DIY Room treatments

[Macca]

The Imperial 6 does have some deep bass but it is way down in level. Try them and see. If you are getting some bass boom then the cheapest, simplest way to fix it is with digital EQ. You could build bass traps but they need to be big (like the corner posts of a boxing ring) and dense. The little panels you see on the walls in some rooms will only absorb and scatter much higher frequency reflections and will do nothing to correct any bass modes. Unless the room is very bright and reflective it's my opinion that you don't need them. Killing those reflections completely can make the room too dead and actually reduce the size of the soundstage.


Or third alternative is building/buying resonators to cancel the modes but again a lot more hassle than using EQ. Although getting the EQ right isn't just plug and play either.

[alphaGT]

My speakers have 3) 12” woofers in each. So I’ve got real bass problems! But just keeping them away from the corners, and a few feet from the back wall does a LOT to tame it. Getting the woofer farther off the floor can help too.

Russell

[Mikeandvan]

Spikes couple the speaker to the floor so there is no isolation at all and placing a heavy slab between spikes and floor will only alter the character of the sound transmission, not prevent it, but every little helps. Isolation, in varying degrees, can be achieved by:

• Spring systems which when carefully specified can provide total isolation (Townshend Seismic products are the Gold Standard but you can go DIY at modest cost). The challenging bit of designing a spring system is to get the correct spring rate, with optimum damping, and (most importantly) having something that's stable in use.
  
• Elastomer systems where good isolation can be achieved at mid-high frequencies, but compared to a sprung system low frequency isolation is often poor. Gaia do some good ones.
  
• Foam pads like the Auralex products used in studios are the cheapest and most convenient way to achieve some isolation and decoupling, but in truth not much.
  

Moving from a 'hard coupled' mindset to one that accepts speakers can be quite softly supported is quite liberating in terms of sound reproduction, but much more liberating for anyone living in a house or flat where transmitted sound to other rooms and/or neighbours is a problem (that's pretty much all properties, and even those supposedly constructed in accordance with Building Regulations Part E).

What are the options if you've got a carpeted sprung floor? I thought the faux marble slab would provide a nice flat hard surface for the speakers to sit on - whether they are spiked or on some form of squidgy plastic supports.

Here's my current speaker set up. IMG_20190411_215126077_HDR by Mike Van, on Flickr

As you can see my components stand is also rigidly fixed to the floor by its spikes, and that's a heavy stand, is this ideal?IMG_20190607_123743162_HDR by Mike Van, on Flickr

[Ammonite Audio]

My recommendation for speaker isolation is simply to stop sound transmission from the speaker, into the structure of the room and house. The same does not apply to a rack, which generally needs to provide a stable and aesthetically pleasing support for equipment, so I would not criticise your equipment stand which is perfectly functional. Speaker isolation using compliant springs or elastomer supports is generally a good thing, except when slim tower speakers are used, in which case stability becomes possibly rather more important. For that reason, other than experimenting with something like rubbery layers underneath the marble slabs to add some further decoupling between those and the carpet, I don't think there's much that you can do, practicably.

[AJSki2fly]

Try some of these under the speakers https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-x-Sorbo...oAAOSwsY1c~5gq buy the right size for the weight of each one.

Sit in your listening position and get someone to move a mirror (about 1’ by 1’) along the side wall, parallel to the wall, at your head height. When you can see the speaker in the mirror the speaker next to the wall this is the first reflection point, try hanging a curtain or something absorbing like a wall rug at that point. In the corners behind or next to your listening position you can experiment with cardboard boxes in a tower at odd angles to the walls an each other, this will stop low end bass reflections, a curtain drape across the corner can help. Often overlooked are ceiling reflections, a triangular sail type material suspended below the ceilings no will stop a lot.

If you do all the above you will probably be quite surprised by the difference, but it may all sound a bit dead, so subtle changes in the size of the above and position of the reflection absorbers until you get what you want.

As for most of us it will be a matter of compromise and tweaking until it sounds good for you.