I treated my room !

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0ddvlxE5EoFnfQc6WLPCVFKnQ I don’t know if this link will work but this is half of the room before the drapes went up

This is going to be my next move but it's hard for me to figure out what i need and where I need it.

@dadork

Please visit GIK Acoustics for tutorial videos on room acoustics. They also provide free consultation on how to properly treat your room acoustically. I hear they have a 6 months back log on fulfilling the orders so I wouldn’t wait to start the consultation process.

Congrats, OP. Good work and you will probably have my experience, which was to slowly try moving things or even taking a few away. I definitely went in the direction of over-damping, and it was a subtle process to get the "air" back into my room. The key, for me, was to realize that diffusion and deflection help reduce unwanted harshness at the listening position but don't subtract important reflections from 12ms - 50ms which add a sense of space or "air" to the room.

In my room the whole back wall is rough textured brick and mortar with my album racks against the wall. I did not treat the areas directly behind me. I’m feeling like it has good diffusion. I’ve yet to measure decay time but it’s not completely dead. Prior to treatment though a hand clap lasted a long long time.  I put up 18 curtain panels as well so I’m probably close to enough. I sure don’t want to overdo it because my system has a live venue sound and I don’t want to make it clinical

Good grief I could probably sell my subs now.

🤣

I tell a lot of people this can happen and they don't believe me.  I'm not anti-subwoofer, but good room treatment can fundamentally alter the tonal balance of your speakers and you could end up not wanting the cost or trouble of a sub.

 

 

@adrianleewelch  You sound like you're really proceeding in a sensitive and attentive way. All I can add is that there are phases where I thought I was "done" and then it took a while to just live with the sound for a while. That's really an important kind of patience that pays off. Once one lives with something for a while, they give themselves a chance to "wear the room" the way one "wears" a pair of shoes. Over time, you'll listen to a variety of music, and it may be that certain music points out to you where there might be a chance to improve things a little. Or not -- you'd get confirmation that you're "done."

I agree and I didn’t mention that I haven’t done anything with the ceiling yet.  I think there could be so improvement there especially since I use multicell horns. I’m sure they are beaming at the ceiling !

+1 on ceiling treatments, absolutely recommended

Adrian I also just looked your system up it's fantastic and those Altec's look amazing! Is that natural wood veneer or was it treated somehow? And please post some pics of your new room treatments.

Over the last year I implemented laminar flow devices I have built and placed in strategic front locations of my 27/21/9 ft room . I also have for years now 3 Natural wool panels on the front wall 1 each at the side reflection points. The laminar devices are inexpensive to make and are the biggest acoustic improvement I have made over the last 49 years. They are a wow factor. As small as they are they comb bass frequencies  making my dueling 12s enhance the mid frequencies  The vocal clarity now coming out of the rear mounted ports is nearly as clear as what comes out of the front mounted drivers. They clarify the instrument location all along the watchtower. The sound stage is panoramic even more so when the active device is engaged. Pretty damn good.Tom

@steakster the coffee table is a subwoofer. It’s the GSG devastator. It was set up nearfield because I had lousy bass. Well no more lol. And to be honest it’s my wife’s laundry folding table so it’s usually covered in clothes minimizing reflections 😂

@jond  the composit veneer was put on last year by a cabinet maker. It’s called Osage orange and it came from Italy.  It’s a bit over the top but I wanted it, so here we are.  It did take a little time living with it tbh

 

im wanting to post pics but apparently I don’t know what I’m doing

Adrian,

Posting pics is easy if you have them anywhere else on the net just copy/paste right to this thread. However I meant you should add some pics to your system page, either of both would be great.

And heard on that veneer it is a pretty strong statement!

Good point. Instead of refinishing mine I'll try covering it with leather.

@theaudiotweak do you have any photos of what you built ?

I am very happy with the panels I bought from GIK a few years back. I bought four more to treat the ceiling and after trying every configuration I could come up with ended up with just one. It's centered halfway between the speakers and the listening position. The other four were added to the front wall.

I hauled a few over to my brother's place to experiment with. He has Cornwalls.In his room there is obviously bass build up in one back corner which was smoothed out when we propped up the panels there.He didn't like how they looked though. I'm going back one of these days and show him some nicely treated rooms that I'll download. He (gasp!) has no wifi:-)

Adrian,

I am not at a point to release what I am doing. Looking at your system pictures and the shelf over the top of your front wall I think they would make for a great impact. You have many positions I think that would be additive to the sound.  Let you know when I decide. Tom

Always nice to see members realizing the importance of room acoustics rather than relying mainly on equipment upgrades. It all works together!

Congrats OP, well done. Dialing in the room is so rewarding.  

Yes, like the OP mentioned, I too had a room treatment revelation that led me to shelve my subs. Nothing wring with subs...it’s just that bass gets so clean, clear and deep when acoustics are dialed in that you actually are no longer worried about bass so much. A sub would always add that extra bit...but you completely stop worrying about it when everything sounds so good. There are other things you start worrying about.

The great thing is that I simply reconfigured furniture and my rack location. Then I got rid of all slick, shiny and glazed surfaces from the room. No specialized acoustic products were used. I had no clue how deep dual 5" woofers could go.

 

I’ve used ASC for over 20 years and I have some Michael Greene and GIK products too. 
I just added diffusion devices behind the speakers and behind the listening chair

Good work!

IME (in typical home environments) acoustic treatments always result in the most “bang for the buck” improvement in sound.
The source can be an AM radio or a high dollar component system. If I’m concerned about the sound, I still choose to address the rooms acoustic conditions first.

As a generalization, I tend to look at the ceiling (and it’s height) first. Even if it’s not very low, it’s still where I first think to put some acoustic treatment. Too me it’s the first most unnatural boundary in a room (compared to outdoors).

Even most studio builds start there…it’s often referred to as “lifting the ceiling”…

 

I’m gonna order some more panels and do my ceiling !!