[Browntrout]

Hello, just a quick pic of what I've been playing around with the last day or two. The material is rockwool and minimum thickness is twenty centimetres with two differnent densities of material used in the corners giving over seventy centimetres of absorbtion.
  The sound is very nice. Very quiet, all I appear to hear is the music clear and clean and natural.






I sit just infront of the speakers with my head only one metre twenty centimetres from them.

[mfsoa]

If you can lay a slab of the absorber in front of the rack you might find that you get an additional improvement.

 

[rollo]

  The rack and the glass is right in the middle of your system, it  has to be influencing the sound.  Have you ever tried moving the rack first ? The toe in as seen allows the dispersion of the drivers to be affected by the rack causing reflections and vibration.
  When I moved my rack many moons ago which was in a position simliar to yours the entire presentation improved big time. Give it a try, if you desire nothing to lose. have fun.


charles
 

[Browntrout]

Thanks, as you can see this whole set up is experimental and I wanted plenty of room behind the system to allow for moving the absorbtion around. The room is only temporary and very small though this does not seem to stop me enjoying the music at low volumes (better for the amp). I could experiment with bringing the speakers forward a smidgen and see what that sounds like. This is all new to me and is really just ground work so I know what I like once I've obtained a gaff of my own.
  When I was young the music room had a piano in it now it's a stereo guess I'm getting lazy?  

[evan1]

I just picked up one of these and draped it over my plasma which is on the wall between my speakers and the improvement was big.Less reflections. More music and detail.I normally do not go past 10:00 on my preamp but now 12-1:00 is nice.I aready have some acoustic panels on my front stage and this was a nice addition.

Link
http://www.markertek.com/Acoustic-Materials/Sound-Blankets/VAN-PAD-BLACK.xhtml
 

[TooManyToys]

Evan,

Those look and are described like typical movers blankets.  Never thought about using one of those.

They can be bought cheaper and from local locations.  Here is a cheaper Amazon source:

http://www.amazon.com/Moving-Blanket-Supreme-LBS-Each/dp/B000TK5T9S/ref=pd_sim_hi_2

[evan1]

Evan,

Those look and are described like typical movers blankets.  Never thought about using one of those.

They can be bought cheaper and from local locations.  Here is a cheaper Amazon source:

http://www.amazon.com/Moving-Blanket-Supreme-LBS-Each/dp/B000TK5T9S/ref=pd_sim_hi_2

Understood but it was only 19.99 plus shipping and it came the next day

[John Casler]

Hello, just a quick pic of what I've been playing around with the last day or two. The material is rockwool and minimum thickness is twenty centimetres with two differnent densities of material used in the corners giving over seventy centimetres of absorbtion.
  The sound is very nice. Very quiet, all I appear to hear is the music clear and clean and natural.






I sit just infront of the speakers with my head only one metre twenty centimetres from them.

Great Experiment!!

I have been experimenting with similar acoustic systems for MANY years.

I must say, I haven't used "rockwool".  Can you offer a source?

The "moving blanket" suggestion is also a good one, and I have found a distributor of blankets that supplies me and my clients.

One of my experiments involved "hanging" the moving blankets from the ceiling and forming a listenting TENT that enclosed my listening chair.  Obviously the tent was fully open to the front.

The sonic improvements were incredible since it blocked/reduced a portion of the reflected sounds from side and rear walls, as well as the ceiling.

That has since given way to a LISTENING CHAMBER



Contrary to what many tend to beleive, your room damping and the listening chambers as above DO NOT damp the highs.  It is just the opposite.  Since reflected high energy that distorts the recorded sound by adding "room reflections" (room added distortion) is reduced, the highs directly from the speaker become MUCH MORE clear and musical.

The sonic becomes much more similar to "headphones with a soundstage and imaging" in its purity.

As far as your equipment rack.  I too beleive that it is likely bluring your center imaging. One of the suggested "moving blankets" draped over it during the listening session might give you an even further look into greater sonic purity.

Or you might also try a couple "shorter" columns (cut to the height of the rack)of the Rock Wool leaned up against it.

PS;  You might also find a thick carpet or rug on the floor gives even more improvement.

[mfsoa]

John, I agree with you big time

IMHO, the "overdamped room" thing is one of the common misconceptions in audio.

People associate quantity of high frequency information with air/sparkle and assume that this must offer a more detailed presentation.

