A Complete Amateurs Journey In Room Treatment

Hey all,

been a while. Hope y'all are doing good, especially in these times we live in.

I've been considering doing a bit DIY room treatment for a while now, but wanted to see what sort of different it would make before going all in.

This led me to wanting to try out some very rough experimental room treatment, before going all in on DIY'ing proper permanent stuff. I knew that the room was already "ok" as it was a heavily furnished room etc...but I wondered how much better I could get it sounding, without going full potato, or upgrading my speakers.

The biggest things I wanted to try were bass traps in the corners, as there is definitely somthing funky with the room at 40hzish. I also had a lot of flat untreated surfaces so I wanted to try some light dampening on those, as well as a half wall of windows. Closing the blinds does help, but I was curious what would happen if those were covered somewhat.

So right now I've got a stack of cushions in one corner, 4 foot stools in another with pillows filling the empty space between them, blankets taped on the walls and over the windows, and some lounge chair cushions over two spaces at the rear of the room. I also put a chair in the rear left corner and a yoga bolster in the other.

So far, it does actually sound good vs the entirely untreated room. Bass is a bit less, much tighter, punchier (you can feel it in your feet now.) Sound seems more "3D" for all thats a bit of a cliche and hangs in the soundstage much better.

Problem is, these solutions are extremely temporary and not practical to live with long term.

I'll keep listening today, but I definitely want to do more research on making some less terrible looking, and more "professional" treatments. I think it may be worth the effort.

 

Good luck with it. Love the Magicos!!

 

Thanks man. I will update the thread as I try making DIY solutions that aren't just....shit taped to the walls. lol.

 

May be worth reaching out to GiK Acoustics for a free room consult: https://www.gikacoustics.com/acoustic-advice-form/. Their products are also favorably priced and will be way more effective than cushions, but they also offer DIY supplies as well if you elect to go that route.

 

All ghetto mods and treatments welcome, lol.

 

Thank you for the link man, I've got lots of reading to do. All very interesting!

 

I own 8 headphones.... But i listened now for a year only with speakers....My room treatment and controls are completely homemade with junk or no cost material coming from my basement like unused plumbers tube in copper or plastic or straws or paper empty rolls...

I used CLASSICAL passive material treatment...Balance between absorbing and reflective surface and diffusive one...With all cheap materials....Tuned by ears....

I used ESPECIALLY which is not well known some device which are Helmholtz resonators but also diffusers, tubes with various diameters open/closed/filtered with fabric cloth at one end some with straws of various diameter for adjustable neck like in standard Helmholtz bottles, and i used also which is less known Helmholtz tube diffuser with one end filtered and the other with many straws of various size INSIDE one larger tube and some other open only at one end...

I used a grid of modified cheap chineese Schumann generators all around the room...

I used three types of ionizers, nothing costly....These last two devices type, ionizers and S.G. are less powerful than the H resonators and diffusers but add something which cannot be gain otherwise sonically...A more beautilful "listener envelopment factor"....

i also used a wood screen with 2 panels in V shape with resonators and diffusers on it behind my listening position to enhance and concentrate some direct and reflected waves from the speakers and create a more intimate soundscape...

Almost all my devices are homemade... The most important results come from Helmholtz method ...I did not count them but i had around 100 tubes with various diameter also, from 8 feet high to the lengh of a straw...All mechanically adjustable and i call that a "mechanical equalizer" which is a grid of devices modifying the pressure zone distribution of the room and the shear velocity of waves diffusion around some spot... All of them are tuned by EARS like someone tune a piano, with the memory of natural timbre of instrument to guide me and all acoustical cues at the end are spectacular: imaging, dynamic, soundstage, listener envelopment factor, timbre perception etc... The soundscape is outside my head with the intimacy of headphones but fill the room outside of the plane linking the 2 speakers...

Results:

No comparison at all with the same gear between before and after room passive treatment and helmholtz mechanical control...

I put my 8 headphones in a closet many months ago because the intimacy and other sonic qualities of the speaker/room exceed all of them or rival them...

Acoustic and psycho-acoustic science is the key to audio, not a piece of gear upgrade, save if the electronical design is bad chosen or ill conceived...

The gear fetichism is a consumer conditioning by publicity and market...
Acoustic is the sleeping princess and all pieces of gear are only the 7 dwarves...

i begin my journey 9 years ago with headphones...
I quit for speakers after discovering how to lower the electrical noise floor of my house, how to reduce vibrations and resonance and especially how to treat and mechanically control my audio dedicated 13 feet square room with 8 feet high...

Perhaps the Raal headphone will compete with my room... I will know if someday i must buy a TOP high end headphones.... i Am 70 years old and someday i will quit my actual house...

i wrote all this to illuminate some not well known aspect of audio i discovered myself with 2 years of non stop listening experiments:
Acoustic and psycho-acoustic are the key knowledge in audio.... Not electronical engineering by itself alone...

By the way my audio system is low cost, vintage, save the dac low cost also, all my "tweaks" are if not homemade, modified and at very low cost....
My system is not the best but no system at any cost give me the urge to spend money now...
My ratio S.Q. /price is over the roof...

To upgrade this system of mine 500 bucks to a real improvement will cost me around 15,000 bucks...

