Bookshelf vs diffuser panel. Who wins?

Where is that bookshelf located vis-à-vis your audio system? A bookshelf is definitely better than nothing, but it cannot possibly compare with a properly designed diffuser panel. I used such bookshelves to mimic diffusers early on, but once I tried diffuser panels (GIK Alpha 4a), there was not going back. The 4” Alphas are combination absorber, bass trap, and diffuser. I now have 14 Alpha 4” and 6”.

Here is copy / paste from GIK website:

The key to good diffusion is an even scattering. A quality diffuser should scatter the sound in a complete 180 degrees. GIK treatments like the gotham and alpha series are designed with a mathematical formula to give a perfectly even scattering.

Good diffusion doesn’t happen by accident, the designs are very precise and complex. Some people suggest using a bookcase filled with books as a cheap form of diffusion, but a random assortment of books is extremely unlikely to have the layout precision required to produce good diffusion. It’s probably better than a bare, reflective wall, but it won’t perform like a good diffuser.

Guys: as with everything in life, there is no free lunch. Bookshelves, rags, towels, blankets… you name it. Been there done that. There is no substitute to real room treatments. Let’s not fool ourselves. Yes, we all want to save money AND effort/ work.

There this solves everybody’s problems allowing for modifications to suit the needs of all those people pretending they can hear differences. We know it’s really positive reinforcement at work. Oh I hear a difference, guess that means it’s gonna be better now.

Hmmmmm…. Then why do anything at all? Leave it all alone. It’s all “play pretend” anyways 🙄