tofu Posted July 24, 2005 Share Posted July 24, 2005 As some of you may know, i've been on a quest for acoustic room treatments. ideally, i was planning on the masonite panels and the roomtune pack that nodisc recommended. i was in home depot yesterday and i saw this really thick high quality area rug in their "bargain bin." it's about 7'x4.5'. it was only $48, but it seemed to be of the same quality as some of their more expensive $200-$300 area rugs. so i figured, what the hell, i'll give it a shot, and if it doesnt work too well, i'll throw it on the floor somewhere. i hung this heavy sucker on my wall and the difference in sound i'm experiencing is amazing. i know it's not just placebo because when i clap, i no longer hear an echo either. unfortunately, i couldn't center it on the back wall because of a door, but the sound doesnt seeem to be "off" in any way. i'll put a small rug on the door just to play it safe though. now that the rug is in place, i doubt i'll be taking it down. it sounds and looks great. i still plan on making masonite panels and buying the roomtunepack. instead of having the masonite panels behind me, i'll try placing them on the ceiling to act solely as diffusers. it may present a problem with my projector, but i'll figure something out. well, this truely opened my eyes to what room treatment can do. even something little as this made a remarkable difference in clarity. i can't wait to hear the differences once i have my full room treatments in place. i've gone from not being too impressed with my la scala upgrade over the rf-3ii's in my 11x11 room, to being completely blown away. just wanted to share my experiences with you guys. thanks for reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbsl Posted July 24, 2005 Share Posted July 24, 2005 Glad to hear your finally starting to get the sound you wanted out of the La Scalas. I know how frustrating it can be to get these speakers sound good in a small room. My living room is a little bigger than yours at 15 x 15 x 8. I have a big mirror on the wall behind my couch so might have to hang a couple of rugs up and see if it helps any. Xman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scriven Posted July 24, 2005 Share Posted July 24, 2005 ---------------- On 7/24/2005 9:34:07 PM tofu wrote: ... well, this truely opened my eyes to what room treatment can do. even something little as this made a remarkable difference in clarity. i can't wait to hear the differences once i have my full room treatments in place... ---------------- Congratulations on the improvement! I would argue that what you did is not that little! You placed some absorption behind your head to remove at least the high frequency reflections and also deadened the room. From what you said in other posts I think you needed both. But - be careful of just adding "treatments" randomly! You can also make the situation worse by adding things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve Posted July 25, 2005 Share Posted July 25, 2005 that's funny you bring this up..I've always had tapestries hung up in my music room, two on the left side wall, and one behind my listening position. I also have drapes on the right side, and the room is carpeted, Night before last, I kept thinking I wasn't getting the clarity I thought I should with my Khorns..also read where Parrot said a dead room isn't appealing in so many words..so I decided to drop the tapesty directly behind my listening position. As you stated with hanging your rug, what a difference it was losing the tapestry! I heard things I haven't heard before, and the highs weren't over the top. Of course I hung these tapestries years ago with all SS equipment, and now everything is tubed. So whether this is the difference or not, I think we all need to change our room "treatments" now and then..after all it's the cheapest tweak! We went in the opposite direction,but glad to hear you're amazed by the differerence! I certainly am! Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunburnwilly Posted July 25, 2005 Share Posted July 25, 2005 Wow , La Scalas in an 11' by 11' room . Reminds me of a childhood friend who back in 79 purchased a pair of La Scalas and put them in his 10' by 9' bedroom . It was so loud that it would mess up your equalibrium . What a great time . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve Posted July 25, 2005 Share Posted July 25, 2005 edited for spelling ..below is better! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve Posted July 25, 2005 Share Posted July 25, 2005 that might have something to do with it too! My room is 21 x 15..the horns being on the long wall. 11 x 11 is pretty darn small for any Heritage speaker, excluding the Heresy! Didn't I read somewhere that a square room has horrible acoustics?