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Room Treatments, When are they required?

Hey Audiogoners!!!

I threw my first BBq in my new home this weekend. One of my guests who is also into audio gear came and we ended up talking a bit about audio gear.

My livingroom where the audiogear will be has 15ft vaulted ceilings, hardwood floors, and opens up to the dining room and kitchen. All pretty much in one real big l-shaped room.

I was telling him about my future upgrqade plans, which are nothing too extraordary, im thinking of some Parasound Amps and some Vandersteen 2CEs or 3As. It iwll be run 100% seperate from my HT system, but in the same room.

Anyways, he told me that it was a waste of money and there is no point in upgrading what i have unless i have a Dedicated listening room.

Personally, i think the accoustics in my livingroom are fantastic. Yes, some echo busters along the back wall or something might help out, but sound there is rich and full of live. Snap your fingers you get a nice clean SNAP, it doesent echo or linger any longer than it should. I have 3 very plush couches that do wonders for echo absorption.

When did everyone else start getting into room treatments and dedicated listening rooms?

Personally, i disagree with him, vandersteen 2ce's powered by some Parasound Amps will sound better than some radioshack speakers powered by a Denon 3505. No doubt about it in my mind. I dont care if it is installed in a dedicated room or a subway tunnel. it will sound better and i plan to upgrade.

When do YOU feel it is time to work on the room instead of the system?
Is there a certain price tag on the system that you feel is useless to upgrade further without having a dedicate room or room treatments?

Just curious.

Oh yeah, HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!
Woulda got that out earlier if i had been sober in the past few days.
slappy
lugnut
1,190 posts
 
Hi Slappy,

Hope the hangover isn't too bad. The reality is that an untreated room can sound very good although the sweet spot may be the only really satisfying place to listen. I've been a homeowner since 1976 and indulged my desire for a dedicated listening room. Initially I just wanted a safe and secure place for all my stuff and the freedom to close the door and not allow anyone in if it were a mess, which has often been the case.

I joined a fairly large group of audiophiles in this area that take turns hosting events. One of the members has a dedicated room that is not only top flight for listening but is real eye candy to boot. I recently was over to another members home where he has integrated his system in a very lovely living area without any treatments. This living room system sounded very good and if the home and all his gear was mine I would not add acoustic treatments unless they didn't distract from the room asthetics.

Ideally one would want a dedicated listening room with whatever level of treatments worked well. However, reality consists of compromises with a lot of things. Accumulate your new gear. In five to ten years you may be able to indulge yourself with a new room and enjoy that extra couple of percent of performance.
rives
953 posts
 
I think of any system being as good as it's weakest link in many respects. The room is like a component--possibly the most important one. If you have a good system, you need a good room. If you have a bose wave radio, well that will work fine in your bathroom. If you have state-of-art system you will likely need a dedicated room that is engineered and treated at the same level. There comes a point when upgrades are almost useless. They will change the sound, but not appreciably and certainly not at the $ per performance level of appropriate room engineering and treatment can do for you.

In a room like yours, that is not simple. I would try to have it acoustically measured. It might not be so bad. It might be terrible. There may be simple things that could be done to improve it, or it may need such radical modifications that you will need to move to a dedicated room at some point.
nrchy's avatar
nrchy
2,124 posts
 
I used a TACT analizer a couple of weeks ago and found that my room wasn't as good as I thought it was. Just because you like the sound of your system doesn't mean it is accurate, or flat (if flat is even a priority).

I agree that the room is just another componant. The nice thing is it usually costs a lot less to fix the room than it does to buy new gear. If the room was good with the old gear it should be even better with the new stuff.

My opinion FWIW about HiFi shows is that they are useless for auditioning gear because 11 times out of 10 the rooms suck, or at least don't resemble your room at all. How often have you heard people say "I heard 'company A' (which is obscenely expensive) at CES and their gear sounded like excrement." What company that builds good gear is going to spend lots of money to advertise gear that is not up to snuff? It's not the gear, more often than not (again 11 times out of 10) it is because the room does not lend itself to being used for the purpose expected of it.

Room treatments are invaluable. I think it is impossible to get good sound out of a room that is not treated! Ask Albert or Slipknot what they thought of the before and after listening. Alberts room is beautiful and done so well that the treatments are nearly invisible. The stuff does not have to be intrusive to work.

Alright, I'm going to take a breathe after this long-winded rant!
ozfly
887 posts
 
Slappy, much depends on your lifestyle. For me, I want to hear my system in several parts of the house, particularly the kitchen, informal eating area and small office (where I am now). So, a dedicated room made no sense for me -- I want to live with the music, not live for the music.

I designed my non-dedicated listening room to be acoustically good. But I've lived in other homes where average listening rooms sounded very, very good. Plush furniture and curtains combined with solid floors and walls can provide great acoustics. You can always add a few defractors and absorbers or Rives' fine technology.

Someone once asked me whether Sara McLaughlin would sound awful in a hotel room? (OK, keep the wise cracks down) Would the acoustics be so bad that you'd walk out holding your ears? I don't think so. A good system shows up well in any decent environment -- the brain can and does adjust. That's not to say that environments make no difference -- they do. That's not to say someone can't design a room that makes anything sound bad -- those rooms are out there. But many living areas are OK. Not optimal, but pretty good to very good.

What's your lifestyle? You indicate that the room sounds good now so would it make sense to remove the music to a dedicated room where you can make it sound even better? That's up to you.
slappy OP
903 posts
 
Oz,

Welp, im kinda stuck with the livingroom. None of the rooms in the house are really a good size for it except for the livingroom.

Also, i agree with you 100%, I too like to be able to hear it wherever i go. I like the idea of a dedicated listening room to reach that level of sound production, but at the same time, im a pretty active person, and i like to listen to music while cooking, cleaning, working on projects, hanging out on the deck, doing home improvements, etc.

More than anything, i was just kinda suprised by his statement.

I certainly agree a good system will sound like a good system no matter where it is, it might not be optimal, but it will still sound good.
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