Office partitions as sound panels
"Mapman, I wonder if placing 2" panels on opposite walls works the same way as 4" panels on one wall? It should." I don't think so in that these are for controlling flutter echo and slap back, which are artifacts of more directional higher frequencies, as I understand it. I have these placed at primary reflection points for my two main listening positions (my OHMs are omnidirectional and I listen from multiple locations normally). There are two such points on one side wall and 1 on the other (an open area extends out on that side in my L shaped room where I would add a similar second panel on that side if it were needed otherwise). As I mentioned above, Aurelex has a similar 24X24X3 inch (same width and height, but thicker)bass trap panel product. Added thickness makes these more effective in attenuating longer wavelengths of low frequencies, as I understand it. These (for bass) might work equally well or maybe even better perhaps with greater thickness near one side corner rather than less on two side corners. |
Here is some useful information - http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/tweaks/messages/17/174817.html Here are some of my thoughts for your consideration - Most dedicated audio rooms I see are overdamped. The outcome is people have chosen brighter sounding equipment, and play at too loud levels to overcome the "dead" room. The overall sound becomes oppressive and compressed. Most audio writers and manufacturers recommend placing speakers in dead spots - antinodes. Examples of these types of speakers placement are the rules of thrids, rules of fifth's etc. I do the opposite - I start by placing the speakers in the most resonant part of the room, and then moving the speakers off the resonant node just enough to balance the sound. This way the speaker is balalnced, but not "fighting" against a dead spot. You will find a full description of this methodology as espoused by the designer Joahcim Gerhard in the Stereophile review of the Audio Physic Virgo's. http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/147/index.html "In fine-tuning the room for both frequency response and imaging, Gerhard first divides the room into two grids. One is even divisions—halves, quarters, sixteenths, which represent reinforcement nodes; the other is odd—thirds, sixths, ninths, which represent cancellation nodes. These measurements should be done to the inch with a tape measure and not be guesstimates. Ideally, you'd draw out each grid in a different color and overlay the two. If your room is such that you can put your speakers at the halfway point in the room with the speakers against the side walls, the next move would be to move them laterally closer together to the quarter point on each side. That would be your ideal starting point for maximizing bass pressurization and creating a credible soundstage. Now begins the battle of optimizing imaging and frequency response. If bass is too strong, you could go to an anti-node that could either be forward or back or side to side to one of the "third" points. While the trend is toward more bass as you move the speaker closer to the back or side walls, there are cancellation points as you go toward the walls." I used to be a high end importer many years ago, and have a wide range of experience with speakers such as Martin Logans, Apogees, Duntech's, Proac's etc and in every instance following this methodology has improved the system and given the most natural and transparent view of the soundstage and spectral balance. I strongly suggest you have a read of this review and think about it. |
I want to point out that (1) 3" is not sufficient for a bass trap, depending on the construction/materials, (I use 6" OC705 and tuned traps) and (2) the plastic foam used by Auralex is less efficient than is packed mineral wool (fiberglas, OC 703, OC 705, etc.) and, therefore, needs to be even thicker for low mids. One reason for so many rooms to be overdamped is that the user is installing more and more wideband panels in an effort to deal with sub-Schroeder frequencies and, in the process, is overdamping the mids and highs. Note that some suppliers, e.g., RealTraps, offers the option of a reflective "skin" on their traps to avoid this problem. |
The Audio Physic and Sumiko Master Set speaker set up guides have been very useful to me. In fact, as I have become more familiar with their processes and using one or a combination of both of these methods to first set up and adjust the speakers, I have gradually reduced my need for room treatments. At this point I use a bare minimum number of bass traps/panels behind the speakers due to sliding glass doors. While I agree room treatments can be very beneficial, I think we sometimes use that as a crutch and underestimate the benefits of really good speaker placement. |
