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David W. is a lifelong home theater enthusiast with no DIY construction experience in South Carolina.
The home theater was to be built in an unfinished walk out basement in David's new home. The plan and photos of the space as they were when Acoustic Frontiers started work are shown below. Sound isolation was a priority, due to a young family with more babies on the way.
We provided our Core Home Theater Design Package with the following additions: Sound Isolation, HVAC, Hush Box, Riser and Baffle Wall.
The sound isolation design was based on a room-within-a-room construction, where no element of the home theater has any hard coupling to existing joists, studs or concrete pad. The floor utilized a Kinetics RIM floating floor product with a 1-1/2" layer of concrete on top...this construction also provides resiliency and improves the tactility of bass which is often missing from home theaters constructed on concrete slabs. Kinetics ICW springs were used to float the ceiling, and Kinetics Isomax to decouple the walls.
Left/center/right speakers were Triad Gold LCRs, with Triad In-Ceiling Rotating Silver Sats used for tops and Triad In-Ceiling Silver Sats used for ear level surrounds. The in-ceiling models were used for surrounds as these have a built-in 30 degree baffle angle to direct the sound better at the listening area.
Subwoofers were the PowerSoundAudio V3612, a dual ported 18". Audio equipment included the Trinnov Altitude 16 and video was handled by a JVC RS2000 with Panamorph lens illuminating a Seymour AV projection screen.
Acoustic treatments included the Acoustic Frontiers WAVE and POLY panels, together with a hybrid baffle wall and vented riser to absorb bass.
David did virtually all of the construction work himself.
Calibration was done by AudioGuy.
“I've loved movies and the movie watching experience since I was a kid. Fast forward to the last couple years when a new house with the right space for a dedicated home theater became a reality. I was referred to Acoustic Frontiers by a fellow home theater enthusiast/professional. After reading some reviews and talking with others about Nyal's work, it seemed like he was the right person for the job. I hired Acoustic Frontiers to design my theater with the intent to do the majority of the build myself. Funnily enough I had zero construction experience up until this point. Throughout the build process I would ask questions and Nyal would answer on the how-to to help get me over the hump. I appreciated how at the start Nyal asked the right questions in order to truly understand my expectations for the outcome of the project. The end result has been nothing short of spectacular. Not only do I have an incredible room to share with my family and friends, but I gained many practical trade skills as well. I am also very pleased with the sound level reduction achieved with the sound isolation measures that were undertaken. Most of my louder movie watching occurs at night when the kids are in their bedrooms. They're able to sleep and not be disturbed which is exactly what my goal was. After experiencing my theater, people tell me that they'll go to the commercial theater sometime afterward and can't help but remember how much better my theater sounded. I can't think of a better compliment.” David W., SC, USA.
Build thread is here.
Nyal Mellor, Founder, Acoustic Frontiers
Nyal Mellor
Author