new construction consultation

[difchip]

i'm new, and well into the process of building a new house. insulation and drywall to start in the next week or two. i would like some advice/reviews/experiences with ht consultants. i am most interested in the acoustics, and getting the wiring right. i figure i'll futz around with the equipment once we are moved in. the house has a dedicated ht in the basement, and wiring will begin at the end of this week. thanks. this site has been a huge help already.

 

[Johnd]

Welcome to Audioholics difchip.

As you seem to realize from your post, acoustics, placement and wiring are all separate things, but will all be eagerly answered here (if you first post more info), such as:

1) is the room a dedicated theater, or will you be using it much for music?
2) are you looking at a 5.1, 6.1 or 7.1 system?
3) what is the layout (a drawing would help with measurements)?
4) what are the materials being used (for the floors, walls and ceilings)?
5) are you interested in soundproofing the room at all?

A drawing of the room, (with walls, doors and windows) would help, as well as your proposed seating/viewing/listening positions (so that suggestions may follow for speaker positioning). "The end of the week" is not much time, so you may want to be prompt with your drawings so that you can get some good answers to your questions (before closing the walls). Cheers.

 

[Bryce_H]

When we built our house with an empty basement, I spent about 9 months researching and planning a dedicated HT in the basement. right before I went to the building department to get my permits, I hired a custom HT installer to do a sanity check of my plans. Had him in my house for 2 hours, best $150 spent in the whole HT. He didn't correct anything, but gave me some ideas of how to handle some of my challenges. Mostly peace of mind. After that I did almost all te work myself (except plumbing for wet bar, HVAC, and hanging/mudding/sanding the drywall). had a great time. Good luck.

 

[difchip]

well until i get a little help posting a reasonable plan view of the room i'll tell you that it is a dedicated ht, it's in a basement with no windows and one set of double doors. the room is 16.5'X20'. i plan on putting the screen on the 16.5' wall furthest from the set of doors. here's my attempt to draw it:

_______concrete wall________________
XXXXXXXXXXsoffitXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
S I
C I
R I
E I
E I
N I
I I
XXXXXXXXXXXsoffitXXXXXXXXXXdoorXX

so there it is. the other walls are 2x4 wood, and the floor is concrete. i've got a couple of outlets on each wall, and two sconces on each wall except the screen wall. i will be putting an outlet in the ceiling as well. the soffit's are about 18" wide.
i plan on having 7.1, and i would like to do a reasonable amount of soundproofing.

 

[AVRat]

I'm guesing your room will be laid out something like this? Where is the gear going and do you have speakers in mind? BTW, this was done using Paint and saved as *.jpg format.

 

[mouettus]

For my opinion, you have a great start. I like AVRat's plan but it only shows basic things. Depends if you want to have 2 seating rows. In my future dedicated HT room, I'd put a little table instead of the back row of chairs and put a computer screen connected to a HTPC. For room treatment, Put one bass trap in each corner of the room, 2 1in or 2in 2'x4' acoustics panel on each side wall and one on the back and it should be awesome with nice carpet.

 

[ScottMayo]

I could talk for hours about the acoustics, and those soffits you planned could serve a very useful role in that. But in the interest of starting with the simplest: plan for more outlets. Projector, receiver, powered sub, DVD, possible separate CD player, possible equalizer, PC&screen...

If you have a home network, make sure there's an ethernet drop in there. A future Squeezebox or other music source will thank you, and so might movies-via-internet, which is coming someday.

Soundproofing is a Hard Problem. Pick a budget before you decide to try this. Cheap soundproofing does not work; expensive approaches will both thin your wallet and grey your hair. If you really want it, be prepared to change the construction techniques a bit.

Here's a freebie. If you plan on good soundproofing, run a line from your doorbell into the room.

 

[difchip]

thank you for all of the input. i found a local guy and this is what he suggested i do. what do you think? i will be putting two layers of sheetrock with a layer of soundboard between in the ceiling and walls. the door bell is a good idea. in the drawin i forgot to add the center channel, side speakers halfway down the sidewalls, and 2 rears on the back wall. thanks for the paint tip.

