Wall coverings/treatment for HT

[4N6]

All,

I have a dedicated HT in the converted attic of my home. A 100" screen and JVC projector. Dimmable lights.

The walls are plain drywall with no treatment or coverings. Running the long way, the ceiling is flat in the middle, then angles down with the roofline. The sidewalls are around 4' high, then angle upwards to the ceiling. The front and rear walls are flat, with double doors in the rear wall. No windows.

I wanted suggestions on wall coverings/treatment. I liked the idea of dark corrugated draperies/cloth on the front wall and lower portions of the sidewalls, similar to that seen in many true theaters. Not sure how to do that, though.

Thoughts on this? Colors? Types of wall coverings? Ceiling?

Thanks for the help!

[W9TR]

Hi Kevin,
With an all drywall room you will want more absorption that just the carpet on the floor.
A rule of thumb is that about 50% of the surface area of the theater be treated. Carpeting counts.

I like to build a live end / dead end concept into my theaters. The front is the dead end. Curtains around the screen make the room look more like a theater and work great as absorbers. That may be hard to pull off due to the ceiling structure in your room. I have 4" fiberglass acoustic panels covered in acoustically transparent fabric for the first 4' of my current theater. Works great and gives the room a clean look.

The rear of the room is the live end. Not much absorption there and diffusion is really good. Bookcases on the rear wall, bold shutters or blinds on the doors, dedicated diffusers, etc.

For the sidewalls, you can use Guildford of Maine acoustically transparent fabric over 1" fiberglass duct liner. This looks good and is inexpensive. A caution here is that you may not need to treat the length of the wall. You can get the room too dead. The good news is you can still use the fabric and not the underlying duct liner and get the same look along the length of the wall.

All this said, you may be better off to send your room info to GIK Acoustics or ASC and have them recommend professional panels.

Regards,

Tom

[4N6]

Tom,

Thanks for the great advice. I appreciate it.