Sound Isolation vs Acoustics

[ritesh16]

I just wanted to get everyone's opinion on which category is better to focus on when building a dedicated home theater, Which one would be the better investment in your opinion?

 

[MongGrel]

http://www.avsforum.com/

Not being rude, but when I want anything AV oriented I head there.

 

[razel]

Acoustics is more for audiophiles. Sound isolation can be a waste of money unless you can design it into the room during construction of it's framing.

Neither is an investment.

 

[ritesh16]

I guess I was just trying to understand if i were to focus on one of these two to get the best sound out of my home theater, which would it be? I have a home theater and want to get the sound a lot better so I'm trying to focus on one particular area first before going into other things.

 

[Railgun]

What's wrong with it now?

 

[sdifox]

I guess I was just trying to understand if i were to focus on one of these two to get the best sound out of my home theater, which would it be? I have a home theater and want to get the sound a lot better so I'm trying to focus on one particular area first before going into other things.

Acoustics of course, but this doesn't mean you have to spend money. Room dimensions and placement of everything in the room is critical. Since you are building a dedicated room, that is easily accomplished.

sound isolation for ht is mostly trying to contain your noise to the room

 

[razel]

I guess if you want to try to hear the ideal condition of your room and seating position you can try to place your speakers in near field position. Essentially you are keeping your speakers away from the walls and moving it closer to the center of the room. It's a ridiculous layout, but it gives you a quick, easy idea of an ideal case and whether it's worth doing anything compared to before.

On the other hand an easy way is to test acoustics is to put pillows on that living room table that is usually between your speakers and more pillows against the flat wall that is usually above the couch that is against the wall. You can also put pillows or towels on the 1st flat surface closest to the sides of your speakers.

You can then buy and put those porous color in the cloth paintings with a open cell foam behind the canvas in those areas.

 

[Exterous]

Acoustics is easier for potentially more in room listening benefit.

Sound isolation is tough if you have anything resembling a decent subwoofer. High frequencies are easy but you really need mass and physical decoupling for it to work for low frequencies as vibration is a major conductor of low freq sounds. If you want to do two layers of 5/8" drywall with an acoustic adhesive (ie green glue) and RSIC clips then you can look into doing sound isolation. You really need to construct every area properly for it to work. Miss out on a section and its a lot of spent money for little gain

I didn't have the budget so my single 5/8" drywall with batt insulation and solid core doors does fine for mids to highs but my FV12 still rattles and can be heard on the main floor