Planar Speakers and Diffusors

@ozzy - It’s interesting that you get the best sound with the speakers 60" from the front wall. That’s exactly what the Cardas calculator for dipoles recommends for your room dimensions (well, 59.28" to be exact).

Try the diffusers, and let us know what you hear.  Generally speaking, I've read here and elsewhere that absorption is better on the front wall (behind the planars).  I have tried everything from nothing at all, to slight absorption, to full absorption (but never diffusion), on the front wall. 

The absorption does change the character of the sound, but I would describe it as more precise, more detailed, with better imaging.  Without absorption, there is quite a bit of sound that bounces off the front wall, and distorts the precise soundstage.  But it does sound "brighter" without absorption, so if your system sounds dull, then perhaps, no absorption will be better, although perhaps the musical imaging will be slightly more blurred.  

Experiment with your ears, and find out what's best for your system and your room.

drbond

Thank you for your comments.

I think the claim to fame for these Clarisys speakers is their wide-open soundstage, anything that inhibits that will change the design.

To try any type of diffusor unit(s) would cost about $1000 to cover about a 4-foot area.

And most mount differently. I would need to put a hole(s) in the wall to mount them. I’m not opposed to it, but there are several different diffusor types, along with different sizes. So, I would prefer to have more knowledge, before entering the path of wall Swiss cheese and trial and error.

ozzy

ketchup,

I guess my ear tune to my room is pretty good! LOL

At least according to Cardas.

ozzy

audiokinesis

2,704 posts

03-28-2024 at 11:26am 

… making specific acoustic treatment recommendations is something that I’ve learned to leave to the pros because they can make a MUCH bigger improvement than I can. If you don’t have anyone in mind I recommend Jeff Hedback of Hedback Designed Acoustics, he’s a multi-award-winning studio designer who also does home audio, and he’s still affordable. He works remotely.

Duke

dipole speaker dealer for 25 years, multidirectional speaker manufacturer for 16 years

This seems like highly sage advice. The outfit to advise needs familiarity with this kind of speaker behavior. It’s a fairly new brand and it’s unclear what kind(s) of room(s) they’re tested for. Rear reflectors in hotel demos suggests concrete/other solid structures being the design’s preferred residence. I am well aware that in my own case, not using a treatment specialist but receiving input from several after the fact, I surely got lucky more than I got things right by actually knowing enough myself 😉

Real research is designing, trying, alternating, all preferably in the presence of proper controls. Preparatory stages necessitate digesting a lot of modeling and/ or mathematical white papers (admittedly interesting to me, but with equations often over my head). Real research can only very rarely if ever be had by reading product web pages or fora descriptions about things like diffusers. Specialists can be special assets in this area! So yeah, my long and somewhat abrasive way of saying I agree with @audiokinesis 

ozzy OP

7,170 posts

03-28-2024 at 12:15am 

mijostyn,benanders

Thank you for your comments they are welcome and interesting but seem to be off track from my original question.

…

Clarisys speakers play best with minimum room treatments. BTW, my ceilings and walls are all internally insulated and covered with double 5/8" drywall. The floor is concrete covered by carpet with no padding.

I am interested in diffusors because from what I have researched they are supposed to make the soundstage even larger. But I don’t know if that would be a plus, thus my initial post and question.

ozzy

Not off track - I think you misunderstood me @ozzy  - I suggested some form of diffuser (complex-surface reflector) over the tv. Others recommended blankets; I wouldn’t tend to agree with that in your case. That’s why I recommended something rigid but basic, like blinds, that could be poised non-permanently and adjusted experimentally. It seems very unlikely that you will get a satisfactory result from buying a prefabricated diffuser product without trying more basic approaches first (and/or taking input from a qualified acoustician on treatments for your specific setup). 

I also recommended UNtreating your floor just to see what effect it has - laying down some large panels of wood to make the vertical room boundaries more alike. Many people carpet the floor, but very few give parallel treatment to the ceiling. Perhaps this would have no effect, but conversely it could have considerable effect. And laying down some large thin wood panels on the floor would be much more temporary and cheap than… carpeting the ceiling! 😆

If wood panels on the floor reduce your enjoyment, that might tell you something about your fully exposed ceiling. Or not…

While you wait to find or connect with the relevant treatment specialist, there are many amateur mods you can do on the cheap, non-permanently, to help yourself learn what works best. Bear in mind, again, I agree that bass absorbers may not be effective solutions in your case especially if you want to increase soundstage. The issue with your walls/ceilings is that they already work more like low bass traps than not, in a sense, by letting lowest frequencies pass through. Concrete or steel-walled rooms would not have this “issue” and it might be an unavoidable shortcoming for your speakers if they need those manufacturer-recommended concrete boundaries for reinforcing frequencies between ~45 - 60/80/whatever Hz they cover, that’s not being calibrated for room boundary frequency-dependent permeability. All stuff that hopefully the specialist can discuss if you aren’t in a position to try higher-frequency (digital) bass management. Diffusers might make a difference in higher frequencies, but for lower bass the room boundaries or signal processing (lack thereof) might matter more when it comes to conveying soundstage per the recording/master of choice.