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Treating a small room with diffusers?

I saw this quote about room treatments in another forum where one audiophile is advising another audiophile:

Diffusion is what you need. It cures the "empty room" feeling of specular reflections without the stuffy dead feeling of absorbtion. It makes the space feel bigger than it really is. The trick is covering a large enough area economically. I'll get you a couple 2x2 RPG BAD Panels to check out. Phase type diffusors are even more efficient than BAD Panels, but are thicker and usually cost more. GIK diffusor is priced well for its performance.

I know next to nothing about room treatments but what he says sounds good. My listening room is a rectangular family room (stuffed with furniture etc.) 11X18X8

1. What are diffusors?
2. What's the minimum I'd pay for these in a room my size
3. How do they make a room sound bigger than it is?

Thanks for your help
foster_9
shadorne's avatar
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shadorne
7,467 posts
 
Diffusion is best when you're farther away as the waves need proper time and distance to spread out. When you sit very close to a boundary, the biggest issue is actually bass buildup which requires absorption.

And I fully agree with that.

What I meant was that diffusion is more essential for close reflections at either end (Close to speaker or close to the listener - if you are unlucky enough to have a terrible setup). Of course, diffusion is much more effective as you get further away from it.

I also agree that bass is the biggest issue when you sit close to a boundary but that does not mean that higher freqency reflection are not a problem too even if they are smaller).

Sorry if I wasn't clear.
shadorne's avatar
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shadorne
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Here is an example what can be done. Notice the diffusion directly behind the listener.
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bpape
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Absolutely. He's several feet away. Also, it matters what range of frequencies the diffusion is effective in as to the minimum distance. Those diffusers shown in those pics are probably maybe good to 700Hz or so if that low.

Bryan Pape
GIK Acoustics
foster_9 OP
1,638 posts
 
My room seems too full to do anything and my seating arrangement is off to one side facing a aide wall to the system so it is a real mess that can't be fixed, at least as long as my wife has a say.
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