Greetings all, My friend wants to start to plan a home theater, and after all the work him and I have done researching, we have one question (right now). Some peoples dedicated theathers have stagger stud construction while others are using resilient channel while others are using both. I have found conflicting information that states its good to use both, or that using both is just overkill, and not necessary.

Hopefully someone can give me some insight, and can tell me about the benefits of each.

Thanks:

Dave

Can you provide some more detail? Is this room in the basement or on the main level? How concerned are you about sound getting out and to what level are you concerned about it? (don't care, don't want any to get out, don't mind a little) Are you planning on double sheet rock and green glue for the walls or are you just wanting the construction itself to be the only sound deadening in the design?

Sure, this room will be in a basement, the actual size is still TBD, depending on what else his wife wants. The construction will consist isulation batting, 2 layers of 5/8 sheetrock with green glue and acustical fabric on the walls. There will be a sand filled stage, projection screen, and 1 riser w/ bass shakers. The ceiling will have acustic tiles, and the HVAC still needs to be planned.

The only thing is that it will be under a high traffic family room and there has to be little or no sound escaping as well as sound penetrating causing noise pollution. Whats little, I have no clue, but I would assume, after a conversation with my friend, that when its on its not noticible with the family room TV on.

That is the basic that has been thought out so far. We are hoping to start construction on the frame around February.

Thanks:

Dave

I haven't built my rooms yet, but...

My research has shown that using both methods is highly regarded if you are concerned about isolation. Sure there is a point of diminishing returns. However, home recording studio / project studio construction methods use staggered studs, resilient channel, double drywall with green glue, etc, etc, etc at a minimum. Space providing, many upgrade the staggered stud wall to a room within a room method (two separate walls). These are DIY people just like us here at AVS - but they are building rooms that are more sensitive to sound getting IN or OUT. I doubt that all these DIY recording studio construction threads would do all that additional work (at significant additional expense) unless it paid off. But, we're talking about extremely sensitive microphones that can pick up very, very minute sounds.

McMurphy is correct in trying to assess how concerned you are about sound getting out (and as McCall will always say, sound getting in). There could be issues with HVAC noise, dishwasher noise, other people in the house noise, airport noise, traffic, neighbors, etc. So, you will need to look at all of those things and balance out how much you want to try to reduce their affect.

I'm pretty sure from what I've read that there are technical results showing that using both methods does improve the reduction in sound transmission.

The ceiling will have acustic tiles

The only thing is that it will be under a high traffic family room and there has to be little or no sound escaping as well as sound penetrating causing noise pollution.


If that means a suspended ceiling, then you have no control over the sound leaving via the ceiling. Why bother over building the rest of the room?

If that means a suspended ceiling, then you have no control over the sound leaving via the ceiling. Why bother over building the rest of the room?


The tiles are able to be glued to the ceiling using special glue that probably costs an arm and a leg :D He had thought about a suspended ceiling over the rock and treatment, but we found this way instead.

Thanks for all the help so for everyone.

You have three (and only three) tools at your disposal: Mass, absorption, and mechanical isolation.

The two layers of drywall provide mass. The Green Glue, absorption. The insulation in the walls provides some absorption (actually, it makes the wall deeper acoustically).

Staggered Stud construction is a form of mechanical isolation. It has the added slight advantage of making the wall deeper (a bit more absorption). Resilient Channel (RC) is a form of mechancial isolation; however, resilient channel products on the market today are worthless in acoustic playback or recording spaces. A better form of mechanical isolation is in the PAC-INTL RSIC clips or a similar product from Kinetics. Basically, using two forms of mechanical isolation (room in a room, stagger stud, isolation clips) provides marginal improvement.