Home cinema ideas/questions

Hi folks,

Currently in the process of looking to buy a house (already posted about that!).

Now, one of the things I will have in my house is a home cinema room (My OH has okayed it but I wasn't taking no for an answer!).

So, ideally I want most of it to be DIY and as cheap as possible without compromising on the end product. I want it to be nice!

I already have the home cinema system. This thread is more about the aesthetics and the room including finishing etc.

So, looking ideas!

Ideally, I want a ceiling with mood lights (I like mood lights!).

Something like this: (without the star lights)

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...e%20cinema.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...ing-Lights.jpg

But how would I do it? Any ideas?

Also, I'd like to soundproof the room a bit to try and lower noise. Ideally it will be on the ground floor.

I am sure I will have other ideas as well. There will be a ceiling mounted projector and eventually Dolby Atmos sound. 5.1 will have to do for now!

Paint colour to avoid unnecessary reflections?

This thread will no doubt sprawl out for a while. For now I am trying to get ideas as welll as an idea of cost.

Aircon for the summer!

And an usherette tray for the other half ;)

Ha!! She would like that I'm sure.

I really wanted a dropped ceiling with uplighters in the gaps to provide ambience, but I never got round to it as it was expensive for somebody to do, and I'm rubbishrubbishrubbishrubbish at DIY.

http://tunajuvenil.com/wp-content/up...or-Designs.jpg

LED downlighters for when you need light, but a bit of ambiance going on above the dropped bit for watching movies but still being able to see your drink.

Sound-proofing: Rip open all your walls (as they're likely to be stud on a 2004 build) and then have the studs filled with acoustic grade insulation slabs. Same applies to the ceiling. When attaching new plasterboard panels use resilient bars to join them to the walls, this gives a bit of absorbency to the wall skin. Greenclue any touch-points. This won't sound-proof, but it will massively reduce sound escaping. There is no point just doing the ceiling, as sound goes round things very easily. If the floor is raised then sound will go underneath quite happily too.

You'll also want to consider acoustic treatment. DigitalSpy and other forums are good for really getting geekily into this. But generally it's about not having too many facing and reflecting surfaces - a square room is notoriously bad. Big soft furniture helps, funny shaped walls, even carpet or drapes along the walls. Thick carpet on the floor etc.

A suspended ceiling also helps here. You can use hanging acoustic tiles to deal with reflections on the ceiling and at the same time, mount atmos speakers in the ceiling.

Don't mount your main speakers in the walls unless it's a false wall built correctly, as speakers need space to work and you also need to mop up early reflections.

Make provision for 4 ceiling speakers for atmos perhaps?

Yes, definitely going to put speakers in ceiling. Not too sure how happy I am pulling walls down :P

Is there anyway to get sound proofing tiles to put over exisiting wall or is that not an option?

Cinema seats are essential too.

I'm thinking LaZBoys :)

Right On ! I have a three seat sofa by them with the two outers as recliners. You wont regret it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by neonplanet40

Yes, definitely going to put speakers in ceiling. Not too sure how happy I am pulling walls down :P

Is there anyway to get sound proofing tiles to put over exisiting wall or is that not an option?

---

No such thing. Acoustic tiles, that you may be thinking about, are for absorbing certain frequencies in certain spots to deal with reflections - they do nothing to stop sound leaking out. The only way to sound-proof is through isolation.

You don't need to pull the walls down, just crack them open. If they're stud-partitions, then you can easily rip off the plasterboard (it'll be dusty mind) to get to the wood framework behind. You can then stuff them with insulation. As I said, resilient bars are good to put between the studs and fresh plasterboard. All this is DIY, then you can get somebody in to fill in the joins on the plasterboard and skim before painting.

Sound travels through air really easily, that's how we hear. So the room needs to be as air-tight as possible to stop sound from leaking (although it'll get stuffy so you might want to think about ventilation to the outside).

But, as you probably remember from GCSE physics, vibrations travel even better through solids. To deal with this you need to "mass-load" (make things heavier) or isolate. Mass-loading involves stuffing with insulation etc. If you don't have stud-walls, then you can build one off the existing wall to make an inner layer. It's all tried and tested stuff.

If you're having speakers in the ceiling, ideally have a second suspended ceiling, as I have speakers in my ceiling, and soundproofing above, but sound still easily gets into upstairs as it just goes round the sound proofing and comes in through the walls of the upstairs rooms.

