[Tyson]

Room treatment can also be done to look cool so no need for the aesthetics of the room to suffer.

[doggie]

And hi-buck 'audiophile' accessories aren't the only options. Hanging quilts and installing acoustic wallpaper (among other strategies) help at relatively low cost.

I would add to that "Kill your TV" or at least cover it if it is between your speakers.

A thick blanket or some 24" x 24" Home Depot acoustic panels are way better that having that huge hard surface ruin your soundstage...which it will.

And that wood or glass coffee table in front of your coach...enough said

[Mr. Big]

Room treatment can also be done to look cool so no need for the aesthetics of the room to suffer.

A good acoustic room will do more to improve your sound than any piece of new gear can or will. If your room suffers then all gear used within that room suffers. You can make a room look good awhile giving the system some relief from the room accoutics. I had my room with all panels once and it looked good and I enjoyed it, but then one day I said it looks like a recording studio, so I ordered come canvas panels a few custom made with the photos I wanted and then mixed my accoutics panels around the prints and added some greenery and the room transformed into an inviting space while still sounding good. Was using only panels better most likey but I enjoy looking at my listening area more now and that is important also. So I guess I did balancing act.



 

[forky]

Love the pics of the $60k speakers stuck 4ft apart with a TV or furniture in the middle all recessed into an alcove, nice and flush with the wall 

Just re-read this thread - lots of good nugguts but this one made me smile and is so true. I'm more active on the Steve Hoffman forums than anywhere else these days (just there, here, very little audiogon and two car forums) and there is a thread for posting pics of your system and there are a lot of these. Now for many, they have to deal w/ a stronger (or is it weaker?) WAF than even I do but even then I think there could be improvements. And I think at least some of those are "single" and either don't know any better or - keep reading about what to do and don't bother with it. I personally really didn't learn how important setup was until earlier last year when I got "back into" hifi and had 0.00 idea about treatment before then. But - even though I loved my music as much, I wasn't listening very much either. When my old Rotel amp had an issue I just jumped in with both feet. I have been reading setup and treatment (still not done there) posts and thread for about 14 months before I got *really* serious about this about 6-8 weeks ago.

[DaveWin88]

OK guys. I recently added these GIK 1D panels to my setup right behind the amplifier. First thing,  they sat out in the rain for a few hours. According to a FedEx driver at my work, they do nothing to protect the packages and say it's up to the vendor. Thank god GIK has the panels in plastic bags so they were completely fine. Guys you have to get these I went from having vague depth to the soundstage to a definitive background. The soundstage now starts at the plane of the speakers and goes to the wall where the panels are,  giving a very convincing 3D effect. I'm shocked at the edge detail, and it brought out the background detail like no tomorrow. The edge detail is insane. It did change the presentation to how vinyl sounds and it's shockingly good with CD's so I probably have to do some tweaking (I've been tweaking this system for a year) I could be a carpenter with all the measuring. btw I have a pair of RP600m's holding them up and a small Sony speaker to assist with the weight of the power cord  

[AllanS]

No doubt or hesitation that the room should be at the top of the list.  Before or after speakers is debatable but definitely ahead of gear.  I have yet to prove this to myself but what I’m finding so far leads me to believe optimized room / setup is necessary to distinguish between gear subtleties and certainly for gear to reach its full potential.

I recently added some treatments and am pretty happy with the results.  The free standing bass traps are meant to be placed to mirror the wall hung 244 for critical listening.  I’m still playing so the jury is still out but they seem to help where they are also.
 
What surprised me most is the difference knocking down the component rack between the speakers made.  With the rack at full height there seemed to be certain frequencies / mixes / instrument / whatever that refused to play behind the speakers. 

The opening kettle drums in “Fanfare for the Common Man” were full on out of the left speaker where much of the other percussion were pretty well placed.  In another example the title is unimportant but the piano part in an Octave Records release played directly out of the tweeters.  Not all pianos.  Like the kettle drums, most are well behaved.  Just this one.
After knocking down the rack the whole sound stage seems to be deeper and better defined and those two pieces, though not perfect, are significantly improved.  I’m a doubter no more.

[JLM]

Agree on the rack, can't soundstage in the middle of solid gear.  So I keep the gear low and between the loudspeakers.  I own ten 2ft x 4ft GIK 244 panels (six full range and four bass traps) in my 8ft x 13ft x 21ft basement studio (listening in the front/office in the back).  The room is well insulated, but on a budget.  Also have three tall bookcases on side walls to act as casual diffusers and three well dispersed subwoofers to tame inherent bass peaks/dips.  The full range panels are at first reflection points, the bass traps stagger the front corners.  Easy to take for granted until I haul them to another audiophile's place.

[doggie]

 
What surprised me most is the difference knocking down the component rack between the speakers made.  With the rack at full height there seemed to be certain frequencies / mixes / instrument / whatever that refused to play behind the speakers. 

The opening kettle drums in “Fanfare for the Common Man” were full on out of the left speaker where much of the other percussion were pretty well placed.  In another example the title is unimportant but the piano part in an Octave Records release played directly out of the tweeters.  Not all pianos.  Like the kettle drums, most are well behaved.  Just this one.
After knocking down the rack the whole sound stage seems to be deeper and better defined and those two pieces, though not perfect, are significantly improved.  I’m a doubter no more.

I have experienced that also. My situation was worse. We have a TV and a console between our X5's. For a long time I just used a blanket over the TV to reduce reflections. Unfortunately I inevitable lost a lot of center fill, leaving the majority of the sound coming from the speakers. At some point I placed two 2' x 2' sound panels in front of the TV. What a difference! Now I have a MUCH better soundstage with the "spooky" quality that Spatials can provide.

We will be moving the TV later this year and my plan is the buy a large pattered rug to use as a wall hanging. I do have GIK panels directly behind the speakers and on the ceiling first reflection points. Treat your room first then toss money at equipment and cables!

[jtcf]

I have GIK room treatments and three subs which both made a big positive difference. Recently I began researching how to address the vibration of my wood suspended floor.Watched videos that compared various products and read about what other people tried,liked and disliked with different rooms and speakers. My ZUs are bottom ported so something like IsoAcoustics feet,outriggers, or cutouts like Townshends wouldn't prevent or dissipate the energy as effectively as something solid.
 After trying a product that was returnable if it didn't work out as I'd hoped
(Primacoustics recoil platforms) I'm definitely sold.Music is very obviously cleaner and clearer.Next up is some less expensive platforms for under the subs.I don't think that the metal plate included with the PA will be as important as long as everything else is basically the same which is two inches of foam and neoprene on top.The subs don't kick in until 50hz and only handle undertones and break up room modes. Hopefully there will be further improvement.