Sound proofing party wall, considerations?

[knoxy]

Hi guys, I couldn't find what I was looking for so apologies if this has already been posted.

This weekend, I'll be fixing up some batons to the wall and some sound proofing plasterboards to our party wall and I just want to see if I can build up some sort of checklist of things I need to do for what I want.

Does anyone have any tips (no need for full instructions, just some wee tips that most people don't think of until its all done then realise their error!) from a previous experience on this as I'm not a DIY maestro :-)

I have surround sound speakers (the front and left will sit on stands) with the centre and rears being wall mounted. I'm buying a new HD receiver (Denon 1909) in the next day or two as well. I have a subwoofer. Also, I have a 42" Pioneer plasma which I'll be wall mounting. Do I stick the bracket on the outside of the plasterboard through the batons into the brick or mount it directly onto the batons through the brick after cutting a hole in the plasterboard?

I'd like to hide as much of the cabling behind the wall if poss and want to keep as much sound from going next door if I can. I'll be fixing the batons directly to the wall and leaving an air gap.

Regards,
Knoxy

[esdubu]

If i was you i wouldn't just fix batons to the wall, it'll just cause the sound to pass through the timber straight onto the brick. What i'd do is build a stud frame on the floor first, then lift it up to the wall and fix it the floor, ceiling joists, and then just chock it in as few places as possible to the wall. Then you've only got a couple of places for the sound to bridge and a lot less drilling and screwing into brick. Also in my loft room i've fixed the plasterboard on top of 25mm celotex foam insulation to further isolate the board from the party walls.

Take a look at some of the pics in my thread to see what i mean

[knoxy]

Cheers for the reply. Hmm, I might just do that now - will that make a massive difference to the amount of sound travelling through the wall? I don't want to take the frame out too far from the wall because we don't have that much space to play with width-wise, I've got some sound proofing boards and was just going to use air as a gap as I believe combining the air and the mass of the boards will help reduce high and low frequencies?

I've just bought some wall plates with brushes to pass through cabling, obviously this will let sound through, anything else I can use to reduce?

[esdubu]

You could try acoustic mineral wool between the studwork of your frame, that might help.