If you have floorboards, stuffing insulation between the floors is easy, but at that age house, it'll probably be chipboard, which is a PITA to lift and even worse to put down, you might want to seek assistance if you're not good at that sort of thing.

Wow- researching sound-proofing etc leads to a minefield :P

I thought about a 'room within a room' approach and have been quoted around £4500. Wow :O

So, the room size is:

9'1" (2.77m) x 18'3" (5.56m)

But, can I do this myself?

I mean, realistically what do I need to do?

I most likely will need a floating wall then? As I want to put 4 speakers in the ceiling.

Equipment list?
DIY required?
Experts needed? E.g. Electrician, plasterer etc.

Approximate cost for that type of room/ materials/ etc?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by neonplanet40

... ideally I want most of it to be DIY and as cheap as possible without compromising on the end product. ...

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Here's your issue. If you DIY it (unless you're a professional builder/plasterer and an acoustic consultant) you're going to compromise. There's a reason skilled tradespeople and consultants are expensive ;)

Your biggest issue is that you need to not only "sound proof", but also to consider the internal acoustics of the space. You're not going to get an optimal result without spending some money. There's all sorts of ways to minimize the sound transmission from room to room, but none of them is going to be "cheap" or "easy to DIY" (although some will be a lot easier than others, obviously).

The issue with acoustic tiles on the walls (apart from cost) is finding the right ones for the space acoustics - there'll be an optimal amount of damping/reflection for the space to get the proper cinema soundscape, and if you get the room acoustics wrong you just won't be happy with the sound no matter what system you have in there.

Best bet is probably to find out if you have any friends who know about acoustics, and failing that try to find a local independent acoustic consultant who'd do you some recommendation (although I suspect that wouldn't be cheap).

As to the lighting and other effects - they're actually fairly straight forward: you can stick a false ceiling in with some appropriate wooden batons and plasterboard, insert all your lighting where you want it, then get a plasterer in to skim over. But getting the acoustics right is more important, and you might find that a consultant can recommend ceiling shapes that will improve the acoustics, for example.

Nightmare :(

Well what do I need to do to ensure sound insulation via diy? I could then get someone in to improve acoustics?

I think you're heading for a compromise here, and probably a fairly big one, but some depends on circumstances.

This will be a LOT cheaper and easier if :-

a) your new house is detached, with no neighbours too close. In that case, minimal worries about neighbour complaints if (or, realistically, when) you crank it up a tad too far. AND

b) an other half that shares your enthusiasm and is going to be with you when watching the latest Star Wars with full sound, and isn't going to be in the next room tryingvto watch Call the Midwife or the Great British Sewing Bee (whatever that is), AND

c) No kids trying to sleep upstairs.

If you can't meet ALL three of those, you're going to need to maximise isolation to keep transmitted sound down, while trying to optimise internal sound, to make it worth spending shedloads on both the A and V components of AV.

It was some years ago, and no doubt things have moved on, some at least, but when I tried this, I gave up because the building and sound work was EXPENSIVE (and extensive).

I ended up with the major, but sole, compromise that sound levels would need to be both wife and neighbour compatible. Do THAT, and the rest becomes so much more .... well, realistic. Unless you have a Bill Gates type budget.

I settled for half-decent sound, good screen, a couple of comfy chairs and a dimmer switch on the lights. You can now upgrade that to wifi dimmed lights, and/or colour-changing ambient lights, with a few conventional lights, be they wall, uplighters, etc, and remote bulbs. I've posted about the ones I use before, which are colour temp adjustable via a small remote or (with a £20 wifi bridge) snartphone/tablet, but you can get colour changing bulbs from the same place, at about £25 per bulb. So a couple of hundred quid gets you several uplighters and bulbs, or even less for conventional existing light sockets.

Is that enough "ambience", though.

I think, either way, short of millionaire budgets, you're going to have to compromise somewhere, and probably quire a bit, especially if you're .... erm .... DIY-challenged. ;) :D

Thanks for the reply guys. Saracen, just to answer your questions:

a) The house is detached but I am unsure how much sound will transmit outside (the other house is around 2 meters or so away). We don't move (hopefully) until the 5th April so will know better then.
b) MY other half does NOT share my enthusiasm haha but she does tolerate it :P
c) no kids (yet!) however something that will need to be planned for.

So I guess, the other alternative is to do it over a long period of time to ease the cost and space it out?

I am not looking for total noise isolation. I would just like to reduce it as much as I can on a bit of a budget.

