Audiotomb - I've just finished tweaking my room to the point where I am very happy with the result - plus the audio rack and a small cabinet and computer are still between the speakers - but behind the drivers.
Like you a dealt with the reflections from the wall behind the listening position which - which also had a 6ft x 4.5 ft bow window in the middle of it. The drapes in place were totally ineffective so I installed a 96" wide vinyl roller blind. This significantly improved clarity and gave the impression that the walls were no longer there. It also allowed the speakers to project the image further forward.
What surprised me was that I only needed to drop the blind by about 12" to get a dramatic improvement. Closing the blind completely offers very little in additional improvement.
I am fortunate in that on one of the long walls is a high back sofa and opposite that is a double doorway - so side wall reflections were mostly taken care of
Another area that improved things greatly was installing two 15" wide by 90" tall baffles behind the speakers which curbed an echo at that end of the room. I added lighting to the backside of the panels which serves as mood lighting - the top half of the panel is translucent also so the light shows through
The biggest surprise was placing a trap on top of a 36" x 18" bookcase that is positioned in the right corner of the listening end of the room. The trap is simply a piece of 1" thick foam with a layer of mass loaded vinyl with slots cut into it. But I think you can actually get away with any heavy vinyl or rubber (like pond or swimming pool liner)
- the impact of this tweak was pretty mind blowing considering the small size of the trap involved
Armed with this info I then went to a friends condo that has 12 foot ceilings, concrete walls and is open plan.
Again we first dealt with the back wall and positioned a couple of traps at ceiling level. But then we simply hung a 72" x 20" piece of vinyl from the ceiling such that it partially blocked the space above his kitchen cabinets - that one piece of vinyl was able to improve the clarity by simply blocking access to that part of the room which was plagued by echoes.
It would appear that vinyl is pretty good at deadening sound and it also vibrates, which transforms the sound waves into heat so there is little in the way of reflections.
The one observation that surprised me the most in both my room and my friends condo was that the most successful of the treatments were those applied at the ceiling level and on top of my bookcase
I think the impact racks may have on the acoustic of a room may have everything to do with their construction and materials. My rack is simply steel legs with MDF shelves. My cabinet does vibrate, but also has a foam trap on the back of it to reduce reflections.
Food for thought :-)
Like you a dealt with the reflections from the wall behind the listening position which - which also had a 6ft x 4.5 ft bow window in the middle of it. The drapes in place were totally ineffective so I installed a 96" wide vinyl roller blind. This significantly improved clarity and gave the impression that the walls were no longer there. It also allowed the speakers to project the image further forward.
What surprised me was that I only needed to drop the blind by about 12" to get a dramatic improvement. Closing the blind completely offers very little in additional improvement.
I am fortunate in that on one of the long walls is a high back sofa and opposite that is a double doorway - so side wall reflections were mostly taken care of
Another area that improved things greatly was installing two 15" wide by 90" tall baffles behind the speakers which curbed an echo at that end of the room. I added lighting to the backside of the panels which serves as mood lighting - the top half of the panel is translucent also so the light shows through
The biggest surprise was placing a trap on top of a 36" x 18" bookcase that is positioned in the right corner of the listening end of the room. The trap is simply a piece of 1" thick foam with a layer of mass loaded vinyl with slots cut into it. But I think you can actually get away with any heavy vinyl or rubber (like pond or swimming pool liner)
- the impact of this tweak was pretty mind blowing considering the small size of the trap involved
Armed with this info I then went to a friends condo that has 12 foot ceilings, concrete walls and is open plan.
Again we first dealt with the back wall and positioned a couple of traps at ceiling level. But then we simply hung a 72" x 20" piece of vinyl from the ceiling such that it partially blocked the space above his kitchen cabinets - that one piece of vinyl was able to improve the clarity by simply blocking access to that part of the room which was plagued by echoes.
It would appear that vinyl is pretty good at deadening sound and it also vibrates, which transforms the sound waves into heat so there is little in the way of reflections.
The one observation that surprised me the most in both my room and my friends condo was that the most successful of the treatments were those applied at the ceiling level and on top of my bookcase
I think the impact racks may have on the acoustic of a room may have everything to do with their construction and materials. My rack is simply steel legs with MDF shelves. My cabinet does vibrate, but also has a foam trap on the back of it to reduce reflections.
Food for thought :-)