# New home being built, need advice on theater room



## BigBreakfastBob (Aug 15, 2012)

Hello everyone, my house is being built right now and they are just finishing up framing. I have a home theater room planned for above the garage. I'm a bit concerned after reading some posts on here that the room dimensions are not good. The room is almost a square (see photo).

Any advice on this? I would like to avoid a costly redo since the room is already framed. I plan on using Klipsch RF-82 7.1 speakers or something close in that price range and my projector is the Panasonic PT-AE8000.

Also, what should I ask the builder to do in terms of sound insulation, etc? I don't think my home builder has built any "serious" home theater rooms. It seems like most of their homes just have a room with a projector in it and they call that the theater room. Of course, I'm sure for 90% of people, that is fine, but I would like to do what I can to get the most out of the space and anything I can do at this stage of the build, please let me know ASAP. My budget for doing anything "extra" in the room is only about $1000-2000, but I have no idea what to do or what to prioritize.

Anyone who can help, I would really appreciate it. I would also be willing to pay if there is anyone on here that does consultation for this sort of thing on a professional basis. Thank you


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

While a room that is close to square is not ideal, many people have made it work. Personally, I would not spend my money to have that redone.

Where I would spend it would be having the room isolated as much as possible. That includes things like doing a second layer of drywall with green glue between the two layers, insulating the walls and ceiling, and, since it is a garage, isolating the floor (don't know as much about this one since my HT is in my garage). 

I would save a bit of that budget to do some treatment in the room to deal with the room modes that will occur due to the shape of the room..


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

While you wont' get down to the primary room modes, or possibly even the 2nd order, you can help some with the squareness via thick treatment on the rear wall of the room. Honestly, though, at 16'5 x 17'10 (not exact being to outside of walls but close enough), you're not close enough to square to really worry about it being too square. Doesn't mean that treating the room isn't something you should consider.

Isolation works 2 ways - sound getting in and sound getting out. Sound getting in is easier to deal with and will help with potential dynamic range by lowering the native noise floor. Sound getting out may or may not be an issue pending your situation, where the room is in relation to other areas, if you watch/listen a lot late at night or without others in the family, etc.


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## Andre (Feb 15, 2010)

You can also Z channel the drywall for some acoustic isolation. I personally think the heaver rock wool insulation is better the the pink stuff for sound absorption.

On another note, how big a screen are you looking at? Look at your diagram your first row will be at 8 feet? That may be to close for anything over 110" depending on where you like to sit in a commercial movie theatre


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## BigBreakfastBob (Aug 15, 2012)

is the goal of stuff like double drywall with green glue or quietrock to keep sound from escaping and disturbing people elsewhere in the house or to improve the listening experience inside the room?


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

A little of both. Keeping sound from getting out so you can enjoy when you want without bothering others. Keeping sound from getting IN depends on your situation but in general it helps with lowering the ambient noise floor of the room which gives you expanded potential dynamic range.


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