The Little Cinema of Burnley

The amount of detail that went into your build has really helped and I’m sure it has a lot of people that you don’t know about.. brilliant thread!

looking forward to future updates ☺

now that I have the basis about soundproofing I’m on to my equipment list and planning the basic layout of my room. hope it’s ok if I pop back periodically for your opinion.
Thank you. In fairness it's not as detailed as some great threads on here, many of which I got my ideas and inspiration from. I could and should have included a lot more detail, but often got so engrossed in what I was doing that I forgot to take photos :facepalm:
 
Hi Adam,

I've took tons of notes from this thread and your project and hope to achieve some sort of acoustic insulation across a party wall and ceiling below my daughters bedroom. I've never done anything like this before either and have limited money to throw at it so hope to do the best I can 1st time round.

What I'd like to know is how you installed the backer boxes in the ceiling? From what I can gather, I need to have a backer box in situ hanging on the rail from the RB. I then add some sealant to the flange on the BB and place a sheet of plaster board into position. The PB and backer box now stick together and I put screws through the PB into the flange to secure them together. The problem I can see me having is knowing where the flange is and having the screws bite the flange or have I got this all wrong? I also wanted to know how you knew where to cut your speakers out of the ceiling with such precision with regards to the backer box locations?

thanks
Jonny
 
Adam, when is it open to a demo 😏 ha
 
I have made some progress in the past couple of weeks though, mainly building the riser at the back of the room -

View attachment 1115383

Its 250mm high, with a surface size of 2500mm x 1700mm. Have stuffed with rockwool, so will add a couple of vents at the rear corners so it will hopefully act as a bass trap.
Hi Adam.

Can you explain why we need the vents, to make it work as a base trap?

And also, what do you think of the height of your riser? I assume there are pros and cons - the online guides seem to suggest we need more than 250mm, but then that comes at the cost of decent surround sound, which can't be at the correct height for both rows.
 
Hi Adam,

I've took tons of notes from this thread and your project and hope to achieve some sort of acoustic insulation across a party wall and ceiling below my daughters bedroom. I've never done anything like this before either and have limited money to throw at it so hope to do the best I can 1st time round.

What I'd like to know is how you installed the backer boxes in the ceiling? From what I can gather, I need to have a backer box in situ hanging on the rail from the RB. I then add some sealant to the flange on the BB and place a sheet of plaster board into position. The PB and backer box now stick together and I put screws through the PB into the flange to secure them together.

thanks
Jonny
Sorry for the delayed response, but you've pretty much nailed it.

I decided to suspend the boxes using the Resilient Channel bars so that there was no contact with the ceiling joists. Plenty of acoustic sealant was applied to the flange, which created a decent bond with the plasterboard, and PB screws were then used to pull the box tight to the underside of the plasterboard, where the sealant ensured there were no gaps that would allow sound leakage.

It actually worked quite well, although I imagine using acoustic hangers fixed to the joists or similar would also work.

The problem I can see me having is knowing where the flange is and having the screws bite the flange or have I got this all wrong?
We made markings on the adjacent wall so had a good idea where the flange was, but did miss a few times before hitting the right place! Nothing that the acoustic sealant didn't fix.

I also wanted to know how you knew where to cut your speakers out of the ceiling with such precision with regards to the backer box locations?
You're giving me too much credit using the word "precision" :laugh: I took lots of photos and measurements, then drilled pilot holes to make sure I was in the right place before cutting out with the pad saw.
 
I borrowed a camera, but realised I had no idea how to use it and everything came out blurred! I have a better camera on my phone now so will take some pics at some point.

Hi Adam.

Can you explain why we need the vents, to make it work as a base trap?
Exactly that.

And also, what do you think of the height of your riser? I assume there are pros and cons - the online guides seem to suggest we need more than 250mm, but then that comes at the cost of decent surround sound, which can't be at the correct height for both rows.
Why would more than 250mm be suggested? I think it works well. Any higher and it would have caused issues with the surrounds as you elude to.
 
Thanks for the replies Adam
Hi Adam.

Can you explain why we need the vents, to make it work as a base trap?

Exactly that.
:laugh: Lol, I'm an idiot. I didn't mean to include a comma in that question. What I was trying to ask, was why a base trap needs vents in order to work.

Why would more than 250mm be suggested?
Ah - there's a riser height calculator on the AVS forum: Riser Height Calculator - AVS Forum | Home Theater Discussions And Reviews

The idea of that is to give the people in the back row, an uninterrupted view of the bottom of the screen, but as I said, having it higher is probably not as good for surround sound. With yours, if you have similar height people front and back, can those in the back can see the heads of those in front just breaking the bottom of the screen? Or is your screen high enough to avoid that?

I'm thinking of going a little below the numbers you get from the calculator, with the idea that when we have both rows in use, the taller people are at the back.
 
