Office partitions as sound panels

I want to point out that (1) 3" is not sufficient for a bass trap, depending on the construction/materials, (I use 6" OC705 and tuned traps) and (2) the plastic foam used by Auralex is less efficient than is packed mineral wool (fiberglas, OC 703, OC 705, etc.) and, therefore, needs to be even thicker for low mids.

One reason for so many rooms to be overdamped is that the user is installing more and more wideband panels in an effort to deal with sub-Schroeder frequencies and, in the process, is overdamping the mids and highs. Note that some suppliers, e.g., RealTraps, offers the option of a reflective "skin" on their traps to avoid this problem.

The Audio Physic and Sumiko Master Set speaker set up guides have been very useful to me. In fact, as I have become more familiar with their processes and using one or a combination of both of these methods to first set up and adjust the speakers, I have gradually reduced my need for room treatments. At this point I use a bare minimum number of bass traps/panels behind the speakers due to sliding glass doors. While I agree room treatments can be very beneficial, I think we sometimes use that as a crutch and underestimate the benefits of really good speaker placement.

Clio 09
I have heard the Sumiko Master setup is very good. How do you go about getting it. Thanks.

"Really good speaker placement" is undeniably
essential but it cannot fix the acoustical problems of a room
with unfortunate dimensions and inappropriate surfaces (lack
of absorption/diffusion). You just make the best of a bad
situation.

Marqmike, here are a couple of links. These differ slightly but the concept is very similar. You can actually hire someone trained in this process as well to do the set up for you. I just followed the methods described in the forum posts. You will note one recommends two people be involved, but you can do it yourself too as I do.

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=60819.0
http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showthread.php?5894-The-Sumiko-setup

As you can see the set up involves removing any room treatments. Then when completed, adding back room treatments as required to finish the job. I have found this to be quite effective and now find I need to dump some of my excess room treatments.

Another effective method to avoid using or overusing room treatments is the diagonal set up. Then of course there is near field listening. I have tried all these methods with very good results in a variety of less than friendly rooms. Although all this can be intimidating, it's really not so hard to figure out. It does take an extreme amount of patience though and if you are not single, a compassionate significant other.