Advice on my tentative plan for my dedicated HT

[drooze]

I am really glad I found these forumns and appreciate the input I have already been getting in my other posts. I thought I would put one post together to outline my overall plan for my decicated HT room which I am planning in my unfinished basement. Thanks in advance for any input you all can provide.


Parameters:
I am shooting for 20K total budget for room construction equipment and installation. I think this is aggressive but you have to start somewhere. I have a little flexibility in this but not a lot.

I consider the room to be the most important piece of the equation since I know that if I get this correct it will maximize the performance of the equipment no matter its caliber.

I want to maximize performance for 3 main seats with room for additional folks for sporting events etc in a more transient way.

I think I will use the room for about 90% gaming (PS3) and TV watching (90% high def) with the remaining 10% being movies (50-50 Blue ray and standard DVD at the moment).

I will be doing 7.2 channels and 1080p projection.

I am not aiming for the room to be ornate but clean and simple and even a little boring if that allows me to spend money where it will gain performance.


General Plan:
I am leaving dead space around the room, where there are jags etc to make a perfect rectangle of 17x12x9. A perfect rectangle is going to be the best shape for performance correct?

I plan to use normal room construction with green glue on the inside walls. I will use an exterior grade solid core door with extra weather stripping. I don't plan to do anything special for HVAC because I dont think my budget will allow it. Is this a good plan or will flanking noise through the door and duct work likely eliminate the benefit gained by using green glue? Is there a better cost efficient method for lowering the sound floor in the room then green glue on standard construction?

I plan to have three across home theater seats about 12-13 feet back from the screen. Instead of a back row of three HT seats I plan to put a simple granite counter on two pillars with comfortable bar stools. The height of the counter would be the height of the HT chairs. I might build a small riser for the counter area just for looks.

I plan to use good quality bookshelves, something like Paradigm Studio 20s, with a matching center and surrounds and have two Hsu Research VTF-3s in between each bookshelf and the center channel up front.

I plan to have acoustic treatments only for first order reflections initially due to budget contraints. Is this the best acoustic treatment to do first?

I have a playstation 3 as a source and plan to buy a receiver which will output at least 100WPC x 7. It will have at least two HDMI 1.3 inputs.


Considering:
I am considering putting my components outside the room in a cabinet. This might be problematic for the PS3 since it uses bluetooth and therefore I cannot use a simple IR repeater. Based on what I have talked about with the pretty basic construction is this worth doing? If I do this do I also need to put the projector in a hush box to make it worth the effort?


I appreciate any input you might have on this tentative plan. This is the first dedicated HT room I have put together and I am extremely excited but also apprehensive about doing something wrong or not getting the most out of this room.

 

[mike c]

golden room ratios: HWD
1 1.14 1.39
1 1.28 1.54
1 1.6 2.33

it doesn't have to be exactly like these btw. just make sure to add sound absorption where it matters like first reflection points and bass traps at the corners.

 

[drooze]

Thanks Mike. Anyone else have any feedback for me?

 

[bpape]

Green Glue can work very well. IMO, if it's a matter of GG or spreading it out on other things and doing the HVAC, I'd opt for the latter. Build your walls 1/2" short and use PAC DC-04 clips to isolate the walls from the structure (better bass isolation). Use PAC RSIC-1 and hat channel on the ceiling.

Pay very very close attention to the HVAC system as it is the easiest path for sound to move into and out of the space. You can use simple flex duct isolated in an MDF box with at least 3 90 degree bends and at least 4-5' between bends between the time it hits the vent and the time it leaves the box. This will give you pretty good iso for little money - just some time to do it.

IMO, this is a better overall plan of attack with your funding. You can always add another layer of drywall and GG later if you want but the framing, structural isolation, and HVAC need to be addressed now. Since you're doing a simple acoustical plan, visible panels are easy up and down to add drywall later if needed/desired.

Bryan

 

[drooze]

Thanks Bryan. I will look into the products you suggested.

Being the expert on acoustical treatments is only treating the first order reflections at first the right plan, ie the most bang for the buck?