[Mxyzpltk]

Hi!, I'm finally lucky enough to get a dedicated listening room, but the room is small at around 14'x9', at the moment I have to use whatever equipment I had, all of it roughly mid-fi, with paradigm monitor 9 left from my HT days, sonic impact Super-T t-amp, computer as source and old minidisk deck mds-jb940 as DAC, so all in all nothing great, but all cheap, and I'm happy with the sound I'm getting 

So far I think the floorstandings are a bit too big for this room and will try to sell them for a good price and get something more to this room, I live in Costa Rica, and we don't have that much of a choice, we have a paradigm dealer, a kef/klipsch dealer, polk and martin logan, plus a few dealers that don't carry a stock to audition but will get stuff special order, linn and triangle for example.  Among those I think I will try to trade the monitor 9s for studio 20s and make a big jump in SQ (do you guys agree?), amp or source will get upgraded next, and so on.

Now that I gave you a bit of background, I would like to get some advice in DIY or cheap room treatments that I can try in this small room, special interest in corner bass traps wich seem to be the biggest issue at the moment, mostly at high volume, but any other idea will be appreciated and considered to get the most out of this oportunity.

In case the info is needed, the room is 14'x9' as said before, with windows in the front where the speakers are (placed with the cardas formula wich helped a lot), big thick courtain behind it, another window at my left, concrete walls and floor, ceramic tiles, no carpet.

Thanks in advance to all, and "pura vida" from Costa Rica, happy listening.

[firedog]

GIK Acoustics and some of the other companies that make traps will also sell you the materials. Based on my experience in a small room, corner bass traps will make big improvement.

[richidoo]

Cheap and cheerful bass trap: stack some unopened, unfaced, plastic wrapped rolls of FG insulation in each corner.  Decorate to taste.

[Phil A]

You can buy pipe insulation from insulation distributors and cover it.  In the pic below of the main room entrance the bluish gray trap in the upper right is 17 inch pipe insulation.  A friend built it.  It has wood on top and bottom and his wife put the material on.

[irish 51]

I am in the process of building four of these:

http://www.teresaudio.com/haven/traps/traps.html

[Mxyzpltk]

Thanks to all for the ideas, they seem good but I have a couple more questions before I move forward. Here in C.R. wall insulation is not a must have, so I don't know if I'll find any distributor I can talk to, but in case I do, what are the properties that I need to look for? thickness or density, material? I'm guessing that if it's too thin it won't help and if it is too thick will reflect a lot instead of absorve, so what is the recomended thickness or density I should be aiming at? are there any other materials that can work instead of insulation?

(worst case is I'll have to import it and expense will grow, but if I have to, then I will, and probably consider some already made or "assambly required" traps)

Thanks again, the traps seem to be easy to build, and I'm sure they'll be of great help.

[irish 51]

The Teres Audio instructions spec things out pretty well.

I am using 1" thick Knauf pipe insulation which is compressed fiberglass, 36" in length. I purchased it from Bay insulation which I believe is a chain, but it should be easy to find at other insulation distributors. I think it is a pretty standard pipe insulation so there should also be other manufacturers besides Knauf.

Half of the circumference is covered in plastic film making it a tuneable trap with an absorptive and a reflective side. Mine come to about 13" in diameter.  I have a smallish room.

[Phil A]

From memory, mine is 1 inch thick and 36 inches too (that is the insulation I used )

[Phil A]

Here's a couple of shots of the DIY bass treatments from pipe insulation so you can see them a bit better.  The midrange absorbers (2x4 feet) are DIY from readyacoustics.com and I just made stands from oak (vs. hanging them on the wall with hooks they provided) and they have several shades of microfiber covers and also thicker insulation more suited for bass as well.

[jk@home]

If you can get a hold of some Owens Corning 703 insulation, you can build square 4"-6" thick panels, 2' wide x however tall you need and mount them diagonally across the corners.

http://forum.studiotips.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=534

Or better yet, make super chunks:

http://forum.studiotips.com/viewtopic.php?t=535

[lonewolfny42]

Always a good read with a nice result....PeteG's Panel Project....Link...

[Mxyzpltk]

I have to thank you guys for the great info I got, all the links and pictures have been of great help.

I think I gathered enough info to start building, so this week I'll hunt for materials to see what I can get locally and what do I have to import, I will be building them very soon, so thanks again.