Designing a decidated audio/HT room

[Volenti]

I've decided to take the plunge and make a dedicated room for my audio as my current space, quite frankley, bites.

WAF isn't a concern since I don't have a "W" to worry about, , so (within reason) anything goes .

Ok the details, I have a 2 story wooden house built in the 1960's, made from "real" hardwood, wood floors, hardwood weather boards ect.

The space I have to work with is 17' long, 11' wide and 8.5' high (currently the lounge room). It actually opens out on both sides to other rooms and at the end to a hallway but that will all be blocked off save for 2 (very solid) doors either side of the room for necessary access.

I have the option of extending the height of the room a bit but, most importantly, I can give it a slanted ceiling due the slope of the roof, on the order of 3-4' of slope side to side.

The interior wall linings will be ripped out and insulating and appropriately solid wall linings will be installed.

The most important aspect however, is the possibility of a large bass horn that could be constructed downstairs, feeding into one end of the room up through the floor with the mouth extending from one side of the room to the other

The room is intended mostly for 2 ch listening and some HT, with empasis on a smooth, clean, dynamic response with low end extension to burn.

What I'm after is any advice what to look out for, things not to do ect, and any tips on construction/design details that could improve the rooms response. I will be doing the majority of the work (with the help of family/friends) so it may be a bit of a long term project.

[Ron E]

I would first learn as much as I could about the topic, Get al the books about acoustics you can, either check them out from a library or buy them. F Alton Everest's "Master Handbook of Acoustics" would be a good start. Despite the title, I believe it is fairly accessible (not too much math). Once you read and absorb all of this, you can begin asking questions and weeding out the fools...

Be wary of too much damping. If you are not prepared to do a lot of learning, it might be cheaper to just hire an acoustical consultant...

I wouldn't worry about the slanted roof, slanted walls, etc.. don't affect standing waves all that much, they just make them harder to calculate.