Advice asked and needed

Roeland · « **on:** 2 Feb 2006, 08:02 pm »

Dear friends from Audiocircle,

Not so long ago, I moved into an appartment with my girlfriend. Now we're settled, it's time to improve the acoustics in a girlfriend-friendly manner. I've got a bit of a bass problem, imaging and soundstage could also be better. The room is 3m wide, 4.5m long and 2.4m high. The system is set up on the long side of the room (necessary, see pics).

And now for some pics:

Many Thanx in advance!

Roeland from Belgium

MaxCast · « **Reply #1 on:** 3 Feb 2006, 01:36 am »

I have some suggestions but your girlfriend will never like them

remove or move when listening your coffee table.
pull the speakers out into the room a bit.
only place your components between the speakers.
smash that window out to remove first reflection point.
add foam or compressed fiberglass between and behind speakers.
add foam or compressed fiberglass in the corners.

When you come home from work and see your stereo on the curb, please don't call me

Have you taken any FR measurements?
Do you have a problem with echo?

Roeland · « **Reply #2 on:** 3 Feb 2006, 08:27 am »

Quote from: MaxCast

I have some suggestions but your girlfriend will never like them

remove or move when listening your coffee table.

Ok I thought this was a good thing (countering the reflections from the floor).

pull the speakers out into the room a bit.

Now they have about 50cm on each side and they're almost a meter from the wall (measured from the tweeter) I can't really put them in the room more, or they're too close to the sweet spot (now +- 2meter)

only place your components between the speakers.

Just wish I could do that... but I don't feel like becoming single again...

smash that window out to remove first reflection point.

It's too cold now to do that... And then I've got a lot of traffic noise coming trough... If I really listen, I close the curtains, good compromise?

add foam or compressed fiberglass between and behind speakers.

I'm having diffusors made for behind the speakers (almost finished now) and I'm thinking about the Eight Nerve products for in the corners

add foam or compressed fiberglass in the corners.

cf. supra

When you come home from work and see your stereo on the curb, please don't call me

Have you taken any FR measurements?

Sorry for the dumb question...what is that and how do you do that?

Do you have a problem with echo?

I do have some Echo in the room yes, it's ok when I sit in the sofa, but still audible. Anything can be done about it?

Many Thanx!

Roeland

MaxCast · « **Reply #3 on:** 3 Feb 2006, 12:05 pm »

It looks like you are on the right track with some difusers and 8th nerve products. I would get something you could place or hang over the window when listening. All this will reduce your echo.
Make sure you experiment with toe in of your speakers.

FR is frequency response. It is plotting the dB levels of frequencies, usually from 20Hz on up. There are test discs and graph paper available. See this link
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=17842

Taking these measurements will tell you what is going on in your room. Taming the peaks and nulls will help achieve the best sound for any room.

hope this helps.

Red Dragon Audio · « **Reply #4 on:** 3 Feb 2006, 08:13 pm »

I might suggest using panels of 2" thick compressed fiberglass/mineral wool as absorbers on the wall directly behind your couch.

If you get 2foot x 4foot panels you can cut them in half and cover them with the fabric of your choice. In fact your girlfriend could pick out the fabric colors to coordinate with the aesthetics of the room. Then place those small pictures (that I see on the walls) in the center of each 2ft x 2ft panels so they look like they are meant to be part of the decorations.

You can decorate these panels with fabrics and really dress them up so they don't stand out too terribly.

Roeland · « **Reply #5 on:** 4 Feb 2006, 10:42 am »

Hey Max and Ryan,

Thx a lot for all the great help! I'm going to buy a digital SPL meter and make some measurements. If I have them, I'll post them here (can take a while, delivery time for the meter is two weeks). I already downloaded the test cd in Max's post.

Ryan, these panels you talk about, are those like the panels from GIKacoustics?

Max, If I listen there's a curtain for the window, is that enough?

Thanx guys!

Roeland

MaxCast · « **Reply #6 on:** 4 Feb 2006, 11:01 am »

Your welcome Roeland.
The window is up to you. I imagine it kicking back mids and highs but you will have to make the call on how good or bad it is. I would wait until you get your difusers and take your readings. You may be better off placing a pannel somewhere else. A curtain is better than nothing. You may even be able to DIY (Do it yourself) with blankets or open cell foam. I am talking first reflection point, not the whole window.

The pannels Ryan speaks of are the GIK or Real Traps. These are basically compressed fiberglass pannels framed and covered with material. You can DIY those as well.

Good luck and keep asking questions or searching the circles if you are unsure of anything.

Glenn K · « **Reply #7 on:** 4 Feb 2006, 03:32 pm »

Quote from: MaxCast

Your welcome Roeland.
The window is up to you. I imagine it kicking back mids and highs but you will have to make the call on how good or bad it is. I would wait until you get your difusers and take your readings. You may be better off placing a pannel somewhere else. A curtain is better than nothing. You may even be able to DIY (Do it yourself) with blankets or open cell foam. I am talking first reflection point, not the whole window.

The pannels Ryan speaks of are the GIK or Real Traps. These a ...

Hey guys,
Thanks for bring us up, but we do not ship over seas at this time.. I am pretty sure Real Traps does and from what I understand he gets a pretty good rate on shipping.. I would highly recommend him on the other side of the big pond!

Glenn

Roeland · « **Reply #8 on:** 7 Feb 2006, 01:33 pm »

Hey Everyone,

Thanks a lot for all the advice and tips! I already had contact with Glen from GIk, and allthough he doesn't ship to Europe, he provided me with a lot of help and tips. World Class!

In the meantime (while waiting for the spl-meter) I already played with the mode program from realtraps. Attached pic show the results

The other pci shows the design of the diffusors I'm having made.

Greetings from Belgium

Roeland (sweating on administrative law, boy oh boy, so boring...)

avahifi · « **Reply #9 on:** 7 Feb 2006, 02:02 pm »

I looked at your photos and OUW-EEEE typical surburban "box". No way to get anything better than honk bright cringe sound as is.

Don't spend a penny more on the components until you fix the room!!!

My suggestions. First large thick taspestry wall hangings on both the wall behind the system and the wall behind your listening couch. Let your girlfriend pick out the colors, it will make the room a lot prettier in any event.

Second, much larger rug and thicker, get it as close to walls as possible all the way around.

Third, loose as much of the hard cupboards and hard furniture as possible.

The task you have is to redecorate and make the room as quiet and dead and non reflective as possible.

Money spent on this project will pay off big time, and much better than any money spent on the components themselves.

You don't need to buy special "audiophile" damping materials to do the job well, what is available a good textile shop will work well and be good looking too.

Frank Van Alstine