I've been playing with traps and diffusion for over two years and what I discovered about my listening environment surprised me completely.
- Room - 11.5 x 15 x 8ft (tall)
- Hardwood floor with 5 x 8 carpet in the centre
- system is at one end of the room on the short wall
- High wing back chair in listening position at opposite end of the room
- 7ft x 4.5 ft bow window is centred at the opposite end behind listening position
- Wall to the left of the listening position has a double doorway - so no reflected sound
- Wall to the right of the listening position has three seat sofa with high back + float mount pictures - so very little reflected sound
- To the right of the listening position is a 78" tall 14" x 36" book case
- To the left of the listening position is a second wing-back chair
- so there is a fair amount of absorption from furniture/carpet alone
In my case, it turns out there were three areas that caused problems...
- the wall behind the system had an echo, so I made 78" x 15" wide baffles that sit at 45 degrees in each of the corners
- at the wall-ceiling boundary behind the listening position there was significant reflections - I placed an 8ft vinyl roller blind at this point and only needed to unroll it about 12" to kill the unwanted reflections. Unrolling it further resulted in little to no improvement.
- I discovered that there was also significant "acoustic turbulence" in the space above the book case - a piece of 1" thick foam on the top of the bookcase remedied this.
On my journey I had placed traps in the corners, at wall-floor boundaries, behind the speakers, under the sofa and bookcase.
I've since removed removed all but those that address the three problem areas above and my system has never sounded so good.
Moral of the story - i.e. in my case - less was definitely more
I have since helped a friend with his problems in a totally different room-space - 12 foot ceilings made of concrete, hardwood floor with very little carpet, open plan with kitchen cabinets to the right of the listening area, and again - we found the most annoying issues were resolved by placing traps and vinyl absorption materials at the wall-ceiling boundaries and dealing with reflections above cabinetry.
Turns out the vinyl is a great barrier that absorbs audio wave-forms - turning them into minute amount of heat - and it's cheap
It's not the answer to all the acoustic issues room might have, but with a little investigation it can sure eliminate a lot of those real ugly traps that have been known to "invade ones listening space".
Hope that helps
- Room - 11.5 x 15 x 8ft (tall)
- Hardwood floor with 5 x 8 carpet in the centre
- system is at one end of the room on the short wall
- High wing back chair in listening position at opposite end of the room
- 7ft x 4.5 ft bow window is centred at the opposite end behind listening position
- Wall to the left of the listening position has a double doorway - so no reflected sound
- Wall to the right of the listening position has three seat sofa with high back + float mount pictures - so very little reflected sound
- To the right of the listening position is a 78" tall 14" x 36" book case
- To the left of the listening position is a second wing-back chair
- so there is a fair amount of absorption from furniture/carpet alone
In my case, it turns out there were three areas that caused problems...
- the wall behind the system had an echo, so I made 78" x 15" wide baffles that sit at 45 degrees in each of the corners
- at the wall-ceiling boundary behind the listening position there was significant reflections - I placed an 8ft vinyl roller blind at this point and only needed to unroll it about 12" to kill the unwanted reflections. Unrolling it further resulted in little to no improvement.
- I discovered that there was also significant "acoustic turbulence" in the space above the book case - a piece of 1" thick foam on the top of the bookcase remedied this.
On my journey I had placed traps in the corners, at wall-floor boundaries, behind the speakers, under the sofa and bookcase.
I've since removed removed all but those that address the three problem areas above and my system has never sounded so good.
Moral of the story - i.e. in my case - less was definitely more
I have since helped a friend with his problems in a totally different room-space - 12 foot ceilings made of concrete, hardwood floor with very little carpet, open plan with kitchen cabinets to the right of the listening area, and again - we found the most annoying issues were resolved by placing traps and vinyl absorption materials at the wall-ceiling boundaries and dealing with reflections above cabinetry.
Turns out the vinyl is a great barrier that absorbs audio wave-forms - turning them into minute amount of heat - and it's cheap
It's not the answer to all the acoustic issues room might have, but with a little investigation it can sure eliminate a lot of those real ugly traps that have been known to "invade ones listening space".
Hope that helps