Listening99, your room is boosting frequencies between 3 kHz to 5 kHz for certain, could be more. Just a 3 dB increase at these frequencies can do this. The usual criminals are going to be the side walls and the ceiling. You can buy a bunch of 4" acoustic foam tiles from The Foam Factory and start tacking them to the walls and ceiling at the first reflection points. For $299.00 you can get the Dayton Omnimic calibrated measurement system as see exactly what is going on and how your tile placement is working. The other solution in a tough room is to get very directional loudspeakers like line source dipoles (Magnepan) or ESLs (Sound Labs) or horns with tighter dispersion patterns. By far the least expensive way is to play around with the foam tiles. If you are not crazy about the aesthetics once you know what you are doing you can replace the tiles with more expensive and better looking acoustic treatments. If you ask for help from someone who sells acoustic treatment you will get a lot more than you really need. Good luck. I have never heard a room that could not be dealt with with the exception of low bass but that is not your problem. Your problem is between 3 and 5 kHz.
An untamed room and a vivid speaker...
I ordered the Zu Omen DW Mk II in February and I've been working with it for about two months after the sets arrive in March. I've run it with two solid-state and one tube amp.
The room is difficult:
A 46" high, by 71" wide window on the NORTH side
A 7'10" wide triple glass set of closet doors on the WEST side, reaching almost halfway along the wall.
A fireplace on the EAST wall.
I have one speaker on each side of the fireplace.
The ceiling slopes up from the fireplace wall, from 8' to 10.5' on the WEST wall. Gerrit at Zu explained that the ceiling is probably adding a bit of a horn effect to the setup.
The experience is that piano notes and vocals have much too much edge/glare, making the speaker impossible to comfortably listen to for more than a short time. Actually, I can hear the notes sparking my nerves fairly quickly.
My old Klipsch bookshelf speakers, placed carefully on top of the Zu's have some of this glare, but not nearly as much.
My experiments:
I have covered the opening of the fireplace with a thick blanket. I've placed inexpensive sound insulation panels (these are insulfoam type pieces I bought at the home depot)) behind the speakers. I've played with toe-in, moving them from directly facing the listening to position to straightforward.
Right now, I've got an old twin mattress up against the middle door of the closet. I've got the left side of the closet exposed so the sound is directed into the clothing. So, there is maybe a two-foot section of the exposed glass door leading into the northwest corner.
I'm just trying to see if I can do anything to cut the glare. I have had very little success. Any ideas?
Thanks in advance!
The room is difficult:
A 46" high, by 71" wide window on the NORTH side
A 7'10" wide triple glass set of closet doors on the WEST side, reaching almost halfway along the wall.
A fireplace on the EAST wall.
I have one speaker on each side of the fireplace.
The ceiling slopes up from the fireplace wall, from 8' to 10.5' on the WEST wall. Gerrit at Zu explained that the ceiling is probably adding a bit of a horn effect to the setup.
The experience is that piano notes and vocals have much too much edge/glare, making the speaker impossible to comfortably listen to for more than a short time. Actually, I can hear the notes sparking my nerves fairly quickly.
My old Klipsch bookshelf speakers, placed carefully on top of the Zu's have some of this glare, but not nearly as much.
My experiments:
I have covered the opening of the fireplace with a thick blanket. I've placed inexpensive sound insulation panels (these are insulfoam type pieces I bought at the home depot)) behind the speakers. I've played with toe-in, moving them from directly facing the listening to position to straightforward.
Right now, I've got an old twin mattress up against the middle door of the closet. I've got the left side of the closet exposed so the sound is directed into the clothing. So, there is maybe a two-foot section of the exposed glass door leading into the northwest corner.
I'm just trying to see if I can do anything to cut the glare. I have had very little success. Any ideas?
Thanks in advance!
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- 9 posts total
- 9 posts total