Best room treatment

Thank you everyone. I’m quickly learning how important it is to get the room as good as you can for the best sound. 

I forgot to mention if it matters that music and movies will both be important. 

Again many thanks for all of your excellent advice. I definitely need some more knowledge before taking out my wallet. 

brownsfan, thanks for the input on my room. It sounds like I should implement REW before I consider any room treatments. Were you suggesting I sell the RELs as a cost effective move or would they not work as well as a dedicated swarm set up would.  I was looking forward to how they would sound in our room. If the RELs would work as well and I like how they sound I may just try to save for two more. 

Hey Tim , 

    First let me thank you and everyone else again for all of your time you have spent helping me learn about this amazing hobby I’m loving more every day. I am going to play with what I have coming for a bit and go from there. I hope to be able to move to a swarm system sooner than later. I am confused about getting the bass sounding right without any room treatments. There is a fair amount of reverberation in the room. Does sub crawl and REW work regardless of the reverb and any other room issues? 

Thanks for the tips. I’ll check them them out. 

@brownsfan  the room is our 2 story family room open on two sides. Not ideal. My speakers are Kanta 3 with the Kanta center channel and Kanta 1 for surrounds. What is the advantage to elevating the subs more than the feet on them already do ?  

@brownsfan thanks for the advice. This is definitely going to take longer than I anticipated. I’m not familiar with REW but  will take a look. I’ve heard about the swarming technique and will have 2subs to start. Do you think 2 will be enough? I’m using REL 10 inch which are fairly pricy and adding more wasn’t really in my budget. 

Hi Tim. It is quite a lot of info to take in. I’m reading Earl Geddes article right now. Thanks for your advice. I was wondering if a swarm system would eliminate the need for at least some bass trap panels therefore saving some money. 

Hello Tim ,

    I am now thoroughly excited about the swarm system. I’m going to beg borrow and steal for some more money. I am wondering though if our room is just not good enough to achieve the sound quality I’m hoping for. 18 ft. High ceilings with windows on the right side and stairs and upstairs walkway on the other. There are really only two corners for bass traps and only 4 inches between the wall and windows so I could not stack all the way to the ceiling. It would be a top, middle , bottom trap set up of about 2 ft sections. We are running curtains from the top window to the floor on both sides. The fireplace is in the middle so any wall treatments would have to start about 6 ft up.  In regards to the 2’x4’ panels from GIK did you use strictly absorption and diffusion? It seems they have some that have a combination of each characteristic. Do you think panels will be needed all the way to the top or will about half way up be sufficient. I’m assuming the ceilings will also need some panels. One of the videos I watched recommended absorption and diffusion on the ceiling. 

I will consider strongly making them myself as my WAF financial tank is running on fumes. I have another question in regards to bass swarming. What is the probability that one or more of the subs will end up in a bad spot like out in the middle of the room to get the best sound ? 

Great question which I was going to ask as well having just read that the swarm method is designed for 2 channel listening and not for HT. 

Brownsfan. Is the REW system the same as Dirac, Audyssey etc.? The Marantz 8805 I’m getting comes with the latest version of Audyssey so would it be just as effective as REW? Does Duke have a company or would I just google him? Trying to sneak chatting and searching in while my CNC is running. Thanks 

How embarrassing. Duke is audiokinesis. One other thing I was wondering about Is do you need to consider what  type of speakers you have to match up well with the swarm system? 

Excellent ! 😃