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GIK Acoustics / Odyssey Audio

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7K views 20 replies 12 participants last post by  Bones13 
#1 ·
GIK Acoustics / Odyssey Audio - EVERGREEN B & C, Room 9000

*Odyssey Audio is not currently a sponsor but shared a room with GIK and was covered as part of that room.







The system configuration included:

No code has to be inserted here.


The whole system can be purchased for $6,700.


Background / Specifications

GIK Acoustics has numerous variations of acoustic panels, bass traps, and diffusers installed around the world... with locations in the U.S. and Europe.

Odyssey Audio is based in Indianapolis, Indiana and makes all their products in house. The Kismet Beryllium Reference speakers are new for RMAF. Treatment of the room included rear corner traps, diffuser / traps for the first reflection points, plants, and front corner traps. There were also some patent-pending traps in the back of the room.


Joe's Impressions

Bryan Pape from GIK was in the room when we got there and showed us the treatment that was used in the room - they have a new patent pending design that incorporates material and air into the panel - look for more details at the GIK website. The panels are super easy to install and move around - making treating your room a snap!

I really liked the design and finish on the Kismets - they have a unique trapezoidal design and the dark finish was really well done. They image perfectly for vocals with a incredibly wide and deep soundstage - I understand why Klaus makes it a point to only have a couple seats set up in the room as you really need to sit in the PLP to get the full effect.

Instruments - the piano especially - were very crisp and detailed. I wrote three times in my notes about how much I really liked the piano tracks on this system - it was just so soothing and finger-tapping at the same time! Vocal dynamics were also handled really well - no surprise here after hearing the Loreleis at CapFest - and vocals had a very natural sound that I normally equate with a ribbon / horn speaker. Low end sounded very good here - while most setups struggled with the room limitations and their propensity for boomy bass, the combination of GIK treatment and Odyssey speakers did a real good job taming this.

This system is definitely one of those examples I spoke about in the general thread - it is a system that in my opinion sounds like a high-priced set up but is within the budget range of us ordinary joes. This was another one of my top five set ups for the weekend.


Wayne's Impressions

In some rooms I had to ponder what to say about a system or a pair of speakers. In the Odyssey Audio room, it was easy. The Odyssey Kismet Beryllium Reference speakers are fun, accurate speakers at a nice price.

Klaus Bunge was kind enough to give me some focus time with his system. Having paid a lot of attention to tweeters in various products, I was drawn to the easy smoothness of the beryllium dome tweeter in use. With some tweeters I had listened to, you could hear how hard they were working to impress. This tweeter made its job sound easy. Sibilants were balanced and clear. Imaging in the upper ranges was solid and tight with no smearing on my most stringent test tracks. I won't say that it equaled the RAAL tweeter being raved about elsewhere or the plasma tweeters I had drooled over, but it sure came close.

How accurate are these speakers? Maybe not quite true reference grade, but close - there were no glaring deficiencies that showed up with rock, bluegrass instrumental, female vocal, or piano on the tracks I had brought along. And they were fun to listen to, had some character while remaining faithful in reproducing the music as it sounded on my own reference systems.

All Odyssey products are manufactured in the USA, Klaus is proud to point out - 100% USA, 0% overseas, stated a poster on one wall, paraphrased slightly. Klaus insists that all Odyssey speaker designs meet the following criteria:
  • They must be emotionally engaging. I can attest to that. I had a great time with the Kismet Beryllium Reference speakers, more so than with some speakers at 3x to 4x the price.
  • They must project a good soundstage. Again, the Reference speakers excelled.
  • They must have accurate tonality. Three for three.
Having teamed up with Bryan Pape and the GIK Acoustics team, Klaus had the Reference speakers benefiting from portable room treatment that made the small space feel big with a nice, full soundstage. Bryan and GIK are well known among Home Theater Shack readers, Bryan giving generous online support of the highest caliber to all with room acoustics questions, and GIK providing high-quality and budget-conscious acoustical treatment products that many HTS readers rely on.

Great, engaging sound along with budget-friendly prices made the Odyssey Kismet Beryllium Reference speakers very easy to like. The system price of $6,700 was refreshing as well.


Dennis' Impressions

I really enjoyed Klaus's Odyssey gear. Combined with Bryan Pape guiding placement of the GIK Acoustic room treatments, the room's walls disappeared, leaving no hint at all that we were listening in the confines of a 12 x 12 hotel room.

Nice, wide soundstage with holographic images filling in the center, the sound was mellow and easy to listen to. I found myself rocking back and forth with the music, an involuntary motion that is always a good sign that I am getting into what I am hearing.
 
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#2 ·
Ordered room treatments from Alex and Christina at GIK just earlier this week.

Alex spent a good bit of time looking at my messy REW graphs for my small listening room, and helped me both get nicer tracings, and great suggestions for helping my room acoustics. It seems that I would need to just about completely cover my wall surfaces with 10.5 inch tuned panels to really cope with my nasty 40Hz resonance, but I trust the tri-traps and bass panel will help enough. My 2.0 system will go down to 35hz, and I have no EQ system (nor want one tbh) in my mancave audio/visual/computer room.

Christina was great at helping me pick a fabric and spec out the one custom part I needed to order.

Just waiting now. A great experience working with them, and I am positive the sound and looks will be great.
 
