Listening Room Acoustics

[aniki]

Hi Folks,

Surprisingly I couldn't find a suitable area for this thread so decided to stick it in here.
So basically, I recently got my system set up in a new 'listening room' in my new home.
The problem I have is that with everything in my preferred position (seating vs equipment placement) I am suffering serious Bass reflection.
Ultimately until I can sort this I have a £10k hifi that sounds like total arse!
-
Admittedly, other than the fact that the concrete floor is carpeted, all the walls and ceiling are perfectly smooth (painted) plaster.
Before I start throwing any money at this, are there any resident experts on here who could advise where I should start in terms of bass traps, acoustic panels etc?
I will shortly post a schematic of the room with dimensions.

[Jimbo]

Hi Folks,

Surprisingly I couldn't find a suitable area for this thread so decided to stick it in here.
So basically, I recently got my system set up in a new 'listening room' in my new home.
The problem I have is that with everything in my preferred position (seating vs equipment placement) I am suffering serious Bass reflection.
Ultimately until I can sort this I have a £10k hifi that sounds like total arse!
-
Admittedly, other than the fact that the concrete floor is carpeted, all the walls and ceiling are perfectly smooth (painted) plaster.
Before I start throwing any money at this, are there any resident experts on here who could advise where I should start in terms of bass traps, acoustic panels etc?
I will shortly post a schematic of the room with dimensions.

Hi Adam,

have a word with Steve at Sonority, he will certainly be able to advise you. He posts on this site occasionally so you will be able to find him on the members list.

[aniki]

Hi Adam,

have a word with Steve at Sonority, he will certainly be able to advise you. He posts on this site occasionally so you will be able to find him on the members list.

Amazing. Thanks.
For reference, here is the room plan:-

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/aniki666/plan.jpg

[Macca]

Looking at the plan I thought for a second that you park the car in the living room just like Dan Tanner of off 'Vegas'. :)

Are you sure it is bass reflections? I would have thought mid and top bouncing around would be the problem. If it is that is a lot easier to sort.

[purite audio]

If you acoustically measure the room, using a microphone and REW software, you will know exactly where the problems lie, and target them.
Keith.

[awkwardbydesign]

If you can do some acoustic measurements it would help. I believe there are phone apps that would give some rough measurements.

[aniki]

Looking at the plan I thought for a second that you park the car in the living room just like Dan Tanner of off 'Vegas'. :)

Ha ha! It's just the remains of the plan I made before buying to check the scale of everything :-) The wall between the garage and listening room is a stud wall.


Are you sure it is bass reflections? I would have thought mid and top bouncing around would be the problem. If it is that is a lot easier to sort.
Oh definitely bass. I can still pick out most of the detail as sweet as ever but everything is clouded by this overwhelming boom! Even at low volume it's like the bass is proportionately about 4 times louder than it should be.
I briefly had a similar issue in my last place where my turntable was picking up vibes through a thin decorative glass panel atop an Ikea stand. After much faffing, once I removed the glass panel the problem disappeared.
Now the issue is clearly present regardless of vinyl or streaming as source.
I'm also used to incredibly tight controlled bass with this set up and very quickly pick up something awry; at the moment it sounds like a 'beats audio' system with OTT bass!


If you acoustically measure the room, using a microphone and REW software, you will know exactly where the problems lie, and target them.
Keith.


If you can do some acoustic measurements it would help. I believe there are phone apps that would give some rough measurements.

Thanks. I'm not familiar with such things but I'll look into it and report back.

[aniki]

Ok, using some free SPL meters biased towards the low end, the obvious areas clearly need attention.
The corners behind the speakers and in fact the three walls behind and at the side of the speakers all display the same decibel reading as when the mic is the same distance in front of the drivers.
As I start to move back to the listening position the level drops off slightly and then increases again in the rear corner behind the listening position.
Now, the cabinets don't reverberate much, if at all, but the sound waves are obviously finding their way into the 'alcove' and opposite corners.
I guess I should start with some basic corner traps and take it from there....

[agk]

How is the bass when seated in the right hand chair and why does your mk2 have no wing mirrors?

[aniki]

How is the bass when seated in the right hand chair and why does your mk2 have no wing mirrors?
Hi, it's interesting that you ask that! Tonight I discovered that sitting in the seat in the corner is actually twice as bad as sitting in the other seat. I placed some CD towers in the corners behind the speakers. This seemed to help a little. Using the SPL meter I found there is a huge amount of volume emanating outwards from the centre of the front wall so this will clearly need treatment.
I'm thinking maybe three large bass trap panels equally spaced along the wall behind the speakers. Then if necessary I will need to tackle that rear corner somehow....
The car was a generic image I downloaded as I couldn't be bothered to draw one from scratch :-)

[zanash]

simple solution ........

perhap perhaps not , try moving the speakers a little more into the room

failing that try .... turning the room layout through 90 deg to the right. This will place your speakers along the long axis of the room. I've had similar probelms placing speakers in a narrow room. your listening position will be the best point along center line of the room [ perpendicular to long axis ] .

ok possible reason why bass heavy ...could be the studded wall acting as massive bass radiator especially if speakers are fairly close to rear wall.

[agk]

That's pretty much what I was thinking but you have put it into words that were escaping me. Another option might be some sort of large and dense wall hanging, maybe a nice rug type thing on that stud wall.

[agk]

Can you maybe have the voids in the wall filled?

[aniki]

failing that try .... turning the room layout through 90 deg to the right. This will place your speakers along the long axis of the room. I've had similar problems placing speakers in a narrow room. your listening position will be the best point along center line of the room [ perpendicular to long axis ] .
ok possible reason why bass heavy ...could be the studded wall acting as massive bass radiator especially if speakers are fairly close to rear wall.

Hey thanks for this. I tried it and yes! the sound is almost back to normal! Wow, such a difference after listening to 'rubbish' for a week! The speakers now are only about 3 inches from the rear wall (Solid) but sound absolutely magnificent. I get a very slight hump from the right hand speaker which is in a corner but it's so subtle I think I could live with it.
The problem with this is that I'm not completely happy with the layout but at least I can enjoy music!!!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/aniki666/plan2.jpg



Another option might be some sort of large and dense wall hanging, maybe a nice rug type thing on that stud wall.

At the weekend I'm hopefully going to pilfer some 'broadband bass traps' from a friends rehearsal studio. Apparently they are professionally built and about 5 inches thick. I will try these on the stud wall and see if it makes a difference to the original layout.
Will report back when I have any updates.

Thanks again for all the ideas.

[agk]

It's all about the music.

[Macca]

If it is your house you should consider getting rid of the stud wall and extending the room into the garage space.

[aniki]

If it is your house you should consider getting rid of the stud wall and extending the room into the garage space.

It is, but it's only a few years old so truth be told I'm not really ready to go chopping things about just yet. Maybe in time though....

[Ronksley]

I would deffienatley try moving eveything round trying the system set up in against each of the four ( or six ?) walls I would of thought the speakers at the bottom of your picture would be best if that is praticle with doors and lay out of house etc
Good luck sorting it out I think trail and error play a lot it getting such problems licked
I have a very challening room and it gets a bit boomy but its temporary so just have to put up with frustrating though