I bought some Owens Corning 703. Now what?

Thank you all. I've done the mirror test and have no sidewall first reflection points that are closer than 15 feet. My listening seat is about 8 feet from the speakers.

I mainly want to listen. I am doing measurements, too, in order to see if I can establish correlations between the graph and what I hear. Naturally, the decisive element is to go by what I hear, but so far doing measurements has guided some changes in my room that sound better. So, for me at least, measurements are helping.

Thanks, cissado. Bass first -- got it.

Here's a brutal response I got from Acoustic Fields when I described my room (and the 6.5 foot ceilings): "This is the worse ceiling height I have seen in 20 years. Please find another room."

Sigh. Well, at least I enjoy listening to music in that room, whatever he says.

My dimensions are complex -- diagram on this page: https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/9064

I have no side reflection points to worry about but I have a low ceiling. I have a concrete floor but it has both wall to wall carpet, thin, and area rugs on top of that. Bookshelves line the back wall and I've arranged the books to help diffuse. Front wall is brick.

Let me just stress that I'm not asking for advice (yet) about how to fix my room, but rather experiments to try.

Thanks, TVAD. I have some leftover blue tak so this is great.

Here’s a 1st report: 6 OC 703 panels placed at various places.

(a) Placed on first reflection on floor, immediately under ceiling reflection spots. Had noticeable reduction of harsh upper mids and treble. Even better on some tracks with two panels.

(b) Placed along front wall between speakers, mostly, four panels. Vocal tracks which were already located in the center became much more focused. E.g. When before I was listening to “a singer” in front of me, now I was hearing the vocals from “a singer’s head.” So much better localization.

(c) Placed on rear wall -- which is a bookcase with books pulled out at various degrees -- there was very little change I could hear.

So far so good. Didn’t try to measure, just listened.

@edunbar and @tazz2 Thanks -- I will go take a look. I've watched a lot of videos about acoustics and treatments but perhaps there will be something additional here to learn.

@corelli I'll consider suspending the panels. Once a 2" panel is suspended down 4" from a 6'5" ceiling, it is now at about 5' 11 inches from the ground and just about low enough for someone to bump with their head. But I think that this is at least a temporary experiment that will bear fruit. And maybe even an 1" off the ceiling would be good.

@slaw 2 inch spacers sounds like the easier way to get corelli's suggestion implemented. Thanks.

@optimize Thanks for the suggestion. I've played test tones and walked around the room your suggestion about the panels in a sack is interesting. I'll try that. I'll just thank you now, if that's ok.

@riley804 I have not tried the stereo where the bed is (in this room, it's impossible) but I have tried putting the stereo at the opposite end of the room, in other words, on the short wall. It is not as good. Still, I have not tried it with treatments. That's a good experiment.

@jetjuice  Thank you for your replies. It's a privilege to have someone with your experience taking up my question. I'm trying to calculate the amount of reverb with REW.

And at this point, I'm playing with the material -- to see how it affects what I hear and what I measure.

FWIW, I don't expect to be able to become an expert by messing around with a few panels, but I expect to get some experiential insight into how the room can change. (Sort of like the way we try lamps in different parts of a room, with different bulbs, and then stand back and see how it looks, or sit down and try to read, etc.)

@vermonster -- Good suggestion. I'll try some doubled up layers, especially after I play some test tones to identify where the bass is really piling up in standing waves.

@mesch Thanks for the building material suggestions! I definitely need a project!

@mitch2  — thanks for those tips. I probably will want to use these for something more than room pads, because like many, I'm not so handy that I will be able to finish these into something long-term good looking.

@tvad  Good suggestion. I hadn't thought of subtracting and then adding back in. That would create a mix of diffusion and absorption I don't have there now.

@riley804 I have read about isolation a lot, but, first, my stuff was on a really solid and low coffee table and then I moved it off to the side. I figured I would sort out the room before the isolation. The speaker stands are new and very solid. Perhaps you'd do isolation first?

@slaw  Thanks for the reference. I'll check into coverings. I really need to see if my 20hz - 300hz range is dialed in before doing too much more with the upper frequencies (using my OC 703); so that's why I call what I'm doing now just "playing." 

@bigwave Thanks so much. Bass is primarily what I have been measuring in my room. Moving speakers, listening position, the sub, doing the sub crawl, etc. But this chart looks very handy and may have some ideas I've missed.

@assetmgrsc I've definitely been interested in corners and will give them a hard look. Yeah, and no fiberglass Santa suit for this grinch.

@chorus Thanks for your suggestion. Ceiling seems crucial!

@amtprod It’s a good question, but what is not evident from the diagram is that the right speaker, nearest the bathroom wall, actually fires into the entrance way which forms part of the front wall. In other words, there is no first reflection point (as revealed by the mirror test) on that wall.

