How do I "fix" the sound in my empty room?

augustk07

Member
OK guys, I've looked at some threads here and most of it is over my head. I moved into a house a couple of months ago with a 2nd bedroom. That bedroom is a "music room" now. The great thing is having a dedicated music room. The bad thing is it's empty, made of tile and has a large sliding glass window. I need badly to dampen the echoes I'm hearing. Also, the windows toward the back rattle. I've attached a pretty detailed diagram photo. I know that basic things like furniture, rugs and paintings will help drastically but do you see potential areas that need "extra" dampening? I'd appreciate any feedback. For this to make sense please see picture.

Additional info that may or not be important:

-Room (as diagramed) is about 13' wide and 10' "tall"
-System is "main system" in my signature.
-Speakers are NOT rear-firing.
 

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heavy curtains over the glass door and windows... rug on the tile.. maybe a couple bass panels on the larger walls..

hehe.. windows rattle... need to fix that so you can turn it up more.
 
Here is a quick picture with the furniture I KNOW is going into the room. I know that this will help a lot but as you can see I'm worried that those windows will hit right at ear level. Anything in Green is proposed location including a large rug which will help. Also, of course I'm planning to hang various pictures, etc.

Thanks again!
 

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Thanks Similost,

So far it seems those windows on the back are the worst thing (along with getting a large rug in the room). What would be the way to make a "bass panel?"
 
I had a HUGE window behind my sofa, but I had pleated cloth shades over them, and didn't get any refelction off them. Now when I opened the shades, that was a different story... I'd look for some pleated accordian style shades...
 
I think the best place for the speakers is the top left corner.
As it is the speakers are in bad places: one is in the corner, one is infront of glass, and there's a huge shelf between them.
IMHO what's most important in the room is speaker placement.
If they're in the top left corner about 5 feet apart, with seat five feet in front and center, you'll have optimal placement. Dampen the corner.

Or if your set on that furniture:
Put the shelf on the left wall and the speakers closer together.
Use weather sealing foam strips on the windows.


It's best to :
have the speakers away from the walls.
not sit against the wall.
Have the speakers pointing longways.
(seal the bottom left door and put speaker infront of it?)
Good luck! Looks like you've got your work cut out for you, but congrats on the dedicated room!
 
Seems to me your biggest problem will be orientation. I expect you can make some real improvements by turning the room around. I took some ... liberties ... with your design. May or may not work depending on traffic flow and how well you're able to control the environment.

aug07room.jpg


Rule of thumb - you've got to effective kill two surfaces - one wall, and either the floor or ceiling. You've got a lot going on there, but I found that going full length with heavy insulated curtains on the wall behind my system cured a lot of problems. In your case, you've also got the rattling windows to contend with. First off ... may I suggest ... er ... fixing them? Something as simple as jamming some small wedges between the operating parts works wonders there. If nothing else, those same curtains could make a big difference there.

You didn't mention your ceiling treatment. A dropped ceiling would be ideal for your room, but I'm sure you could still benefit from a good area rug. Commercial quality, dense weave should do the trick.

I'd also add some pads beneath the speakers AND the component shelves. Those tiles would tend to transmit a whole lot of nasties into your system. Think terminal feedback ...

One thing you didn't mention is the floor construction. That's a biggie too. A standard wooden floor really needs good solid insulation underneath, especially with a hard surface like you've got.

Most important ... have fun with it. Audio can be very flexible. Think about some of what I mentioned to handle the big issues, then figure out what you want in the room as far as creature comfort and practicality, and do your fine tuning last.

Edit ... wOw ... board's been busy. This thread was a virgin when I started playing wit it ... <G>
 
Thanks Faith,

I do believe that going to a Rack would allow a lot more placement options. Problem is the "bottom-left" door goes to the living room so I kinda need it. I could flip the entire set up but then I'm putting a lot of sound towards that huge sliding-glass door. I'm going to move to a rack and maybe I'll use the IKEA bookshelf as, well, a bookshelf. I can also make some tweaks to get that speaker on the left out of the corner. One thing that isn't showing up is my 2nd pair of speakers so I could move that speaker out at least 2 feet if I move those. I didn't show them because they need to be gone anyway.

Thanks again, AK is greatness.
 