My DIY is just alright. I just haven't done much so it would be a steep learning curve. I like the idea of doing it myself to keep the costs down and for the personal satisfaction of having done it myself! But, like everything, if I'm going to mess it up, it would waste more money than it would save!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by neonplanet40

... Well what do I need to do to ensure sound insulation via diy? ...

---

Apologies if the following is teaching you to suck eggs; depends how much physics you've done...

Sound is a physical wave. The issue you're facing is that you want the sound to reflect back in the room to a certain extent so you still get decent room reverb for your cinema experience; however that requires a fairly rigid wall surface which will vibrate, emitting sound directly and transmitting the sound into anything it touches. If the house is a fairly modern build the internal walls are likely to be thin (potentially just studwalling) and these are brilliant at transmitting sound.

So, the key is getting a wall (or probably a wall lining, since I doubt you're keen to rip out the existing walls ;) ) that reflects the sound nicely inside the room, but doesn't transmit it through the wall to other rooms/the outside.

If you google "acoustic wall panel" you'll see that the commercial panels do this by two means - firstly, they're heavy, which means (conservation of momentum/energy) they don't vibrate much when the sound hits them, and secondly they're backed with a variety of foams, that limit the amount of vibration transmitted to the rest of the wall. OTOH they're expensive (around 10x the cost of standard plasterboard) and heavy enough that you'd want to get a professional to fit them (IMNSHO).

The cheapest DIY equivalent would probably be to line the wall with some kind of foam or fabric, then cover that with plasterboard - essentially creating a sandwich where the filling absorbs the vibration of the panel. You'd still need to get a plasterer in to finish the wall though - particularly if your DIY skills are "just alright". Plastering's rather advanced. You'd also have to consider the ceiling, although if you were going to put lighting etc. in the ceiling you could put in the false ceiling like I suggested above and fill it with some kind of insulation material.

There are easier/cheaper options, but they'll all affect the acoustics of the room. The most basic would be to put full length curtains along all the walls (and probably drape the ceiling in fabric too) - the loose hanging fabric will absorb the sound and limit transmission, but it'll also "deaden" the room acoustic somewhat. Another DIY sound absorption favourite is the bottom half of egg boxes - the soft card and complex shape are great at deadening sound - but they'll mess with the room acoustics even more than curtains would (and let's be honest, egg boxes isn't exactly an attractive finish to a room ;) ).

EDIT: just thought - you'll need to consider the floor too (particularly for that heavy cinematic bass) - floor vibrations will transmit easily into the walls, and you're right back to square one.

I don't mean to sound insulting but have you posted this on AV Forums? There is literally a forum for home cinema building and then a sub-forum for DIY home cinema building!

Linky!

If you don't want to go full on nuts, I'd pull up the floorboards in the room(s) above and get some tightly packed acoustic insulation from your favourite builders yard inbetween the joists. This won't sound-proof, but it will absorb a lot of the vibrations moving through the air.

I'd also ditch your Atmos plans of having ceiling speakers, called me old fashioned but I've never felt the need for sound above unless you're planning on a lot of vertical shooter games or something. Surround sound fills things out nicely but it shouldn't be pin-pointable, and once the volume is up, I'm not sure it's going to add a lot (not that I've experienced it yet).

The problem with in-ceiling speakers is you have a direct physical connection to the upstairs rooms and bugger all between the back of the speaker and the floor above - and speakers pump out sound in both directions just as powerfully.

I'd still look at either cracking open the stud walls (easy job with a crowbar) and stuffing them with acoustic insulation as above. Then have the new panels reattached with resilient bars to reduce transmission (you could do this on the ceiling too, but ceilings always seem like too much hard work to me).

If you have brick walls, then you can mass load by building a stud directly off them and stuffing them again. You lose a bit but not quite as much as a proper room in a room.

Room shape does matter for good acoustics, but you can do other things to break up reflections such diffusers and plenty of furniture and a healthy does of acoustic panels at the first reflection points and bass traps in the corner.

I want to do all this, but I've never been bothered. I've had one ceiling/floor sound-proofed and the sound goes up the walls and around the edge of the sound-proofing. It's still a lot better than without though.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jowsey

I don't mean to sound insulting but have you posted this on AV Forums? There is literally a forum for home cinema building and then a sub-forum for DIY home cinema building!

Linky!

---

I've already posted on there mate. But, if I'm honest, I always come to Hexus for advice because it has ALWAYS been very helpful regardless of the topic.

