Room Too Dead

Thin plastic can reflect highs while still letting bass go through and get absorbed by underlying layers.

Just to be clear, bass will not get “absorbed” in any way whatsoever by underlying layers of drapes — just some mids and highs will be attenuated and that’s it. Bass waves are waaaay too long to be affected at all by some fabric, so they’ll pass right through that uninhibited to your cement walls.

What is “pipe and drape?”  Can you post a picture?

Yeah, those drapes are over-dampening your room.  I was in an over-damped room at a dealer once and it was not an enjoyable listen so I know exactly what you’re talking about.  I’d try replacing the drapes with thin sheets if they’re much thicker than sheets, or maybe you could take some of the drapes down behind the system and along the sides at first reflection points just for listening.  If you’re planning on putting up walls in the future I’d highly recommend reading this by Earl Geddes on how to build a great-sounding room.  It’s very approachable and I learned a ton about room acoustics and building materials/techniques — very interesting stuff.  Anyway, here’s the link…

http://www.gedlee.com/downloads/HT/Home_theater.pdf

Hope this helps, and best of luck breathing life back into your room. 

A heavily damped room is just fine..... IF you can tow your speakers in toward your listening position. When you are dampened everywhere, you lose your reflection and boundries.

Might as well just listen to a good headphone setup. Same thing and takes the room completely outta the equation and relatively much cheaper.

Room too dead? No such thing.

Yes, there absolutely is such a thing. Nothing at the absolute extreme is ever good.

Read this from someone who knows more than you ever will about constructing a great-sounding room and educate yourselves…

http://www.gedlee.com/downloads/HT/Home_theater.pdf

I selected the right product to tame about 90-100 hz and covered with a gauzy, decorative fabric.  .  So yes, insulation can absorb lows if it's what the sound reflects from. 

That’s just mid bass and not what I’d consider “lows.”  The worst bass issues typically occur well below 90Hz — think bass guitar, drums, cello, tuba, lower piano registers, etc.  Around 100Hz you’re looking at things like the lower regions of the electric guitar, tenor sax, male vocals, etc. that don’t tend to cause major issues in most rooms.  Absorptive panels can’t do anything to deal with the lower bass issues that frequently plague listening rooms.

Change the drapes.  Natural fibers (cotton, wool etc) will absorb sound but synthetic fibers (rayon etc) will reflect sound.
 

@rick_n That’s a very good thought and gave me an idea — the OP could replace the drapes with plastic shower curtains and even choose a fun theme like underwater with cute little fishies, octopi, seahorsies, etc.  all around.  How fun would that be?  Seriously though, avoiding fabrics that absorb sound seems like, uh, sound advice.

A live room distorts the signals by creating echoes and resonances that change the tonal balance and the sound coming from the driver surfaces.

You mean like what you’d hear if you were listening to a band in a room?  Oh the horror!  Maybe all music venues should be lined with wool so there are no reflections whatsoever.  That sounds fun! 

It's not hard to remove the room from the reproduced music.

Yes, it’s called headphones.  If you wanna listen to a high-end audio system the room is part of it and you work with it like it’s a component.  Or you can listen in a rubber room.  No thanks.

If the sound of the original venue is on the recording, then that is part of the performance. But distortion, reflections and/or noise from the listening room should NOT be part of the playback. That’s NOT on the recording.

@bpoletti Well, I listened to some of my reference recordings in an acoustically dead room on a very good system with Rockport speakers and they sounded lifeless and awful and couldn’t wait to get outta there. Plus, when speaker manufacturers design speakers they don’t do it in acoustically dead rooms (or at least none that I know of do) so they’re not voiced at all for that environment. There are obviously important uses for both absorption and diffusion depending on the room, system, and personal taste, but I doubt there are many here who prefer an acoustically dead room. So I have a different take on this from you, and that’s ok and I respect your reasoning and position — different strokes. The only thing that matters at the end of the day is that we enjoy the sound we get from our systems no matter how we get there.  Peace.

It’s OK for you to be wrong. We’re used to it. If you like that kind of distortion, so be it.

@bpoletti So much for “peace.” Well, the vast, vast majority of people here with dedicated listening rooms use some absorption, some diffusion, or some mix thereof to suit their tastes, and of all the threads I’ve read here on treating rooms over many years I don’t remember one person who created or recommended a completely dampened room even though they could — not one. Hmmmm. Suffice it to say you’re in the very extreme minority, so if I’m “wrong” then so are most of the people here, but u do u. Frankly, I don’t think there is a “wrong” here and ultimately, and as usual in audio, it comes down to personal tastes and preferences whatever they be and choosing room treatment is no different.