Leave it Open or Close it Off: A Listening/ Living Room Dilemma

I was at a friend’s place when he had an expert in set up over to help with speaker placement, room acoustics, etc.  This person did some basic experiments, including removing wall treatments from such “obvious” locations like the first reflection point.  We also listened to how the sound changed when someone leaned against the long interior wall to damp vibration.  What was interesting is that the room sounded better with that wall LESS damped and without treatment at the first reflection point.  The lesson learned is that there is no fixed best approach; the only way to know is to experiment.  It turned out that the room sounded better with the door closed (at the back of the room) and with a storage closet door (also at the back of the room) open.  We were told that the open closet was acting as a kind of trap and this helped this particular room.

Close off the space. Thank me later

Bob

Yeah close it. I have large room that is open and it has issues

I'm a big fan of pocket doors, but there's a couple things to remember. 1) Get the good pocket door hardware. The cheap stuff will haunt and vex you. 2) Do bot use hollow core doors. They're made from hardboard in a cheap perimeter frame with strips of cardboard in between two layers of masonite. Use heavy exterior grade doors - much better acostically. 3) Pocket doors work best as default open doors. Close them as needed.

Install the door. I went through the very same thing. The opening to my theater room had no door. I had a glass panel door installed (hung curtains as well on the door) and just love that I can close the room off or leave open if I so choose. Do the door!