Going to read through your replies now guys before I post a stupid comment :P

Thanks for the replies guys. back to the drawing board. As this room has been converted from a garage, maybe they put a lot of insulation in already :P

Maybe when I install the sound system etc the room will already be quite good at isolating sound . . . maybe . . .

I will revisit this when I move in and go from there when I can accurately hear how much sound is escaping and what the likely impact of this will be!

Thank you :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by neonplanet40

... I will revisit this when I move in and go from there when I can accurately hear how much sound is escaping and what the likely impact of this will be! ...

---

Excellent plan :) If it's a conversion from a garage it should at least be proper brick walls, which will help.

That, I'm not so sure about.

The house is:

172 m² and "The main walls comprise a structural timber frame with cavity and
rendered masonry to external skin."

It is now quite common in Scotland for houses to be timber framed.

So I doubt there are any brick walls in the conversion :(

If I'm honest, good brick walls was something I was keen to get when buying a house but literally every one we viewed was timber framed.


Also:

I guess getting something like this: http://www.noisestopsystems.co.uk/wa...ing-wall-board
And drilling it into the walls (and ceiling) and then sticking this:

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/scan...NkdRoCZK7w_wcB

Around the room wouldn't work? I am aware the acoustic tiles would need more care.

However, if the above worked, it seems doable. Even by me! But no doubt I am missing something.

PS - My physics never was great :P

If you have a local CCF branch (part or the Travis Perkins group) near to you may I suggest you give them a visit as they specialise in what you are trying to do and are got with the advice you need and the materials as well.
and no I don't work for them but I do contract maintenance on the Travis Perkins group sites
hope this helps you in your quest
regards eltel

We recently had our garage converted, and that required putting a stud frame inside the brick walls and filling with insulating foam. This is a requirement apparently, for stopping heat-leak, and for fire retardation. If yours was a recent conversion, it may be that you might already have this insulation in. Not sure how it is for sound, but heat travels in waves, doesn't it?
Ours is an outside garage, attached by a porch, so all the walls are brick. Only one skin with no breeze block though.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by neonplanet40

... if the above worked, it seems doable. Even by me! But no doubt I am missing something. ...

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Possibly the cost? The wall panels are 1.2m x 1.2m, so in an average sized room (based on my living room ;) ) you'd need ~ 34 panels to do the walls and ceiling - that's £1250 :o

Plus each panel weighs 45kg, so you'd need specialist props to hold them up whilst drilling or sticking them - and incidentally, screwing them to the existing walls would introduce a physical coupling between the surface panel and the main wall, which would reduce the effectiveness - I imagine that's why they recommend sticking the panels up with a suitable adhesive.

The foam looks like it's only really effective at absorbing high frequnecy sounds so you'd still have all that rumbly bass to cope with. Plus it would seriously impact the room acoustics. And - again based on my living room - you'd need around 12 packs to do the whole room @ another ~ £850.

I mean, you're definitely thinking along the right lines, but I can imagine what my other half would say if I suggested dropping more than £2k just on the base materials for soundproofing a room ...

OK - if I may weigh in a little here. If you don't know, I'm an audio engineer who also happens to have more than a passing interest in home cinema...

As it's been eluded to above there are two sides to acoustic treatments; isolation and reverberation.

Isolation as the name suggests concentrates on looking at stopping the transmission of sound from one area to another. Since sound travels through solids way better than it does through air, this means it's nigh on impossible to stop all transmission. It is also very much frequency dependent, higher frequencies are many orders easier to stop compared with very low frequencies, due to the amount of air being moved. I can tell you now that adding rock wool insulation to the walls is a start, but in the grand scheme of things will be ineffective. The two most effective isolation methods are air gaps, and sheer physical hung mass. You can get dedicated products for this - Google for mass load vinyl. The other method is an air gap between two walls, creating a 'room within a room'. Combine this with a hung mass loaded vinyl in-between the walls and you're starting to get somewhere. Unfortunately this isn't really all that cheap, and even with all of this the absolute best isolation that you'll probably achieve is somewhere in the region of 75dB. Something to consider before you start smashing the credit card...

