Room Treatments and Orientation for Unfinished Basement Listening?


Hey all, no idea if I'm parking this in the right section.

My listening area is in an unfinished basement with the white vapor barrier batt insulation type of stuff (I have no idea what it's technically called), which you can see behind my system in my profile. I've wondered for a while, and tried to research with limited success, but is this decent for sound? It doesn't sound at all echo-ish to me, rather, quite muted.

The current area is unfortunately a squarish (15' 6" x 16' x 8') offshoot from the rest of basement (about 1200sq ft total), the floor is concrete with a large padded rug, and the ceiling is open, floor joists exposed and uninsulated. 4' x 4' windows (I know I need some drapes) behind and to the right of the listening position. Open to the rest of the basement on the left side of the listening position.

Before I make any changes to components (I'm going to essentially start over, but that's probably for a different discussion), I want to feel confident I've got my room in a good spot.

I think I need to add bass traps because I have bass frequencies that come in hot and have frequencies where it seems like there's nearly nothing. Is that a fair representation defining the need? I will be implementing a sub or two in the next evolution of my stereo.

Is it worth it try rotating the system 90 degrees to the right and have the stereo along the back wall, facing into the openness of the basement, which would be about 60' from the stereo to the back wall?

For what it's worth, I listen to a lot of hip-hop, older R&B, funk, but also mix in classic rock, blues, and jazz. I need substantial low-end punch.

This post ended up being much longer than I originally thought it would be, so thanks for reading. I can't begin to tell you how much I've learned over the years from the knowledge base here. You all are a wealth of information and I appreciate the varying degrees of perspective, experience and resources.

Richard

 

richardt9000

If I was in your situation, the first thing I would do is to determine the ideal proportions, orientation and shape for a listening room.

Next would be electrical. Specifically, a dedicated circuit or two and enough plugs in the right places, that I can keep the noisy components completely separate and mitigate cable anarchy.

Now you are ready to start.

Here's a rather long read but worth it.  Lots of information and links to sound rooms.   https://digistar.cl/Forum/viewtopic.php?t=557

This calculator for room dimensions is very good.  https://www.acoustic.ua/forms/rr.en.html   

Cheers.

You can find a lot online about designing listening rooms and studio control rooms. I would start there. Some sites let you put in room dimensions and materials to get recommendations. GIK Acoustics is a company that will analyze data from REW measurements and room photos and give recommendations for products they sell, which are quite good.