[Carlman]

I had a goal to treat my room with some bass traps and better first-reflection points... and to get a set of doors for the room.  My room is only 11'w x 13'L and has been a real pain to get right.  I've tried 8th Nerve products, some homemade products that follow 8th's principles and some panels I made from 1" light ceiling tiles from Lowe's.  

Together, it did improve things a good bit in my room.  I added a divider for the doorway and that helped also.

However, I am in absolute AWE of what 'real' bass traps and bigger, better panels have given me.

I bought 18 2" panels of OC703.  I built frames for 7 of these.  I have bass traps from floor to ceiling in the rear of my room (6" thick) and 3 panels on the wall behind me (3" thick)  

I then put up floor-to-ceiling first reflection point panels using just the panels, no frames.  

I sat back in the room just after getting everything setup and secured and was just amazed.  My speakers weren't toed properly, the system wasn't recalibrated for room.. (I use a TacT)... I could hear SO much more detail it was just nuts.  Also, the imaging and width... well, the 'surround' sound of it was what was really amazing.

I can't wait to get it dialed in and re-corrected.  I'm just amazed at the improvement without even properly positioning the speakers.  Well, no time like the present...

-C

[bubba966]

Told 'ya 6" 703 floor to ceiling was nice...  

[zybar]

I had a goal to treat my room with some bass traps and better first-reflection points... and to get a set of doors for the room.  My room is only 11'w x 13'L and has been a real pain to get right.  I've tried 8th Nerve products, some homemade products that follow 8th's principles and some panels I made from 1" light ceiling tiles from Lowe's.  

Together, it did improve things a good bit in my room.  I added a divider for the doorway and that helped also.

However, I am in absolute AWE of what 'real' ba ...

There is a reason I have 8 Realtraps + products from 8thNerve in my room.

Acoutic treatments + speaker placement + TacT = best possible sound

Goerge

[zybar]

Pictures?

George

[Carlman]

I'll take a few soon... I wanted to get the room cleaned up first..  And I've been watching the game so it's been slow-going since the TV is in another room...

It's clean now and I'm towing the speakers a bit... and figuring out where I'm going to be sitting... I used to like to be further into the room but now I'm getting a better image sitting farther back...

Oh and yeah B, you told me so...  

EDIT>>>

I took a few photos but my battery died....  So, these didn't get great exposure but it's all I have energy to do at this point...

http://www.audiocircle.com/circles/modules.php?set_albumName=albuv02&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_album.php

[lonewolfny42]

Carl....You mention the panels "smell", I think the word  you used was "Yuckola" .....is it any better now ?

And...whats that fabric you used to cover them....looks good. Thanks !! [/list:u]

[warnerwh]

I'm convinced even a modest system can sound very good with excellent room acoustics and digital sound processing. Glad you found out how important proper treatment is. I think alot of people don't understand that there has to be a method to the madness.

[Carlman]

The smell of the fiberglass was abated with 'Fabreeze' and some air-drying.  Now my sound room smells like Fabreeze...  We'll see if it lasts...  

My wife helped me pick out the fabric at the $8/yd store.  I bought 2 yards per panel.

Warner, I've done sound treatments in this room for the past couple of years but... I was holding back.. adding little bits at a time.  This time I went nuts and built to a plan.  I read a bunch of others' results and finally got the right 'recipe'.  

Well... off to work...

-C

[woodsyi]

Great job.  They look nice.  I wonder if you will get better result if you put those 4 6" panels on all 4 corners leaving some room above and below each instead of having 2 corners covered top to bottom.  Or was that not logistically doable?

[Carlman]

Great job.  They look nice.  I wonder if you will get better result if you put those 4 6" panels on all 4 corners leaving some room above and below each instead of having 2 corners covered top to bottom.  Or was that not logistically doable?

Thanks!

I could not figure out how to mount the panels to the wall...  I ended up 'compression mounting' them by using a little wooden stand built so that it squeezes the panels together and into the ceiling.  There's a pretty good-sized gap (a couple inches) between the frame and wall, though.  I have no studs in that part of the wall (to my surprise) so I don't know what to do.  Suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Another place where I wasn't sure what to do.. The panels came 'faced' with thick aluminum foil.  I removed it because the fabric I used is kind of thick... and the panels are 6" of pure insulation....  I didn't want highs and mids reflected back at me while on the couch.  It'd be easy to add back a reflective panel on the back if needed.. Until I measure things, I'm not sure what's happening... but so far I like it.

-C

[woodsyi]

Carl,

I use picture hanging cables -- the sturdy ones you can get by the feet at Home Depot.  I put nails on each wall of the corner and just hook the cable on them.  The Mondo traps came with places on the side frame that allowed me to attatch cables like a picture frame.  I also thought about hanging them from the ceiling with strong (like a 20lb tested) fishing line.

[Carlman]

I'll try the wires... I may use 2 picture-hangers/nails in the wall, though... these suckers are pretty heavy...

I got home a little early from work today so I re-measured with the TacT and am now listening to insanely wonderful sounds.

I was surprised the graphs didn't look night and day different... but the sound is a big-time real leap ahead of what it was.

If my previous system was 90%, it is now 95%.  That's huge in my book.  I think some TacT tweaks and better speakers would likely put me at 100% but this 5% leap was under $500 total.... for the next 5% leap I'd have to add a 0 to the end of that number...  

