This may not be an option for some, but Armstrong makes suspended acoustic ceiling tiles. I used these in my sound room and they worked wonderfully to mitigate an upper midrange glare. They are also inexpensive and look good.
Treating the ceiling and floor, who else has had great results?
Two areas of the room often neglected by audiophiles IMHO is the ceiling and floor. We focus so much on first reflections we forget about overall energy left in a room after the speaker has stopped.
I've had excellent luck with treating the ceiling, especially for home theater applications, and this was before Atmos. The area behind the speakers near the floor often hides noise and distortion which we didn't know we were hearing. Throw a blanket over there and listen for yourself.
Who else has gone through the trouble of treating their ceiling?
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GIK absorbers on ceiling and side walls along with a good thick cut pile wool rug with pad. Vicoustic combination absorber/diffusers in the front corners, on the front wall, and on the side walls. In the middle of the front wall is a large Vicoustics wooden diffuser ensemble. There are also Vicoustic diffusers on the ceiling. Behind the listening position is another mix of absorption and diffusion devices. Probably 50/50 absorption/diffusion overall. My recollection is that you want to treat roughly 30% to 40% of the room's surfaces. |
Per square foot, carpets are far less effective than dedicated acoustical panels, but even if we say it's "only" effective above 1 kHz, that's a good thing, especially when the floor is a glaring first reflection point and should not be neglected. Still, the overall tonal balance of a room, and even your ability to hear if a carpet is there or not will be determined by everything else. I'm not here selling rugs. I'm suggesting if you haven't tried treating the floor behind and between your speakers, for some this can be good. Also, not here to debate the point forever. Just try it and if you like it do something more. |
It’s important to read the whole article. I’ve never claimed a rug was a solution to everything. If you’ve read my posts on acoustics I often talk about having a minimum critical mass before room treatments become audible, including first reflection points. That still applies here. Darko’s article doesn’t say rugs aren’t helpful, but that they are limited in effectiveness. That’s different. Also, the point I wanted to say here was a little different and dealing with a small overlooked corner of the room behind the speakers. Fortunately I’m not asking anyone to spend money. Throw a rug or blanket behind the speakers and see if you hear a worthwhile improvement. If so, maybe get a panel for that area. Specifically Darko does not say "don't put a rug on your floor it's useless." He only points out how limited its effect it is in light of other treatments. You'd be foolish to NOT put a rug down if you have a bare wooden floor.
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As someone who has had to design spaces specifically for acoustical concerns, carpeting/rugs can have a negligible effect on acoustics in general-use settings like homes and office spaces. Carpet can deaden foot traffic noise and high frequencies but as far as helping to tune a room for mid-range and low-end frequencies for audio enjoyment, it's not much help. Of course, the carpet/rug salesman will tell you their product will solve all your acoustical issues but caveat emptor. Floor treatments can add warmth and visual softness to a space if you want to make it more liveable and aesthetically pleasing. Ceiling and wall treatments are the most effective surfaces to look at. In my future listening den, I plan to take room measurements after I have a semblance of furnishings, final finishes, and the built-in bookshelves are filled up because I don't intend to build a listening box with nothing in it but a chair. Depending on how tech-savvy you are, you could try free software out there to build a 3D simulation of your room and then listen to it virtually to see how it may sound with different treatments or hire professional services to do that for you. If I were designing a custom listening space for a client and they have top-end hi-fi gear and want a truly neutral room, then I would recommend hiring an acoustician to assist in designing the right room treatments and dialing in the correct dimensions for a room. |
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I have had rough textured commercial acoustical tiles on sheetrock ceiling in my theater/listening room for 20 years. The tiles are starting to crumble to the point I’m looking at replacing them. I’m not sure what to use as a replacement since these are very deadening along with all walls being covered with “acoustical wall covering”, aka indoor/outdoor carpeting, and carpeted floor. I’m thinking something a little more reflective might be better acoustically for my 2 channel listening which is now more important to me. I did put acoustical wood panels behind the main speakers for some reflection of the rear facing subs. |
