The store I work for is in the middle of re-aquiring a part of our building that had been rented out to another neighboring business. It shares a wall with our main showroom and another business that will soon be moving in next to it.

I am in the process of trying to convince the boss that we need to use the new found space to create a larger listening room, for head to head speaker comparisons of about 30 to 35 pairs of speakers(instead of the 9 that we have now). His concern is that if we plan to use the room for a listening room, we'll be making a hell of a lot of noise that the new neighbor might not appreciate. (My boss is the landlord so he wants to keep them happy too.)

I need some hints as to how to better insulate the walls to avoid sound transferrance to the next room.

The current (shared) wall is plain 2x4 with sheetrock, about 30 ft. long and 10 ft. high.

I was thinking that we need to rip down the sheetrock and re insulate the entire wall, re-sheetrock, then build a second 2x4 wall against the first, with more insulation and sheetrock, then perhaps some sound wall board as a wall covering.

I have heard something about staggering the 2x4's, what's that all about? is it really important? Would it help to use 2x6? Is plain fiberglass good enough for the inside of the walls or should we get something better? if so what?

I plan on using your ideas for other jobs too.

Here's the beef:

[Link: dyerelectronics.com]

[Link: videoexpert.home.att.net]

Also read Topic: walls
Contains 11 messages (10 replies), displaying all.
Written by Gator on 02/05/02 21:40.22

Later, (and no I'm not the Gator)

addendum: "using our ideas for other jobs too" ?? You feckless, elf-skinned, flap-dragon!!
(From the Shakespearean Insult Kit.xls)

This message was edited by Sheik_Yerbouhti on 04/25/02 04:54.21.

Take a look at www.acoustiblok.com

Sand is good, also happens to be cheap if this is an issue. Create a false wall and run sand down the back to fill the void.

Regards

Dave

A 10' x 30' expanse of drywall is a splendid load panel. Continued vibration and transferrence of gravitational pressure will eventually cause displacement of granular matter contained within. The resulting force may or may not be more than the tensile strength of gypsum wallboard. Exceeding the burst point of the "vessel" may result in a loss of containment.
You could choose to augment a sand implementation one of several ways:
1.) Find 5" thick drywall and use it on both sides.
2.) Build a cinder-block retaining wall/planter at the base of your wall (on both sides).
3.) Build the wall as planned, fill to the brim with sand, keep some beach umbrellas and iced tea around as props so you can act like nothing is out the ordinary if the wall bursts open when you are demo'ing a Velodyne. Number 3 is undoubtedly the best approach - Imagine the increased foot traffic after an amazed prospective customer spreads the tale of the RADICAL SUB that blew the wall open !! No outlay of advertising fees, and great exposure !!
Okay, after that I owe Brent one. Here it is:

This message was edited by Sheik_Yerbouhti on 04/26/02 16:58.47.

If you really want to do it yourself, find a copy if The Handbook for Sound Engineers. It explains many different methods of sound isolation with the mathmatics it takes to properly absorb sound.

As you would expect different substances absorb various frequencies better than others...

Having run into that same situation in the past, I suggest you leave the existing wall and build a sound room without using the shared wall. Build the room just far enough away from the shared wall that you can get to the back side and attach drywall so the new wall has drywall on both sides. Only the lowest bass will pass through one wall and then the other if the air gap between is not sealed (important!).
Actually, our sound room wall was only three inches away from the neighbor's wall, and attached to it at the corners (separated would be better). The contractor framed a wall, attached drywall to the backside, then Lord knows how, lifted it up.
You will probably get much better advice from the references listed, but I saw this one work.

Yeah, a floating room is ideal, but can be very expensive!