Jimbos Audio ramblings

[CageyH]

The problem with acoustic panels is having the WAF acceptability criteria fulfilled, at the same time as having the audio criteria at an acceptable level.
My listening space is certainly not as attractive as yours, as I have my home working space, my UK TV, Hifi, sim racing rig and the Sofas squeezed into it.
I have a wall just behind my head, but as long as the volume levels are kept reasonable, the system sounds fine. I don't have any sidewalls next to my speakers, so my first reflection point is likely to be the wall. I really should try and do something....

As my "cave" is on a mezzanine floor, speaker isolation was a priority, but also the volume needs to stay reasonable. The IsoPucks made a big difference. I let a friend borrow them, and he has since ordered them, as he could not believe what a difference they made.

I don't have WAF to take into consideration, as she never spends an extended period time in my man cave. But sticking rockwool on the wall behind me does not appeal to me.
It needs to be something aesthetically pleasing. I started to look at GIK panels, but getting the right images is always a challenge.

[Jimbo]

The problem with acoustic panels is having the WAF acceptability criteria fulfilled, at the same time as having the audio criteria at an acceptable level.
My listening space is certainly not as attractive as yours, as I have my home working space, my UK TV, Hifi, sim racing rig and the Sofas squeezed into it.
I have a wall just behind my head, but as long as the volume levels are kept reasonable, the system sounds fine. I don't have any sidewalls next to my speakers, so my first reflection point is likely to be the wall. I really should try and do something....

As my "cave" is on a mezzanine floor, speaker isolation was a priority, but also the volume needs to stay reasonable. The IsoPucks made a big difference. I let a friend borrow them, and he has since ordered them, as he could not believe what a difference they made.

I don't have WAF to take into consideration, as she never spends an extended period time in my man cave. But sticking rockwool on the wall behind me does not appeal to me.
It needs to be something aesthetically pleasing. I started to look at GIK panels, but getting the right images is always a challenge.

Yes the WAF appeal does have to be taken into account but even without WAF I agree it does have to fit in with your living environment and look acceptable. I would definitely recommend trialling some rock wool battens, you will be surprised at the result. Try and reduce any reflective surfaces lespecially glass and hard surfaces if you can. Biggest differences are around imaging and the details contain there in.

I am almost certainly going to try the Isopucks Kev when I get round to it. I am sure they are going to add something significant or take something significant away? I need 8 x 9Kg weight bearing picks so that's £200 which sounds reasonable price.

[Jimbo]

Just to show you what can be done to make room acoustics look appealing. This is my mates place and shows some construction of some of the individual panels. sorry there are quite a few pics but scroll through to the end to see finished result. It is amazing!


https://sonoritydesign.co.uk/index.p...-so-long-then/

[struth]

just needs the long table and the stucket pig

[CageyH]

Just to show you what can be done to make room acoustics look appealing. This is my mates place and shows some construction of some of the individual panels. sorry there are quite a few pics but scroll through to the end to see finished result. It is amazing!


https://sonoritydesign.co.uk/index.p...-so-long-then/

[CageyH]

I am planning to finish my cinema room this year, but there is no way that I am going to that level of sound proofing.
I plan on doing some, but my challenge is going to be the floor, as it is a suspended wooden floor. The joists are visible in the lounge and kitchen, so if I don't want a step into the cinema room, then I have to insulate in the main living areas.
Options are, do nothing, or spend a lot of time making things look nice downstairs. The wife wants me to paint the wood white downstairs, so this may be an opportunity to improve the acoustic insulation in the cinema room, and keep her happy.

I should also decouple my sub from the wooden floor.

[Jimbo]

just needs the long table and the stucket pig

It does have that feel. With all the furniture etc he has now installed there is a steam punk vibe!

[charles hidalgo]

Yesterday I started to Investigate improvements to my listening room acoustics as I have already found significant changes can be affected with increasing the amount of general furnishings in the room. However the next stage will have to include deliberate "audiophile" acoustic solutions. If the listening room was absolutely under my control and I did not have to share it as a living space I could go very extreme and build into it all the significant room acoustic architecture I would need to control the acoustic signature of the room. I have gained an extensive knowledge of how to do this from my friend Steve who has taken this approach to the extreme. But I have to share the living space with family and it has to be seen as an "acceptable" living room although I have been granted it is our listening room.

