Acoustic/cosmetic recommendations
I have a finished basement and the pool room has now evolved into a retrofit home theater. The room is 12'8" X 19'. There is an 8' ceiling.
The screen is a DIY 92" Dalite HCCV with black felt 3" border. If you don't look too close, it looks pretty darn good. There are two NHT VT-2.4 towers on either side of the screen with side firing woofers that are just under 30" from the side walls (3' would be ideal, but I didn't want to sacrifice any more screen size).
The projector will be ceiling mounted (Epson TW100) about 11' away. The current "decor" is a splash wall paper with predom light green shades with some purple (coordinated with a deep purple 9' pool table- looked very RL). The ceiling is white- there are three hihats down the center of the room that will be replaced- thought about small spots in front of the room.
Several questions: 1)A cheap quick thought (daughter) was to paint the front wall behind the screen a deep purple and leave the walls. Acoustically, that seems like a poor idea from what I have read. Based on the speakers and side firing, are bass traps in the front corners obligatory, or will they "suck up" too much bass? (Have a Rotel RMB-1095 biamped with an NHT SA-3 powering the woofers). Wall treatments or just acoustic panels? How many?
2)Will the current white ceiling be a reflection nightmare? Any acoustic damping to quell the rumble in the living room upstairs? Have read threads on "acoustic paint" ; is it me or does it sound like a bunch of crap?
3) I have NHT VS 2.4 surrounds and center. I understand that ear level from the side is the best location for sats, but my room opens up around 13 feet back. If I put them further back I would have to put one over a door and the other at the same height over an archway. The NHT's are angular such that they can be mounted to fire straight out, or 45 degrees up or down. I would prefer the 14-15 foot distance back, but how acoustically flawed would it be to have the speakers firing down at an angle from a height of 7'?
4) As mentioned, the back of the room opens up to width of 16' with an open staircase running across the room in the back. Is it necessary to close off the back of the room for acoustics? Light is not a problem. Motorized curtain, or needless expense?
Would greatly appreciate input to any or all the above. Have spoken to home theater people, but they had limited interest in coming out as I have my equipment, and when the last one no showed, instead of buying my screen from him, I made it. Look forward to some of the "experts" in this room shedding some light. Thanks in advance.
Jeff
I have a finished basement and the pool room has now evolved into a retrofit home theater. The room is 12'8" X 19'. There is an 8' ceiling.
The screen is a DIY 92" Dalite HCCV with black felt 3" border. If you don't look too close, it looks pretty darn good. There are two NHT VT-2.4 towers on either side of the screen with side firing woofers that are just under 30" from the side walls (3' would be ideal, but I didn't want to sacrifice any more screen size).
The projector will be ceiling mounted (Epson TW100) about 11' away. The current "decor" is a splash wall paper with predom light green shades with some purple (coordinated with a deep purple 9' pool table- looked very RL). The ceiling is white- there are three hihats down the center of the room that will be replaced- thought about small spots in front of the room.
Several questions: 1)A cheap quick thought (daughter) was to paint the front wall behind the screen a deep purple and leave the walls. Acoustically, that seems like a poor idea from what I have read. Based on the speakers and side firing, are bass traps in the front corners obligatory, or will they "suck up" too much bass? (Have a Rotel RMB-1095 biamped with an NHT SA-3 powering the woofers). Wall treatments or just acoustic panels? How many?
2)Will the current white ceiling be a reflection nightmare? Any acoustic damping to quell the rumble in the living room upstairs? Have read threads on "acoustic paint" ; is it me or does it sound like a bunch of crap?
3) I have NHT VS 2.4 surrounds and center. I understand that ear level from the side is the best location for sats, but my room opens up around 13 feet back. If I put them further back I would have to put one over a door and the other at the same height over an archway. The NHT's are angular such that they can be mounted to fire straight out, or 45 degrees up or down. I would prefer the 14-15 foot distance back, but how acoustically flawed would it be to have the speakers firing down at an angle from a height of 7'?
4) As mentioned, the back of the room opens up to width of 16' with an open staircase running across the room in the back. Is it necessary to close off the back of the room for acoustics? Light is not a problem. Motorized curtain, or needless expense?
Would greatly appreciate input to any or all the above. Have spoken to home theater people, but they had limited interest in coming out as I have my equipment, and when the last one no showed, instead of buying my screen from him, I made it. Look forward to some of the "experts" in this room shedding some light. Thanks in advance.
Jeff
Generally though you want to have a dead front wall behind the speakers and around the bottom half of the room with the top half of the wall more reflective. If you can't do that at a minimum add some insulation to the front wall behind the fronts and on the side walls at the first reflection point. The easiest way to find the front reflection point is to have someone slide a mirror along the wall while you're sitting in your main chair...when you can see your mains in the mirror that's the first reflection point that needs attention.
ops: 
Luke: "Hey, I'm not such a bad pilot myself, you know"
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