Jump to content

Room treatment


USNRET

Recommended Posts

Without acoustic measurements (yet, I have to learn that REW thingy) but , in general, where to start in this open room.
From fridge wall to windows is 34'
From wall behind speakers to wall near fireplace is 24'
Ceiling is 10'
Window treatments are 2" open cell
 

montage.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

that's a nice family room that has almost no wall space (hence the concept of "open floor plans") -- outside of the heavy pad mentioned by godataloss -- there's not much you can do.  i'd just enjoy it as is.

Edited by jcn3
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

When you do get around to measuring your Jubilees in-room, I find that there are only two real acoustics measures to pay attention to:

 

1) early reflections within the first 5-6 feet from the K-402 mouths, and

 

2) overall RT30 curve (reverberation time to -30 dB from the direct arrivals) of below about 0.5-0.6 seconds from 70 Hz up to perhaps 4-5 kHz...where the sound itself begins to not bounce off the nearby surfaces.  Here is an RT and EDT plot taken from 1 metre in front of my right Jubilee with a UMIK-1:

 

Chris A Listening Room - 1 M Right.jpg

 

Note the yellow-orange RT30 curve is the most non-varying (i.e., most stable) of the various RT curves.  This is what I was trying to achieve with the bass traps in the room corners and nearfield absorption.

 

The directivity of the K-402 and Jubilee bass bin results in the cyan-colored early decay time (EDT) curve away from the other RT curves.  This is a testimonial to the outstanding directivity of these loudspeakers down to about 100 Hz...below the typical listening room's Schroeder/transition frequency, where directivity doesn't have any meaning.  Direct radiating loudspeakers, as a rule, tend to produce EDT curves that fairly closely follow the other RT curves, because they splash a lot of nearfield energy around the room.

 

Here's a second curve that shows the effects of nearfield reflectors--at the local peaks in decay response.  In the case of the Jubilees, you see the descending white line (the "Schroeder integral" curve--"the slope of this curve is used to measure how fast the impulse response is decaying") that's far away from the blue SPL vs. time curve below.  This is another visual confirmation of the effects of full-range directivity of the loudspeakers.  If you take measurements of direct radiating loudspeakers (including direct radiating woofer/horn-loaded mid-hi hybrid loudspeakers like most other Klipsch loudspeakers), you will see the blue curve at least 10 dB higher than the -40 dB shown below:

 

1433489862_RightJub(1m)energy-TimeCurve(EDT).jpg.cf0d3742eb2686dca7076456ace7f034.jpg

 

This plot will tell you where to look for nearfield reflections from the loudspeaker under measurement.  You can get out a tape measure and find what objects are reflecting sound around each loudspeaker by looking at the time of arrival of the decay peak(s), converting them to physical distances, and measuring around the centerline of the loudspeaker to its nearfield objects.  This is nice to know when looking for nearfield acoustic treatments in-room.  It's also a good guide to know when you've got enough absorption in-room, to know when the addition of more absorption isn't useful in controlling nearfield reflections, but that the absorption is just reducing the subjective spaciousness of the room (absorbing too many lateral reflections).

 

Chris

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Carpet. See also any form of "hanging cloth" type decos that can be placed on the walls. Short of actual acoustic treatments, I find these to be the easiest and best for allowing for "living situations" to be blended with "sound rooms". 

 

Of course, that carpet meant my iinvestment in cleaning equipment beyond the norm (I'm an Aerus guy myself). So many have chosen to ditch the carpeting in lieu of hardwood floors/surfaces, and I understand the practice on a lot of levels, but for sound enthusiasts it's really difficult as those rooms get sonically unruly really quick (especially once presented with significant acoustic load, as in the volume knob going up on the pre, like in a home theater).

 

Just the act of dropping those shades on those windows will alter the acoustics/"bouncy/live" will be cut down a bit.

 

High end movie houses and theaters are plush for good reason, they make for very good environments to control acoustically.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Quite honestly, your room is so "open" - multi-use, windows, appliances, irregular, I have to ask - what do you expect to accomplish by adding dedicated acoustical treatments?

 

FWIW, most "listening" spaces have the most problems in the bass range. If that isn't bothering you in any way then there's probably very little you can do to audibly improve your situation with specialized acoustical treatments.

 

Good (the best) listening rooms start by having not only adequate size and appropriate proportions,  even many angled surfaces (which you already have although this preferably should be symmetrical), they also have a very low noise floor. So, for instance, having an appliance like a refrigerator near by (essentially in the same space) which is generating at least 55dB of midrange noise 80% of the time................. not good.

 

If you want to try something "acoustical" you might try some large floor to ceiling bass traps in some of the corners as a starting point.

 

IMHO, running REW on a room like this is a waste of time. If you don't like the way something sounds just use the tone controls, or move your seat a foot or two. Way less time and low cost 😉

 

As an example - just FYI - in my listening room (purpose built) the noise floor is around 30dB. Even then, that's with the HVAC turned off. The air flow through the ducts will easily add 5dB of noise and that's with the HVAC set the slowest fan speed. Even lights - especially low voltage lighting or anything with transformers, add noise to the room.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 7/1/2021 at 3:20 PM, jcn3 said:

that's a nice family room that has almost no wall space (hence the concept of "open floor plans") -- outside of the heavy pad mentioned by godataloss -- there's not much you can do.  i'd just enjoy it as is.

 

Ditto 👍

Link to comment
Share on other sites

49 minutes ago, JohnA said:

I think you'll want to add some heavy drapes to the windows to absorb HF reflections.  Then, add gentle eq. 

 

What's in the box on the dolly? 

SVS PB 4000. Moving the two around for placement. The window shades are 1” honeycomb cellular. The rug is 3/4” thick.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...