[Rob S.]

Thanks to all the good advice from AC'ers, I've chosen the bigger room of my 2 choices.
I've chosen this room in our basement as the best possibility for great sound.   It's  19 x 21'4"  x 7' 3" .   It's directly under the garage.  Ceiling is a drop ceiling which seems very low, there is an additional few inches above the ceiling tiles, so maybe the ceiling could be raised to 7'6", if that could help any.  A few pictures here.   

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?action=gallery;area=browse;album=1156 

I'd like to remove the shelves/ cabinets and other junk lying around first, then paint, but the right front corner has me concerned.   Should I enclose that space?  I could enclose it, make it a closet and it could run flush with the adjacent closet,  Which would mean that the dimensions would be mostly  17' 5" x 21' 4".  I have the electric box (which is enclosed in a smaller closet) to the right of the existing closet so I could run any dedicated lines into the drop ceiling and down to my desired locations. 

AFter the dimensions get optimized,  room treatments will be tackled next.

Look forward to any advice and guidance you all can give me here.  Thanks in advance.

Rob S.

[bpape]

The drop ceiling can do double duty as a broadband bass absorber if you fill the space above with insulation.

If it was me, I'd use the closet for a rack and use what you now have labeled the left wall as the front wall.  The room isn't that much different width to depth so you're not losing a lot and can still get a nice soundstage in there with no sidewall boundary issues and a nice seating distance.

Bryan

[Harmon]

Rob, you are a lucky man. Very few audiophiles have dedicated audio rooms. Good luck with it.

[Rob S.]

Ok, never thought of that.  I always thought you choose the short wall for speaker placement.  If I chose the long wall on the Left side for speakers,  I'd have no real reason to tackle the corner project, unless I wanted more storage space, right?

Also, what type of insulation could be put into the ceiling for "broadband bass absorption".   I've got a couple of inches to work with.   What is "broadband bass absorption"?   So I would have to buy fewer bass traps?

Thanks again.

Rob S.

[Rob S.]

Harmon,   Yep my wife loves me, and I'm "allowed" to have this room, as long as those ugly room acoustic panels don't make it anywhere else in the house!!!   And my hobby doesn't expand into other rooms. 

[bpape]

If the room was 12x20, I'd absolutely work on putting it the long way.  In your case, you have plenty of room both ways and the dimensions aren't that much different that it will cause a problem.

Standard fiberglass insulation will work fine in the ceiling.  You'll still need some deep bass control as a 3" absorber isn't exactly going to 'plumb the depths' in terms of control.  However, it will provide an extension of the range that the drop will provide you and get you out of already having too much HF only control.

Bryan

[Ethan Winer]

Rob,

I agree with the advice given so far, but I have two concerns about the ceiling. Usually regular fluffy fiberglass is great above a dropped ceiling, but you mentioned having only a few inches. In that case you might do better with 705 rigid fiberglass. At least around the perimeter near the wall-ceiling corners. My other concern is the quality of your ceiling tiles. Conventional office type tiles are designed for speech frequencies, so you'll need something much more absorbent at high frequencies for the first reflection points.

--Ethan

[Rob S.]

Ethan,
    Ok, I believe that my ceiling tiles are not likely to be friendly to audio, and yes I think it's a great idea to use a thinner 705 fiberglass panel in the ceiling since it only has about 3 or 4 inches above the drop ceiling. 

Your comments/suggestions of    "Conventional office type tiles are designed for speech frequencies, so you'll need something much more absorbent at high frequencies for the first reflection points."   

Are you talking of ceiling tiles for the above quote?   or wall first reflection points?   I plan to use treatments recommended for  the first reflections.   Speaking of ceiling tiles, should they be replaced?  If so, what changes should be made.

Rob S.

[TONEPUB]

Rob

The first thing you should do with your new room is have sex with your wife in
it...

[lord dubious]

TONEPUB
Now that is some good advice.  Sometimes we need someone to point out the obvious.