Thanks for the replies Adam

:laugh: Lol, I'm an idiot. I didn't mean to include a comma in that question. What I was trying to ask, was why a base trap needs vents in order to work.
The addition of vents allow the riser stuffed with rockwool to absorb bass easier. The link I provided a couple of pages back to some graphs that demonstrated this no longer works unfortunately, but there is some discussion over on AVS about it, one particular one here Riser as Bass Trap - AVS Forum | Home Theater Discussions And Reviews

Ah - there's a riser height calculator on the AVS forum: Riser Height Calculator - AVS Forum | Home Theater Discussions And Reviews

The idea of that is to give the people in the back row, an uninterrupted view of the bottom of the screen, but as I said, having it higher is probably not as good for surround sound. With yours, if you have similar height people front and back, can those in the back can see the heads of those in front just breaking the bottom of the screen? Or is your screen high enough to avoid that?

I'm thinking of going a little below the numbers you get from the calculator, with the idea that when we have both rows in use, the taller people are at the back.
Yes it's a compromise for sure, however, the kids sit in the front and their heads are still below the top of the seats, plus the seats recline anyway so it's never a problem.
 
Thank you. In fairness it's not as detailed as some great threads on here, many of which I got my ideas and inspiration from. I could and should have included a lot more detail, but often got so engrossed in what I was doing that I forgot to take photos :facepalm:

Adam, so my project is now back on (COVID stopped my house build) The plan will be to start my build in about October through to December.


Since Feb I have not done much in terms of planning and stupidly did not document what I wanted to do with regards soundproofing (going through your thread now) You mention in your post you read some other good threads for inspiration. Would you mind sharing the ones you used for guidance and ideas?

I'm going to start a thread in the coming days with my first draft plan. If I message you, would you mind having a look and give me any tips?

Cheers Leon
 
Leon have you looked at the main soundproofing thread on avs forums?
 
Leon have you looked at the main soundproofing thread on avs forums?
Hi, no and apologies. Did not even realise there is one! Will have a look now. Thanks for the heads up :)

PS, here is my thread I just created... still early days! Any suggestions welcomed!

 
I did consider installing AC, but didn't in the end.

Can I ask how you are finding it in the room during warm days/evenings?
I decided not to install AC in my cinema room but ended up buying a mobile unit to pre chill the room when temperatures are over 23c.
 
Can I ask how you are finding it in the room during warm days/evenings?
I decided not to install AC in my cinema room but ended up buying a mobile unit to pre chill the room when temperatures are over 23c.
We don't get that many warm days or evenings up north :laugh:

Seriously though, the room stays cool when not in use. I keep the black out blind shut all the time and it does a great job of stopping the heat from the sun getting in to the room. On the odd occasion I lift the blind on a warm day you can instantly feel the heat that has been trapped in the void.

The temperature does rise during use of course, but unless we watch two films back to back, never gets anywhere near uncomfortable.

This was the case last night actually, and here is the temperature graph from yesterday (captured using a Canary All-in-One) -


Screenshot_20200829_124011_is.yranac.canary.jpg


You can see it peaked at 24c at 11:49pm, which was towards the end of the second film.

There is a radiator in the room and the central heating did come on yesterday so heated the room slightly. The rad is under the projector shelf at the back, and the Canary is on the shelf (in theory the hottest part of the room).

Certainly on very hot days when the temperature reaches the high 20s or peaks 30c, things can get a little bit uncomfortable. But then that's the case for the rest of the house. On those odd days in the year I'd love to have AC throughout the house, not just the cinema room. We just don't get enough of those days a year to justify the cost.
 
Can I ask how you are finding it in the room during warm days/evenings?
I decided not to install AC in my cinema room but ended up buying a mobile unit to pre chill the room when temperatures are over 23c.

I also considered fitting aircon, but didn't. My room has a large front window, and French doors, the sun rises on the front and tracks round the side with the French doors in by late morning. The room does get warm, and holds the heat. So far this year there's only been one night when the room has been too warm to watch a film, usually I'll open the windows and let some air circulate just to drop the temperature a bit prior to using the room, but on this occasion the outside temperature was 30 so it wasn't going to make any difference. Throughout the summer I'll often watch films with the room stat showing high twenties, but I find it fairly comfortable with just shorts and t shirt on. Yes air con would be nice, but for the few weeks a year it gets a bit warm I don't consider it worth it.
 
We don't get that many warm days or evenings up north :laugh:
I lived in the Rossendale valley for 7 years as a kid and I do remember the occasional break in the cloud😉
Perhaps it’s because the window in my room is south facing but if it is hot outside it can get pretty sticky after a couple of hours with the projector on. Still, even down here in tropical Kent the number of warm days a year don’t make me regret not installing full AC.
 
Superb thread Adam. I just spent half a day going through this as we are about to embark on an extension with a dedicated cinema. My god....sooo many decisions to make. 🤯
 
Superb thread Adam. I just spent half a day going through this as we are about to embark on an extension with a dedicated cinema. My god....sooo many decisions to make. 🤯
Thank you.

Feel free to post your ideas, or have you started your own thread?

There are a number of things I'd do differently if I was starting over. I wouldn't bother plastering the walls or ceiling, or even painting. Instead I'd put black material up.
 

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