Working on your room's acoustics

[JWolfe]

Any recommendations on reasonable sound dampening measures? I’m thinking bass traps, installing soundproofing weatherstrip & doorsweep (via guides like this and this) as well as maybe some low-profile wall panels as some of the things you can do that aren’t super labor-intensive or big projects. Anyone into this side of things? I guess the rationale is, why upgrade your system when you can upgrade your room?

[Pigmy Pony]

Good morning Jake, welcome to AoS,

You seem to have two goals in mind here, to soundproof your room to a degree, and to alter the sound within your room, particularly the bass. I'll give you my views for what they're worth, but you'll have to wait a little longer for better information as the brainy folk on here do like a lie in!

The treatments you propose for doors will help a little with sound leakage though only really the higher frequencies. And as for changing the sound there are a few members who have experimented with cost effective diy panels, and no doubt they'll be along shortly.

I wonder if there exists a sound processor that would enable you to tailor the frequencies to suit your room/tastes? Like a hi-tech version of the old graphic equalisers?

It might be worth you adding some info about your particular room/system/music tastes - these may be relevant.

Regards,
Ste

[Macca]

Stopping sound escaping the room is not the same thing as treating the inside of the room, but I take it you want to do both?

Firstly you need to identify what problems you want to solve. Obviously the room will have an effect on the sound of the system but the effect tends to be exaggerated (IMO) by those selling room treatments and various forms of room EQ. If your room is sparsely furnished with lots of reflective surfaces then you will probably benefit from damping it down a little. Mostly that can be done with standard furnishings, carpets and rugs, thick curtains on the windows, and a big padded sofa or two which will all help soak up reflections and stop high frequencies from bouncing around.


Standard practice is to have more damping in the listening area and less where the speakers are sited (the 'live end'/ 'dead end' approach). Be aware that what people call 'soundstage' is to an extent produced by mid and high frequency reflections, so it is possible to over damp and kill the sound.


If you have boomy bass that's when you need to think about things like bass traps and/or resonators. Bass traps need to be big in order to work effectively (like the size of a big armchair), so you have to ask yourself do you want that in your room? The alternative is digital EQ to cut the offending bass peaks or resonators that will cancel them out. But some say using digital EQ kills the sound.

So firstly identify the problems that need solving. A photo of the room would be good, would help people to offer suggestions.

[slodigia]

I had the same idea about 2 years ago but took a different approach. I bought a DSP from miniDSP , DIRAC series. It comes with a calibrated microphone and after several attempts I found the sweet spot. It eliminates all booming and flattens the overall room response. It has a bypass button but I keep it on all the times.

I use a Naim XS5 as source and Audionote 2.1 external DAC.

Ciao


Sent from my G8341 using Tapatalk

[paulf-2007]

I have 4' X 2' X 2" acoustic rock wool panels at first reflection points adjacent to the speakers and on the ceiling. Also three more on back wall. Then kilo serge wool curtains by the French doors as used in vocal booths. I have some foam bass traps on the front corners but I haven't noticed any difference with or without them.

[Manicatel]

I would say in general to think about bass traps in the corners & absorption panels at the first & second reflection points.
This depends to a degree on what is practical in the room, eg if you have doors or windows where the reflection points are it’s tricky to put a panel there. Heavy curtains, thick carpet & underlay etc will help, but specific treatment panels will be better & don’t have to look like a load of recording studio foam.
Take a look at the GIK acoustics site to see what suits you. They also have a helpful advice service & a few videos to use.

[Sherwood]

I have 4' X 2' X 2" acoustic rock wool panels at first reflection points adjacent to the speakers and on the ceiling. Also three more on back wall. Then kilo serge wool curtains by the French doors as used in vocal booths. I have some foam bass traps on the front corners but I haven't noticed any difference with or without them.

I think that 2" thick acoustic rockwool will have a limited effect. On the basis of some research I built my panels using 100mm thick acoustic rockwool which seems about right. The product comes in 120cm x 60cm x 10cm slabs which is a good size for each main panel. It also splits easily into 60cm x 60cm mini panels.

[paulf-2007]

I think that 2" thick acoustic rockwool will have a limited effect. On the basis of some research I built my panels using 100mm thick acoustic rockwool which seems about right. The product comes in 120cm x 60cm x 10cm slabs which is a good size for each main panel. It also splits easily into 60cm x 60cm mini panels.

Maybe the limited effect was enough for my room. I'm done see ya

[JWolfe]

I had the same idea about 2 years ago but took a different approach. I bought a DSP from miniDSP , DIRAC series. It comes with a calibrated microphone and after several attempts I found the sweet spot. It eliminates all booming and flattens the overall room response. It has a bypass button but I keep it on all the times.

Nice!! I'm thinking this approach combined with some minimal paneling and bass traps would be good. Great suggestions all around

[2fastgt4]

I think that 2" thick acoustic rockwool will have a limited effect. On the basis of some research I built my panels using 100mm thick acoustic rockwool which seems about right. The product comes in 120cm x 60cm x 10cm slabs which is a good size for each main panel. It also splits easily into 60cm x 60cm mini panels.

Yes. And you can easily measure this with a microphone and free Rew program on your laptop.
With the material described here you need 15-20cm thickness as a minimum to cover problems dawn to ca200 hz effective. 5cm can only handle problems in the higher frequencies.
Anyway of course anything is better than nothing. As long it is not too many of them.

For me to go to 20cm thickness was out of question. Så i bought RPG Broadsorbor instead. Those are very good.

Tommy