Basement home theater 20 x 30 surround sound with big bass woofer / ceramic tile floor/ 12 inch brick walls all sides/ open 12 inch joists 16 in centers/ 8 ft ceiling/ UNDER SAME SIZE LIVING ROOM (carpeted floor)/ steam heat but there are 6 inch ducts for air conditioning.
Does anybody have any ideas how we can make a great improvement in isolating sounds from the living room? The customer has mentioned the idea of fibreglas batts with tight canvass under joists with cedar boards for looks. The room is large enough for dampening on the walls – it’s just a real question of what to do. Any sound guys out there?
Replies
The ideal thing would be a second layer of joists with doubled drywall on the bottom and fiberglass (or preferably a better damper) between the two joist layers. But you don't appear to have the headroom for that.
Go to the Owens-Corning web site they have a great section on noise control.
Have fun! There's a lot ot know. Isolate the room to keep noise transmission minimized, then concentrate on room acoustics to improve sound.
http://www.ethanwiner.com/acoustics.html#top
http://www.acousticalsolutions.com/
http://www.auralex.com/
http://www.etfacoustic.com/
http://www.acousticsfirst.com/index.html
http://www.owenscorning.com/around/sound/products/index2.asp
http://www.silentsource.com/index.html
http://www.gedlee.com/
PJ
Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end.
Isolation is the key- if you build a "box in a box" and keep the sound from passing through the envelope, then isolate any air paths, you'll have little problem in the living room. The bass is the hardest to stop, though. Look online for materials. There are a few other threads here that deal with this issue, as well.
"I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."
You need to look at all the links above. In my experience, the use of sound deadning bats in the ceiling of the sound room, resonence channel in the joists and doubled 5/8" drywall for the ceiling wil help. Accoustic sealant helps, foam gasketing under the interior wall plates, woven sound insulation on all interior walls....
You can make it quiet.
Quality repairs for your home.
Aaron the Handyman
Vancouver, Canada
I think he meant to say resilient channel.
Go to school on this a bit...
There isn't a huge problem stopping the stuff from about 1000hz to 20,000 hz---but you're talking about subwoofers and what-not, which, by definition, means really somewhere between 20hz and 500hz---those are a bitch to knock out.
You might consider:
1) Kinetics ICW hangars for the ceiling of the home theater (decouples 20-100 hz with about a 20 db silencing number
2) Acoustically sealing all of the door openings (or even, double doors)
and also
3) posting your question at: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=5&forumid=19
which is ####dedicated home theater site (though, not as typically as intelligent as Breaktime---there are some technical folks over there who can be quite helpful, though)...
Good luck!
NotaClue
Good advice so far. But whatever yuo do, keep in mind that half the battle is keeping the sound in, and out, but the other half is the actual acoustics IN the theatre.
Small dimensions can make a big difference. Consult a really good home theatre consultant in your area. Have the client pay if need be, it is imperitive that this step be carried through.
Jake Gulick
[email protected]
CarriageHouse Design
Black Rock, CT