Getting the most of RF-3II on a budget

[meuge]

Hello

I'm fairly new to the realm of hifi audio. I had owned several incarnations of the Promedia systems until this year I made the plunge and got myself a pair of RF-3IIs and happened upon great deals for a pair of RSX-4s (for surrounds... and yes I know they aren't a terribly good match, but I don't care for surrounds as much, and I didn't have the money to spend on others... I expect I'll replace them with RB-25s at some point, but not yet).

As for receiver, I got a used Pioneer VSX811S... the deal was just too good to miss and I don't regret getting it. The new system sounds great, but I feel like there is something missing from the sound, plus I've encountered some very real problems.

To begin, let me tell you about the speaker placement. They are located on a long wall of a 10x17 room, with the door and windows occupying the short walls (opposite each other). The floor is carpeted, but the walls are painted concrete. The speakers are positioned about 1.5 ft from the wall, and angled slightly towards listening position (15-20 degrees or so, towards my big red couch). The sound is obviously quite bright in a room like this, and I get rampant reflections, judging by barely audible distortion, when playing music that includes sustained high pitched notes, such as classical strings. There are also some bass standing waves in the room, since one of the corners gains about 13 dB @ 50Hz according to my RS SPL meter. I was thinking of getting some acoustic ceiling tiles from home depot (the 701/703s or equivalent), wrapping them in fabric and hanging on the walls (I am limited to hanging weight that can be supported by strong double sided tape, since I am prohibited from drilling the walls). I would appreciate tips with regards to the room treatment, since I don't know much about it at all.

My other question is in regards to my front-end equipment. I do think I am going to wait until I figure out the room treatment before my final judgement, but it seems that the Pioneer is a bit bright (then again, it could just be my room). I would like to hear opinions of others, more knowledgeable with regards to receivers/amps as to what I should do.

P.S. Please keep in mind that I am doing this on a budget of a medical student (i.e. deep in the red).

[colterphoto1]

Hey Dr. M!

Congrats on your Klipsch upgrade. I noticed that no one had responded to your query, so I'll give it a try. BTW, yer hardly a novice, and yes, RB25 would be a better rear speaker with your RF3II's.

What is your floor covering in your room, carpet or rugs would help with sharp mid/high reflections. As you suspect, your standing waves can be tamed with room treatment or bass traps.

Please consult the Architectural section of the Forum, particularly anything Artto has responded to. He seems to be the resident acoustician of the group and many of his posts give references to design ideas for bass traps. Generally it sounds like the traps need to be of a fairly thick material to absorb low frequencies, and some of the traps for bass/low mids are actually a panel of 1/4 plywood or drywall as an outer membrane with insulation stuffed inside. There must be a way to calculate the dimensions of the trap according to the frequency you are trying to tame, but I haven't discovered it yet.

I'm in the same situation as you. I want to put a HT in the basement of my 50's home, but the floor is concrete, walls block and ceiling plaster. NIGHTMARE, but I understand that just about anything is possible.

[meuge]

I am about to purchase some pressed fiberglass acoustic panels and I'd appreciate some advice.

I am having some problems with the bass from the RF-3IIs being either very boomy or virtually nil, depending on the piece of music and the depth of the bass. I was contemplating building myself a DIY subwoofer to compensate for the RF-3II bass shortcomings, since I am quite good with my hands and tools, although I have little experience with electrical work. I would like to hear what possible options I should consider if I wanted the sub to go down to 30Hz (5.1 Ultra sub levels) but had a very limited budget.

[michael hurd]

In my bachelor appt, I have bass that is quite useable to 30hz. ( only tried at really low power levels <5 watts ) If you really want low, loud bass, then consider bass trapping in the corners at the very least. This will help out more than any other upgrade, including adding a subwoofer. If you are getting 13db peaks in the corners, you are getting a large null in the middle of the room.

On the other question of building a subwoofer on a budget, Adire audio's tempest 15" subwoofer driver is a hard unit to beat on the $$ vs. displacement category, IF you have room for a large enclosure. They can be had for $ 150 us. Add a subwoofer amplifier from parts express, or madisound - rouughly $ 200 us. Materials to build an enclosure could cost another $100 or so, depending on what you use, and how fancy you want to make it.