Listening room measurements / How'd you do it?

[pearsall001]

I presently have a GIK monster bass trap & two Echo busters corner traps. The difference they made was quite noticable. I want to take it further w/ more absorption panels, bass traps, diffusion panels, etc. but first I'd like to measure my room's acoustics. With room measurements I can then decide on a plan of action. Did any of you guys do this & if you did how did you do it? I'm not very savy with this sort of thing. Hopefully the simpler the better.

 

[sploo]

Did any of you guys do this

Yes, quite a few of us!

My first suggestion would be to use the forum search facility, and look for 'ETF'. That's a program quite a few people have used, and there's a fair few threads with information.

The "Yes, it's another Bass Traps thread..." goes from my complete ignorance, to, well, still quite a bit of ignorance, but having taken some readings, so it might be a reasonable introduction.

 

[Ethan Winer]

> I'd like to measure my room's acoustics. With room measurements I can then decide on a plan of action. <

As was advised elsewhere you can use test tones and an SPL meter, though that tells you only the raw frequency response. Just as important are the time-based problems - ringing, flutter echo, excess ambience, early reflections, and so forth. I use the ETF and R+D software, and both cost $150 from Acoustisoft:

www.acoustisoft.com

There's also the Room EQ Wizard, which is free, but it's a little less capable because it lacks a display of individual reflections. Get it here:

www.hometheatershack.com/roomeq/

--Ethan

 

[Glenn Kuras]

I have the EFT software and love it. Kind of a ***** to set up at first, but it is pretty easy to use after.

Glenn