Room Treatment for Corners - Recommendations?

Tube traps
RealTraps
GIK

No magic. Even rolls of OC703 will work.

Kal

See above - post by Kal - all are good. GIK tri-traps are great for corners - you need at least two and preferably four to make a noticeable difference, and 8 would be ideal in the majority of cases.

Most improvement for the money is spent on good bass traps in the 2 corners behind the speakers. In my room, I heard no difference in putting 2 more in the 2 corners behind my listening seat. I have Real Traps minis in the 2 behind the speakers and have tried the RT Mondos there, also. I kept the 2 minis. Really tightened up the bass and removed any boom in it.

Rolled up carpet in the corners, floor to ceiling, will do the trick. Also, save you money. Doesn't work, back they go for a full refund. Yes, I know low on the WAC, but you let her pick the color.

Live plants...not artificial

I've noticed a huge improvement with a variety of RealTraps in my room. The MondoTraps are the best choice if only getting a few, because they're far more effective at low frequencies than other RealTraps product.

I have had good results with the Acoustimac bass traps. They have four inch and six inch traps and also have a good assortment of fabric colors and the service is fast.

Don't rule out Michael Green's Room Tune products. I have had them in use for years and they do an excellent job in my system. Also you have a dependence on what type of front end equipment you have whether it is SS or tube becuse that will also have influence on what you're trying to accomplish with your room treatments and how you place them.

Thanks for the great recommendations. I'll explore some of these options. Happy listening!

"Also you have a dependence on what type of front end equipment you have whether it is SS or tube becuse that will also have influence on what you're trying to accomplish with your room treatments and how you place them."

Now, how does that change or influence room acoustics?

Kal

I suggested plants because they have a high wife acceptance factor. To put anything else in there you will get static from the boss.

Stringreen are you serious about real plants? Are you saying they work better/sound better then fake trees/plants?

Real or fake? How can either have any effect on room modes?

They work great for diffusion. I place them behind my Soundlab speakers for effective,cheap and good looking diffusion.

Real plants have water in them and thus they are heavier and work better then artificial which do little.

I assume your being serious? Diffusion works most with the thin branches and leaves and how they are spread out. I ask if you actually a/b's the two to back up your comment?

I would think the leaves could be most any material - with or without water etc... Not looking to absorb but simply break-up ?

Just looking for more on how you reach your conclusion as I would like to learn something new if it is based on truth. I think the weight of the tree would mean very little for the task at hand?

I don't see them on their website any longer, but Real Traps used to sell artificial plants where the wicker basket was filled with absorption material. Combined with any benefit the branches and leaves might provide it seems to be a reasonably good solution that looks good in a room.

Since it hasn't been mentioned yet, Ready Acoustics has it's "nest" corner mounts.

"I don't see them on their website any longer, but Real Traps used to sell artificial plants where the wicker basket was filled with absorption material. Combined with any benefit the branches and leaves might provide it seems to be a reasonably good solution that looks good in a room."

Funny. The acoustical advantages of these are due to the acoustical materials in the wicker basket. The "plant" is camouflage.

The acoustical advantages of these are due to the acoustical materials in the wicker basket. The "plant" is camouflage.

Given the previous comments I thought I'd try to craft an answer that stated the obvious reason why they work, but also appealed to those who feel plants can be diffusers.

I personally use the traditional Real Traps panels and Eighth Nerve products. I've tried plants but they did nothing for the sound that I could discern. My cat enjoyed tearing into them though.

I guess your well-crafted post was too subtle for me. ;-)

Kal

Well I "feel" they diffuse as, well, they do. I pulled the 8 foot trees out from behind my Soundlab speakers to a/b vs. them in place and they do indeed work!

Maybe placement behind Soundlab speakers is the only way they work, but they do work in this application based on direct testing.

They only cost me $40 each, so the price was also right.

1. 8' trees are not typical house plants.
2. Putting anything behind dipole speakers will affect the sound, much as it would if put in front of a monopole speaker.

