Planning to build the ultimate "Listening Room"

[bruno2009]

Building the ultimate audio listening room.

Well - that`s my plan. I will be building a room, literally "from scratch" to fit my existing stereo system (B&W 802 Diamonds (D2s), McIntosh MC452 & C52, Pass XP 15 and Brinkmann LaGrange).

Everything can be designed free - from room size to form to the materials that are used down to the power lines. It will then be finished with acoustical room treatment.

I am starting my "planning phase" and it`d be great to have some creative input or maybe even someone who can share their own experience.

I am planning a room size from somewhere between 30 - 60 squaremeters (too big might not be ideal, nor too small). Within the parameters I can choose the form rather freely (rectangular or square). Also the amount of windows and where to place them should be considered. Further I`m not sure on what materials to use for the floor. Walls will be solid stone.

It`s my project for the next 12 months (or more) whilst renovating and extending an existing home. I`m still not sure if I really want to integrate a home cinema or just leave it right down to plain stereo (certainly stereo playback is the main focus though).

Glad to hear your thoughts and advice...

[nicoff]

A music room and a home cinema are not mutually exclusive. It is not difficult to build a room that can serve both purposes. If you plan it well, it is easy and cheaper to install wiring for a home cinema from the beginning. You should check out avsforums to get good ideas about building a home theater.
Also, I there are room calculators available that can give you optimal room dimensions. I have seen these dimensions at several websites:
10 feet high
17 feet wide
23 feet long

[80B]

Christoph,
There are a lot of threads here, as you have probably seen, of people who have built some terrific rooms. You may want to post some links to some of the ones that intrigue you to stimulate discussion. Do you have pictures of your existing space? Before-and-after is always interesting.

[bruno2009]

Originally Posted by 80B

Christoph,

There are a lot of threads here, as you have probably seen, of people who have built some terrific rooms. You may want to post some links to some of the ones that intrigue you to stimulate discussion. Do you have pictures of your existing space? Before-and-after is always interesting.

Hi & thanx for the input - if people are interested I will certainly share the journey... things will go from scratch... I am in the first steps of the planning phase. No existing room yet... but the architect will come and start making building plans within the next few days... I am building the extra room as I don‘t want to integrate the stereo system into the existing living room...

[docmd2010]

Hello!

I'm going through the exact same journey at the moment. I'm custom building a home and right now am designing it from ground up. I am building a 2 channel room. The HT room will be roughed in and I will likely do that later on after I move in.

Room Size: 17 feet wide x 23 feet deep x 10 foot high. Floor will be a concrete slab, and one of the walls will be concrete too (it's in a basement).

The main thing I am going to focus on is soundproofing the room. Not because I care as much about sound coming out of the room, but more or less sound coming into the room.

You will come across many, many solutions for doing this. One thing to keep in mind is the STC. This is the sound transmission coefficient. Measures how well a material traps sound. Basically anything below 40 is terrible, 40-50 is ok, 50-60 is good, and 60+ is excellent.

The quieter your room, the better it will be.

The ideal room construction scenario is a room within a room. Here is it how it is constructed and this has a STC of 73 btw.

Double studded, with 2-3 inches in between the set of studs.

Double drywall 5/8 inch thick with green glue in the middle. This should be done on both sides of the wall.

Insulation should be put in both sets of studs. Quietbatt is one material, amongst many.

If you add Quietbatt to both sides instead of standard fiberglass R13, the STC goes up to about 75 or so.

If you really want to go crazy, you add horizontal bracings between the studs (three levels of bracings, say at 3 foot, 6 foot, and 9 foot), then cover both layers of studs with plywood and nail it in every 6 inches or so. Then add the double dry wall with greenglue in between.

As you can see, you can go nuts with this. It all depends on how crazy you want to get and your budget.

[nicoff]

FWIW, a company named Rives used to offer a service where they would design a listening room for you based on your equipment and needs. They would prepare a set of plans that you could give to your Architect or to your builder to execute.

In any event, if your goal is to build the ultimate listening room, paying an audio consultant is money well spent.

[bruno2009]

Originally Posted by nicoff

FWIW, a company named Rives used to offer a service where they would design a listening room for you based on your equipment and needs. They would prepare a set of plans that you could give to your Architect or to your builder to execute.

In any event, if your goal is to build the ultimate listening room, paying an audio consultant is money well spent.

Thanx - I have 3 audio consultants for room acoustics that I‘m taking into consideration ...

[keef]

Originally Posted by nicoff

FWIW, a company named Rives used to offer a service where they would design a listening room for you based on your equipment and needs. They would prepare a set of plans that you could give to your Architect or to your builder to execute.

In any event, if your goal is to build the ultimate listening room, paying an audio consultant is money well spent.

Great suggestion.

I used Rives Audio around 7 years ago to construct my ultimate 2 channel room. It is without a doubt the best investment I have made in the hobby. Fortunately, the contractor I used was not only a master carpenter (finisher) but had done work for Richard Byrd from Rives so he understood the language and over the top materials and design many have already mentioned.

When you start talking 20 amp dedicated lines, 5/8 inch drywall, dispersion, diffraction, absorption, radials, bass traps, etc....you tend to get some crazy looks and counter suggestions from ordinary contractors.

Rives closed shop but my advice is to hire acoustical experts to help out, Rives was very meticulous, so much so that I almost lost patience several times but it paid off - I could have never done it myself.

Best of luck - you will love it!

[vintage_tube]

For those interested & perspective for input:

30m² === 322 ft²
60m² === 645 ft²

Best Sir,

Bob

[nicoff]

Originally Posted by vintage_tube

For those interested & perspective for input:



30m² === 322 ft²

60m² === 645 ft²



Best Sir,



Bob

23 ft x 17 feet = 391 SQ. FT.