HELP; Acceptable Living Room Sound Treatment

Try to get room treatments that not only absorb but also disperse sound, These soundwaves, as I figure from your desciption are not really in the deep frequencies. In my earlier residence, Room tunes made corner traps did help ma greatly. And while I still have them, They are not installed now as in my setup were slightly useless or even detrimental. Try something like them!

Try
www.realtraps.com
www.gikacoustics.com
www.atsacoustics.com

Kal

Most of the absortive panels are made using Corning OC703 insulation panelling, which can be purchased from industrial insulation suppliers (not your typical Home Depot item). Corner bass traps would also be a great addition and initially a good place to start. There's DIY instructions for building them online. The only problem there is the overall volume those traps need to be in order to be effective increases with the size of the room and with the range of bass you wish to address (lower = larger)...kind of a broad generalization, but also a caution that it is like betting on the horses to go out and buy or build some of this stuff and place it randomly hoping it will have the desired effect. If you are technically inclined, I'd do a whole bunch of research and try to get a grasp of just what you need to do for your specific room and problems. Then go the DIY route to make things look the way you'd like them to and possibly save some money. That or consult with an expert like Rives. As far as covering acoustic foam with posterboard art - you will be blocking out the effect of the foam as the board is not acoustically transparent. There's a fabric company in Maine, I believe, who makes acoustically transparent fabric. Not cheap, of course. You could just paint the foam itself - not sure what effect that may have, and, at least to me, it does not sound very attractive. Kal gave you some good resources for economical finished products.

Good luck!

My wife really likes these, they are reasonable and they will sell the material or frames if you want to do some of the work yourself. Helped the sound of my system more than anything else I ever did.

http://www.readyacoustics.com/index.php?main_page=faq&fcPath=13

clickable link :

http://www.readyacoustics.com/index.php?main_page=faq&fcPath=13

Send photo's and diagram of the room to Chris at RealTraps. I did so and he was very helpful in getting to understand the issues I had with the room.

Thanks everyone.

I actually have a bass trap from Ready Acoustics in my listening room which is the only place my girlfriend will let me have it. She went bonkers when I suggested that I put some in the living room because it would improve the sound. So, hence, my dilemma.

By the way, I like the Real Traps stuff, too. I'm planning on getting another house soon if my girlfriend and I go up a level so Real Traps may be in my future, but for now.....

I kinda had the same problem with my 2 channel room with the high ceilings. Check out the "Ergo" site. Room Analysis & Correction System from KRK. I have mine ordered so don't have first hand experience but have talked to several others that say it is excellent and precludes hanging busters.

Hi everyone, I still believe dispersion is the best solution as you can then dial back volume. And cornertraps do them real good removing them from the corners!

Try using book shelves, furniture, drapes etc to tame the echoes you mention you're having trouble with. You'll have slap echo between two parallel surfaces so be sure to put something in front of one of the two parallel surfaces - carpet on floor or bookshelf on one side wall etc.

If all else fails, trade in the girlfriend; if she's this controlling during your courting phase, think about what she'll be like after years of marriage ;)

GIK will produce wall panels with artwork or photos you supply.

01-03-10: Markus1299
I kinda had the same problem with my 2 channel room with the high ceilings. Check out the "Ergo" site. Room Analysis & Correction System from KRK. I have mine ordered so don't have first hand experience but have talked to several others that say it is excellent and precludes hanging busters.
Markus1299 (System | Threads | Answers)

I just ordered the ERGO as well. It arrived today. Curiosity + the need to deal with room acoustics + cheap price + 60 day money-back = Me buying to try it out. Hopefully the results are positive and not some sort of tradeoff. If things go well, I'll continue to treat the room from here, but my setup is also living-room based (with sloped ceiling and lots of hard surfaces) so WAF is an issue.