Guide to Soundproofing a Killer Home Theater
By Jesse Barron
Now that you have spent thousands of dollars on equipment to build the media room of your dreams, I provide in-depth details on implementing an effective soundproofing solution that will help you achieve two goals:
- Keeping noise inside your home theater
- Keeping exterior noises outside of your home theater
If you live in a multi-dwelling building, it is likely that your neighbors complain when you blast your stereo or favorite movie. Not only will you appease your neighbors by properly soundproofing your home theater, it is also easy to make your audio system sound as if it cost two times its actual cost. (Side note: Don't you wish I told you this before you invested in your equipment?)
Before I tell you the proper soundproofing techniques, you must first understand a few principles of acoustics and soundproofing. For your home theater, you must understand Sound Transmission Class (STC) to determine what you desire for your home. In short, STC is the average decibels (dB) lost through a barrier across the range of frequencies 125 Hz to 4000 Hz. A high-end home theater will typically produce sounds as loud as 100 dB to 110 dB. To compare this, a quiet room typically hovers around 40 dB. To properly balance this, the wall between the two rooms would require an STC rating of 60.
Typically, an interior wall composed of stud construction with drywall on both sides has an STC rating of 30 to 34. If the separating wall were to remain non-soundproofed, the dB in the room adjacent "quiet room" would increase to 70 dB (100 - 30 = 70). Considering that a loud home theater, at 100 dB is too loud to hold a conversation, the adjacent room at 70 dB would be too loud to hold a conversation.
One common misconception in soundproofing is that filling the wall with egg cartons will reduce noise transmissions between rooms. In actuality, test results have shown that filling your wall with egg cartons will not produce any measurable reduction in sound transmission between rooms.
To achieve the best results, you should use the proper materials such as faced acoustical foam, eggcrate studio foam and mass loaded vinyl barrier. One company that distributes these products is American Micro Industries under their Soundproof FoamT brand. Although you should not substitute the proper soundproofing materials with unproven methods for noise reduction, there are a few combinations you can use to improve the transmission of sound between rooms. Below is a table outlining these:
| Method | Possible Reduction |
| Add another layer of drywall | 2 dB |
| Plain foam barrier | <3 dB |
| Put insulation in wall | 3-4 dB |
Purely from an economical standpoint, eggcrate studio foam is the cheapest way to soundproof your room. For those desiring a properly soundproofed room, it is recommended that mass loaded vinyl barrier be used in combination with eggcrate studio foam, or the more aesthetically pleasing faced acoustical foam (available with in both black and white facing at www.soundprooffoam.com).
While people have spent thousands of dollars soundproofing their rooms, desired results can be achieved for as little as a few hundred dollars. Soundproofing your home theater has become a do-it-yourself project with only a few hours of time investment required.
About the Author:
Jesse Barron is with American Micro Industries, a global Distributor of acoustic and soundproofing products. You may email him at jesse@americanmicroinc.com or visit his company's Web site at www.americanmicroinc.com.
Article courtesy of www.zongoo.com.
