Most rooms don’t need acoustical treatment.

Not only ALL rooms need treatment. but audio experience could be 75 % acoustical, 25 % basic good electronic design...

This % is variable, but NEVER in favor of the electronic design like 49% acoustical, 51 % electronic design...

This is pure science....

The sound you listen to come from the room /speakers, NEVER from the speakers alone in a small room especially...


It takes audio magazine market to make us believe that  "upgrading"  a10,000 dollars amplifier to a 100,000 dollars one, will be the key to audiophile experience.... Helmholtz has known much about sound perception one century ago than consumers magazine now...

I know some smart people who think that this acoustic stuff is nonsense. Much of what we see influences our perceptions. 'I can see the stereo equipment...that I spent all this money on...so yeah, it sounds better...it looks expensive...it must sound good'. But you can't see sound so that's a little tougher.

A lot of people defer their other senses to sight. I see therefore I believe. 

Buy a good book on getting good sound out of a room. Try the principles. They will help you hear the room. But you won't change your room until you move. The room makes the most difference.
So it makes it tougher to appreciate.

People often hear only subtle improvements because they make changes WITHIN the room.
They don't have the option of moving rooms so easily. So that reinforces the feeling that acoustic treatments are silly. 

The room is an instrument..and a big player in the sound game. But changing/adding a few minor things and expecting a miracle is futile. But if you can reorient a few critical things, the things that matter most. It would seem like a small miracle occured. 

But people really aren't open to putting the rack on the side wall...or having zero equipment between the speakers. That sounds extreme.

I did this for a short while right before I moved. It was the best thing I ever did. Can't do it now in the current smaller house...but man, you guys (some of you) really have no clue...I mean NO CLUE what you're missing. You also have no clue what you're talking about (again some of you).

Try it. Please try something...before you go off 'dropping your knowledge' on us.

I have never needed acoustical room treatments over 50yrs of audio. All rooms had furnature,  drapes, to dissipate sound reflections to acceptable levels. What has helped incredibly is all DIY speakers I have built have infinately variable control over the mid and tweet so room adjustment is simple for room brightness. 

As someone always looking to optimize the sound of their system, I had been reading about the virtues of acoustic treatments and the mention of GIK acoustics several times on the 'gon.

A fellow member friend got some treatments from them that were acceptable to his fiancee and he said it improved the sound some. He said he wanted to do more, but wasn't allowed.

I followed suit and spoke with a very nice, honest guy from GIK, sent him pictures of my room and he told me what it would take to optimize the acoustics of the room given the large open, multi purpose, multi listening positions, unique layout with all the openings. I am not having problems, just always looking to improve when it is worth it.

Net net, I was willing to get a few things and he told me that unless I wanted to get a much more significant number of bass traps that would heavily change the look of the room (and my marital status) it wasn't worth it for me to make the couple additions I was planning on.

I appreciated his refreshing honesty, and if you have the commitment, I would recommend using them. I think any room can benefit from them. Whether the improvement is worth it is up to you. They are a proven science, but I think more appropriate for a recording studio, theater, concert hall or dedicated listening room. And especially for stereo stores or special setups at audio trade shows. That's what their web site focuses on. They are pros.