No "Room Correction" Topic option. Why?
There has been solid science done on room size and dimension at the School of Acoustics at the University of Salford. They found that MOST rectangular rooms are poor, a quarter OK, and a few are good. Look up 'room ratios', but be prepared to design and build to tight tolerances. Also, you might want to build with Quietrock 545, a very thick and solid drywall. I also used a lot of elastomeric glue, M1 from Chemlink. Good luck! |
I took one leg from my A/C and hooked it to a 20A GFCI outtet box. Plenty of power for a Pioneer pushing 3 pairs speakers in the shed, a homemade powered sub in the playhouse and a Traeger on the patio. Good thing I didn't have "no idea." I can offer no suggestions on building a room that sounds good to you except for to tame reflections. Too many other variables to recommend a floor surface but wood usually sounds better than tile to most ears... |
Mike-Looking thru your component list, can you tell me if @Chorus when you use the term ’room correction equipment’ it’s unclear your intent. i view that term as some sort of DSP (digital signal processing) that adjusts your music to fit into the room acoustics. i don’t use that approach. my room is about being designed to be acoustically friendly with it’s shape, surfaces and method of construction. so no messing with the signal path. i keep my signal path all analog. i do have analog adjustments for my bass towers to optimize bass performance in room. to answer your question; yes for sure, i do think my efforts to optimize the music performance in my room by making the acoustical changes was worth while. part of those efforts is the balance between the carpet section for the floor, and the hardwood under the speaker end. i also filled in my windows with inserts. and these things are only briefly touching the surface of all the things i’ve done over my 16 years in the room. all that said; i think the most important tool to find musical harmony in any room is a musical reference in your head that you are striving for. or; delegate that role to someone you trust. it’s all about the room meeting your expectations. and......if you are not clear what you want.......drum roll please......then you have no business trying to build a dedicated room. how could you even know where you are going? find reproduced music that is doing what you want. get a solid memory of that, and then find that same type sound in your room. that is the proper way to judge results. listening. you might need to revisit that reference sound a couple of times to recalibrate your ears as time goes by as you are working toward that goal. everyone is different as to how easily they can retain their aural memory. and be prepared for the fact that as you evolve in your hifi hobby time and listen more your tastes and expectations will likely change, and what you expect from your room will evolve with you. and you will be able to make adjustments as you go along. measurements are useful for problem solving, but proof of concept is what you hear. |
Mike and All, Thank you for taking the time to educate me. I think for now I will go with carpet. I added more reflective surfaces with the 3 new 3x4 windows and the store door. I also removed a full sized slider and a 2nd door with 1/2 glass. I also goodwilled a huge credenza that was probably something of a diffuser. Mike-Looking thru your component list, can you tell me if the room correction equipment was a truly worthwhile move? My room is good with bass so I'm lucky. Thank you. |
Mike at least you can admit that a sign of emotional intelligence:-) I also have a 240 line split in two, easy and as the OP and others know easy to do and undo IF there is future desire to invest in a step down transformer. finally since we are on the subject of science based truth vs dusty old narrow experience, there are sources of excellent and effective acoustic curtains- just search on that subject line w Escondido, CA. In use at many mastering labs, recording studios ( ours included ), Kennedy Center, etc. pm me and I will walk you thru some low to no cost acoustical measurement tools to help you baseline and improve your room. Me personally I would put down a layer of sorbothane/cork w glue, paying close attention to stud sill plate ( wrap it up ! ) and then an engineered hardwood and then tune w area rugs, Labrador is an excellent absorber. best, cool post. |
in 2004 i wrote an article on Positive Feedback online about building my room. it does address some of your concerns. http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue16/lavigneroom.htm i’m actually embarrassed to read some of what i wrote then, now 16 years later. i did not know then what i did not know. i have changed many things about my room since then, you can see it here. https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/615 and the 3400+ posts attached to that room description does document many of my changes over the years. it was not a linear experience. but i enjoyed every minute of it, and still spend 30+ hours a week in my room. so my ROI is spectacular!!! know that building a room and then getting the maximum performance from it is more about you and learning than about gear or nails, sheet rock and power grids. best wishes with your room building process. |
