Enter to Win: Rives Audio Test CD 2

[Tom Andry]

Rives is giving away three (3) Rives Audio Test CD 2 this month in our dedicated forum contest.

To be eligible to win, you must: 1) Be a registered Audioholics forum member, 2) Have USA or Canadian Residence 3) Answer the question in the poll above and elaborate on your answer in this contest thread:

Contest Question: What was/is the biggest obstacle in getting the acoustics in your room right? How did/are you planning to overcome that obstacle?

Note this contest ends on January 31st 2006. Winners will be drawn shortly thereafter

Have fun and good luck!

 

[neal702]

I am planing a move to the northern part of fl, this year
so I am waiting to design a proper room with the builder

 

[racquetman]

I'm renting at the moment, so I haven't worried too much about getting the acoustics just right. I'll spend a lot more time on it when I'm in a more permanent location.

 

[HookedOnSound]

Spousal acceptance is definitely a concern in my household.

My family room does double duty as my HT room so I have to get approval from the "decor police" about any changes to the family room.

A dedicated HT room is unrealistic for most home owners. I can only hope that there is some kind of industry initiative to promote standards, products and building techniques for new home construction. In relation to constructing at least one room which would be "HT compliant".

I think this would help eliminate/reduce some of the common issues associated with room acoustics.

 

[gellor]

My home theater area has the acoustics of a cave. Wood floors surrounded by tile. Lots of glass on the walls. That sort of thing.

We plan on covering some of the reflective surfaces at least a little bit. A rug between the speakers and listening position. Fabric chairs in the opposite corners. Roman shades over the windows. Not sure how much all of that will help, but it'd have to be better than it is now.

 

[ahdeeoh]

Rugrats

With a small child running around the house speaker placement is less than optimal. Bookshelf speakers are all placed high and angled toward listening position. Subwoofer is in a corner under an end table (hidden). Next tool may be some kind of paremetric eq to aid subwoofer.

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

It's all about spousal acceptance, and trying to place the speakers around her furniture. Once that's out of the way, I can usually dial in the sound with some degree of success - although not optimal, it's usually pretty good seeing how our room is practically "dead".

I'd eventually like to turn our finished basement into a dedicated HT room. The issue is what to do with the pool and air hockey table. Kids still enjoy that stuff.

 

[Rip Van Woofer]

OK, here's the short answer. The biggest obstacle to optimizing my room acoustics is: the room, my den, is just too small!. How I plan to overcome it: Simple! Build a bigger room in the basement. Wifely approval has already been granted. Not only that, but the suggestion of making it into a full blown HT did not elicit the fatal raised eybrow! Woohoo!

Now, the second biggest obstacle is that I can't afford to hire Rives to design it from the ground up. But the Rives Test CD will help me to fine tune my room design. I might however spring for some room measuring software like ETF.

I've been reading on acoustics for a year now and have some ideas for the room such as: Architectural details such as pilasters on the walls and a coffered ceiling for diffusion. Resilient channel mounting of drywall for both soundproofing and (more important) increased bass absorption by the walls -in effect making the walls bass traps.

My dipole speakers benefit from a fairly live and diffuse environment according to their designer, Siegfried Linkwitz. Testing in our living room (within the limits of spousal tolerance) confirmed this. I may build some quadratic residue diffusers and deploy them to scatter first reflections. Hopefully, those will be the only overt "acoustic treatment". And I think I have some nice ways to disguise them. Any mid to high frequency absorption will, I hope, be accomplished via carpeting and furniture.

And then, any Audioholics who live in or visit the Detroit area will be welcome to be staggered by my DIY genius! Pizza and beverages on me. Yes, you may consider that a bribe.

 

[xboxweasel]

Right now this is not my #1 priority. However, when I purchase my next house I will be looking for a room layout that is more theater friendly, and where I have the room to add acoustic treatments.

Plus, I would need some help in setting up the room properly. Just because I know very little about this, does not mean that a proper setup will not sound better.

I would also have to invest some money in some new equipment to aid in the setup.

