# Help Reqd. : LivingRoom HomeTheatre cum ListeningRoom



## cmsajith (Aug 12, 2009)

Dear experts

Note : Sorry for my bad english.

I am in the process of converting my living room to a dual purpose dedicated HomeTheater cum Stereo Listening room. I have attached a rough layout of the living room with the adjacent rooms and a detailed layout of the living room with dimensions.

Following are the color representations in the picture:
*Speakers : Green
*Windows : Blue
*Pillar : Grey
*LCD / Projector screen : Pink

- Living Room dimension 16' x 11' 4" x 9' 6".

- Main Door entry is at the left bottom. A passage to the living room to Dining room is there at the corner and a pillar at the opposite wall.

My Plan:
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- To keep the LCD TV and the Projector screen at the wall opposite to the entrance door. (Pink). The LCD and screen will be located to the center of the room width (not centered to the wall) so that the LCD will be more towards the right side of the 8ft wall and the screen will go out of the wall (Pull down screen). The passage will be closed with a convertible sliding door w/ acoustics to get the feel of a dedicated room.

- The flooring will be wooden.

- The Floorstand speakers (green) will be ~5ft into the room but not much from the side walls (1ft max).

- Listening position will be ~10ft from the speakers

- ~1.6ft will be left at the back side of the listening couch / recliner.

- Thick drapers with blackout cloth for the windows.

- False ceiling with mood lighting

- DIY 15" 8cuft subwoofer will be below the projection screen lying flat on the ground (like a furniture cabinet). Center channel will be on top of it.

- The electronics will be on the right side wall of the listening couch

- Acoustics (Help required)..

Please help me in finding the locations (with respect to the picture) for mounting the acoustic panels (both the absorbers and diffusers) and the density required for them including the walls, corners and ceiling.
Note: Aesthetics is not considered at this time, will be fine tuned once the locations are finalised.

Also suggestions for a different layout is also welcome.

Fullsize:
Picture1 : http://img249.imageshack.us/i/livingroom.gif/
Picture2 : http://img689.imageshack.us/i/layoutu.gif/


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## cmsajith (Aug 12, 2009)

Following are the simulated FRPs in this room :


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

Given that you can't treat either both front or both rear corners due to doors/openings, you'll likely want to do the rear of the side walls in something thicker for some broadband bass control.

For surround configurations, you'd like the front wall to be completely dead - usually something like 2" 703 or equivalent is fine.

Side wall reflections can be treated with 1" or 2" depending on what visuals will allow as per the reflections shown in the simulation above.

And, by the way, your English is just fine. Much better than many people whose native language is English.

Bryan


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## cmsajith (Aug 12, 2009)

Thankyou Bryan for your reply.

Yes, there will be a lot of limitations in doing the acoustics in the living room.

Following are the identified places for the low freq absorbtion (from the pics, identified area is colored; DarkGrey : 4" and Brown : 2"):
- The space between the pillar at the left side wall and the front wall, from top to bottom with ~4" depth.
- Front wall except the open passage
- Right side passage will be covered with a sliding door with low freq absorbtion acoustics. (Not finalised)
- Planning to close the two windows with acoustic backing and openable doors from inside
- At the backside of the listening position, the low freq absorbtion can be applied to the backside of the main door also

Following places are identified for the mid-high freq absorbtion (represented in Brown color)
- At the left and right side wall, the bottom portion of the window after the pillar. On both sides i am planning to do only till 1ft above the speaker\ear level from the floor.

Did i miss any locations? Please comment.

Also I am planning to close the right side corner with a openable sliding door with acoustics. If I keep it open, does it make any difference, if so i will be using a black curtain for the passage instead of the sliding door.
I am looking for a closed dedicated HT room.

Please advise..


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

Actually, what I was talking about is the rear 2' of the side walls, floor to ceiling, being 4" thick. The front wall and side walls at reflection points would be 2" also.

Bryan


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## cmsajith (Aug 12, 2009)

Yes, i got it. Since i am not able to do the super chunk traps for the right corner of the front wall and the left corner of the back wall because of the passage and the main door, I thought of going for 4" thickness for the wall corners instead of the super chunk traps. Is this kind of trap enough to treat the lows? Else i can go for 4 / 6" corner superchunk traps for the front left and the back side right corners. If i leave the remain 2 corners, will it be an issue, especially because of the non symmetry?

Also please go through the remaining questions mentioned in the prev posts?


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

If you're going to close off that corner, then it acts pretty much like the other one. If you just put a curtain up, then you can use a bass absorber in the front left corner to balance things.

Bryan


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## cmsajith (Aug 12, 2009)

This is a top floor corner apartment. The reason for thinking about closing the passage (sliding door w/ acoustics) is to reduce the sound leak to other rooms and to other apartments (6-8ft open space from ground floor to top floor between all the apartments). I am closing the 2 windows with openable doors and seal the front door with rubber gaskets (both w/ acoustics inside) thinking that it will reduce the sound leakage.

Does the usage of wooden floor with a 2mm thermocol padding below help in reducing the sound transmission to the apartment below?

In your opinion what are the best possible ways to prevent the sound leaking from that room (I have to check the feasibility for making the sliding doors and the space to keep it as the speakers are coming next to that wall) and the best possible ways to do the sound treatment to get the feel of a closed dedicated HomeTheater room? Please advise.


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

The sliding doors will certainly be better than being open in terms of transfer. Just be realistic as to how much they'll stop = especially the bass.

The wood floor really isn't going to do much. If anything, it may actually increase things such as impact noise to the lower unit.

Bryan


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