Another fantastic example of the futility of trying to help someone with electricity. Inevitably people with some technical or code knowledge pop up and distract the poor interested party with a pointless journey through Wonderland. Keep the 240 and use a step down. This will be excellent, and extremely cost effective. Or use just one 120. Those are your options if you want good sound. Study my system, read my posts, not gonna keep repeating what people only argue with anyway. |
Sorry, to be clear, what I meant to say was: The entire room contributes to the decay rates so in non-direct points, if you can't have enough absorption in one location you can mitigate it somewhat by adding elsewhere. For instance, if you have big glass doors on one side, adding more damping around the room is called for. |
Chorus, It all depends on the room and the speakers. Carpet will absorb frequencies from about three hundred Hz up. Carpet will cut reflections of these frequencies. It will do nothing for deep bass. For point source speakers carpet or a large area rug are a good idea. For linear arrays it makes no difference. For subwoofers it makes no difference. Frankly, I would ignore the sound and do whatever you find aesthetically pleasing then deal with the sound afterwards which you will have to do anyway. Windows always resonate so I would certainly put drapes in front of the windows. I use digital room control and measure my speakers. The Right hand speaker is next to a window and it's upper mid range was considerably different because of the darn window. I put drapes up and there was still a difference but considerably less. |
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The whole room matters, especially in non immediate reflection points. I'd talk to GIK who can give you great advice and products, but it depends really. If your whole room is well damped, rug over slate will work, but if the additional glass means you will be short of necessary absorption, go with carpet. Also, one overlooked area for absoprition is the floor between and behind the speakers. Damping this can often lead to a smoother sounding treble. |
millercarbon ... I have no idea how you get 2 lines of 110 out of 220 ...If you’re in the US, NEC allows a 240VAC line to be split into two 120VAC lines with a shared neutral. You can do this because the two lines are different phases. Each 120VAC line must be on its own breaker, and the pair of breakers need to be physically tied so that if one trips, so does the other. You’ll need to check whether your local code allows this use, but it’s likely that it does. |
Built my own room years ago and one thing for sure, nobody can answer questions like you're asking. Not over the internet. Not without being there. Because there's far more to it than just sound. Its a room, in your existing home, with your existing structure and traffic flow and everything. Best you can do is read and learn all you can about various construction techniques then figure out for yourself what will work in your particular situation. One thing, I have no idea how you get 2 lines of 110 out of 220. No idea what you found but it doesn't work that way. You either move one wire over to neutral and have one 120V line, or what I would do, get a good quality step down transformer and run 240V in, 120V out to your system. That's what I have and it works great. Wouldn't recommend it if you didn't already have 240 but since you do https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/8367 Next, I hope you bought an exterior solid core door. Because normal inside doors are hollow and crap for sound. Solid core or bust. Also use weather stripping, just as you would an exterior door. This is easily your biggest most cost-effective improvement. Next is windows. You won't believe the noise comes in from windows. Absolutely will not believe. Curtains won't work. What you want are shutters. Will have to take more pics of my system so people can see what I did with the windows. 3/4" MDF shutters close over them most of the time. Stops 90% of the light and sound. Without messing up acoustics like curtains. Sheetrock, 5/8" costs almost nothing more than 1/2" yet stops sound almost twice as good. Then during construction be super careful to seal around all cracks and crevices especially outlets and light fixtures. The easiest route for sound going either way is holes like around a door, window, or outlet. Those four- door, shutters, sheetrock, gaps- are the end of the really highly cost effective construction techniques. They are just the beginning, but they are so dirt cheap you do them or regret it. Everything else from here costs a whole lot more, to the point you can easily get into six figures just on the room. But you didn't mention a budget so I'm just giving you the stuff anyone can and should do no matter what. |
