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?
128x128wideload
This is a lovely thread and I wish more of them at Agon were of this caliber. I enjoy the cordial sharing and encouragement! 

Regarding which is more critical for sound, there is a huge variety of effects with cables, some conferring seemingly giant changes while others seem to do less. Swapping looms of cables produces a much larger effect than simply swapping one or two, as might be expected. A set of power cords confers a very noticeable effect, and it is easy, at least for me, to hear how each one contours the sound as it is added. 

Wideload, great to hear you're still doing well; blessings to your family as well. If you are pleased with what the Exogal Comet does, you may want to consider the Exogal Ion PowerDAC (reviewed at Dagogo.com) as well, because it magnifies the virtues of the Comet and expands the experience dramatically in the most virtuous ways. There is fantastic synergy between the DAC/Pre/Amp functions of the Comet and Ion. I believe they would sound inspiring with the Chapman speakers. Frankly, they sounded wondrous with any speakers I put with them. I have not found any combination of gear to perform DAC/pre/amp functions at such a performance level at anywhere near the price. I state all this clearly in the review.  :) 

toddverrone, kudos on conducting basic testing to discover the differences. I also did homemade power cords to see about it many years ago and it motivated me to move on to manufactured ones. I found a large range of performance not only between the homemade cables and the manufactured, but also between the aftermarket ones. The real judgment begins when you hear the differences, realize that it is related to cost (because you can't manufacture such cables yourself for less) and have to determine whether you will pursue that sound at a price. High end economics struggles! ;) 

As far as all my USA compatriots here on AGON are concerned, you all have a great opportunity to experiment with power cables and IC's from The Cable Co.. Man, do I wish that here in Canada I had such an opportunity to have a go at the "library" of cables, and IC's that they will loan out for testing purposes. It would really help in making proper choices before dropping $$$ on guesses. I'm jealous :)

Hello all, I am a firm believer in room acoustics and believe, as stated above, it more significant that upgrading all your components a level or two.  If you are in a small room 10 to 12' (Or even a large room) you may want to check out Modex plates.  They are mounted to the wall and are only 4" thick.  These are expensive by any standard but there are threads online (gearslutz) on making a DIY version.  You can source the melamine foam (Techlite Foam) in the US and cold rolled mild steel is readily available.  This thing can tame room modes down to 35 Hz where as "normal" bass traps only work down to about 80 Hz.  You can find more info in Fuchs book (The Inventor) which is available on Amazon ($259 -- Ouch).  Or you can just by the relevant chapter from Springer ($29 -- Ahhhh). 
OK. I'll downsize my question.
Has anybody tried/bought GIK bass traps with either the Flexrange Membrane added, or with the Scatterplate added, or with both added.
I'm interested in the effect on your bass frequencies and did they allow upper frequencies to continue, almost as before you added the bass traps?

I'd also like to ask if anyone has experience or stories to share about the Michael Green Audio acoustic "pillow"-type products. Universal acclaim for GIK et al., but tough to find anything on the MGA stuff. Thanks.