Room Treatments Advice

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nicoff

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Nov 3, 2014
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I am considering adding room treatments to my listening room. I found a local shop that manufactures and sells acoustic treatments.
They can come to my place, run a RT60 test to determine the characteristics of my room and make recommendations for treatments.
Has anyone here gone through that process? If so, any suggestions and/or recommendations of what I should be looking for or asking for?
 
Acoustic Frontiers designed my media room with emphasis on stereo music listening, acoustically measured the room, and provided the wall hanging acoustic panels mainly from RPG. Acoustic Frontiers has a VG website explaining what's involved in improving room acoustics.
http://www.acousticfrontiers.com/services/
 
AJ Soundfield said:
To address what audible issues?
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For one, my speaker manufacturer recommends diffusers. I added a few plants but I have seen folks using more substantial diffuser panels. Other than that, I don’t know if I need anything else. Asking around to see what others have done and how they determined what they needed.
 
AJ Soundfield said:
Ok. What audible issue did you tell them you were experiencing and where did they tell you to place what specifically?
Would you mind me asking what speakers?
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I only spoke with a salesperson. I did not tell them what I needed (as far as treatment).

They have not told me anything yet.
One of their services is to do a site visit (for a price) and do a test (RT60). That’s where I stand right now.

I have Omni polar speakers.

Thank you!!
 
Most of the better known acoustic treatment companies out there should be able to work with you from sketches of your room and propose a plan of effective treatment. ASC certainly was glad to help me when I was designing my room.
 
TheOctopus said:
Most of the better known acoustic treatment companies out there should be able to work with you from sketches of your room and propose a plan of effective treatment. ASC certainly was glad to help me when I was designing my room.
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Thank you!
From what I have seen, they offer a similar long-distance service as the one that you describe. However, the fact that the company is local and offers to do a site visit (not free) is appealing to me since they will be able to take measurements of the room and physically see the room.
 
nicoff said:
Thank you!
From what I have seen, they offer a similar long-distance service as the one that you describe. However, the fact that the company is local and offers to do a site visit (not free) is appealing to me since they will be able to tale measurements of the room and physically see the room.
Click to expand...

May want to do some research as to what they will offer you and how it compares to others in price and quality. Caveat Emptor applies here.
 
Wondering if anybody done a RT60 test in their music room and what they did afterwards.
 
nicoff said:
Wondering if anybody done a RT60 test in their music room and what they did afterwards.
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It's not like RT60 will tell them "exactly" where and what needs treatment. It is just a general snap shot of what the room sounds like. It measures how long a sound takes to decay 60dB. The rest is knowledge of where to place bass traps, absorption and diffusing panels. The before and after RT60 comparison is the confirmation of improvement.

What I did was consult with ASC and expressed my desire to have a room that is well balanced, not overly damped and not overly live. We went back and forth and here is what the result was with which I was very happy but I did my homework beforehand.


 
Years ago I had an RT60 measurement done. Since then I bought some ceiling panels 3 panels of 180*120cm aprox.

Music was not the only reason for the panels. Whenever there were more than 6 people in my living room it got hard to have a discussion, everyone needed to shout. My room is about 4.1*6.5 meter

Now I'm saving money to buy some diffuses that I want to place on the walls at the first reflection point.

My measurement. But that was made a long time ago with a different floor and different furniture.

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Mordante said:
Years ago I had an RT60 measurement done. Since then I bought some ceiling panels 3 panels of 180*120cm aprox.

Music was not the only reason for the panels. Whenever there were more than 6 people in my living room it got hard to have a discussion, everyone needed to shout.
Click to expand...

There's a whole lot of '' new hip type'' cafes and restaurants that ought to read this thread!
 
TheOctopus said:
Most of the better known acoustic treatment companies out there should be able to work with you from sketches of your room and propose a plan of effective treatment. ASC certainly was glad to help me when I was designing my room.
Click to expand...

While I am sure that individual results vary, I was very dissapointed with the (lack of) service I received from ASC.
I don't know if the rep was new or what. I was looking for specific reccomendations and all the rep would say is "well you could do this" or "you could do that" without ever offering any specifics.
I was in the process of dividing off the very long room in my basement to make an audio room.
I repeatedly ask for a specific plan concerning optimal room size, ceiling and floor construction, absorption and diffusion treatment. All that he would offer were "multiple possible options" with no declaration that any of these "options" would actually be the way to go for the acoustics of my room.
Not what I would expect from a professional company.
 
nicoff said:
I only spoke with a salesperson. I did not tell them what I needed (as far as treatment).

They have not told me anything yet.
One of their services is to do a site visit (for a price) and do a test (RT60). That’s where I stand right now.

I have Omni polar speakers.

