[brooklyn]

Okay, room treatments are long overdue with me but now that I have my own audio room the time has come.
Below is a scale drawing of my room and there's a couple of pictures in my gallery titled man cave.

[brooklyn]

Updated: picture of speaker side of the room, I added some egg crate foam. It seamed to help somewhat.

[JLM]

I'd start with GIK 244 panels (thick, high density fiberglass) across the front and rear walls.  Move the bookcase to side wall where audio rack is.  Move chair back, pull speakers farther into the room, and put audio rack between speakers against front wall to allow shorter speaker cables.  Add shelving for books/CD's/etc. on side wall opposite bookcase.  Add a subwoofer at rear wall, recommend this one (without connection to your system it senses bass waves and issues an out of phase wave):

http://www.spatialcomputer.com/page9/page10/page10.html

Floyd Toole (noted acoustics researcher) recommends exactly the above set up: full frequency range absorption on front/rear walls (ala thick high density panels); diffusion on side walls roughly even and behind listening area/spot (book shelves work well); nothing on side walls at first reflection points (to improve what he terms "envelopment"); a subwoofer in back of the room (to oppose standing bass waves inherent to all rooms).  BTW the egg crate foam is worthless.

Now, lets discuss room isolation (to allow you to listen with less background noise and to what/when you want without disturbing others).  Can you seal that opening (maybe with a door)?  Also recommend replacing the door(s) with an insulated fiberglass door(s) with weather seals ($200 each plus install, you can stain/paint the wood grain texture to match the doors in the rest of your home).  Don't know your wall construction, ceiling height, if there are living spaces above or below, how the space is heated/air conditioned, or what your electrical power situation is like, but could offer more ideas if you have the interest/money.

[kiwi_1282001]

Okay, room treatments are long overdue with me but now that I have my own audio room the time has come.
Below is a scale drawing of my room and there's a couple of pictures in my gallery titled man cave.

Our room size is very similar and you may benefit from my experience which is recorded in some detail HERE

I agree with many of JLM's comments, though I don't think placing an equipment rack between the two loudspeakers is a good idea at all.  Leave it where is it.

There are two challenges of a small audio room; slap echo and bass boom.   The first is relatively easy to treat with absorption or diffusion, the later is much more difficult.

[jimdgoulding]

Wouldn't you want to remove those frames?  What the heck good are they doin?  Oh, after a second look, one end is flush with your intermediate side walls.  Still, forward to the listening position there is an obstrusive edge.  Having said that, man, you are a serious cat!   and that is a SERIOUS room.  Welcome . .

Kindly stick around.  Talk is good.

[saisunil]

Kiwi this is total room madness   
Will need to spend time reading about your journey - but you are giving me good idea about what I should be doing about my "office" space ~ 10 x 13 feet

Cheers
Sunil

[brooklyn]

I'd start with GIK 244 panels (thick, high density fiberglass) across the front and rear walls.  Move the bookcase to side wall where audio rack is.  Move chair back, pull speakers farther into the room, and put audio rack between speakers against front wall to allow shorter speaker cables.  Add shelving for books/CD's/etc. on side wall opposite bookcase.  Add a subwoofer at rear wall, recommend this one (without connection to your system it senses bass waves and issues an out of phase wave):

http://www.spatialcomputer.com/page9/page10/page10.html

Floyd Toole (noted acoustics researcher) recommends exactly the above set up: full frequency range absorption on front/rear walls (ala thick high density panels); diffusion on side walls roughly even and behind listening area/spot (book shelves work well); nothing on side walls at first reflection points (to improve what he terms "envolement"); a subwoofer in back of the room (to oppose standing bass waves inherent to all rooms).  BTW the egg crate foam is worthless.

Now, lets discuss room isolation (to allow you to listen with less background noise and to what/when you want without disturbing others).  Can you seal that opening (maybe with a door)?  Also recommend replacing the door(s) with an insulated fiberglass door(s) with weather seals ($200 each plus install, you can stain/paint the wood grain texture to match the doors in the rest of your home).  Don't know your wall construction, ceiling height, if there are living spaces above or below, how the space is heated/air conditioned, or what your electrical power situation is like, but could offer more ideas if you have the interest/money.

