Beginner improvements for room acoustics; very helpful Darko video on reverb and RT60

@onhwy61 I think small rooms are not helped by RT60, but Darko's room and many others are not small. I'll look for criteria regarding "small." You're raising a good point, and it would help everyone to know at what point RT60 is not applicable.

From an acoustic perspective, any normal sized domestic room is small.

I suggest you watch the video. Darko clearly states that this is not about low frequencies. If folks watch the video, they will see why RT60 is relevant.

@djones51  I'm interested to hear you say that about Darko. Your posts have always struck me as exceptionally well-informed, and I get a good impression from Darko, too. Can you tell me why you think he is generally untrustworthy or at least someone folks need not pay attention to? Thank you.

@djones51 Thanks for expanding on your comments. 

My experience with both absorption and diffusion massively changed the sound of my room. I'm presently in a space with a 6.5 foot ceiling, and putting absorption on the ceiling was a game changer in terms of dealing with very harsh highs. I do have an unusually low ceiling, but I think it's true that unless one has ceilings over 9 or 10 feet (with the average, mid-field listening distance), ceiling bounce is a thing that really induces first-reflection problems. If that's right, then Darko's final piece of advice -- to at least do something about one's ceiling -- seems uncontestable.

I know that all of this advice is dependent on the many specific factors involved. For my own part, I measured with REW's impulse graphs among others, and even used the "string method" to narrow down where the first and distal reflections were coming from. Then, I treated those areas. The result is a much wider, deeper, and articulate soundstage. People who come over to listen are usually amazed at what they hear, given the visual cues of the space.

Ceiling is the one thing you can’t do in a living room.

Doesn't your living room have a ceiling? ;-)

"measurement types"

-- going in my Audiophile Glossary in the "abusive epithets" subcategory.

@nymarty I have 703 OC panels affixed on the ceilings, pointing diagonally toward my chair in exactly the area where the ceiling first reflection occurs.