Ceiling. Huge. Think of symphony hall. When designing, the ceiling isn’t a constraint like most people’s listening rooms. The changes need to be structural like a soffits in the right places. Or at very least large and otherwise effective hanging mass that brings the room together. Like a great rug. And yes. Rug on floor. Wool. And heavy. Think now about what the musicians have in their studios and up on stage. So many cool rugs. And maybe a pillow or two in the drum set. For walls and such I prefer heavy drapery augmented by music related art and such. Album covers are not ideal. The flat surface even at 12x12 can be a problem. Placement of such memorabilia is critical. |
This is my studio room. Double clouds, full reflections covered. Built most of the panels myself with Mike Major at gik acoustics doing a 3D mockup of my room before I built it and filling in with diffusion absorption Alpha 6A panels and scattering panels. I’m right at about +/-3 db from the listening position from 20 hz to 20 khz (besides a bass boost I added of about 6 DB as I mostly mix electronic, pop and hip hop stuff and need to feel that low end) with minimal EQ. RT60 and waterfall look amazing. I’m considering treating my living room right now. It’s a fairly large open floor plan with 9’ ceilings. Sounds good right now but going to be doing some 6" or 7" panels for first reflections on the sides and pending WAF, a cloud or two for the ceiling. The floor can be carpeted or hard. If the other reflection points are treated, I’ve heard it doesn’t really matter much. Over damping is a huge issue. I went with carpeted floors because that’s what I like. I do recommend doing a rug if you are missing your first reflections. It definitely helps to control excess treble ringing but pales in comparison to a fully treated room! |
"No, a rug won’t help your room's reverb problem" https://darko.audio/2025/02/no-a-rug-wont-help-your-rooms-reverb-problem/ |
I have not specifically treated the ceiling, and think that would be a tough to sell with my chief decorator/LOML. However, there’s a textured ceiling, and two ceiling fan structures that may help with some diffraction....perhaps I could suggest a couple of well designed decorative medallions around them. The floor was easy, with thick wall to wall carpet. The suspended floor underneath...not so helpful, but I bet I could get away with a few extra lolly posts in the crawl space below. It's not ceiling/floor, but the large fireplace structure on the wall behind the speakers seems to offer some diffraction help. I’ve been bugging her about installing some book cases to further enhance that effect. We shall see!
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I treated my ceiling like I did my side walls for a high end 2 channel system in 4000 cubic feet space. The floor is carpeted. Lastly, the speakers are pulled out from the front wall with scatter plates behind them. Bass absorbers are inserted in the front corners. Locations for the admixture of absorption and reflection panels were determined based on 1st and 2nd reflections. The sound detail is magnificent, because the structural boundaries have disappeared — especially for depth of the sound stage. I found that strong equipment is made better by sound treatment of the listening space. |
@erik_squires - I agreed with you that the area between and behind being oversights. I have a small 12'x12', 10' ceiling room. And it has been a b*tch to treat. I'm intending to build a proper dedicated room with better dimensions, but that is at least a year off. I did all the 1st reflection points, back wall, bass traps in corners (floor to ceiling), corner /ceiling traps, carpet in front all the way to the listening chair, etc. It wasn't until I bought some big pillows, used for dog beds, behind the speakers and partly up the front wall until I was able to get the boomy , smeared bass somewhat under control. I know it is knocking down the reflections bouncing around the room, but it was also knocking down the bass coming out rear port on my Totem Wind speakers. I still need to play with doing something about the equipment rack between the speakers. As for the ceiling, I tried using horizontal bass trap panels hanging from the ceiling at it's 1st reflection point. It was "ok", but it seemed to kill any airiness in the sound. I'm suspecting that I've reached a point where I've over damped the room. so, I'm building a set of diffuser panels to replace some of the absorption ones, and will try those on the ceiling. Going to interesting to see what happens.
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I need to clarify. For the floor this time I meant to talk about the area directly between the speakers, and behind the speakers. Most of us have put rugs down in front of the speakers if we don't have carpet already. It's the 4-6' behind that line that I find often gets ignored because it's not a clear 1st reflection point. |
Mostly light absorption on floors, oriental carpets, ceiling combo of absorption and diffusion at critical points. I have sprinkled diffusion panels throughout entire listening room 30'L x 13'W, sloped symmetrical ceiling. Acoustic treatments are also effective quite far from speakers, get the right treatments room can sound larger, greater immersion in sound field at listening position. Spent many years getting this all just right. |
I have treated ceilings many times, even the floor in front of speakers when in dedicated spaces. I kinda had to do the ceiling in this room with the speakers so near a first reflection point: https://www.audiogon.com/systems/10635#&gid=1&pid=14
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