Enter to Win: Rives Audio Test CD 2

[Ron Temple]

Space, decor and wife will always play the most important part of any room treatment/solutions. In this house I won't be able to realize a dedicated theatre. I have 2 options the family room (current), 18x14x8, French door on one long wall, 5' opening into the dining room/kitchen area and the living room, 22x18x8 with another 5' opening (on the other side into the dining/kitchen area. I'm moving the rig into the larger space this month. Definitely could use some advice.

 

[MarkSJohnson]

My system is in a small, 13' square room, and my bass issues are phenomenal! I bought a BFD, but it's useless as I've discovered 40Db swings from one seat to the next!

I have two main issues holding me back from treating the room: I don't have much space for bass traps (plus the aesthetics) and second, there's no way to "test" it without sinking a thousand dollars into it! On that second point, it's just a bit hard to deal with the large expense without actually knowing how much it'll help, and there's no "try it before you buy it" options!

Even though I know it's really my only option to correct my issues, I just can't part with that much cash for the products and shipping on speculation alone.

 

[Mr. Lamb Fries]

renting for the time being...when I get my own place I will be looking into room treatments.

 

[Bryce_H]

For me it was balancing all the, sometimes conflicting, advice on what were "ideal" room dimensions for a theater. I was basically starting with a blank slate (new house, unfinished basement). Only other significant concerns were construction related (i.e. the I-beam halfway back). My solution was a drop ceiling for the front half (to and including the i-beam) and a normal ceiling the rest of the way back.

 

[ebrius]

I figure I won't be living where I am now in a couple of years, so I haven't really worried about improving the acoustics

 

[biorep]

our living room opens fully into the kitchen and another wall is all windows. Plus the room is completely tiled. We have a huge area rug and drapes to help but still needs work.

 

[Rutlanda]

Moving...

We will be moving to the UK in the Spring, so I don't wazntto do too much before selling the house. Thanks for the chance to win.

 

[Jason Coleman]

The room itself is definitely the biggest challenge. My wife (bless her patient soul) puts up with my A/V hobby (read obsession) and has helped fund quite a nice portion of it. However, our great room is open on 3 sides and vaulted into an open second story balcony. Fortunately, it's carpeted and we have a substantial chenille sectional sofa and we now have window treatments, but we still get a lot of renegade bass in the kitchen (Servo 15) and in other isolated spots on the first floor. We've got a Denon 3805, whose auto-eq/room equalization feature has done a good job so far, but it definitely needs more tuning and tweaking. Like other posters noted, I'm reluctant to shell out dough to have somebody come out and fine tune things, only because I don't know how much difference it will make.

So in short, more tools to help tame the wild bass and tweak the rest would be very helpful. Count me in!

J.

 

[edwelly]

For my setup it is a combo of WAF and cost. I am building my own to help with cost but I am thinking I want at least 6 traps. However, out living room is the same room as the HT room. It wouldn't be so bad but it's the first room you see when you walk into the house...

 

[Nomo]

Spousal acceptance is the biggest factor for me. My system is in in the living room. Everything must fit and look nice, from my girlfrind's perpective.

 

[BobBart]

My main obstacle is the room. I have everything in the living room no dedicated space. My living room is small and the seating area isn't the greatest. I make do with what I have and it still sounds impressive.

 

[dloweman]

I am planning on buying or renting my own house soon, and will then go further in depth with the acoustics of my room for my HT. I will need to pick up a test disc to properly adjust my system.

 

[STRONGBADF1]

My wife is very understanding but our HT room is our living room and the front door of the house enters into it. It's the first thing people see when they come in the house. I don't want it looking bad either so it is hard to arange things in a user freindly way that looks good and sounds great.

If we had a dedicated room in the basement it would be alot more easy.

SBF1

 

[chriscmore]

My biggest issue was that even though my basement listening room/ HT (e.g. Man Cave) has traditional stud/sheetrock walls, behind three of those walls and below the carpet were concrete. That, combined with my length and width dimensions being within 5% of each other made the bass too peaky. Turning the level down just took everything away. Salvation came with the Lexicon MC-12B v4 Room EQ, with 10 channels of room correction. Each channel uses up to 7 filters based not only on amplitide, but RT60 and frequency relationships to each other, and the relationship they all have across 4 microphones.

First reflection points on the walls and parallel to the listening spots were clarified with 4" acoustical panels.

Cheers,
Chris

 

[talannar]

I consider myself lucky that my wife "gave" me the room where I am putting my theater in, so any aesthetics of the speaker are my choice.

The only problem that I can find at the moment is the "hand clap" test. I get a really harsh sounding echo toward the back of the room. I have carpet down, but I think if I hang some nice tapestry-type hangings on the wall I might be able to get that down.

 

[jcPanny]

Biggest obstacle

[B} What was/is the biggest obstacle in getting the acoustics in your room right? How did you you/are you planning to overcome that obstacle?[/B]

WAF and budget are my two biggest obstacles right now. My wife keeps visiting her friends houses who have huge plasmas with little bose cube speakers and asks, "Why can't we get those?".
I have been having a hard time justifying the cost of the Axiom audio speaker system that I will be purchasing. One somewhat valid argument she has is that she has partial hearing loss in one ear and won't be able to hear the difference between good speakers (Axiom) and less expensive ones (Athena).

 

[279BLUE]

Has to look good

For both myself & my wife whatever we do in the house has to look good. I am just as concerned about it as she is.

 

[Tomorrow]

One has to consult the Minister Of Internal Affairs in such matters. It doesn't help that the Minister also holds the position of Secretary of the Treasury.

I need an intervention here. Or a revolution. Help.

 

[corysmith01]

For me, it's definitely the renting aspect. I don't own a home and with my career in its current state, being nomadic is a way of life. With that in mind, I have done little in terms of acoustics. Oh sure, I always use carpeting, hang things on the wall, have big comfy couches and chairs etc. But I know that, once I do buy a place, I will certainly invest some time and probably money into treating the room. Once I know it's mine and that I won't have to break it down and move it every 12-24 months, I'll be a lot more inclined to put some more focus into room treatment/acoustics.

 

[Buckle-meister]

Help.

Threaten her: "Look you. I'll withhold marital favours from you!"