First Look at the new Adapt Line

jcoat007 · « **Reply #20 on:** 17 May 2005, 02:02 pm »

I have an an 18x24 rectangular room, but my system placement is a little odd. My system takes up 2/3 of the long wall and my office takes up 1/3 of the long wall (see photo's). At Nathan's recommendation, I intalled 2 pieces (again see photo's), one between the speakers and one in the left corner.

The soundstage spread out beyond the speaker boundaries, image placement was better, highs were more natural and less in-your-face which also had the benefit of improving bass definition. Overall my system is better balanced and more enjoyable to listen to.

Nice job!!!

The panels behind the speakers are homemade and the corner treatments are from a competitor. Nathan says his corners are better, and I am going to try them and see. My wife hates the homemade panels, so I may end up changing those out with some type of artwork that does not have any glass.

I will keep you guys posted.

PhilNYC · « **Reply #21 on:** 17 May 2005, 02:11 pm »

jcoat,

Did the Adapt Rectangles replace any bass traps you were using in the corners previously?

jcoat007 · « **Reply #22 on:** 17 May 2005, 02:14 pm »

Quote from: PhilNYC

jcoat,

Did the Adapt Rectangles replace any bass traps you were using in the corners previously?

Nope.

PhilNYC · « **Reply #23 on:** 23 May 2005, 03:45 pm »

I just installed a set of the new Adapt products in my listening room yesterday and thought I'd make some initial comments...

Anyone who has visited my room knows its got some tough acoustic problems. The room opens up to larger rooms both on the left/back wall and the back/right wall. There are 3 "corners" (the left/back wall is flush with the back wall, so there is no corner there). So my room has the issue of maintaining sound pressure (there is major bass suckout). My setup is along the long wall of the room (16'x19'x8') with the listening seat against the back wall, so there are also significant slap echo issues.

Prior to the Adapt roompack, I had installed a combination of some Echo Busters Bass Busters and Corner Busters (along the front wall/corners) and 8th Nerve Response products (rear corner and seam, Echo product on the front and rear wall). In addition, I have 1" rigid fiberglass on the front wall for first-reflection points.

I installed the Adapt products in stages.

-First, I replaced all the Corner Busters and Response Corners with the Adapt Triangles. Without question, the Adapt Triangles are more effective than the old Response Corners and EB Corner Busters. Soundstage depth improved, imaging seemed noticeably better.

-Second, I replaced the EB Bass Busters and Response Seam with the Adapt Rectangles. This was interesting...as others have noted in this thread, there is no real expectation for the Adapt Rectangles to absorb very low frequencies (anything below 80hz). But in my room, there is a bass suckout problem, not an overload or modal problem. With that in mind, the Adapt Rectangles appear to be a significant improvement over the Bass Busters. I'm getting more bass in the room, but its accurate bass...not resonant at all. Mids and highs perform about the same, so no significant difference there. Also no real change in imaging.

-Third, I replaced the Response Echos on the front and back walls with Adapt Rectangles. The improvement was probably as big as changing the Corners. The Adapt Rectangle on the rear wall basically got rid of all distortion I was getting from back there. On the front wall, it improved the soundstage depth a little bit.

Installation is pretty easy. I've got some suggestions for Nathan on how to improve the installation guides, but they are minor.

So my initial conclusions are that the Adapt products are significantly better than the Response products (and much better looking, too!). How they compare with traditional bass traps and things like that is hard to conclude in my room...but in my room, they seem to do the right thing. There's never been a question in my mind that both the Adapt and Response products would be a big improvement over an untreated room...but I am most certainly interested to hear other peoples' experiences using the Adapt products to replace something else.

(disclaimer: I am an 8th Nerve dealer. But room acoustics and sound-quality in my demo room outweigh any need/desire to sell any specific acoustic treatment products. It has to work, or else it makes selling my main product lines tougher)

PhilNYC · « **Reply #24 on:** 26 Jun 2005, 06:38 pm »

We had our NY Audio Rave summer BBQ at my place yesterday...featured at the Rave was the Focus Audio Master III speakers. These are big 64" tall floorstanders weighing 175lbs each, and are rated flat down to 20hz. In my 16'x19'x8' listening room, if there was anytime my room acoustics were going to be challenged, it was with these speakers. And as usual at our Raves, volumes got pretty loud. Amazingly, room issues didn't come up at all...! (at least not IMHO). The full 8th Nerve Adapt installation pretty much made the room a non-issue. Not only were we not overloading the room, but the room nodes that made Raves at my place so hard before (limiting the sweetspot) appeared to be gone. I'll let other NY Ravers chime in, but I continue to be amazed at how well the new Adapt products work, particularly when treating the whole room...

