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Diffuser or absorber behind listening position....and is it worth doing??

I am a relatively new to serious two channel listening so I don't have a lot of experience to rely on. However, from what I have read on this site I do feel pretty confident that improving my room acoustics via absorber and defusers panels will be the best way to improve SQ at this point. Unfortunately, because my listening room doubles as my living room the only place I can only use panels ( no base traps) and only behind my listening position.... hence my title question. What say you.....will I benefit from adding diffusers? Or should it be absorbers? or forget it and be happy with what I have. (which I am.... )

Here are some room and placement specifics:
Room 12 ft by 18ft 
Speakers (ribbon tweeter) on Long wall with large window with wood blinds on right and drywall on the left
Speakers baffle are 32 inches off front wall and 48 inches off both side wall and are 10 ft apart with a 6x9 rug.
Sitting position can be either against the wall or 2ft off the wall (just slide couch forward....which I do because sound stage and imaging is better).

My main goal is to improve imaging and stage. If it is worth doing, would there be any other benefits? Also,
could you recommend how large a space should the panels cover..... how thick panels should be?

Thanks in advance



 
mrpsync
richdirector's avatar
richdirector
269 posts
 
Don't be flummoxed into falling into a hole of improvements. GIK acoustics do picture panels so you can combine art with diffusers / absorbers. I have 3 art absorbers back wall with 2 corner tritraps. I have 2 diffusers on stands I move into place for serious music time for the side walls. I also have 2 thick pile rugs on top of each other in centre of room.

These all help.... I then went further and placed speakers on isoacoustics feet(massive differance but £500) and got a good mains stabiliser. 
clearthinker's avatar
clearthinker
1,582 posts
 
Erik, you nailed it; said what I was going to say and others had missed.

OP, for the same reason you know not to put the speakers too near boundary walls, you really don't want to sit right against the back wall, or even 2 or 3 feet forward.  You will hear mis-timed reflections of everything.  To a significant extent you will be listening to the back-wall as well as the direct signal from the speakers.

I agree with Erik, if you really must sit there then pad the back wall out all you can so it absorbs rather than reflects.

That is the only solution, but a crude one.  Unfortunately, 12x18 feet is not ideal for hi-fi, especially a big system. Whichever way you set it up, you are compromised beyond full salvation.

I have a similar shape room to yours, fortunately a few feet wider and I am set up the other way.  So along the long axis the (dipole) speakers can be 5 feet from the wall behind and I sit somewhere in the middle of the room, well away from reflections.  I have to compromise a little as the outside of the speakers are a little less than 3 feet from the side walls.  But for dipoles it's better to have a bigger space behind than to the side, as they face nearly straight down the room so most of the rear signal beams backwards.


p05129
506 posts
 
MC has no clue on acoustics, to treat a room properly will require both absorption and diffusers. Glass is the worst for acoustics, no pods/springs will fix that. Go to the experts like GIK, ASC, or Acoustic Fields (as examples) to get their opinions. Once you treat your room, then you can apply tweaks to your system to get the best out of it, but you won’t be putting $1 springs on components to accomplish this. If you have a terrible sounding room, a $100,000 audio system will sound like a $500 system. 
mesch
3,524 posts
 
Regarding the wall behind listening position. I support the use of absorption via self made panel.  One place to look for DIY material is ATS Acoustics. They are located in Piper City Illinois. Have a nice web site. They can place any photo you wish on to acoustic material for the panel. 

Good luck with this project.
mrpsync OP
31 posts
 
OK, first off thank you all for contributing your insight and suggestions. Especially those that were considerate enough to circle back and answer additional questions!

So, I'm definitely ordering some absorption panels for behind the listening position to cover a 4x6 ft space and 4 inches thick. Main objective achieved!

In addition, I'll be researching a light weight diffuser that's practical to implement covering the T.V. located between the speaker on the front wall when listening (any recommendations?)

Lastly, I'm also strongly considering setting up temporary free standing acoustic panels ( I have photo lighting stands I could repurpose) for managing the side wall's first reflection pionts when listening as an experiment. I just need to determine if all the set up is going to be more of a determent or a benefit to simply enjoying music.....which is the really the point and don't want to lose sight of that.

Thanks Again
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