Last year I removed everything from the room and observed that is was indeed a big echoey space. even though it was carpeted and had decent underlay. At one end of the room I have a large window and at the back of the room behind my head I have two large glass panelled doors exiting into the kitchen diner. These have now been sorted with very thick super insulated and thermally lined curtains at the one end and to get around the door problems at the other I just open them. No reflection there.

Moving three sofas into the room then damped down the acoustics significantly and when the curtains are drawn I get a very good controlled end to that part of the room with the speakers. Further up the room towards the listening chair I start to notice the room reflections and reverberation. Simple hand claps will tell you how reflective the room gets.. I have absolutely no problems with bass issues and probably even lack a bit of bass but midrange is excellent. However the treble/ top end information as is quite common has issues. The amount of furnishing in the room has taken away any grain and harshness to the sound. It certainly does not sound overly bright and cymbals etc ring true and clean without any glare or over emphasis.

So you might think as I did what are the issues with the acoustics regarding the top end. Well in order to understand this I have had to start implementing some first reflection point acoustic absorption. You sometimes don't know how things can sound better or what you are missing until the improvements happen and this its certainly true of room acoustics. When you start implementing acoustic control you influence the sound of you system and what it can achieve significantly. I am keen however to not go to far and take away anything that I have that I feel is good.

So the first issue was to prevent the glass in the bookshelf from reflecting and influencing the treble coming from the right and speakers. So a panel of very thick padded material with sound absorbing properties is being made for this. On the other side of the room I will have to install another panel of probably rock wool covered either in plain material or maybe art work. I know how to construct this but in order to understand the effect it would have I tried a make shift panel. I may need another smaller panel on the left hand side too bit will assess how the book case glass panel works first.

As I mentioned I did roughly install some make shift panels and there results were as follows.

1. The imaging became much more precise and everything in the sound stage could be observed far more clearly.

2. Treble was not rolled of or reduced but greater levels of detail were exposed.

3. Soundstage was not changed in size but way more controlled. Where as before it was a bit fuzzy round the extremes and a bit effusive it snapped into focus. There was again more precision as to what was happening and where in the sound stage and the depth and edges were far easier to ascertain.

4. The combination of a lot better imaging and more detail produced some astonishing effects. These being information in the recordings that were hither to unintelligible or missing snapped into focus and were revealed. Harmonies and layering of information in the recordings were suddenly perceptible. It was as if all the information was there before but mixed together so some parts of the recording obscured others. The effect of sorting the first reflective points untangled all parts of the recording mix and made them much more obvious and clear cut.

I can only liken it to looking through a camera lens and then turning it to focus on the subject.

To be honest it was not a surprise that controlling the first reflection points had a significant outcome but what was a surprise was what it actually did. I have heard acoustically treated rooms but until you do it yourself with a system and room you know well you can't quite get a handle on what the effects were. I found they were profound and once heard cannot be unheard.

I will post up some picture when I have the finished the reflection point acoustics when they are made properly and installed as they are only prototypes currently for me to certain if they were worth doing and what effects they had.

From what I heard they are absolutely worth installing and have made a huge difference to that critical part of my system where you hear most of the information that is going on in the recording. It just goes to show how important it is to pay attention to your system and its interaction with the room acoustics as you can miss out on so much potential you never realised was there.

The Room: The most important and most overlooked part of the audio chain. I have posted many photos (sorry for so many but I forget a lot if I dont photograph it). I have been in this room for over 23 years and did not seriously attack the "room" issues until about four years ago. It was the biggest and most satisfying improvement ever in my over 40 years of listening rooms. I have been in every position on every square inch of this room and after years of placement and positioning of things it was worth it all. I will say also that the textbook answer or theory is not always what ends up working as each room, gear, and pair of ears are different but there are plenty of places to read and at least get started. It may save you unnecessary money and more importantly to me it saved me time. There are no more hours of switching speakers, or positions, and on and on. just fire things up and listen. I and "WE" are types that will still always try new stuff and new ideas but once I knew this room and what it took to help it give me the best it possibly could the reward was huge. Anything now that is new or unrecognized like a component and even sometimes a cable is noticed also, and sometimes not in a subtle way.

Cheers

[charles hidalgo]

https://sonoritydesign.co.uk/index.p...-so-long-then/
That room is incredible BTW!

[Wakefield Turntables]

Right tonight is the night to read this thread !!