Woodsea · « **Reply #25 on:** 28 Jun 2005, 03:37 am »

Phil,
Could you check out my pictures of my apartment with the projector. The room is made of concrete with hardwood floors. Ceiling height is about 8 feet, depth to spiral staircase is about 45 feet, and about that wide.
What do you think I could get away with, by using your adept line? The sub is under the right front speaker.
Thanks,
Eric

PhilNYC · « **Reply #26 on:** 28 Jun 2005, 11:58 am »

Eric,

45 feet? That's a huge room!

It's hard to tell what the exact layout is in your room from the pictures, but certainly it would appear that you're probably getting a lot of distortion by having the right speaker right in the corner. The left speaker is also probably loading up with that bookcase right next to it...is the bookcase flush against the wall? Or is it out at all?

As Nathan has described elsewhere, the Adapt products are designed to reduce distortions created in the corners/seams of your room. You'd definitely benefit from the right corner and seam as well as on the front wall/ceiling seam. Beyond that, with 45ft to the rear wall and left sidewall, I'm not sure how much you'd really need...

Woodsea · « **Reply #27 on:** 28 Jun 2005, 11:44 pm »

This is a Czech/Mongolian design. It has the living room/Dining room mix. It is large, and I cannot for the life of me tame my bass. I will talk to the wife about the initial corner/wall/ceiling adepts, you recommended. The book shelf is flush, I have an 8 mos old, 3yr old and a 6 yr old. All I need is to have them stuck back there!!!
Thanks for the input!
-Eric

8thnerve · « **Reply #28 on:** 29 Jun 2005, 09:19 pm »

Quote from: Woodsea

Phil,
Could you check out my pictures of my apartment with the projector. The room is made of concrete with hardwood floors. Ceiling height is about 8 feet, depth to spiral staircase is about 45 feet, and about that wide.
What do you think I could get away with, by using your adept line? The sub is under the right front speaker.
Thanks,
Eric

Eric,

Feel free to email me some photos of your room and I can recommend appropriate treatment. A large room like that can benefit tremedously by some of these treatments. You would think that the larger size would make these relatively small treatments less effective, but because the wall surfaces have such a long run, blocking the return corner energy causes a significant improvement.

At any rate, I am happy to make recommendations if you wish.

Best,

Nathan Loyer
Eighth Nerve

JLM · « **Reply #29 on:** 13 Oct 2005, 10:52 pm »

Nathan,

So it makes sense that the Adapt line is better than the Response line, but how much better?

Is it dollar for dollar better? Would $500 in Adapt (say 2 corners plus 2 retangles) be as effective as $500 of Response (say 4 corners plus 8 seams)?

And how about corners versus seams? Would $100 of Response (4) be more effective than $100 of Adapt (1)?

Or corners versus retangles, would $300 of Adapt corners (3) be less effective than $300 of Adapt retangles (2)?

I could go on, but you get the point I hope. Trying to finalize a decision here.

PhilNYC · « **Reply #30 on:** 13 Oct 2005, 11:26 pm »

JLM, hope you don't mind my answering your question since you asked Nathan. But after having lived with the Adapt stuff installed for a few months, IMHO, there's no question that the Adapt products are heads/shoulders better than the Response products. I have a very challenging room acoustically, and before the Adapt products came out, I had tried to use the Response stuff...and while it helped a little, I ended up going with more traditional acoustic products (AcousticsFirst, EchoBusters) because the issues in my room were way too tough for the Response stuff to be effective. But the Adapt products not only outperformed the traditional stuff, they solved more problems than I thought possible...eliminated room nodes, enlarged my sweetspot by a huge amount, etc. The improvement from the Adapt Triangles alone were far better than treating my whole room with Response stuff...

Of course, in a less challenging room, you may find the Response products to be "enough". But there haven't been many times in my audiophiling where I was impressed as much as I have been with the Adapt line.

A large number of NY Audio Rave folks have heard the before/after in my room, and I think all will atest to the improvement...

