[davidrs]

.....someday I hope to upgrade to Salk speakers and a dedicated listening room.

It is also our living room so it is full of toys and stuff too.

taoggniklat,

Love that your room is "full of toys and stuff."

While the whole ht to 2ch move was evolving for me, I had a pair of SongTowers and a SongCenter in L/R/C for HT. Cannot say enough about how well they did. And based on all the posts on the Salk Boards, you are in for large helpings of ht fun as you move up Jim's line.

- David.

[ted_b]

Well, the Hedback Design room acoustic makeover is completed.  We installed the large ceiling diffusor/trap yesterday and the sound of the room is transformational...a qualitative shift in everything...tonality, image specificity, detail, naturalness, soundstage depth.  It's as if I told the room to "settle down and let me listen" and a whole new world opened up.  Hell, it will probably force me to relook speaker positioning, etc...except my 90 minute listening session last night was sooo good that I'm not sure i wanna fix what ain't broken. 

Thanks to Jeff Hedback (designer/acoustic engineer), my local craftsman extraordinaire Doug Carpenter (yes, that's his real last name ) and to my wife and family for putting up with this. 

All told, the major changes were:
* front corner traps, floor to ceiling, custom made.  Allowed me to repurpose the Realtrap Mondo corners to the back sloped area.
* a 400 lb tuned membrane "floating wall" on the front wall, behind the screen assembly, which brought about amazing soundstage and balance (fewer nulls, etc) improvements by itself
* side wall diffusors and tetrahedral treatments that open up the room and improve even surround high rez imaging.
* the piece de resistance, a large ceiling cloud, hanging from acoustical clips, made up of wood diffusors and 4 inches of bass trapping foam insulation.  (There is light roping installed but it shows up very slightly....no big deal, the roping set me back $12.).  The energy held up in that ceiling area was quite high, caused mostly by my sloped ceiling design when we built the house.  it was a good idea at the time! 

All of the Realtrap products and GIK art panels continue to do their jobs (in many cases re-positioned), and work in tandem with the Hedback Design custom built foundation. 

(Pictures have darkening window treatments recessed to show natural light, but I never listen/watch that way.  Left wall area is also cleared of RFZ trap for same reason, to let light in).

[bushbison]

  Ted... ummmm...wow..GREAT room! I'm jealous!!

[golfugh]

Ted
Turned out awesome, congrats

[carusoracer]

Ted,

The room really looks even better than before from the pictures! Things look like they have tied in well.
Let me know when you are ready to entertain, I would luv to come up and take a listen.

[ted_b]

Thanks guys.  Mark and Mark, you know where I live; invite is open. 

(Jeff) Hedback Designs did an incredible job of modeling my room, guiding me through recording some analysis sweeps, etc and explaining the deliverables in both very technical and dumb'd down ted mode.  Moreover, he produced a detailed, 3D google sketchup set of documents that Doug worked off of without a hitch.  Jeff never visited the site (yet ) but had huge hunches that he never waivered from, even when I panicked several times during the project.  Net/net, Jeff knows his sh$% !!!  And the value prop is quite amazing. 

Oh, and thanks also go to Art Smuck here at AC for turning me onto Jeff once i saw and heard about his own room transformation here.  I contacted Art asap and we spoke several times (and finally met at RMAF).  Thanks Art!   

[Rob S.]

Ted,   Love the new look (or at least new to me anyways)....  Black completely works for the ceiling color, and front wall.  Been working on my wife to let me do that in our basement.    Can you give me some info on the ceiling diffusor and side wall diffusors?

Congratulation on the look and I'm sure the sound is top notch.   

Rob S.

[TomS]

Ted,

Congrats!  That is crazy cool looking   

I'm really feeling a road trip in the spring 

Tom

[ted_b]

Ted,

Congrats!  That is crazy cool looking   

I'm really feeling a road trip in the spring 

Tom

Tom, you must revisit!  And bring that Alix with you. 

[ted_b]

Ted,   Love the new look (or at least new to me anyways)....  Black completely works for the ceiling color, and front wall.  Been working on my wife to let me do that in our basement.    Can you give me some info on the ceiling diffusor and side wall diffusors?

Congratulation on the look and I'm sure the sound is top notch.   

Rob S.

Rob,
The diffusors are technically known as HdAcoustics’ HAR slats (Helmholtz Angled Reflectors).  They are a repeating set of four angled diffusors, built out of poplar, stained and poly'd.  The side wall diffusors have a backing that is less bass trap and more just a sturdy frame that was covered in the same GOM material as the "sails" above them.  The ceiling system is indeed both a huge bass trap, with 3 inches of air separating the ceiling with the topside of the cloud, 4 inches of acoustic material, and then several sets of HDAcoustics HAR slats running east-west.  The size, materials and HAR pattern were designed specifically for my room, but Jeff would use the same concept to tackle similar issues elsewhere.

[TomS]

Tom, you must revisit!  And bring that Alix with you. 

Glad to do so.  At the moment it's still on tour with the AP1 at Mike's.  Some house guests bring wine, but I bring the hardware

[ted_b]

Glad to do so.  At the moment it's still on tour with the AP1 at Mike's.  Some house guests bring wine, but I bring the hardware

AND the wine.   

[Bob in St. Louis]

   Wow. Just......Wow.

Can't imagine what it must sound like. Most impressive.
Are your lips under lock and key for the ultimate question, or are you at liberty to say?

Bob

[arthurs]

Oh, and thanks also go to Art Smuck here at AC for turning me onto Jeff once i saw and heard about his own room transformation here.  I contacted Art asap and we spoke several times (and finally met at RMAF).  Thanks Art!   

Ted, no thanks needed it has been my pleasure and I'm so glad you are loving the look and sound of your room upgrade.  It's not hard to recommend a solid guy like Jeff who, as you said, has one hell of a value prop....  Congrats to you both on the project and Happy Listening!    

P.S.  Just wow on how it all looks....

[mgalusha]

Glad to do so.  At the moment it's still on tour with the AP1 at Mike's.

And yer gonna have to pry it out of my cold dead fingers.

Ted, the room looks stunning. I have some ceiling absorption and it made a nice improvement but wow, that diffuser / bass trap looks massively effective.

[Delta Wave]

Geeze, I'm almost embarrassed to show mine but...




 

[bushbison]

Geeze, I'm almost embarrassed to show mine but...

Nothing to be embarrassed at ALL there... your room looks very comfy.... & sound is what matters.. and I'm sure yours sounds more than fine.. nice Godin by the way..

[lonewolfny42]

Hey Ted....

Excellent - Enjoy !!!! 

[Bill O'Connell]

Ted,

 I have to come visit someday.WOW! That room is way to cool to not be shared. Anywhere near Illinois?

[ted_b]

Two states over, Bill.  Only thing between you and me is...Indiana!  Thanks for the nice comments.