# Renovating the HT...



## boreas (Oct 22, 2011)

Hi!

Ok, so I'm planning to renovate my HT! I did a Goggle Sketchup of the room in a very rough way. Here are 2d graphics:

The room from outside (it's above the garage)











The size is 11' across and 24' lenghtwise. The vertical walls are 59" high, the 45degrees are 47" long and the ceiling is 86" across.

Here's the room from the inside:











The projector will be hanging from the ceiling, roughly 2' behind the couch. There will be speakers in the front corners, sides, rear corners and obviously a center and sub.

I'm planning on putting the AV equipement on the left side of the door.

Now, here's the question: As you can see, there's "rock" on the walls. I though something like this:

http://www.anticoelements.com/16-bet...cultured-stone


Now, will the rough surface be ok to prevent "echo" or will that be an audio nightmare? I've posted this in the HT design construction sub-forum, and I can see that I might need more help from the acoustic pros  From the answers I got, I now think that the faux-rock might not be a good idea after all. So, I'll probably go with painting the walls deep blue to begin with. Now, The back part of the room (basically the area behind the couch is a home gym with a few machines (elliptical, stationary bike, etc). The front part, though, might get a bit echo, Right now, I've got drapes hanging from the ceiling to the side walls (like the inside of a Bedouin tent) because we decided on a Arabian nights decor.


So, to make a long thing short: Is the faux rock ok, or a no-go? If it's ok, do I need acoustic panels on the inclined walls? If the faux-rock is not ok, do I place acoustic panels on the walls and inclined walls? 



Thanks!

Phil


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## eugovector (Sep 4, 2006)

I'm getting 404s on your links.


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## boreas (Oct 22, 2011)

Edited to images, should work now!

Phil


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## eugovector (Sep 4, 2006)

If this is going to be a theater-purposed room, I'd avoid the rock and spend that money on acoustic treatments (fabric wrapped fiber) instead. The inclined walls will act in some way like a lens and focus reflections, so you may want to consider affixing panels or a floating "cloud".

Try to keep your seating position out of the middle of the room, but still away from the walls. Also plan on significant acoustic treatment up front, especially if your speakers will be pushed to the corners.


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## Owen Bartley (Oct 18, 2006)

I'm hoping to incorporate some stone in our theatre too, but am working on a way to have acoustic treatment at the same time. You can always just do the stone on the lower half of the walls, and then treat the angled upper walls. Maybe you just do stone on the front or back wall as a feature, or maybe you can build stone columns to house your surrounds. Don't be afraid to get a little creative, just keep some acoustic goals in mind too, like not having a completely reflective environment.


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## dannut (Oct 20, 2011)

Think of that stone as a regular reflective wall - it doesn't matter if you paint the wall or plant a rock on it.
You didn't mention what speakers do you have. If it's a pro-sound style high directivity job then you could get by without additional mid-high frequency treatments. Either way, measure your room and place treatments where necessary - this forum will help to interpret the measurements.
And remember, you can't have enough basstrapping. Most non-obtrusive is to make your walls act as a panel absorber. Other options are big chunks of fiberglass in the room, Helmholtz resonators built in the structures etc.

Be cautious with drapes everywhere. Unless its thick and folded and placed where its needed acoustically, it will kill your nice live space you have without helping intelligibility, because it only absorbs high-frequencies. Or you could place thick fiberglass behind the drapes to get a broadband absorber.


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## boreas (Oct 22, 2011)

Interesting... I'm getting rid of the drapes, though. One more question: should my side (surround) speakers be fixed on the upright walls (where they are, right now, and they do get in the way...) or is it ok to put them right up there where the 45° wall meets the ceiling?

Phil


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## eugovector (Sep 4, 2006)

Dolby standards have surround speakers 90-110 degrees from center, 2-3 feet from ear-level. That being said, with a little experimentation, many people adopt the mounting approach that gets the speakers out if the way physically and aesthetically with a minimum compromise in performance. This could be anywhere from ceiling to floor placement depending on your needs and degree of compromise.


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