Tips for DIY room treatment

[Love4sound]

Lots of improvement, but I hope the room doesn't sound too quite. Glad you are enjoying it.

Also how are things outside room now? Possibly neighbours or adjacent rooms or walls, have things tammed down more?

My treatment is just basic and is no way at a level to make my room sound quiet. Infact my room is noisy always due to outdoor noise and the sound from my system easily travels outside.

 

[navinsundar]

Wall panels and floor carpets are cheaper options to test and try

 

[Hari Iyer]

I think FMs in this post should take a pause now and check out this link

Alsobook is available in Kindle - Acoustics and Psychoacoustics of loudspeaker and room.

 

[mbhangui]

I think FMs in this post should take a pause now and check out this link

Alsobook is available in Kindle - Acoustics and Psychoacoustics of loudspeaker and room.

Bang to the point. At 16:49 he goes on to say "imagined difference between speaker wires" are not real.

 

[Hari Iyer]

Bang to the point. At 16:49 he goes on to say "imagined difference between speaker wires" are not real.

Not only speaker wires, most things in audio are imagined imo. The biggest imagination imo is the noise in the AC supply. You end up putting line filters, power conditioners, new fancy power cords etc and feel there is a huge improvement. After a week everything settles down and it's back to square one.

I was using room treatment earlier and had some panels sourced from my friends studio 8 years ago. After i decided to go the OBBroute, i scrapped all the room treatments and my setup is more nicer without them. Room treatments compressed the sound way too much for my liking.

 

[mbhangui]

Not only speaker wires, most things in audio are imagined imo. The biggest imagination imo is the noise in the AC supply. You end up putting line filters, power conditioners, new fancy power cords etc and feel there is a huge improvement. After a week everything settles down and it's back to square one.

I was using room treatment earlier and had some panels sourced from my friends studio 8 years ago. After i decided to go the OBBroute, i scrapped all the room treatments and my setup is more nicer without them. Room treatments compressed the sound way too much for my liking.

Last 2 months i have spent lot of effort in these power cables, shielding, emi filter and also speaker wires. They just don't make a difference to me and everyone in my family. But I have seen interconnects making a difference.

My guess is that the voltage levels at the amp input are much less and hence the interconnect impedance make a difference because of the non-linear impedance of capacitance wrt frequency. At the speaker output, the amp has already boosted the power. Little bit of capacitance here and there would make tiny difference where most ears will not hear the difference

 

[liverpool_for_life]

and over al bass response is amazing.

Nice to hear this. Dr. Toole's research suggests that 30% of our listening satisfaction comes from the bass response. It is so important (and also pretty darned hard) to get this right in domestic listening spaces.

I think FMs in this post should take a pause now and check out this link

The experiment that Dr. Toole references in this talk suggests that the order of loudspeaker preference did not change with a change in rooms. He also says that the scores assigned to the different speakers in different rooms didn't vary by a whole lot. However, in order to claim that no improvements are possible with room treatment or that they're unnecessary (which is how some people use Dr. Toole's words from this lecture), the test should be in the same room with scores compared between the room being treated and the room being untreated. Also, you'll note that he says that we have "some ability to listen through rooms" (emphasis mine). Some, not complete. If done right (and it's a big if), room treatment is transformative.

If you can't install room treatments due to aesthetic concerns, that's completely understandable. It's a tradeoff, nonetheless. And, IME, a fairly significant one.

 

[Hari Iyer]

Nice to hear this. Dr. Toole's research suggests that 30% of our listening satisfaction comes from the bass response. It is so important (and also pretty darned hard) to get this right in domestic listening spaces.



The experiment that Dr. Toole references in this talk suggests that the order of loudspeaker preference did not change with a change in rooms. He also says that the scores assigned to the different speakers in different rooms didn't vary by a whole lot. However, in order to claim that no improvements are possible with room treatment or that they're unnecessary (which is how some people use Dr. Toole's words from this lecture), the test should be in the same room with scores compared between the room being treated and the room being untreated. Also, you'll note that he says that we have "some ability to listen through rooms" (emphasis mine). Some, not complete. If done right (and it's a big if), room treatment is transformative.

If you can't install room treatments due to aesthetic concerns, that's completely understandable. It's a tradeoff, nonetheless. And, IME, a fairly significant one.

Ok, one opinion is to check in your treated room is how other family members are now sounding in the treated room. Hear them speak in an untreated room and also in the treated room. If they sound muffled in the treated room and normal in the untreated room then you need to consider why.

If possible try arranging a "Bhajan" at home with some harmonium and dholak from a local community for an hour. See how they sound in your treated room ( i am serious).

 

[Love4sound]

Nice to hear this. Dr. Toole's research suggests that 30% of our listening satisfaction comes from the bass response. It is so important (and also pretty darned hard) to get this right in domestic listening spaces.

I guess in my case its 100%.

 

[sud98]

Ok, one opinion is to check in your treated room is how other family members are now sounding in the treated room. Hear them speak in an untreated room and also in the treated room. If they sound muffled in the treated room and normal in the untreated room then you need to consider why.

If possible try arranging a "Bhajan" at home with some harmonium and dholak from a local community for an hour. See how they sound in your treated room ( i am serious).

Just didnt understand how is this supposed to help. The treated room For HT needs a full spectrum of treatment, human voices are just one part of it. Also, when you are talking to someone in a room, you are typically doing nearfield listening which is not the same in the case of music (in most cases) and Movies(in all cases). So these suggestions can give anecdotal evidence but not real value.

 

[Hari Iyer]

Just didnt understand how is this supposed to help. The treated room For HT needs a full spectrum of treatment, human voices are just one part of it. Also, when you are talking to someone in a room, you are typically doing nearfield listening which is not the same in the case of music (in most cases) and Movies(in all cases). So these suggestions can give anecdotal evidence but not real value.

There is nothing to loose in this test. It's free of cost but a good indication of how deep your room treatment is..

 

[liverpool_for_life]

If they sound muffled in the treated room and normal in the untreated room [...]

They don't.

The main point in my previous post (which didn't get a response) was regarding the lecture of Dr. Toole that you posted as some sort of learning for folks who swear by (not at) room treatment. I'll say it once again: The experiment that he references wrt rooms does not prove what you believe it proves.

Room treatment is not voodoo whose differences can only be experienced subjectively. There are measurably demonstrable improvements (as shown in this thread itself) in both the frequency and time domain with appropriate room treatment. If done right, the results can be stunningly transformative.

I guess in my case its 100%.

Heh. Enjoy your movies and music!

 

[Hari Iyer]

They don't.

The main point in my previous post (which didn't get a response) was regarding the lecture of Dr. Toole that you posted as some sort of learning for folks who swear by (not at) room treatment. I'll say it once again: The experiment that he references wrt rooms does not prove what you believe it proves.

Room treatment is not voodoo whose differences can only be experienced subjectively. There are measurably demonstrable improvements (as shown in this thread itself) in both the frequency and time domain with appropriate room treatment. If done right, the results can be stunningly transformative.



Heh. Enjoy your movies and music!

Saying this again - if normal conversation at your home sounds normal then you probably won't require room treatment. Maybe box speakers require a lot of treatment. Even more in vented enclosure due to boom bass. The one of the reason I moved to OB mains and OB Subwoofer was i don't have to worry much about room treatment in a smallish room. Most sealed and vented subs are nightmare to setup in small rooms imo.