Home cinema: how to make plasterboard walls and ceilings the sound source

Two needs that are not the same

A home cinema calls for two different things: precise localisation of the front channels, and an ambience that fills the room with no identifiable point of origin. Those two requirements call for different answers, and confusing them explains most disappointing installations.

The front channels

They carry the dialogue and the sound image. They call for a source whose position can be placed, aimed at the listening point, and that role remains that of a directional speaker near the screen.

Ambience and effects

They call for the opposite: a sound coming from everywhere and nowhere. An omnidirectional source built into the ceiling fills that role without creating a hot spot or a privileged seat on the sofa.

What plaster integration brings

No visible speaker in a room whose layout has been thought through. It is a decisive argument in a living room that doubles as a home cinema, and it costs nothing more if the question is asked before the boards go up.

Bass, a separate subject

It cannot be localised and therefore tolerates being placed where you like, provided the corners that exaggerate it are avoided. A subwoofer remains necessary whatever solution is chosen for the rest.

Treating the room

A furnished living room is already partly treated by its rugs, its curtains and its sofa. A dedicated, barer room calls for absorption at ceiling level, and that is the first item to deal with before adding speakers.

Ceiling absorption is developed on the R'Acoustic 20 page, and 360 degree sound on the private cinema room page.

Other rooms built the same way

The case filmed here is not the only one.Feedback from a private cinema room covers a comparable installation, and the Power 360 page shows the model chosen when the room asks for power in reserve.