Why not build 4 acoustically transparent false walls?

Basically any of the cloth wall covered rooms are exactly that.

For most of us Square footage is at a premium. So adding and additional 18" to 24" around the entire room would not make good use of our limited floor space. So the fabric walls work will and so dose hiding the speakers in columns. The 18" of false wall in front makes more sense as you are hiding three speakers and multiple sub-woofers.

So it is kind of a hybrid solution to the problem all around.

The problem that comes to my mind is cost - Acoustically Transparent material is expensive. Surrounding the whole room in it would cost a lot. For example, check out GPowers Fabric Frames thread, he use AT materiel for most of the wall surface in his room (panels, columns, and soffit) and includes a cost estimate for what he did.

Hey - GPowers was posting the same time I did. Now you have to check out his thread...

That would be a good way to get rid of room resonances: Don't have a room. Build four false walls and a false ceiling out in the back yard and you are good to go.

If you had a large space and no sound isolation concerns (either way), it wouldn't be a bad idea. Around here, though, excess space is rare, and sound isolation is often a large concern.

Thanks for the reference.

Most of the DIY DE designed theaters that have been documented in build threads here have all 4 walls covered with acoustically transparent fabric. An average size room requires about $600-700 of fabric.

It's not that expensive in the big scheme of things. Black FR701 GOM is only ~$14/linear yard (~70" wide). Other patterns range up towards $17 or so. I think it cost $600 in cloth for my room (16x25) for cloth to do all the walls/columns.

To me, the work involved in making/hanging the panels (I'm doing very similar panel style to gpowers) is where the real cost lies.

I am "sort of" doing this. Front and rear AT spaces with AT (SMX material) screen, and fabric side walls. The side fabric walls will be kept to 1-2" depth since the room is very narrow. The front AT space is 59" deep and the rear AT space will end up around two foot deep. The front and rear AT spaces were done to hide speakers and corner bass trapping, and to eliminate the "bowling alley" feel of my space. I will be adding some side wall kick trim framing that will also house two runs of 2" conduit from the front to rear AT spaces. (The idea is to future proof the room and to easily accomodate any future wiring needs. The kick trim will have carpet facing, and a wood cap added on top before the wall's acoustical panels start.

Space is at a big premium around here. But we placed a high value on the home theater and I feel the "wasted" square footage of the AT spaces will be more then justified with a clean clutter free theater and ease of any future upgrading.

Sorry,

Dennis Erskine designed theater built by a DIYer.

here is one that inspired my build.

http://home.comcast.net/~kirkk/uptownparadiso.html

and another crowd pleaser

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...light=36+month

Lots of sawdust, but it was the look I was going for. Also the frames are almost all the same size. If I was building today I might be a little more creative with different sizes. but at the time I was going for the look, simple, and most important something I could accomplish with my skill level.

i like the idea. it is basically what i did because i didn't want to do columns with speaker grills. nothing in my room appears to be a speaker. i considered odd shapes at first but decided i like the square footage better.

greg

There are theaters where the outer room is very well sound isolated and an inner space is framed to be largely AT. This not only allows for the flexible installation of speakers and subwoofers, but the use of various forms of diffusors, absorptive devices, and broadband bass traps. Having said that, someone doing this on their own needs to think about how that inner wall gets built ... you don't want people leaning (or falling) against a wall and falling all the way through.

You're welcome.