But wow do things sound spooky-real with decay and realism I've never heard in my room... the speakers disappear better than they ever have either... wow.

Well.. back to being amazed...

[ctviggen]

It's very nice looking, too.

[miklorsmith]

I got some picture hanging brackets at Lowe's that are basically mirrored, aluminum pieces where one screws into the panel and the other is mounted into the wall or ceiling via drywall anchors.  

It's a very slick system and lets you flush-mount the panels, even on the ceiling.

The walls present much easier options for hanging, but none will be more bomber than these.

[JoshK]

Very nice job Carlman!  It actually looks pretty nice, although my wife would probably still scoff if I showed her pictures (she is stonewalling the issue). I overall like your/(your wife's?) decorating style and the entire room pulls off a much more classy look then the foam cave look of some treated rooms.

[zybar]

I got some picture hanging brackets at Lowe's that are basically mirrored, aluminum pieces where one screws into the panel and the other is mounted into the wall or ceiling via drywall anchors.  

It's a very slick system and lets you flush-mount the panels, even on the ceiling.

The walls present much easier options for hanging, but none will be more bomber than these.

Although it looks nice, you don't want to flush mount the panels.  Maximum effectiveness can only happen with the panels 4-6" off the wall.

George

[DSK]

Very nice job Carlman!  It actually looks pretty nice, although my wife would probably still scoff if I showed her pictures (she is stonewalling the issue). I overall like your/(your wife's?) decorating style and the entire room pulls off a much more classy look then the foam cave look of some treated rooms.

   Yes, I too have WAF problems ...especially as the system is in the formal living room where we entertain guests. Before I got married, I used a bunch of RPG Skylines and RPG B.A.D. panels on walls and ceiling in my previous home. The sonic improvements were just stunning. However, I can't use them in the current room (and stay married) and ended up selling off the B.A.D. panels a couple of years back. I've had cylindrical broadband traps in the front corners for some time but am getting increasing resistance here too. ...if it doesn't look like regular furniture it's a no go.

Recently I had an idea that would be far more WAF friendly and should still work well. I'm thinking about building a back-less free standing corner bookshelf (with angled sides) that will straddle the front corner of the room. I would use some nice dark brown fabric (possibly speaker grille fabric) to cover a 4" thick semi-rigid fibreglass panel and attach it to the back of the bookshelf so it looks like a regular bookshelf back. The edges of the fibreglass panel would be chamfered so they are parallel to the walls when the bookshelf is pushed into the corner, and the fibreglass panel straddles the corner with about an inch to spare between its edges and the walls and floor (a la the new Eighth Nerve corner panels). The bookshelf would be used more for ornaments etc than books, so not much of the outward facing surface of the fibreglass panel would be blocked. Effectively, this would be a 6 foot high, 4 inch thick acoustic panel (reasonably broadband) across the room corner, that is visually invisible and has no WAF problems (hopefully) but attenuates reflections from both sides. Because the panel extends down to an inch off the floor, it treats the tri-corner as well as 6 feet of the wall-wall corner. Even better, wifey will think I'm a great hubby for making the corner 'hers' to populate with more ornaments and photo frames etc.  

Any thoughts or suggested improvements, guys (or gals   )?

BTW, Congratulations Carlman for the sonic results you've achieved without having to resort to devious measures  

[JoshK]

Thats a pretty slick idea, DSK!  I like it.  It funny how resourceful we can be when the wife doesn't go for our plans.  

I have plans for an ottoman sub that passed initial board approval, but also got the ok on under the floor IB sub idea.  My only hope so far for acoustic treatment is free standing panels that can be put in the closet when not in use.  

Informally, just using a frequency sweep and listening for problems, my biggest problem areas are not in the bass like most people's are.  I think it is because of the concrete and brick walls and huge openings into other rooms on 2/4 walls.  My problem is how those hard surfaces reflect the upper midrange and I got no goes on most of my absorption ideas.   Also, first reflections are pretty non existant in my setup except for behind and between my speakers, which hopefully the free standing panels will help tame.

[EProvenzano]

I work for a digital print centre and have access to a 60" hi-res plotter. This thing is pretty slick.  Not only have I printed numerous posters and other art work to decorate our house, I'm planning to print some nice artwork on canvass substrate and using it to wrap OC705 in my listening room.  It's not soft and pliable like many other acoustically transparent fabrics but this shouldn't harm bass absorption.  I haven't tried it yet at first reflections but I suspect it will not be ideal for that application.  

Wide format printing on canvass isn’t cheap but if you know someone in the biz you should check it out.   For me it was a no brainer.
I think Odyssey Audio is doing something similar with their 'Picture speakers'.


Great ideas so far, keep 'em coming!
EP

[Red Dragon Audio]

I work for a digital print centre and have access to a 60" hi-res plotter. This thing is pretty slick.  Not only have I printed numerous posters and other art work to decorate our house, I'm planning to print some nice artwork on canvass substrate and using it to wrap OC705 in my listening room.  It's not soft and pliable like many other acoustically transparent fabrics but this shouldn't harm bass absorption.  I haven't tried it yet at first reflections but I suspect it will not be ideal for that applicati ...

I had this same exact idea a few months ago...however I wanted to print on some type of linen or more acoustically transparent material.

Would this jam up that wide plotter you speak of?

I have a friend with an art gallery and they have a wide plotter like this to do prints.