Help me ‘design’ my basement listening room

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Reg19

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Hello all.

I’m in the process of finish my basement (finally). In it, I’ll be having a 19ft x38ft x8.5ft room which shall house my audio setup. Pre-framing work is set to begin in November.

Looking for suggestions so as to design it so that I get (relatively) good acoustics in the room - whether it is in insulation, dispersion panels, bass management, etc.

It shall house Focal Maestro Utopia EVO speakers and possibly some REL subs. They shall be paired by monoblocks (currently, either the Parasound JC1+ or the Pass Labs X600.8 but I’m willing to upgrade if required).
 
ahhhh, a clean slate and superb dimensions to start !

Give the 3d GIK a look-see...........

https://www.gikacoustics.com/pages/acoustic-room-designer?tw_source=google&tw_adid=&tw_campaign=19556064886&tw_kwdid=&utm_term=&utm_campaign=PD+GIK+Acoustics+US+-+Shopping+PMAX&utm_source=adwords&utm_medium=ppc&utm_source_platform=Google+Ads&hsa_acc=4830636488&hsa_cam=19556064886&hsa_grp=&hsa_ad=&hsa_src=x&hsa_tgt=&hsa_kw=&hsa_mt=&hsa_net=adwords&hsa_ver=3&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=19555346561&gbraid=0AAAAAD-4A3GAiRsDjWCLUopj0fuYw9mOS&gclid=CjwKCAjwotzWBhBFEiwA1JhPoA2_gvl4CK4A0OzujCZvpbItDc_tn8O5FfeHu87RTa98C7bMzq8PbBoCwV4QAvD_BwE&_su_rec=ZYfTOkfni1TRm6S92gWtz2NU30vw9iChxmtnI6TJNfdqOJpVY79Wwac1MAtLwIDKYTCpsviKDrHuR54D6oXlOltcqZNGGzIsE4LabkjsSED_WnrnX-wP1MaNUqhw05Vh57170gjn-SEPALW2NeYDy7txs34F3aNval0JP8nD8n8rLhPccvFQmZVDNCFrfSOyt_vTpv7leE4-Kk7PcG-UJqUjYS_HznQMYupPvYTFWfxgXdZtZ_S53N_icb3cGcQ7cMlRqNKjhslrm0ubMrHr8LfhDvYAznBDLe9t7crYFkxJa8kMdusW_DoNi39_tCkKpyIA7eR5HF_3_3YG4YJPXgGyLcj7Uo3ggHpzFhbEO0bCMRSySv79igh4X4TSKKEJuJGCENj2CrIx2wtp16ZGulXoysoOLlQm1f6SClAzmu9CgZM&_su_rec_id=50e882f8-c708-41a3-8671-0bc02628c98f-1792522932
 
Here are a few things to consider off the top of my head.

— Do you want to isolate the rest of the house from the stereo? If so, you could plan to use whisper clips, green glue and double 5/8” drywall.

— Do you really need a 38’ long room? Perhaps breaking it up into two rooms, might optimize your acoustics to start and make the treatment easier and cheaper? Bigger may not be better.

— What is your plan for power? Many would have three or four dedicated 20 amp lines run into the room (all of equal length and on the same phase in your breaker box. With the outlets located where you plan to have your equipment and amps. Think ahead as it’s fairly cheap to do this now.

— What kind of floor are you planning? If hard (wood/tile), plan for rugs.
 
Reg19 said:
Hello all.

I’m in the process of finish my basement (finally). In it, I’ll be having a 19ft x38ft x8.5ft room which shall house my audio setup. Pre-framing work is set to begin in November.

Looking for suggestions so as to design it so that I get (relatively) good acoustics in the room - whether it is in insulation, dispersion panels, bass management, etc.

It shall house Focal Maestro Utopia EVO speakers and possibly some REL subs. They shall be paired by monoblocks (currently, either the Parasound JC1+ or the Pass Labs X600.8 but I’m willing to upgrade if required).
Click to expand...

The length of the room is a plus, plenty of room to get your speakers off the rear wall and to have plenty of room behind your sitting position. Those speakers will need some room and made for a large room like yours, 93dB with the amps you're talking about should fill the room nicely. I shouldn't see any reason you'd have to "upgrade" from 600.8's.
 
19ft x38ft x8.5ft is a nice sized room. Congratulations!

The thing that immediately stands out to me is the room length is exactly twice the width, so axial room modes in width and length will line up. This is not ideal.

I’d recommend using a room modes calculator to see the impact. Here is one:
There are a bunch of these calculators, they all do about the same thing. The GIL tool Craig referenced looks good too.

It is easier to shorten the room than narrow it, so that’s what I recommend. There are a number of room ratios that reduce modes, and you have the opportunity to get this correct. You can’t fix room modes easily, so it’s better to optimize your room dimensions to ameliorate their effects.

There are a number of good room acoustics books out there. I recommend:

Master Handbook of Acoustics F. Alton Everest and Ken C. Pohlmann
This is the gold standard acoustics text.

Sound Reproduction: The Acoustics and Psychoacoustics of Loudspeakers and Rooms
2008·Floyd Toole
A more approachable boom that covers all the bases really well.

Handbook of Sound Studio Construction: Rooms for Recording and Listening
2012·Ken C. Pohlmann

The last one is probably where I’d start as it is less theoretical than the first two and has a lot of good construction tips.

You have the opportunity to create an amazing sounding space, better than 95% of audiophiles who live with the rooms they were given.

I just finished a dedicated room for 2 channel and HT and it sounds amazing. It’s worth the time and effort to get it right.
 
Last edited:
W9TR said:
19ft x38ft x8.5ft is a nice sized room. Congratulations!

The thing that immediately stands out to me is the room length is exactly twice the width, so axial room modes in width and length will line up. This is not ideal.

I’d recommend using a room modes calculator to see the impact. Here is one:
There are a bunch of these calculators, they all do about the same thing. The GIL tool Craig referenced looks good too.

It is easier to shorten the room than narrow it, so that’s what I recommend. There are a number of room ratios that reduce modes, and you have the opportunity to get this correct. You can’t fix room modes easily, so it’s better to optimize your room dimensions to ameliorate their effects.

There are a number of good room acoustics books out there. I recommend:

Master Handbook of Acoustics F. Alton Everest and Ken C. Pohlmann
This is the gold standard acoustics text.

Sound Reproduction: The Acoustics and Psychoacoustics of Loudspeakers and Rooms
2008·Floyd Toole
A more approachable boom that covers all the bases really well.

Handbook of Sound Studio Construction: Rooms for Recording and Listening
2012·Ken C. Pohlmann

The last one is probably where I’d start as it is less theoretical than the first two and has a lot of good construction tips.

You have the opportunity to create an amazing sounding space, better than 95% of audiophiles who live with the rooms they were given.

I just finished a dedicated room for 2 channel and HT and it sounds amazing. It’s worth the time and effort to get it right.
Click to expand...

Best advice given so far on this thread.
 
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