Vintage HiFi Audio Forum
Audio Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: bmwr75 on March 22, 2017, 01:44:00 PM
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Acoustic treatments, where to get started? My guess is bass traps for the corners behind my L/R main speakers. First reflection points on the side walls is probably right up there too on priority. However, that is not going to be easy to do on the right side of my room because that is where the equipment rack and sub for movies sits. The room floor is already carpeted.
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I too am about to do some acoustic treatment in my new listening room. I was recently recording at a friend's studio that has a fantastically treated, shoe-box shaped recording/mixing/mastering room. Always envious when I walk in there, I asked him for some advice on how to get similar results.
His first suggestion was to avoid the typical pyramid foam, and instead build/buy multi-layer absorption panels with rigid fiberglass, and covered in burlap-like fabric. For him these yielded a much larger improvement. He said to place them at the first reflection points on the side walls. These are found by sitting in the listening position and having a friend run a mirror along the wall until you are staring directly at the drivers of the respective speaker, mark that spot on the wall as first reflection points. Also make sure you have absorption panels on the ceiling above the listening position and on the wall behind it. He has panels hanging from chains in the ceiling corners to eliminate 90 degree angle's negative effect on sound. This room is carpeted, with no windows and a curved rear wall. It looks like its bowing out almost. I forget what the purpose of this is, but I think it has to do with bass freq. He frequently claps and listens for echo too.
Since each room, equip, and listener's expectations are different, I'm sure you will have to modify to get exactly what you want. Good luck! Keep us updated with what works for you
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I too am about to do some acoustic treatment in my new listening room. I was recently recording at a friend's studio that has a fantastically treated, shoe-box shaped recording/mixing/mastering room. Always envious when I walk in there, I asked him for some advice on how to get similar results.
His first suggestion was to avoid the typical pyramid foam, and instead build/buy multi-layer absorption panels with rigid fiberglass, and covered in burlap-like fabric. For him these yielded a much larger improvement. He said to place them at the first reflection points on the side walls. These are found by sitting in the listening position and having a friend run a mirror along the wall until you are staring directly at the drivers of the respective speaker, mark that spot on the wall as first reflection points. Also make sure you have absorption panels on the ceiling above the listening position and on the wall behind it. He has panels hanging from chains in the ceiling corners to eliminate 90 degree angle's negative effect on sound. This room is carpeted, with no windows and a curved rear wall. It looks like its bowing out almost. I forget what the purpose of this is, but I think it has to do with bass freq. He frequently claps and listens for echo too.
Since each room, equip, and listener's expectations are different, I'm sure you will have to modify to get exactly what you want. Good luck! Keep us updated with what works for you
agree w your friend's advice. I went a bit crazy in my cave and put twelve 2'x4' x 4" panels using Roksul acoustic insulation (some are 1' x 4' x 4") all over the side and front walls (including 1st reflection points), then I went crazy again and put another bunch on the ceiling above the dropped ceiling (not visible). I bought the 1st one from GIK Acoustics, the rest I copied (Gik will sell you the materials to make them, including wood frames if you are not interested in doing that work). I also built 8' x 1' x 1' corner traps for the from. I think it is well worth it. The first few ones help tame some of the bass null issues, the other ones just allow the room to play slightly higher volumes without distorting/making the sound shrill [this is of course my opinion, using my old ears]. I also added DIY 2x4 diffusers (two) tuned to 1133 hz. to the walls. Their impact is less, but they look cool to me. 8)
Regards,
OBG
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Perhaps someone following this thread has advice for an issue I have. My main system is set up in the finished basement. Problem I have is keeping the sound there and not upstairs where the bedrooms are located. The basement steps are hardwood with walls on both sides and a ceiling. The stairwell is like a megaphone. I made a temporary sound door out of left over rigid insulation and I'd say it blocks less than 10% of the sound. Any ideas for CHEAP way to build a movable barrier? There is a door frame with no door at the top of the steps, my wife doesn't like having a door hung there. I was thinking of putting the door back up with some type of something attached to it, the door just by itself doesn't block the sound much.
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I think you want to consider absorbing the sound rather than blocking it. Like you said, the stairwell is acting like a megaphone. A cheap experiment would be to put egg cartons on the ceiling of the stairwell. My bet is this would help greatly. If I am right you can then get a more permanent solution. If I am wrong you are only out a little time.
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Forgot we had a 8" thick futon mattress in the attic. Built a quick wood frame and slid it across the bottom of the stairs. I'm in business I can turn the volume half way and it barely reaches the bedrooms.
