Basement Studio - Control Room Anatomy

xSpace wrote:

Joe, In order to get the best performance out of a mass/spring/mass wall assembly the spring has to be fully enclosed to do it's job. That enclosure is provided by the >unbroken< wall partitions that actually create the air cavity that the spring will exist inside of.

xSpace Thanks for the clarification. I believe I understand the point you are making now. Some additional information I would like to add is that the Control room and ISO room have their own ceilings completeley isolated from the floor above. The live room will use RC. Based on that, I believe that I have good isolation between A and C, A and F, F and C. Where things tend to have poorer isolation because of the M/S/M breakdown are between B (which represents the stairwell to the rest of the house) and A,F and C. Does that sound correct? Obviously C and D and E and F have the same type of issues. My only concern about the additional walls by the stairwell is the loss of square footage to an already small ISO booth. I know your are right, but it doesn't make the pill any easier to swallow. Thanks for taking the time to explain this. Dogonnit ! More Pondering...

Rhino wrote:

How interesting that you should mention that... Yesterday I was daydreaming about exactly that, and wondering if anyone had ever tried it. :) Essentially it's just making the 'infinite baffle' from glass, and allowing your window to extend behind the soffit. There must be practical limitations that make it unfeasible? Or perhaps it's just too unsightly. ;) (sorry I don't have anything meaningful to add Joe - but I admire and envy your sketchup skill!)

Ro wrote:

YES it has been done! Can't remember exactly, but wasn't it Wes who did that? http://www.weslachot.com/

Gentlemen thanks for the post. Sounds cool in theory. I agree with Rhino, there is probably some limitation that makes it not a reasonable approach. Thanks for the compliment on Sketchup. I am becoming more comfortable with this product as time goes on. It will come in handy, as now I have to redo the control room to a more practical design. I am still working on a method for public posting of the skp file. Coming soon I hope. Thanks to all. I'll post again as soon as I have made the control room modifications.

Sorry for the delay in my latest update. It was difficult getting Sketchup time to make the mods. What you see in the attached pictures is a rotated control room. The control room faces west now instead of north. This is the only thing I could come up with after the discussion about the speaker angle issue with the previous design. In this version the control room faces the smaller ISO room, and looking off to the right is the Live room. I tried to incorporate Xspace's recommendation to correct the MSM design. He might still have an issue with the Basement door area. I do not show as much detail in the back of the control room as the previous drawing, but the design is exactly the same. Also, the control room itself is almost the exact same dimension as the previous north facing version. You can see where the speakers will be flush mounted, but this area is not finished out yet. It will be the same design as we have all seen many times, and is well documented by John on this site. I do not think there will be any surprises there. I will spend more time finishing out the drawing once I get a feel from the Pros as to whether this is a credible approach. This has been and still is an incredible learning experience. I appreciate all the input so far. Please let me know what you think. Thanks Joe

Joe:

Hi John Thanks for weighing in on this build. I appreciate your suggestions. I have seen builds done both ways on this site (Drywall only, Cavity with slats). I like your suggestion. I do however have a few questions. 1) Looking at the attached picture,I assume the drywall will now go in the areas I have shown on the ISO room and the Control room. Please let me know if I do not have that correct. 2) With the Control room having glass on one side only, will that throw things off by adding absorption on just the left side? I realize that symmetry is already affected by one side being glass. I have seen several control rooms over the years on this site that had similar configurations, with glass on one side or the other. I believe I have also seen you comment that it really has minimal affect because they are not first reflections. Is that correct? 3) Since the Right wall has glass, it's construction will be different than the left side. I have shown where I think drywall would go on the PIC below. I don't believe there would be any slats on this wall unless I should put them above and below the windows. Is that correct? 4) Is it necessary for the walls that will carry slats to be 2x4 construction, or can they be something lighter, like 2x2? Thanks for your input John. This will really help me to solidify the wall construction. Joe

yes - you have the drywall sorted take a look at this studio - it has slots left side, glass right side but there are slots on the right and below the glass they've added an amp section. The wall is straight behind the Glass like this http://www.johnlsayers.com/Pages/Gorini.htm

John Thanks. I can see how they used slots around the glass, and used the bottom section for electronic equipment. That should work for me. Sounds like the answer to my question about Symmetry, is that there is no issue with trapping on just the right or left side. Good to know. I noticed in the design you referenced on your site that they had soffit mounted speakers, but in the actual build they have free standing monitors. Would you mind sharing about that? Based on many of your comments about the benefits of soffit mounting, and the well documented pictures on this site, I have chosen that option in my build. Did these folks have challenges with that approach? I realize this is a bit off my original topic, and if you do not have time to respond, I understand. Thank you for all of your guidance. I will be updating my floor plan to accommodate your suggestions. I'm getting closer. I can feel it! Joe

Joe - they decided to go with the Barefoot monitors that can't be soffit mounted because the woofer is built into the side of the speaker. http://www.barefootsound.com/barefoot/index.html

John Thank you for explaining why they used free standing speakers. I followed the Barefoot link. His speakers are out of my price range, but they are CRAZY cool! I have modified my Sketchup to reflect your recommendations. I am thinking that since the control room and ISO room are now two square rooms, this might be a good opportunitly to do inside out construction. Could I build each wall on the floor with the two layers of drywall, and then stand each one? I imagine it is quite heavy. I wonder if two or three guys could easily raize a pre-hung section like that? Seems like you would not have to paint the drywall either, since it won't be seen. The attached picture shows where I am planning on placing Bass Trap hangers and slats, based on your recommendations. As always, Thank You for your guidance. Joe

that's cool Joe - you've got the idea - go for it :)

John Thanks for your guidance and encouragement. I appreciate everyone’s patience with me, while leading me along. Looks like it is now time for me to arrange for some plumbing to be rerouted before I can begin this build. So, I'm off to get estimates. Thanks again everyone. Joe