The other side to acoustic treatment is reverberation. When sound strikes a surface some energy is imparted in to the material, and some is reflected. Depending upon the frequency and the material involved the amount reflected differs. Essentially though a material that has significant mass that is hard will reflect, whereas soft fibrous materials tend to absorb. Plasterboard and bricks tend to be in the former category, and so whilst you can have the most brilliantly isolated empty room it will sound horrific if you play music in it because the sound is bouncing all over the room and blending with the sound that's coming from your source (i.e loudspeaker). With transient sounds in smaller spaces this manifests as a fluttery echo. Simply clap your hands and listen. Since loudspeakers are point sources that are semi directional you don't need to cover every single square inch with deadening material, but bare in mind with a multichannel surround array you aren't just firing audio in one direction, and compared to a more typical stereo system you do need to put a little more effort in than you otherwise might. The first thing to do is carpet the floor, and don't skimp on the quality. Avoid laminate/tiles etc since you're just adding to the problem. Add plenty of soft furnishings - sofas, cushions, beanbags etc, they will all help. Clap your hands again in your basically treated room and mentally compare to when it was empty - hopefully you'll start to hear a difference. If not, it's time to start adding in foam panels etc. Bare in mind that pyramid rippled acoustic foam is very wife unfriendly, since it only normally comes in a drab grey colour. However you can make your own panels by making up a wooden frame, covering and stapling coloured fabric across the front (think a bit like canvas prints), then filling the back with high density fibre Rockwool. Put some chicken wire across the back to hold it in place and Bob's your Mother's Brother. Simple to make and effective - hang them on the walls and away you go. Best places to start hanging panels are at the first reflection points - so these are the points where if you were stood where each speaker will go, approx 60 degrees in a cone to the nearest wall, with the middle of the panel being the height of the tweeter. If you're able, do this for all of your speakers. Once done, do the clap test again... The final thing you may consider is adding in a diffuser. A diffuser doesn't absorb the sound, it just reflects it in a random direction. There's various different designs - I really like skyscraper diffusers since they work and have the added bonus of looking ace! Consider putting one along the back wall behind where you sit.

Oh - and that's another thing. Don't sit along the back wall. Your seating position should be about 3/4 of the way back. Also from an audio perspective ensure you orientation down the length of the room, not the width.

Lots to take in there - if you do need any help just shout. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lowe

OK - if I may weigh in a little here. If you don't know, I'm an audio engineer who also happens to have more than a passing interest in home cinema...

As it's been eluded to above there are two sides to acoustic treatments; isolation and reverberation.

Isolation as the name suggests concentrates on looking at stopping the transmission of sound from one area to another. Since sound travels through solids way better than it does through air, this means it's nigh on impossible to stop all transmission. It is also very much frequency dependent, higher frequencies are many orders easier to stop compared with very low frequencies, due to the amount of air being moved. I can tell you now that adding rock wool insulation to the walls is a start, but in the grand scheme of things will be ineffective. The two most effective isolation methods are air gaps, and sheer physical hung mass. You can get dedicated products for this - Google for mass load vinyl. The other method is an air gap between two walls, creating a 'room within a room'. Combine this with a hung mass loaded vinyl in-between the walls and you're starting to get somewhere. Unfortunately this isn't really all that cheap, and even with all of this the absolute best isolation that you'll probably achieve is somewhere in the region of 75dB. Something to consider before you start smashing the credit card...

The other side to acoustic treatment is reverberation. When sound strikes a surface some energy is imparted in to the material, and some is reflected. Depending upon the frequency and the material involved the amount reflected differs. Essentially though a material that has significant mass that is hard will reflect, whereas soft fibrous materials tend to absorb. Plasterboard and bricks tend to be in the former category, and so whilst you can have the most brilliantly isolated empty room it will sound horrific if you play music in it because the sound is bouncing all over the room and blending with the sound that's coming from your source (i.e loudspeaker). With transient sounds in smaller spaces this manifests as a fluttery echo. Simply clap your hands and listen. Since loudspeakers are point sources that are semi directional you don't need to cover every single square inch with deadening material, but bare in mind with a multichannel surround array you aren't just firing audio in one direction, and compared to a more typical stereo system you do need to put a little more effort in than you otherwise might. The first thing to do is carpet the floor, and don't skimp on the quality. Avoid laminate/tiles etc since you're just adding to the problem. Add plenty of soft furnishings - sofas, cushions, beanbags etc, they will all help. Clap your hands again in your basically treated room and mentally compare to when it was empty - hopefully you'll start to hear a difference. If not, it's time to start adding in foam panels etc. Bare in mind that pyramid rippled acoustic foam is very wife unfriendly, since it only normally comes in a drab grey colour. However you can make your own panels by making up a wooden frame, covering and stapling coloured fabric across the front (think a bit like canvas prints), then filling the back with high density fibre Rockwool. Put some chicken wire across the back to hold it in place and Bob's your Mother's Brother. Simple to make and effective - hang them on the walls and away you go. Best places to start hanging panels are at the first reflection points - so these are the points where if you were stood where each speaker will go, approx 60 degrees in a cone to the nearest wall, with the middle of the panel being the height of the tweeter. If you're able, do this for all of your speakers. Once done, do the clap test again... The final thing you may consider is adding in a diffuser. A diffuser doesn't absorb the sound, it just reflects it in a random direction. There's various different designs - I really like skyscraper diffusers since they work and have the added bonus of looking ace! Consider putting one along the back wall behind where you sit.

