Room treatment-I was afraid of this


There I was with a dedicated room-not ideal being nearly square and a less than 8' ceiling-and barely adequate music, not awful but the system had sounded better. I tried moving things about some with differing results but nothing satisfying. Part of the problem was moving from a 30x35 foot room with an 18' ceiling. I was used to the speakers being well out into the room, far apart and sitting pretty far away. I used the odd integer matrix method promoted by Vandersteen but hadn't considered either placing them closer to the wall or moving near field. Nick at GIK recommended both, as well as some furniture rearranging that made a very pleasant difference. That was all the encouragement I needed to order bass traps, 1st and 2nd reflection panels and front and rear wall treatments. Installed them by about 4pm Monday and listened until 2 am, back at it last night from 3pm-1am. It's just as so many have said, this is a serious component upgrade. It is matched in scale only when I went from Vandersteen 2CE's to Chapman T-77SE's. Not a single aspect of the listening experience that isn't enhanced. So now the problem; I suppose a lot of the glowing stuff folks make of cables, power cords, fuses, and on and on also make significant differences. How long can it be before I'm off and running on that stuff?
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Showing 6 responses by dentdog

Toolbox,
To answer your question about GIK, yes I have both the Scatter plates and Flexrange components built into traps made by GIK. If you check my Virtual system page you can see their work. 
Since my best listening position was a bit close to the wall behind me I had GIK make the Jukebox Art Monster Bass trap right behind my head.
The two monster traps on the rear wall have both scatter plates and flex range built in. The trap on the front wall is actually hooked over the TV at the suggestion of Jim Smith of Get Better Sound.
I also bought a few [3] boxes of OC 703 and have actually draped a nice throw over 6 panels to make a bass trap sitting on the floor a foot deep.
Took 2 years, bit by bit but last night my wife and I cranked it up and I have finally hit the sweet spot. Having an intrinsically hard room it's taken quite a bit of treatment but not dead by any means.
Best of luck.
toddverrone,

About a year ago, while surveying the options for damping the wind reflections I happened on a covering, a perforated plastic/cellophane sheet attached to the windows via the corners with a small elastic band. They looked to be a good alternative. They were European made and with enough searching perhaps you could locate them.
As they were somewhat expensive I passed on them and hung curtains, which I saw were not an option for you. Unfortunately windows are very reflective for sound and make it borderline impossible to get the reverb factor in a room under control. 

I did place the corner traps first. Then the TV trap and later the bass traps behind the listening  seat. The room is a hard room with windows left, concrete wall with sheetrock right, sheetrock ceiling and hardwood floors on concrete. The damping seems a bit much but trust me for this room the positive effect became noticeable with the two monster bass traps and the six pieces of Owens Corning , one foot thick on the floor.
It's a far cry from when I first set things up, one small love seat and nothing else in the room. At the time I hadn't had a music system for thirty years-crazy I know-and was thrilled, soon got busy on the room.
Aside-bought the speakers from a guy in Buffalo, NY flew up, rented a Yukon and drove them back to Atlanta, all in one day. You might say that the audio bug had bitten me pretty hard. no?
Best of luck and enjoy the music.
Top Acoustics-stepped diffusors
$99 for 16’ by 48" by 6" deep

No financial interest in the company.
Dave,

Don't know how long the TA website has been up but having GIK and Top Acoustics nearby is helping my room. Going to put 5 across under my TV and call it a day. Best to you.
Bummer, called Top Acoustics for some diffusors and they're out of business, no more in stock.