Dorm room/theater acoustic questions

[Michal]

Hello all,

I have a few questions regarding my home theater system in my dorm room.

My current system is as follows:
Home Theater Direct Level Three 5.0 (1st edition, circa 2002ish)'
BIC America 12 inch down firing sub
2x B&W DM 560 speakers
Pioneer Elite VSX-40- 7.1
Music Streamer II DAC
Laptop running MediaMonkey for loss-less audio
HD Roku
Sony Blu Ray player
PS1 as a CD player

My room is a 15'6" by 12' by 9' tile, concrete and cinder block nightmare.

I currently have an area rug and 2 beds that serve as the only "acoustic treatment" however, I recently order a pack of 32 1' by 1' studio foam tiles to help with the acoustics.

I plan on putting four 1' by 1' acoustic panels behind the left and right speakers as well as at the first reflection point on the side walls. I also plan on putting four panels on the ceiling above the listening position and two each at the top front corners, several around my door (which thankfully is a solid core) and 4 behind each of the rear speakers.

Questions:

1. Because of lack of space and furniture positioning, I have to place all four surround speakers along two 6' by 3' dressers. Would it be overkill or harmful to the acoustics/sound if I also place panels behind each of the surrounds or would the panels be of better use at the first reflection points (for the surrounds) on the top of my front wall?

2. The 4 surrounds are currently flat and aimed at the top of my front wall- as stated previously. Would it be feasible to construct speaker stands that angle the drivers downwards towards the listening position or would that be too much of a hassle? (I have not been able to find any pre-made stands like these or any talk about something similar to them).

Thank you for your help,

Michal

 

[robc1976]

Hello all,

I have a few questions regarding my home theater system in my dorm room.

My current system is as follows:
Home Theater Direct Level Three 5.0 (1st edition, circa 2002ish)'
BIC America 12 inch down firing sub
2x B&W DM 560 speakers
Pioneer Elite VSX-40- 7.1
Music Streamer II DAC
Laptop running MediaMonkey for loss-less audio
HD Roku
Sony Blu Ray player
PS1 as a CD player

My room is a 15'6" by 12' by 9' tile, concrete and cinder block nightmare.

I currently have an area rug and 2 beds that serve as the only "acoustic treatment" however, I recently order a pack of 32 1' by 1' studio foam tiles to help with the acoustics.

I plan on putting four 1' by 1' acoustic panels behind the left and right speakers as well as at the first reflection point on the side walls. I also plan on putting four panels on the ceiling above the listening position and two each at the top front corners, several around my door (which thankfully is a solid core) and 4 behind each of the rear speakers.

Questions:

1. Because of lack of space and furniture positioning, I have to place all four surround speakers along two 6' by 3' dressers. Would it be overkill or harmful to the acoustics/sound if I also place panels behind each of the surrounds or would the panels be of better use at the first reflection points (for the surrounds) on the top of my front wall?

2. The 4 surrounds are currently flat and aimed at the top of my front wall- as stated previously. Would it be feasible to construct speaker stands that angle the drivers downwards towards the listening position or would that be too much of a hassle? (I have not been able to find any pre-made stands like these or any talk about something similar to them).

Thank you for your help,

Michal

Foam tends to suck the life out of the room and only correction they offer are high frequency waves and does nothing for the lower spectrum...but it will still improve the sound over bare wallls. Put panells like you said behind the speakers...find the first reflection points on sidewalls and on ceiling to place your foam. for ceiling reflections basically measure from each seat to the the speaker, take 1/2 the distance and that is your reflection point. For sidewalls you need 2 people....sit MLP and have someone run a mirror across the side wall and when you see the speaker that is the reflection point...1st reflection point will be the speaker closest to the wall, 2nd reflection will be the speaker usually on the other side of the room. Honestly I would use as little foam as possible...to much foam sucks the life out of the room. I just replaced all my fom with 703 panels and it was a HUGE difference. On the back wall I would start with diffusssion if you are 6' or more from the back wall. You can try moving MLP to 38% from the front walll to get out of the bass null/peak.

Also I would install bass traps, makes a hufe difference in the room. If you are set on useing foam get the mega lenrds they perform lower than the regular lenrds if you are using Auralex products.

Here are some pics when I had foam (9.1 system reflection points):

 

[robc1976]

Hello all,

I have a few questions regarding my home theater system in my dorm room.

My current system is as follows:
Home Theater Direct Level Three 5.0 (1st edition, circa 2002ish)'
BIC America 12 inch down firing sub
2x B&W DM 560 speakers
Pioneer Elite VSX-40- 7.1
Music Streamer II DAC
Laptop running MediaMonkey for loss-less audio
HD Roku
Sony Blu Ray player
PS1 as a CD player

My room is a 15'6" by 12' by 9' tile, concrete and cinder block nightmare.

