Moderators Youthman Posted April 14, 2012 Moderators Share Posted April 14, 2012 One of my neighbors had about 9 Acoustic Panels and 4 Bass Traps that were in his garage that he isn't using in his setup. He let me borrow them to do some testing in my HT. I should be able to buy them from him pretty cheap. I just cleaned them and am headed to the theater room to see what difference they will make. This will be my first experience with Acoustic Panels. All I know is I have a serious Slap Echo in the room. When you clap your hand loudly, their is a BOING type sound. A lot of hard surfaces in my room. I believe the Acoustic Panels should greatly help tame those reflections. My plan is as follows: 1 Panel behind my center speaker 1 Panel behind my front speakers 1 Panel at each first reflection point on the side walls 2 Panels behind my projection screen 1-2 Panels on the back wall above the rear theater seats Bass Traps - Not sure where these will fit in my room. I do not believe I have enough room behind my front speakers. If I end up buying them, I will likely build a corner shelf above my front speakers behind the false wall and add one or two of them stacked. If I have enough room, I might be able to add one or two in the back corner of my room behind and to the side of my back row seats. Here is a diagram of where I'm thinking I will add panels to I'll post my thoughts later tonight Acoustic Panels Bass Traps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psg Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 Looking forward to your findings! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted April 14, 2012 Author Moderators Share Posted April 14, 2012 Well, I spent a few hours in the HT tonight. I demoed familiar CD's, DVD's, etc. and here is what I have concluded....Acoustic Panels are pure snake oil. Just kidding. [] . My findings were quite the opposite. My methodology was not scientific, I did not actually measure anything, my observation is only what I heard through my non-audiophile ears. Placement: I ended up placing the panels as I sketched out in the above diagrams with the following exceptions: I did not place Bass Traps in the top right and left corners (will need to make a shelf for that). I put 1 Acoustic Panel behind the Projection Screen I did not place two Panels on the Rear Side Walls I only placed one Panel on the Back Wall. Other than that, everything else was placed exactly as I had originally planned. Observations: When doing the Clap Test, I still hear a slight slap echo (maybe coming from the ceiling or other parts of the wall that do not have panels) but it is not near as loud as prior to adding the panels. Immedately, I noticed much more clarity in my main speakers and even my rears seemed to sound better. The center was crystal clear as well, dialog was slightly better (I think this can be helped with proper EQ). I have not re-run EmoQ (which to me is kind of useless) but I will give it a try with the panels installed since I have 3 Presets I can save and I've only used 2 Presets so far. Bluray Observations: Book of Eli - I watched the scene where they are in the old couple's home and the crew shows up and begins to demolish the house with their weapons. Every bullet was so clear, pieces of wood flying were very distinct. Lots of detail were heard. Music Observations: I have always heard that room treatments are one of the best investments you can make for audio. It makes logical sense. Just thinking about the first reflection point. Your ears are hearing sound coming straight from the speaker and then a reflected sound slightly after the initial sound. This causes the sound to be muddy or muffled since your brain is confused. With panels at the first reflection point, you hear the sound coming directly from the speaker and it is much clearer. The Soundstage was more open and wider. I was able to hear every chime, every pluck of the guitar, breaths etc. Again, very distinct and precise. I'm not sure how much difference the Bass Traps made as I did not do a before/after test and I only have two of them and they are only in one corner of the room. I'm sure it helps but I know the bass had already smoothed out a lot since I added the 2nd subwoofer. I brought out my SPL meter and cranked a song up to 102db (much louder than I typically listen to) and the music remained sharp, detailed and unstrained. It never got muddy, even at very high volume. My Conclusion: I've always known my room had acoustic issues. Lots of hard surfaces and plenty of echo that was causing the audio to not be as clear as I believed it should be. Since they are black, they match perfectly with my color scheme. They definitely added more clarity to instruments, surround effects. I met up with my neighbor who lent them to me and told him to think about how much he wanted for them. His reply was that he was just glad they were being used since they were just taking up space in his garage. I got the impression that he might even give them to me but I don't mind paying for them so I told him to let me know how much he wanted for them. We will see. He did say that he bought them cheap and paid $900 for all of them ( the 10 panels and 4 bass traps that I have and the ones he is currently using in his living room (maybe 2 bass traps and 8 panels). A few weeks ago, I dropped my Nikon D90 camera but it's on it's way back from repair and will be here on Wednesday. I'll work on getting the panels mounted so that I can take updated pics of the room with panels installed when it gets here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beechnut Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 Awesome Youthman! Thanks for taking the time to share. Ignorance is bliss seems so true. It's great that you were able to give it a try without any money spent. And in your own home. The room treatment theme gets touted repeatedly. Glad see another believer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted April 15, 2012 Author Moderators Share Posted April 15, 2012 It's great that you were able to give it a try without any money spent. And in your own home. Yeah, it's not often you get to "try before you buy" on something like this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vital Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 Very nice! Looking forward to the photos when you get your camera back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psg Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 You are very lucky not only to try before you buy, but also to get just a great deal. I wouldn't know what to buy, how many of 'em, and I'd pay full price up here in Canada. