damonrpayne Posted April 17, 2006 Share Posted April 17, 2006 Hi folks, below is a diagram of my basement layout where I'm planning movie room construction. I'm going to be posting a lot about this. My first question is this: note the lower right corner where the stair comes down and has a small landing before stepping off onto the basement floor. On the other side, to the right of the stairs, is the rest of my basement which contains my furnace and hot water heater. I wouldn't say I have "great audiophile hearing" but I am very sensitive to hiss and background noise. If I insulate the right hand wall but do not put a door at the bottom of the landing, is enough noise going to bounce around the corner to bug me? Do I want to include a door for other acoustic reasons anyway? If I want a door,and I think I do, what material should I look for ? How far to the left from the bottom of the landing will I want it? I'm going to have to give up a few square feet in the room since I guess I do not want it ON the landing, or should I make a step in the room and put the door on-level with the landing, probably about 6" off the basement floor? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougdrake Posted April 17, 2006 Share Posted April 17, 2006 IMO, you'll want a door. I can't even stand rustling candy wrappers when I watch a movie, much less mechanical equipment running in another room. You'll want a solid core door with a threshold to block the sound. I'm sure you've been over to www.avsforum.com and seen all the info the members they can offer about this in the Dedicated Home Theater forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damonrpayne Posted April 17, 2006 Author Share Posted April 17, 2006 No I haven't, I can barely keep up with just 1 forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkp Posted April 17, 2006 Share Posted April 17, 2006 damon-I would think that the quieter you could make it, the better. I'm with Doug on this, I get irritated when I get distracted during some of the quieter parts of a movie, which are often some of the most dramatic. Everyone loves the loud explosions and sound effects, but some of the most intense sequences of any movie are often the dialogue scenes. Is this something where you could try it without the door and add it later? I'm glad you're finally in your house, by the way. Has your experience with your builder led to any dampening to the "new home" feeling? David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Macho Nacho Posted April 18, 2006 Share Posted April 18, 2006 Dude with out a door how would you get in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damonrpayne Posted April 18, 2006 Author Share Posted April 18, 2006 damon-I would think that the quieter you could make it, the better. I'm with Doug on this, I get irritated when I get distracted during some of the quieter parts of a movie, which are often some of the most dramatic. Everyone loves the loud explosions and sound effects, but some of the most intense sequences of any movie are often the dialogue scenes. Is this something where you could try it without the door and add it later? I'm glad you're finally in your house, by the way. Has your experience with your builder led to any dampening to the "new home" feeling? David I'm adding a door to my design. Yes, the whole deal has cut down on the "new home" happiness, but it gets better day by day as I unpack boxes and stuff. Mostly we are too busy to fully enjoy it right now but we'll have that fixed by this weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colterphoto1 Posted April 18, 2006 Share Posted April 18, 2006 solid core door- the mass helps stop more noise. with some sort of seal. I'd consult with Glenn (Picky) for his expertise in building home theatre. His small theater is like right next to all the mechanicals and is absolutely silent best I could tell. He really went to great pains to isolate the room from the rest of the house. There are other issues, like the footsteps of people in the room above, or HT noise being transmitted to the other parts of the house. Artto might have some good insight about noise absorbtion/reflection/dispersion- all of those characteristics together make up the sound 'signature' of the room. You're starting with a clean blank slate- let's get this right. Michael Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damonrpayne Posted April 18, 2006 Author Share Posted April 18, 2006 Yes, I'm also reading "Master Handbook of Acoustics" right now for those types of concerns. For the most part that will come in after I frame but before I drywall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damonrpayne Posted April 18, 2006 Author Share Posted April 18, 2006 OK, here it is again with the door added. I also think I'm going to do a short "ramp" right htere at the door, then I can put little rope lights along the edges. Of course the building inspector will probably want me to put a handrail there... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
formica Posted April 18, 2006 Share Posted April 18, 2006 You've already made your mind up about adding the door and I agree that you'll need it if you want some acoustic isolation (direct sound transmission through air is by far the most significant). The door should open towards the wall. I would also forgo the "ramp" and just extend the landing with a step on two sides (similar to your ramp but not sloped). It'll look better, logical, and technically you don't need a ramp to access steps. Later... ROb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCOOTERDOG Posted April 18, 2006 Share Posted April 18, 2006 Yeah what they said Solid core door is the only way to go. scooter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colterphoto1 Posted April 19, 2006 Share Posted April 19, 2006 You've already made your mind up about adding the door and I agree that you'll need it if you want some acoustic isolation (direct sound transmission through air is by far the most significant). The door should open towards the wall. I would also forgo the "ramp" and just extend the landing with a step on two sides (similar to your ramp but not sloped). It'll look better, logical, and technically you don't need a ramp to access steps. Later... ROb Yes swing the door the other way and nuke the ramp. Don't over-engineer this. btw, do you have furniture placement, screen size, etc decided upon yet? That's where I'd start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damonrpayne Posted April 19, 2006 Author Share Posted April 19, 2006 I am working on that. This drawing is the "engineering" drawing. I am adding my circuit diagrams to this and then making a copy of it for furniture and speaker placement. I need to do calculations for screen size still. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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