When personally I think the opposite is true - High frequency information is lost by having it bouncing around the room, and that a well-damped room will allow you to hear the highs that are actually on the recording in much greater detail.

Isn't room reverb by definition distortion? (Stuff added to the original signal that isn't there to begin with)

I chuckled hearing Mr. Vandersteen saying how that if you like any other speaker more than a Vandersteen, you are choosing it only because you enjoy the distortion it makes since they all have distortion levels much greater than his speakers - Then go on the say that there should not be any absorptive surfaces in a listening room (which, to me, increases the distortion tremendously  )

But whatever works for you is what's best for you.

-Mike

[oneinthepipe]

I chuckled hearing Mr. Vandersteen saying how that if you like any other speaker more than a Vandersteen, you are choosing it only because you enjoy the distortion it makes since they all have distortion levels much greater than his speakers - Then go on the say that there should not be any absorptive surfaces in a listening room.

He prefers diffusion.  He built an adjustable and transportable rack on which to mount side-wall and ceiling diffusion panels for demonstrations, such as last year's RMAF.   The Vandy 7s are amazing speakers, IMO, but about 40,000.00 above my spending limit.

I have a lot of absorption in my room and wish that I had even more.  In a larger room, I might be able to get by with less.

[bluemike]

I have quite a bit of absorption as well
I tried diffusion it didn't help as much as good absorption
Compliments of GIK and Bryan P Here's the rooom of angles

[evan1]

I know how you feel

[bluemike]

I know how you feel

booya ...now that's angles ..i'm happy i'm not alone
Great pics

[oneinthepipe]

I don't have the angles, but I have some absorption.

Here is the front left corner.



Part of a ceiling panel is visible in the photo.  There are (4) 4" thick 24"X48" panels on the ceiling.  The side wall panels are 2" thick, and the other (14) panels in the room are 6" thick.

Still haven't refinished the floors or patched the walls or painted.   

Your rooms look great, BTW.



.

[bluemike]

Nicely done !

I appreciate the compliment on the room

Cheers
Pat

[Rob Babcock]

Very nice!  Rock wool is pretty reasonably priced, too.  If I didn't have to accommodate video I'd give that a try.  Maybe down the road...

[rollo]

  The floor and ceiling relationship is overlooked  in many rooms. Same theory can apply there. Dead floor live clg and visa versa. There are first reflections to deal with off the clg. and floor.
  Was at a friends home who had an acoustic engineer design angled mylar panels located on the floor and clg to work in conjunction to direct the beaming tweeters of the B&W 802s to the side wall diffussors. Quite an affect, actually the first time hearing the 802s sounding good.
  So don't forget the floor and clg, it made a big difference in that room. With the addition of Acoustic Revive R-77s [2] the soundstage, depth, imaging, added overall weight and clarity is mind boggling. Same experience at my home when he brought them over.


charles


charles

[Browntrout]

Cool replies guys. I was thinking of dead floor and ceiling in that end of the room (up to the line across the speakers). What do you think?
  I like your setup very much Charles.

[Nyal Mellor]

John, I agree with you big time

IMHO, the "overdamped room" thing is one of the common misconceptions in audio.

People associate quantity of high frequency information with air/sparkle and assume that this must offer a more detailed presentation.

When personally I think the opposite is true - High frequency information is lost by having it bouncing around the room, and that a well-damped room will allow you to hear the highs that are actually on the recording in much greater detail.

Isn't room reverb by definition distortion? (Stuff added to the original signal that isn't there to begin with)

I chuckled hearing Mr. Vandersteen saying how that if you like any other speaker more than a Vandersteen, you are choosing it only because you enjoy the distortion it makes since they all have distortion levels much greater than his speakers - Then go on the say that there should not be any absorptive surfaces in a listening room (which, to me, increases the distortion tremendously  )

But whatever works for you is what's best for you.

-Mike

What can happen though with too much thin treatment (e.g. 1" or 2" panels) is that the reflections from these absorbers become frequency distorted (since 1" or 2" does not have constant absorption down to the transition frequency). This can end up distorting the frequency response at the listening position.

The other thing that can happen is that the RT60 is reduced too much, which us humans don't take to very well. It is an un natural sound that quickly becomes fatiguing.

[nathanm]

Browntrout:  That rock wool, uh, rocks!  Looks pretty cool, kind of like giant granola bars.  Kudos to you.