Getting GIKed!


    I recently told my wife what I wanted for my birthday. It's only 4 months away! I explained to her that with all the money spent on my audio addiction, the biggest thing lacking was proper room treatments. So I showed her the GIK website. She yawned,looked at me cross eyed,and said"just get them". So, 4 months early,happy birthday to me! 
   
        I placed the order on Friday. It consists of,2-24"x36" 244 bass traps,and 4-24"x24" 242 broadband panels.
 This should be adequate for my 9'x13'x8' listening room. This will give me treatments on all four walls. If needed,I may add some sort of diffuser on the rear wall. I am very excited to,hopefully,bring my system up to a new level. Since I've assembled this system,I've only had 2 somewhat real acoustical panels. Everything else has been cheap foam. So,this should be interesting .

    
128x128rocray
My biggest concern is over dampening. Remember folks,this is a 9'x13'x8' room. This is strictly a listening room. The reading I've done suggests that bass treatment is going to be the most important issue. In addition to the 244 bass traps,I also picked up a pair of 16x16x16 tri corner traps for the front wall. This should help a bit. 
  
  brownsfan,you bring up excellent advice with using software to "read" the room. I really struggle with technology,however if my ears don't like the sound,I may have to bite the bullet on that one. I have very basic room treatments now,with the exception of some boomy bass,and a little bit of echo,I think I have decent placement of my makeshift treatments. The 3D imaging,which I really enjoy,is excellent. Of course, this is to my ears. I'm hoping that this purchase will "tighten" everything up. I wish technology didn't frustrate me so much! 
Rocray, For the most part, I bought my room treatments one or two at a time, and a fair amount of what I bought was range limited so as not to rob the room of air and sparkle. 
I was also a bit reluctant to dive into the REW software at first.  It looks kind of intimidating, but it really is pretty simple.  Very simple after you first get it working.  There is an REW users group associated with the software, and there are experts there who can help you get set up.   The software is free, and the only thing you need to buy is a microphone or Radio Shack SPL meter. 
Your ear should be the final arbiter on how things sound.  But understanding the room and figuring out which problems to solve is slow, laborious, and imprecise if you don't measure.   Measurement software speeds up the process of getting the room right by two orders of magnitude, maybe more.  My guess is if you try REW and invest some time in understanding  what it reveals, you will regret not having done so previously. 
you are doing the smart thing by addressing your listening room acoustics...that's my absolute first thing to do. I'm lucky I have a large room with irregular dimensions and other than acoustic blinds over the front wall windows, all is sounding good.
Thanks for the response tuberist. The modest treatments I have,have definitely improved the sound. The reason it has taken me so long to finally get real treatments,is plain and simple. New speakers,or a new preamp are far sexier than some acoustical panels. 
However,the reality is,my system will sound so much better in a well treated room. Now those sexy pieces of equipment will sound as sexy as they look. I hope....
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