So, I have no argument with your observations but they are not universal or typical.

Kal

The 8 foot ficus tree idea came from Dr. West the man who designed my Soundlab speaker. This particular tweek is a universally accepted way to diffuse the sound coming from the back of my speaker.

He actually sells a tall device that diffuses, but they cost over $1500 and this is a great alternative. Many Soundlab owners have found diffusing the sound behind the speaker (not absorbing) to be quite helpful. The sound is not merely different, but is more natural and focused from the listening possition.

I love my Rives designed corners. They really disappear and look quite lovely.

Of course they are a lot more expensive than GIK tri traps.

As a matter of fact, I did AB artificial and real plants, and real won every time. I suppose if the fakes are heavy and absorptive, they can work... In my experiments, artificials did nothing. Draperies...even thin and light ones work very well. My room was transformed with the addition of light, drapes over the windows. I really didn't want them - I live in the desert of Arizona, and the views are beautiful, but careful selection of drapes work fine.......trial and error

Specifically for ceiling corners, I use and can recommend Cathedral Sound panels . You can buy them at Cable Co. Sometimes they come up used here, though rarely.

Outlier - nice name! You into statistical analysis by chance? I digress . . .

You mention ceiling corners and there's lots of fiberglass-type absorption products you can use, just be sure to leave a healthy (6"+) air space between the wall surface and rear of the absorber so that it works across a broad freq spectrum and doesn't act as a low pass filter which would throw off the timbral balance of the reflections and reflections of those reflections.

Have you considered a hemi-cylindrical diffuser (often called polyfusers or polys for short) for the floor-to-ceiling corner? They're made from Sonotubes used at construction sites for concrete pouring. If you use a 180degree arc then it'll diffuse in about 120 degree pattern and you can stuff the interior with OC701 or 703 fiberglass to act as a bass trap. The curved surface facing into the room should be hard enough to prevent absorption of mid and high frequencies. Use a radius with a minimum of 12" (24" diameter) and finish it off with some kind of Guilford or Maine cloth or what I did with stained wooden veneer:

http://i1126.photobucket.com/albums/l620/kevinzoe/Frontwallhemi-1.jpg

Match the wooden veneer to your speaker's or fireplace bricks or wall colour etc etc. Just a thought and hope it works for you.

Thanks again guys for the tips on the treatments.

Tholt, those Cathedral treatments look intersting and are the right price. I'm curious that they do not align with the three corners in the corner like most corner treatments, but are positioned flat to the side and front walls...

Kevinzoe, I don't think I can attemtp those radical setups ;-) I use a front CRT projector to the front wall too, so I can't accomodate any of those hemispherical acoustic treatments between the speakers.

I do use Shakti Halographs behind the speakers currently, which may provide some value along the lines of what the plant approach provides.

I'll experiment a bit. thanks again.

Kevinzoe, to answer your question on Outlier; it was my section name in business school. Irongically, statistics is one of the few subjects I failed in undergrad - I'm practically scared of stats ;-0 I do like the meaning of the term Outlier though.

I have had a very good experience with GIK Tri-traps in my room and they are quite cost effective to boot.

Yes, what kiwi said.
Also GIK worked with a sketch of my room and helped me figure out what I needed.

8 ft. trees, water, wicker baskets???? My god, are you guys serious?

Mr_m

Can't expect everyone to understand these deeper matters.

Yes, it eludes many of us.

Varitune V:6 20-60hz, varitune V:4 45-100hz. You can lock them to a specific frequency. You run a test tone cd, and then you'll have it. You can put a V:4 on top of a V:6. Lets say you lock 40Hz and 80Hz.
You got a importer in the US.
http://www.performanceacousticslabs.com/PAL/Products-Acoustics_Listening_Rooms.html

Spathiphyllum usually has much better upper bass diffusion than Ficus Benjamina, and in the spring when they bloom, the enhanced soundstage is almost holistic.

Sandstone, is that your wife talking or you?