OK what a workout
In any event I spent a few more cuts in front of the new tweak and all I can say is it really does the job in my room.
Now the title of this thread says it all.
I assume many would like "some" if not all of the benefits of a Live End Dead End room for their VMPS, since Big B, uses such a room in voicing and auditioning his wares.
The advantages of a Dead End room is that all the surfaces are covered in an acoustically absorbative material to virtually eliminate most frontal, reflections from the front, and side walls as well as the floor and ceiling.
This creates a "black hole" from which a pair of speakers disappear and then can paint an incrediblly detailed and accurate sonic hologram.
Well not everyone has a dedicated room where they can put up the sound proofing needed to accomplish this. Plus many use their systems "double duty". That is they are both stereo and HT in the same room. Many times this includes a BIG SCREEN
and sonically reflective Projection TV.
Well I have been thinking what would be the simplest method of accomplishing some of the qualities of the DE of the room.
Obviously they're is more than one way to skin a cat (well come to think of it I don't know that for a fact, since I don't even know one way
) but there is more than one way to deal with keeping sound waves from the speakers, from bouncing off the front wall, side walls, ceiling and floor.
So rather than treating the surfaces that cause the reflection, we (instead) reduce the amount of sound that can travel to them and be reflected.
Primarily this tweak involves taking a material ( I used two big beach towels and or about 7' x 2' sheets of shelf liner)
Looks like Obi Wan Kenobi 626R
The towel and or shelf liner are placed over the speaker in such a way as to form an upside down U over each of them. I have about 6" of weights on top of my speakers to add mass and tighten bass. This makes the upper "hood" (bottom of the upside down U) that is at the top of the speaker about 6" above the top of the speaker.
The whole device then is "slid forward" so that it sticks out about 5-6" over the top and sides of the speaker.
Now, I had to use something on top to not let the towel "droop" down. I found the grill of the 626R laying on top of the speaker worked fine, but you may need to use something else. (be inventive here but don't use something that is highly reflective of sound)
So what we have is a very thick Beach Towel (or material of your choice as long as it is thick and absorbs well) that is draped over your speaker so that the front of the speaker is still fully exposed to you in the listening position, and the towel sticks out over the front and sides about 5"-6" effectively blocking much of the sound that would go to the side walls and the ceiling.
Now, I claimed that it probably offered a high percentage of the Dead End benefits, based on the fact that it blocks most of the "direct" sound energy from the speaker to these wall surfaces, but because the material is light will not negatively impact the bass.
It WILL NOT (of course) block sound that is reflected from the back wall bouncing back to the front wall (I suggest acoustically treating the front wall a bit between the speakers if you can get away with it)
If you have a RPTV sitting there this will work wonders. If you throw a nice comforter or very thick blanket over the front of the TV for serious listening along with this tweak, you will be astounded.
If you do not experience more detail, resolution, clairity and unbeleivable depth then it is probably set up wrong.
But as I promised, it is a godsend for those who have ceiling bounce and side reflections, but can't do anything about it. Also you RPTV guys...If you throw a blanket over the screen and use this tweak, you'll flip out
And too, as I indicated, it can be put in placed in about 30 seconds once you have experimented with it to get it the way you like it.
It can then reside in the linen closet, until such a time as serious listening rears it "pretty little head", and KAZAMMMM ya got a live end dead end by proxy.
This is a good thing since as I also mentioned this "don't look all that great" (but with the lights out and the volume turned up, you'll forget about that real quick)
Hope it gives you as much fun and improvement as it gave me (and I have quite bit of acoustic treatment all ready)
And I forgot to mention that for whatever reason it also seemed to enhance the Upper bass (I have no idea why) which was a nice plus.
If ya try it, let me know how it worked. If ya try it and it doesn't deliver feel free to contact me for more info.
Enjoy
PS. this can be used with other speakers besides VMPS, in fact it would probably offer even greater benefits with a higher dispersion driver set.
