My new dedicated room sound like crap,please help.


Hi there:i just moved my system to a small 11x9x9 room,the ceiling is wood and the floor is tile w/an area rug on it all it has in it is the system and a very confortable chair,needless to say it sounds like crap it used to sound way better in a larger florida room w/windows all around and all tile floor,will appreciate suggestions on how to get rid off the echoes,smearing,lack of details and other nasties i'm getting at a reasonable price,thanks so much in advance.Al
my system:
resolution audio digital source
simaudio moon i-5 integrated
paradigm ref v-40II on target stands internally rewired.
tad bybee power purifier
omega mikro ic's and p/c's
dh labs q-10 biwired speaker cable.
alfred

Showing 2 responses by benthar

I agree with Nrchy's comments, this one might be baffling (oops!- bad pun!). Not only do room acoustics come into play, but the resonant frequencies of the materials the components are sitting on will affect performance.

Sometimes with a smaller room the speakers will actually sound better not along one wall, but rather facing diagonally with a corner as a midpoint (picture an imaginary line from the midpoint of one wall to the midpoint of an adjacent wall and place the speakers along that line). This sometimes results in a "warmer" sound.

With a wood floor the spikes of speaker stands like to be pressed firmly into the wood. Any wobble can degrade performance. You probably know this already....

Last comment I have that may or may not help is to try placing your components on different isolation platforms or simply swithing their positions. Each room and every wall/floor has different resonance charateristics, and every component has its own needs in terms of isolation.
The shelf/stand that worked for your amp in the last room may not work in the new room for example. Things can suddenly sound bright and harsh. If you haven't been using isolation at all except for your speakers, the system will sound COMPLETELY different in a new room (not taken from a book- just direct observation). Steel amp stands with spikes on the bottom work very well with wooden floors, not just w/amps but sometimes cd as well. Try getting one for each component and see what happens.

Treating the room acoustics is basically trial and error, and as the above contributors have pointed out, a long process usually. The small area of wall behind/between the speakers as well as the region of wall behind the listener's head I like to leave blank & dry. When I've tried to diffuse these regions the result was often HF timing errors, percieved as brightness & fatiguing sound. One exception was a home studio a friend of mine had. He bought an expensive specialty diffuser designed to go behind the listener's head and it was great. Don't remember the name of it though. hanging plants in the corners is an easy & safe way to start experimenting.

Best of Luck!
The book Tom Nice talks about sounds useful. Also his comment about resonant modes reminds me of this Cardas Sweep LP I have. Certain tracks on the LP will pump out pure sine waves at fixed frequencies. By moving your head around the room while playing these tracks you can tell where frequencies are being canceled out and adjust room acoustics accordingly. I'm sure similar CD's exist as well.
To track down such CD's and how to use them properly I'd try calling Audio Advisor, Needle Doctor, or Music Direct.