erik_squires suggestion of curtains/drapes is your best TV issue option , treat it like a large window , An area rug between the speakers and your couch would also be an improvement . As for your side walls try to use panels of different colors to make it seem like a wall of art , I use 5 colors in my treatments , black, white , light gray , dark gray and red . After all I have to be looking at them every time I listen to music .
Starting Point for Room Treatments?
I’ve focused on tweaking my system for too long while ignoring proper room treatments… In the meantime I’ve been placing outdoor couch pillows against first reflection points, and draping a quilt over my large TV. While embarrassing (especially when demoing my system to friends just getting into HiFi!) all of this makes a massive improvement, especially covering the TV - although I do find that while vocals and sounds in the center of the image become concise and in-confused with the blanket over the TV, it definitely over-dampens things. I have an odd room - open concept upper floor with my system at one end (but with 7.5ft clearance from the one corner that is near my right speaker. 12ft vaulted ceilings (a-shaped) with the apex pretty much above my head in the listening position, with the ceiling slanting down towards my system to a minimum of 9 ft. There is an island that forms a 4ft partial wall, to the left of my listening position. One of the first reflection points is on this wall. I have engineered hardwood over a suspended floor (ugh…). Thinking I MAY need 1) Treatment on the island/partial wall on my left, and 2) Treatment on the wall to my right that extends up to the 12 ft ceiling peak (but treatment only up to 5ft high), 3) treatments behind each speaker, 4) treatment on the ceiling in front of me (when I look at this ceiling my line of sight is perpendicular to it). Maybe a small rug too. Finally the tricky one: suitable treatment I can hang over my TV when we are not using it - maybe by adding hooks or clips. I don’t really know where to start, figuring out if I actually need all of the above, and figuring out the right type of treatment for each spot. And, do I need treatment only or sound dispersers as well? Do I go to a website and punch in my unconventional room dimensions and trust that it gets it right? Do I get a consultant? Do I buy stuff and start experimenting - and if so what do I buy? Not sure where to start! Looking for some pointers. One more thing - there are large windows 7ft behind the listening position but there are soft fabric blinds covering them that I close when listening. The couch is about 8ft away from each speaker - fairly close which I found improved the sound in my larger space…. I have no major problems with the sound but my makeshift treatment obviously is sub-optimal. Also, the sweet spot for my B&W 802 speakers is like a laser pointer which is really annoying. Image starts going wonky just a couple of inches off dead center…. Thinking this is an attribute of the speakers but could be the room? Yes, I’ve relentlessly experimented with toe in and ended up with my speakers only very mildly toed in a few degrees. With the vaulted ceilings I have a lot of flat surfaces that have a perpendicular line of sight to the listening position…. That said I’ve had really bad rooms before and this one isn’t bad at all, provided my setup is semi-“near-field”. No bass issues, etc. Any advice is welcome…. I am not the type that will be happy just punching dimensions in a website and buying some expensive foam…. I know for sure if I do that I will end up experimenting relentlessly and eventually realizing how much better I can get things with a different approach.
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Room acoustics were (and continue to be) a huge issue for me that I’ve slowly been chipping away at over the course of the past 1.5 years. I actually found GIK free advice really helpful - they provide general education about room acoustics and then suggestions on treatments for your room via email after completing the form below (not obligated to purchase). Nice system btw. |
Perfect, these were just the pointers I was after. @ohlala I think I will seek out that “Master Handbook of Acoustics” book. I treat this as a hobby so I might as well learn as much as I can in the process. That said I might also go the GIK route based on others’ positive experiences with their free consulting service. Does GIK have nicer prints than simple solid color panels? This is going on our living room so introducing panels can go one of two ways with the rest of the family… at least I can say it’s better than stacking pillows and blankets everywhere which I am constantly doing these days! There are no bass issues I can detect in my room (albeit Rel subwoofers are incoming so we’ll see!) and definitely some minor echo issues. @erik_squires thanks for the tip on the TV. Not sure installing drapes will work aesthetically (but maybe?), and my fear is that there will be too much dampening as the drapes would hang from the ceiling. A heavy quilt over the TV itself seems like slightly too much, and if I allow it to hang lower than the TV it gets even worse. Therefore I’m still thinking an acoustic panel with some simple hooks I can attach might fit the bill. Won’t be an issue for me to remove, the TV doesn’t get used daily, but my stereo does. @erik_squires you mentioned diffusers behind the TV and to the sides of the TV. How do I know when to use diffusers vs dampeners? I would have guessed that dampeners would be what I want behind the speakers to the left and right of the TV, but I’m also thinking you are likely right as I’m only guessing… @kota1 thanks for the link, will check it out as well. Not sure if I have picky speakers or if my room is picky, but getting my speakers positioned just right was a very intensive process. Distance from the rear wall was pretty simple but experimenting with distance apart and toe-in drove me nuts, because the absolute tiniest adjustment made big differences I could easily hear. Once I reached this micro-adjustment stage, it was vocals in the center of the soundstage that I found to be wildly changing with the tiniest of adjustments. Some adjustments would add “air” around the vocals and some would remove air but add focus and coherence. Took a while to get the right blend of the two and I was using headphones to use as a reference to what the vocals should sound like in my room. Finally nailed that balance.
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Have you measured your room's acoustics? That should be your first step as you cant fix what you don't know is wrong. there is enough free software now that this is a simple process, you need a calibrated mic and a laptop. the mic can be got off amazon or most places that sell instruments and recording stuff will have them as well. |
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