Oh - and that's another thing. Don't sit along the back wall. Your seating position should be about 3/4 of the way back. Also from an audio perspective ensure you orientation down the length of the room, not the width.

Lots to take in there - if you do need any help just shout. :)

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Thanks for the reply Lowe!

Do you do installs :P haha

Some useful links:

http://www.soundproofingcompany.com/...within-a-room/
http://www.soundproofingcompany.com/...roofing-walls/

I've definitely seen the fiberglass insulation work wonders and I would pair that up with mass loaded vinyl (instead of the green glue shown above) and some high density plasterboards.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by neonplanet40

Thanks for the reply Lowe!

Do you do installs :P haha

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Only for myself :P

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps36yvjxsn.jpg

Neonplanet - just throwing this out here, you checked out Reddit? Perhaps - https://www.reddit.com/r/hometheater/

I've seen some nice builds been posted on Imgur too.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lowe

Only for myself :P

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Wow, that's a big screen! Epic.

Have you done anything special to cater for your speakers being packed into the corners?

Come on Lowe. Help a guy out :P

Quote:

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Originally Posted by neonplanet40

Come on Lowe. Help a guy out :P

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Happy to offer all the assistance and advice I can, but Falkirk's a bit of a mission :P

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dashers

Wow, that's a big screen! Epic.

Have you done anything special to cater for your speakers being packed into the corners?

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It's 110". PMC speakers are very tolerant of placement thankfully and out of shot there's a fair bit of natural diffusion and absorption along the main walls, so I've never suffered too much. ideally I'd like panels at the first reflection points but with it being a living room and not a dedicated space I've not been able to get away with it. The photo makes it look fairly narrow too, which isn't the case IRL.

Ha I know :P

Thank you. Your setup looks great.

Any opinions on paint colors?

At the moment, I am thinking of greys for side walls (length of room) and maybe a maroon red/navy for the two end walls. Ceiling = either the grey or the red., not sure.

Ideas? :P

Purpose of colour - less reflection which will aid in PQ from projector.

Also, trying to get our CDT department in school to make a few of these for the back wall:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFeM2uWuMZI&t=160s

Do they look okay?

The one problem (or not?) is that on the back wall of this room (opposite the screen etc) will be a piano. Will that cause any problems with the acoustic performance of the room? Its the only place we have space. It was either that or a 700-litre marine aquarium (due to be set up again). Given the light etc needed for the corals, the piano got the nod.

I've always fancied a skyline diffuser, but baulked at the price. I knew you can't just slap some wood together, didn't realise the instructions were easily available.

http://www.pmerecords.com/diffusor.cfm
http://web.archive.org/web/200704292...alculator.html

Either way, I can't see my wife allowing something with 25cm bits of wood jutting out in the lounge :/

Slight OT but whats this with pebbles and audio cables? Some sort of 'hack'? or windup?

Snake oil, like most of the hifi industry.

As for wall colour - there's only one colour for picture quality, and that's matt black. Anything else is a compromise, but darker the better if that's not practical (rarely is).

Piano won't hurt. :)

Don't buy any wonder products for audio to fix problems you don't have.

If you're suffering from interference then you can buy some thicker generic electrical-cable and try some cheap ferrite (that's, iron) chokes and look to address the source interference.

Okay guys. I'm in the house now. As the room is bare, I need to improve acoustics.

Ideas welcome.

Cheap ways to improve this?

Think I will try and make some panels and possibly two skyscrapers panels for the back. Any recommendations for fabric and size of wood in frame?

Download Room EQ Wizard, it's free, and pick up a monitor from Maplin or something. You can then test your room for acoustic problems and apply relevant fixes.

