Dedicated listening room advice.

[djwhog]

Well if it is new construction, cross braces between the studs in the wall and good insulation too.

Also as Dan said 2 but I would do 3 20 amp circuits and if I had to do it again i would even run a 40 amp 220 line as well.

welcome and enjoy the ride

[Masterlu]

Originally Posted by djwhog

Well if it is new construction, cross braces between the studs in the wall and good insulation too.

Also as Dan said 2 but I would do 3 20 amp circuits and if I had to do it again i would even run a 40 amp 220 line as well.

welcome and enjoy the ride

+1 on the additional circuits.

[jimtranr]

lakesailor...first, welcome. And congratulations on being able to create a dedicated room. I had to vacate one in order to make room for other priorities and as a consequence (and with indispensable help from ASC's Michael Adams) had to employ a less-than-conventional treatment scheme to deal--successfully, as it turns out--with the issues presented by a very lived-in multiuse room.

That said, what I see as room-treatment essentials (addressed to the nines in Serge's room) are: trapping all the room corners to corral the sonics-muddying bass standing waves that love to boogie there; treating the sidewall (and, if you can, ceiling), first reflection points in relation to your seating position to eliminate image smearing; trapping the midwall positions at the front, on the sides, and at the rear to deal with the pressure buildups which occur in those areas. If you can go beyond those essentials ala Serge's approach, so much the better.

"Trapping" may commonly be interpreted as absorbing the heck out of everything. But--because absorbing everything sucks the musical life out of everything as well--what's always worked best for me in terms of communicating whatever modicum of musical "reality" we can obtain from recordings is a healthy combination of absorption and diffusion. And because I use ASC traps which include diffusor sections, "trapping" means exactly that for me. Those diffusor sections are there for a reason, and I make liberal use of them.

I realize upon re-reading this that I've stated the obvious. So if it comes across as stale bread, my apologies. In any event, good luck with your project. I suspect you'll enjoy the heck out of the results.

Jim

[lakesailor]

Jim,

That is great advice and very helpful. One of the things I am most looking forward to with a dedicated listening room is the ability to experiment with different acoustical treatments. I will have the freedom to try pretty much anything in any location.

This is not a brand new home I am moving into so it is more a case of renovating a pre-existing room. However after having read some of the suggestions in this thread, and going over the advice in threads such as Ivan’s HT room I have some good ideas to pursue. I also may ponder some gear changes now as well. Easy to get carried away….

[jimtranr]

lakesailor...One useful--I'm tempted to say "essential"--tool in getting the treatment porridge just right is consulting with the manufacturer of whatever treatment(s) you select to determine the optimum deployment of their traps, panels, etc. In my case, I e-mailed to ASC photographs shot from all four room corners to the opposite corners and a diagram depicting the placement of all furniture and other significant-sized objects in the room and indicated all pertinent room dimensions. That way, their consultant had a good fix on the space.

As far as experimenting goes, that can be a fun as well as useful exercise (just ask Randy aka "Chessman"). I did a lot of that in my old dedicated room, pictured in the thumbnail below (a photo that ASC still has on the Studio Traps page of its website). The experimenting taught me a lot about tailoring diffusion to the specific conditions which applied to my room and where I sat in it.

Jim

[lakesailor]

Thought I would provide and update to this thread. Moved in to the house last week and am now starting on the sound room construction project. It is a relatively small room and I have spent the last few months doing a fair bit of reading and planning.


The idea is to work off a modified version of the “room within a room” idea…as I am looking to both “sound proof” the room and also to acoustically treat it, the first step is to float another layer of drywall…first we are laying down a layer of sonopan and then sourcing some Quietrock 510 drywall. We will use green glue throughout and also using Johns-Manville Acoustical insulation in between. The downside to all of this is that the room ends up getting narrower and will end up a few inches under 7’ wide.

This of course will affect the ceiling height as my “optimum” target height means the ceiling will need to be lowered. Debating the choice of material and how best to do that is currently on the agenda. Although more work and expense thinking of going with the Quietrock instead of drop down acoustical panels ….Fortunately the length of the room is about perfect.

Still trying to figure out what to do with the corners although I am thinking of adding bass traps after the fact…that keeps things much easier for the construction process. Anyone have any suggestions on preferred bass traps for the corners ????

Will be running 20amp dedicated circuits from an upgraded 200 amp panel so I have that part covered and will also use radiant heating in the room…no ducts or vents issues to deal with and also reduced dust. Lighting is also being run on a separate circuit and no dimmers switches allowed….running two banks of lighting…one will be low light and the other higher wattage.



The bulk of this work should be completed in the next two weeks (I have to have a goal that at least sets an unrealistic deadline)….Wish me luck…I will take some pictures along the way…

[cmalak]

Lakesailor...good luck with the build out. Are you going to be placing your speakers on the long wall and listening near field?

[chessman]

lakesailor, I would recommend an open cofferred ceiling. I drywalled mine before I knew anything of acoustics and now I regret it.

[Masterlu]

Originally Posted by chessman

lakesailor, I would recommend an open cofferred ceiling. I drywalled mine before I knew anything of acoustics and now I regret it.

Randy... That's why there's a claw on the other side of that hammer.

[Doug Lax]

Originally Posted by jdandy

lakesailor.......Welcome to Audio Aficionado.

My suggestion is to install a minimum of two 20 amp dedicated circuits in the location of your rack. If you only install one dedicated circuit now, you will be adding one later.

I am glad I listened to Dan and Ivan in this do at least two