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Palo Alto Online

Sound advice

by Susan Golovin

Imagine that budget isn't a big concern and you can put whatever kind of dream room you want into your home. What would you choose? For a software engineer in Palo Alto, it was a home theater.

"Over the past 25 years, we had shoehorned some pretty good stereos into small spaces," he said. Finally, in 1998, with the purchase of two adjacent townhouses, he had the correct amount of space.

At first, the owner's interest in music predominated, and he thought that the room would be dedicated "10 percent to video and 90 percent to audio." However, given the fact that the owner and his wife have three young sons, the percents shifted to 50/50.

"Since the media room doubles as a living room, we had to make some compromises," he said. The ideal media room should have the capacity to be completely blacked out and soundproofed. Clearly, the architecture of their living room -- at 16 feet by 29 feet, with spacious windows and an open floor plan -- would present some challenges.

"We didn't want the room to be dominated by a giant screen TV," the owner explained, and they also didn't want to have to black out the room during the day (something that would be required by a giant screen). They therefore opted to use a "daytime" plasma screen TV, which can be hidden behind cherry veneer doors.

A second, seven-foot screen can be electronically summoned from the ceiling. It is used for screening movies, and does require that the room be dark. This is accomplished by closing the heavy, purple velvet curtains. A large projector suspended from the ceiling is evident, but not overwhelming.

"Most TV shows don't look so great when blown up to a seven-foot screen because they lose resolution, whereas movies are shot to be seen on a large screen," the owner said. HD-TV can create a great picture on a seven-foot screen, but for now, the programming is limited.

Before one piece of equipment was purchased, audio expert Manny LaCarrubba, from Sausalito Audio Works, was hired to critique the building plans.

"We significantly beefed up the walls and ceilings," the owner said. "There are four layers of Sheetrock in the ceilings and double in the side walls." In addition, the windows are twice as thick as standard, and have twice as much air space between the double panes.

The owners also wanted to contain the noise within the media room. Thus, the heating and air-conditioning ducts are not only lined with mufflers, they are also designed with bends to prevent the noise from carrying through the duct.

"You can put in all the layers of Sheetrock and defeat the purpose by leaving what is essentially an open hole," said the owner. The heat/AC registers were enlarged to eliminate "whistle."

The specifications for the electrical system were changed to provide a cleaner source of power for the audio-visual system. This eliminates "electrical noise" such as white snow and rolling bands.

"It also lowers the noise floor, so the quiet passages stay quieter because you can't hear hum and static" said the owner.

All rooms color the sound being produced by the audio, based on their geometry and physical characteristics. To get as pure a sound as possible, a digital room correction system was installed. This device modifies the signal sent to the speakers and cancels out the effect of the room on the signal.

Since absorbing panels required to eliminate echoes are not aesthetic, all of the acoustical treatment was put into the ceiling. Below those four layers of Sheetrock are two layers of two-inch fiberglass panels with decorative fabric facing outward.

The owner took about a year selecting the equipment. "I knew what I wanted for the audio components. This has been my hobby for 25 years," he said. However, he sought the advice of Future Sound in Burlingame, and also attended trade shows to educate himself for the video purchases.

"As an audiophile, I know that the equipment changes with the state of the art. So when you're building a room, you need to make sure that you create the kind of space that allows for upgrades," he advised. He purchased from a number of different high-end vendors: Runco, Faroudja, Krell and Sonus Faber.

One of his choices was retro: a turntable. "When you really get down to it, vinyl sounds the best," he said. The bulk of his 1,000 records are kept in the modular shelves that line one entire wall.

"With high-end audio equipment, you can't always tell how something will sound until you get it home. Stores let you swap and credit," he said.

The rack of equipment, which is kept in a closet and resembles the cockpit of a 747, consists of a high-end, two-channel audio system, a video surround-sound system, and equipment for the entire house. There are six audio zones plus the yard. Since all this hardware can heat up, the closet has a vent to the roof. When the temperature reaches 80 degrees, a fan is triggered that draws hot air up and out.

"If you are remodeling or starting from scratch, start planning while everything is on paper," he said. Also, make sure that your home-theater vendor is a good project manager because he/she will be interacting with others and will have to stick to the plan.

"There is constant music in this house. This was absolutely worth it," he said of the $300,000 project.
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Architect and Interior Designer: Gordana Pavlovic, Gordana Design LLC, (650) 566-1719
Contractor: Harrell Remodeling, 1954 Old Middlefield Way, Mountain View, CA 94043; (650) 230-2900