[jimdgoulding]

Couldn't find a topic already and wanted to report something about using these.  This from the guy who had insisted that his speakers energize his room too perfectly to mess with.  I ordered two of the least expensive panels.  I had looked at Auralex panels but believed that the GIK would be better because they allow some space between the panels and the wall behind.  And the price is better for what you get, too, I believe.  Farted around for a few days then hit on place that makes a difference.  Their effect is that my stage is wider and my lower mid, upper bass is less bloomy.  It's in that range where I thought I needed the most help and I was right.  Put them at the sides about half the distance between the plane of my speakers and my head when seated.  But it really snapped into focus when I put the end nearest my speakers flush with the wall but the end nearest me out bout 6.5" from the wall.  As may be obvious, I did not wall mount them.  My speakers are only 39" tall with over and under mid/bass drivers.  They stand there just fine, 48" in height, and are working very nicely.  Thanks, fellas.  Money well spent.

[richidoo]

Great Jim! Acoustic treatment is the final frontier, as you well know from your "micro treatments..." I have 244s and have found them to be very powerful and useful for reflections on side and front wall. I also like them for bass trapping on the floor/wall corner very close to the speakers. As for leaning against the wall, mine (from 2 years ago) have a slightly "crooked" slant on one of the short side panels. I always thought it was just a "defect" that didn't really matter to performance or looks. But now that I used them a lot more, I realize both panels have this feature but only on one end, the other is perfectly flat. The slant allows the panel to lean flat against the wall without falling down, improving looks in a temporary installation, enough to remain permanent in my case. Subtle but ingeneous touch! Thanks Glenn and Bryan!
Rich

[jimdgoulding]

Thanks, Rich, well put and I respect what you're saying.  I expect that I will try a pair of 244's for the back wall/corners.  I still need to get that bass "bulge" under control.  I may even try closing up the ports and see what happens.  Desperate, I am.  My old Acoustat Three's could warm your soul in this room without sounding too ripe.  Haven't a clue why.

[bpape]

Thanks for the kind words Jim.  Sometimes, it doesn't take a lot - just finding the right places.

Bryan

[Rob Babcock]

IME acoustic treatments provide more bang-for-buck than any other upgrades.

[JLM]

IMO, once you're audio equipment budget exceeds roughly $2000 USD (or equilavent in vintage/DIY) you need to either have a decent room (size, layout, isolation, treatments, availability) or just use headphones until you can get that room.  Otherwise you're running a BMW on bicycle tires, its just an exercise in futility.  Moving back and forth between DACs, etc. in a crummy room is like racing the BMW on sand dunes.

IME most audiophiles have way "over invested" in equipment compared to the room they're listening in.  I'm very glad to see several members here developing dedicated, well designed rooms.  Just being able to listen when/how much you want and at the spls you want is huge.  Frankly dropping the outside noise levels and having the proper speaker/listening layout are also huge compared to room treatments.  OTOH money spent on expensive racks/wiring is a waste compared to room treatments.

[rockadanny]

Excellent post JLM. This should be displayed in huge block, flashing font at the entrance to every audio web site, commercial and public. I wish I knew this before I started on my audio journey, and before I bought my current house (which we'll be stuck in for a while  ).

[martyo]

I guess I should chime in too. Bryan and Glenn from GIK were very helpful and very easy to work with. Even with upgraded fabrics which did add considerably to the stock fabric prices, it was pretty painle$$, and we bought 11 panels. Here's a fuzzy pic of the front wall, and there are panels at the reflection points on the side walls and there is one on the side wall in the back corner. With doors and stairs and built-ins, there is no way to put any on the back wall, but I don't hear a problem there.

[richidoo]

Nice lookin system there Martyo! I have the same color fabric on my GIKs.

JLM, I agree 100%. As system clarity improves, it makes an untreated room's distortion sound even more obvious in contrast.

Jim, does the ripeness sound change with your location, like if you walk around the room? If so, corner bass trapping will help, as would moving speakers to change the location of the node, and/or moving your seat out of the node causing peak in 150-200Hz "ripeness" region. The exact same thing happened to me a couple days ago.  Fat stuffy trumpet cleared right out by moving 2 feet forward.  Type your room's major dimensions into RealTraps' modecalc program to see if there is a cluster of nodes around a single frequency in that freq range.

If the ripeness is higher in frequency, GIK can advise you how to reduce midrange reverb in the room. You can test it yourself by laying rugs or quilts on hard surfaces to see if that cures the problem. It may take a LOT of surface coverage if you have a big room with a lot of hard surfaces. This is my problem, decorator won't allow 50 panels in the room, but 7 big comforters on the floor solves it.

The easy and cheap way to get acoustic improvement is to get the speakers far away from any walls, and get your ears close to the speakers. Then reflected sound arrives long after direct and the brain more easily filters it out. Also direct sound is louder than reflected sound due to distance, especially in highs and upper mids. Tall multiway speakers you can only get so close before they lose coherance, one reason they are best in larger rooms, or with wall treatment.
Good luck
Rich

[Levi]

This serves as a reminder for me.

I just ordered some panels.  Good price!

Cheers,
Levi

[max190]

IME, acoustically treating a room is akin to buying better speakers.
I recommend and have installed all these products... GIK 244'S, Sonex, and FoambyMail

Here are a couple shots of my 2ch room

[Zero]

Man, that looks like a GREAT room to get nice and cozy in. 

[jimdgoulding]

You know, I think I can listen louder cause the sound is cleaner!  Think my room is ringing less.  I hate badly compressed records, don't you?

[richidoo]

You know, I think I can listen louder cause the sound is cleaner!  Think my room is ringing less.  I hate badly compressed records, don't you?

Haha! Yup upgrading the room is a real upgrade, and you can hear more of everything, the good and the bad...

A friend of mine is trying out my GIKs this week, he said the same thing, Jim. The room distortion used to overpower his music unless he played it really soft. Now he can play it normal volume with no harshness. That's only from two 244s and 2 tritraps - in a small room.  I think the distortion SPL rises exponentially to the direct sound volume, because (I think) the corners amplify the yuk like horns.

[Glenn K]

I guess I should chime in too. Bryan and Glenn from GIK were very helpful and very easy to work with. Even with upgraded fabrics which did add considerably to the stock fabric prices, it was pretty painle$$, and we bought 11 panels. Here's a fuzzy pic of the front wall, and there are panels at the reflection points on the side walls and there is one on the side wall in the back corner. With doors and stairs and built-ins, there is no way to put any on the back wall, but I don't hear a problem there.

wow we need to get this one up on the web site!!!!!! Thanks for post it!!!!!!

Glenn