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Home Theater Soundproofing *
Considering the high energy of today’s
home theater sound systems, sound reduction to the rest
of the house
should certainly be seriously considered. Acoustical solutions
should be decided before construction and installed during
the framing stage.
Acoustiblok® is
used extensively for sound abatement in home theater applications.
Ease of installation is a contributing factor to its use.
Installing Acoustiblok® on walls,
floors, and ceilings creates an effective reduction in
sound transmission.
The subwoofer and in-wall speakers should have the mechanical
connection to the floor/furniture/studs reduced with isolation
pads or cork and Acoustiblok®. Adding
resilient channel onto Acoustiblok® installed
on the ceiling and walls will further increase the db reduction.
Resilient channel decouples the drywall
from the structure and creates an added airspace between
the drywall and Acoustiblok®. The
airspace helps dissipate the pressure of the sound wave.
Another benefit of Acoustiblok® treatment
is the improved definition in room bass response. This
is due largely to the damping and slightly rigid characteristics
of Acoustiblok® that are added to
all treated surfaces, resulting in clearer and tighter
bass performance.
We had a custom home theater in Parker, Colorado that wanted to
make sure their surround sound system in their new home theater
was sound proofed. After much researching, we found Acoustiblok.
Working with Acoustiblok was pretty easy. Acoustiblok worked
perfectly because it stopped the speaker noise from traveling to
other room without taking up any space. The most entertaining
part of the job however, was the customer's children. They had a
couple of teenagers who would run in the room each day screaming.
My guess is that they wanted to check the progress as we
installed. Over all Acoustiblok was easy to use and definitely
got the job done.
Thanks Acoustiblok,
Kirk Thompson, Advantage Alarm & Audio
Aurora, CO
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| THE SCORE |
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Install |
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Ease of Use |
| N/A |
Expandability |
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Overall Value |
| 4 |
Break the mold |
3 |
playing with the big boys |
| 2 |
not such a bad buy |
1 |
just plain sad |
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WHY YOU
WANT THIS
An Acoustical
treatment of any
kind helps
improve acoustical
characteristics,
thereby improving
your system's
performance in that
environment. |
Acoustiblok
Acoustical Insulation
Reviewed by: Joe
Hageman
Joe is
the VP of Caster Communications
and has written for a variety of home entertainment
publications.
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The great thing about building a home from the ground
up is that you get to have things the way you want
them.
One good decision you can make, especially when
constructing a media room or a dedicated home theater,
is acoustical treatments. Not the kind you hang on
the walls, but in the walls. See, sound transmission
from room to room is a big problem for any home that
has a killer entertainment system. Neighboring rooms
have to endure the bad dialogue or action at the
same time persons in the media room are enduring
or enjoying it, since that pink stuff in the walls
does nothing to stop sound from leaking into adjacent
rooms. Acoustiblok addresses this very problem.
Installation Issues
Be forewarned; This stuff is heavy! We received
three huge rolls of Acoustiblok to cover the media
room walls and floor, and take it from us-it's not
a one-man job. Secondly, we didn't receive enough.
If you're thinking of ordering some Acoustiblok,
do yourself a favor and order about 100 square feet
more than you think you need.
For the best results, it is recommended by the manufacturer
that Acoustiblok be installed between the studs of
a "staggered stud" wall. We didn't really
plan this part out ahead of time, since the standard
walls were already up. We started by cutting off
a manageable sheet of Acoustiblok (if it is possible
to use a continuous sheet, that is preferable, as
you won't have to tape as many seams) and nailing
it to the studs using a nail gun and tin roof caps.
The roof caps prevent the nail from going straight
through the Acoustiblok and help form a seal around
the hole you just made with the nail. |
Performance/Features
Acoustiblok is a sound isolation/blocking dense
material (feels looks like heavy vinyl). Its purpose
is to stop sound from leaking through the walls,
and according to the manufacturer, it reduces sound
transmission by 26 dB.
Did it work? Well, we can definitely say that even
with a DVD going in the media room, the guest bedroom
is relatively quiet. Had we completely encased the
room or installed a staggered stud wall, it would
have been dead quiet, according to the manufacturer.
Another great benefit of Acoustiblok is that it
isolates the sound in the room you're in, thereby
dramatically improving bass response. Bass can be
tricky; it's low frequencies are non-directional
and tend to find their way through any tiny little
hole and into the next room, and every little bit
of bass that escapes the room is less bass that you're
hearing and feeling.
The Last Word
We enthusiastically recommend Acoustiblok to anyone
building or remodeling their house-and not just for
the media room. Just be sure to call an installer
or at least plan to have a helping hand nearby.
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THE
PILOT
PROJECT
PART 7
Home Theater
Hernias |
By: Chris Dotur |
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Each month we follow Capt. Chris
Dotur, a U.S. Air Force airlift pilot, on his journey
of designing and installing a home theater. We
have no idea how long this will take or what the
end result will be! This series will end when Capt.
Dotur sits down to view his first DVD in his new
home theater.
This month's article is a little
different, as I'm writing it from 32,000 feet somewhere
off the Middle East. We left a tense area a little
while ago, and I'm taking my turn out of the pilot
seat as we relax for a long flight ahead. As I
usually do at times like these, I'm feeling very
appreciated about many things in my life.
Ironically, just one more little thing to be appreciative
of this month is actually an unexpected delay in
my theater project. I thought I would be putting
up drywall this month, but instead I got involved
with a company called Acoustiblok (that's right,
there's no "c" - yes, we military boys
do know how to spell). The company makes a product
by the same name that is primarily used for sound
deadening in theater and building walls. It can
also be wrapped around pipes, installed in vehicles
or even used in boats.
