Thanks for sharing!
Beginner improvements for room acoustics; very helpful Darko video on reverb and RT60
I often find myself trying to help friends new to audio take their first steps toward improving their sound. Taming room reflection is, of course, the first step.
Many respond by saying some combination of "Why would I need that?" and "Isn't a rug and furniture enough?"
Darko's video explain the answer to both of these questions, and does so by explaining in layman's language what the sweet spot for reverb typically is, and why furniture and rugs are not often sufficient.
He describes a reasonable, middle way between going all out on room treatments and doing nothing. At the very least, he says at the end, do the ceilings.
Again, old news to many here, but possibly of use for some here and for anyone advising others.
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@onhwy61 I think small rooms are not helped by RT60, but Darko's room and many others are not small. I'll look for criteria regarding "small." You're raising a good point, and it would help everyone to know at what point RT60 is not applicable. |
I’m pretty sure RT60 would be overkill as my apt living room is on the small side and I do listen in the near field (about 8.5’ from speakers). When I snap my fingers the sound has no trail or spark to it, like in his video comparison. Once, when Tony Minasian came over, he walked around clapping his hands and talking and said my place was fine as is. I’m lucky in that my old apt has that awful popcorn ceiling treatment that goes some ways to ameliorate reflections up there. Throw in some artwork on the walls that must do something, and I’ve never had that reverb effect to deal with. The one thing that piqued my interest with Darko’s video was the diffusion aspect. Due to my room layout, the right side is about a yard from a wall of large side windows with those dreadfully dated vinyl, vertical blinds. As a result, the right side of the soundstage always seemed a bit livelier than the rest and at times seemed to be a bit more forward in presentation with some CDs. I opened the blinds at about a 45° angle, facing the speakers. With the blackout curtains behind the blinds to help absorb and not reflect off the glass pane, I played some music and, lo! the stage was now evenly uniform. How I missed this all these years makes me blush. Minor though it is, elements of the players have shifted a bit to the right and back and it’s calmer now overall. Goes to show that even something as minor as what I did can have that kind of effect. All the best,
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