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Some ideas to improve room acoustics


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So I have my gear in the lounge room. It's 4mx4m, standard height ceiling, carpet, rug, plasterboard walls. I've currently got these and these.  I have 3 one the front wall:

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One on side wall at back near door

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And 6 on the back wall

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And four bass traps at the front

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The first thing, do these foam panels actually work? What do they do? Absorb high/low? I 'think' they have made a difference. first I thought it had taken away too much bass. I think now it just makes it less boomy.  Do I need diffusers? The foam was a hand-me-down So I thought why not. 

 

Another potential problem is the outside wall has windows from floor nearly to ceiling almost the length of the room. It has net curtains and a cheap blind

 

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So, that wall can't really be treated by foam. Is there a curtain/blind that would work there? The bass traps are only at the front as the right side has a door (photo 2) and the window side has a glass display like in photo 2. Thinking about the future but wanted to get some ideas.

 

Cheers Blake.

 

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Those foam panels won't be doing much on your front wall (the wall behind the speakers) and you'd probably get better results throwing a thick blanket over the TV when not in use.

 

Use the remaining panels extensively on your side walls at the first reflection points. (I'd recommend 3x3 panels as a minimum).

 

The non-symmetrical (treated) walls (one plasterboard, one window/nets) doesn't help the equation when it comes to perceived depth and centre image. It might pay to buy some heavy curtains for that window, and do the same on the opposite side (over the plasterboard). No one needs to know there's no window behind it. Heavy enough curtains and they'll be more effective than those foam panels for your first reflection points anyway.

 

As for the bass traps, they're not bass traps and they'll be doing very little to nothing at all, sorry to say.

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Standard acoustic tiles are good for absorbing midrange and highs but the coverage needs to be larger. Placement should be side walls and ceiling - points of the first reflection. For bass control you need panel absorbers or Helmholtz resonator absorbers . However they are not broad band and need to be tuned properly for treating room mode resonances. 

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a bit confusing as you show an "outside" wall with large windows.. is this a rectangle room or an "L" shaped room?

 

can you list the gear you have?

 

sticking bits of foam around the place like you see in other peoples rooms is probably a waste of time.

 

as suggested heavy curtains with block out backing. put on the side walls, take off the foam behind the front stage and the "bass traps", then do a "sub crawl" and put the sub/subs? in the correct location. do your set up again and go from there.

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@blakey72 looks like a pretty conventional homely surroundings ...and I do believe a lot can be achieved with conventional room furnishings...

 

Which is where I've always found focals advice to be spot on... can be found in the owners manual that come with their speakers....

 

works a treat I have found for most domestic setups and not push boundaries and yet achieving a balance... which is always what think it's about.  in my opinion treatments are always about top end and mids... not much you can do with bass-subwoofer type bass issues... as traps you need technical would be way way too massive to fit in most rooms without being not only physical but also visually quite imposing.... but thing with bass is location location location (you and speakers) eq next and treatment last...

 

"User instructions

The sound rendition of the loudspeaker depends strongly upon the listening room acoustics, the place of theloudspeakers and the listening area. These factors can be modified in order to correct or enhance a desiredeffect.Should the soundstage be imprecise or not centred, try to move the loudspeakers closer to each other.Harsh or aggressive sound means that your listening room is probably too reflective. Try to use any absorbing materials (such as tapestries, sofa, wall coverings, curtains combined with reflective materials to absorb or diffuse resonances.Should the sound be flat†or muffled, there are too many absorbing materials in the listening room. The sound appears to be closed-in, with a narrow stereophonic image. Try to find a better compromisebetween absorbing and reflective materials within your listening room. Generally the wall to the rear ofthe speakers should be made up of reflective materials so that the sound image exhibits satisfying volume and width. On the contrary the wall on the rear of the listener should be absorbing in order to avoid reflections damaging the perception of the stereo soundstage. These reflections may limit the impression of depth of the sound image. Furniture, such as bookshelves should be ideally placed along the side walls in order to diffuse sound waves and to prevent some frequencies from being amplified, especially in vocal range (it removes flutter echo)."

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Biggest improvement to my own awkward acoustic situation, was to get the speakers out away from the walls.  Situate them at about 1/3 the width/length from the walls at one end of the room.  Also, endeavour to sit fairly close to them in the middle of the room, for best listening.

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A square room is always a problem because you will have the same bass issues from all corners. Some people have had success by using a diagonal arrangement for the speakers and chair.

 

This is a room mode calculator:

 

https://amcoustics.com/tools/amroc?l=400&w=400&h=240&r60=0.6

 

I put in 400 x 400 and you can see the bass problems you will get. If you go down the page a bit it lists them and you will see, for example, that you get two lots of 42.88Hz ( If you had a room of say 600 x 400,  you would get one of 42.88Hz and others of different values). You can also see how much bass activity there is below 125Hz that you need to deal with.

 

The foam bass traps look a bit like these:

 

https://www.auralex.com/product/lenrd-bass-traps/

 

You see they give some measurements and show that they are most effective at 125Hz and above. They are meant to go in corners. Whilst they will improve things you can do better, but it will require bigger boxes (mine are Soffit Traps from GIK - 40cm x 40cm). Good product sellers should offer measurements.

 

The smaller foam panels should, as mentioned above, be used to reduce reflections from walls and ceilings.

 

Your leather sofa may also produce reflections which will muddy the sound.

 

Diffusors need some space to work properly - typically about six feet. I don't use any but there are now products that mix both absorbers and diffusors.

 

The link that Tweaky gave is a good start but if you do want to invest in room treatment I suggest a lot more reading:

 

https://gikacoustics.co.uk/

 

https://realtraps.com/

 

I started out with foam but when I understood things better I ripped it all out for GIK products.

 

The alternative is Digital Signal Processing (DSP). It's not as good as room treatment but does seem to have a big impact where this, and ideal positioning, is not possible.

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