Home Theater from Scratch – Design and Soundproofing Products
Before building the rooms for the home theater the duct system for the room must be looked at. If this detail is overlooked then the efforts to soundproof a room will be a waste. If a very soundproof room is built and the duct work is left untreated then there is no use. Sound is very similar to water and travels through the least resistant path. Any and all common air spaces are always the first path of least resistance. The sound created in the room very efficiently and quickly finds the duct register, passes through the duct to the rest of the house. Two basic ways are there for treating a duct, an in-line duct silencer can be bought and installed or duct has to be lined with a soft surface like Quiet Liner. It is cheaper to line the duct but a little more work may be required. But usually the duct has to be upsized since putting something inside it will lessen the ID (internal diameter) of the duct. It is recommended to use either one 90 degree bend or two 45 degree bends so that sound is forced to pass through an acoustical liner and not travel in a straight line.
Wall/Ceiling Surfaces
For effective acoustic treatment of walls and ceiling, sheetrock is used and they are clamped to the stud with the help of clips. The purpose of the clip is to isolate the sheetrock away from the stud or joist. There is a black rubber “puck” in the clip which helps in absorbing shock between the furring channel and the stud. It facilitates the sheetrock to be flexible enough to absorb the energy and prevent it from travelling effectively between two sides of the wall.
Door
As per the budget for your project, one of the Studio 3D door assemblies is recommended. These doors are customized and have quite a few variables and options. The price of the doors start at around $2,300.00 each without including the installation kit ($30) and shipping which is dependant on your location. If that does not fit into your budget you may desire to acquire a good, heavy, solid core door sealed with a door seal kit.
Floor
You may want to consider treating the floor of your room but this decision is usually dependent on the budget for the room and also the amount of soundproofing you need. If it is a concrete floor, many home audio installers will use a rubber based underlayment before beginning to build the walls. For this the reason is because energy that enters the concrete travels below the walls not only to the other basement rooms, but travels up the concrete walls and possibly into the rooms above since it is on the concrete that the structure for those rooms rests. This applies to particularly the lower frequencies.