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In a lot of these threads people say without the room being treated

It's a waste of money to upgrade you're system. The problem is I don't think most people know how to treat their rooms. I really think it takes a professional to know how to treat a room. Sure you can play around with it if you like but it could also be a big waste of time and money. And I know hiring a person to acoustically treat a room can't be cheap. I wonder why more people don't discuss this subject and make recommendations on who does this kind of work. When I look at the big picture this makes the most sense.

taters
ivan_nosnibor's avatar
ivan_nosnibor
1,055 posts
 
I think there are countless ways for audiophiles to both wander into, and out of, the many pitfalls involved with the subject of room treatment, but I would agree with others here that it's very easy to overdo it and you usually have to find some suitable, and mostly subjective, method for finding your way through it, assuming treatment is needed at all. If you're intent on going a strictly objective route to be sure, then I'd say consulting a pro may be the best way to go.
zmanastronomy's avatar
zmanastronomy
738 posts
 

I made my own treatments and put them at the 1st and 2nd reflection points. Built frames to go around them and voilà.

In a small room, treatments are critical. In a large room where you can set up a near field listening system, it's not as critical.

Based on my experience, room treatments have bettered every room so far.

I would rather hear a mid-fi system in a well treated room than a hi-fi system in an un-treated room. My $0.02 worth.

mesch
3,530 posts
 
I have a small (~12 x 15 ft.) dedicated audio room. I also made my own treatments. Treat corners, 1st reflections and behind listening position. I agree that it is easy to over treat, however my approach was to over treat then back off as a way to tune the room.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,964 posts
 
Always wise to take the room into consideration in that it always determines resulting sound. Buying speakers in particular  without considering room acoustics is probably foolish.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Ironically perhaps is the rather odd factoid that high end systems at the shows such as CES rarely used room treatments. Of course there are a lot of reasons why the exhibitors wouldn’t use room treatments such as they don’t wish to detract from the main event - the speakers and the amps, for example. Or they don’t wish to get all wrapped around the axle playing around with proper placement of room treatements. Or they can’t find a room treatment manufacturer who’s willing to pony up some of the cost for the room, especially if it's a big one, ain’t cheap. Even the small rooms ain't cheap. Of course the other possibility is the exhibitors don’t actually think room treatments are going to make much difference.

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