# Room Acoustics - Need help



## fax6202 (Apr 5, 2012)

A question for the pros/seasoned vets:

My home theater is 22x16 in basement. On one wall there are three archways 5.5 ft wide 7ft tall. The archways are all side by side leading into a 12x18 room with bar. Bar room has wood floors, HT has carpet. I have not started on any acoustic treatments. How will this adjacent room on one wall have an effect on audio and what can i do to maximize quality.

Other considerations: Drop ceiling (Ceiling Tiles)

What I am willing to do: insulate between joists above drop ceiling, double drywall with GG and anything else if it is worth the money/time to install these things or others if this adjacent room will make it not worth it.

My project is at a stand still until i figure this out, I am about to start drywalling this week. Thank you everyone for any future comments/recommendations.

Dave


----------



## fax6202 (Apr 5, 2012)

Also wanted to add that I am going to build a stage on front wall to house speakers and sub


----------



## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

You'd be better off to close in the archways and separate the rooms. Having things that far out of symmetry is going to be very problematic. At a minimum, you'd need to treat in both spaces.

Another option would be to rotate the room 90 degrees so that the archways are in the rear of the room if you want to leave the 2 spaces open to each other.

Bryan


----------



## fax6202 (Apr 5, 2012)

Unfortunately I cannot close the archways and I tossed around the idea of rotating like you said but that would leave the back of my risers up against the archways. I was afraid this was going to be the case. So treating the HT room and Bar would make a difference?

Thank you for your comments


----------



## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

Can't do a split row with an aisle down the middle and a step up to the riser in the other arches?

Bryan


----------



## fax6202 (Apr 5, 2012)

That could be an option. So the middle aisle would stay "as is" leading through the archway and the left and right archway would have a step leading to the back of the risers? If this worked out would it make a major difference? Or is the only real impact i can make is closing it off completely.

If I have to go with my original idea in this post, would bass traps up front make a difference or possibly speaker placement? thanks.


----------



## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

You'd want to keep the center aisle as small as possible to allow the best center seating position so maybe small steps on the edges of the riser in the center arch. 

Treatment can still work for bass control, etc. but can't address the boundary gain differences totally nor balance the imaging left to right in the other scenario.

Bryan


----------



## fax6202 (Apr 5, 2012)

Ok, thank you for your input. Back to the drawing board.


----------

