Redirecting bass frequencies

So you buy a preamp with unlimited dynamic scale and match it with a power amp with huge dynamic swing powering a speaker combo that can maximize the flow within your room..All that is great! So then you buy and install products that reduce the scale and dynamic range and really suck the life right out of your hi-fi. The net gain is WHAT? Contradiction here is the reduction of dynamic contrasts.The opposite of what I think most of us are trying to achieve and maintain.Audphile-1 in his post asked if the the redirecting of bass frequiencies was possible or preferable to the absorption of the same frequencys.My experience tells me that the redirection,re-focusing and preservation of sound pressure is much more realistic and fullfilling than sucking the life out of a room, resolving darkness and breathlessness. We have allowed ourselves to be explained into a product category that is mostly a mis applied band-aid attached to a most common occurence.Preservation of the dynamic musical experience should be number one. Geometric redirection of SPL is the answer and is possible in most rooms,so has been my experience.Tom

Thanks for asking..I am not a engineer just much of a experimentor. Been in and around audio for thirty five years.Much of what I have found I have applied to my own room over the years, not all at once but a little at a time. My Dunlavy SC4's as good as I could make them never did the bass thing well in my room at my listening position. Position was dictated by other fixed obstacles and my preference for wall to wall soundstage 21.5 feet by 9 foot...As cool as all this was I had a midbass suckout of 6db at 60hz only at the listening height of 38inches. What I found as I moved the mike up towards the ceiling the bass at that frequency began to fill back in. Can't hang from the ceiling and listen...well I guess I could..So I surmised the problem maybe ceiling related and the fact the Dunlays have 2 woofers that may load differently to the floor and to the ceiling based on their differences in height. Having met many years ago Peter Snell and remembering that he had patents on baffle design and the way they load into a room ,I made a ramp to sit upon the top of my Dunlavys. This ramp went from the top of the speaker to the intersection of the ceiling..With this ramp in place I got 3db of my 6 db suckout back..Also the stage was even more focused and did not seem to wander. Overhead of my listening position is a soffit containing my AC return can't move that..So I put a 52 degree angle on it and blended the drywall into the ceiling so to smooth the transition..Sounds better looks really cool. Intalled a pull down Stewart screen 9 foot in front of me. Encased the screen with angles 52 degrees front and sides 40 degrees on the back..Screen rolls up into this ceiling mounted spaceship. Again measured improvements as well as enhancements to audible staging and focus. Lastly I made a hinged false door to hang on the right side of the room that can be stopped at the same angle of the real door on the left side of the room.This new fake door is painted and trimmed to match the wall on which it is mounted.When not in use this fake door lays nearly flat against the wall and is seldom noticed.Again improvements in dynamics focus and stage. In clients room's built from the floor up, angles are at all intersections of wall and ceiling..When allowed or possible corners are no longer 90's. I will soon do these mods to my room..No more stuffing is needed never sounded right with this stuff anyway..More dynamic scale now, live in the sense of weight and impact ...not bright or edgy..Use to feel the need for Sonex and tube traps, not any more..Tom

Yes..but you have walls, floor and ceiling those are the same. You could make panels to fit that could be moved around.The panels can be made and covered to compliment the room.. Really the difference is, panels that are designed to absorb vs those that are designed to redirect energy. Tom

Try and do one thing at a time so you can evaluate any change that may occur. If you take the same path as me,I wouldn't add any absorbent material until you have completed the changes in geometry. You may find you need no other fixes. Much of what I have done is an extension of direct coupling all of my audio components instead of trying to isolate them. I am trying to redirect the acoustic energy and sound pressure instead of diminishing the dynamics thru absorbtion. Tom