[Bill O'Connell]

My wife and I are moving. New house has a20' X 20' room, I'm having the wall taken down to the adjoining room which will give me a 35' length with 20' wide room. that gives me about 10' added on to the original 20' room
then it tapers down. from the original wall that was removed there will be about 44" of wall that remain as the doors to the room are staying as is the cold air return.
 Any suggestions as to acoustic treatments or speaker placement would be appreciated. Hoping I can put the speakers  10.15' from front wall to front of speakers. Speakers are 2'wide by 2' deep. Came up with that figure from front wall using 35' X .29=10.15'
 Any other help appreciated. I've never measured a room for nodes or anything so I'm a novice in that regards.

 Thanks,
 Bill

[JakeJ]

Congrats, Bill!  That's a nice space.  What's the ceiling height?

[JWL.GIK]

Nice! A 35x20 room is more space than a lot of people have to work with, and it definitely gives you a lot more flexibility with speaker placement. Perhaps these will be helpful to you?
http://www.gikacoustics.com/room-setup-speaker-placement-201-part-one/
http://www.gikacoustics.com/room-setup-speaker-placement-201-part-two-subwoofers/

[JLM]

Is this an audio only room or shared with HT duties.  Normal recommendations is for the HT room to be wider.

Again, what is the height?

Read Floyd Toole's "Sound Reproduction" to learn about room acoustics and the range of recommended room shapes.  Avoid rooms that have dimensions in simple multiples, like 1:1, 1:2, or 1:3.  Avoid tubular or cubic rooms.  If you get the shape right, the need for treatments should be minimal.  My audio only room follows the Fibonacci series (8ft x 13ft x 21ft) that Cardas recommends.  He also recommends an equilateral speaker/listener triangle setup a prescribed distance away from walls.

[Bill O'Connell]

Ceiling height is only 8 foot, if I would take out the drop ceiling I could gain another 6'"or so but
 my wife , well enough said on that subject. ( just not happening ). They're not acoustic tiles in the drop ceiling also.
 Strictly going to be used for 2 channel audio.
 I'll check out your suggested recommendations now.

 Thanks,
 Bill

[JLM]

The best part of having a listening room is being able to listen as you want (what, when, and at what volume).

Because audiophiles are gear-heads, rooms are the biggest ignored factor in audio.  Room design should address shape, size, materials/design, and isolation.

Shape:  Again read "Sound Reproduction".  Note that the ancient Greeks used the Fibonacci ratios (that they called the "Golden Greek rectangle") in their stone temples and has become a rather pleasing visual.  Note also that my near-field set-up in my 8ft x 13ft x 21ft is small for gatherings if that is part of your intent.

Size:  Bigger is always better (as long as you don't stretch the recommend ratios too much).  IMO a 35ft long room with 8ft ceilings would be claustrophobically low, in fact by the Fibonacci ratios a 20ft x 35ft room should have a 12ft ceiling height.  I've often lusted for such a room, but 8,400 cu. ft. would be a lot of volume to fill with sound and would be out of scale for private use.  Too bad your wife is set against reworking the ceiling (maybe after she hears your system from upstairs and you explain how it could be insulated she'll change her mind).

Materials/Design:  I have wall to wall commercial carpet/pad over concrete floor (ideal for grounding equipment vibrations).  Avoid hard surfaces (stone, plaster).  As westerners we're conditioned to drywall, so stick with it.  I'd hold the drywall off the floor an inch in case of water intrusion.  I used fiberglass batts for all ceiling/wall insulation (cheap/easy).  Avoid recessed (can) light fixtures, even if rated to be in contact with insulation and air-tight they are not "sound tight" (know from experience  ). 

Isolation:  Avoid structural contact between inside of room and beyond.  I used insulated staggered stud walls (very effective), insulated/lined/flexible ductwork (highly effective), insulated fiberglass door with weather strips ( a second door would be even better), and should have used gauge metal "Z" strips to suspend the drywall ceiling (but contractor balked).  Electrically I have dedicated three 12 gauge/20 amp circuits with one cryo'd hospital grade duplex receptacle to each that are grounded together (separate from the rest of the house).

[mcgsxr]

You may be able to "fill" the space above the drop ceiling with insulation (Roxul Safe n Sound comes to mind).

You may even be able to simply replace the existing ceiling tiles with acoustic ones.  It may help.

Corner bass traps in my experience help a lot, as do first reflection treatments.

With careful placement I am very confident you will find a lot of enjoyment!

[bpape]

I would agree to replace the tiles in the reflection zone with acoustic ones and insulate there and over your head to address height modes and SBIR over a wider range. 

[drummermitchell]

My drop ceiling is 7' 5" and installed Rt ceiling tiles throughout a few yrs ago.
HF mini's I believe and 3"thick for reflection zone and the rest of ceiling standard bass trapping tile,also 3" thick.
Makes a huge difference as it's like the ceiling disappeared.
I believe Gik  makes these also.
Well worth replacing as your ceiling turns into a huge bass trap.

[Bill O'Connell]

great thoughts by all.
JLM, started reading Sound Reproduction yesterday, very interesting read about reflection.
 Maybe tomorrow night I will post some pics as a buddy and I stained the deck today. I'm exhausted, it was a big deck.
 There is a video on the house, the weight room is the sound room,20 X 20 room, the adjoining room ( taking down wall ) is where the sofa is. The billiard table room is where I wanted to put the system but it is under the master bedroom
and the whole purpose was to not be under my wife( no not in that way )

[Bill O'Connell]

here is the video, we have not moved in yet but are doing a lot of work before the move.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mu3BTqJANPQ

 Sorry for the length of video.

[JLM]

Wow, all I see is green (envy).     Nice place!!!

Not sure what portion(s) of the basement is the proposed audio room.  Could you provide the time(s) on the video?

[bentconvert]

"the weight room is the sound room,20 X 20 room, the adjoining room ( taking down wall ) is where the sofa is"  Starts at 2:03?

Bill, congratulations on your new home!

[JakeJ]

Very nice, Bill.  Thank you for inviting all of AC into your home by proxy.  You worked hard for this and the reward is obvious.  May you enjoy many years of happiness in your new home.

As an ex-chef I must extend extra kudos for the kitchen.  That room is warm and inviting just looking at it but it is also inspiring from a culinary aspect in that I pictured holiday feasts along with simple breakfasts of Belgian waffles and quiche.  Or how about MorningStar Eggs Benedict, first a gently toasted English muffin, or alternatively three thick slices of French bread also lightly toasted then buttered.  Next a topping of coarsly diced bacon fried crisp then add large diced onion and saute until the onion just turns clear.  Add fresh spinach and toss off the heat until wilted.  Then soft poached eggs rested over the bacon spinach combo, upon the bread, all smothered in Hollandaise sauce that is so thick it stands like a custard on the lot.

Damn!  I just made myself hungry for breakfast.

OK, all that falderal aside,  just a beautiful home and once again, congratulations.

[Hipper]

...and then down to the weight room to remove excess fat! Oh weight (!), it's now a listening room.

That's not bad for a second home!!! Very nice!

I would consult GIK or RealTraps to see what they suggest.

There are node measuring calculators online but because of the odd shape to your room they probably won't be that helpful. Here's one:

http://amroc.andymel.eu/?l=420&w=386&h=240&r60=0.6

Once you get some gear installed you could use Room EQ Wizard (REW) to measure the behaviour of your room. REW takes a lot of learning but will pay dividends over time.

There's plenty of advice on positioning online: here's one source:

http://www.barrydiamentaudio.com/monitoring.htm