[JLM]

If it were my room the first thing I'd do is to set a budget. 

The "hog wild" approach would bump the ceiling up as much as possible reduce one of the room dimensions to approach a 1 x 1.61 x 2.61 ratios.  The extra space could be used as a storage annex to the room and could even hold the audio PC with pass through shelving with glass doors into the room.

As the room is nicely finished off already, the non-audio-crazed approach would leave the ceiling grid and walls alone.  The "squareness" and low ceilings are problems.  I'd first try a completely unsymetrical layout that would keep speakers equal distance from the listening position but require as many reflections as possible to return to the listening position.  (The axis between the speakers and through the listening position would be on an odd skew to the walls, like 23 degrees.)  This should also help with some of the higher frequency squareness issues.  I'd then add major absorption to the corners to help with the bass problems a square room will have.  Then I'd apply the LEDE (live end, dead end) method to absorb high frequencies around the first reflection points, particularly on the ceiling, but also on the left wall and front walls (assuming the speakers will be opposite the door) to try to get the room to act less symetrical/square.

Does the room have any heat or ventilation to it?  I don't see perimeter heaters or even a grill.  If there forced ventilation to the room I'd replace solid metal duct with insulated flexible duct.  If the quality/quantity of power is suspect I'd run a dedicated circuit.  What you see tells you what you're hearing, so I'd darken one or two walls (the eye "sees" them as farther away) with the color of absorption panels selected.

My man cave was sized/proportioned for audio (13 x 21 x and I've added six GIK 244 panels, but I also consider the 3 bookshelves that I have on the side walls as important.  The shelves aren't stuffed and so act as "casual" diffusers for midrange frequencies.  Your shelves and the irregular right wall would also help add randomness, further reduce the "squareness" of the room, and provide some nice diffusion. 

Keep us posted and have fun.  (Where did that sex comment come from Jeff??)

[MaxCast]

Are you talking of ceiling tiles for the above quote?   or wall first reflection points?   I plan to use treatments recommended for  the first reflections.   Speaking of ceiling tiles, should they be replaced?  If so, what changes should be made.

Yes Rob, he is talking about your ceiling tiles.  You will propably what to treat the first reflection points on the ceiling as well as look into the absorbtive qualities of your present tiles.  You may want to replace them too.

[Ethan Winer]

Are you talking of ceiling tiles for the above quote?   or wall first reflection points?   I plan to use treatments recommended for  the first reflections.   Speaking of ceiling tiles, should they be replaced?  If so, what changes should be made.

Most / all ceiling tiles are not absorbent enough for use at reflection points. You can cut and wrap 703 with fabric and put that in those specific grid openings. My company also sells tiles, though I haven't gotten around to listing them on our site yet. If you want to do this cheaply, and plan to put rigid (or fluffy) fiberglass above the tiles anyway, then just remove the tiles at those reflection points so the sound hits the fiberglass above. You can place felt or other fabric across the opening for appearance.

And then have sex in your new room.

--Ethan

[TONEPUB]

Sorry, I love hifi, but I do have my priorities!!

Like LL Cool J said  "I got a steady girl, but I haven't stopped livin, you know what I'm sayin?"

[JLM]

        

[JLM]

Gee, how could I forget about acoustical isolation?   

I'd insulate any adjoining walls/ceilings to the house and separate room framing from the rest of the living space with insulated double stud walls, or insulated staggered stud walls.

Now with a lower noise floor you can play softer or play the same and hear more dynamic range while keeping the peace with the family.

[Mike Dzurko]

I pretty much agree with all the input, and most definitely agree w/ Jeff 

[aod]

Very good advise. 
maybe some measurements?
cheers
Jag

[PhilNYC]

Rob

The first thing you should do with your new room is have sex with your wife in
it...

Don't you think he should sound-proof it first? 

 

[Mike Dzurko]

Rob

The first thing you should do with your new room is have sex with your wife in
it...

Don't you think he should sound-proof it first? 

 

Only if you have to worry about the kids