Got me some goodies
That is the Monster Bass traps and 244 Bass traps, I staggered them so you can see how much thicker the Monsters are. There really well made and even though I knew the dimensions in advance they just seem a lot bigger, I like
I also ordered 3 boxes of 2" ECOSSE, 9 yards of standard black cloth and 3 yards of Coffee colored cloth. I have a large window right at my first refection point so I am going to make a 5 foot by 4 foot panel to completely cover the window and a second for the opposing wall so that it looks uniform.
Here is what the rest of the 2" ECOSSE and black cloth is for:
I still need to make the 2 large panels and also mount the Monster Bass traps on the back wall. Just to test today I did pop up 2 ECOSSE panels in my first refection spots as well.
Of course I did have to give it a quick listen though and laid the Monster panels up against the back wall temporarily. I only had about an hour today so I just concentrated on music. I have to say that so far it is a big improvement especially the quickness of the bass which sounds more visceral but not boomy at all. I also noticed that I was not able to tell were the bass was coming from, it was noticeable before.
I also found that Stereo was a lot better and I actually preferred it so muti-channel music which in this room was not the case before. I preferred multi-channel because the center image was much more defined but now stereo sounds incredible, much more articulate and precise but with a huge sound stage.
I did not have time to re-run Audyssey but I also wanted to hear the effect of the room acoustics with the same calibration. I will do a new calibration sometime this week and I bet things improve even more.
I wanted to wait until I fixed my laptop that I use for REW before applying the room acoustics but I just couldn't wait. It would have been nice to measure before and after but my ears tell me that the acoustics did improve.
Now this room is supposed to be just for movies and concert videos and even though I have listened to music in both stereo and multi-channel I still preferred my 2 channel set-up downstairs. I had to run downstairs and listen to some the same SACD's that I just demoed in stereo. To put it mildly I now know why these reflections can ruin a listening experience. Now I know I will be contacting Bryan and the fine folks at GIK Acoustics to figure out how to make my Stereo room listenable, it really is a big difference that's easy to hear. I am really contemplating moving my stereo speakers to the upstairs room now until I can figure out how to properly treat that room. If I have a chance this weekend I am going to give it a go as the Triad THX speakers now sound better for music.
I never really knew how
Big of an effect room acoustic treatments could make. I really thought it would be a slight improvement but Audyssey and Pro would clear up all the major problems of the room, I was wrong. I still like Audyssey but the improvements were not as big as adding the GIK treatments which I will do from now on.
I wanted to thank Bryan at GIK Acoustics for all his advice and help as I was a total newbie to room acoustics and now I am a convert. I also had the pleasure to speak with Christina over the phone and via a few e-mails, she is an extremely nice person to deal with. Thanks to the owner at GIK as well, Glenn, I really appreciate the giveaway here on the Home Theater Shack.
I have to thank Sonnie and everyone here at the Home Theater Shack as well. This giveaway really opened my eyes, one of the biggest improvements I have ever made.
I would encourage anybody to think about room acoustics before plopping down money for a new receiver or speakers if your not happy with the sound. I know I always have suffered from uprageitus but I was going about it the wrong way. I really was just ignorant as to how much of a difference it could actually make.