 

[superjohnny]

I haven't set up my sub yet... nothing more than plugged it in anyway. I think the lack of room treatments and hardwood floors may give me some trouble. I also don't want to rearrange the room around a 13" subwoofer either so...

Anyway, thanks for the giveaway.

 

[supervij]

For me, it's a little bit of the second option, in that I'm not really sure how to go about figuring out what I need. Sometimes I wish I could hire someone -- or even bribe someone with a nice lunch -- to come over and help me out by telling me what exactly I need to do. But mostly, my problem is the aesthetics of my living room. I don't want to be putting bass traps and diffusion boards all over the place, since it's not a dedicated HT room. I like having hardwood floors, but I know that's supposed to be a problem. I like a minimalistic look, but that can just increase reflections and such. So basically, I know sorta some of the things I should do, but going about it while keeping the aesthetic look of the place intact is the bigger problem. Having a girlfriend who has more say than I about the apartment in general can add the odd difficulty!

cheers,
supervij

 

[rjh22]

Room Acoustics

The most difficult thing about my room is that one side of it is open to another large space (a kitchen and sitting room). My Denon has the Audyssey MultiEQ system, and has given me much better sound in my room.

 

[abboudc]

For me it wasn't the decor, but the size of the room and placement of my speakers.

 

[The Country Pro]

Spousal acceptance - financially speaking

I have always liked audio & video, but was always hesitant to jump in....it is changing so fast, how to know I am getting the most bang for my buck, etc.
Well, it all started (in a significantly higher price/quality direction a little over a year ago) when my wife said hey, let's look into an HD TV. The other married guys know what this means - we have a GREEN light to get a little crazy. It was off to Best Buy. We came home with a 46" DLP HDTV made by Samsung and a DirecTV HD-DVR. Then to my great surprise, my wife said, what about speakers!!! We really should upgrade ours. Well, I just about fainted right there. I was in overload with shock and excitement. I just had to tell her, wait a minute darling, I have to do a whole lot of research before I am prepared to pick the brand and models I want to go with.
Well, research I did and one thing led to another and now I am an authorized contractor for Klipsch, Yamaha, IXOS, Furman, Parasound, Adcom and the list keeps growing. I just love this stuff!!!
Happy New Year from The Country Pro serving locations in SE Michigan and Northern Ohio.

 

[rushwj]

spousal acceptance is a must in my household. The way i see it, she puts up w/ all my time spent w/ my hobby and me getting to put the stuff in/around our house, i figure i can meet her half way w/ the asthetics.
-william

 

[Vancouver]

for me its asthetics. I am so surprised at the lack of stylish choices in equipment. Have a dedicated room for home theater is one thing, but if you are planning to place equipment in a high traffic area like your living room etc there should be more choices with respect to color size and shape without a loss in quality. This is true for AV furniture, cable coverings, remotes, receivers, amps, processors etc.

For me if it doesnt look as good as it sounds I wont buy it, and as an audiophile/videophile that really limits my choices.

 

[Rip Van Woofer]

Geez Louise, Vancouver...it is a fairly simple matter to adapt any adequately sized cabinetry of any style to use as AV furniture to hide your black metal boxes. There is paintable self-adhesive speaker wire available that you can make disappear along a wall or baseboard. Running cables behind walls is a PITA but it can be done. All it takes is time, carpentry skills and/or money. And if you don't like the looks of a remote, stick it in a drawer when you're not using it!

As for speakers, many mfrs. make theirs available in several veneers and colors. And there are some good in-wall choices too. Failing that, how about hiding them behind decorative screens when not in use?

Be creative, man!

 

[s002wjh]

My HT room is open up to the kitchen, and I don't have a BFD. For the kitchen there is nothing I can do, but I plan to get a BFD to cut the peak off.

 

[lubmar]

The wife is the biggest problem …”why do we need so many speakers? Why do they take so much space? Why don’t you put them together in one corner?" … The cables, that is another story.

 

[ArtV]

My room is not a dedicated theater and my wife will absolutely not let me install any acoustical treatments that I have seen thus far. The only thing that I have been able to do is install carpet. I guess the furniture also helps. I am keeping my eye out for more decor friendly items.

Artv