Erik Mandaville Posted March 7, 2005 Share Posted March 7, 2005 I have no idea of how to approach this problem, which I'm kind of surprised I never noticed before. I just now discovered that our long, rectangular listening room has a very pronounced and resonant response to the 'clap test.' We had made some room changes in order to set things up as appropriately as possible for a developing multi-channel music system (which has been a truly ear-opening experience for me!), and I now notice some smearing of frequency response, essentially from the midbass on down. The 'clap' sound is not only followed by an echo, but has a 'tail' to it which has a distinctly reverberant, short-burst buzz sort of sound -- as if the clap echo is bouncing back and forth very quickly. It's really odd, and the first time I have heard something like this. The ceiling is sloped on all sides, and the only window treatment we have are plantation style horizontal blinds. Some sort of room treatment is obviously in order, but I am just not sure where to start. We have a couple of throw rugs on the walls within about 5 feet of the speakers (Klipschorns with a La Scala center channel), and the speakers are on the short wall about 15 feet apart. I get this curious reponse to clapping right in the middle of the room. Cost is something of an issue right now, since I have seen room treatment cures with audio/videophile prices attached to them, but something obviously needs to be done. When our side channel Heresies arrive, they will be place in close proximity of where the clap echo is most pronounced. Any thoughts, suggestion, ideas would be very much appreciated! In advance, thanks! Erik Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfogg Posted March 7, 2005 Share Posted March 7, 2005 Erik, " It's really odd, and the first time I have heard something like this." Ignorance is bliss... once you hear this it may tend to drive you nuts till you banish it. " I get this curious reponse to clapping right in the middle of the room." Middle of the room is typically the worse as you are equidistant from both side walls and both front and rear walls. If you can walk around the room clapping and see if you can find common points from where you are hearing the echos. For example standing in the middle of the room walk toward one of the side walls and see if/how much the echo changes. Then move toward either the front or rear wall from starting in the middle again and see if the echo changes there. What you may find is that in one direction you hear little change but in the other it gets more pronounced and maybe more delayed. That will give you an idea on which direction the echos are coming from. If walking toward the side walls doesn't change the echo at all you are probably getting it from front and rear walls. Vice versa to the side walls. It likely is a combination of both. From there you need to determine how you want to treat it. Diffusion and absorption is a good attack point. " I have seen room treatment cures with audio/videophile prices attached to them, but something obviously needs to be done. " Simple things can help. Fabric wall hangings (quilts, rugs..etc..etc..) on the walls you are getting the echo from can help some. Diffusion like book cases or other furniture can help tame it too. Then you can get into bigger treatments if desired/needed. They don't all have to cost a fortune, esp. for DIY approaches. You can make wall hanging absorbers pretty easily. For example you can frame out boxes with 1x4s (or smaller if you don't have that much depth) and fill them with quilt batting or fiberglass insulation then stretch fabric over them in colors that work in your room. Hang them on one of the walls that is causing the echo inline with the listening position(s) should help deaden that echo. Shawn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted March 7, 2005 Share Posted March 7, 2005 The curved masonite panels are a real cheap solution as well. When looking for masonite, it might also go by the name of hardboard as well (usually it's used for pegboard applications, but they do sell it without the holes). It might be a bit hard to make it fit your decor scheme, but these panels work insanely well. The cool thing is they also can act like bass traps, so used properly you've got yourself better bass and less echo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Mandaville Posted March 7, 2005 Author Share Posted March 7, 2005 Thanks! 3 small area rugs along one wall has helped lots! There is still too much ring, but I ran out of rugs for the opposite wall! rug opportunities in Houston abound, so we can get something for the other side soon. I checked at Target for some soft, transparent window treatments (I think the more common name for these is 'curtains'!) and will give that a shot too. This seems to be easier to solve than I thought it was going to be. Erik Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Born2RockU Posted March 7, 2005 Share Posted March 7, 2005 Curtains would look nice on your walls ERIK (with a " K" ) I don't know if you ever noticed , BUT I have curtains that seperate my main listening room from the attached kitchen area. I got mine at Hancock Fabric. Do ya have one on your side of town? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-MAN Posted March 7, 2005 Share Posted March 7, 2005 You can make yourself crazy(er) with the room acoustics, for sure. Especially trying to balance what looks good with what sounds good. I would go for difractors first, followed by absorbers. Check out "Master Handbook of Acoustics" by F. Alton Everest, I got one based on something that ARTTO posted, and it is an eye-opener (or that an EAR opener?) and describes the various treatments and their uses. DM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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