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Room Acoustics Corner Problems

I have a room that is being constructed in my new house. This will be a dedicated listening room that is measuring 14 feet wide, 21 feet long, and 7.6 feet high. The back half of the room is a little wider at 16 feet. I have made as many soundwise decisions as possible based on my budget, however, I've just run into a problem. The plumbers have installed a large pipe for run off purposes in the front left hand corner of the room. In order to cover this ugly pipe they will need to either take a foot and a half off the front of the room (for example by putting a double studded wall up there) or they could taper the front corners (I would automatically taper the right corner as well just for aestetic purposes and to make it look even on both sides). By filling these corners with insulation and drywall etc essentially making it octagon shaped in the front of the room, will this cause any sonic disadvantage? Am I better off just making the room smaller and losing the extra 1.5 feet?

Thanks

Randy
butterscotchmusic
jdombrow
371 posts
 
Why not take the opportunity to straddle both corners with bass traps. There are numerous recipes and ideas out there, but I think if you use some thick (3"-4") rigid fiberglass panels (2' wide) across each corner, and maybe some additional fiberglass to fill the space behind, you would have some nice bass traps. Cover the panels with burlap and you'll be all set.

JD
theaudiotweak
2,801 posts
 
Angles in the corners can be devised so as to redirect energy back to the listening position..You can also do this for all the ceiling wall junctions as well as the two remaining corners.Nothing wrong with a corner as long as it is not a 90 and plenty wrong with a bunch of fiberglass. If you latter find you need to tame a little high frequency splash then use long hair carded lambs wool.The natural wool is more linear in character and unlikely to suck the life away from the music as does foam or fiberglass.So has been my experience.Tom
jdombrow
371 posts
 
There's a big difference between "taming a little high frequency splash" and building bass traps for the corners. Most of the experts and manufacturer's promote the use of fiberglass for room treatments. It is inexpensive and it works. It's quite possible (and even probable) that "long hair carded lambs wool" may work better then fiberglass for some areas, but I'm sure it costs much more.
rives
953 posts
 
I believe you can use the angle to your advantage--but how is not really so trivial. Bass traps for sure, but what type is the question and it depends on the rest of the room and speakers. The ones described above are predominantly absorptive and the least effective in most cases for low frequency due to the size of the wavelength you are trying to effect. Capacitive style trapping can work better, and you can build that in without the pipes being much of an issue.
theaudiotweak
2,801 posts
 
Fiberglass works well in large areas that are very hot and that have long and multiple time lines. Taming such areas with fiberglass as well as diffusers can greatly enhance the intelligibility of the spoken word. However for most listening or theater rooms which are more regular in shape, angles at the areas I described maintain and redirect the pressure in the room without killing the dynamics.All to often absorptive materials or panels are used with good intent only to rob the resulting sound of natural air and life. So has been my experience.Tom
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