DIY Room Treatment

[John]

Is it worth tghe effort and if yes where and how do you start

[StanleyB]

Is it worth tghe effort and if yes where and how do you start
You got me on that one. Do you mean the decoration or the paintwork?

[John]

Not sure really I have a friend who is a audio designer and he once told me that 70% of the sound is acoustics and when I put deflector on speakers made a good difference to sound so just wondering is it worth adding stuff like absorbers and deflectors
To my ears the sound I have sounds really good so its kind of a open question I guess sorry if this seems confussed as I am not really sure about this

[StanleyB]

I tried a piece of leather on the front of a set of speaker. It was not easy cutting out the holes, but it did sound better in a way. Not sure where you could get a piece of leather that size these days though.

[Stratmangler]

Sending the Wife and Kids to bed is always a good start from a noise reduction point of view.

Chris:D

[YNWaN]

I've built acoustic panels for my room - 4 in total; a large one between the speakers and three smaller ones at each first reflection point and behind my head. I was very pleased with the result - quite profound in fact. Vocals are better articulated, less 'splash' in general, stereo localisation is better defined and depth is improved. Tiny adjustments to tracking weight and bias are clearly audible and the room generally mimics a larger one.

I also use a foam surround to my tweeters and woofers and find this to be well worth the effort of construction; improved treble localisation and definition.

This one shows the foam on the baffles:

http://www.markholterman.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/1190063684.JPG

[Marco]

Mark, have you seen this thread:

http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1017

You may find it interesting.

Marco.

[YNWaN]

No, I hadn't seen that thread but it is most interesting. The beneficial qualities are very well described and are very much what I was trying to say. I actually built mine myself as A/ I didn't want to spend a lot of money if they didn't work B/ I thought it would be fun C/ I wanted custom sizes D/ I wanted them to blend in a bit and not clash with the pictures I already had.

I made mine very much in the way that Paul describes in the thread you linked too - except I used a heavier cotton fabric to cover them and they have a perforated hardboard back - they stand approximately 10mm from the wall on soft spacers.

[Mike]

This is something I must address in my own room I think! :scratch:

I bet i get moaned at though. :exactly:

[Si74]

This is something most people should address!
Most of my mates 'listening rooms' do not have remotely enough soft/absording furnishing to work, let alone do anything remotely to address the bass issues.
Thick underlay, thick carpet, leather kiss of death settees?, bare walls, lots of glazed pictures/paintings - sound familiar?.

I had to move my gear from a 22x14ft lounge into the old dining room, maybe 14x12ft.
A bit of study, a bit of crafty stuff, well actually a s--tload of both,
my system sounds way better than it ever did in the big room

[Si74]

No takers?
Multi million dollar industry in the states but hardly anyone here will be tempted.
Bizzare to say the least.

[foxysounds]

My listening room is also my home studio so I have quite a lot of acoustic treatment in there. It makes a huge difference.

Contrary to popular belief, however, a wooden floor is better than a carpeted one in many respects. Carpet will only absorb high and some upper mid frequencies so it does not prevent reflections from the floor - it just colours those reflections and actually makes it more difficult to judge a mix. If neutrality is what you're after then go for a wooden floor every time and concentrate your room treatment in places where you have the space to install something thick enough to absorb the full range of frequencies.

Simon.

[Si74]

Couldn't agree more.
I have a wooden floor and it makes life so much easier levelling and isolating the kit.
I have absorbers at the first reflection points on the ceiling and sides of the room.
Panels/triangles at the wall ceiling seams and rear corners are built with a membrane to stop them soaking up too much high frequencies and full range bass traps in the front corners, built along the lines of Echobuster Phase 4 towers.