Room Treatment Help

[Coytee]

a solution that can make that room really compliment those great looking speakers!!!!

Ohhhhhhhh, ya gonna share?

[:S]

[Ready Acoustics]

In many cases, low modal issues in (smaller rooms) need to be addressed before anything. This typically consists of straddling 4" thick acoustical absorbers across vertical corners (first) and then treating early reflection points. Both issues can be solved by using "broadband" absorbers that concentrate on picking up low frequencies but that truly absorb across the entire frequency band.

Another thing to consider is room symmetry. Indeed setting up your main speakers to fire down the long axis of the room is desirable, however left and right symmetry may be equally important. Structural inconsistencies (left and right of your listening position) might cause you to struggle with your desired stereo imaging, and if this can be corrected by setting your system up in another direction, it may mean as much to your overall experience as setting up your system on the greater length of your room.

Broadband bass trapping in corners with at least 4" acoustical absorption medium/ DIY or factory made bass traps will go a long way in reducing room resonances and help focus your overall sound. This is turn will help create a better, more enjoyable listening experience, and perhaps help to encourage other to bring the POPCORN AND BEER!

Here are a couple of pages that clarify what bass traps are and explain "early reflections":

https://www.readyacoustics.com/index.php?go=acoustics-advice.what-is-a-bass-trap

https://www.readyacoustics.com/index.php?go=acoustics-advice.early-reflections

Consider jumping over to the Bass Traps Network forum for additional information and DIY Acoustical absorber plans:

http://www.basstraps.net

Here is a free DIY Bass Trap tutorial I created at YouTube:

And this link: http://forum.studiotips.com This forum is frequented by real acousticians and acoustical engineers, etc. It is also non-commercial and very, very informative.

If I can help in any way, please let me know.

Thank you,

Joel DuBay

www.readyacoustics.com

Come and see us at the 2008 CES in Las Vegas Jan 7th-11th

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[mas]

Maybe I should just stay out of this...

Yes, LF room modes are an issue that should be addressed in all small
acoustical spaces.

And the simplest approach is to treat the vertical corners (and secondarily,
the horizontal corners of the room with Roxul or OC705 wedge traps. Further and
more problematic anomalies are perhaps best addressed with a combination of
measurements and an appropriate ly designed Helmholtz resonator (or which
there are a variety of types requiring calculated tuning).

And this is an example of a classic room where the classic room mode
calculators are all but worthless. This room features a series of what can
be considered as coupled spaces, each reinforcing a slightly different spectrum
of modes, thus requiring measurements to identify the actual resultants which
are far too complex to model and calculate.

Additionally, assuming all of the LF modes are sufficiently addressed, 'we'
are still left with the SIGNIFICANT issue of early arriving first order reflection off of the back
ceiling. And this reflection will be a hard reflection containing much energy
and focused almost directly on the seating position which will substantially impair the quality of listening.

Thus the goal here is not to simply absorb all of the acoustic energy, thus
rendering the room dead and very small feeling. Rather the goal is to
strategically redirect the energy as much as is possible in order to reduce the
intensity of the first order early arriving reflection and to return as much of
this energy back into the space by 'breaking up' the focused specular
reflection in to a more diffuse acoustic field, and thus
contributing to a well-behaved semi-reverberant acoustic field that decays
exponentially with time - the result being that this energy will contribute to the
sense of space that is pleasantly perceived.

So, the challenge is, how do we break up the direct radiated acoustic energy
that is being reflected toward the seating position by such a large planar
surface without simply using brut force absorption and rendering the reflection
muted, and the room in large measure, dead.

Thus, while strategically applied absorption can play a role, it should be
one that is used only to the degree that is is necessary to damp the energy
that cannot be effectively diffused.

Thus the challenge, how to effectively DIFFUSE the energy using the
minimum amount of absorption necessary without spending $100K to do so (and
turning the space into a museum of modern art)! Hence the role of a bit - OK,
let's be up front here - ALLOT of creative thinking.

[]

[seti]

Hey Marion how is your room coming together? Great room and so much Heritage gear