Skizo,

Wow, I think you have great ideas. I know it seems so stupid but you see hundreds of systems and they always have things right together. With your orientation I can even sit in comfort much closer to the receiver and turntable which will make changing things way easier. I really like your idea and I think I just need some extra speaker cable to do it. The ceiling is probably 8 feet high and I don't know much about the floor other than it's tile.

I think that put's a lot less pressure on the "rattling windows" I will definately have to do something on that screen door.

Thanks again, I also think this would be a cool looking orientation.

Also, if I was to go that far do I need to go up to a high gauge on the wire in terms of the sound hitting the speakers at the same time? Would 16ga. be ok?

August
 
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Main thing to remember is, every room is different. Do what works for you. Somebody else mentioned orienting the speakers firing down the long dimension, but in your case, it's more of a working with what you got kinda thing. My main concern was traffic flow, but you don't seem all that bothered by that.

16gauge will be fine with the power you're using. Somewhere around 30w per channel if I remember right. Don't skimp on cable either. Not that much price difference between lamp cord and some decent stuff like the Belden HomeChoice. That's made for whole house wiring, so distance or equal length really isn't an issue. Also round and easy to fish if you want to run it in the walls or under the room. I got mine at a local electrics jobber for something like 55 cents a foot. Use what you need is all. Not sure if you can run it under the floor or would have to route it up and over doorways and such, but that's part of the fun. I don't expect delay would be all that noticeable - maybe in the "perfect" room but you'll have plenty of other reflections and such to draw the mind's eye away from that. Once again, it's all about perception.

A lot of that "rattling windows" stuff should stop once you attack standing waves and resonance by padding those surfaces. I expect somewhere down the way, you may also want to play around with tuning the surfaces a bit more. One thing comes to mind - add a large glass fronted picture to the wall over the stereo. What, more glass?? In this case, I think it'd help to balance the sound field some. If it doesn't work, take off the glass, and it'd be just like a wall - only prettier. <G>
 
Alright, another DFW audio junkie!

Say man, if you'd like to come by my place some time and take a look at my treatments I can show you how I constructed them and explain what they were able to do for me and how they might be beneficial to you. PM me if you're interested and I'll give you my contact info.

Pictured below is a listening space I created out in my garage. Cement floor, bare sheetrock walls, no furniture for absorption....it was a very bright room before treatments and had a serious null right where I sit so the LF response in the most important spot simply sucked. I took the advice of RevMen and others here, studied Ethan Winer's website, and now have a room that is nearly flat with MUCH improved response and acoustics. Every pair of speakers in my collection instantly improved in SQ and where before treatments I relied pretty heavily on an EQ don't even use it now.

I helped my friend treat his room (very irregular, vaulted ceiling, hardwoods, brick walls...BRIGHT!) and it is much improved as well. Before the treatments I found his Paradigm Studio 40 monitors barely listenable (but knew the room was to blame) but since the treatments find them remarkable. I'd be glad to have a look at yours and help you out any way I can.

Garage listening space before......

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After.......

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What sKiZo said, that one speaker in a corner were the major problem. If you can turn the room over it be a lot better.

Else from that I delurked with the periscope up to say Happy New year to as many as possible.
 
Others have given some good ideas, I like the rearranged room sKiZo posted provided it works for your "living." A properly (i.e. beyond furniture and curtains) treated room will make a huge difference.

What would be the way to make a "bass panel?"

The easiest type IMHO, would be to make roughly a 6" thick panel of fiberglass board. I made a few using 1x6 lumber: make a 24"x48" frame, cut some luan triangles for the back corners, stuff with fiberglass board insluation (Owens Corning 703 is the "DIY audio" standard, but others work well also) and cover with fabric.

You can also build high frequency panels the same way but use 1x4 lumber and only fill the frame halfway so that there is roughly a ~2" gap between the wall and the back of the fiberglass.

I had a very detailed build thread once, but I removed the pics - I will hunt down another for you.
 
This link shows the basic idea. Note that this would be a high frequency trap placed on reflection points or the walls in front/behind the listening space. The bass type absorbers can be contructed the same way, just use 1x6 lumber and fill the frame completely. The bass panels would be best in the corners.
 
I dug around in my attic and took a couple of pictures of my panels in case it helps anyone...

Bass panel, front:
NFS_0036.jpg


Bass panel, back:
NFS_0037.jpg


HF panel, back (showing the gap detail):
NFS_0038.jpg
 
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