2. tech-talk
  3. 1041981841

Is an eight sided oval room acoustically correct?

I was in the process of building a 13 foot by 17 foot stereo sound room when I got an idea. Why not avoid 90 degree walls with four smaller walls? This will create an eight sided oval room. Won't this avoid the need for bass traps? I know that traditional room corners accentuate bass resonance. What do you think about this solution?
redwoodgarden
maxgain
526 posts
 
Rives, you have a great deal of useful information on youre site.

Looking it over brings up some questions that I am giong to try and solve. I have a bay window directly behind my speakers and a sliding glass door to the left. I know that these both contribute some problems to the sound. The bay is not easly coversed by drapes or blinds as it is home to my wifes huge philodendron. This is the only place in the house that it fits and is very happy there. I am wondering if you have any experience with Murigo Audio Labs window tuning dots. I know that it is not the ideal situation or solution, but the room does need to serve as living space to some degree. I am fortrunate enough to be able to set the room up for the Hi Fi and nothing else other than the computer and as an area to relax and read.

Another product that I am curious about are the Golden Sound Company's Acoustic Discs. Any thoughts on these?
rives
953 posts
 
Maxgain: I do have experience with these types of products. What they do is reduce the resonance in the glass. This may be a problem for you (it depends on the glass insert), but it's not the problem we discuss regarding bay windows on our website. These materials will do nothing for "focus effect" problem that bay windows have.
joeb
121 posts
 
Red, I am also building a room, as you may know because you pointed me in the direction of some books. But, while researching this I ran across a site in the Audiogon archives: psaudio.com/articles/listening_room_3.asp
These guys built a room with diagonal corners that were built-in bass traps. They looked good and appear effective at dealing with the issues of resonant node, "bass peaks" etc.
I am still trying to find a good answer to my problem of room dimensions. I have this much room to work with 15x 26. I keep getting confusing info on the best dimension to minimize resonant modes. It appears that 10x15x21 is the answer, but am still waiting for feedback.
good luck
joeb
maxgain
526 posts
 
Rives, thanks. I understand that the dots won't change that issue. It's a compromose I have to live with.My image is suprisingly good though.I know I can't have stats or Maggies in here. Perhaps the BIG plant in the window
acts as enough of a defuser to help some of it. It's an Anderson window with a 4 1/2' picture window and two doubble hung windows set on a 45, the bay is 8' wide and 22" deep. I have wondered if two small tube traps set at the edges of the picture window might help.
rives
953 posts
 
Maxgain: The tube traps will help. The other option would be to use heavy drapes but just close them enough so that the angled portions of the window are hidden from view. Then the plant does help with diffusion and you've minimized if not eliminated the bay window focussing issue. The drapes would probably look nicer than the tube traps and might get siginificantly better spousal approval ratings.
More to discover