velvet room

[ericb]

My basement is currently unfinished. I have 1500square feet to play with . looking to make an audio/ht room about 18 by 21 or something along those lines..

anyone ever heard of these guys? Any thoughts on quality? the price isnt exactly cheap so before I move forward with something like this id like to get some thoughts. I listen to LOTS of music, watch LOTS of movies. I have Canton Karat M80's all around with 2 canton subs, 92 inch screen (projector). I want the room to sound GREAT! but will this do it? I understand there are no reflective surfaces however Im not smart with this stuff. Any feedback or information would be great.

www.tecstyles.com

Thanks in advance

Eric

 

[Ethan Winer]

Eric,

> I have 1500square feet to play with . looking to make an audio/ht room about 18 by 21 or something along those lines. <

The most important thing at this stage is to select finished room dimensions that will give a favorable bass response. How high is the ceiling? Since that's fixed, everything else revolves around that. When a low ceiling is the limiting factor, one good ratio of Length to Width to Height is 2.5 : 1.5 : 1.

--Ethan

 

[bpape]

I have no personal experience with them. They may be very good. I'll just say that when looking at the pics on their site, I'd be very leary of a company that would finish a theater with drapes all the way around - not visually (though it's not my bag personally) but acoustically.

 

[ericb]

I have no personal experience with them. They may be very good. I'll just say that when looking at the pics on their site, I'd be very leary of a company that would finish a theater with drapes all the way around - not visually (though it's not my bag personally) but acoustically.

My thoughts initially as well. From a sales men perspective, the pitch goes along the lines of it is very good accoustically as there are no reflective surfaces. they still recommend the typical stuff for ceiling, roxul, sonopan or however you chose to do it. Now I dont know much about room accoustics so that sounds good to me I suppose. What would be your debate against the accoustics of a fully draped room? Im not dissagreeing, i just dont have an argument against it.

 

[ericb]

Eric,

> I have 1500square feet to play with . looking to make an audio/ht room about 18 by 21 or something along those lines. <

The most important thing at this stage is to select finished room dimensions that will give a favorable bass response. How high is the ceiling? Since that's fixed, everything else revolves around that. When a low ceiling is the limiting factor, one good ratio of Length to Width to Height is 2.5 : 1.5 : 1.

--Ethan

ceiling once done will be approximately 7feet high. and thanks for that "formula" one question on it. I have fairly decent speakers as mentioned (7.1 setup), powered by pioneer elite 's flagship receiver, (59txi) and the combination seem to like a larger room. (key word, seem to) 17 long by 11 or seems small. could be wrong as I havent set it up but though id ask anyways.

 

[bpape]

I don't see how that room could be anything but WAY too dead in the high frequencies.

What is desirable in any room is a balanced absorbtion scheme to yield an even decay time across the spectrum. The decay time is based on the volumen of the room and what you want to use it for. 2 channel is different than multichannel or HT. Recording is different than monitoring, etc.

You don't necessarily want NO reflective surfaces IMO. Certainly not all reflecting surfaces treated the same - regardless of what's behind it.

Generally, for HT/multichannel usage (where the system generates the surround field/ambient information), you end up with somewhere around 40-50% of the room's surfaces covered. There are some designs where pretty much everything but the ceiling is covered. BUT, those designs have things like batting above ear level, upper bass through mid absorbtion below, bass absorbtion in corners, columns, soffits, risers, etc. In short, a balanced scheme where not every surface absorbs highs.

Those would be the kinds of things I'd hit them with.

 

[Ethan Winer]

Eric,

> 17 long by 11 or seems small <

Yes, and there are other "good" ratios. The main problem is the ceiling height. That said, it's better for a room like this to be large than well-proportioned. And you can minimize bass problems caused by a poor ratio with bass traps. If you don't need isolation to the upstairs, leaving the ceiling exposed (or stuffed with fiberglass and covered with fabric) gives you another foot above what it would be if you added sheet rock under the joists.

--Ethan