Room treatment

[Mikeeo]

I agree, room tuning/acoustics together with an optimal placement of both loudspeakers and listening position are the most important things to do when you value a good music reproduction. The improvements that proper optimization of these factors bring is huge compared to tweaking with cables, power optimization etc. etc. Of course they're not mutually exclusive (in fact the benefits of the tweaks are more appararent after room optimization) but I would always advice to spend more resources (time and money) on the acoustics before the 'tweaking'.

Like Kunter wrote, doing it wrong will do more harm then good and acoustics is, for most, a really technical and difficult topic. After reading a lot about all the options I myself have decided, several years back, to hire an expert that is specialized in treating studio's and rooms for HiFi and home theater use. He works independent of manufacturers, installers, brands etc. so an objective advice regarding the solutions was guaranteed. After a listening session and technically measuring my room and listening to my wishes for the esthetics, budget and listening preferences he wrote a detailed plan describing multiple solutions in a step by step fashion. The room was simulated for the right amount of absorbtion and diffusion. The measurements showed for example that the RT60 times were much too high in my modern house (with mostly concrete walls, floors and ceilings) so these had to be tamed a lot. Part of the plan was to treat the ceiling of my living room (around 45m2) to tame the reverb times in a broadband fashion and add bass traps for the lowest frequencies. The ceiling in my situation was ideal as it provides both a large surface area for the treatment to be effective and the treatment itself is almost 'invisible' (which is great for WAF! ). After comparing the described solutions I decided to let an installer install a Rockfon Sonar D acoustical ceiling. Completely invisible solutions (through acoustical plasters) I found too expensive.

Later I also bought a RPG Modex Plate bass absorber and inserted addiotional damping material above the ceiling in corners and sides to provide extra low frequency damping. He's also helped me optimize my speaker placement/listening position both with simulations and actual listening and advised me to get rid of the glass table between the listening position and the loudspeakers, which I did and I also bought a really heavy wool carpet there to further lower the reverb times.

After all the above I'm actually still not done as to really complete the plan/design I would have to place some additional absorption on the walls to fight flutter echo but the sound of/in the room has improved so much already that it still amazes me. Best money ever spent in this hobby! It not only helps enjoying music but also makes conversation easier, especially when there are multiple people in the room. I don't know how to describe this best in English but treating the room has very much improved the quality of living/being there, which of course is a nice thing since it's a living room.

Antoine, Kunter et al

Thanks for the exhaustive comments. Antoine you hit my nail on the spot in the last section. As for us we have a very reflective ceiling in our listening-/relaxing-/kicking back with friends-room as conversation etc is a bit tough when the room fills. I am looking at installing a mix between absorbtion and diffusion all over the ceiling for starters. I will consult an expert as well.

/Mike