What to do to soundproof computer room?

[Witch-Talon]

My neighborhoods are complaining too much cause of my mere Creative Inspire 5300 are waking tem up too offtenly at night time... Plus I'm expecting my son who bout to come on the way within 2 months I dont want to make him cry alot due to the "thundering sond?" :D :p

I need a to know a way how to make that room sound proof or at least muffles sound big time and let out a bit... Thanks!

[Cpl_Squirrel]

Get some big bad headphones, you silly munch. :r
Seriously, the big kind with good sound. Then it's a win/win.

[bushmaster]

So true! An Incredible top of the line set of headphones are going to cost less than buying and installing enough acoustic soundproofing media. Remember you have to do the ceiling, walls, floors, windows, and anyplace sound could seep out.

Check these out (http://www.crutchfield.com/cgi-bin/S-Zc11HI0dZui/ProdView.asp?s=0&g=49700&id=morephotos&pi=2&i=143HD590&display=XL)


Me I have my system hooked up to me yamaha surround sound system with twin self powered subwoofers and I live in a building where my neighbors are quite arrogant when it comes to respecting the peace of others. So I don't feel guilty when playing mech warrior at full throttle and the footsteps of the giants battle mechs are knocking pictures off of the wall.

[BipolarBill]

Why is everyone so quick to recommend such expensive upgrades? There are many headphones and headsets (with boom mic) for below $50. They're nice too. The Senns are not 500% better. As an ex-audiophile, I found that there were diminishing returns beyond a certain point. With headphones, that point is about $100.

[bushmaster]

Maybe I should call myself toymaster instead? But I only suggested those out of personal experience with them myself. I've had that set for a short while now and also own a good pair koss and sony's and I just preferred the sen's

[BipolarBill]

Oh - the Senns are better, no doubt. They are powerful, neutral and airy. The Audi A8 is a nice car too. :p

[bushmaster]

Yes but even better is the BMW M5 LOL.

[Witch-Talon]

Doesnt seem so expensive anymore :D :p

Stero Headphone (http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php?masterid=264354&ut=97c789e37faad1a2&found=2&search=Sennheiser%20HD%20590%20)

[bushmaster]

Whoa! Great find WT. I paid alot more when I bought them at the store. But they really are some sweet headgear.

[AllGamer]

Guys believe it or not
there are a Low cost way to make a 60% to 80%, Sound Proof room at a very low cost

the materials
some wall insulation from Home Depot
then to top it off you just need to collect a lot of EGG cartons

align the Egg cartons over the wall

you can paint them if you like ;)

(my friend painted them black then trew in night glow on them :p with some UV lights)

of course the first layer should be the wall insulation they come in a big huge roll for like $20, so depending on the size of your room, 1 roll might be enough.

and for the floor you'll need a thick carpet

:t

[BipolarBill]

I don't think that Martha Stewart would approve. :p

[AllGamer]

LOL :p

who cares about what she thinks

but it works great

we did that a long time ago back in high school :D

[Witch-Talon]

Whats the other alternative of egg catron? :D

Speaking of The subwoofer...

Where can I get a subwoofer for a pc without speakers I aint stasfoied with Creative inspire 5300! Sure they give decent bass but I dont want to buy that Klipsch ProMedia 5.1 I dont need them speakers "Hard of hearing" I can hear sounds but cant tell diffrence in quality.

But I do love the power of Klipsch ProMedia 5.1's Subwoofer! Where can i get subwoofer that strong alone w/o speakers and are able to work same time with creative inspire 5300?

PS Martha Stewart SUCKS! Her fashions are soo scary And she scares me the most on haloween!:D :p

[AllGamer]

Well Egg cartons are the cheapest material

if you want to go PRO then you can get those nice Acoustic FOAMS for the walls instead of the Eggs Cartons :t

as for the Subs

yeah the creative ones sucks, that's why i got the Z560 set

i was going for the Altec Lansing AH 360, but they are discontinue now

both of them are at the same level with the Klipsch ProMedia

yet both of them are 4.1 :D

[BipolarBill]

If you have a second output on the soundcard (not rear speakers), you can use any decent Hi-Fi subwoofer. Pinnacle makes some great, cheap subwoofers. So does Yamaha. The Pinnacles have a really "wet" sound, which works great with PC speakers.

http://www.pinnaclespeakers.com/prodfrm.htm

[Ammok]

For the floor you can get thick foam underlay that has a smooth plastic finish, designed to stop footfalls on wooden floors,

or carpet on top of the underlay you get for laminate flooring, thick fibre type stuff. The foam definately works.

