Knowledge / Isolation
Speakers and subs: check what the structure carries, before the room is built
A cinema's loudspeakers and subwoofers are heavy, and isolating them makes them heavier still, because sub isolators work by adding mass. Raise the load with whoever is building the structure before it is built, not when the brackets arrive.
A cinema's loudspeakers and subwoofers are heavy, and isolating them makes them heavier still. Sub isolators work by adding mass. Raise the load with whoever is building the structure before it is built, not when the brackets arrive.
Why it matters
The failure this prevents is not acoustic. It is a ceiling or a wall that will not take what is about to be hung on it, discovered after the finish is on. At that point the fix is structural and the room is finished, which is the most expensive order to do those two things in.
What to do
- Total the mass of the loudspeakers and subs, including any added mass the isolation specifies.
- Give that figure to the builder or structural engineer while the shell is still a drawing.
- Say where it lands. A ceiling-mounted sub is a different conversation from a floor-standing one.
- If the answer is that the structure needs reinforcing, that is a build item. It is cheap on a drawing and expensive on a finished room.
No figures are published here, deliberately. Mass is per product and per design, and the point of this article is that the question gets asked early rather than what the answer turns out to be.
What to read next
The isolation system, which is where the structural conversation properly belongs. Or the design service, if the room is not specified yet.