Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions French doors or theater type doors to fix FR.

Below is an old and not 100% "to spec" drawing of my room. As many of you know I've spent countless hours graphing my room manually, using an SMS-1, REW, and now a new free FR Plotter I found. For the most part I'm getting a pretty good response across all seats, now that I have 3 subwoofers.

I still have some problems that I think are caused by my huge cavern of a room, that opens into the other end of our basement, which is also about 1100 sq ft.

In the pick below, the entrance to the room on the right side near the bar is about 7ft wide and 9ft tall. It leads into 2 hallways, one to the basement extra bedroom and bathroom, and the other to some storage areas, and stairway upstairs.

I'm considering installing a large wood french door, or if I can find some theater type doors, to close off the room from the rest of the basement.

This would give me more of a square room, and hopefully help with some FR issues. The reason I think this is true, is because if I open some of the close doors in this room, and down the other part of our basement, I'm amazed at how that changes certain frequencies on the graph, creating nulls and peaks.

Can you just put up a temporary partition to try it (both graphing and with media)?

I've thought about that, not sure what I would use. I'm thinking a thicker door would be different than a sheet or piece of cardboard when holding low frequencies in a room.

I think even some 3/4" plywood would at least give you an idea of whether or not there will be benefits??

Duct tape.

good thoughts guys, I think I'll go watch the Red Green show.

You could hang a temporary curtain there too, if you wanted to try it out before buying some doors.

...or buy about 9 M80s and build a wall there...

Or you can hang thick, theater-style curtains in place of a door. Might even be better than a door.

That's an idea. I have a friend whos dad owns 3 theaters in smaller towns, may run that by him to see if he has any connections.

I was going to ask about this very thing when I start seriously looking at what to do in my basement. I'll be watching this thread to see what works out for you.

I would give this a serious look. In my (very small room) I found adding hard doors really changed the sound. But when I left the opening open, but pulled heavy blackout drapes across, the sound smoother out a bit. Our rooms are very different, but the curtain and the doors will give you very different responses. For me, the drapes work better as it increases the effective size of my room and lets some of the waves dissipate rather than bounce right back into the listening area.

Mark could loan you his dog to sit in the doorway, for a small fee of course(a few Scooby snacks). The dog might want a couple too.

I've hung a curtain in my old home theater/den layout for the same purpose and it was very effective. My setup was very simple and consisted of a cheap curtain rod and double-sided dark curtains. It also helped to darken the room up, as it blocked off the light coming down the stairway.

I don't know if Randy wants to be any more 'in the dark' than he may already be! Me, I'm blind in one eye, and just can't see out of the other one. It's always 'A Dark Knight' here in Gotham.

We just added heavy crushed velvet (dark blue) to the french door setup for our media room (i will see about uploading a photo).

It was done in part to cut down on the light from the games room during the day or at night if others are using that room while some are watching movies.
The curtain does of course cut down the hard wall reflections as well inside the media room. I've always found the sound of the media room to be amazing compared to any other room i've listened to music in, but if the curtain added anything since it was put up, i cannot really tell the difference unless i'm standing by the french doors, talking and closing the curtain at the same time.
Only then is it obvious that one's voice and related echo are decreased.

I automatically had thoughts of Elvis painted on it

oh dear i hope not

Chesseroo,
You bes' not be dissin' the King!

Images of the french door curtains.
I tried it both with and without the flash to provide an idea of the light and dark that escapes the room.

Chess, can I move in with you?

nice doors! seems to match the speakers

Thanks for the Pics Chess...we have been around town to Lowes, Home Depot, and Menards. Looking at doors very similar to yours, except for 6panel solid wood, no windows. On sale right now.

we do have this fourth unused bedroom right now...

We considered frosting the glass for a more closed but light optional effect and frankly, we decided that the view of the wine cellar and pool room from the media room was quite nice with all the lighting so we kept the windows intact.

The curtain was just a finishing touch for sound and light when required. The curtain still need tie backs to finish it off.

Next up, new component rack.

I like the windows, myself. Very nice.

I love windowed french doors as well, but for this application the solid wood works best. We already have glass french doors for the walk out, and 3 windows in this room.

I have those same doors on my dining room, even the handles you added look the same! (I painted the doors white though)

H*ly Cropdusters...I'm over a thousand posts, when did that happen?

Apparently earlier today, Commandrek.

Yeah. About 9 stalk-posts ago.

"Are you stalkin' to me?....ARE YOU STALKIN' TO ME?!!!"

I don't put a lot of stalk into what you're saying, but rather what you're doing.

Stalk is cheap....

Look who's stalking.

This is weird. It's really hard to type after playing piano. My hands are programmed differently right now.

Randy I don't know how concerned you are with soundproofing and the doors but we installed outside double doors between the TV room and the rest of the house, whenever the doors are closed tight it does a tremendous job with containing the sound in the TV room, which being an enclosed patio is all cinder block wall between the room and the remainder of the house. With the block construction between that room and the rest of the house it's really unbelievable just how well the sound is contained to the room and the outside insulated doors just add to the soundproofing.

A thought to keep in mind if soundproofing is a factor for you.

Door Door

Thanks Rick, I love those pics. The room is in our basement and totally under ground, except for one corner which is the walkout to the back hard. It is very insulated with Iceblock foundation, which beats the heck out of a standard poured foundation.

The problem is the opening into the other side of the basement is like 7ft wide by 9ft tall. A lot of my low bass is being sucked down that large hallway. I'm pretty sure if I close that off, it will make a huge difference. The whole basement is carpeted with the same thick pad/carpeting, so I really don't want a bottom sill, like you get with exterior doors.

I'll have to shop around some more, but these 6 panel solid oak doors are real nice and seal up tightly it appears...

The solid oak doors should do you good then Randy, should be great for the sound and I bet you will hear a difference with the SQ ... for the better.

Another thing is that the HT portion of my room is over to one side, with the other side being the bar and pooltable, etc. I only wish I would have built a dedicated HT room like yours...

I didn't have a choice, it was either doing what we did or building an addition onto the house, which was actually a consideration and had plans drawn up for an addition. If you look close on the right side on the floor from inside the TV room are several boxes of Armstrong laminated flooring that I am getting ready to lay down on the back 1/3 of the room and then we'll add a bar in back of the couch with a granite top to match the granite counter tops in the kitchen ... I have to do something to that room to give it more flexibility for social gatherings.

Always something.