I tried some of the furniture in different places but this is how it worked the best and I'm already maxed out with putting anything else in the room. The ceiling is 8 feet high and the egg crates are pieces I had hanging around so I thought I would use it until I got something more permanent. The doorway is small and putting a door in it would make it even smaller. As far as subwoofers go, I don't believe I need one. I like the bass that I'm getting and I would rather leave the equipment on the side wall. I have the turntable on a shelf attached to the wall.

I do appreciate all the info but I just want to control the room to some extent, it's not a recording studio.

I'm relatively happy the way the system is setup and sounds in the room, It time to do some tweaks and room treatment was on the list. I just want to hang or place some treatments in the right areas of the room for a reasonable amount of money and call it a day. 

[JLM]

Understood trying to avoid the nervosa.   

Please understand that the sub is to cancel standing waves, it wouldn't add bass per se.

GIK is about the most practical absorption products out there to buy, but I recommend the thicker panels to provide wider spectrum effect.  Bookcases (if loaded randomly) are free.

Moving the speakers out will increase depth of soundstage and provide a more natural bass response.

Sealing off the room allows greatly expanded use of the room.

BTW the above tips and more is exactly what I did in my room and when integrating it into the construction added almost nothing to the cost (it's more of a smart design versus brute force thing).

[Ethan Winer]

Below is a scale drawing of my room and there's a couple of pictures in my gallery titled man cave.

Can you exchange the rack and side chair? As it is now, the rack is partially at the right side-wall reflection point, where absorption should go. The setup is still not symmetrical due to the door on the left, but the door is similar to the absorption you'd put on the right side.

--Ethan

[bpape]

I would also seriously consider some diffusion behind the Maggies on the front wall to increase soundstage width and also deal with some of the comb filtering from the rear wave without hurting the bass reinforcement you're getting.

Bryan

[brooklyn]

I would also seriously consider some diffusion behind the Maggies on the front wall to increase soundstage width and also deal with some of the comb filtering from the rear wave without hurting the bass reinforcement you're getting.

Bryan

High Bryan, what exactly would I need to make that happen?

Jerry

[brooklyn]

Please understand that the sub is to cancel standing waves, it wouldn't add bass per se.

I have a bad taste in my mouth ever since I tried (struggled) to integrate an REL sub with book shelfs, it never sounded right to me.
I also got a very low hum when I connected it to my amp, I imagine a ground loop problem which got better after removing the ground pin on the cable. It drove me crazy. I'm not sure if I want to try that again.

I will try to implement a few of your idea's, I just wanted to give the room what it needs to get me most of the way there. I will consider the sub after the room treatment, who knows, I may like it.
 

[brooklyn]

Can you exchange the rack and side chair? As it is now, the rack is partially at the right side-wall reflection point, where absorption should go. The setup is still not symmetrical due to the door on the left, but the door is similar to the absorption you'd put on the right side.

--Ethan

Hi Ethan, thank you for the advise, I'm not at my home at the present time to try moving the equipment rack but I will give it a try on my next trip home. I am listening relatively near field and thought I wouldn't need any side wall absorption, I also thought the Maggies didn't have that much side dispersion to speak of.

My system sounds pretty good to my ears at the present time but I have never used room treatments so I don't really know what it could sound like.

Jerry 

[brooklyn]

I would also seriously consider some diffusion behind the Maggies on the front wall to increase soundstage width and also deal with some of the comb filtering from the rear wave without hurting the bass reinforcement you're getting.

Bryan

High Bryan, what exactly would I need to make that happen?

Jerry

[tull skull]

Jerry, I think I see a rug there in your room? If it is not too much trouble, I would suggest trying to temporally hang it on the front wall behind the speakers and see if you can notice a change and if you like the difference. If you do like the difference, then I think you are on the right track with treatment in the corners.

Also, when you have the rug freed up maybe try hanging it in the open doorway and see if you like any potential changes you hear.

I just think you should experiment a little with something you already have laying around (sorry, couldn't resist the bad pun) and maybe it will help you to gain more understanding (sound wise) so you will know if that is a direction you want to head toward?

I also like the suggestion to exchange the chair and the gear rack.

[brooklyn]

Thank you for the excellent idea, I never thought about hanging the rug, I will try it on my next trip home. I put thick eggshell crates in the corners stacked up as seen in the picture above and it did seem to improve the bass, what I'm hearing now from my recordings is a little more reverb for some reason. I'm not sure if that's what I'm suppose to hear but it sounds more life like.

Great pun by the way..