CO1 Posted September 23, 2003 Share Posted September 23, 2003 I'm in the process of doing the plans for a house I'm building the spring and I'm looking for assistance with the plans for a HT room. I know there are some places that do the plans for you but the few I have looked at were very expensive when comparing to the cost to do the plans for an entire house. I'm not looking to create a mini theater with angled floor and theater seats type of deal, just a nice well laid out room that is reasonably sound proofed. If anyone knows where I can get this kind of work done please let me know. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artto Posted September 23, 2003 Share Posted September 23, 2003 Try doing a 'home theater plans' search on Google. For sound proofing a room the same principals apply for HT as it does for anything else. You might want to read my thread in this topic area as I've already been through this exercise with a listening room. Auralex.com has a section of their website devoted to room construction. http://www.kbunktv.com/ http://www.acoustics101.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m00n Posted September 23, 2003 Share Posted September 23, 2003 Don't make a perfectly square room... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CO1 Posted September 23, 2003 Author Share Posted September 23, 2003 Thanks guys. The main reason I need good plans is because I won't be able to supervise the construction. I'm building in a different province so I need something a good contractor will be able to follow. The electrical and sound proofing is the most important because it will be a pain if they screw it up. I'm hoping to retire before 40 at which point my plans are to play loud music and drink until the wee hours of the morning. I already have the drinking covered because my brother in-law is a beer rep (unlimited free beer for me) so I just have to make sure the HT room goes right. It is the only room in the house I care about and if the wife wants to paint the rest of the house pink with flowers I could care less as long as I have my fortress of solitude. I can guarantee that the contractors in my area have never built a room along these lines which is why it is so important to get a good set of plans. If anyone else has any more sites let me know. Thanks. Hey m00n I guess round room is out of the question. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenratboy Posted September 23, 2003 Share Posted September 23, 2003 ---------------- On 9/23/2003 8:03:12 PM CO1 wrote: Thanks guys. The main reason I need good plans is because I won't be able to supervise the construction. I'm building in a different province so I need something a good contractor will be able to follow. The electrical and sound proofing is the most important because it will be a pain if they screw it up. I'm hoping to retire before 40 at which point my plans are to play loud music and drink until the wee hours of the morning. I already have the drinking covered because my brother in-law is a beer rep (unlimited free beer for me) so I just have to make sure the HT room goes right. It is the only room in the house I care about and if the wife wants to paint the rest of the house pink with flowers I could care less as long as I have my fortress of solitude. I can guarantee that the contractors in my area have never built a room along these lines which is why it is so important to get a good set of plans. If anyone else has any more sites let me know. Thanks. Hey m00n I guess round room is out of the question. ---------------- Man up and brew your own beer. My parents do (but my mom is not a man) and it is really good and once you have all the equiptment, a 5 gallon batch is pretty cheap - especially considering it is on par or better than the most expensive microbrews - let alone mass-produced beer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
formica Posted September 23, 2003 Share Posted September 23, 2003 ---------------- On 9/23/2003 7:10:07 AM CO1 wrote: I know there are some places that do the plans for you but the few I have looked at were very expensive when comparing to the cost to do the plans for an entire house. ---------------- I just wanted mention, in passing, the probable reason for the cost discrepancy between the house versus the HT plans. When house plans are based on / from a catalogue, the design firm has recuperated the cost by splitting the initial price between several clients. Unfortunately when you are looking for a "custom" item like a HT... you are stuck bearing the entire cost. I realise a HT/music room you are considering doesn't sound very custom... but most home clients are happy calling any room a HT, even if it is poorly adapted to it's use. Do you already have a house plan chosen? Are you restricted in room size or dimensions either way? Is there a room above or below? Rob PS: Molson? or a micro-brew like Chamby? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m00n Posted September 23, 2003 Share Posted September 23, 2003 Hey.. Talk to artto, he is an architect with extensive knowledge of acoustics. Maybe the two of you could work something out. And yeah, I would think a round room is out. But all seriousness, avoid a square and or perfect rectangle. Make the side with the screen narrower than your back wall... If your front wall is 15 feet, make your back wall 20 feet. I am just throwing numbers out there but you get the idea... artto may have a proven formula for you though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
