Great dissertation Duke.
The rooms most of us listen in usually do not reverberate, they are to small. A 10,000 seat indoor venue reverberates.
The reflections in our rooms occur relatively early and die off quickly. The early ones that reach your ears are interpreted as part of the music the effect being that of a blurred picture which in audiophile terms is a lack of detail and a blurred image. Preventing the earliest reflections from getting to your ears is always worth while including those of us with full spectrum room control. Zones, points or whatever the goal is to block reflection by absorption. We have discussed how to locate these areas. Absorbing sound below 200 Hz is difficult. The lower you go the more difficult it becomes.
Over doing it is just as bad as not doing it at all. It is just a waste of money and cosmetically unacceptable not to mention that it sounds as if your head is stuffed full of cotton.
Duke alludes to a very important point. Certain speaker designs by virtue of the way they radiate sound create fewer and/or less powerful reflections. Horns, dipoles and line sources are examples. You don't have to worry about absorption below 200 Hz if there is no reflection.
The rooms most of us listen in usually do not reverberate, they are to small. A 10,000 seat indoor venue reverberates.
The reflections in our rooms occur relatively early and die off quickly. The early ones that reach your ears are interpreted as part of the music the effect being that of a blurred picture which in audiophile terms is a lack of detail and a blurred image. Preventing the earliest reflections from getting to your ears is always worth while including those of us with full spectrum room control. Zones, points or whatever the goal is to block reflection by absorption. We have discussed how to locate these areas. Absorbing sound below 200 Hz is difficult. The lower you go the more difficult it becomes.
Over doing it is just as bad as not doing it at all. It is just a waste of money and cosmetically unacceptable not to mention that it sounds as if your head is stuffed full of cotton.
Duke alludes to a very important point. Certain speaker designs by virtue of the way they radiate sound create fewer and/or less powerful reflections. Horns, dipoles and line sources are examples. You don't have to worry about absorption below 200 Hz if there is no reflection.