Odd shaped room acoustic treatment

3303 Views 5 Replies 2 Participants Last post by bpape, Feb 24, 2014

doraymon

Discussion Starter · Feb 18, 2014

High guys,
While waiting to be set up to perform the first measurements with REW, I am studying my room and trying to locate the first reflection points.

As you can see here http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/index.php?n=14507, the room is partially open to the sides and the listening point (sofa) is unfortunately positioned close to the back wall.
This is the situation regarding reflection points:

SIDE RIGHT: the left speaker first reflection point falls on the bookshelf, so i assume this is good news as I can enjoy a "natural" diffusion of the sound. The right speaker first reflection point falls on the side of the bookshelf, so again good news.

SIDE LEFT: the right speaker point falls somewhere in the octagonal dining room so no problem. The left speaker point falls on the small wall behind the small sofa. This will have to be treated!

BACK WALL: there is a big picture right behind the listening point. It's a wooden frame covered with canvas, no glass. The reflection points, however, fall in the small stripe of wall not covered by the picture!

FLOOR: the wood floor would have been a nightmare but by chance the two first reflection points fall in an area "shielded" by the coffee table! The sound should be reflected right below the table and remain trapped there.

CEILING: nothing to say, the ceiling will have to be treated. I can maybe convince my wife as I might think to place a nice panel with integrated small spot lights. In the end it will look cool.

The questions:
1) do you see any "mistake" or wrong interpretation in what I wrote? Am I missing something?
2) which is the most important frequency range which I have to absorb to improve the situation? This will guide me in the choice of the panels (left wall and ceiling).
3) what about the BACK WALL? Is it better to place an absorber or a diffuser?? This point is wife-sensitive because whatever I put there, will be very close to the picture so it could look odd!

I will post the bass trap questions later on in the process. In the meantime I would appreciate some help with this first doubts!

Thanks a lot!

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doraymon

Discussion Starter · #3 · Feb 18, 2014

bpape said:
Sitting essentially with the couch corner loaded is something you'd like to avoid if at all possible. Can the seating come forward and the painting be moved? Really need to treat the wall behind you at a minimum with thick broadband control assuming you're not going to be able to pull the seating out a few feet?

Bookshelf, better than a hard flat wall, but not a lot. They can be a benefit or a curse. A lot depends on the shelf spacing repetition, what is in the shelves, etc.

Thanks bpape.
How much forward should I move the seating to get a benefit? If it's say 10-15 inch, maybe, if it's more I see it difficult as the coffee table would end up in the middle of the passage.

Yes, I can move the picture but then my wife would move ME out of the apartment. No ok, seriously, I could try. But what kind of panel should I place there? I have no idea how they look like. Is there something "decently looking"?

Re the shelf, the spacing is irregular and it's filled mainly with books of different sizes and with liquor bottles.

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doraymon

Discussion Starter · #5 · Feb 24, 2014

bpape said:
Do whatever you can for movement. The farther the better up to about 1/3 but not going to be able to go that far most likely.

The optimum would be our Monster Bass Panels which are 7.25" thick. That will give you the best performance with the bass buildup and also catch quick reflections in the mids and highs off that wall. I would do at least 2, 3 would be better coverage.

If she freaks out about the thickness, you could cut back to the 244 panels which are 5.25" thick at the expense of how low in frequency they will function well.

Thanks a lot Bryan.
I will do some measurements with REW playing with the position of the couch and the sub.
Regarding the speakers there isn't much to do, the position is almost fixed, I can only play with toe-in but will not solve any bass problem.
I will post again later.

EDIT: Can you tell me if you have resellers in Europe? If it's not allowed by the rules you can send me a private message.

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