New Listening Room

Posted by: Evan D. Jay on 12 November 2002

Next week I begin renovating my basement den, which will be a semi-dedicated listening room. The dimensions are 14ft x 18 ft x 7.5 ft. I will be shoehorning a pair of DBLs into this room. My understanding is that if this done right, the DBLs should sound fine.

The floor is cement and the walls and ceiling will be 5/8" sheetrock on studs. I plan to install wall-to-wall carpeting. Additionally, I will install a dedicated 20 amp line for the system.

I am looking for any advice regarding this project (construction, materials etc.) given that I am a total neophyte in this area.

Advice regarding the type/brand of wire that should be used from the fuse box to the wall outlet and the type/brand of wall outlet that should be used are also welcome.

Posted on: 12 November 2002 by Mike Hanson

You might want to consider bulking up the wall on which the DBLs will be situated. At the very least, put a double layer of drywall. You may also want to use a layer of "concrete board" (I'm not sure of the actual name of it).

-=> Mike Hanson <=-

Posted on: 12 November 2002 by Onthlam

Did you really give in?
Did you move them???

Marc

Posted on: 12 November 2002 by Steven Phee

Hi,

instead of carpeting the walls, you may like to try some Sonex acoustical foam (the thicker the better). It's not expensive too. I've tested out its acoustical properties at my acoustics lab and have ordered some on behalf of my company (siemens) for use in improving our anechoic chamber.

cheers
Steven

Posted on: 13 November 2002 by Dev B

I am also gaining familiarity with rooms, having moved a few times in recent years.

Before you try and do anything to treat the room, can you describe what it sounds like? What does your voice sound like in the room. Can you install a small system or second system in there to get a feel for the sound.

Your dimensions seem okay to me, and you should try and treat the corners near the speakers, my SBL's seem to be fussy about how near they are from the corners. I would imagine DBL's are similar.

I am not so sure about the wall to wall carpeting - but without undertsanding the characteristic of the room I cannot determine whether you need this or not.

Also what conditon is your floor in? You may have a bit of bass leakage which will need to be looked at. I had to buy Mana soundbases for my SBL's for this purpose and I know Ron Toolsie did this with his DBL's recently.

Good luck,

Dev

Also

Posted on: 13 November 2002 by Laurie Saunders

I reckon you should think hard about the mains feed.....one 20A spur is not sufficient in my view...how do you intend to connect all your kit to one socket? Is this spur fed from the house consumer unit?

Regards laurie S

Posted on: 13 November 2002 by Steve Crouch

My SBL's are quite close to corners as my room is small (10' x 12'). It is quite lively as I have wooden floors, although big rug. The floor is suspended, so can boom a bit. I have thought about filling in the floor space with concrete and carpeting the floor but I quite like what wooden floors do (a more natural sound if you know what I mean). Any recommendations on what to put in the corners (I have big plant pots at present which do a reasonable job but has anyone tried any of the specialised acoustic tubes and the like?). I have used Mana bases in the past and may go back to them again (sold them with old SBL's when went to ATC's but now back with new SBL's).

Also, if there is a slight bass problem would this be worsened if I went for SL2's as I believe they pump out more than the SBL?

Cheers for your thoughts

Steve

Posted on: 13 November 2002 by Martin Payne

Laurie is right - a 20A line is not really sufficient for DBLs, especially if you're having any sort of building work done.

I use a 30A line [equivalent to 60A @ 120V], together with 45A cable and I'm pretty sure I would benefit from more.

cheers, Martin