#3 ·
Of the few dozen rooms I was able to visit, this one had the best, most controlled bass of the small hotel rooms. Thank you, bass traps! The other room that had great bass was Evergreen A downstairs, where Legacy Audio was displaying, among others. But that room was huge (like maybe 100x80x25 or something), so modal problems occur at much lower frequencies. The Legacies I heard were EQ'd too. Anyway, the room and room treatments make all the difference.
 
#4 ·
I have a semi basement that I will use for a home theater approximately 13 by 15' - drywall, tile floors, 7.5' ceilings with two 1' deep beams parallel to my planned screen. As I am still in the hunt for speakers, I am not really able to determine the room control that I would need. A rug for sure, heavy curtains across the french doors behind the screen. Then maybe bass traps in the corners and side wall panels for first reflections. What concerns me is the effect of the beams which split the 15' length in about thirds.
 
#9 ·
I would think when you carpet the floor you could get a little extra and carpet the beams also. At least that would help with any relections you might get off the beams. I have about the same size room in my basement HT and I painted it dark green, flat paint so light from the PJ would not reflect off it. I also put 4 2" by 4' panels of corning fiberglass on the cieling to help tame any reflections I would get from my front soundstage. I think it really helped and it sounds great. I have 2 bass traps in the room also, 1 from Gik and 1 I built myself.
 
#5 ·
I do not have any way to measure my room right now, but I can tell you that my room is boomy. I need to get some corner bass traps from them. I just heard about the new Flex Range Technology. Is this available for a corner bass trap. I was looking at the Tri-trap corner bass traps for my front two corners. My room is 11' X 18' with a 7'6" ceiling.
 
#8 ·
Glad to hear the good reports from Odyssey's room. Klause was very helpful in my amp search, and although I bought a used amp (hedging my bet, I guess), it was an Odyssey, and it has blown me away in what it did for my Infinitys, as Klaus had assured me, so I have a soft spot for Odyssey. Since the Infinitys do need replacing soon, (I read the $2500 speaker eval with great interest), I'm liking the good reports on his speakers. I heard the beryllium tweeters in a pair of Focal 1028BE's, and was VERY impressed, so....maybe I need to focus my search...? I already understand the value in Odyssey products, after all....
 
#11 ·
As always, Odyssey and GIK put together a great, very natural, and organic sounding room. One of the few that didn't sound like a bunch of audio gear jammed into a hotel room. I was able to speak with Brian from GIK a bit about some new bass traps and was amazed at how helpful he is. Brian was willing and able to look at REW files of my room along with photos and measurements to help determine a solid plan for treating it. For anyone coming into room treatments and not knowing where to start this is flat out invaluable. For those that are already well versed in how much difference a proper treatment/bass trapping set up can be, this can still help iron out those last few bugs that are perplexing.

Between HTS's REW, some of the great measurement sponsors, and GIK's help with treatment and set up, people can get such a better understanding of their room and system and avoid many of the high $$$ pitfalls that most encounter on the learning curve. It is a pretty cool time to be into audio.

Now if only Klauss could make a nice 5-ch Stratos line amp......still dreaming.
 
#12 ·
I definitely need to invest some time, and get over the intimidation factor to improve my room....

He COULD build a Stratos 5-channel amp, I'm sure....and that would make me sit up and take notice, since it would be a great partner to the 2-channel I have. :) Can't say enough possitives about it, or about Klaus and the help he gave in my search...
 
#13 ·
Thinking about picking up GIK acoustics myself. Just can't decide if i should get the treatment first or new speakers. Not having seen any in person I can tell if the default fabric looks cheap and I should go ahead and get the gulford main or is it not that much worth it if its only me in my room.
 
#15 ·
I have already decided what to get. Focal twin6be. I haven't heard them but have read a ton of reviews and know people with experience on them. I did hear the single 6 at a trade show and was impressed. None of the local stores carry anything. I usually order all of my gear through sweetwater.
 
#17 ·
Definitely treatment before speakers. I am considering a speaker upgrade but will upgrade HT treatments first & enjoy the improvement. With the upgrade now I will elevate audio quality to a higher level and defer the speaker upgrade until a later date. Average speakers sound much better in a well treated balanced room.
 
#20 ·
Yeah its just some awkwardness in the room, normal corner build up stuff. I have 0 treatment yet. Broke and really hope I win the treatment contest. I am a gear junkie so I always end up buying something like a synth or guitar pedal or soundcard when I know I really need to just get some treatment in here. Also cause of a rental its limited to what I can do. I set up my speakers well and the sub well. actually I do have separate speaker stands and mo pads on them and my sub is on one of the aurelex riser pads. It's just as sub optimal room(studio apartment) so closet doors all along to one corner, windows with AC unit on directly across from it and right behind me the wall is another closet, then side of fridge and half of it breaks off into a tiny kitchen. Pretty much only one way to set up speakers in here. Went from a very large nice place to this tiny place. I hurt my back pretty bad and then was diagnosed with some things making it impossible for me to work so I am waiting on disability and living in disability housing that is a converted hospital room. If that sort of gives you a rough idea of what the room might look like.
 
#21 ·
I went through the room analysis with Alex (GIK), REW analysis and all. Alex and his crew were great at helping me pick treatments for my small room. Highly recommended!

Unfortunately for me I have a boom problem at 40hz, that I am not willing to give up enough volume in my room to try and treat.

Give them an email, they are prompt, courteous, and easy to work with, even if you are not a sound engineer.
 
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