Room treatments

Bookcases w/books, plants, hangings, rugs.....all depends on what problems you are trying to solve.

Don't ever forget speaker placement and positioning of your chair in that 'sweet listening spot'.

To answer a question with a question: has anyone tried Acoustics First? I ran across their products while doing a search on the web at http://www.acousticsfirst.com. Maybe someone here has some experience with them but I've not seen anything posted.

Furniture with fabric covering. Hang a tapestry behind your listening position. Drapes on windows. Wool carpet. Bookshelves. I've read that a square room presents many problems. Might be worth it to have an acoustics consultant pay a visit and give you some tips to tame your room, help place your speakers, etc. Makes a huge difference.

I have a 10' by 10' room and the fact that it is square presents a huge problem. So for full range speakers bass traps are a must.

Another solution (which in most cases including mine is unreasonable) is to position the speakers kitty corner so the room becomes a diamond shape rather than a square. This works best with bookshelf speakers. Most important is to cover windows and the area behind the speaker. That made the most difference in my room and I simply threw a comforter on the wall. It works.

Don't give up though it can be frustrating at times.

Thank you all for your responces. Basically the room has a
lot of echoes and the music sounds shrill - at least to my ears.

I'll go with some drapes, an area rug and the tapestry idea
before I spend money on specialist products.

Thank you again.

J.

Tweed, A couple of additional hints. Pay close attention to the 1st reflection points from your side walls and the radiation pattern of your speakers. There is a conflicting issue involved. If you have a speaker with a broad radiation pattern, sidewall reflections will reinforce and distort high frequencies. If you point the speakers at the listening position to lessen these reflections you will be listening to them on axis and many speakers are "hot" on axis and meant by the manufacturers to be pointed straight ahead, which takes you back to excessive sidewall reflections, unless you can deaden this wall area(if that is a problem I can recommend a solution). Also, the dimensions of your room will likely cause some severe bass abnormalities. These may be impossible to cure with speaker/listening positioning, but you could make them worse by placing the speakers too close to reinforcing boundries. I would get a good test tone disc and a Radio Shack meter to help you identify and solve these problems (see the Rives site). Ultimately you might need to put an equalizer in your tape loop to get a good response in your room. And, at its best, I doubt in your room that you will ever get great sound at high volume with out serious professional help, both service and product, but you should be able, with monitors, to get some pretty good sound at medium volume. Hope that helps a bit.......

Room treatments can get expensive. But, it is the only way for us with less than perfect rooms to get the best sound. We all know our rooms are a MAJOR contributor to the sound we hear right!? Now, how many are willing to spend money on room treatments? Not many. Want proof? Search the systems here on Audigon and take a look at the pictures. If some would spend less than the price of one of their cables on room treatments, or even some thought and time on placement, dramatic improvements could be made.

The good news is that you can have some fun, learn something and it will probably cost less than your power cord. If you understand some math, basic room acoustics and material properties, DIY room treatment projects can often get you a significat percentage of a mainstream products effectivness. If you don't understand that stuff but want to, search and read the web. I actually took a class on this stuff for my undergraduate engineering degree years ago...and kept the book.

There are a couple free room software analyzers that will give you a good starting point for set up, just do a search on the web. Next get a test CD and an SPL meter then listen and take notes and measurements. Find and understand what your problem areas are first, then attack them one by one as the effects may stack up. Use your ears as the final test.

Local fabric stores (foams, fabrics, stuffing, batting) and hardware stores (insulation, frame materials, required tools) are gold mines for this stuff. Ever notice how the insulation isle at Home Depot is really quiet?

Good luck.

Concur with Romb321...with a 12' square room, you'll have reinforcing standing waves. I'd say several good bass traps would be a good investment.

I agree with the above advice and will just add...

One thing great about 1SCs is that you can sit really close to them, thus reducing some of your possible acoustic problems.

Set everything up and make any adjustments if a problem arises.

Start by going to the audioasylum do a search under tweekers asylum. search for jon rishch diy bass traps and diy wall panels.

good luck. your cost is under $50.00

also look for asylum member batman picture gallery.

hope this helps it shure works wonders for my system
davewav1