Thank you!!
Click to expand...
Well, to "treat" acoustic issues, it would be helpful to know what those perceptual issues are (you still haven't stated) and also as many specifics as possible, such as the actual model of speaker, where they are placed and the size/composition of your room. Or, one could play the audiophile/studiophile blindfold/dartboard game, which is always interconnected to bank account.
Very generally speaking, if your speakers are true omni, it may be helpful to have diffusion on front wall (behind speaker). Depending on the spectral smoothness (or not) of the off axis laterally, it may be helpful to use a combination of bandwidth targeted diffusion/absorption. Or it may makes things audibly worse, but visually cooler, more fashionable, which may override the audible thing. YMMV.
Regarding RT60, I highly, highly doubt your room is enormous enough to have a statistically diffuse field. So application in smaller/listening size rooms is inappropriate. But of course it can generate cool looking sciency graphs for the eyes and make microphones happy, which often translates to "better" sound (except in "trust ears" tests).
Unfortunately, our binaural hearing system works quite differently than single pressure microphones.
As always, YMMV. Good luck!

cheers,

AJ
 
jadedavid said:
While I am sure that individual results vary, I was very dissapointed with the (lack of) service I received from ASC.
I don't know if the rep was new or what. I was looking for specific reccomendations and all the rep would say is "well you could do this" or "you could do that" without ever offering any specifics.
I was in the process of dividing off the very long room in my basement to make an audio room.
I repeatedly ask for a specific plan concerning optimal room size, ceiling and floor construction, absorption and diffusion treatment. All that he would offer were "multiple possible options" with no declaration that any of these "options" would actually be the way to go for the acoustics of my room.
Not what I would expect from a professional company.
Click to expand...
That’s why I mentioned I did my “homework” in advance. There are companies out there that will come out and do a complete job from soup to nuts. The cost is obviously night and day difference. What may be reasonable for commercial applications is often prohibitive for a simple audiophile room but everyone has their own concept of how important and how far they want to take the project.

I will say this. A properly designed and treated room is more effective than any upgrade in components or speakers. Without a properly treated and a “problematic” room, one can hardly ever experience what the speakers can and should sound like, no matter their price.

There are quite a few articles out there on how to treat your room. It doesn’t have to be viewed as rocket science either.
 
AJ Soundfield said:
Well, to "treat" acoustic issues, it would be helpful to know what those perceptual issues are (you still haven't stated) and also as many specifics as possible, such as the actual model of speaker, where they are placed and the size/composition of your room. Or, one could play the audiophile/studiophile blindfold/dartboard game, which is always interconnected to bank account.
Very generally speaking, if your speakers are true omni, it may be helpful to have diffusion on front wall (behind speaker). Depending on the spectral smoothness (or not) of the off axis laterally, it may be helpful to use a combination of bandwidth targeted diffusion/absorption. Or it may makes things audibly worse, but visually cooler, more fashionable, which may override the audible thing. YMMV.
Regarding RT60, I highly, highly doubt your room is enormous enough to have a statistically diffuse field. So application in smaller/listening size rooms is inappropriate. But of course it can generate cool looking sciency graphs for the eyes and make microphones happy, which often translates to "better" sound (except in "trust ears" tests).
Unfortunately, our binaural hearing system works quite differently than single pressure microphones.
As always, YMMV. Good luck!

cheers,

AJ
Click to expand...

I am looking for more scientific approach than a subjective or “perceptual”.

I once had an expert set my speakers and subs; he did not use any measuring devices. And while the end result was better than what I had done on my own, I always wondered if I had truly maximized what my system could do.

My room is about 18’ x 26’ x 10.5’. If what you are saying is that the RT60 for a room that size is inappropriate or will not yield meaningful results, then my question remains:

What would be the best way to go about adding room treatments?

Again, I am interested in a scientific approach as opposed to a subjective approach.

Thanks!
 
jadedavid said:
While I am sure that individual results vary, I was very dissapointed with the (lack of) service I received from ASC.
I don't know if the rep was new or what. I was looking for specific reccomendations and all the rep would say is "well you could do this" or "you could do that" without ever offering any specifics.
I was in the process of dividing off the very long room in my basement to make an audio room.
I repeatedly ask for a specific plan concerning optimal room size, ceiling and floor construction, absorption and diffusion treatment. All that he would offer were "multiple possible options" with no declaration that any of these "options" would actually be the way to go for the acoustics of my room.
Not what I would expect from a professional company.
Click to expand...

I didn’t realize that ASC was in the business of designing stereo rooms for free.
 
Vicoustics has a service where you print off graph paper from their website, draw to scale your room on it, with speaker placement and seating position, etc. and then they give you three proposals: good, better, best. 3D drawings accompany them.

It’s free if you buy their products, otherwise it’s around $50.


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