do justice to your effort and investments. Go for separate pre-power. All the best

Yes, Separates are on the cards. Even if I get an AVR I will power the LCR and surrounds with amps, will leave the AVR power for atmos speakers.