The lab must include a relatively quiet space where an anechoic chamber can be built. Minimum amount of space needed is probably around 400sf, but ideally 500sf or larger. I would be happy to roll up my sleeves to help out with the work.

The level of involvement for the owner/operator of such a premise is up for discussion/negotiation. It is NOT a volunteer position. It is a unique opportunity for an entrepreneurial, technically savvy person with good writing/communication and management skills with the desire and drive to take SPCR to the next level. The starting point for financial rewards is a substantial portion of ad revenues. With some creativity and drive, many other revenue streams can be developed.

If you have not read my article about the anechoic chamber, please do so before responding:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/anechoic_chamber_SPCR For brevity, skip to the 4th page where the real chamber design/build discussion begins. (The first pages deal with why the chamber was needed in the first place; basically, Vancouver became noisier.)

The ideal location is somewhere in the Lower Mainland, within reasonable commuting distance for Larry Lee, SPCR's current prime reviewer. But it can also be just about anywhere in the world (although the likelihood of my sleeves-up involvement with lab construction lessens with distance) as long as you can build a staff of reviewers.

Please email me at mikec at silentpcreview dot com

Further clarifications on this initiative -- there have been a few responses, but still looking!!

Any updates on this? Hoping you found a way to keep SPCR active.

If not I'm sure there are less capable but willing community members around if worse comes to worst.

(sorry if it seems like I'm pestering, I just read that you plan on making a decision around July 31st)

Mike, you're probably better off designing and building your own lab.

I would jump on this with both feet if my 70+ year old father weren't using the downstairs portion of my split foyer house. I'm thinking a concrete slab that is 4 feet below ground on one side of the room wouldn't be a bad thing. All that earth blocking noise from a decent portion of the vertical height of that wall. Just block the 4 windows and build the chamber. The room is big enough assuming the post in the center of the room isn't an issue. I think that space is something like 20 x 25 or so.

I could do it upstairs in a 14x12 room but that is too small and the air handler for the central, the garage doors, and much of the water pipes run through the end of the house where I could give up a bedroom. If I used that room it'd literally be directly above a garage door opener. Not good for measuring low noise devices.

So it's downstairs or not at all. I went down and took a serious look and I can give up 13 x 30 or so with a 8' ceiling. Barely 400 sq ft at on the outside of the chamber. There is a fireplace on one wall (we sealed the chimney 2 years ago) with a 18" stone base protruding that could be built into the gap between the inner wall and included in the chamber wall. Leaving about 350 sq ft inside the chamber, maybe more depending on how willing we are to allow intrusions like the steel support beam that is 13' away from the end of the house. My father says he doesn't mind giving up the space.

I can't see a way to get much more than 400 sq ft without giving up functional space in the house. If there were a specific need for a nook or a few more inches or even a foot of width to the room we could do it but I'm thinking right at the 400 sq ft mark.

And I'm not anywhere near close to an international airport like you are. Most reliable source of noise in this neighborhood is a chocolate Labrador retriever.

Is the hunt still on?

What background noise level does the new lab need to achieve?

I read this thread as well as your article "An Anechoic Chamber for SPCR". Very interesting and, as with many subjects, at lot more complicated than just throwing some sound proofing materials on the wall.

I was curious why you decided on a test room rather than a test chamber. It would seem a lot easier to build something just large enough to hold a PC with you and all your equipment on the outside.

blinding -- Your question really beiongs in the other thread you mentioned. Please post it there & I will answer.

I think I might have a solution for you Mike.
(I've sent you an email with more details.)

I built this room in 2013 specifically for silence; and it wasn't cheap as you know.
I cost me around $60,000.

It's a room-in-a-room design; and I am actually still adding more sound-proofing to it as I speak.

I'm not even sure how quiet it is, as it is below what my $200 SLM can detect; we will have to test it with your expensive ACO kit to get some better numbers.


We might be able to leverage this beast for SPCR acoustical testing purposes.

Very cool! Will reply to your email soon... but what is the room intended for?

The room is 3000cubic feet.

My absorbers are 4inches thick and I have about 200sqft of that, I'd like to double that number up to 400sqft, which would probably cost another $1000.
Attached is their NRC rating (it's not perfect, but few things rarely are).

Unfortunately I cannot support a full SPCR shop, but, I'd envision that *if* it meets most of your acoustical needs, that you would be able to at least offload the need of having an full hemi-anichoic chamber in your house. You'd then be able to convert that room back into a storage room for your equipment reviews, and then just make trips to my place to test the noise levels of the equipment under test.

As it stands right now it is "echo-reduced", I wouldn't go as far as to say that it is hemi-anichoic like your room is (it's not that extreme), but with the extra 200sqft of absorption it might be close-enough to be considered a workable solution(?)

I have support for 120volts up to 30amps, and 240volts AC up to 20amps. 200amps in total for 120volts; so it has all the electrical stuff covered.

The room goes completely unused 40 hours per week (8am-4pm) Monday through Friday, so you'd be able to have all of that time for sure.
The rest of the time, it is actually my 2-ch music listening room; audio has been my primary hobby for the last 10 years.

The only real noise sources, is a train track that is 1/2 mile away, a train passes once every few hours, it is basically a low 15-50hz rumble and is usually gone within 10minutes.
Airplanes are almost never overhead (very rare, 5 times per year maybe).
Most other noises are from big trucks that might be idling near by on the odd occasion.

My camera mic has a lot of self-noise, but here is what it says the noise-floor is. I'm sure your ACO mic would be FAR better.

For an example, here is a computer product making relay and fan noise out of the silence of my room.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2r1pWJnCdog

My SLM isn't near good enough (but it's something at least.)

This is your own dedicated private music/audio room!? Wow! I'm sure anyone with audiophile inclinations is drooling. What's the gear & what kind of music do you like?

Getting back to the acoustics...

4" doesn't really give much echo absorption. The decay in my chamber is 50ms -- ie, any reflections are dissipated by the damping within that time. There's probably some app for your phone that will let you measure audio decay. This does not need a super quiet mic or electronics.

Trouble is, the requirements for low noise sound testing and music listening are somewhat conflicting.

I'm not sure that you'd actually want more damping in your room for music -- a dead room usually isn't a good space to listen to music. Some nice balance of reflection & absorption is best. But for noise testing, less reflection is best.

I'd love to come and visit some time, with laptop/mobile audio test kit (and ACO mic of course).

My DAC is the Sabre Reference, and Emotiva XSP-1 Reference pre-amp.
I built the speakers and subwoofers myself, because I can build them acoustically better than can be purchased from a store. Mine are ugly as sin, but they have good performance. ;)
4 TC-Ultra drivers, and other stuff.
http://www.parts-express.com/tc-sounds- ... r--293-666

Here is my RT60 according to my measurement mic.
This mic as a LOT of self-noise below 70hz, the ACO mic would be MUCH more accurate.

Note:
1 of my 5 walls is completely untreated at the moment, so that doesn't help none; there is echo off that wall for sure, and that's where most of the additional 200sqft of absorption will go.
I'm not sure what reverb time I'd have with that wall treated, but surely an improvement.

I like a fairly dry sound.