In my experience all first reflection points matter, side walls, floor, ceiling, front and back wall, 12 points in all from my calculation. A 40% / 60% ratio absorption / diffusion works well for me. I followed GIK's advice and started with absorption at the 4 side wall points (considered rightly or not the absolute first reflection points by most). To me, in my room, the floor between the speakers and I is the true first reflection point. They all matter IMO.
Does the first reflection point actually matter??
Hello my friends,
So please read the whole post before commenting. The question is nuanced.
First, as you probably know I’m a huge fan of the well treated room, and a fan boy of GIK acoustics as a result, so what I am _not_ arguing is against proper room treatment. I remember many years ago, perhaps in Audio magazine (dating myself?) the concept of treating the first reflection points came up, and it seems really logical, and quickly adopted. Mirrors, flashlights and lasers and paying the neighbor’s kid (because we don’t have real friends) to come and hold them while marking the wall became common.
However!! In my experience, I have not actually been able to tell the difference between panels on and off that first reflection point. Of course, I can hear the difference between panels and not, but after all these years, I want to ask if any of you personally know that the first reflection point really matters more than other similar locations. Were we scammed? By knowing I mean, did you experiment? Did you find it the night and day difference that was uttered, or was it a subtle thing, and if those panels were moved 6" off, would you hear it?
Best,
Erik
So please read the whole post before commenting. The question is nuanced.
First, as you probably know I’m a huge fan of the well treated room, and a fan boy of GIK acoustics as a result, so what I am _not_ arguing is against proper room treatment. I remember many years ago, perhaps in Audio magazine (dating myself?) the concept of treating the first reflection points came up, and it seems really logical, and quickly adopted. Mirrors, flashlights and lasers and paying the neighbor’s kid (because we don’t have real friends) to come and hold them while marking the wall became common.
However!! In my experience, I have not actually been able to tell the difference between panels on and off that first reflection point. Of course, I can hear the difference between panels and not, but after all these years, I want to ask if any of you personally know that the first reflection point really matters more than other similar locations. Were we scammed? By knowing I mean, did you experiment? Did you find it the night and day difference that was uttered, or was it a subtle thing, and if those panels were moved 6" off, would you hear it?
Best,
Erik
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- 191 posts total
Well said, @ivan_nosnibor. Erik, “The most important part is getting to critical mass in absorption, and adding diffusion in the right areas. - Agreed. “The laser-line, first reflection points, in my mind, have never born fruit” Not entirely true. Think of laser line as your reference point. Once you mount the panels using the reference point (first reflection) and moving or rotating them say 15 degrees from the listener’s line of site, so they are no longer exactly on the mirror may result in slight shift in the imaging, IMHO. Now if you want to cover the entire wall with absorbers / diffusers then taking a systematic approach of targeting a first reflection point is pretty much a mute point :-) |
Erik - I've been following
Dennis Foley, Acoustic Fields, youtube video series,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuSgzTk0lIE. He will perform a free initial consultation/analysis of your room. For the DIY guy, he sells a software suite package for building bass traps and diffusers. I cant speak for his work as I'm just kicking the tires on room improvements at the moment, but he seems to understand acoustics and does a great job explaining room issues. Best of luck! |
- 191 posts total