As for the walls, the egg cartons are proven technology.:)

[kimike]

I think Marthas in enough poop now to worry about AllGamers egg cartons...lol

[Sark]

really "wet" sound
huh:confused:

[BipolarBill]

Originally posted by Sark

huh:confused: Boomy, sloppy bass as opposed to tight, "dry" bass. Old audiophile terms.

[Sark]

ok, I believe I understand now:)

[AllGamer]

Originally posted by Sark
ok, I believe I understand now:)

erh... i don't quite get it, is this about something else

or is this about the Egg Cartons ruining the nice Bass?

[BipolarBill]

I can put up just as many useless posts as you can, AG. :t Start reading Sark's posts above and you'll get it.

[AllGamer]

"The Pinnacles have a really "wet" sound, which works great with PC speakers."

"Boomy, sloppy bass as opposed to tight, "dry" bass. Old audiophile terms."

Yes i did read those

i still don't get it

so what is Dry vs Wet?

in my terms Subs/Base are

Deep or Soft :)

so in my case i like Deep sounding Subs/Base

[BipolarBill]

Old or poorly-designed subwoofers with ports are considered to be poorly damped and boomy. Picture Cerwin-Vega. That's the West Coast or wet sound. Now imagine older sealed "acoustic suspension" or "infinite baffle" speakers like the classic Large Advent. That's the East Coast or dry sound. The Advents went deeper that the JBLs or Cerwin-Vegas, but many people thought that the West Coast speakers made deeper bass. It wasn't deeper, it was louder.

Modern ported loudspeakers are much better damped than the ancient ones were and can be made to produce deep, accurate bass.

BTW - I consider both the Klipsch and Logitechs to have sloppy bass. The Altec 641s are much better.

[AllGamer]

ahhh now i get it

yes in that sence, none of the newers Subs are good enough except for the Altec Lansing ones, their Wooden seals and construction gives a better deep sound.

i did noticed that the Logitech one is not deep enough, without proper audio adjustment

[Witch-Talon]

Would splitters work in this case? Ya know the little device where 2 wires goes into 1 hole... Y jack...

Originally posted by BipolarBill
If you have a second output on the soundcard (not rear speakers), you can use any decent Hi-Fi subwoofer. Pinnacle makes some great, cheap subwoofers. So does Yamaha. The Pinnacles have a really "wet" sound, which works great with PC speakers.

http://www.pinnaclespeakers.com/prodfrm.htm

[BipolarBill]

It depends on the speakers and the capacitance/resistance of their input. Generally yes.

Yamaha makes a sweet little subwoofer for about $120 US:

http://www.yamaha.com/cgi-win/webcgi.exe/DsplyModel/?gSPK00010YST-SW40

[Witch-Talon]

Sadly it's..

*Discontinued itemThis item has been discontinued or updated and may or may not be still available at your local dealer.


Originally posted by BipolarBill
It depends on the speakers and the capacitance/resistance of their input. Generally yes.

Yamaha makes a sweet little subwoofer for about $120 US:

http://www.yamaha.com/cgi-win/webcgi.exe/DsplyModel/?gSPK00010YST-SW40

[BipolarBill]

http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php?masterid=458416&zip_code=77489&found=1&ut=c7de0e025bea04a8

Even better! They have it at Best Buy for $150.

[vibe666]

back onto the original idea of the egg cartons......

they work partly because they absorb a lot of the sound vibration and partly becsue what is reflected is also refracted by the uneven surface of the cartons. thats why the audio foam stuff is also shaped a similar way. but of course the egg boxes are a lot cheaper.

best place for the cartons might be the butchers shop or anywhere that sells eggs loose.

right, I'm going home, I've had enough work for the day.

bye.

P.S. Sorry, but all of a sudden I lost interest when I realised my shift was over :D

[jad1097]

The cheapest and easiest way I know of is to blow the walls full of insulation or with cellouse. Not the best though. It all really depends on how much you want to spend because it's not cheap to do it the right way.



http://soundproofing.org/infopages/channel.htm

[Ammok]

freakin L, i didn't know it was so bloomin complicated, just look at this taken from jad's link

http://soundproofing.org/infopages/myths.htm

just about trashed every idea so far given already. LOL.:D

[Ammok]

Then again, look closelyat the products being sold, does that look like a rubber mat to you?

http://soundproofing.org/sales/prices.html

[jad1097]

Complicated and expensive as heck if you want to do it right. I have built customhouses and condos with true soundproof rooms and it is pretty awesome to see what these people do to soundproof a room.



Somewhere in this forum there was some real good info on soundproofing home studios.

http://www.fenderforum.com/forum.html?db=&message_area_number=28&lastpost=2002-09-2410:19:23

[AllGamer]

i think we are deviating a bit from the MAIN topic

which is LOW COST, right now we are jumping into the PRO SHOP area :D

is not bad, but it's defying the purpose of fiding low cost way to set up a good Sound Proof Room :p

[BadBadNeil]

You can buy dynomat for car audio in rolls (its a sound deadening material) and is used on worldclass audio cars. Heat that baby onto the walls maybe insulate those windows and there ya go.

