Enter to Win: Rives Audio Test CD 2

[Tomorrow]

It's amazing that everyone agrees that room acoustics are the most important feature in audio sound, and pretty much zippo is spent on improving that aspect.

I agree that it's around 50% responsible for the quality of sound.

How much have I spent on room treatments. Make it unanymous. Zero.

 

[supervij]

1. In my limited experience, I think it's about 50%. The speakers are about 25%, and the rest of the equipment is about 25%.

2. I haven't done anything yet. When I noticed that I was getting reflections from the mains against my back wall, I toed in the mains a wee bit, and the BAM! the reflections were gone. Now, I do like a room to be at least a little bit live, but I do have curtains, a rug, and a huge couch that have doubled as absorbers. I'm not sure the WAF would allow me much leeway on room treatments that weren't either functional (as a couch is) or pretty (as curtains are).

cheers,
supervij

 

[sts9fan]

pick me

I would say the room has a huge effect on sound. Maybe >50%

 

[Tritonman]

What percentage of importance does the room make in the overall sound quality? (i.e. Amp is 15%, Speakers are 30%, etc.)

The room has the most effect on your equipment. I would say a room affects your sound by 100%. Perfect example would be to take the speakers you have and put them somewhere else in your house. They will definately sound differently then where you pulled them from. How many times have we gone and purchased speakers at a store only to bring them home and they either sound better or worse then when you demoed them at the store. Go out and purchase a room measurement mic and you will see just how much the room affects your sound quality. Then begin treating that same room and you will see those curves moderately or drastically change.

A million recording studios cant be wrong boys and girls.


In terms of money spent on your system, what percentage was spent on the room including design consult and treatments.

I probably spent about %10-15 on room treatments thus far. These include building a stage to act as a mass dampener for the fronts as well as putting bookshelves in corners for bass traps and other pieces of furniture to act as room treatments. I acoustically tiled my basement ceiling as well as mass loading my center stand with sand and my stage etc. I intend on placing wall treatments behind my front speakers as well as along the walls to help with early reflections.

A room can make or break a system. Why do you think so many people sing in the shower

 

[HookedOnSound]

1. Imho, 60% of sound quality is related to room acoustics, followed by 20% for Speakers and the remaining 20% for electronics and source material.

2. Very little so far, less than 1%, I plan to purchase an SPL meter soon followed by possibly some treatment for a back corner window and back wall to clean up some imaging issues. I am willing to spend some money but WAF and overall results (perceived and actual) are concerns.

I plan to use an SPL meter and do a baseline measurement/calibration of my current setup, followed by placement layout changes for my speakers, retesting, etc. After I correlate my observations, I definitely wil factor in some purchases to improve what might be lacking in regards to room treatment. Probably be doing a DIY install since I don't think, forget that, I know I can't find someone local in my area even if was willing to pay for it.

It is easy to see why ppl would rather spend the time swapping out gear than looking after the room(s). I would say that you can spend an almost infinite amount of time on optimizing the room (if you wanted.)

Edit note: my math is bad, i just noticed my %'s didn't add up very well

 

[chriscmore]

1) I think the room is about 50% of the audible sound. Speakers I'd then give about 35%, then source about 10%, amps about 4%, misc 1%. Assuming you aren't including the adult beverage in the equation... Or family or house noises for that matter.

2) I've spent ~$150 on 48 sq.ft. of homebuilt 4" thick absorbers on first reflection points and at 90 sides of the listening spots to reduce flutter echo. But the biggest investment was to tame the basement-room cement floor and 3-walls induced room nodes. I bought the (~$14k msrp) Lexicon MC12B v4, which very effectively selects and attenuates up to 10 room nodes with the longest decay times, on up to 10 channels. With the 4 mic measurement, and Lex's processing techniques, my difficult room was very effectively tamed. Once you go room correction - you'll never go back!

Chris

 

[j_garcia]

1) I'd say the room and the placement of the speakers within it are the most important factors in how a system sounds. Room - 30%, speakers 30%, placement and calibration 25%, the rest of the gear 15%.

2) I've spent very little on room treatments thus far, but have spent a lot of time tweaking placement and calibrating to dial the system in. Placement was key in my main system and gives a very convincing front stage. Now I am at the point where I am ready to start looking at doing some EQing for my sub.

 

[Josuah]

I would say the room is about 50% of the importance on sound quality. Due to limitations in my room, I would say approx. 25% of my budget was spent on room design and treatments.

 

[Slats]

I woudl say 50% more if you have an extra bad room. So far I've only spent $60 on my room for repairing the walls and getting them painted, that will change soon as I add acoustic treatments.

 

[MDC]

Mostly speakers

About 25% - 35% room. Other than push the furniture aorund, no changes were made.

 

[10010011]

1) I'd guess 50%

2) $0.00 Fact I have done nothing in my living room that directly relates to improving soud quality unless you count that towel I put on top of my sub to stop the end table in is under from vibrating and making a buzzing noise.

 

[6kids&adog]

What percentage of importance does the room make in the overall sound quality? (i.e. Amp is 15%, Speakers are 30%, etc.)

