Where to Start?

[Deleau]

Hello Audioholics!

I've just moved to a bigger house and was given the green light to construct an HT room in the attic.

Where to start? I'm going to have an architect come look at the attic and begin drawing up some plans. Things such as room size, dimensions, insulation, wiring, construction material are all undecided at this point.

My goal is to have a well insulated HT that can house 6-8 people, and I want to use the $25k system recommendations as a guide. (Although I'd rather use Paradigm Studios instead of RBH speakers)

Thanks for all advise as to how to proceed.

-Shane

 

[ScottMayo]

My goal is to have a well insulated HT that can house 6-8 people, and I want to use the $25k system recommendations as a guide. (Although I'd rather use Paradigm Studios instead of RBH speakers)

Thanks for all advise as to how to proceed.

-Shane

If the acoustics are important to you, this is the time to plan them. How big is the space? How much sound do you want to allow to escape? And... will you have a popcorn machine? ;-)

 

[Deleau]

By my rough calculations, I seem to have an area roughly 30' square in which I can build this room and have an even ceiling at 10 ft or less and not have to move either furnace. I can also tuck away an equipment closet and/or small hallway/stairwell outside of that space is needed. Obviously, I do not need to use up the entire space; I want to maintain some level of prudence, but I do want to have this be 'nice'.

I would like to have as little noise as possible leak out of the room.

Yes, I will have a popcorn machine!

 

[Johnd]

By my rough calculations, I seem to have an area roughly 30' square

I'd start by nixing the "30' square" room...an acoustical nightmare (reflections). Make it slightly rectangular with good wall and floor treatments for starters. Good selection with the 'digms. And welcome to Audioholics Deleau!

 

[ScottMayo]

Right. Square rooms are bad. The good news is, with that much space available, you can have a world class room in terms of acoustics, and you won't have to jump through as many hoops as people in smaller spaces do to get it.

Things to look out for are the furnaces, which will generate annoying noise if you don't make some attempt to isolate youself from them, and seating, which people tend to put at the back wall when they build theaters, and that's a mistake. Popcorn machines on the rear wall, yes, seating no.

Run all of the following into the attic: ethernet drop (if you have an in house network), cable/sat feed, phone, doorbell signal, and double the number of power outlets code requires. Try to run power on a separate line from those furnaces - you don't need motor spikes getting into the gear.

 

[Deleau]

I knew square rooms are bad; that was just a rough estimate of the space that I think I have to play with for room dimensions.

It sounds like now is the time to get an expert/consultant on board with the design of the room to assist the architect.

 

[ScottMayo]

I knew square rooms are bad; that was just a rough estimate of the space that I think I have to play with for room dimensions.

It sounds like now is the time to get an expert/consultant on board with the design of the room to assist the architect.

Right - and expect them to argue. Architects tend to specify things like recessed ceiling lighting; acousticians start tearing out their hair because cutting holes in your ceiling ruins any real hope of soundproofing, and so on. And then there's windows... code in some places demands you have windows in your room, while if you don't want your neighbors to hear your movies, you'd like to avoid that. There are ways to fix all these things, but it takes some negotition.

How much of an audiophile are you? Are you aiming for the ultimate sonic accuracy, or are you more interested in getting high impact sound and high impact video? It's good to know what you really want before plans get drawn; those goals leads to different rooms.

 

[Johnd]

Yes. So stay/get informed and ask questions of the professionals you hire. Make sure you understand their answers fully (and that they do as well) prior to hiring them. Good luck, and keep us updated.

 

[AVRat]

A roughly 16' x 30' HT would be great leaving plenty of room for the concession stand and gear closet.

 

[ScottMayo]

Gear closets - ugh. You get to rig up repeaters for remote controls, you get to wonder if the gear is overheating in the closet, you get to run extra wire, you get to yell back to your friends from the closet when you're deciding what you want to slap into the DVD player...

Gear closets are for pros who run noisy, fan cooled gear, or for the poor folk who have really zealous WAF issues and must hide every box, wire, and speaker. Mercy save us from all these things. Audio gear is cool stuff and should be displayed on shelves, with honor, preferably with a small, dedicated, narrow beam spotlight over it, so you can see where to shove disc two of your favorite multi-disk epic.

 

[Johnd]

Yeah, I like to see my equipment too.

 

[Deleau]

I'm leaning more towards having the equipment on display. Architect told me that to make it easier to get past the local code inspectors for not having a window in the room, I need to not have a toilet or bathroom adjoining the HT room less it could be considered a bedroom.

Accessory checklist:

Equipment display
popcorn machine
wet bar with tap
comfy chairs

Anything else?

 

[ScottMayo]

I'm leaning more towards having the equipment on display. Architect told me that to make it easier to get past the local code inspectors for not having a window in the room, I need to not have a toilet or bathroom adjoining the HT room less it could be considered a bedroom.

Accessory checklist:

Equipment display
popcorn machine
wet bar with tap
comfy chairs

Anything else?

I went through this with my code inspectors. I have a room 28x25x12, mostly underground, tiny windows... does that sound like a bedroom? It took a lot of conversation to get them to see that, no, I wasn't likely to be sleeping down there unless my wife got very, very angry...

You need a filing cabinet in there. Because when you explain to the IRS that this room is a business expense and intended for company meetings, they are going to want proof. Besides, it's a good place for user manuals for the equipment you will have.

Hm. Depending on the space, you could possibly squeeze in a pool table...