Which is first: Test, Measure, Purchase, or Guess?

zybar · « **Reply #60 on:** 29 Nov 2008, 05:17 pm »

Quote from: John Casler on 29 Nov 2008, 04:57 pm

I hear "Albert Hall" is looking for holes

Only if you're over 40 will you get that one.

I'm not over 40 and I get it! aa

George

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #61 on:** 30 Nov 2008, 11:27 pm »

Finished for the weekend.
All of the panels are built and installed. Most of the panels need fabric as you can see.
{Please ignore the brown color of the panels. Some kinda photography thing I haven't figured out yet, but the panels are actually black.}

The view from behind the bar, the four panels for the first reflection point on the right wall:

The view from behind the right main channel speaker, two panels for the left first reflection point:

Alright acoustic guys...How am I doing? Am I on the right track?

There's a few places that Bryan told me need to be treated as far as dedicated bass traps are concerned, but I need more 703....another day. Any more suggestions? Ideas?
Everything look good so far?
Diffusion somewhere??

Bob

satfrat · « **Reply #62 on:** 30 Nov 2008, 11:39 pm »

WOW, if any panel-filled room would ever pass the WAF, it's definitely yours Bob. Color yourself proud!

Cheers,
Robin

stevenkelby · « **Reply #63 on:** 1 Dec 2008, 09:27 am »

Nice one Bob

Looking very professional.

What camera do you have? Have you played with the white balance?

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #64 on:** 1 Dec 2008, 12:40 pm »

Robin - Thanks man, but the wife HATES it. H.A.T.E = HATE.

The two on the right wall that flank the pillar are too wide in her opinion. Admittedly, when I measured my desired width I forgot to subtract the thickness of the wood so they are in fact a bit too wide. The fact they overlap the wood work around the windows is what bothers her most.
I may take those two down and fix that. Maybe.

Steven - Thank you for the complement. I have a D40. I actually started a thread over in eye-fidelity and got a comment about the white balance needing tweaked. Haven't messed with it, but I will.

Bob

stevenkelby · « **Reply #65 on:** 1 Dec 2008, 01:04 pm »

Now that I look I can see she's kind of right about the width over the window frames, bummer. Hopefully you'll find an easy way to trim the panels.

White balance is a known issue on D40. (Edit: not a major thing at all, still a great camera!) Easiest and cheapest solution is one of these:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/231564-REG/Delta__Gray_Card_4.html#features

Or if you're feeling rich, one of these:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/101853-REG/Delta_22030_Gray_Card_8x10_1_.html

:p

Makes it very quick and easy to set white balance.

Back on T, I haven't done any treatment yet, but cannot wait to do it, thanks for the inspiration!

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #66 on:** 1 Dec 2008, 03:24 pm »

On Topic:
Dude, I can't recommend treating your room enough. The difference it make is more profound than any single piece of equipment I've ever installed. Hanging stuff on the walls certainly doesn't have as much "cool factor" as something that plugs in, but MAN......Do it, Do it, Do it. Huge difference.

Yea, I'm not excited at all about taking these from the wall, taking them apart, hacking a couple inches from it's width and reassembling.

But the more I look at them the more it bothers me. The fact they're squeezed in there gets under my skin. The wife said, "It looks like I just bought some shit and stuck it where it could be shoved in".

So, it'll make both us happier if I just "man-up, and get-r-done".

Off Topic:
For $2 and it comes with instructions!

Jeez, you can't ask for any more than that.

Thanks for the recommendation Steven!

Bob

stevenkelby · « **Reply #67 on:** 2 Dec 2008, 10:06 am »

Hi Bob,

No worries.

Yep I have big plans for my room too but no time! Will be done early next year. A friend treated his room and I have "heard the light" so to speak

I bet you're bummed about redoing the panels but it will be great once done to both your satisfaction.

This might help setting white balance. Even a white piece of A4 paper will do, for you to point the camera at and tell it what "white" looks like.

Steve

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #68 on:** 2 Dec 2008, 02:59 pm »

Yea, modding the panels will suck, but should make both of us happier.
I'm eager to construct "phase II" of Bryan's suggestions for room treatments.

I did a little playing this morning with the camera and posted my comments over in the eye-fidelity circle.
Progress was made (photographically speaking), but nothing to write home about.

