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room treatment, where do you start?

an analysis of the room would seem to be the place to start, right? what tools do you need, what do you do first? Buy, or can better tools be rented?; One presumably wouldn't need to use such tools again until you move or change speakers. Do you first calculate the two fundamental room modes mathematically and buy devices to attenuate those? I last tried electronic eq in the 80's, which introduced an undesirable reduction in clarity (tone controls were still popular, then); are analogue eg units as useful as one would expect, substantially better than they once were (I am not interested in taking an analogue signal from LP through an a/d to d/a conversion). I am starting from scratch, understand tuning by ear will be required, want a more or less scientific, targeted approach. It's a rented apartment, so it's impractical to invest in experts, e.g. Rives.
128x128lloydc
buconero117
2,311 posts
 
Doing an acoustical analysis of the room using a mike and computer software (free kind) so you can 'see' what you are listening to. That analysis will point you to problems, if any. 'RoomEQWizard' is some free software that I've used and it was very helpful.
rrog
1,958 posts
 
Elizabeth, It sounds like you have a nice arrangement. Are you using long speaker wire or long interconnect?
rrog
1,958 posts
 
I recommend getting advice from someone other than the guy selling the room treatment.
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edge22
31 posts
 
Because of the physics of soundwaves and the dimensions of residential rooms, most rooms can benefit from room treatment, especially bass trapping. Although I can understand people like Elizabeth who may not like the aesthetics of room treatments (some can be made to look better than others if you get creative), this does not mean her room could not benefit from treatment -- it just means that she chooses aesthetics over getting better sound, which is fine if that what works for her and may be a perfectly reasonable choice (after all, in the real world there are always tradeoffs).

Rrog's comments seem to imply that room treatments are often not beneficial. While all rooms are different and some may need more or less treatment than others, most experts in acoustics believe that most rooms can benefit -- again, this goes back to physics and room dimensions. It may be that one of the best systems someone has heard has been in an untreated room, but what that does not say is whether it could have sounded even better with treatment.

I am very grateful for the others on this forum who directed me to try room treatments. I had good sound before, but after getting some broad band asbortion panels that help even out the frequency spectrum the sound is now great, and I had no idea what I was missing.
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