$100,000,000+ Yacht with Imax Theater...

Matthew J Poes

Matthew J Poes

Audioholic Chief
Staff member
I know I am like the only person around here who cares about this, but the mention of the imax adding cost because of noise is true or any soundproof home theater. The biggest thing I learned in my own build was just how critical the sound isolation of everything is. You can build a sound proof theater and it will be ok. The expense is really high for the noise floor you get. Once you recognize all the sources of noise intrusion it gets nuts.

The noise isolation in my theater is pretty insane and I didn’t achieve a noise floor as low as some (or I would have liked) due to cost constraints. For example:
  • I isolated the ducts in my theater but it’s not on its own unit.
  • I didn’t dig up and report a decoupled cement floor, adding decoupled decking instead.
  • I didn’t use spring isolators for all the channel clips, just rubber.
  • I didn’t fully decouple the hvac because lifting it into spring isolators meant redoing the main trunks. I also didn’t use decoupled on the main trunks.
  • I didnt pour a decoupled subfloor above the theater
  • I didn’t change out all the ducts with lines ducts and only liked the ducts around the theater
  • I used rubber isolators for the dishwasher, it’s not fully decoupled
  • I didn’t wrap all the plumbing around the theater in lagging
All of this would have added tens of thousands of dollars in materials and labor, but is what is necessary to really create a room with the kind of noise floor that these guys look for.

Soundproofing correctly is REALLY expensive and requires a lot of engineering. I studied the topic at a graduate level for years and none of that prepared me for actually doing it for the first time.
 
BoredSysAdmin

BoredSysAdmin

Audioholic Slumlord
Where is the helo landing pad on that yacht? For a $100 mil there should be one.:D
It's right in the linked article:
also features a pair of 8K HD TVs, a helipad, four VIP suites and facilities that “cater to a wide range of sports, including golf, basketball, volleyball and football”. The interior of the vessel is described as “akin to a beautiful and contemporary jewellery box”.
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
And, we had a very productive time period during all those high tax years if I recall.
Right- it started after WWII, which needed to be paid for (as well as the cost of reconstruction in Europe) and people had a major case of "I can do that!".
 
BoredSysAdmin

BoredSysAdmin

Audioholic Slumlord
Right- it started after WWII, which needed to be paid for (as well as the cost of reconstruction in Europe) and people had a major case of "I can do that!".
It was the era of people had high hopes and genuinely believed in "ASK NOT WHAT YOUR COUNTRY CAN DO FOR YOU..."
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
I know I am like the only person around here who cares about this, but the mention of the imax adding cost because of noise is true or any soundproof home theater. The biggest thing I learned in my own build was just how critical the sound isolation of everything is. You can build a sound proof theater and it will be ok. The expense is really high for the noise floor you get. Once you recognize all the sources of noise intrusion it gets nuts.

Soundproofing correctly is REALLY expensive and requires a lot of engineering. I studied the topic at a graduate level for years and none of that prepared me for actually doing it for the first time.
It's difficult to know how much of an effect the various isolation methods will have because there's often a couple of small details that were neglected or thought to be less significant than they really were. When making recommendations to the client, they sometimes decide that some kind of blocking isn't necessary and in the case of the theater I mentioned (the insulation crew failed to fill the right wall), it was the blocking materials under the master bath and bedroom, where the plumbing goes from one level to the next. The only complaint they had was about the sound from the theater reaching the bedroom and we were adamant about doing it.

OTOH, the homeowner seemed to develop a case of sticker shock as the project progressed, so the theater was the part that was carved, to reduce the overall cost- they had a fire and the money came from the fireplace installer's insurance since he had failed to seal the back of the fireplace insert.
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
It was the era of people had high hopes and genuinely believed in "ASK NOT WHAT YOUR COUNTRY CAN DO FOR YOU..."
But even that didn't begin until after 1960. Hard to believe we went from "Ask not..." , national goals and some sense of direction to unrest, violence and rampant drug use in such a short time.
 

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