Creating a system you love shouldn't be difficult. The Acoustic Frontiers blog is here to help.
Todd B is an AV enthusiast from Ohio.
Todd had designated a space in the new custom home he was building for a long-desired high performance home theater. He wanted a space where he could watch movies with the highest fidelity, enjoy sports with friends and where his two young sons could play video games.
When he approached Acoustic Frontiers for design assistance, a key requirement was sound isolation - his wife did not want the sound travelling all over the house, and (to make matters worse) the master bedroom had been placed by the architect directly above the home theater. A lesson learnt for Todd was that it’s never too early in your new home process to engage with a home theater design professional – if we had been involved earlier, better decisions could have been made about floor planning!
Here’s Todd’s basement plan showing the location of the planned home theater:
Design services provided centered around the Core Home Theater Design package with the addition of Sound Isolation design. The Core Design package covers: layout, sub/number placement optimization, AV equipment engineering and acoustic treatment design.
Equipment specified included a 9.4.4 audio system using JBL Synthesis SCL-3 for the LCR, Revel W763 for the ear level surrounds and C763 surrounds for the tops. The subwoofers were four SVS PC-2000 subwoofers, placed in the corners. Electronics comprised an Arcam AVR390 and JBL Synthesis SDA7120 power amplifier. Video was covered by a Seymour AV XD projection screen and a JVC RS2000 projector.
To preserve sound isolation, Todd constructed back boxes for the speakers within the room’s isolation shell.
For the acoustic treatment, our design included a mix of absorption, diffusion and hybrid absorber /diffuser panels. We custom designed the hybrid panels and provided shop drawings so he could make them himself.
Todd did a fantastic job of finishing out the room, with custom made fabric stretch panels to cover all the acoustic treatment and subs.
The audio and video calibration was completed by Chad B.
“I have always wanted my own personal custom home theater dating all the way back to 2005. I have been a long time member on AVS and have read and learned so much information on that forum. That is how I came about finding Nyal and his company Acoustic Frontiers.
We finally had a chance to build our own home theater when we decided to build our new home. During our construction process, I started the search for a home theater designer. I interviewed 3 different designers which included Nyal. During the process, I wanted the home theater designer to be able to help me produce a plan for the entire theater room as I was going to attempt to do some of the work myself. I ended up hiring Nyal because of the recommendations from AVS, his vast knowledge and I thought he was able to design my room based on my needs, wants and within a budget that I provided him.
Nyal offered me several variations of design and equipment options. Nyal recommended certain equipment that fit within our budget and that also performed well. There was no pressure to purchase all the equipment from him which I really liked. I had a long time during our construction process to piece some of the equipment together, however I did buy several items from Acoustic Frontiers and the prices were good.
In the end, our room turned out way better than we ever expected. We could not be happier! Everyone that comes over to visit is amazed at the sound and picture quality. Big thanks to Nyal at Acoustic Frontiers!” Todd B, Ohio, USA.
Clint, an avid DIYer, planned on building his own home theater to cut costs until he realized the complexity of the task. "One piece of advice I came across most often was to hire a professional. I was hesitant, but I just found myself going in circles and didn't want to invest in something I'd later regret."
Nyal Mellor, Founder, Acoustic Frontiers
Nyal Mellor
Author