How to make small room sound bigger

Helmholtz diffusers are also powerful not only the very well known resonators which also diffuse some frequencies anyway...

It is a tube with a filtering end mouth with no neck and an open end... I used tube of different diameter and length...

By the way dont be afraid by the mathematical DESCRIPTION with equations...

Your ears/brain COMPUTE everything without using any numbers...

Just EXPERIMENT.... And LISTEN.....Most people are afraid of mathematic...learn the physical meaning of these devices , throw the equations on the garbage bin and experiment and listen with your own ears... Simple... It is FUN.... and it work... Especially if you use many devices that compensate each other... I created my device and tuned them by ears not by resolving a set of equations.... 😁😊

Is it perfect?

No...

Is it astounding in S.Q. improvement?

 

Yes, i laugh at the idea of any costly gear upgrade...

I listen music not sound now...

 

@mahgister - I am aware of Helmholtz resonators, I have read of their effectiveness but to be honest, I’d have a very steep learning curve on those. They certainly seem to be a lot more work than what I’ve done so far. Congratulations on your patience, because learning how to do it, before even implementation - wow.

The right amount of balance between reflection which is necessaary at some spot in small room and between absorption and the importance of diffusion and the right balance in the right spot...

Diffusers are completely underestimated indeed like said Rick and Lavigne...

I use mainly tubes with a filtering cloth for diffusion ....And anyway there is a variable content on my wall with irregularities, like a library in 2 of my walls with many various reflective and diffusive content and geometry...

And in a small room the goal is not big nor small imaging sound filling room but disapearance of the speakers and of the walls geometrical inconvenience...Because you could have imaging and reflections problems with distortions all over the place also...:Like clearthinker say above...

In my room a square of 13 feet with 8 feet high, one of the speakers is a few inches in a wall corner , enscounced in it?

is it not completely bad?

Yes it is....

Then why did i feel no acoustical negative behaviour with this very bad location of one of the speakers?

Right treatment balance will not do the job here...Nor plenty of diffusers...It takes me Helmholtz resonators and my tubular Helmholtz diffusers to make the wall corner where my speakers is captive to disapear....Modification of the pressure zones distribution in my room...

 

i succeed...

 

By the way my last discovery was the useof a twofold pliable screen behind my regular listening location... With difusive and reflective devices and the right amount of absorbtion also... This was extraordinary idea for me because it give me the last acoustical cue i was longing for to beat my 7 headphones : intimacy like with headphone without loosing any soundstage , imaging, natural timbre experience and listener envelopment...

My last device is this twofold screen acoustic tool which also support 10 Helmholtz resonators and diffusers of various size but near 6 feet....

Intimacy is an acoustic quality rarely associated with speakers listening....I read about it nowhere why?

But it is one of the greatest to enjoy....For me....

 

 

 

Also i use 3 type of ionization devices at low cost... ( save one which is useful for other medical utilization and cost me 100 bucks)

Also i always enjoy my Schumann chinese low cost resonators grid at very low cost..

All these too numerous devices, all of them play their role in the acoustic results...

The most important impactful one are the Helmholtz devices resonators and diffusers though...

 

«Back in 1954, Schroeder referred to the frequency at which rooms go from being resonators to being reflectors/diffusors as the “crossover frequency.” We now call it the Schroeder frequency.»

It is the reason why using a grid of tuned Helmholtz resonators and diffusers, i smooth out any disruptive modes, i have around 100 of them from the diameter in millimeters to few inches with various lenght from 8 feet to 6 inches, i dont need a subwoofer with my 7 inches speakers box, and i enjoy all acoustical cues optimally for my room : dynamic, timbre,imaging, soundstage, listener envelopment, intimacy ETC...

Dont buy anything experiment and have fun...

Study basic acoustic WITHOUT any tool save your ears... Train them...

Acoustic phenomenon are not mainly linear mathematical phenomenon.... They are  mostly non linear ....You ears are the best tool IN YOUR ROOM....

😁😊

I own a square room 13 feet by 13 and 8 feet ceiling...

Not an ideal one allegedly because a square one...

😁😊

My sound quality is so good that my 7 headphones are in a closet drawing for ever...

Passive material treatment is mandatory but it will not be enough to reach heaven...Only enough to improve the room ...To adapt the room response for the speakers it takes more than passive treatment...Especially in very small room...In fact i think now that the best room are small one, because we can use the time and timing aspect, and the reverberation factor to be positive from a psycho-acoustic standpoint...My room is like an intimate headphone sound, out of my head though, with sound filling the room... Speakers and walls disapear...

 

If you own a dedicated audio room not a living room, buy cheap discarded plumbers

tubes of various size and attach to them various straws of diffferent size diameter for adjustable neck in lenght and diameter and experiment with your EARS to tune the room....

If they are completely closed on one side they are "bottle" resonators.... Add to some tubes at one end some piece of fabric cloth which will act like some filter but keeping the mouth opened...Then you have diffusers....it is what i called mechanical control of the room...

All these tubes open on the two ends with one end filtered  or closed at one end with a neck are Helmholtz bottles resonators or diffusers in the firstcase .... NOTHING in passive treatment will replace this new distribution of pressure zones now synergetically tunable mechanically for your specific ears and specific speakers... Read the basic about Helmholtz resonators first...

Experiment and have fun...Dont be afraid, dont buy anything costly, EXPERIMENT....

Audiophile experience may cost peanuts, i know it by experience and experiments...Not by reading audio magazine... 😁😊

Mechanical control of the gear, electrical noise floor control of the house and especially acoustical control and not only walls passive treatment are the keys...

Price tag is meaningless in acoustic experience...Consumerism conditioning expanse is not musical experience, acoustic is...