Wenger and Overly offer metal acoustical doors designed with STC ratings at or above 50dB. (Single wood doors get to mid 40's, at most. Higher ratings can be achieved with a sequence of two wood doors separated by a gap or passage.) Wenger, who makes chairs, stands, and other products for professional musicians, does not list prices on their website (few in the commercial and architectural world do). You have to join Wenger before you can even submit a request for a quotation. My guess was $4000 and way higher, and perhaps even that is too low, with additional minimum order and/or setup charges. These doors would not look out of place in a glamorous music theater. Wenger shows an impressive page of technical information.
Here is some info on Overly doors, which can be had for as little as $3329. From the small photos, these do not look as classy as the Wenger doors, but same basic concept. These are still commercial grade heavy solid metal doors which would be at home in a professional recording studio or university music department, though perhaps not ivy league. The standard door achieves STC 50dB and the highest rated door achieves STC 57. The standard $3329 door is said to weigh 11 pounds per square foot. That rules out being filled with sand or lead btw. At most, it could be stuffed with rigid fiberglass, but I haven't seen details about what the door is stuffed with--if anything. Most likely this is a much lower VOC option than an MDF wood door.
Somewhere on the web I have seen, but cannot find now, a more homebrew looking metal acoustical door. I recall it might have been priced quite a bit lower. I'm thinking it might have even been Acoustical Solutions, who now sells the Overly door, previously had their own product for cheaper (but perhaps it wasn't making enough money for them). I know you can get a commercial 90 minute metal fire door, which requires heavy gauge metal, for around $1000 Then, pack it full of rigid fiberglass (easier said than done) and voila, you have a metal acoustical door. I have conflicting memories as to whether the price was $1350 or $3150, or just below $3000, but around $3000 would make more sense, given that company doing the packing and sealing would want to earn money on their work, most likely at least doubling the direct cost of the door, perhaps then $1350 was do-it-yourself price, they supply their door, and/or their materials, and $3150 ready made. The nice Overly door is just a tad more than $3150, I wouldn't sweat that difference. But I still wonder what was in the $1350 metal door package, if it wasn't simply mistaken about that price. It's not showing up under any search I do now, months ago it was always near the top. One thing that makes me suspicious is that there is a stale link that keeps coming up on my google searches going back to Acoustical Solutions.
There is also the door from Cascade Audio. It weighs 300 pounds, but but Cascade doesn't actually say it is a metal door underneath the wood.
Here is a metal door from Acoustic Geometry. They have fewer pictures than I remember from the web pages I can no longer find, but the door shown looks absolutely identical to what I remember--could be the exact same photograph. The door is covered in a (particularly plastic looking) oak veneer. It looks like a traditional institutional door that has been beefed up somehow. They say custom wood veneers are available. It is a 300 pound door, just as I remember. The price is $2834. OK, it could be that Acoustic Geometry is a company that was reborn from the previous company that offered this door. It looks like the same door, the price sounds about right (though not the low price I had hoped for), and I've never heard of "Acoustic Geometry" before, so it does sound like a newly reborn company (such as if the old company went bankrupt, or just decides to sell off the business, somebody buys the surplus and starts new company).
Here is some info on Overly doors, which can be had for as little as $3329. From the small photos, these do not look as classy as the Wenger doors, but same basic concept. These are still commercial grade heavy solid metal doors which would be at home in a professional recording studio or university music department, though perhaps not ivy league. The standard door achieves STC 50dB and the highest rated door achieves STC 57. The standard $3329 door is said to weigh 11 pounds per square foot. That rules out being filled with sand or lead btw. At most, it could be stuffed with rigid fiberglass, but I haven't seen details about what the door is stuffed with--if anything. Most likely this is a much lower VOC option than an MDF wood door.
Somewhere on the web I have seen, but cannot find now, a more homebrew looking metal acoustical door. I recall it might have been priced quite a bit lower. I'm thinking it might have even been Acoustical Solutions, who now sells the Overly door, previously had their own product for cheaper (but perhaps it wasn't making enough money for them). I know you can get a commercial 90 minute metal fire door, which requires heavy gauge metal, for around $1000 Then, pack it full of rigid fiberglass (easier said than done) and voila, you have a metal acoustical door. I have conflicting memories as to whether the price was $1350 or $3150, or just below $3000, but around $3000 would make more sense, given that company doing the packing and sealing would want to earn money on their work, most likely at least doubling the direct cost of the door, perhaps then $1350 was do-it-yourself price, they supply their door, and/or their materials, and $3150 ready made. The nice Overly door is just a tad more than $3150, I wouldn't sweat that difference. But I still wonder what was in the $1350 metal door package, if it wasn't simply mistaken about that price. It's not showing up under any search I do now, months ago it was always near the top. One thing that makes me suspicious is that there is a stale link that keeps coming up on my google searches going back to Acoustical Solutions.
There is also the door from Cascade Audio. It weighs 300 pounds, but but Cascade doesn't actually say it is a metal door underneath the wood.
Here is a metal door from Acoustic Geometry. They have fewer pictures than I remember from the web pages I can no longer find, but the door shown looks absolutely identical to what I remember--could be the exact same photograph. The door is covered in a (particularly plastic looking) oak veneer. It looks like a traditional institutional door that has been beefed up somehow. They say custom wood veneers are available. It is a 300 pound door, just as I remember. The price is $2834. OK, it could be that Acoustic Geometry is a company that was reborn from the previous company that offered this door. It looks like the same door, the price sounds about right (though not the low price I had hoped for), and I've never heard of "Acoustic Geometry" before, so it does sound like a newly reborn company (such as if the old company went bankrupt, or just decides to sell off the business, somebody buys the surplus and starts new company).
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