Making a room in a flat soundproof

[hanhau]

Hey guys,
my current room is small (probably 2,5m x 3,5m) and the acustic is really hard to do.
In the attachments I draw a simple picture in paint wich represents the room.
The hardest part is to "balance the acustics" between my bed with the TV and my desk with the PC.

The speakers are mounted as high as the TV, something about 1,8m.
 

L/R speakers are RP-160M and as Center I have currently the R-25C. For the rear I have not so bad sharp speakers, they fit actually very well in the system
I was kinda suprised actually, but they will be replaced. They are also mounted at 1,8m.
Sub is on the floor. (R10-SW)

The floor is wood (laminat) and the walls are out of ytong (also thinn, maybe 10cm)

As you can see, to create something like a stereo-triangle is unpossible.
I am sitting way to low and suround is more like a "fuller" sound, than at least some precise direction, where it came from.

My problems:
.) Not optimal speaker positions
.) two different places to watch something with the speakers
.) small room
.) my sister hears my sub even with 1% turned on
.) I dont want vibrations with the sub to get under my floor (neighbours under)
 

Thank you !


 

[minermark]

Welcome to the Forum

I was getting ideas wile reading you're post, then i saw the layout.

When i was young and stuck with condensed living, NO speaker, NO layout "Worked" for me.

 

Facing the same problem you have, i had a Brillant thought.

Buy the Best Dam pair of headphones i could afford.

Enjoyed my private world till i could afford my own bigger space.

 

Just my two cents.......

Edited January 6, 2016 by minermark

[hanhau]

Thanks !

I am actually young, I am currently 16 and yeah, probably good heaphones are an option.
It just hurts my wallet pretty much. I waited so long to get the Klipsch speakers and my marantz SR5010 (some yeeeaaarrs).

The sound is still very great, when I hear music or listen to TV, It dont makes a too big difference. Gaming and 5.1 content is hard to enjoy at 100%.
 

My actual idea was to point the speaker a little bit down and it helped quite a lot actually.
I replaced my shelves with costum made ones, so the speakers are more pointed towards the middle of the room.
 

Both things helped, but working and doing something in the room is difficult, its small and the walls are like ... sandstone. You need monster(things, wich you put in the wall and then give the screw in) to hold your speakers without falling down and cracking your head Sry, I didnt know the word now, but I am sure you know what I mean (sry for my bad english btw, I am coming from austria).

One way is actually moving to my dad, he lives in the same city and in the house I would have a bigger(3x as large) room wich must get renewed before I could live there mainly.
I just need to make it soundproof, wich isnt hard in there. I dont know.

Thanks again for your input !

 

Edited January 6, 2016 by hanhau

[minermark]

MYou are young, and you are in a great hobby.

Room for goodies will come in time, and if staying with this hobby, there will NEVER be enough room.

And that is My current "Problem".

 

So you see, things "Could be worse"

 

What you are looking at is EAW Stacks that must Go, Before the other MCM Stack(s) can come in.

Keep in mind this is a Double car garage ManCave, and NO ROOM.

Edited January 6, 2016 by minermark

[hanhau]

I wont get that big with the scale, but damn I am afraid now
Those are looking awesome, holy shit !

I am very interested in speaker and the real science behind them (not "oh, look ! 1000$ speaker cable is better").
Maybe I am enable to work in a company such as AKG, Denon, Yamaha after finishing my higher technical college.
With studying it should be possible You know, just living the dream one day ... that would be nice ^^
 

So I lost the scale of my whole project to early I guess, the Samsung AiO was maybe enough, but it was a crap
and the biggest fail of all my tested speaker systems. Even 10$ pc speakers performed better.
 

Thank you for your input again, it helps me to see my current troubles in a different perspective, wich is nice !

In the attachment, you can see the room a little bit. Making photos of a small room is actually really hard to do
Dont comment the pic quality, a 65$ smartphone just simply cant do better ^^
The pic, where you can see all 3 speakers is taken in the room from my dads house.

 

[wvu80]

Welcom hanhau, you ask good questions.  Your drawing in Post #1  is very helpful.  There are some things you can change that will help a lot to make the sound better to you and more quiet to your sister.

 

The first thing to understand is that sound gets softer the further away it is.  Get the speakers as close to your ears as possible, within 1m or so.

 

I suggest you change your speakers to make them all closer together.  You now have them on opposite walls.  I am guessing the two places for listening is your computer desk and your bed.  Put them closer to the desk and get the surround speakers away from your sister's bedroom wall.  You might consider using 3 speakers in the front as Left Center Right or L/C/R and not have surround speakers.  You will still get excellent sound.  This is called a 3.1 setup and I use one in my house for TV listening even though nobody else can hear it except my wife and me.

 

My other major suggestion is to put the sub UNDER the desk where you are sitting.  Even at low sound levels it will sound good to you, and the sub is further away from your sister's room.

 

That is my suggestion for changing the speaker and sub placement.  Others will help you in what is called room treatment.

Edited January 6, 2016 by wvu80

[minermark]

I wont get that big with the scale, but damn I am afraid now

Those are looking awesome, holy shit !

I am very interested in speaker and the real science behind them (not "oh, look ! 1000$ speaker cable is better").

Maybe I am enable to work in a company such as AKG, Denon, Yamaha after finishing my higher technical college.

