I highly recommend reading the Room Acoustics Forum (sponsered by Rives) on Audio Asylum. Both Rives and Ethan Winer are active participants and there's ton of good information regarding room acoustics, panels, traps etc.
If you want to get into it deeper there are a number of other resouces including Ethan's excellent web site, the Master Handbook of Acoustics etc. If you want professional assistence, Rives also offers three levels of consulting services with specific recommendations. The more you learn, the more you understand that it is not a nebulous realm, but a science. And being a rocket surgeon doesn't hurt. ;-)
I've made a number of bass traps and absorbers for my room based on some of Ethan's designs and using Owens Corning 703 and 705 products. If you have a basic woodshop and a few skills, you can produce some very professional looking products that work extremely well. I decided to go the DIY route in order to custom build what I wanted in both terms of coverage and appearance. The fact that the price is significantly less than commercial products is a big plus.
In order to see some of the effects of bass trapping, you can buy bags of insulation to stack in a corner - not pretty, but very fast and affordable. Rigid fiberglass panels can be stacked or set in corners etc. to give you an idea of the possibilites.
IMO, a properly treated room is more important than any single component you can buy.
If you want to get into it deeper there are a number of other resouces including Ethan's excellent web site, the Master Handbook of Acoustics etc. If you want professional assistence, Rives also offers three levels of consulting services with specific recommendations. The more you learn, the more you understand that it is not a nebulous realm, but a science. And being a rocket surgeon doesn't hurt. ;-)
I've made a number of bass traps and absorbers for my room based on some of Ethan's designs and using Owens Corning 703 and 705 products. If you have a basic woodshop and a few skills, you can produce some very professional looking products that work extremely well. I decided to go the DIY route in order to custom build what I wanted in both terms of coverage and appearance. The fact that the price is significantly less than commercial products is a big plus.
In order to see some of the effects of bass trapping, you can buy bags of insulation to stack in a corner - not pretty, but very fast and affordable. Rigid fiberglass panels can be stacked or set in corners etc. to give you an idea of the possibilites.
IMO, a properly treated room is more important than any single component you can buy.