ReviewI'm going to give this review thing a try and post my impressions of the Eighth Nerve Adapt treatments. I'm not very experienced at this sort of thing so bear with me.
The system:My system is what most audiophiles would call 'compromised' in terms of set-up and some of the components. If you click on the hyperlink in my signature for the system you will see a list of the components which is dollar weighted about 40% speakers, 30% electronics, and 30% video. I built up my system over the last four years and while I am happy with it I always like to see what improvements I could make.
The set-upMy listening space is pretty far from ideal. Multi-use room? Check- living, dining, TV and audio. Irregular shaped? Check- Roughly L shaped. Hardwood floors? Check. Lots of big windows? Check-two of them. And to top it off the system is set up in a corner on a diagonal. I know you folks that have dedicated listening spaces probably cringe at the description. It is however the best space in my house for the system because 1) it is the room we spend the most time in and 2) it is fairly large.
The problemAfter a fair amount of reading I decided the 'next step' on my system should be acoustical treatments. I figured if I can't move the system to the 'ideal' room then I would at least try to minimize the effects of the room. The normal recommendation that I saw was to put up bass traps in all the corners, most of the traps were variations on the 2x4 fiberglass panel. Unfortunately I knew 2x4 panels wouldn't work because the way the room is set-up. As I mentioned the room is basically L- shaped and I actually have six vertical corners because of a little foyer area. Three of the corners will not work because of doors and hallways. The next three corners were possibilities but two of them would have entailed moving furniture and in addition those two are in the dining room and then I would run into the WAF. Below is a general diagram of the room. Furniture and built-ins are brown boxes. Speakers are red boxes (the two surrounds are in bookshelves). The big windows are blue. The purple is where I ended up putting treatments at first. I have labeled the general dimensions and numbered the major walls 1-6. The dimensions are what I wrote down when we bought the house, but I need to go back and measure them myself to verify. Ceilings are 8 foot high.
The solution - part 1When I saw that Nathan was selling some seconds of the new Adapt line I jumped on it and ordered some. I figured they would fit the WAF (with judicious placement) and improve the sound. I ordered five corners and five triangles. The corners are placed as you can see in the diagram. I originally thought I would place three of the rectangles in the vertical wall-wall corners between walls 4&5, 5&6, and 6&1. I planned to and put the other two in the seams to the left above the fireplace (wall 6) and right above the window (wall 1).
When it comes to the treatment themselves they are very nice construction and most of the blemishes on the seconds are pretty minor, especially on the triangles. The mounting of the treatments takes a little while at first but speeds up dramatically once you get the first couple under your belt. It is very easy to make minute adjustments of both the rectangles and triangles. If you put a triangle in the wrong place (like I did with my first one) it is very easy to take it down, move the screw, and put it back up.
Once I had them up the corners met a little resistance at first with comments like "They don't look too bad" giving way to "Those aren't as obtrusive as I thought they would be" and finally "I like the way they look in the dining room". The rectangle placement was a little more complicated. The two vertical seams in the dining room worked fine (4&5 and 5&6). In vertical seam directly in front of the viewing position (1&6) the rectangle does not fit because there is not enough room between the stacked subwoofers and the triangle. I guess I should have measured that before hand. The Left (wall 6) and Right (wall 1) seams don't work primarily because of WAF. So I still have three rectangles left to place at this time.
Here are pictures of the room from the direction of the listening area. The photos are in clockwise order starting from corner 1&2. Sorry about the image quality, I shrunk the files down a little too much before I uploaded them.
MeasurementsThese are taken with RoomEQ, RS digital meter, and no tripod - so they aren't perfect but it gives a pretty good idea what the FR is like. The lines are drawn with 1/3 octave smoothing. The speakers were all measured individually. The purple line are subs. The blue line is the average of the Left & Right main speakers (ACI 25AE Sapphires). I have a 80Hz crossover set on the receiver and the ports are plugged on the main speakers. The listening position is about 10 feet from the speakers.
Prior to treatments & no EQ
I have highlighted a few key points: the nasty dip at 57Hz, the spike at 200Hz, and the multiple spikes at 1100-1300Hz.
After 5 triangles and 2 rectangles, still no EQ
The dip at 57HZ has decreased by about 2db, the spike at 200hz is down by about 3db, and the multiple spikes at 1100-1300Hz are decreased by a similar amount. Overall the FR is flatter with more within 72+/-4db.
Listening ImpressionsEchoes and reflections from behind the listening position are much reduced and soundstage is wider. I find myself being able to hear the music and dialogue better both at low volumes as well as being able to crank the volume more when I want to. If I stay up after my wife goes to bed and listen to classical like Scarlatti or acoustical like George Winston, I can play at lower levels and still hear the details better. If I and my wife are the couch and decide to turn it up a little listening to Josh Rouse: Nashville or A Perfect Circle, we can turn it up more with out the feeling of a bunch of echoes and reflections coming from behind us and muddying the sound. Surprisingly I haven't got around to a movie since I put them up, but have watched a little HDTV and the dialogue definitely is clearer.
Next stepI am looking at putting the remaining rectangles on the seams on walls 2, 3, and 4. I also would still like to do something about the vertical corner in the front (6&1) and may end up constructing some sort of DIY bass trap. I will continue to update this thread after I put up the last of the rectangles.
I hope this has been helpful. As I have said I am fairly new to this hobby and a rookie when it comes to trying to write up a review on something like this. If anyone has any suggestions about placement, wants more photos, or has any questions fire away.