Well I always love those build threads over at AVS and figured I'd start one here for my 'media' room (for want of a better word) that is being built in my home in Fairfax, CA (Marin County, North of the Golden Gate Bridge). It's going to be a dedicated listening room and home theater that will serve as the demonstration facility for Acoustic Frontiers, both in terms of what we sell but more importantly what we do.
I would guess that a lot of forum dwellers here would love to have a large dedicated room but perhaps real estate prices where you live are high like they are here so unless you are earning 'the big bucks' it becomes a case of how do you remodel maybe a spare bedrooom, garage or basement into a place to enjoy music and movies and where you can be unencumbered by the need to make the space usable for more than one or two activities.
My demo room is just such a project. To get a usable size room in Marin County where I live I had to knock together a bedroom and two walk in closets (yes that was an 'interesting' negotiation with the wife, but she's getting a new deck out of it!). It's not the biggest of rooms (12 x 16.5 x 8) but it is - just - big enough I think to be able to support a very high level of music and movie reproduction. I'm not aiming to create a black hole 'man cave' but rather something inviting that can be used equally well for enjoying music and movies.
Thinking a bit creatively here, I wanted to create a space that worked well for both music and movies. It's a difficult proposition, not just from a room design and feel perspective but also from an acoustics perspective.
In 'music' mode' the projection screen will be electrically retracted and the blackout blind over the window rolled up. The projector is also out of the room in a 'hush box' which means that you will hopefully hardly know the room has a dual personality. The surround speakers are going to be hidden in columns or otherwise not be visible. I'm using Procella speakers for the LCRs which will be mounted in a baffle wall. At this stage I am not sure whether I will also have a separate set of speakers for two channel listening. If not then I'm going to cover the center speaker with fabric so that from inside the room all you see is two speakers flush mounted in the wall.
In 'movie' mode the screen and blackout blinds come down and it should be awesome sounding with the compression drivers and four subs in a mode canceling arrangement.
Anyway, we've done the first phase (demolition, most of the sound isolation, all the electrical except lighting) - photo below shows the room without the wall sheetrock up but actually this has been installed. Now just waiting for the components to create the sound isolated door and then it'll be time to build the baffle wall, mud / tape the drywall and do the door installation. For more pics see my blog post.
View attachment 4609
I would guess that a lot of forum dwellers here would love to have a large dedicated room but perhaps real estate prices where you live are high like they are here so unless you are earning 'the big bucks' it becomes a case of how do you remodel maybe a spare bedrooom, garage or basement into a place to enjoy music and movies and where you can be unencumbered by the need to make the space usable for more than one or two activities.
My demo room is just such a project. To get a usable size room in Marin County where I live I had to knock together a bedroom and two walk in closets (yes that was an 'interesting' negotiation with the wife, but she's getting a new deck out of it!). It's not the biggest of rooms (12 x 16.5 x 8) but it is - just - big enough I think to be able to support a very high level of music and movie reproduction. I'm not aiming to create a black hole 'man cave' but rather something inviting that can be used equally well for enjoying music and movies.
Thinking a bit creatively here, I wanted to create a space that worked well for both music and movies. It's a difficult proposition, not just from a room design and feel perspective but also from an acoustics perspective.
In 'music' mode' the projection screen will be electrically retracted and the blackout blind over the window rolled up. The projector is also out of the room in a 'hush box' which means that you will hopefully hardly know the room has a dual personality. The surround speakers are going to be hidden in columns or otherwise not be visible. I'm using Procella speakers for the LCRs which will be mounted in a baffle wall. At this stage I am not sure whether I will also have a separate set of speakers for two channel listening. If not then I'm going to cover the center speaker with fabric so that from inside the room all you see is two speakers flush mounted in the wall.
In 'movie' mode the screen and blackout blinds come down and it should be awesome sounding with the compression drivers and four subs in a mode canceling arrangement.
Anyway, we've done the first phase (demolition, most of the sound isolation, all the electrical except lighting) - photo below shows the room without the wall sheetrock up but actually this has been installed. Now just waiting for the components to create the sound isolated door and then it'll be time to build the baffle wall, mud / tape the drywall and do the door installation. For more pics see my blog post.
View attachment 4609