JLM · « **Reply #31 on:** 14 Oct 2005, 12:05 am »

Thanks Phil,

My room shouldn't be much of a challenge (finishing it up now). It's 8 ft x 13 ft x 21 ft (Cardias room dimensional ratios all around), padded carpet on concrete with drywall walls/ceiling. Setup will be across the 13 ft wall. Will start with the Cardias dimensions (68 inch equalateral triangle, 68 inches from the front wall).

Walls have staggered studs, walls/ceiling insulated, exterior insulated/weather sealed door, fiberglass ductwork (no rattles or furnace noise), dedicated power/ground with cryo'd hospital grade receptacles.

Wonder now what combo of the Adapt line would work best (4 corners or 2 corners and 2 rectangles).

klh · « **Reply #32 on:** 14 Oct 2005, 04:22 pm »

Sounds like one hell of a room. Will you have an HT, too, or will be be 2-channel only?

PhilNYC · « **Reply #33 on:** 14 Oct 2005, 04:26 pm »

Quote from: JLM

Wonder now what combo of the Adapt line would work best (4 corners or 2 corners and 2 rectangles). ...

Sounds like a great room!

I would guess that since your room is very long, 2 triangles and 2 rectangles installed on the front wall would be preferrable. Being closer to the speakers, you'll get more corner amplification in the front than in back. I also find the seam between the front wall and ceiling right between the speakers to be very worthwhile to treat (so 2 triangles and 3 rectangles...)

JLM · « **Reply #34 on:** 15 Oct 2005, 09:02 am »

Phil,

Thanks for the advice. I think I'll just start with 2 corners and 2 rectangles. Of course I can always add more.

klh,

The room will be for audio first, with an office setup in the back. I'm not much into HT and in fact have only a 2.1 system currently with a 27 inch CRT, although we wired to add 2 rear channels with the idea of someday moving up to a large paneled screen and 5.1.

The room above is part of left over space in a new house we're doing. After some planning to make sure there would be sufficient dimensions, the rest was really pretty cheap/easy when you're doing it from scratch:

1. The builder insulated all walls/ceilings anyway as it was planned to be a 5 star EPA EnergyStar home and insulation is cheap.

2. The room needed a door anyway, the exterior door was actually cheaper than the interior (cherry) door would have been.

3. The insulated flexible ductwork is cheaper and easier to install than sheetmetal ductwork.

4. The electrical contract (labor and materials) was a flat rate to provide whatever, so the dedicated lines and grounding didn't cost a thing.

5. The 3 cryo'd hospital grade receptacles did cost $100, but my DAC and amp are battery powered, so for now at least that was a waste and could have been done later.

6. So the extra framing for the staggered stud walls was really the only additional cost (beyond wifey pounding on me for having the biggest room in the house). I try to debate that with her, saying it has no window, it was leftover space anyway, etc. but you probably know how far that gets me.

peter59 · « **Reply #35 on:** 6 Feb 2006, 07:12 pm »

Hi Nathan,

I have been trying to get hold of you to see what you suggest for my listening room. I have both emailed and faxed you a rough drawing of my listening room. I have heard nothing but good things about your products. I feel it will help with my room acoustics. I am located in Pasadena, Ca. Please contact me so you can assist me in locating a nearby dealer and let me know what I can do for my particular room, so I can start listening to music again. The way it was intended.. I can be reached either at 866-791-2758 or email me at pjccampent@yahoo.com.
According to your responses on audiocircle you usually respond back rather quickly. I find it slightly disheartening that I have yet to hear from someone from your company..
thank you,
Peter

8thnerve · « **Reply #36 on:** 7 Feb 2006, 07:15 pm »

Peter,

I recieved your faxes and emails that you sent over the weekend on Monday when I got in the office. You should have recieved a response that day.

I do my best to respond as quickly as possible, but I am often pretty backed up. There is much to do and little time. If you find that I haven't responded back, please email again. It is what I see the quickest.

Best Regards,

Nathan Loyer
Eighth Nerve

F-100 · « **Reply #37 on:** 9 Mar 2006, 05:57 am »

Nathan,
I was skeptical about your products at first but I'm a firm believer now after auditioning your product at Peter's house. Wow!! These stuff really work and the sound in Peter's room is unbelievable. I got to get me some of these acoustic treatments.