Room Treaments - Where To Begin...
Hi All: I have read countless comments that the best thing you can do to improve the listening experience is to acoustically treat the room. But where does one gain the expertise to do so? There are so many products/options out there. I have no clue where to begin (or if I even need to do it)... Thanks!
Textbook RT60 for a mastering control room, mostly accomplished with natural treatments, a bit of hidden in art absorbers, etc.. But first a question (s ) to the OP about your tastes, what is your resident orchestra and where are your preferred seats in the hall ? Have you heard your Spendor in a better room or system ? what does it do that yours does not ? Congrats on the Spendor BTW, most excellent.
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OK - here's the trick... to effectively correct the room acoustics, you have to measure the room acoustics and figure out what needs help. Simple... you wouldn't go to the doctor and say "I need medicine" because you know the next question is going to be "for what"? you HAVE to describe the problem first and foremost. Get a set of frequencies recorded at the same level, play them back and at least statically measure the room response at the listening position. Back in the day, that would be a Stereophile test cd and a Radio Shack dB meter... nowadays, you can use your phone instead of the meter and I am sure there are some freebie apps with frequency sweeps. Measure FIRST, then address the problems. By the way - GIK may be longer lead times than pre-civid, but they ARE good products and reasonable prices and have good people on staff to make recommendations FREE if necessary. |
tomic601, jwpstayman
Thanks for the responses - I guess what I am saying is that I enjoy my system and have not identified a particular problem - I just wonder if it could be better with some room treatments. P.S. I also have a JL Audio E110 paired with Spendors... |
Audiotools is a good start, you can run the RT60 test w a handclap but a popped ballon is better. Audiotools runs on iphone or ipad. I would not trust the iphone microphone below 120 hz. Audio Control ( Lynnwood, WA make a decent affordable calibrated microphone that can be trusted ). Of course you can get there….eventually..just by listening….you can also wander in the desert randomly looking for water… Jim Smith’s book - Get Better Sound may also be of use. Acoustics is part science, part art and some luck….but my mentors put together great rooms you can hear…in the reference recordings they help create…. Best to you Jim |