Remembering at all times, acoustic treatment isn't sound-proofing.

What material would be best for covering acoustic panels (if I make them myself out of timer frame and rock wool)?

Or are their alternatives worth considering which aren't too expensive?

Thanks

Any material you can breathe through.

Hi folks, currently picking a projector screen. Have been told that electric is the way to go.

The width of my room is 2.77m so it seems 100 inches is really the biggest I can get.

Any reccommendations?

I've been looking at this:
https://www.tekshop247.com/projectio...-p-136362.html

I ordered a Denon X6300W and 4x MA CT265IDC yesterday.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/AWG-11-2x4m...4mm%C2%B2&th=1

Would this cable to suitable for the ceiling speakers?

What is the maximum RMS power of the amplifiers,

TBH this would probably be fine unless they are long runs or you are expecting to run the system at continuous high power

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...d_i=B00KB0JVAE

Or go for the 14awg which has 2mm^2 cross sectional area good for 20 amps or so or 1200 watts into a 3ohm load

Cable ordered thank you!

I have been messaging around loads of companies to fit the ceiling speakers, projector screen (on ceiling) and the projector (ceiling mounted) ad aligned.

Most won't do it because they didn't supply the equipment (some were charging 40% more for the equipment!).

The only one who has got back to me so far says it is a 2-day job, one of which will require 2 people and that the cost per day would be £150 exc VAT.

Does this sound reasonable?

I'm unsure if I could do it myself but I have thought about it . . . .

Fitting the speakers screen and projector shouldn't be too difficult. The problems are locating joists or strong point for the projector. The same problem applies if the speakers are being hung from the ceiling, if if mounted in the ceiling, cutting accurate holes and running the cables. The screen should be OK if you use the appropriate fixing and fix the a solid structure. If it's electric, the problem is running concealed cables.

£75/day/person probably OK as it's a niche type of installation, but ask how they will run wiring, does it include terminals etc if required, will wiring ne concealed or run in surface mounted flat trunking? Ask to see samples of the trunking and see if that is acceptable. You might want to ask for references, where they have installed stuff and perhaps contact the person/organisation to inspect the work done previously. Are they members of a trade organisation?

Thank you for the reply. I will be contacting them again after work today. They would like to come out and view the room first (good sign) and then we can discuss the finer details.

I don't mind paying someone to do a good job. I just wanted to make sure it wasn't excessive. I now wonder sometimes why I got into teaching. So much more money out there for other things! :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dashers

Download Room EQ Wizard, it's free, and pick up a monitor from Maplin or something. You can then test your room for acoustic problems and apply relevant fixes.

Remembering at all times, acoustic treatment isn't sound-proofing.

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Just going back to his,

Are there any 'cheap monitor mics' which can be used to try this? Or would they not be worth it?

I have also ordered Rockwool slabs, muslin cloth (to go over wool and stop dust) and a wine red coloured fabric. I just need to get the frames sorted. Thinking of maybe six panels (3 either side of the room) 120cm long - 60cm wide.

Would this be worthwhile or likely make little difference?

Thank you.

Small update, I have picked paint for the room:

http://www.paint-direct.co.uk/en-GB/...88-33-0-2.aspx

Hope to start that asap.

Ceiling speakers have arrived. I have already swapped over to the new AV Receiver. I find the dialogue a little on the low side after calibration but will wait for the room to be finished before tinkering.

Ceiling speakers, projector mount, and projector screen will be installed next weekend. I am also working on the acoustic tiles.

Exciting times :)

Didn't see your update on the REW thing. You can get calibrated USB microphones off Amazon for a reasonable price, best way to get accurate results.

You need a SPL metre too, but I think that just gives you accurate levels, if you don't then the graph might be offset in terms of volume, but otherwise accurate where your reflections are.

Where are your progress pictures?

Woo :D They look great. A bit bigger than I thought they would be but a solid bit of kit. All getting installed on the 20th.

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...510_200051.jpg

Nice! :)

Love the 'Useless if dropped' :D

Yes, I chuckled at that comment :D

Just in case anyone didn't already know :D

Speakers and screen up! The guy was here for 9 hours yesterday. Top tip for people: Know where your joists are! As we only bought the house, we had no idea and they took a lot of time to navigate. I played the Dolby Atmos Blu-ray and it was brilliant!

100inch Elite Spectrum was the biggest I could get that would fit :( Really wanted bigger. Oh well.Also couldn't get one tab tensioned.