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted April 15, 2012 Author Moderators Share Posted April 15, 2012 He hasn't said how much he wants for them. If he wants to just give them to me, I won't complain. Deep down I'm hoping for a steal of a deal of $300 or less. We will see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted April 16, 2012 Author Moderators Share Posted April 16, 2012 hes selling them to me for $15 each. I'd say thats a pretty sweet deal for 10 panels and 4 bass traps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panacea Engineering Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 YA did good.....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted April 16, 2012 Author Moderators Share Posted April 16, 2012 i think its a great deal. I wasnt ever too anxious to buy them since they were going to cost around $500 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derrickdj1 Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 The price just went up, he joine the Klipsch forum, lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted April 17, 2012 Author Moderators Share Posted April 17, 2012 The price just went up, he joine the Klipsch forum, That was pretty funny. [] Crazy thing is I'm patient enough that if that did happen in a deal with someone, I wouldn't have a problem with moving on and looking for another deal. There really is no "Deal of a Lifetime". Great deals are to be made and had every day. You just have to learn to be patient enough to wait for them. [] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted May 2, 2012 Author Moderators Share Posted May 2, 2012 Tonight, I installed the two bass traps behind my false wall. I had four "L" brackets laying around so I spray painted them black and used them to mount the bass traps to the ceiling in the corners of the front wall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
javelin Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 This will be my first experience with Acoustic Panels. All I know is I have a serious Slap Echo in the room. When you clap your hand loudly, their is a BOING type sound. A lot of hard surfaces in my room. I believe the Acoustic Panels should greatly help tame those reflections. When I finished building my HT room, all drywalls up and ceiling closed, I placed my self at the center of the room. I clapped my hands and I can definitely hear the echoing(boing!) effect. It also has an effect on normal conversation in the room; vocal from a person 3 feet away sounds un-natural; it has that high-pitched echoic-reverb effect. So I did what you did...started to look at different accoustic panels. I end up going to a music instrument shop and bought couple box of Auralex 2" acoustic panels. I placed them according to the recommended locations and the effect is huge. I'm in the middle of the room, clapped my hands and echo(boing!) is gone. The "clap" sound goes away and never comes back. Vocal sounds are more natural. You will not regret having them panels in your HT room. You have a nice HT btw, Attached is a pic of my panels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
javelin Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 hes selling them to me for $15 each. I'd say thats a pretty sweet deal for 10 panels and 4 bass traps. That's a pretty good price for high-quality panels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P-Gavin Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 .... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
javelin Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 Thanks Javelin. So far, I have installed the 4 bass traps (one at top corner in front of room behind false wall) and the other two stacked in the back corner of the room. I can't put one in the other corner due to the entrance door to the HT. I also installed on panel on my back wall since I know there are pretty large reflections there but who knows, maybe that should be a diffusor instead of an acoustic panel. I'm REALLY new to all of this and realize there is an actual science as to placement, number of panels etc. I'm just not sure I want to devote to spending countless hours learning about how it all works and how to "properly" set them up in my room. Just by placing them in my room, I have already noticed a great deal of difference so I might just put one at each first reflection point and the remaining 4 panels according to asthetics. I wouldn't put too much time into the science. Temporarily attached, if possible, the panels to side walls and ceiling and do the clap and yell test. If you no longer hear echoes then that's your setting. Place the panels in aesthetic configuration so not too affect the rooms aesthetic appearance. In truth, when you are watching your favorite movie and volume setting to reference level, at that point, echoes are just part of the special sound effects.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted May 3, 2012 Author Moderators Share Posted May 3, 2012 Sorry, I was helping a friend of mine get setup on the forum (P-gavin) and ended up replying to you while I was logged in with his username. Funny thing is he called me last night and was asking why he received an email from the forum. The comments that were made by "him", he didn't remember making. LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted May 3, 2012 Author Moderators Share Posted May 3, 2012 The one thing I do not want to do is to make the room too dead. Without using some form of measurement tool (graph, SPL meter etc), it's going to be difficult to determine how many panels I actually need to use for my room. I have 10 acoustic panels. I have one mounted on the back wall, one behind each main speaker, one behind the center and one behind my screen (not even sure it does anything but figured it couldn't hurt). That leaves me with 5 panels to utilize on the side walls if needed. I'll try and post a pic of the sides and back walls tonight when I get home to show where I have them temporarily placed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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