With studying it should be possible You know, just living the dream one day ... that would be nice ^^

 

So I lost the scale of my whole project to early I guess, the Samsung AiO was maybe enough, but it was a crap

and the biggest fail of all my tested speaker systems. Even 10$ pc speakers performed better.

 

Thank you for your input again, it helps me to see my current troubles in a different perspective, wich is nice !

In the attachment, you can see the room a little bit. Making photos of a small room is actually really hard to do

Dont comment the pic quality, a 65$ smartphone just simply cant do better ^^

The pic, where you can see all 3 speakers is taken in the room from my dads house.

 

Great speakers, but a greater room problem.

[wvu80]

Great speakers, but a greater room problem.

 

No matter what you have, everything can be made better! 

 

Do you have any suggestions for room treatment for our friend hanhau?  In my room I hung a sweatshirt from my college on the door to break up room reflections.   Come on man, no pressure, but he's counting on you!  

[hanhau]

I am gonna test to give the sub on my desk (there is a shelve on the desk as you can see) tomorrow and turning off the rears really helps.
3.1 isnt a bad deal I guess for me now. Putting the sub under the desk is no option for me, my feets are touching the sub all the time and the
bass "coverage" is pretty bad when I tried.

In the attachment you probably see why this is so (I actually tested it).


 

[wvu80]

Putting the sub under the desk is no option for me, my feets are touching the sub all the time and the bass "coverage" is pretty bad when I tried.

 

I do see, you are right.  There is no room for a sub under your desk.

 

In my room where my computer is my 15 inch sub is beside me very close, maybe 1 meter away.  I turn it off at night so it won't disturb my wife.

 

When she is out of the house I turn it up! 

+++

 

What country are you from, hanhau?  Am I using your name correctly?

Edited January 6, 2016 by wvu80

[mungkiman]

My guess is Germany.

[mungkiman]

Or Austria.

[The History Kid]

Ah yes, been there done that - round the same age too.

The problem is the joys of paper thin walls making it difficult to control the dispersion of LFE (that was mine anyway, and I'm guessing it's yours). There was a period of time where I actually had my sub jack-knifed in the middle of the room with a rug underneath it and adjusted so the port was firing into the air. This did the trick for me, but it looks terrible.

Of course, I don't have a sub with a port anymore.

Actually your imaging should be damn near perfect, had your LP been center of the room.

I had a setup where there were two LPs for the longest time. My resolution for the issue was simply to eliminate one of them.

Hope that might help SOME. I see my title may be in jeopardy too.

Cheers!

[jason str]

There is only so much you can do without spending big bucks but for a good start.

 

Rip down all the drywall & install denim sound batting between the studs.

 

Sound deadening drywall.

 

If you want to go a step further add some furring strips with a layer of heavy jute like they use for factory automotive soundproofing, in fact you could find a local auto salvage yard and rip a bunch out of some old cars.

 

Then finish up with more sound deadening drywall.

 

For the floor some heavy rubber mat, heavy jute then carpet.

 

Probably the best bang for the buck.

 

If you were interested in something more costly but substantial just say the word.

Edited January 6, 2016 by jason str

[wvu80]

There is only so much you can do without spending big bucks but for a good start.

(respectful snip!)

If you were interested in something more costly but substantial just say the word.

 

He's 16 and lives in an apartment with his mother and sister.  I would be surprised if ripping out the drywall would be appreciated by the landlord! 

 

Think "moderate temporary room treatment" and "economical."  Big fluffy pillows on top of the wardrobe, per his picture in Post #1?

 

Just my guess.  

Edited January 6, 2016 by wvu80

[jason str]

You want basic. 1" of cork glued to the drywall.

 

Jute & carpet on the floor.

[hanhau]

Thank you guys for the input again !

 

​16 and from austria, "hanhau" stands for "Hannes Hauptmann", my real name

 

​"Tear down that wall" would be cool, but impossible to do (landlord says no ^^).

​Cork seems to be a good choice, it isnt that expensive and it looks kinda good with my budget, I think I will begin to search some in my local stores.
​Jute & Carpet could be done, the only problem is the floor, I dont know the excact rules for making a new floor.
​It shouldn´t be the biggest problem then when I am able to undo it.

​My budget doesn´t allow much right now and I dont want to spend too much on it also.
​As I said before, I am moving later maybe to my dad, where I can be as loud as can, the solutions should be for 4-5 years.

I really appreciate your help guys, thank you !
 

[The History Kid]

Cork can be decorative too. So that might make things a bit more friendly when it comes time to slap the pads up all over the walls. This is something I would do if I was sure of the length of time I'd be staying in the house I'm in.

[CECAA850]

You need to decouple the sub from the floor.  That won't stop bass waves from passing through the walls but it will help eliminate mechanical vibration from transferring from the sub to the floor and surrounding areas.  You can use dense foam or rubber.  A way to make a cheap isolator is to cut 2 tennis balls in half, turn them upside down and put a piece of plywood over it to make a platform for the sub to sit on.  Put each half of a ball on each corner.

[Paducah Home Theater]

http://www.acousticfields.com/quarter-wavelength-rule/

Interesting read on this type of stuff.

"We have built rooms for clients that have two 8″ thick walls of poured concrete separated by another 6″ of air space and can still measure 30 Hz. wave activity on the outside of the wall. Trapping “bass” does not exist."