Dedicated room questions ...... (ceilings, finishes, acoustic treatments).

Smurfin

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In no particular order, I have a load of questions!

1. 2.4m x 4.5m room - is 7.1.4 atmos worth doing?

2. Does anyone have any recommendations of how to treat the ceiling? Non reflective paint, or material? (I can imagine the latter to be a royal PITA)

3. Pelmet & star ceiling - these look like a hell of alot of work...what do people think? Is it worth it to have that rope light around the top of the room and downlights? I also have a hatch in the ceiling so don't think this will work but interested to get people's thoughts.

4. I'm building a frame around the room of CLS (so 100mm deep)...will be using insulation slabs at key reflection points, but what insulation to use? I have 2 key areas to treat. Firstly the side walls and rear wall. And secondly the screen wall. Due to the depth of subwoofer I will have a 2 foot void to pack with insulation behind the screen wall. Any thoughts on the best materials to use for both the side and rear walls and behind the screen? The front corners of the room will make for great bass traps, but assuming I would need to use a different insulation to achieve the best results? It's a while since I looked into this and I've forgotten loads of stuff...

5. Acoustics again - has anyone treated their ceiling with acoustic tiles, and did it make a difference? Did you go for absorption or diffusion?

6. Due to space I'm planning on having the kit rack hidden in the screen wall too...has anyone done this, and are there any good enclosures that people have used (whcih aren't stupid money) which can be wheeled forward to access cables behind for installation etc?

Thanks!
 
If you can put a picture of the room you will work with I can give you some 'construction' advice that might be of use. I am not an expert on HT set up stuff, I will leave that to people more experienced. If I see anything in your structure I am concerned about I will let you know :) and as you know, I will be doing the same soon.... So, I'll just copy you ;-)
 
1) yes your room is long enough to justify 7.2.4
2) easiest option is Cinema Blackout Material 625mm wide x 10m roll
3) depends what you want to achieve. Do you look at a star ceiling when watching a film? IMO they look great in photos but serve zero purpose for a cinema.
4) rockwool and air gaps are your best friend. pM @adam-burnley or @Harkon321 as they’ve got a decent amount of experience here.
5) acoustic tiles won’t do too much, you’re best off having MVEL covered acoustic panels to treat your reflection points. Diffusion is a bit of a science, but from my experience, treat your reflection points with acoustic panels and then go from there.
6) not sure this is a great idea, my kit is in my room, theoretically I never need to touch anything in my rack, but I find myself needing access more often than I’d think.
7) I’m 35 minutes away from you, if you wanted to come over for some ideas (I’d recommend you do), you’d be more than welcome.
 
1) yes your room is long enough to justify 7.2.4
2) easiest option is Cinema Blackout Material 625mm wide x 10m roll
3) depends what you want to achieve. Do you look at a star ceiling when watching a film? IMO they look great in photos but serve zero purpose for a cinema.
4) rockwool and air gaps are your best friend. pM @adam-burnley or @Harkon321 as they’ve got a decent amount of experience here.
5) acoustic tiles won’t do too much, you’re best off having MVEL covered acoustic panels to treat your reflection points. Diffusion is a bit of a science, but from my experience, treat your reflection points with acoustic panels and then go from there.
6) not sure this is a great idea, my kit is in my room, theoretically I never need to touch anything in my rack, but I find myself needing access more often than I’d think.
7) I’m 35 minutes away from you, if you wanted to come over for some ideas (I’d recommend you do), you’d be more than welcome.
That would be great! Let me know when it’s convenient for me to visit 😊. Do you have a baffle wall?
 
That would be great! Let me know when it’s convenient for me to visit 😊. Do you have a baffle wall?
I do mate. Any evening is generally ok and Friday all day 👍🏻
 
Here is my baffle wall
3121B8A2-4099-4C87-A689-593D1D79D372.jpeg
 
Hi,

Your stud work. Is that purely to hide treatments? You don’t need any sound isolation?
 
Just to hide treatments and speakers. I don’t need to isolate the room as I’ll be watching movies with the kids or when they aren’t staying with me (one of their bedrooms is directly above the cinema room).
 
Yea that’ll work well. 100mm rock wool or even 75mm, ideally with an air gap behind. Anthony Grimani on YouTube has some good ideas on locations and % to treat. Diffusion also important but harder if it’s only 2.4m wide, as most need 1m + to listener before they work.

I was going to do star ceiling but ran out of cash and time. The power is there if I ever change my mind. It looks great but Ive since covered my ceiling in black flock material and it doesnt reflect anything.
 
The CLS I’m using is 89mm deep, plus 12mm for track - so I was planning on using 2 x 50mm slabs of 65kg density rock wool …there won’t be an air gap behind though.
 
The performance of 50mm plus 50mm air gap is roughly the same as 100mm I believe. Could save some money there.
 
For taming first and second reflections?
 
Yes.

image.jpg
 
I won’t be able to do that as I’m building a whole frame around the room rather than making individual panels
 
I won’t be able to do that as I’m building a whole frame around the room rather than making individual panels

You would just fill the 50mm or so nearest the room?

It doesn’t matter, 100mm will do the same thing, it’s just more expensive.
 
The concept about just using 50mm rather than 100mm is true. When I do refurbishment works it is advised to leave an air gap when doing stud walls, rather than do a full-fill. It does potentially seem counter productive but does seem to be true...

Another technique that you can use if you were to have 100mm available if you're building any diffusers is to.... Hard to explain... I'll draw.... and I've got some actual ones I built.

This technique is a little more fiddly but gives a nice look as the material wrap 'inside' the frame. Sorry, the photo's are not great, but they did look, err, 'sharp' if you know what I mean. Nice clean edges.
 

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Didn’t realise you’d done it like that. So you’ve covered up all your insulation in the front wall? I guess it still removes the SBIR but can’t you hear/measure the difference, now it’s covered?
 
I like it, speedy make-shift :D
Managed to drive 300 miles, install the speakers, buy the material from B&Q, fit the baffle wall, run a calibration, have a demo session, all in one day.

It was a looooonnnnggggg day though!!
 
Managed to drive 300 miles, install the speakers, buy the material from B&Q, fit the baffle wall, run a calibration, have a demo session, all in one day.

It was a looooonnnnggggg day though!!

Sir.... I respect the dedication. Well done lad !

I would have had several beers after that....
 
Didn’t realise you’d done it like that. So you’ve covered up all your insulation in the front wall? I guess it still removes the SBIR but can’t you hear/measure the difference, now it’s covered?
It does give me a flatter response from 150-300hz, haven’t got any before and after measurements though.
 
Managed to drive 300 miles, install the speakers, buy the material from B&Q, fit the baffle wall, run a calibration, have a demo session, all in one day.

It was a looooonnnnggggg day though!!
Yeah you're certainly dedicated.

It does give me a flatter response from 150-300hz, haven’t got any before and after measurements though.
Are the speakers designed for a baffle wall? It would be interesting to compare with and without, because the mdf isn't flush with the speaker baffles, and not at the same angle either.
 

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