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Installed the GIK Acoustics treatments in my HT/Listening room today. Bass traps for the front corners. Diffusers on the side walls. Monster Bass traps with diffuser plates on the rear wall. The low frequencies are much tighter. Instrument placement is more pin point. The court is still out on sound stage depth, width and height. Will have to do some more serious listening. Placed the order on March 28 and received the goods on April 4, so 1 week lead time and good communications with the vendor.
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Excellent Scott! I have some GIK traps and they are great! Custom colors and fast, friendly service. How about some pics?
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Pictures as requested.
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Poor quality pic of the front corner bass traps.
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WOW! Congrats on the nice HT room! The pictures look exactly like the sketches that I saw either here or somewhere. The colors are fabulous! I see the antiques fans, lava lamp, RCA dog etc. are still in the mix with the Kefs.
What are the surrounds, subs, etc.? Also, I am curious why the cages around the spot lights?
Very nice! I need a trip to Jackson!
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Very nice! Are the traps custom fit to accommodate the baseboards?
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Installed the GIK Acoustics treatments in my HT/Listening room today. Bass traps for the front corners. Diffusers on the side walls. Monster Bass traps with diffuser plates on the rear wall. The low frequencies are much tighter. Instrument placement is more pin point. The court is still out on sound stage depth, width and height. Will have to do some more serious listening. Placed the order on March 28 and received the goods on April 4, so 1 week lead time and good communications with the vendor.
Theater looks great Scott - and now I can understand how the two-channel speakers are setup relative to the others. I experienced similar benefits after treating the cave, also noticed that I could increased the volume higher w/o distortion (probably because the excess bass energy was not able to cause as much noise).
OBG
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Very nice! Are the traps custom fit to accommodate the baseboards?
No, so the bottom of the traps are out from the wall a little.
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WOW! Congrats on the nice HT room! The pictures look exactly like the sketches that I saw either here or somewhere. The colors are fabulous! I see the antiques fans, lava lamp, RCA dog etc. are still in the mix with the Kefs.
What are the surrounds, subs, etc.? Also, I am curious why the cages around the spot lights?
Very nice! I need a trip to Jackson!
Jackson MS is 238 miles away. Memphis is closer, only 90 miles.
The HT mains are Klipsch KLF-20s, center is Klipsch KLF-C7, side surrounds are ADS L1230s and rear surrounds are Klipsch Chorus 1s and sub is Hsu VTF-15H MK2.
Caged lights are just what I ended up picking for the room. They are on a dimmer, as are the can lights in the ceiling.
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Theater looks great Scott - and now I can understand how the two-channel speakers are setup relative to the others. I experienced similar benefits after treating the cave, also noticed that I could increased the volume higher w/o distortion (probably because the excess bass energy was not able to cause as much noise).
OBG
Thanks Pepe. I've got to redo the Audyssey calibration on the HT set up. Also want to see how the KLF-20s sound for music now that the bass reflections have been tamed.
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What are the things that look kind of like computer mice in the last picture?
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What are the things that look kind of like computer mice in the last picture?
Sony PS3 controllers on a charger. I need to move them to somewhere else.
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I didn't know if they were some esoteric piece of audio gear with which I was unfamiliar.
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The only time the PS3 gets turned on is when my step-son comes to visit.
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I EQed the bass today using my AudioSmile modded Behringer DEQ2496. It has an internal pink noise generator. Used RTA in AudioTools on an iPad with a calibrated MiniDSP microphone. Only lowered the 1/3 octave bands below 250 Hz to get pretty much a flat response with the midrange octaves. Then put on some music that had bass lines with which I was familiar. It sounded like the bass had nearly disappeared!! So, I reduced the EQ cuts by about 1/2 and replayed the same tunes. Much better this time.
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I EQed the bass today using my AudioSmile modded Behringer DEQ2496. It has an internal pink noise generator. Used RTA in AudioTools on an iPad with a calibrated MiniDSP microphone. Only lowered the 1/3 octave bands below 250 Hz to get pretty much a flat response with the midrange octaves. Then put on some music that had bass lines with which I was familiar. It sounded like the bass had nearly disappeared!! So, I reduced the EQ cuts by about 1/2 and replayed the same tunes. Much better this time.
I experience that often as well. I use Audio Tools as a starting point and then make tweaks by ear. The curve you get if you go for flat is boring, especially to my old ears, so I always add a curve bumping up the bass a bit (relative to Audio Tools).
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Remember, each octave down requires twice the power to achieve the same amplitude. You have to use a weighted baseline rather than a flat one.