Squash court cinema conversion

[rottie102]

I'm converting a squash court into a home cinema.

There is a lot of echo at the moment and it doesn't sound too good, especially the dialogues.
Due to the sheer size of it I need a cheap way of making it sound better.

It's 9.7m long, 6.4m wide and about 6.5m high. I was watching a test movie yesterday and the screen size is 6.4m x 3.2m ;

What would you do to get rid of the echo? That's my main concern. Soundproofing is not an issue - no neighbours ; no 2

Do I understand correctly that I only need to stop the reverberation up to ear level and leave the rest for the best sound? So a carpet or curtains should do the trick if I don't have to cover whole walls? It's got normal squash court wooden floor, I will use black woodstain for the colour but will not cover it in carpet due to cost. WIll this be a problem for the echo?

[castex]

Don't you like squash? Squash is fun.
Otherwise, yes curtains will help.

[hyperblue]

Painting the floor is a bit permanent. Someone might want it as a squash court again one day!

[rottie102]

castex said:

Don't you like squash? Squash is fun.
Otherwise, yes curtains will help.

But will 2m length be enough?

[castex]

rottie102 said:

castex said:

Don't you like squash? Squash is fun.
Otherwise, yes curtains will help.

But will 2m length be enough?

Have you considered headphones? Otherwise get looking for busloads of foamy tiles from a defunct recording studio.

[IforB]

I cannot think of a worse environment for decent sound than a squash court! Everyone I've ever played on is echoey and any sound is hugely confused and echoey (technical term y'see...)

Foam tiles around the room, carpet the floor and put a roof on it too. Acoustic plaster board everywhere would probably do and you could fit that out on studwork so that it wouldn't be too difficult to turn back into a squash court if you wanted in the future.

Persoanlly I love squash, so I'd keep the court and build a cinema room somewhere else!

[rottie102]

IforB said:

I cannot think of a worse environment for decent sound than a squash court! Everyone I've ever played on is echoey and any sound is hugely confused and echoey (technical term y'see...)

Foam tiles around the room, carpet the floor and put a roof on it too. Acoustic plaster board everywhere would probably do and you could fit that out on studwork so that it wouldn't be too difficult to turn back into a squash court if you wanted in the future.

Persoanlly I love squash, so I'd keep the court and build a cinema room somewhere else!

Thanks for a CHEAP plan

I'll try the 3m long black curtains all around first, maybe will put some polystyrene behind them if that's not enough.
I'd love to carpet the floor but 60sqm is not cheap.

[IforB]

There's cheap and then there's value for money!

The floor will be a big problem, though a few strategically placed rugs might help soak up some of the reverberation.

Curtains will help, but without sorting the floor and the roof, you'll always be flighting a bit of a losing battle, you'll need curtains on the front and backwalls too otherwise you'll get horrid reverberation there too..

Getting a room right acoustically is not easy, but it is the biggest thing you can do to make your system sound better. You can spend tens of thousands on a system and it can still sound awful if the room is a mess.
A mate of mine still grumbles after I bought much of his old kit when he upgraded, he came round to mine and because the room is a better shape than his living room, he was massively annoyed when it sounded better than he'd ever got it and nokt very far off his hugely expensive new system.

Acoustic plasterboard isn't much more expensive than normal stuff and in a squash court based environment, anything is better than nothing!

[VEX]

I agree, my first thought would be very heavy curtains all the way wound.

Then I wondered, could you use acoustic plasterboard, but mount it the wrong way round to heighten the sound absorption?

V.

[vx220]

IIRC a squash court is basically a cube?

So not only a terrible room from a surface point of view but also the worst possible case shape as well?

Even a cheap carpet will make a difference, much less work thean painting a floor!!!

[rottie102]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Cheaply
I really don't expect the THX certificate, it's mainly the echo that bothers me

[R8Steve]

Perhaps slightly presumtuous but I would never have thought someone with a squash court in their house would have to worry about the price of carpet

On a more serious note, Laminate the walls/floor with green glue, curtain the walls and put a false ceiling in, it won't be perfect but will certainly be a lot better than it is now.

[The Horse Man]

Would love to see some pics of this!

[rottie102]

The Horse Man said:

Would love to see some pics of this!

Well at the moment I have a gym/basketball court in one

and a photo studio in the other


There are two left , I have a 120 inch motorised screen for home cinema setup and when moving the projector I thought I'll try to play something on a squash court wall - and it was awesome! I watched "New York I love you" the other day with the stty sound there is at the moment, the wall i projected it on is some weird beige with many imperfections and it still was one of the best cinematic experiences I've ever had. Even if the sound or picture won't be perfect for 3d Blockbusters etc, it still will be an amazing things to watch movies like that with friends on a massive screen.

[R8Steve]

You have 4 squash courts in your house?

[Dave 500]

Are you living in a lesure centre?

[kazste]

Nothing to add for your actual question as have a few guesses what you could do but thats all they'd be whereas others in here know their stuff.

Just wanted to reiterate what others where saying 4 fookin squash courts!!! I thought you were well off when you only had the one but four!! Puts my tiny pool in perspective.

Im guessing you either no longer play and your 8 world championship standard kids have moved home or you done a leisure centre conversion.

4 squash courts!!!

Sorry I'll go now.

[Council Baby]

Hmmmm now I'm thinking of a bankrupt squash centre I know.

Live in one, cinema in another, wet room in the other and for the last one an adult photo studio

Seriously though, how did you come across 4 squash courts, got to be an interesting story here! Can you fit mezzanine levels in them?

[RedLeicester]

rottie102 said:

Do I understand correctly that I only need to stop the reverberation up to ear level and leave the rest for the best sound? So a carpet or curtains should do the trick if I don't have to cover whole walls? It's got normal squash court wooden floor, I will use black woodstain for the colour but will not cover it in carpet due to cost. WIll this be a problem for the echo?

Then you're screwed.

You need to control reverberation, not stop it, unless you're building an anechoic chamber. A dead room will sound just as odd as a reverberant one.

There is NO cheap way of doing this, particularly given the room you're dealing with - if built to standard, the squash court will have a sprung floor, in which case lows and low-mids are going to rumble through that like there's no tomorrow. It will also have rising belt-line of two different walls. I don't know where this idea of stopping reverberation up to ear level has come from as it's blatantly bks - yes you might control some of it down by you, but that doesn't stop higher walls or ceiling bouncing sound back direct into your noggin whilst ignoring any treatment you have put elsewhere.

Curtains / carpets are only ever going to help with high-frequency diffusion, your biggest issue in that space will be the lows, and without serious consideration given to trapping and floor treatment, you're going to throw money at it to no avail. You will be able to make it a bit better, but the room will still ring.

[mickrick]

I always thought egg boxes do the trick. But I may be talking bks.