I live in a large cement room...


Hi. I would be grateful for anyone out there with acoustical knowledge to offer ideas. Here's my system, room, and issues to address;
#1. OK, THE SYSTEM: Cary CD303, Cary sli80 (with a buffet of NOS tubes, so sexy they're almost pornographic), Meadowlark Hot Rod Shearwaters, 2 Coincident power cords, Harmonic Tech Pro silwayII interconnects, a Chang Lightspeed on the way, and biwired DH Labs T-14 (soon to be replaced with either Harm Tech Pro9 bi's or the Coincident wire). That will be all the upgrades for quite a while, I took some big steps this past year to put together a good system for what I listen to, which is primarily small ensemble acoustic instruments- jazz & classical.
#2. THE ROOM: length 24' width 17' height 8'. Hard tile floor, cement walls, and cement ceilings sprayed with stucco textured with kitty litter, wasn't my idea but it's a nice effect.
Currently I have my speakers 8' out from the short wall ( I live alone :-), and 4' out from one of the long side walls, and 7' from the other side wall, (it has to be this way due to foot traffic considerations), the speakers are about 7' apart from center of drivers.
ROOM TREATMENTS I'VE DONE ALREADY: the whole back wall is covered in two king size egg crate bed pads, then covered by two king size Martha Stewart (taupe colored) cotton blankets, a nice looking wall if I do say so with lots of double stick carpet tape underneath and duct tape on the perimeters. On the floor I've put two throw rugs- Kmart designer rugs, (~4'x7') from the exclusive Tangiers collection, which I throw out and replace whenever the dogs vomit on them. So there is a thin layer of carpet all around me between the speakers and my listening position. On the long wall to my right of the listening position (with the speaker 4' from the side wall) are two large sliding glass doors with panoramic views of the Caribbean, ( I'm in St Thomas, which is why the house is all poured cement). There is a sheet thin drape over the windows. Behind the speakers along the back wall are lots of cardboard boxes from all my equipmemt, and CD racks etc.
ISSUES TO ADDRESS: How can I improve my soundstage/imaging? Speakers are slightly toed in. I don't seem to be able to attatch anything to the ceiling due to the kitty litter, it just wont stick. I think better speaker cables will help. Frequency response seems nice, but I'd love to hear even better imaging. Sorry to be so long winded but I just finished a nice bottle of wine. Jay
jay_carlson
Look at these sites echobuster.com, auralex.com, silentsource.com and xoom.com will get you jon risch's homepage that sean mentioned. There is also RPG at audioadvisor.com who has a webpage too. I've done the Jon Risch DIY treatment and the panels work well, I can't say the bass traps were that effective, at least that I could tell with my system. (I doubt I had any air spaces in the bass traps). If you have the money the ASC is good like garfish uses. Personnally, I wouldn't mind paying the money for them even though they are a bit overpriced IMHO; There's nothing that looks as nice as having something professionally done. However, my room won't facilitate them right now.
Jay: I have that humans make good bass traps when I throw parties, So..... invite all your lady friends over and that should quiet down the room and also test your Inverse WAF theory. Good luck, you might need it.
Wirehead,

Brilliant! but I've tried that- while the bodies make for good absorption, there's a noise factor that I just can't control. Perhaps a combination of well placed ladies and duct tape would be the perfect solution. A well endowed woman in each corner, and a few others strategically placed throughout the room might just be the ticket.
Hi Jay
Since Iam the only one to deal with the same situation you are in...The biggest improvement I made was the ceiling.
Foam may not be the best according to other post..but I have expereince in this and they Do not..
Jay I cannot stress this enough.. do the ceiling. After 4 inches of foam on the ceiling It is without a doubt the biggest improvement you well make .
Room improvement is like ..Dunlavy on cable doesent matter. has long has it measures.B.S> Every situation is different,,foam may not measure but listen..
I envite anyone to come and listen to my concrete fortress before saying diff. Ezz and sean you two are most welcome before casting or stating diff.
Put up or shut up
steve
Evo845, I never said foam wasn't good or its not the best. I said the eggcrate foam you buy at walmart/kmart/etc. isn't good, and for that matter not anywhere close to the best. Its designed to go on your bed, not the wall. Now I'm sure if you put so much on the wall that it absorbed all the sound (nrc of 1.00 across the spectrum because foam does measure) then the non-linear absorbtion characteristics of it wouldn't matter. Acoustic foam, on the other hand, can work well and I have no objections to it, I even recommended auralex.com which does foam only. A well designed 2" acoustic foam probably has roughly twice the absorbtion of typical eggcrate foam which means Jay won't have to buy as much for his ceiling/wall, not to mention the added benefit of better diffusion provided by the texture various acoustic foams offer. However, for absorbing bass, some of the other devices, ASC bass traps and possibly even hemholtz resonators, may be more ideal. Exactly where the foam, or whatever acoustic treatment is employed, goes is subject to the specific dimensions of the room.