OK, let me try to shed some more light.
- The room is 5.72 meters by 4 meters, with 2.72 meter high ceilings. The listening seat is dead center along the long wall, and about 18 inches away from the back wall.
- Backwall is treated with RPG diffusors. The first and second reflection points on the ceiling, front wall and side walls are treated with 4 foot tall RPG foam panels. The corners are treated with 4 foot tall RPG foam wedges (this is the RPG Studio in a Box kit).
- The level on the subs is adjusted so that the SPL between 16Hz and 85 Hz is no more than 6 dB down vs the midrange level of the mains. This level is still about half of the way to full output on the subs.This gives two broad peaks of about 10 dB fom 35 to 53 Hz and 62 to 83 Hz, which the Tact can easily suppress. The Tact can easily boost the output between 16 and 25 Hz as well, with no ill effct on the subs that I can perceive. The subs response exhibits similar dips to the main speakers, slightly shifted in frequency due to the different positioning and acoustical environment. Both subs show a dip at 54 to 62 Hz (this dip is the one that creates the humps described above when the output level is increased). The left sub dips again at 94 Hz, while the dip on the right sub is shifted to 108 Hz. The reponse on both subs then goes up to - 6 dB (vs the midrange) at 140 Hz, at which point the subs roll off.
- The ceiling seems to have been constructed by hanging a steel mesh from the actual roof (steel I beams covered with prefab slabs) using many welded steel rods. The mesh was then coated with plaster repeatedly to create this suspended plaster ceiling, which is about 2 inches thick. The space between the plaster ceiling and the concrete roof is hollow and about 18 inches deep.
- I should mention that all the walls are different. Behind the speakers, it is half flimsy sliding glass windows on the left and drywall over floor to ceiling glass panes on the right. On the right, we have plastered cinderblock. On the left, we have a 4 inch mdf sandwich over structural steel stuffed with compressed fiberglass. Behind the listening seat, we have plastered brick and of course the sliding hardwood door which covers one third of the wall. On this wall, above the listening seat, there is a huge AC vent, about 8 feet wide and 18 inches tall opening into a monster AC duct. The AC unit is way overpowered, so it stays off during listening sessions.
- THe sliding hardwood door opens pretty much directly onto a staircase leading down to the second floor. Althouh the door its solid, it is free floating on the rails and doe not provide a hermetic seal.
- The floor is made up of very long hardwood boards nailed every half meter or so onto a grid of 2 by fours, which in turn sit directly on the underlying concrete slab floor. This creates a shallow cavity under the floor.
As you can see, this room is basically a study in what NOT to do to create a good listening room. Just about every basic rule has been violated. It has, however, a few redeeming qualities:
1. Its MINE!! I can have as many cables on the floor there as I wish and my wife could not care less.
2. Its large enugh to allow the Guarneri's to be properly placed far away fom each other and the listener. My room in the US allowed only near-filed placement, and this is not how the Guraneri's show their best.
3. Its on the third floor of my apartment (OK, this is a very large penthouse apartment). All the bedrooms are on the second floor, and I have NO neighbors. So..loud music at 1 am is NOT a problem.
4. The view from the windows, which overlook the Avila mountain in Caracas is breathtaking. OK, you have to sort of kneel down to peer underneath the RPG foam panels I stuck to the windows in order to catch the view, but it IS there. :o)
5. In the room next to it (an informal dinig room opening up to the terrace) there is a full wet bar, so I can refill my scotch without walking to the kitvhen on the first floor.
6. Right outside the sliding wood door, there is a bathroom.
Hope this helps!
- The room is 5.72 meters by 4 meters, with 2.72 meter high ceilings. The listening seat is dead center along the long wall, and about 18 inches away from the back wall.
- Backwall is treated with RPG diffusors. The first and second reflection points on the ceiling, front wall and side walls are treated with 4 foot tall RPG foam panels. The corners are treated with 4 foot tall RPG foam wedges (this is the RPG Studio in a Box kit).
- The level on the subs is adjusted so that the SPL between 16Hz and 85 Hz is no more than 6 dB down vs the midrange level of the mains. This level is still about half of the way to full output on the subs.This gives two broad peaks of about 10 dB fom 35 to 53 Hz and 62 to 83 Hz, which the Tact can easily suppress. The Tact can easily boost the output between 16 and 25 Hz as well, with no ill effct on the subs that I can perceive. The subs response exhibits similar dips to the main speakers, slightly shifted in frequency due to the different positioning and acoustical environment. Both subs show a dip at 54 to 62 Hz (this dip is the one that creates the humps described above when the output level is increased). The left sub dips again at 94 Hz, while the dip on the right sub is shifted to 108 Hz. The reponse on both subs then goes up to - 6 dB (vs the midrange) at 140 Hz, at which point the subs roll off.
- The ceiling seems to have been constructed by hanging a steel mesh from the actual roof (steel I beams covered with prefab slabs) using many welded steel rods. The mesh was then coated with plaster repeatedly to create this suspended plaster ceiling, which is about 2 inches thick. The space between the plaster ceiling and the concrete roof is hollow and about 18 inches deep.
- I should mention that all the walls are different. Behind the speakers, it is half flimsy sliding glass windows on the left and drywall over floor to ceiling glass panes on the right. On the right, we have plastered cinderblock. On the left, we have a 4 inch mdf sandwich over structural steel stuffed with compressed fiberglass. Behind the listening seat, we have plastered brick and of course the sliding hardwood door which covers one third of the wall. On this wall, above the listening seat, there is a huge AC vent, about 8 feet wide and 18 inches tall opening into a monster AC duct. The AC unit is way overpowered, so it stays off during listening sessions.
- THe sliding hardwood door opens pretty much directly onto a staircase leading down to the second floor. Althouh the door its solid, it is free floating on the rails and doe not provide a hermetic seal.
- The floor is made up of very long hardwood boards nailed every half meter or so onto a grid of 2 by fours, which in turn sit directly on the underlying concrete slab floor. This creates a shallow cavity under the floor.
As you can see, this room is basically a study in what NOT to do to create a good listening room. Just about every basic rule has been violated. It has, however, a few redeeming qualities:
1. Its MINE!! I can have as many cables on the floor there as I wish and my wife could not care less.
2. Its large enugh to allow the Guarneri's to be properly placed far away fom each other and the listener. My room in the US allowed only near-filed placement, and this is not how the Guraneri's show their best.
3. Its on the third floor of my apartment (OK, this is a very large penthouse apartment). All the bedrooms are on the second floor, and I have NO neighbors. So..loud music at 1 am is NOT a problem.
4. The view from the windows, which overlook the Avila mountain in Caracas is breathtaking. OK, you have to sort of kneel down to peer underneath the RPG foam panels I stuck to the windows in order to catch the view, but it IS there. :o)
5. In the room next to it (an informal dinig room opening up to the terrace) there is a full wet bar, so I can refill my scotch without walking to the kitvhen on the first floor.
6. Right outside the sliding wood door, there is a bathroom.
Hope this helps!