formica Posted September 23, 2003 Share Posted September 23, 2003 ---------------- On 9/23/2003 10:16:36 PM m00n wrote: avoid a square and or perfect rectangle. ---------------- A perfect rectangle? hmmm... wouldn't that just be a square? Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m00n Posted September 23, 2003 Share Posted September 23, 2003 Uhhhh... Well, yeah. I guess so. Wellll cmon now, you know what I mean something where the two sides are the same length say 20' and the two end walls are say 30'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CO1 Posted September 24, 2003 Author Share Posted September 24, 2003 Regarding the home brew I have made my own in the past. I haven't bothered in a long while because friends will make it for me at $20 CAN for 6 dozen. They also have all the equip to filter and carbonate it so it's ready to drink from the bottle (no grout) in 2 weeks. Very strong and more-ish. The great thing with the beer rep is we get free beer at any bar we go to combined with free beer at home and this deal can't be beat. As for the house plans I am doing them myself on the PC and then I will have the blue prints done, not a plan from a catalogue. The room is not really restricted regarding size or shape but I do have a few ideas involving a sunken main viewing/entertaining area with raised viewing and bar level to the rear. It will be in the basement to take advantage of 3 concrete walls to improve reduced noise level to the outside and so the main floor can act as a sound buffer between the bedrooms on the second floor and basement. I dont want to wake people late at night but I also dont want to have low volume levels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
formica Posted September 24, 2003 Share Posted September 24, 2003 There are two main types of acoustic treatment in a room; each performs a very different function. 1) Acoustic isolation is basically sound proofing the walls and ceilings. Placing the room away from the "private" spaces like your planning is a good idea... and will help dramatically. You can choose one of many wall and ceiling compositions (for examples see owens corning web site) with a good STC. I can post some if you like? Unfortunately you won't be present during construction as one of the weakest points for sound transmission are "air leaks". These will occur around doors, pot-lights, any plumbing, through ventilation ducts, etc... There exists solutions to pretty much all these problems, but some are quite costly (esp ventilation). Get a acoustic door seal and use a solid door for starters. Another reasonable compromise is to avoid as many holes in the gypsum as possible. Another common source of complaints is through direct structural transmission. Given that you'll have only one common wall and one ceiling... you can use a double staggered stud configuration for the wall (two unconnected stud walls to create one thicker wall) and a dropped ceiling as well (gypsum, not the acoustic tile type). Basically the idea is to disconnect the interior finishes from the actual home structure. 2) Acoustic room treatment is the control of the sound within the room itself. This is quite different from sound proofing, as it is what can make or break an audio system. I'm from the belief that the room is one of the most important components of an audio system (along with the speakers). I often wonder what some audiophiles are trying to accomplish with the mega $ wires while ignoring room treatment entirely? A good link that has been floating around here is http://www.ethanwiner.com/acoustics.html I think for starters (since you are building from scratch) you should choose a room dimension which will reduce (spread out) room resonances. There are several "golden" room ratios (height : width : length) around such as 1.00 : 1.14 : 1.39 or 1.00 : 1.28 : 1.54 or 1.00 : 1.60 : 2.33 but many variations from that work well too. Given that you already have a fixed height and length you can work from that. Note that these figures are looking at interior finished dimensions... so if you are going to "drop" the ceiling... or have multiple levels, it should be considered in the room nodes. Then you can look at wall treatment, which will help control the reflections within the room. Have you seen artto's thread on his room? I'm not sure though that this would be considered part of the construction as much as part of the furnishing... Later... Rob PS: sorry about that jab m00n... I knew what you meant, but I just couldn't help myself... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CO1 Posted September 24, 2003 Author Share Posted September 24, 2003 Thanks Rob, I will check that out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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