I know this topic has been covered here and other places, however, I am not looking for an indepth, perfect solution. The existing area that I am going to have my theatre (it is my family room) is below one of my child's bedroom. I do not listen to music or movies at extreme levels but rather moderately and I wanted to dampen some of the sound from going upstairs. I am looking for a low cost reasonable solution that will dampen some of the sound. Has anyone simply put insulation between the ceiling joists? If so, has it dampened the sound somewhat? Also, is there better insulation than other (higher R value, etc.)? Does it then make the room warmer with all the equipment etc. since the heat generated has no escape to the second floor?

Any help would be appreciated.

From what I remember just putting insulation between the joists isn't going to block much sound from escaping since it only affects the highest frequencies. Putting insulation in then a couple of layers of drywall on top would help with a wider range of frequencies.

Unfortunately the things you do to stop sound from escaping the room are often not the changes you would make to improve sound WITHIN the room (ie bare insulation in the ceiling probably WOULD help the sound inside your theater by damping reflections off the ceiling).

Here are a couple of useful links on wall construction -- I imagine the same works for ceilings. The isolation clips sound interesting; don't know anything about them though :

http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/rives/messages/2378.html

http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/rives/messages/2365.html

Shouldn't affect room temperature very much, I imagine... you probably have some kind of impermeable floor covering on the top of the joists anyways ?

This may sound unusual but our children went to sleep lights on, music playing. To this day, 20 years later, they can fall asleep anywhere.

So I guess the clock radio playing music doesn't wake 'em up real well ?

Actually, they do wake up to music, assuming a full night's sleep. They also have the old bell alarm clocks too.

In reply to:

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To this day, 20 years later, they can fall asleep anywhere.

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It sucks to be a passenger in a cross-country road trip with them, though...

I stumbled upon this website that sells soundproof drywall. Not sure of the price yet and not sure if it will work any better than putting up two sheets of drywall. Any one with more soundproofing knowledge have any thoughts on the product on the website below?

www.QuietSolution.com

Link

This is very true. In order to isolate lower frequencies you need mass or isolation. The ideal mass would be a heavy concrete wall (terrible for higher frequencies). The concept of isolation involves the use of resilient channels. Quiet Solution is a strong advocate against resilient channels due to the difficulty in the installation. For a DIY job there is typically a lot more quality control.

The special wall material they provide is a combination of mass with the built-in characteristic of resilient channel isolation. I have never seen the pricing of this material as it is not yet available in my location.

The standard and probably easiest construction is usually insulation (Roxul) with double drywall (or double board of the Quiet Solution product).