room treatment gurus, please
This my friend's problem. The listening room is 16 x 16 with 13ft ceilings. It was built in the 1980s. One wall has two sliding wood doors, 8 ft high by 12 ft wide total. These doors separate two rooms. This door is 12 inches behind the head of the listener. The opposite wall is all drywall. One side wall has another sliding door with two glass panels for room entry, total is 6ft x 6ft. The other side wall has a wood and tile fireplace with an ornate mantle. The speakers are Sonus Faber Amati Tradition. All electronics are MacIntosh. He complains about poor bass, and I don't think his system sounds near as good as it should.
Now, I know a square room is the worst, and that one should cover all smooth surfaces (all wood and glass), including the floor, but that's about it.
So I ask. What should be covered? How should it be covered? If we switch the wall behind the listeners head, will this have a significant impact? How should the problem be approached?
TIA
Bill
I have used GIK acoustic panels, and it worked great. I have also used DSP using convolution filters remotely created by the acoustic guru behind this company. Digital Room Calibration Services, Convolver, Headphone Filtersets It was even better than the panels since there were a few options to tailor the sound. I actually tossed the GIK panels when I moved to another room. Reason being is that I had the guru as my safety net in case the room was wonky. I was not concerned about the loss of the physical treatments. Now the DSP I am suggesting is best done on a client such as ROON or JRiver and it will ONLY work on digital streaming, Not your TT or tuner. No analog. The computer to run this can be far away in another room and not near your audio gear.
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Glass walls are the worst. A good room is a mix of absorption and diffusion. DSP won’t fix 1st reflection points whereas your panels would have. I was using dsp for a couple years trying to get the sound right with my speakers that were just too big for my current room. Buying speakers to fit my room, adjusting the speakers using the techniques from Jim Smith and Cardas, I stopped using dsp and allow me to put up for sale some of my absorption panels. |
Drywall with Cavities are the most difficult to work with. A Filled Cavity is the better of the Two Evils, the room coupling of Speakers is quite difficult in such an environment. It was described to me, by an individual who is quite skilled at producing Speakers, it is due to Drywall Systems with Cavities, that Typical Speaker Designs produced in the US are heavilyy augmented in the Bass Frequency. The same individual stated that when such designs arrive to be a sale item in the UK, when used in a Typical UK Home the Bass is noticeably overbearing.
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