A Home Theater Acoustic Treatment Layout in North Carolina

by ct_acoustic_frontier January 28, 2022

Update July 2018 - the Creekside theater was selected as an AVS Home Theater of the Month.

Client Profile

Mr. Gilman is a home theater enthusiast from North Carolina.

Project Overview

The project scope involved a complete overhaul of Mr. Gilman's previous home theater including:

• Revising the layout
• Raising the ceiling
• Building new soffits to hide ductwork
• Building a new riser
• New equipment, including an acoustically transparent screen, 'proper' home theater speakers and better subwoofers
• Acoustically treating the room

[caption id="attachment_4286" align="aligncenter" width="760"] The pre-renovation home theater[/caption]

Acoustic Frontiers Solutions

Our role in the project was acoustical consultant. The theater overhaul was basically completed when Mr. Gilman came to us looking for help with the room acoustics. We performed a Home Theater Acoustic Treatment Layout, developing a 3D CAD model of the room to specify number, type and location of absorbers and diffusers. [caption id="attachment_2924" align="aligncenter" width="746"] Side wall acoustic treatment design[/caption] [caption id="attachment_4291" align="aligncenter" width="780"] View of front and side wall acoustic treatment[/caption]

The Results

[caption id="attachment_4287" align="aligncenter" width="780"] View towards the front of the finished theater[/caption] [caption id="attachment_4288" align="aligncenter" width="780"] View towards the rear of the updated home theater[/caption]   [caption id="attachment_2922" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Frequency response of the left, center and right channels at the main listening position after acoustic treatment and calibration but with EQ disabled[/caption]   [caption id="attachment_2923" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Waterfall measurement of center speaker and subwoofer combined with no EQ, post acoustic treatment and calibration[/caption]

In the Client's Words

"I came across Nyal and Acoustic Frontiers through a dedicated home theater site online. I was constructing a DIY dedicated room and was attracted to Nyal’s ability to put together an acoustic treatment plan. Although Acoustic Frontiers could have done an acoustical plan for me using off the shelf products, I wanted to have some DIY hands on as well as save some money in the process. We had an initial discussion over the phone about the room and my goals for appearance, sound and staying within budget. After that, Nyal presented his preliminary study and design and we went from there. Being a novice to this type of build, I appreciated the prompt responses and simple explanations given to my inquiries. Even though the room was 2/3rds completed, I appreciated Nyal’s willingness to work with me and offer guidance in regards to the acoustical design of the room. The front wall was basically a skeleton wall to house the speakers, no baffle wall. The side wall treatments were a combo of DIY design by Nyal and off the shelf TAD treatments from Kinetics. I will add that the DIY panels were very easy to construct. For the ceiling, we hung QuadFusors from Auralex. Through the process a few minor adjustments were made here and there with the placement of QuadFusors and absorption treatments but nothing too drastic and there were no additional purchases required. The overall appearance of the room is awesome and the sound continues to leaves me speechless. Although I did not have the audio calibration done by Nyal, the company that did calibrate it was very impressed with the sound as well as the acoustic measurements. We have entertained a few couples and friends since the completion of our project, and all of them have had the same response - "wow!"." Mr. Gilman.  

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