Ultimate Diffusor

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JohninCR

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Ultimate Diffusor
« on: 13 Oct 2006, 08:46 am »
I promised a while back that you guys would get pics.  The first is the rock wall to the left of my listening position.  This is by far the ultimate diffusor.  Not only does is diffuse sound, but the lava rocks must absorb quite a bit, because that wall is dead silent.  Even if I point a speaker directly at it, I still hear nothing coming from the wall, only from the direction of the speaker.

The second pic is my adjustable diffusor/absorber.  It's a 6x4ft unit on the right wall starting immediately ahead of my listening position.  There's a layer of 1" foam rubber behind the slats, which pivot on central screws top and bottom.  Without proper adjustment of the slats, the soundstage is always skewed to the right because I pick up 1st relections from the left speaker from the right wall making my brain think additional sound is coming from the right.  I've found the best alignment to be with the edges of the slats pointed directly at the left speaker.  Then the direct sound waves hit the unit and are absorbed and/or reflected around and dispersed.  I got the idea from a snake oil site selling some tiny 3 slat unit for several hundred dollars.  This cost a sheet of plywood, some long screws, some cheap foam, and a little paint, plus I'm sure it is much more effective.




JohninCR

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Re: Ultimate Diffusor
« Reply #1 on: 13 Oct 2006, 08:46 am »
These are my absorber panels and corner deflectors.

The absorber panels consist of paper egg crates glued to plywood.  I stretched foam rubber sheets over the front and staple gunned them on the backside.  Then I found a couple of different thick yet stretchy materials to cover, again stapled on the back.  The WAF with room treatments like this is choosing the right material.  I think I did pretty well with the burgundy with black stripes and black with grey stripes.  The accent my darkish blue walls with the lights on, and disappear with them off.  Keep in mind my room triples as my office, listening room, and HT.

This construction is quite absorbant above the bass frequencies.  I used a couple of thicknesses of plywood, so some are fairly heavy and the lighter ones have a cheap 1"x2" frame for support to keep them flat.  I hang them just like a picture.  The foam rapped around the back serves 2 purposes.  1.  The units can't rattle against the wall.  2.  A somewhat sealed airspace exists on the backside, because the weight holds them against the wall.  This causes the entire unit to also serve as a panel absorber for the lower frequencies.

I built 6 of these in various sizes for less than $80.  The one pictured is also the smallest at 2'x4'.

The triangular monolith standing in the corner in the other pic is my corner deflector.  I have concrete corners, and I built 2 of these to go behind OB speakers, which can be very resonant near corners.  These help the rear waves flow out of the corner instead of getting trapped and reflecting around back there.  They also work great with the Frugel horns that I just built.  They are a simple construction.  Just a triangular box.  The bottom half is filled with concrete, and the top is filled with concrete and a lot of styrofoam scraps to keep the weight down, the center of gravity lower, and recycle something going to a landfill otherwise.  Total cost 2 sacks of concrete and a sheet and a half of plywood, so not much.  At some point they'll get a black or navy blue material cover to make them disappear back in the corners.


nathanm

Re: Ultimate Diffusor
« Reply #2 on: 13 Oct 2006, 02:52 pm »
That wall rocks! *groan*  No seriously, that is very cool. :)

Daygloworange

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Re: Ultimate Diffusor
« Reply #3 on: 14 Oct 2006, 01:14 am »
JohninCR,

Like what you've done! I've experimented with diffusers some over the last few months. My experiences are similar to yours, after I was done putting them up ( total of 24  16"x 24" panels ), I noticed the acoustics changed very much. Just walking around in the room, the sound of your feet on the floor, your clothes rustle on your body louder and even when it's dead silent in the room, it feels like the walls are closer to you than they actually are.

Honestly, more people should get into this, the results are not subtle at all.

I've tried posting pic's but can't figure it out, can someone help me out on this?



Cheers :thumb