I currently have an area rug and 2 beds that serve as the only "acoustic treatment" however, I recently order a pack of 32 1' by 1' studio foam tiles to help with the acoustics.

I plan on putting four 1' by 1' acoustic panels behind the left and right speakers as well as at the first reflection point on the side walls. I also plan on putting four panels on the ceiling above the listening position and two each at the top front corners, several around my door (which thankfully is a solid core) and 4 behind each of the rear speakers.

Questions:

1. Because of lack of space and furniture positioning, I have to place all four surround speakers along two 6' by 3' dressers. Would it be overkill or harmful to the acoustics/sound if I also place panels behind each of the surrounds or would the panels be of better use at the first reflection points (for the surrounds) on the top of my front wall?

2. The 4 surrounds are currently flat and aimed at the top of my front wall- as stated previously. Would it be feasible to construct speaker stands that angle the drivers downwards towards the listening position or would that be too much of a hassle? (I have not been able to find any pre-made stands like these or any talk about something similar to them).

Thank you for your help,

Michal

Your surrounds you usually do not want treatments around them as you want the surrounds reflect and fill up the backroom.....in a big room you can make the front walll dead to help surround reflection going into your front-soundstage.

 

[Michal]

thanks for the ideas and tips!

 

[lsiberian]

Hello all,

I have a few questions regarding my home theater system in my dorm room.

My current system is as follows:
Home Theater Direct Level Three 5.0 (1st edition, circa 2002ish)'
BIC America 12 inch down firing sub
2x B&W DM 560 speakers
Pioneer Elite VSX-40- 7.1
Music Streamer II DAC
Laptop running MediaMonkey for loss-less audio
HD Roku
Sony Blu Ray player
PS1 as a CD player

My room is a 15'6" by 12' by 9' tile, concrete and cinder block nightmare.

I currently have an area rug and 2 beds that serve as the only "acoustic treatment" however, I recently order a pack of 32 1' by 1' studio foam tiles to help with the acoustics.

I plan on putting four 1' by 1' acoustic panels behind the left and right speakers as well as at the first reflection point on the side walls. I also plan on putting four panels on the ceiling above the listening position and two each at the top front corners, several around my door (which thankfully is a solid core) and 4 behind each of the rear speakers.

Questions:

1. Because of lack of space and furniture positioning, I have to place all four surround speakers along two 6' by 3' dressers. Would it be overkill or harmful to the acoustics/sound if I also place panels behind each of the surrounds or would the panels be of better use at the first reflection points (for the surrounds) on the top of my front wall?

2. The 4 surrounds are currently flat and aimed at the top of my front wall- as stated previously. Would it be feasible to construct speaker stands that angle the drivers downwards towards the listening position or would that be too much of a hassle? (I have not been able to find any pre-made stands like these or any talk about something similar to them).

Thank you for your help,

Michal

In general first order reflection points shouldn't be treated because they normally enhance the sound heard at the listening position(this assumes good off axis response.)

The first place I prefer for treatments is behind you. For diffusers you can use some dvd shelves in the corners. Then treat behind the speakers, then the corners. Of course your ears can tell you if it's working or helping. For panels and better help check out

Acoustic Panels and Bass Traps. GIK Acoustics.

Glen is a great guy with some really cool panels that they can put pictures on.
GIK ArtPanel™. GIK Acoustics. Acoustic Panels and Bass Traps.

If you want to construct your own panels

DIY Acoustic Materials

 

[robc1976]

In general first order reflection points shouldn't be treated because they normally enhance the sound heard at the listening position(this assumes good off axis response.)

The first place I prefer for treatments is behind you. For diffusers you can use some dvd shelves in the corners. Then treat behind the speakers, then the corners. Of course your ears can tell you if it's working or helping. For panels and better help check out

Acoustic Panels and Bass Traps. GIK Acoustics.

Glen is a great guy with some really cool panels that they can put pictures on.
GIK ArtPanel™. GIK Acoustics. Acoustic Panels and Bass Traps.

If you want to construct your own panels

DIY Acoustic Materials

My entire room was designed by GIK and I used all there product LOL!! AWESOME company. Book shelves or anthing of the sort are not diffusors and should not be placed in the corners but be palced on the back walll if far enough away to get use. The corners should be filled with bass traps and the 1st reflections are the MOST important honestly. I have both covered but I was lucky that first and 2nd reflections where very close together thank god!

I have some QRDS for the back walll on the way.

Corners filled with tri-traps:

front soundstage:

Ceiling: