Another room treatment convert


I made my first voyage into room treatment today with setting up five 2' x 4' x 2" 2.5# density panels (ATS Acoustics) in my listening room-balcony. The balcony is 13.5 x 16 x 8 feet with my back toward the balcony rail overlooking the great room below(no wall behind me, just a vaulted ceiling).

Impressive & positive difference compared to the sound of the system previously...which was already pretty good. The sound is tighter & more defined(articulate) from top to bottom. For less than $300 bucks I'd give the investment "two thumbs way up". I'll be ordering a couple more 2 x 2 panels to finish things off. Then DIY bass traps are next once the raw materials arrive.

Speakers are Snell Type A's on the long wall. Tube CDP & pre with a DNA-1 amp. The wide dispersion of the speakers & size of the room resulted in first reflection issues & some flutter echo from the mostly empty walls. I also have a narrow window on center behind the speakers & this gave me some glare, particularly with vocals. No more. MUCH better.

If anyone is sizing up that next power cord, set of matched tubes, pair of speaker cables, or audio rack, and you haven't addressed room treatment, I'd go for the room treatment first. Minimal investment for such a significant improvement.

It might too bold to say that many of the standard system tweaks or upgrades may be premature (or misguided) without room treatment being addressed...but given the impact I'm hearing I have to believe it's at least partially true.
fishboat
Fishboat,

Your experience matches mine....I am rather a skeptic when it comes to different SS amps, cables, interconnects, power conditioners, power cords, glowing lights, exotic amazon wood veneers, precious metals and "jitter" scaremongering...but on room acoustic treatments and proper room design I am SOLD 100% - (Differences are not earth shaking but ROOM TREATMENTS REALLY DO WORK)
Great advise and I agree completely!

Taking this one step further...Some of us have gotten great results using non-descript, domestically approved, household furnishings. No need to buy expensive treatments if you have some control over domestic furnishings. But the down side, or not, is that you will be de-emphasizing the existence of an 'audiophile in residence'. :-)
Probably, most rooms and setups could be better with proper accoustic treatment. Forums like this spread the know.

How ya gonna do the DIY bass traps?
Hi Newbee, Is is difficult to keep those couches and chairs on the ceiling and walls? I would reccomend a combination of bass traps and diffusion instead. They do look much more audiophile approved and are easier to hang. Plasic or real ficus/fern plants have way too little mass to affect the sound, and as you need to mount these on the ceiling also the plastic dirt falls out of the ficus plastic plants and real ferns are difficult to water on the ceiling. So actually there may be a need to buy/DIY real bass traps/diffusion. Picture this, sound does not recognize a ceiling, wall or floor, it reverberates off all of it equally so all surfaces need treatment. Go to Real Traps for real information.
Bob