I still need to:

Paint the room
Get black out blinds
Make Acoustic panels

I have narrowed down the paint - Dulux Night Jewels 1

Should I do the ceiling a different colour? Any recommendations?

Acoustic panels need to be made: Rockwool was delivered damaged. The company is being a nightmare and want to take it back before they send a replacement. The issue has been ongoing for 6 weeks!

Anyway - Some pics:

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...0_113723_1.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...520_113728.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...520_121934.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...520_121922.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...520_113720.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...520_121938.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...520_135100.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...520_204313.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...520_204316.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...520_204323.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...520_204328.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...520_121927.jpg

Awesome pics, great progress. You're going to have trouble getting those front speakers coming to life that close to the walls. Really recommend getting onto one of the AV forums and reading up about how to use Room EQ Wizard before you start slapping acoustic panels about the place.

They are currently 98cm from the walls. How far away should they be? I don't really want them sitting in the middle of the room with me haha

That should be plenty, it's hard to tell in your picture. The side distance is important though.

As to how much, it depends on the room and speaker. You either have to experiment or use complex modelling! But I'd definitely put some acoustic treatment on the walls either side of the speakers and bass-traps in the corners behind them.

I will be making the panels and then try to put them in good positions. I don't have the equipment to do it right but getting that done in the future is a possibility.

In regards to corner bass traps. Would I just put one behind each floor stander or all 4 corners? And should they take up the whole corner or just part?

Likewise, is foam okay? Or not worth the money?

I don't really want to spend much as the amount I have spent so far has left me with little :P So I'm not intentionally being tight haha.

Look on ebay for them. Acoustic panels are basic open-cell foam, the sound waves bounce around and get diffused and convert into heat energy.

How much you need in terms of bass traps, again, that's down to the specifics of your room. You may as well start off with none - and play it by ear or use measuring tools. The problem with corners are they're are 90° cones, which reinforces bass and makes everything boomy. Bass should be clear and precise (although still deep and powerful). Which corners? All, top to bottom - but that might be overkill. Start with the ones with the speakers in at around listening/speaker level.

Early reflections are the walls against your speakers where sound comes out, reflect and then interfere with the primary soundwave. These really mess up vocals and speech (centres help massively with speech).

There is a degree of taste to all this though. At the extreme, if you kill every reflection (not going to be done on a home budget) and stop all ambient noise the room will be lifeless and thoroughly uncomfortable to be in for any length of time.

Any idea in terms of foam width etc?

I have found these:

http://www.thefoamshop.co.uk/

You can pick your own shape and dimensions. but unsure if it would work or not for corners?

It would appear there are many kinds of foam :D

Thanks for your help Dashers. It is appreciated a lot!

Not sure on sizes, again, I suspect it's largely down to the exact tuning you want to achieve. But maybe look at these sorts of things as a guide:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0127TW5UY?psc=1

https://www.efoam.co.uk/acoustic-foam-bass-traps.php

Well, slowly making progress. Painting is almost done. Any ideas what colour I should use for the ceiling, skirting and doors? Ideas appreciated.

Starting to put the panels together today which will be filled with Rockwool and covered in a wine red coloured fabric before I mount them to the wall. Should I mount them with a little space between them and the wall?


Not sure what is next . . . . Money is gone :D

https://photos.app.goo.gl/S35eVAHaXPF9nJTp2
https://photos.app.goo.gl/YpFmpmkT8hpyM0bn2
https://photos.app.goo.gl/2PkweFX2ImeVlbZj2
https://photos.app.goo.gl/LWm7kVsgwPdfxvhA2
https://photos.app.goo.gl/WPqsPJdEka0wjEqf1


Why aren't my pics working! Lol

Looks awesome. I'd like to do some panels, but I never seem to be able to find the time to go and get the bits and make them. I don't think if there is any reason not to mount them directly to the walls.

I'd probably leave the ceiling and the woodwork white, it'd might feel a bit repressive being all dark. Light colours reflect natural light from the window when you're not using it as a cinema.

Images need to be .jpg links etc., not a link to a page with the image on it.

Still getting there. Panels nearly done:

https://preview.ibb.co/btUJAQ/20170730_153311.jpg
https://preview.ibb.co/en6yAQ/20170730_153323.jpg

Hey! If you're looking into controlling the room acoustics, I know that these guys sell acoustic foam tiles they also sell foam for things like seating, so could be a good way to kill two birds with one stone. Hope that helps :)