[Zeverin]

Hi.
I need some advices in building a new IB for a friend.
I had attached one image from his room. You can see that the room is big, and we are thinking in building the IB in the rear wall as represented in the picture. Do you think that it is a good solution? If not please post your ideas. I have some doubts in this solution because the drivers won't be close to the listening position. Thanks in advance.

 

[Sonnie]

So this is not a dedicated HT room, but rather a family room.

That also looks like a sliding door to the room where the rear space for the drivers will be.

How big is that room, can he completely seal it off from the rest of the home and what drivers is he planning on using?

Also... does he have any sub at all right now that he could do some testing with?

 

[Zeverin]

So this is not a dedicated HT room, but rather a family room.

Yes it is. I think that budget doesn't allow to build a dedicated room.

That also looks like a sliding door to the room where the rear space for the drivers will be.

Yes again . But that door can be changed, do you think that is a problem?

How big is that room, can he completely seal it off from the rest of the home and what drivers is he planning on using?

The room has 60 m2 (around 645 sq feet). No drivers selected yet, we are planning it, so that we get the most of it. I think that sealing that room is not possible, WAF coming into play. The house isn't built yet, but will be soon, so my friend asked me what would be the best place and solution to obtain a good sounding system. Some minor changes to the room are possible.

Also... does he have any sub at all right now that he could do some testing with?

Yes he has, but testing can only be done after the house is built, he is trying to make the best layout possible prior to building process.

I must add that budget must be taken into account.

Thank you Sonnie for your fast reply

 

[Sonnie]

Yes... I do think a sliding door... or even a door that is not completely sealed when shut will introduce a problem, especially that close to the front of the drivers. The idea behind an IB is to seal of the front of the drivers from the rear.

When you say 645 sq.ft.... you mean the listening room, right? I am thinking about the small room where the rear of the drivers will be. That room does not look like it would be 645 sq.ft.... maybe 645ft^3. The volume is what we are interested in, to see if there is enough VAS for the drivers. Ideally you want 10 x VAS of the driver to accommodate an IB. If that small room can be sealed off from the rest of the house and even opened up into the attic, then there should be no problem at all with adequate rear driver space.

When you suggest budget is a concern, keep in mind 4 drivers and an amp is not going to be cheap. What kind of budget is he working with?

Another thing to consider is without any way to test this... it is a shot in the dark. With all those openings into the rest of the house, that room may be a difficult room to deal with. It may be a room where you need to move the sub around to see where the best location will be. If he builds this IB systems and the location is not right for the drivers, there is no moving the IB system. The only choice then will be to take the drivers out, seal up that area and build sealed or ported subs with the drivers... then placing them where they need to be for the proper response.

 

[Zeverin]

The idea of building a IB came up because we were trying to hide the subwoofers. It appears that it my not be the best solution with the room layout. Do you thing that it is better to build a sealed or bass reflex enclosure? I think that a LLT is out of question (WAF).

The area that I posted is referred to the listening room (family room), the volume of that room will be around 5300ft^3.

So if I'm getting it right, the room where the rear of the drives will be appears to be too small for IB. Also do we need to seal completely those two rooms (listening and drivers rear room), or just the drivers rear room? If it's only the last one I think can be accomplished. The budget is not very well defined yet, around 800-1000€ for drivers and amplifier. He already has one amplifier to begin with (but only 300 w RMS ), and he also doesn't need a very high SPL. Something between 112/115db at the listening position will be enough (is it really enough once you get used to?? :nerd

If IB is not the best solution then we take another approach, no problem with that.

Thank you very much for your help Sonnie :T

 

[Sonnie]

Yeah... the only room you need to worry about making sure it is sealed off from the rest of the house is the small room for the rear of the drivers. Again... the main idea is to make sure the back/rear of the drivers do not have access to the front.

Sealing the big listening room would help a lot, but it is obviously not feasible to do this.

What drivers do you have access to in your country... have you any ideas yet?

300 watts won't even begin to touch what you need to get to those SPL levels, which I agree are plenty loud on a regular basis.

It is really hard to say for sure if IB is right or not... it is going to be a guess at best with the room as it is. He can install it, if it doesn't work out, then he can either seal or port the drivers in small boxes that can be placed in strategic positions around the room. If he is not willing to take the chance, then I am not sure it would be wise to try it out.

 

[Rodny Alvarez]

Maybe your best thing would be to build a end-table/sub box, make it look good for WAF:bigsmile:

this corner looks like the best spot w/o any testing......