Large Room-Treatments and WAF-HELP??


Okay so here is my quandry in a nutshell. We have a large, what would be called, and Arizona room. Great room, dining room behind it and kitchen with a half wall bar/seating area seperating the kitchen and dining. Great room is around 18' x 18'. Listening area is about 12' back from the speakers. Total room however is around 25' x 35'. Large 3 panel arcadia glass door and some other windows. Needless to say, the room is very "alive".

I am thinking that Corner busters and Echo busters will be nixed really quickly.

Currently using all solid state but willing to look at all options to tame this system down a little. What I don't want to do is bandaid this thing because I don't think that would be the best solution.

I am deferring to any and all reasonable suggestions short of "Buy a different house". That duck just won't quack for now.

Thanks for all of your help.

Steve Bachman
sbachman
I have a large bay window and opposite that a glass door in a 16x22 room. Huge house plants in both windows worked well. A well spread out Ficus in the bay and some bambooie leafy thing nest to the door. Kind of works like a WAF approved room lens, more diffusion than anything but it helped.
This is what our company does. Room acoustics don't have to look like anything--or they can look like a great architectural addition--such as a coffered ceiling. We actually have spouses that have called us to thank us for how great we made a room look. There are some photos of a few "stealth" projects we've done on our website. Examples (Don't fear--that first one that comes up in our examples is definitely NOT one of the stealth applications!) There are a lot more we've done that aren't there too, but suffice to say if you are willing to spend the money to integrate it into the decore (it will cost considerably more than a few Echo busters), then you can get great sound in "stealth" treatment.
Why don't you call Echobusters and ask them to send you fabric samples? My wife helped choose the fabric for ours, and we're both happy with the resulting sound and looks. And you might start with just Cornerbusters, which can help a lot and look pretty good (my mother-in-law things they look really cool).
Near Field speaker setup to minimize your room problems or use a Tact processor.

or take over the guest room!

Sorry
There is a kot you can do with well chosen furnishings. Not jus chairs, couches , etc., but window treatments, rugs or carpets, decorative wall hangings and even decorative absorbent ceiling panels, You are "redecorating for sound!"

Doing so will make those cavernous spaces a lot more enjoyable when you have large parties -- there will be less noise and people will be able to hear each other even with a lot of conversation going on.