Like someone said eggcartons there is also a foam material that looks similar and was used in our sound studio for voiceovers, kills sounds totally but eliminating cross pathing of sound waves.

I'm sure headphones are cheaper though...

[AllGamer]

Originally posted by BadBadNeil

I'm sure headphones are cheaper though...

well that's definitely cheaper if he doesn't spend over $100 on a real good set of head set

but the truth is

a head set CAN'T replace the AWESOME feeling of the SUBs going through your body

oh man, nothing can replace that nice awesome feeling :D

[jad1097]

I suggest you get this book (http://soundproofing.org/sales/EPAmanual.htm)

Dynomat is way to expensive to use for something like an entire room. Sound moves through air pressure changes and will find a way out of the room through many leaks. Higher frequencies are easier to deadening than lower ones.


A quality pair of headphones is by far the cheapest way out.




http://www.hufcor.com/acoustics/acoustpage.html

[AllGamer]

But how are you going to reproduce the nice feeling of the Sub reverting around you? :p

if they can make a head set that can reproduce that, then i'll be amazing ;)

[jad1097]

They sell something that goes under the seat of your car so I imagine it can be moded to work with a computer and a chair.

[AllGamer]

oh no, silly me
i was refering to the Head Phones, that other product you mention is a good idea, but still it cost money.

it'll be easier we we have a Budget to work on :t

[Ammok]

Buy a farmhouse. With A barn. A big barn with electrickery. Then you can as big a sub woofer as your feet can handle.

Might be more expensive than the headphones unless you shop around.

[AllGamer]

LOL :r

the day i can get a farm for about the same price as a Head Set, i'll definitely get one :D

[TARP2]

I didnt see anything about cost in the original post. For the cost of some of these head phones you can try this.

Using 2x4 studs, you fir out the walls all the way around the room. then you drywall over these, using no insulation. That creates a dead air space in all the walls, which will not transmit much sound. Works best with a concrete floor.(might as well pour one of those too!)

That subwoofer problem is bigger. It can actually move structure, unlike higher freq......

Maybe you SHOULD just get some earphones. For the baby.:cool:

[fluffycow]

http://soundproofing.org/infopages/myths.htm

Good site on what, and what NOT to do

Don't use egg containers.....they are almost useless, read the page

[Witch-Talon]

Head phones are nice but you forgot the current technology...

Surround sounds... Head phone doesnt offers that! I like the surround for the FPS game cuz i can tell where is the enemy by the surround compared to headphone harder for me to tell where it coming from.

[Ammok]

fluffycow

you need to read just little closer to what they are actually saying, only at certain frequencies do the egg cartons "permit" sound pass through, look deeper into the web site and they are actually selling a product made of foam that loks just like egg cartons.

Egg cartons work, they deflect sound waves and create air spaces to deaden sound, obviously how good they are would have to depend on individual situations.

The "myths" appear to be their own opinion, suck it and see I say.

[Jimstep]

Buy a house that has more distance between you and your neighbors.;)

[fluffycow]

lol, didn't realize they actually sold sound proofing material themselves :). Maybe you're right.

FYI Hay bales work EXTREMELY well. I remember times years back when I screamed out to my mom from inside hay mazes and she couldn't hear me.

Not that you'de wanna use hay in you're house though.........

Only problem with the egg carton idea is the fact that its gonna be real hard to get enough to cover a whole room

If an egg carton is 4*14 inches and the wall of a room is 8*25 feet
then it will take 24*21.428 egg cartons, or about 514 egg cartons for one wall

[fluffycow]

egg cartons, painted or not, are also ugly :)

[Ammok]

Ha, but you could wallpaper over them!!!!!

might take a few weeks and a bit more paper than normal, but you'd have an excellent effect as long as you didn't get bored and started poking finger holes in it, probably would be a bit like popping bubblewrap, so maybe not such a good idea after all, unless of course you were the nervous type and poking holes in wallpaper happened to be theraputic like.......:D

[Jawa]

http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F002%5F001%5F008%5F000&product%5Fid=33%2D1122

Best headphones I have ever used.. sad but true, they are $20 at Radioshack. :)

[fluffycow]

that is sad.......:)

[Jawa]

It's $20 very well-spent, in my opinion.

[Witch-Talon]

I have a decent headphone costing 20 bucks it's a emerson Got a nice bass boost give my ear bit more tingles :) Quite comfty and loud too. I use this at night time only through. Still trying to find more egg carton. :D