From what I have read, once you are beyond the "near-field" listening distance, the room is supposed to make up 50% of the sound, and the electronics/speakers make up the other 50%.

In terms of money spent on your system, what percentage was spent on the room including design consult and treatments.

I am currently in the design phase of a new home theater. The theater room will be in the basement of the home and since we would be finishing it off anyway, I don't count that cost. Regarding design, I have been reading up on the basics of acoustics and am doing all that myself. I will probably spend ~$1500 on accoustical treatments consisting of soffit traps from RealTraps and some acoustic tiles from Sonex. All the rest will be done from room size, and other decorating items such as furniture and book cases.

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

What percentage of importance does the room make in the overall sound quality? (i.e. Amp is 15%, Speakers are 30%, etc.)

Depends on what you're listening to, and at what level. Some guys use two towers 4' in from both walls, and sit 5' back from them. Acoustics won't affect him as much as the guy with 4 satellites in the corners, a center and subwoofer. If you're in a basement with block walls and concrete floors, you'd best stay away from horn loaded speakers, then spend your cash on carpeting, wall treatments, etc... I'd say it varies between 30-40% on the room, 30-40% on the speakers, and the rest on amp/preamp/eq/tweaking/quality of recorded material.

In terms of money spent on your system, what percentage was spent on the room including design consult and treatments.

I haven't paid anyone a design consultation fee. We have spent a considerable amount of cash on berber carpeting and window treatments, but I wouldn't say it was based on sq alone. I've got a pretty dead room as it stands.

 

[Takeereasy]

I'd have to say it's 30% room, 25% receiver/amp and sources , and 45% speakers. I do think room treatment is very very important but I'm back to renting for a bit so I have $0 invested in that aspect of my HT right now. One day though, one day.

I was really tempted to say something like 50% wires,magnets, and taking the time to properly cook your cables but I listened to the big boy voice in my head for a change.

 

[aarond]

My guess is that the room is probably at least half of the equation.
Untill now I never had really thought about how much I've spent on the room.
When I bought the house one of the things I liked was it had a 17' by 35' room off the back of the house. It had eight 2' by 3' sky lights that I closed in for lighting control. There was an 8' sliding glass door that I ripped out and put a wall with a 36" solid door. There are now no windows in the room so it probably doesn't meet code. I have added carpet and acoustic panels. So I've probably spent a few grand on the room.

 

[starkowski]

Room factor

Hi,

I think the room plays an important part. I don't own an HT system yet (hopefully this xmas), but from what I have listened to, I would say around 35%. I would break the rest down to as:

25% components
25% speakers
15% medium (wireless or wired)

 

[djoxygen]

1) I'd say 40% - 50%

2) None, yet. Ask me again in 6 months. Just starting the tear-down.

 

[j_garcia]

It's amazing that everyone agrees that room acoustics are the most important feature in audio sound, and pretty much zippo is spent on improving that aspect.

I agree that it's around 50% responsible for the quality of sound.

How much have I spent on room treatments. Make it unanymous. Zero.

There are some aspects of the room that you more or less won't be changing in most cases. You can treat things like reflectiveness, but I doubt you'll have much luck changing the dimensions of the room , and those are some of the biggest factors - size and shape.

 

[mkossler]

I guess I'm in the minority here.

1. I'd say that the room accounts for perhaps 30%, The speakers 70%, and the rest 20%. But this has to assume some equity with respect to the quality of each element, and one has to consider active equalization (isn't this equipment?) versus/in addition to room treatment. Clearly, if one has a pair of Bose cubes as speakers, it doesn't matter what room acoustics or audio equipment are involved. By the same token, a 7.1 setup of say, Axioms driven by the Emotiva Big Dogs will not be able to compensate for a 10x50 concrete room.

2. The answer is none to date, but the basement HT under construction will likely include the equivalent of 10-15% of the equipment cost. Ouch.

 

[STRONGBADF1]

Depends on what you're listening to, and at what level. Some guys use two towers 4' in from both walls, and sit 5' back from them. Acoustics won't affect him as much as the guy with 4 satellites in the corners, a center and subwoofer. If you're in a basement with block walls and concrete floors, you'd best stay away from horn loaded speakers, then spend your cash on carpeting, wall treatments, etc... I'd say it varies between 30-40% on the room, 30-40% on the speakers, and the rest on amp/preamp/eq/tweaking/quality of recorded material.

I agree with Buckeye 100% on the who and how part but I'm going to guess about 30% room (This includes positioning of you and speakers and treatments), 30% receiver (This includes x-overs and eq'ing and balacing speakers levels), 30% speakers and 10% player/cables.

A quality recording can sound good in alot of subpar situations, but a junk recording will still sound bad no matter what. (save a lot of eq'ing) So if I was to include the quality of the recording into the equation I would guess 50% is the recording and 15%,15%,15% & 5% respectively for the remaining.

Just a guess

BTW 0% spent to date on room treatments. I am looking at a better window covering and moving the print from the back wall and replacing it with some sort of textile.(leaving that up to the wife, keeps her involved in a good way, she's the movie addict and I'm the music lover.)