room acoustics and treatment

[karma67]

well its a sunday and after doing the housework i thought id have a play with strategically placed pillows and sheets,quite interesting results,i found that by placing pillows in the corners behind speakers and removing the large mirror i have up on the back wall and hanging a sheet up had a noticeable effect on the bass notes,they became clearer and i hear the bass guitar more,it sounded rather natural.
my room has got an echo right in the corners above the speakers too so i think i need to sort this.

so this has got me interested in room acoustics and bass traps etc,has anyone else had a play or has done it properly with foam etc?
id be interested to hear what you've done and the improvements it made.

[Macca]

I don't think you can affect bass frequencies with pillows and sheets so possibly what has happened is you've killed some reflections higher up the frequency range that were masking the direct sound a bit, with the subjective effect of tightening the bass.

I'd like to get some of that pyramid stick-on stuff for the side walls, like they have in the studios. Don't really think I need it but it looks really cool.

[Rothchild]

There's a good and comprehensive primer here: http://ethanwiner.com/acoustics.html

Commercial products are quite expensive (once you know what's in them), you'll want a nice spread of bass trapping, mid-band absorption and high frequency diffusion. The 'ideal' room has both an even modal frequency response and a steady RT60 decay time across the audio spectrum (ie no frequencies ring on for longer than any others).

It's amazing what some simple damping, a couple of panel traps and some corner traps will do for you, if you're even just moderately crafty they're very easy to build and if you're a bit more capable (and can do the maths to work out what you need) then you can also build tuned membrane traps for specific problem frequencies.

Edit: The foam stuff is good for taming early reflections and HF damping, but it lacks the mass to do anything useful lower down the frequency range - for that you need a bunch of rockwool or some tuned traps (probably with a bunch of rockwool in them).

[Jimbo]

Ethanwiner is very good but if you want to see/hear what can be done with room acoustics you need to contact Steve at Sonority Design, he has taken room acoustics to an amazing level.
http://www.sonoritydesign.co.uk

[Meloski]

For a meer $89.00 US, I purchased 6 - 2' X 4' Owens Corning 703 insulation panels. I tucked one behind each speaker, one right and left at the first reflection point and the last two behind my listening position. For me there has been no other tweek or treatment that has surpassed the improvement in sound, than these acoustic panels. Very Highly Recommended!!!

[paulf-2007]

yes indeed, the best money you could ever spend. I have similar, one 4' x 2' x 2" absorption panel by the right speakers first reflection point, three of the same panels behind the listening position and one on the ceiling at first reflection point and kilo serge wall curtains by the left speakers first reflection point as there are French doors on the adjacent wall. I have corner bass traps that are not used as they didn't make any difference to the sound. As it is the set up is superb, instruments separated, bass tight and musical and air and space.

[hifinutt]

we have 2 big sofa`s in our listening room
ikea took them away today and i was amazed at the effect 2 pieces of furniture can have
you could hear the echo in the room which was not present before

lets hope the ikea replacements soon calm things down as i can see what a difference furniture and fittings can make

[brucew268]

GIK Acoustics carries a good line of acoustic treatments at a good price. I found that their price was only double what it cost me to make my own. Some 244 bass traps in the corners and some 242 acoustic panels or 'spot' panels at reflection points do a good basic treatment for not a large amount.

[karma67]

thanks for the link
they do all the bits for diy traps too so i might have a go myself.

[Yomanze]

One of the best room treatment tweaks I ever did, apart from sofas, soft furnishings, rugs etc., was putting acoustic panels in between my speakers. When I first moved into my house, I immediately noticed the in-wall metal fireplace disturbing to sound, so I covered it.

We will be knocking out the fireplace soon, but, I will definitely be creating a 'fire screen' made up of acoustic panels.