If you have ever fantasized about having a theater room at home with theater quality acoustics, turning this dream into reality is easier than you may think. With an understanding of the types of modifications a room needs to transmit quality sound, you can convert any enclosed room in your home to a home theater room. Specifically, noise must first be contained and then measures must be taken to enhance the sound quality within the room.   Installing the appropriate floor, ceiling and wall soundproofing treatments will control the noise such that it is essentially inaudible throughout the rest of the home. Additionally, reverberations that can distort sound must be captured in order to maximize acoustic quality and to provide an original sound quality experience.

Step 1:   Isolate The Home Theater

Containing sound within a room involves the approach of soundproofing all six containing surfaces of the room. All four walls, the ceiling and the floor are culprits for bleeding noise into the other rooms of the home, thus all six surfaces must be treated to help prevent sound transmission out of the theater room. Treating walls and ceilings entails increasing density and establishing a disconnection from the surface, modifications which work together to break down sound waves and prevent them from traveling through surfaces to adjacent rooms. A common system for implementing such wall and ceiling treatments is increasing density through the addition of a layer of a mass loaded vinyl such as dB-Bloc, then affixing strategically spaced horizontal furring strips and a new layer of drywall to create the disconnection.

Applying soundproofing treatments to the floor cannot be neglected, as a home theater system can transmit noise through the common floor surface to other rooms in the home, even if the room is in your basement. The most common floor soundproofing treatment is the installation of the Floorfighter underlayment beneath hardwood floors, carpeting, linoleum, and practically any other type of floor surface.  

Step 2:   Control Interior Room Reverb

The second step in obtaining the highest quality sound for your home theater is applying wall and ceiling treatments to control reverberations throughout the room that interfere with the originally intended sound quality.  Fabric Panels for this purpose come in a variety of colors and styles that can be coordinated with other decor and add flair to the design of the home theater while delivering quality acoustics.

An experienced and reputable soundproofing company can supply the soundproofing materials you will need for your home theater as well as guidance on the appropriate steps you should take to ensure that you consider the variables and obtain superior quality sound in your home theater room.