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmiles Posted July 25, 2005 Share Posted July 25, 2005 Tofu check this out, interesting business model. A good, better, best apporach. These guys where in this months Stereophile mag. http://www.rivesaudio.com/home/home.html Regards, Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrestonTom Posted July 25, 2005 Share Posted July 25, 2005 Tofu, you raise an interesting possibility with the carpet on the wall. This is actually a pretty good trick and with the certain room styles the treatment will blend right in. Unfortuantely, for very low frequencies, the energy will go right through the carpet and result in realtively little absorption. This of course varies with the material, density and geometry. Another trick to use in conjuction is to hang the carpet away from the wall a couple to several inches. (you can hide foam behind to push it out or to give a irregular coutour. This provides additional impedance mis-matches and will trap more of the sound and do it at lower frequencies also. One caution, which sould be taken seriously, depending on the material this can be a real fire hazard to have flamables along a vertical surface. Keep this in mind whan you are designing and implementing. Good luck, -Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IndyKlipschFan Posted July 25, 2005 Share Posted July 25, 2005 I will second the foam or carpet pad behind the carpet on the wall as an excellent choice. Also, I am sure we all feel this way, make extra sure it is bolted into the wall (or ceiling) too. (Safety too) Funny how these "home made" remedies work out almost as good, I will argue better in some cases than a lot of the more expensive "treatments" too. Good find on the rug, and even better it helped you out! Pics? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted July 25, 2005 Share Posted July 25, 2005 good to know, thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audible Nectar Posted July 25, 2005 Share Posted July 25, 2005 These type of home decorating tricks are the key to making wives happy while you get better acoustics. While it may not be a perfect "acoustically tuned listening room", these type of additions, subtractions, or relocations of home decor items can help out the sound in your room - while keeping it WAF approved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speedball Posted July 25, 2005 Share Posted July 25, 2005 I hung a carpet runner from Home Depot behind the TV and stereo equipment and it helped a lot with the hollow echoey sound in the room. ....held it in place then drove about 40 or so very thin headless nails along the top edge and it works well and will be easy to remove in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauln Posted July 25, 2005 Share Posted July 25, 2005 How long did the rug take to burn-in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tofu Posted July 25, 2005 Author Share Posted July 25, 2005 hey guys, that foam behind the carpet sounds like a great idea. with the foam and extra carpet on the door (door is located on backwall as well), i think i may have enough "deadening" and absorbtion material in my room. the next step will be the diffusers like i said, and lastly (the most expensive) the roomtune pack. if i don't feel i need the roomtune pack, i may just pick up those $69 bass traps from ebay that someone posted the other day. and mike, i'll check out that site you linked me to. thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speedball Posted July 25, 2005 Share Posted July 25, 2005 Paul, Burn in on the runner wasnt too bad, just walked on it while listening to AC/DC for a while. Some old spikes are in a nearby drawer so any stray vibrations should make their way to the drawer for safe keeping. ......Not... ///////////////////////////////////////////////////// Good Luck with your project Tofu. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted July 25, 2005 Share Posted July 25, 2005 I would do bass traps before any of the room tune packs and maybe even before the diffusors as well...get the bass right and the midrange cleans up too. The LF are going to be your biggest concern with your square room. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tofu Posted July 25, 2005 Author Share Posted July 25, 2005 well it's either the bass traps or the roomtunes. they both go in corners, so i can't have both. i've been following your advice so far, so if you think i should go with those first, i'll give it a shot. besides, the cheaper pricetag is quite attractive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbsl Posted July 25, 2005 Share Posted July 25, 2005 Did the same thing with 2 rugs and totaly covered 10 x 8 wall behind my couch. I think it did too much so I'll take one down and ceter the other. It did make a diiference in the sound that I liked but want to try it with one rug to see what difference. Xman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshnich Posted July 25, 2005 Share Posted July 25, 2005 I guess that I am lucky. My wife doesnt mind that I glued egg cartons to all the walls. It really does eliminate the annoying effect of the bare walls. They are really easy to come by. I just have the neighbors save them for me or I just go through the garbage on garbage days. I am not sure what to do the windows however! Josh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
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.