Room Treaments - Where To Begin...

That is a serious book. Good Lord. 10 pages of table of content.

My hole booklet about acoustics was 10 pages long, WITH a table of content and one "this page is intended to be blank".

That guy had something to say.. :-)

Regards

Recently, I found this PDF available for free download. There are newer editions available.

THE MASTER HANDBOOK OF ACOUSTICS 4th Edition by F. Alton Everest

  Now wouldn't that be a cool job and quite a challenge. "What? I didn't hear anything."

I am an engineer with experience in acoustics, though mostly in the field of explosives (don't ask or ----).  Equalizers or DSP do not solve your room problems, altering your room solves or helps with your room problems. The first question is what is the problem.  In my current room it was a massive bass problem, in the end I built 2 very large bass traps (1.5 x 0.8 x 0.8 m). These help enormously, any smaller made little difference.  I also use 2 subwoofers which help with balance. 

A good quality equalizer is great for correcting room anomalies. 

Good answer from MC. If you can't start there you will never get started.

15 years ago, the realtor had a funny look on his face when I was walking around the new house, with furnishings, and occasionally clapped my hands or even whistled. Before the wife moved in, I was able to try out a few arrangements for speaker placement and a listening position as well. Paid off as good as it could given the circumstances. 

 Now days, when she leaves for work, I can adjust the furnishings in the room to better suit the result.

It is more difficult to correct what you haven’t yet measured/heard.

Now we’re getting somewhere. You can read all you want, it is of no use until and unless you learn to hear what they’re talking about. Fortunately this is super easy.

Clap your hands. Might seem silly but the lowly hand clap produces a wide range of frequencies from a point source making it ideal for learning about acoustics. So one clap, and listen. Pay attention to the way the clap itself sounds, the first echo reflection, and how the sound trails off.

If it is a thud with no reverb your room is dead and acoustic panels will only make it worse. If there is a sharp echo or ringing sound this is flutter echo you will want to break it up with diffusion panels. If there is no door and opens to a lively room you will have a long decay to deal with.

Now move around. Clap/listen/move, Stand at one side of the room and clap, repeat from the other. Won’t take long, minute or two, you will have mapped out your room and in a way you will actually understand because you have heard it.

Then get a sheet of Owens Corning 703 acoustic panel at the hardware store. Repeat your hand clapping only this time moving the panel around to different places.

It is easy to pay someone like GIK a lot of money to tell you what to do. Here’s how that goes. Mike Lavigne has by far the best room with the best acoustics I ever seen. Mike paid a bundle for the very best professional acoustic design. That’s not why his room is so great. Mike then put in the time to listen and figure out what is really going on and correct the room correction.

There really is no substitute for listening.

It is more difficult to correct what you haven't yet measured/heard.

+3 GIK

Room treatment needs to address three main items:

1. Bass reverberation time
2. First reflections
3. Slap echo

For (1), large bass traps in corners. For (2), absorptive panels at sidewalls and ceiling first-reflection points. For (3), provide absorption/diffusion on parallel surfaces until a walking-around clap test doesn't result in any pinging. The thicker panels you use for (2) and (3), the more they will help with (1).

In general, avoid panels that are purely absorptive, as they tend to unbalance the room, absorbing HF more than LF. Panels like the GIK Alpha, RPG BAD, or most products from ASC incorporate some sound scattering and will control excess reflections without over-deadening.

GIK and ASC give consultations -- last time I looked, it was for a small refundable fee. It's worth it. I found it useful to get two opinions, then decide myself how to proceed. Expect it may need some experimentation.

Another great resource is the series of YouTube videos by Jesco. They are aimed at mastering and recording engineers, but there is much that the home audiophile can take from them.

My recommendation would be to read up on the subject whether online or your local library.

An Acoustics Handbook would likely be too rigorous and delve into theory with formula and equations focusing on a physical principle that defines 1/100 at a time of the whole concept of Room Acoustics.

Look for something like HIFi Systems for a balanced practical understanding of what treatment is and how it is applied in a listening environment.

Then start to ask informed questions working toward a solution that is applicable to your circumstance.

Maybe someone here could recommend a suitable Title ...

+ 2 GIK

+1 GIK

I suggest you reach out to GIK Acoustics for one on one consultation. The consultation is free and they are the best in the business, IMO. 

This might be of some help.

Room Treatment

I am by no means an expert, but I would say the first place to start is a large rug on the floor.  The second place may be smaller rugs hung on the wall behind the speakers.  After this it probably gets more difficult:  bass traps in the corners, or acoustic traps along the side walls?