The people at Acoustiblok were very friendly and
easy to work with.They describe their product as
sheets of "loaded vinyl." Possibly even
better than putting a layer of lead in your walls.
It absorbs sound energy with compressed mass while
remaining flexible. It is most effective in middle
range frequencies. As I am always looking for a
way to keep my loud music and movies in my theater
and not bleeding out to the rest of the house,
I was happy to see a rating of 26 S.T.C reduction.
this is a minimum if properly installed. Time and
time again the Acoustiblok people told me, "just
be aware that it is very, very heavy" That
sentence should be repeated with as many "heavies" as
a single breath allows.
How heavy? Well, how does 1lb/sq ft grab you?
For me, that meant seven large rolls of Acoustiblok
had a delivery of over 2,100 pounds - more than
300 pounds per roll! I can't emphasize enough how
heavy these rolls were. I needed help from several
neighbors and a dolly just to get it in the theater
room. I'm not so sure my neighbors will ever want
to help me out again. Every time I come back from
a break from this project those rolls looked deceptively
east to move. but just one attempt to lift or push
a roll proved otherwise. All the lifting is worth
the end result.
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Although Acoustiblok can work as rigid material,
such as pressed between two layers of sheet rock,
it works best when remaining "limp" to
absorb sound energy. Therefore, the best installation
solution for me was to tack the Acoustiblok to
my wall studs before putting up my drywall, leaving
excess material between the studs rather than pulling
it tight, On some walls, I hadn't finished building
a second staggered stud wall (part five of this
project) and this was a blessing. By putting up
the material first, it meant that when I built
the second staggered stud wall later, the Acoustiblok
would be woven in between studs for maximum effectiveness.
This did require extra slack between studs. In
places where I already had both walls erected,
I simply tacked it to the inner wall.
Installing the Acoustiblok is a straightforward
process, and the company has even posted easy to
follow instructions on their web site. To prepare
the sheets for installation, I had to unroll a
bit and lay it flat on the floor. Using a T-square,
I straightened off the edge so that it would mount
flush with a perpendicular sidewall. Here, I discovered
that if you're not lifting or moving the Acoustiblok
sheets, they are actually very easy to work with.
After scoring the sheet with a razor blade, it
bends and tears apart easily.
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Wall Studs |
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Ceiling |
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I started at a wall corner, placing the squared-off
sheet edge flush against the adjoining wall. It
was easiest to keep the roll standing on edge,
a few feet away from where I was working so that
the top edge of the material didn't droop to the
ground and constantly have to be held up in place.
Acoustiblok installers recommend using washer or
tin roofing washer caps behind nails, screws, or
staples to attach the sheets to walls. This keeps
the material in place more securely by dispersing
weight and guards against tearing when the material
is punctured. I chose to use the roofing discs
behind nails, which worked just fine. I spaced
them five across each sheet.
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The rolls come in 54" widths, meaning that
I had to use two sheets side by side to cover the
height of each wall. Doing the bottom row was cumbersome
because the need to slide the heavy rolls, but
it was straightforward. Most of the time I was
even able to do it myself. The top row was much
more difficult! Lifting the sheets into place required
the help of a friend. To prevent gaps in the material
I tried to line up the edges of two sheets as exactly
as possible. Overlapping is okay as long as it's
not on the face of a stud to which drywall will
be attached. Anything sticking out from the rest
of the face would make the drywall bulge out at
that spot, so the same principal applies to nail
heads and washers as well.
After all the walls were covered, I went back
and cut out each electrical box that I had installed
in part 6 of this project. There were many. Again,
after scoring around each box edge and masking
an initial cut with a razor blade, the material
tore easily. I kept it as tight as possible around
the boxes to guard against material gaps.
Sound rooms, like theaters, retain sound best
when they are "sealed watertight like an aquarium." You
may have heard this saying before. Leaving gaps
and holds inside walls, floors, or ceilings allows
sound to escape. This obviously decreases the "performance" of
all the special products you installed. Therefore,
I had to go back and seal all the seams. Acoustiblok
recommends various types of sealants on their web
site, and I chose a silicone acoustical caulk.
Their gurus recommend using the caulk in conjunction
with tape to seal seams. The tape they sent me
was a riot. It had black and yellow stripes with
the Acoustiblok moniker stamped in large print.
After taping seams all around the room, I stepped
back, and for a brief second thought, "You
know, I could just leave the room like this and
go for a groovy construction theme in the theater." Okay,
maybe not.
Between the floor matting and the Acoustiblok
the room already has more of the "dead" feel
to it with sound. It's great! Adding carpet, drywall,
and fabric will make it even better. I did save
one roll of material for the ceiling. The homebuilder
had to put up one layer of drywall on the ceiling
to hold the attic insulation before he could sell
the house to me, so i couldn't put the material
before the drywall. Talking over my options with
the Acoustiblok experts, we decided that, in my
case, instead of trying to sandwich it between
a second layer of drywall, it would probably be
more effective for me to lay it on top of the rafters.
This would prevent sound from traveling into my
attic and echoing. I have more work to do with
the ceiling but I'll do it later, when my attic
isn't a sauna.
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* The words "soundproofing" or "sound proofing" do not mean
100% sound elimination, which is impossible. Use the
supplied STC, IIC, and NRC ratings from independent lab test reports
to estimate the results of installing Acoustiblok® products.
© 2007 Acoustiblok, Inc. All rights reserved.
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