DrWho Posted August 17, 2004 Share Posted August 17, 2004 Well I've just put up some masonite panels and all I gotta say is wow...I can't believe how much they changed the sound. To be honest, I was extremely skeptical at first about using them. Even after visiting Art's place, I was even still skeptical as to their real effect. When I started installing the curved masonite panels, I was noticing very little if any effect. Originally I was trying to install them in the rear horizontal corners where I was hearing extreme bass build up (there's not as much build up in the vertical corners, hmmmm). Well I still decide to leave them there and I walk around the room looking for more bass build up and I think I found the culprit...huge amounts of bass were building up in the vertical corner behind my mains. So I install a panel on top of my speaker extending to the cieling and then another panel in front extending horizontally across the top of the speaker connecting the two walls. And lo and behold, there was my bass and lots of it! I took down the panels in the rear and noticed that there wasn't any bass build up any more (so no need for them back there). The only problem I have now is that the room gets overloaded at volumes over 70-80dB (depending on the song) so I plan on putting crap loads of absorbtion on the back wall. I hope to be able to handle 110dB and it still sound good, but that's an extreme goal for this room (and I don't listen that loud anyway). But ya, the main purpose of this post is to say that the panels really work very well and I would recommend that others investigate acoustical treatment (like bass traps) behind your mains (that's if you're not using khorns) One thing I was wondering...what would the effects of "soffit mounting" a speaker that sits in the corner? I'm thinking of building a wall across the corner and then putting the speaker inside. Kind of like this: / _// Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-MAN Posted August 17, 2004 Share Posted August 17, 2004 Doc, any pics? I'd love to see them. DM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted August 18, 2004 Author Share Posted August 18, 2004 I don't have a digital camera... I'll try to see if my bro will let me borrow his, but he's got one of them fancy professional digital cameras and probably won't want me borrowing it For the record, it looks very butt ugly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artto Posted August 19, 2004 Share Posted August 19, 2004 ---------------- On 8/17/2004 10:24:45 AM DrWho wrote: One thing I was wondering...what would the effects of "soffit mounting" a speaker that sits in the corner? I'm thinking of building a wall across the corner and then putting the speaker inside. ---------------- Thats actually a very good idea. Many mastering studios use speaker systems installed like that. Chicago Mastering Lab and renown direct to disk audiophile label Sheffield Lab are two that come to mind that use flush mounted in-wall speaker setups. Apparently this eliminates or at least minimizes certain phase anomalies caused by near term reflections from the wall surfaces. This is a great way to use the old decorator style, stripped down Klipschorn. The room was probably getting overloaded at the same SPL as before, you just didnt notice it as much because of the low frequency anomalies. As it is with many things in life, and audio, one thing leads to another.hope you enjoy the ride Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artto Posted August 19, 2004 Share Posted August 19, 2004 ---------------- On 8/18/2004 6:22:57 PM DrWho wrote: For the record, it looks very butt ugly. ---------------- Try using some spot or backlighting effects on the panels. It can create dramatic effects. It doesn't take much light. In fact in most cases, the lower the wattage the better (and don't forget color). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted August 22, 2004 Author Share Posted August 22, 2004 ---------------- On 8/19/2004 11:54:28 AM artto wrote: That’s actually a very good idea. Many mastering studios use speaker systems installed like that. Chicago Mastering Lab and renown direct to disk audiophile label Sheffield Lab are two that come to mind that use flush mounted “in-wall” speaker setups. Apparently this eliminates or at least minimizes certain phase anomalies caused by near term reflections from the wall surfaces. This is a great way to use the old ‘decorator’ style, stripped down Klipschorn. The room was probably getting “overloaded” at the same SPL as before, you just didn’t notice it as much because of the low frequency anomalies. As it is with many things in life, and audio, one thing leads to another…………….hope you enjoy the ride ---------------- Well when I get the money, I'm going to experiment with the soffit mounting idea. I'm still undecided whether or not I'm going to build the wall corner to the cieling or not (having a shelf above the speaker would be really handy in my small room). I'm also thinking that I will build this wall thing to be portable as well (which probably means i should build it just taller than the speaker)...kinda like false corners for khorns Soffit mounting is also going to help increase the bass (at least theoretically), I hope I don't end up having to install a passive EQ inline with the speakers (something I've read about on studio design forums). As far as the room overloading, I can't tell you how annoying that is when I want to crank it...it gets so congested and totally ruins the impact that making it loud is supposed to have. At the same time, I'm afraid to use a lot of absorbtion because the room already sounds a bit on the dead side except for some annoying "ringing" in frequencies above 12kHz. It's annoying enough that I've got the "super tweeters" (oh man, they're so super) turned almost all the way down (the Marantz 940's have attenuation knobs for 3 of the 4 drivers). While I'm at it...are corners really the only place where bass builds up? Yes I know, stupid question but I'm looking for some confirmation here. When walking around and listening to every part of my room, I've noticed that the rear vertical and even horizontal corners don't have much bass build up at all. However, when I stand on the chair at my sweet spot (which is just forward of the middle of the room), there's crap loads of bass building up above my head right at the cieling in the middle of the room. Now I know what I hear and it's not just a single frequency of bass either, but it just seems odd considering how the phyiscs of a corner provide a lot of explanation for the bass build up there. I want to put another diffuser there, but before I go through all the hassle...would it be worth all the effort? The panels I have right now are all about 3x4 feet and my problem frequencies are right around 50-65Hz. 1/4 wavelength of 80Hz is about 3 feet so I'm thinking that I'm border line being able to make a difference. Would it be wiser to wait for some money so that I could install a larger panel? Thanks for all the input and once I get some paint and fancy lighting happening, then I'm going to "borrow" my bro's camera and take some pics for y'all to see. To be honest, I am one that doesn't give a crap about looks at all, but I think that I'm going to put forth some effort here in hopes of possibly selling the rest of you lot on the idea. I've seen Art's place and there's some freaky cool visual things you can do with these curved surfaces. I've got some ideas, but I need to get rid of the beige walls first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted August 23, 2004 Author Share Posted August 23, 2004 ok, well y'all responded too slow. I got impatient and went ahead and installed a curved panel right above my head. All i gotta say is wow...my cancellation of 60-80Hz is now a peak of around +3dB. YAY The panel I just installed is angled down so that it's pointing right at me. The top is mounted to the cieling and the bottom is resting on top of my center channel speakers that are sitting on top of my desk. I'm not quite sure as to how safe this is, but it sounds great so I don't care. One very cool thing about this in addition to the bass is that the panel makes everything sound louder when it isn't and gives me that in your face sound that I love. Because of this, my room's saturation point is about 90-100dB now (well that's my first impression anyway...i'm sure that as i get settled with the sound that I'll be back to listening around 70dB). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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