Advice for large windows/sliding doors? Black material to cover ceiling and wall infront/behind projector screen?

[The One Demon]

Hey guys, so change of plan... Likely not doing a dedicated HT room now due to costs... BUT now planning to do it in a open plan lounge/kitchen. It's an 11.2 x 5.7m area including the kitchen, it's not ideal though with large sliding doors to the right and a small tiled corner with metal free-standing fireplace. (May remove this at some stage as I won't use it).

 

I was just wondering if anyone had any advice for anything I could do for better acoustics regarding those large windows and the tiled area? (Maybe I could put some underlay or some kind of rubber or something on top of the tiles?). The doors/windows will have blockout curtains.

 

I was also wondering if anyone had any advice for what black material to put behind the AT screen? The screen will probably be about 60cm from the wall behind it. Also the same material will be used in front of the screen on the ceiling. Just looking for ideas/what others have done, I'm not sure I want to paint it, so looking for alternatives.

 

There will be a 4m x 6m rugged area that the speakers/seating will be on.

 

There is another room I could use, 3.5m x 4.8m, but I think it may be a bit too small for what I'm trying to achieve, a 9.1/2.6 system with 140" cinemascope width screen but 140" height 16:9 screen.

 

Cheers!

[hopefullguy]

seriously think the original idea would be best as you wont be going 9. whatever in the open plan room. just scale it back to a 5.2.2 or 5.2.4 in the original room, scale back your gear to more acceptable costs as the room will be smaller so no need for some of the expensive stuff that wont get used to potential anyway.

 

Niterida can help with saving on speakers.. he used P.A. speakers that work very well for HT. you can make your own screen, if A/T can go with a minimalist supporting wall with the screen hinged for lifting up to gain rear access. however with the shorter throw you may be looking at a benq pj to get a big picture over a shorter distance.

 

some will say that is not an ideal choice pj as everyone seems to be hung up on 4k perfection but your seating will be at about 2/3rds room length to screen so maybe not much choice. smaller room so could drop screen size down to 130" but the 140" seems possible keeping in mind seating eye to screen

https://www.justprojectors.com.au/benqw2700i.htm

https://www.projectorcentral.com/BenQ-HT3550i-projection-calculator-pro.htm#calc

 

reverse the door opening to "give more space on entering the room

easier to colour the room/line walls ceiling etc/easier set up and little modification, still have your separates but probably dont need them, 2 subs easily placed, no need for large speakers and dedicated room... get away from everything else and escape into the movie, isnt that the point?

 

but just my 2 cents as its your money/home.

 

Edited October 29, 2021 by hopefullguy

[davewantsmoore]

5 hours ago, The One Demon said:

I was just wondering if anyone had any advice for anything I could do for better acoustics regarding those large windows and the tiled area?

They are not anything super significant.   Ignore them.

 

The more general issue is the lack of absorption vs the size of the surfaces in the entire room (walls floor ceiling, etc.).

 

How much large and absorptive furniture you have in there will play a part..... measure when you get in there, and then plan to add large absorption panels on walls.   The amount you add will be more important than which wall you add them to, as the walls are all too far away to have any super problematic reflections which need "killing".

 

[davewantsmoore]

5 hours ago, The One Demon said:

There is another room I could use, 3.5m x 4.8m

Does this room accomodate the number of seats you want?   If no, then it's useless.... .if yes, then you can make it work from an acoustics and visual perspective.

 

Scale back the layout to what fits (eg. 5.2.2) .... this will give better results than forcing a certain channel count.

 

Given the distance, you can probably then jump to an 85" TV (which is better visually than PJ).

[The One Demon]

I'm fine going in the lounge/kitchen area. It's only me living here and either room will accommodate seating. Only 1 row of 3 at most. (Maybe my Mum in the future. Possibly temporarily my twin brother in the future..)

 

3 hours ago, hopefullguy said:

seriously think the original idea would be best as you wont be going 9. whatever in the open plan room. just scale it back to a 5.2.2 or 5.2.4 in the original room, scale back your gear to more acceptable costs as the room will be smaller so no need for some of the expensive stuff that wont get used to potential anyway.

Which idea do you mean by original? The room I was going to build in the shed?

 

The open plan kitchen/lounge is larger by quite a bit vs that room I was planning.

 

2 hours ago, davewantsmoore said:

The more general issue is the lack of absorption vs the size of the surfaces in the entire room (walls floor ceiling, etc.).

 

How much large and absorptive furniture you have in there will play a part..... measure when you get in there, and then plan to add large absorption panels on walls.   The amount you add will be more important than which wall you add them to, as the walls are all too far away to have any super problematic reflections which need "killing".

 

There will likely just be a few canvas print artwork of animated series I enjoy and a couple random others. There will be 4m x 6m worth of rug on the floor infront/behind/around the HT area in the open plan area. Other than that, just the 3 seater lounge I guess.

 

Also I will probably put black velvet for a couple metres in front of the screen on the ceiling and the wall behind it to darken it a bit and stop reflections. (This will likely also help with absorption I'd imagine)

 

How would I measure/what would I measure for? Do you know of any good accoustic materials or  ready made products that aren't too costly?

 

Thanks guys!

[davewantsmoore]

16 minutes ago, The One Demon said:

I'm fine going in the lounge/kitchen area.

The open plan kitchen/lounge is larger by quite a bit vs that room I was planning.

 

I thought you might say this.   

 

16 minutes ago, The One Demon said:

There will likely just be a few canvas print artwork of animated series I enjoy and a couple random others. There will be 4m x 6m worth of rug on the floor infront/behind/around the HT area in the open plan area. Other than that, just the 3 seater lounge I guess.

 

The windows don't cause any specific problems on their own, that require you to put something over them ..... but they just excasserbate the problem of absortion vs surface area in the room overall  (ie. a big empty room sounds like a big empty room)

 

16 minutes ago, The One Demon said:

Also I will probably put black velvet for a couple metres in front of the screen on the ceiling and the wall behind it to darken it a bit and stop reflections. (This will likely also help with absorption I'd imagine)

Not really.   Absrobtion needs to be thick.... otherwise you are just absorbing high frequencies, but high frequencies are not reaching that part of the wall much compared to other frequencies .... with a result that could mean over absorbed HF... and not enough absrobtion through the 300 to 3000Hz range.... which is where all the content is.

 

16 minutes ago, The One Demon said:

How would I measure/what would I measure for?

The first thing to do is to get into the room, with all your furntiure, rugs, etc. (just what you would "have anyways") ... and sit on the couch and talk to someone.   How does the room sound/feel ? Echoey?  Live? ..... or pleasant and calm?

 

You might measure decay time vs frequency, and things like RT60/30 .... to see where it's at, but those things are easy to misinterpret / overtinterpret.

 

Be careful to not listen to an uncorrected speaker in the room, as setup problems might have you blaming the room for things which aren't there  (eg. if it sounds thin, you might think, ooo I have HF problems in the room ..... but it might just be the speaker response).

 

16 minutes ago, The One Demon said:

Do you know of any good accoustic materials

Yes, typical "fluffy" wall insulation from somewhere like bunnys .... construct a frame around it, and put some reasonably accoustic transparent material over the front (something you can blow through).    You can get the material to match your decore, or even print pictures on it, etc.    How thick should they be? .... that depend son the frequencies targeting.   5cm is thin..... 10cm is "normal" ... and 20cm+ starts to work at lower frequencies (eg. < 300Hz).

 

16 minutes ago, The One Demon said:

or  ready made products that aren't too costly?

Hang on to your wallet.