I went and measured differences in the room. In actuality, my right speaker is 12’6" from the right wall and my left speaker is 15’ 3" from the left wall. I’m not sure that the difference there (3’3") is enough to cause a big difference. Both are far enough way to not be able to smear the direct speaker sound reaching my ear from about 8 feet away.

I will try your test. Yesterday, I did put my panels along that bathroom wall just to see what changed, and there was no apparent difference. Again, because there is no first reflection point there, so that is probably the reason.

Thanks rego and amtprod. I'm going to try those ideas next!

cissado, Miller -- I heard the advice about corners. I did a bunch of SPL measurements. In my room, corners don't have much bass; it's the front wall behind the speakers that's really overloaded.

Thanks djones. I'll look that Schroeder stuff over.

edunbar Oh, I'm not reacting emotionally. I understand his advice and others have told me, too. I cannot move the room for a few years because we have a family and will do a renovation at some point but I'm stuck where I am. There are many elements of this room that are pluses and it already sounds quite good. So, while I understand the kernel of the advice is sound, it was offered without knowing any of the details of my situation. My sense is that someone at that company (I don't know if it was Dennis who replied) figures they have all the business they can handle! That's fine. GIK and I are talking, and I want to see about Real Traps, too.

Thanks Shalommorgan and Tomic601.

Yes, I will try a few well placed panels and not go too crazy. I placed a couple panels at the floor just beneath the ceiling and really heard a difference, so I know the effort to put at least one or two up on the ceiling will be worth it. Also, there’s a lot of bass energy at the front wall.

Raise the ceiling in my bungalow. Er, um, hmm.... I hope to move into a larger unfinished basement room next to this one, 12 foot ceilings -- a blank canvas.

@shalommorgan
That's an inspiring effort and a beautiful setup you have. Thank you so much for sharing that, along with your advice. I just spend an hour or so moving things around and so my side walls became my front and rear wall. Terrible -- lots more bass problems and harsh highs. I'm going back to listening across the room width - I have no side reflection issues that way.

I'll take your advice about not expecting too much with a few panels. I do realize that a large amount of a room needs coverage and that my ceilings pose an ineliminable problem. I'm experimenting to learn, but your room now shines out as an ideal!

@lemonhaze
Thank you for taking the time to articulate the important things, in useful form. As the diagram on my system page will show (and which my measurements confirm) the corners are not that problematic.

( see: https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/9064 )

Given that, would you suggest 2 stacks of 3 panels somewhere else? Where the bass frequencies are the loudest? Or somewhere else?

I'm getting help with REW and learning these additional plots. I've been looking a lot at RT60 since tomic601 said that. I'll look at the things you suggest.

Posts on this site have convinced me that I'm done thinking about gear. (And I just put a system together.) So now I'm looking for a correctly treated room, or at least the path which leads there. Thanks again.

Brief update. I did some critical listening with one interesting variation: (a) the entire box of panels against the front wall with the front face of it OPEN or (b) with the cardboard flaps closed. Very, very noticeable difference in what it did to the bass. When open and absorbing (and not even ideally), it sucked in enough energy to render the bass much crisper, located, defined. No muddiness even when the string bass in the jazz I was listening to went to the lowest notes; I could hear fretting and very distinct notes. Closed up again, and the muddiness came right back to the low bass notes.

FWIW, a noticeable difference. I didn’t focus on much except the bass region, so I have no idea if it was over-absorbing or disrupting upper balance. But it helped the bass a lot.

Thanks, rc22. I continue to use REW and have benefited from help from numerous nice people and also from videos online. I think some of those videos can help push you further toward more measuring, and if I can tell you anything useful, please P.M. me. We could chat.

@cymbop I love your fabric choice! Groovy, a la 1968! And a great system and room. I have just wrapped mine in fabric, too, and they are quite sturdy. I'm not going to bother with wood frames, yet. We'll see if they sag as bad as I'm sagging.

UPDATE: I've had great success with some DIY OC 703 panels that I made into 2" and 4" panels. Thing is, they cost nearly $110 to buy (6 of them) and shipping was 40% of the cost! I was in Home Depot yesterday, and they don't carry these panels.

I'm wondering if anyone has had luck procuring these or similar acoustic-oriented panels locally and avoided the shipping surcharge?

Well, I think you've found a good deal then. Go for it and make some panels!

That's about what I paid. I think the best deal I've found since then is to find a local insulation company that sells it and just go pick it up with my car. It comes in around $65 for 6 two-inch by 4 ft by 2 ft sheets.

That sounds great! Please let us know how things change with the new construction! I created 4 units with mine -- two were single panel sized and two were double panel sized and that gave me flexibility to move them to different places around the room, including the ceiling.