Acoustics experts - a little help please


Hey all,

I have 9 foot ceilings and I sit in a 9 foot equilateral triangle with my speakers. Do I need to treat the ceiling? Absorption or defraction? I'm trying to get a deeper more 3D soundstage.Speakers are 46" from the front wall which is treated with absorption and defraction. 

Thanks! 

maprik

Showing 8 responses by maprik

The room is actually 2 rooms joined. My music room and a dining room with a large opening between them. Essentially no left wall for the left speaker and the right wall is about 8 feet from the right speaker. There is a bany grand piano that helps with defraction of the right speaker. Floor is hardwood but I have a nice thick rug and pad under that. See system photos.  

Maybe 3D is the wrong word. I'm looking for soundstage depth. Paul McGowan talks about it in one of his YouTube videos. Apparently in his setup you can hear images left, right, center and 5 feet back, 10 feet back, 20 feet back, etc. Appreciate the advice! 

So I downloaded some audio apps to my phone. One of them measures RT60. I put my phone in my listening position and clapped my hands at both right and left speaker positions. I don’t know if this is the correct way to do this since there were no instructions and I can’t find any online. Anyway, multiple tries from these 2 positions gave me RT60 readings of 0.34 - 0.36 msecs. From my research it seems anything below 0.50 is good. But what does this tell me other than I have an acceptable reverb level? . 

Great video. OK I’ll get rid of the coffee table and see what I can do about the equipment in the middle.... Not sure i can do much since the wall mounted TT stand will be difficult to move. But the top shelf stuff could be relocated and maybe I can raise the TV.

Made a few simple changes in moving equipment below the height of my speakers and moved my coffee table away. Also removed the top shelves of my equipment stands since they aren’t in use now so the stands are more skeletal. I also moved my TV back as far as I could and have it covered with a defraction panel. Unfortunately i can’t move my TT shelf that is bolted to the wall studs. Nevertheless, the results are positive. Listening to Birds by Dominique Fils-Aimé i think the bass is moved back a little into the soundstage with the vocal a few feet in front. Other interesting percussion sounds cime from behind the vocals as well. It’s a good start for 0$. Now thinking about ceiling treatments. 

Thanks all, 

Spent some time last night moving my speakers around and ended up with a new location much farther out in the room. About a foot more away from the front wall. Another great improvement in depth. Posted a photo on top of my system page.