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Re-starting with Room Treatments?

Do I need to remove all my room treatments because I am purchasing a new pair of speakers?
Some years ago, I had a listening room designed by an acoustician, and room treatments were installed. Among them were RPG abfusors at the first and second reflection points on the side walls. Each of the RPGs is 6' x2'. The room was designed with planar speakers in mind.
I have since offloaded the planars, and am about to have Avalon Isis speakers installed, by the dealer. The dealer suggests removing all the room treatments before installation--the problem is that the RPGs are glued and screwed to the walls and will be difficult, although not impossible, to remove. I realize that Avalons are most often paired with tube traps or DAAD devices, but I wonder if I would be better served by removing the RPGs and starting fresh, or should I just work around them when setting up the new speakers?
swordfis
audiokinesis
2,737 posts
 
I'd say leave the RPG's in place at least until you've heard the system in your room.

Those early sidewall reflections don't care whether they were generated by a monopole or a dipole. Early reflections are detrimental for reasons that have nothing to do with the type of speaker that generated them.

Chances are very, very good that the acoustician you hired knew what the heck he was doing.

Duke
beheme
231 posts
 
Don't take it the wrong way but if you can afford a pair of Isis, I suggest you can and should scrap your current treatment even if it means a bit of drywall reno after that...not that DAAD, tube traps or else may be all that different but somewhere in your mind, you would not want to live with the doubt that you are eventually missing something because your room was not specifically treated for the Isis.
swordfis OP
16 posts
 
Thank you for the advice so far. I thought I should add that I double checked the RPG web site and what I have are the Hemiffusors, which are pure diffusors with little absorption. The previous speakers I have had in place, in order , were Wisdom 75s (dipoles), Dali Megalines, and lastly, Acapella Campaniles. I would say that each sounded good, considering the room size (25x17x9). Although I agree with Duke, I am also wondering whether the Isis might need some absorption due to its radiation pattern whereas the other speakers I had did not have the same requirement.
audiokinesis
2,737 posts
 
Hello Swordfis,

The Avalon speakers I've heard seemed to me to have exceptionally smooth power response. I think that's something Neil Patel pays attention to, whereas most speaker designers do not. Avalon is a line that I think very highly of, by the way.

Speakers with smooth power response don't need absorptive room treatments to "fix" the tonal balance. And absorption tends to suck some of the liveliness out of the sound. Personally I prefer an acoustically "live" room, with plenty of diffusive features.

Now all else being equal, you will get better imaging by using absorptive panels. In my opinion it's not worth the tradeoff in liveliness, but others with different priorities would disagree.

If you do decide to get rid of your Hemifusors, I might be interested in them.

Duke
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