# Old analogue guy needs ideas and help.



## NairbD (Nov 12, 2011)

Single story, detached house. wife gave me single car Garage, 10'W,20'L,10'H, need help designing a HT / Listening room with a small Recording Studio. I Know it's a tall order, but I've been lurking on this site for several years and I know this is where I can get the help I need. I'm nearly 6 months to a year away from completion, but I'm currently in the design and planning stage. All the help I can get from experiences and knowledge you guys have is needed and welcomed. I know this isn't much information (yet) but my computer went goofy on me when I posted all the details it's too late at night to re-writ it all. I hope to continue very soon (probably tomorrow). If your interested, just post something in reply for now and I think HTS will let you know when I update. Thanks in advance.

Brian (Nairb spelled backwards)


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## Lumen (May 17, 2014)

That's a challenge right off the bat. All room dimensions are even multiples of each other, and two of them are equal. That will aggravate room modes, which can be tamed with bass traps. You should plan on accommodating some serious models or DIY. I don't think the typical solution of stuffing batting into a triangular corner shape is going to cut it here. But I'm no expert. *Check with the technical guru's over at GIK Acoustics for ideas and solutions.* :bigsmile:


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Hi Brian, is your plan to build a separate room for the studio? This could help with the room dimensions. 
Its a decent size space and most certainly doable.


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## NairbD (Nov 12, 2011)

Thanks again Blue, I will check with our resident Acousticians about the Modes I expect to have, after I can chart the finished room. My idea for the room size is to reduce the useable LENGTH by about 4' : 1) to separate the Garage door. 2) to provide for storage for Lawn Mower, etc. I'm thinking of trying some bass traps into the original design somehow. Perhaps some type of diaphragm that will "flex" with excessive sound pressure especially in the (4 walls) and something for the ceiling/wall junctions that can be tuned to another frequency mode. Think - ¼" Masonite slightly bowed out (into the room for the wall corners. My limited education in acoustics tells me that anything that can convert sound waves into heat will effectively absorb that energy via conversion. This should also help with dispersion as it would nearly eliminate the "Corner effect". Your thoughts are appreciated and ALWAYS welcome. Thanks.

Brian


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## JimShaw (Apr 30, 2012)

Plumas Lake, CA. I was hoping that you might be close to me so that I can pop over with my chair, sit and enjoy watching but after finding it on the map, it's too far around 450 miles. Can't do any popping with that mileage.

I'll just have to enjoy pictures as they come in.


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## NairbD (Nov 12, 2011)

Hi Tony, thanks for you interest. Yes, I'm going to try all 3 in the same small room! Wish me luck as I'll need it. I was looking at the pictures of your HT....VERY NICE and well done Tony! I would NEVER have picked those colors, but the more I look, the better I like them. I'm not familiar with a lot of the stuff you have but I'm learning. I LOVE Marantz and the Paradigms. Did you replace them with the EV's?, were the EV's better?

You're the first Canadian I've met here. I got my formal A/V education in Calgary @ SAIT. I think You guys have our sister school in Edmonton - NAIT. Anyway, I graduated in '72, moved to Vancouver, worked at several studios eventually ending up at Imperial Record Corp. (IRC) as their Mastering guy.
I hesitate to call myself an "engineer" because my education did not warrant the title, but they kept putting it on my business card any way! I knew NOTHING about Digital but I could see the writing on the wall. so I decided I needed to switch careers. I moved to LA, went to school and did something else for 30 years. Now that I'm retired, I want to return to my Hobbie! 

I saw a couple of speakers that you built. I'm curious about what I think are the crossovers. Did you design them yourself?, how did you wind the inductors?, What is that "GOOP" around them?, are they 3 or 4 stage? See?, I'm quite clueless. I sure could use your has help as well as all your Edmonton "Shacksters" help. In simple terms Tony .... HELP!!!! And thanks for your reply.

Brian


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## NairbD (Nov 12, 2011)

Thanks for the post Jim, Yea, I moved to Plumas Lake (50 Mi. N. of Sac), because I could no longer afford to live in Silly-Con valley where I was born and raised (Redwood City). Have only been here about a year, but would LOVE to pull up a chair with you, watch and listen to stuff as well as shoot the "Stuff" with you.

Sounds like you might be in LA? I went to College in LA. Perhaps Eureka, Nevada, or perhaps you writing from your yacht in the Pacific! Thats about all I can think of that's 450 miles away. Anyway, thanks for the post and please weigh in if you have any advise or questions. Otherwise the "before" Pics will be posted as soon as I can clean out that garage of all my "Stuff"!

Brian


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## Lumen (May 17, 2014)

NairbD said:


> Thanks again Blue, I will check with our resident Acousticians about the Modes I expect to have, after I can chart the finished room. My idea for the room size is to reduce the useable LENGTH by about 4' : 1) to separate the Garage door. 2) to provide for storage for Lawn Mower, etc. I'm thinking of trying some bass traps into the original design somehow. Perhaps some type of diaphragm that will "flex" with excessive sound pressure especially in the (4 walls) and something for the ceiling/wall junctions that can be tuned to another frequency mode. Think - ¼" Masonite slightly bowed out (into the room for the wall corners. My limited education in acoustics tells me that anything that can convert sound waves into heat will effectively absorb that energy via conversion. This should also help with dispersion as it would nearly eliminate the "Corner effect". Your thoughts are appreciated and ALWAYS welcome. Thanks. Brian


You're welcome! Yup, dividing the space should break up the worst of the modes. Heavy trapping shouldn't be needed in that case, but some say you can almost never have enough. Practical limitations with space and aesthetics say otherwise, as you already know. Thanks again for the kind words. I'm no expert but I'll try my best not to steer you wrong. Besides, there ARE plenty of experts here that will kindly keep me from getting away with anything inaccurate! It seems you're already well versed in trap lore. Yes, they work by converting sound energy into heat and then dissipating it, but I don't really think they disperse them as in "diffraction." There are two types: velocity and pressure. Velocity traps are broadband and work with moving waves ( away from a room boundary). Pressure traps are narrow band and work with standing waves (close to or at a room boundary). GIK's info page is here http://www.gikacoustics.com/understanding-different-bass-trapping/.

Sent from my iPad using HTShack


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## NairbD (Nov 12, 2011)

Blue, WOW, thanks for the good article on Acoustics. I didn't understand what they meant by "Velocity" so I looked it up, I almost called Chuck Yeager to see if the speed of sound had changed since 1947! (lol). But I now understand how to measure a room for nodes, antinodes and resonance both on paper (math) and in-room measurements (ears). I'm thinking (guessing) I'll need at least two tuned bass traps (velocity) to handle the specific nodes (nuls) and Antinodes (Boosts) that can cause room resonances. I'm afraid of making the room "dead". If you've ever spent even a couple of minutes in an anechoic chamber, it is very disorienting, extremely uncomfortable! Even a dedicated listening room should have some reflective sound, just controlled. Thanks again Blue, you've really helped educate me!

Brian


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