 

[ScottMayo]

Speakers built right in the corner will give you boomy sound. If you really need them built in and in the corners, then do what you must do. But it's harder to fix the acoustics that way. Can you get by with freestanding speakers further out into the room?

The sheetrock / soundboard (use Homasote) / sheetrock sandwitch is a standard approach and gives decent results. Careful where the screws go - if you screw the 2nd and 3rd layers to the studs, your soundproofing won't be very good.

 

[majorloser]

Well, my first piece of advice is to run at least one 2" conduit from your component area to the projector location. Second, try to terminate every cable and wire to a wallplate or junction box (it makes for a clean, professional look). And last but not least, give yourself plenty of electrical power and air conditioning (ventilation) for this room. The lighting, equipment and projector can pump out the heat.

Otherwise, just plan everything on paper first. Take pictures before the drywall goes up and take good measurements. These few little steps can save you from nightmares in the future.

Hey, and don't be afraid to ask us stupid questions. Most of us have already made the bad mistakes and learned from them

 

[difchip]

the explination i have been given for the built in cabinets is to have the room, within the cabinet, to direct the speakers, regarless of size, to the best listening position. and, the sub cabinet can be packed with extra material to "tighten up" the bass. the same packing can also be applied to the speaker cabinets as well. the wiring will be terminated at wall plates, and the conduit is going in by the end of the week. any further input on the built-in speaker cabinets. i feel very vulnerable at this point.

 

[Johnd]

Like Scott already said, built-in speakers pose more of a challenge, and more of a problem. Why not just get a good pair of floorstanders within your budget, and place them appropriately (out of the corner and away from the wall)?

 

[majorloser]

Are you trying to hide your speakers? There are many ways to accomplish this task. Just takes much more planning (and more money ).

You could also do in-walls if you want hidden speakers instead of building special cabinets. Triad and M&K make some nice stuff. NOT CHEAP!

http://www.triadspeakers.com/
http://www.mksound.com/whatsnew.htm

 

[difchip]

besides wanting to hide the speakers, the built-cabinets would allow any speakers to be placed within the cabinet. so, if i upgrade speakers in the future i would just open the front panel of the cabinet, unwire the old, and replace with the new. the other practical thing i like is that the only thing accessible to the many kids that will be all over the house will be the center channel, and the screen when they get tall enough to reach it.

the speakers setting inside the cabinet would be close to 2' from the corner of the room, and over 8" off of the back wall, but obviously, still within the cabinet. the face of the cabinet would be covered with some faberic/material that the wife will pick out. does all of this justification do anything for performance, or am i far better off using stands?

 

[Johnd]

What speakers are you referring to? A good speaker cabinet is meant to be placed in the open, not in a cabinet. Problems with reflection, reverb, undesirable coloration can all become factors.

 

[ScottMayo]

Never put a good speaker inside a second, larger cabinet. You will get freaky colorations in the midrange frequencies, bizarre reflections... who gave you this advice?

It's one thing if you're using cheap car speakers in improvised cabinets - the results aren't generally great but it's cheap and easy. It's another to take anyone's properly designed speaker cabinet and drop it inside a box.

If kids are a problem, get or make sturdy stands.

 

[difchip]

i really appreciate the input, and i need all the help i can get. how is the sound affected by the cabinet? would all of the same sound issues occur if the speakers (say axiom, or rbh's) were placed on a shelf with sides and a shelf above? maybe cabinet is not the best way to describe it. see what you think of the picture. again, what i like about the built-in idea is that it seems very clean, but i do not want to compromise quality.

 

[Johnd]

I thought Axioms were pretty good looking speakers. Personal preference. You are running a risk by placing a speaker cabinet inside a cabinet...that is all. Certain preventions can be taken, but why? Why limit yourself to that predetermined configuration? Why place the subs in the corners underneath the mains (w/o attempting to find the ideal sub location)? You'll maximize volume but invite other problems, not to mention that you will be forever destined to keep the mains and subs in that location. May I suggest you read the speaker placement thread on this forum, you will quickly learn the ABC's of speaker placement. Cheers.

 

[difchip]

thanks, i'll read the thread