Conclusion:
Before upgrading anything embed well in their three working dimensions, mechanical,electrical and ESPECIALLY acoustical all pieces of gear....

headphones have their qualities and use, but save perhaps for top high end one cannot rival with my room...

tHen acoustic is the royal road...

The lesson is this: the only luxury in audiophile experience is not the gear price tag but a dedicated room....
Audiophile experience MAY cost peanuts.... And gear fetichism consumerism is the veil hiding Acoustic science for our eyes so to speak ...

Sound is described, explained and controlled with Acoustic and psycho-acoustic science , not electronic design by itself alone, like suggested by the RCA dog listening a piece of gear.... I dont read audio magazine anymore....ACoustic which is so important matter is not so good for the business of selling electronic designs upgrade....But the truth is ONLY acoustic can put any audio system on his OPTIMAL working dimension....

We are not RCA dog listening the gear directly from the phonograph pavilion but we listen to the audio system/ speakers /room.... Even headphones have a "room" which is their shell, even headphone vibrates and must be controlled in their resonant state, even headphones suffer from a high electical noise floor etc... i Know because i modify all my headphones to improve them before embarking completely in my speakers and room acoustic 2 years non stop journey....

my best to all...

 

I wish had a room to listen to speakers in, let alone a room treated with such love, care, and attention to detail!

Of course, I can't help wondering if you went a bit over the top. But what of it! The results are plainly utterly pleasing to you. And who could not be satisfied with feeling that you have fantastic audio for the foreseeable future.

I wish I had a room... But, to be honest, I'd be too lazy to put in the effort that you have done, especially going beyond the realms of the more usual absorbent panels into the more esoteric Helmholtz stuff.

Respect and salutations!

Can you post some pics please?

 

I will not post pics for many reasons...

First, my room resemble to a "mad scientist lair"... My children and their own children laugh but are astonished by the sound...Even my speakers doubly isolated by two set of springs under and over them are also damped by a big concrete weight and are modified by Helmholtz resonators and diffusers...They are not esthetical at all....

Second, it is difficult to photography because of the absence of light, my windows are masked, and it will takes at least 10 photos....And i dont want to give images to some here of empty paper toilet rolls for example and be treated like a dunce by some idiots... Acoustic dont give a dam about the price tag of product or device...And i am very creative and free thinker but not a crafty skill man at all...My room is anything but esthetic it is an audio laboratory more than anything else... But my acoustic journey has ended now.... I listen music full time in my lair...

Third i dont wanted to be laugh by people who will never listen like my astounded children the SOUND QUALITY of my speakers/room AFTER laughing and becoming silent...I dont want to answer mocking posts here like in my past experience...
i dont came here guess why, for the last many years ?

Four: my goal is only to say to ONE people which can be helped by this advice here, that acoustic is a matter to think about to really UPGRADE any audio system, possibly at low cost like i did, if someone is able to use a dedicated room... But even in a living room acoustic can be implemented esthetically to some level and that will make all the difference in the world way more huge than upgrading an already good dac or even speakers...

Remember that acoustic is NOT only passive material classic treatment, but also mechanical tuning of the relation between specific speakers need and the room which may be then adapted to serve OPTIMALLY the speakers .... Helmholtz is the father of this method in acoustic... Psycho-acoustic minimal studies is paramount.... Because the sound is created by the ear/brain in the time delay dimension and with the right timing of the direct and reflected waves coming FOR each ear ...

Remember that in my own room the sound travel and cross THIRTEEN times the room each second...2,250 feet in one second ...Then the reflected waves interacted with one another in a very dynamical space....
Think about a tense violin cord, all room atmosphere are like a tense cord ready to vibrate at the slight touch....People dont figure that usually but it is the reason behind the huge powerful effect of the Helmholtz method and various devices...


i apologize for my declining negative answer to your legitimate inquiry about photos....

My deepest respect to you....


By the way i used the same system which is described under my post here... I did not change it in all these years i change only the room and improve on vibration control and i decrease the electrical noise floor using my own devices... I never bough any Brand name new "tweaks" or device, save low cost Shumann generators or low cost ionizers which i anyway modify in some case...
All headphones are unused now because the room/speakers are way better on all count even intimacy...

 

No problem. Thanks for your answer: Enjoy!

 

so, I snapped a pair of Triangle Titus Ez (this is the latest incarnation) recently, very good offer used, for my study. the study has a very basic treatment, also work in progress. anyway, the tube amp will hopefully arrive next week, for now the Tituses are hooked up to an old Harman HK620 (Tituses are picky with respect to the amplification, Vista Audio Spark was an awful combination). man... I mean, okay, I am fairly new to the game, but I have not heard anything like this before! the sound literally fills my room: there is depth front to back, the sound extends left and right beyond the speakers, it floats up, there is clarity and air for each layer. it's been ear-bliss for the last couple of days.

today a cable arrived from OIDIO for my Verums. I've been neglecting the Verums and the Cavalli LCX amp I use to drive them, partially because in the attempt to optimise the room for sound I changed the layout and the listening position and ended up too far from the gear. I needed a new, longer cable, so decided to go for something nice. anyway, I am listening to the Verums right now, and it's not bad, enjoyable... but... but... indeed, after a good pair of speakers it's not the same I have to say...