Bob

nathanm · « **Reply #69 on:** 2 Dec 2008, 04:24 pm »

Dearest Mother,

Winter has come to our little hamlet and my thoughts turn to those faraway days of sledding down 'ol Farmer Mulligan's hill as a child. Now our children are out enjoying the snowfall as well. I know it must upset you that I haven't sent pictures of the family, but that's because I could never figure out the white balance on this blasted black box! However, with the help of some cunning internet friends I have mastered Custom White Balance and will now be able to enclose a photo. As you can see, Delilah's goiter has subsided and she's feeling much better. Hope you and Dad are well, write to us soon!

Love,

Jimbo

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #70 on:** 2 Dec 2008, 04:39 pm »

I see you've taken today's dose of "full of shit medication".

I'll be taking the liberty of copying your story, verbatim, and sending it to my Mother (names changed of course).
Thank you for the literary assistance Nathan.

Bob

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #71 on:** 7 Dec 2008, 01:28 pm »

Finished with "phase I" of panels.
Bass traps are another day.
Things are sounding very nice.
(still playing with camera settings for more color accuracy)

Vinyl-Addict · « **Reply #72 on:** 8 Dec 2008, 11:34 pm »

Looks brilliant Bob.

You should charge for admission.

SetterP · « **Reply #73 on:** 9 Dec 2008, 04:16 am »

Very nice work Bob. Looks like a well treated HT space.

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #74 on:** 9 Dec 2008, 12:17 pm »

Thanks for the complements guys!
I can't wait to start the corner and ceiling bass traps. aa
Things are sounding very good.

And a big thanks to Bryan.

Bob

SetterP · « **Reply #75 on:** 10 Dec 2008, 02:33 am »

Bob, I was wondering if you could comment on the ceiling insets in the front of your HT. Was this by design, or coincidence? I would imagine that they provide some diffusion in your front soundstage, and they look very cool as an architectural accent.

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #76 on:** 10 Dec 2008, 12:39 pm »

Hey there, Thanks for the inquiry.
I did the inset out of necessity since there are three beams that run down the length of the house. My #1 goal was to have as much ceiling height as I could get, or at least give the illusion I had more height than I really do. So, I boxed in the beams and drywalled around them. But before I installed the drywall, I stuffed as much rolled R-19 in there as I could. When I built the room, I knew very little about acoustics (still don't), but I knew that irregular shapes where good (diffusion), and I knew voids, or open cavities behind drywall was most likely a bad thing.
Each inset is 31"X40" and 11" tall and each one has a recessed light fixture. The fixture actually is so high up inside the ceiling, they're sitting between the floor joists above. From the carpet to the bottom of the insets is 7'2", and to the suspended tiles is 8'2".
The only drywall I have on the ceiling in the basement is this 90" wide "set of squares", the rest is all suspended tiles.
The area directly in front of the screen, and directly over the listening position are all 2'X2' "USG Glacier 707.107 Taupe "Shadowline" tiles.

Here's a photo. I set the camera on the floor pointing straight up. As a frame of reference, you can see the tops of the acoustic panels on the right wall.

SetterP · « **Reply #77 on:** 10 Dec 2008, 11:00 pm »

Superb work there Bob, that looks really sharp!

I would be interested in the the amount of absorbsion provided by the suspended tiles. I know that they are commonly referred to as "acoustic tiles", but I notice that you mentioned ceiling bass traps as well.

In any case, color me impressed. I could spend many hours of enjoyment in that space.

Patrick

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #78 on:** 10 Dec 2008, 11:20 pm »

Thank you Patrick!
I wouldn't call them bass traps, more like "insulation stuffed into cavities". Not sure how much 'trapping' it's doing. The intent was to stop as much noise and vibration from traveling upstairs.
{Which does NOT work, by the way}

But yes, the manufacturer, "USG" does call them "Acoustical tiles", not simply "ceiling tiles".
They have specs for all of their products in a great many categories, not the least of which are their acoustical properties.
HERE'S the acoustical properties of the tiles I have.

I can't recall what all the acoustic abbreviations on their site mean, but it didn't take much research time for me to figure it all out.
They have more very good information HERE.

Hope that helps!

Bob

howburger · « **Reply #79 on:** 17 Dec 2008, 04:06 am »

I know I'm late to this thread, but here is a link that was given to me when I was researching how to treat a room when using dipole front speakers. I have 3 Hawthorne PSI 15's across the front. I wanted to treat for two channel and settle for whatever I ended up with for HT. As everyone who has treated has said, it is the single best expenditure of any so far in the room.

http://homepage.mac.com/tzagar/

Harold