Acoustical Treatments Master Thread - Page 297

Ahhhh! Gotcha!

As others have pointed out the person did not address any of the room acoustics. If you want to DIY it then you could use the following as a guide for set up. Basically you want to focus on bass trapping in corners and early reflection points. Diffusion can also be used to keep life within the room.
http://www.gikacoustics.com/room_setup.php

The Pro Theater Design service offered here is a virtual consultation and layout design, not in-person.

Hello,

MY theater is open to the rest of the basement- half wall with aisles at the rear. Speakers are all in-wall triads, including the front 3, with the center speaker behing the screen- screen is 3" from wall. does it make any sense to do any treatments for sound on front wall- and if yes- what? given its open to room

Robert

Well, since none of the experts answered you, I'll give you my opinion. In your situation, I don't see the need for any front wall treatment. To my understanding, in-wall speakers don't benefit much from treatment around them. They don't have SBIR issues since they're flush with the wall. Sidewalls might be a different story. You could try to contact Triad and see what they suggest.

My opinion is similar that treating the surface around an in-wall doesn't seem to be as helpful as those that aren't in-wall, unless your room as a whole is too "live" for your tastes. Even then, I would look at other treatment areas first.

Of course, corner bass traps up front are still a good idea.

Would you get some benefit from treating the front wall? Absolutely. I just would think that you might get better bang for your buck with first point reflections. After all, your front sound stage speakers are generally more "directional" than the surrounds as well as more powerful (or at least output at higher levels in most setups). I would worry about the sound that they are sending out and making that as clean and crisp as possible with FPR panels. In a non-in-wall setup, where sound can come out of front speaker rear ports, or general resonance of the speaker cabinet is more important to clean up.

The best scenario would be to put in bass traps, FPR panels, and treat the front wall regardless of in-wall or not. You would get what is generally considered to be the top 3 "bang for your buck" treatments.

Even in this day and age of surround sound, the front soundstage remains critical; that's where your attention will be focused, whether watching a movie or listening to music.

In order for you to hear a seamless soundstage, your brain tries to create phantom imaging between your front speakers. And while your brain is doing that, the last thing you need is surround information coming at you from that same direction, muddying the imaging up front.

With that in mind, I think it's worth putting some absorbtion on the front walls, especially at the reflection points of your surround speakers. Behind the screen, you can only use 3" thick material, so go with rigid fiberglass (OC703 or OC705) and remember to cut around your in-wall centre speaker.

Sorry for bumping this one but can you guys help me with the speaker positioning? Are my positions OK? Thank you!

OK, so I have been thinking about my front wall and am wondering something. Right now, behind my screen, I have a thick curtain hung across the entire wall. Should I put insulation behind that curtain? If so how much should go across? Should I put OC703 coating that whole wall to essentially totally deaden it?

I currently have bass traps in my corners and OC703 2" with 2" buffer style panels hung at my 1st reflection points along the side walls. Just doing that made an unbelievable difference, so I think I am at the point of minor returns, but I still think I need to do SOMETHING along my front wall and the back, just not sure what.

quick question. How are you guys hanging your bass traps where the wall meets the ceiling? Im thinking some metal string like hanging a picture.

Quick thought here ... if you are "hanging" a bass trap it may not be big enough.

Jeff

I hung mine.



I used a plastic "wildlife" netting that's used to protect your garden from critters. It's made of plastic. I used alot of staples to adhere it to the ceiling and wall.



I started by using string and netting, but found the string to be unnecessary and bothersome.

its 44.5 tall, 2 foot wide and 4 inches thick. Its a corner mount so it will look flush.


similar to this

I would put about 4-6 inches of OC703 behind the curtain, spaced a few inches off the wall if possible. If that's too thick aesthetically (makes the curtain bulge too much), then do at least 3" of material spaced 3" from the wall. You can deaden the whole wall if you like, but I would cover at least the middle 40 degrees (±20° from centre).

Thanks sdurani, now my question here is probably very subjective, but is that going to be a minor change in the rooms sound quality or should I expect a major change from this?

Also, what do most people do along the rear theater wall? I was thinking of putting a couple of panels similar to what I have along my side walls back there at my main reflection points, but I don't want to over deaden my room.

Depends on usage (surround or stereo), speaker dispersion, the room, your hearing, etc. Like you said, very subjective. On my set-up, imaging became clearer and more detailed, with greater separation between the front soundstage and surround field.

I've used netting, fishing line, and "aircraft" cable. Whatever works, as I've got a cool system to facilitate easy experimentation, i.e.; removal and addition of panels.

You can always get it there, and then trim it out with Velcro attached, jumbo speaker grill style covers. Thus maintaining an acceptable visual aesthetic if warranted.

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If you treat an essentially untreated front wall, the result would be significant. Subjective, absolutely, but certainly significant.


Good luck

Just for clarity, my main usage is a theater for movies, so surround. I have my fronts and center slightly below my screen so the stage is slightly low.

FOH, I would be interested in hearing more about your wall and how you add and remove panels with ease?

That may work, but it is just like hanging a panel in the wall to wall corner. Attach to ceiling and wall.

thanks Glenn.

I treated my open room with Real Traps. Mostly to tame brightness as my bass response is pretty good. Since it is a multipurpose room I am limited with room treatment possibilities but I was wondering if anyone here has a similar room and tried treatments plus an EQ like Audyssey XT32? The Real Traps have helped. Will the Audyssey make any further improvements?

xt32 is wonderful. The pro kit adds more also.

Ahh, and you probably have a few of them. For some reason I was thinking of just one trap.

Jeff

Cool. Do you have a similar room ?

I have two of them right now. They are the same size. They also have slanted sides to sit in the corner of walls or ceiling/walls. My plan was to put them at the end of my small ceiling where the wall meets it. I have slanted walls, so not much 90 degree angles.

Hey. I have a few of these in the attic just sitting around. Let me know if you need any more. I have at least 2 I was gonna put on Audiogon.

I have a more dedicated room. Its in my sig. I have a thread.

Ahhh ok. I'm on the iPad. Didn't catch it. Thanks.

Question.

How high do I need to hang my Acoustic Panels on the side? I have a .318m x 1.2m panel... four of them... Obviously not the biggest panels around. Do I hang them low enough (ear level) or hanging them higher would be ok? (FOr aesthetic purposes)

What are you wanting to achieve with these panels?

Do you have any pics/diagrams of your room's configuration?